Chapter 83: Ropes, Foot Soaks, and Stink Fruit (Part One)

After catching the black fish, Chen Yu did not leave immediately. Instead, he retrieved the remaining wooden talismans that had not been fully consumed.

There weren't many left; out of the dozens deployed, only six or seven remained relatively intact.

Stowing them back into his bamboo basket, he resumed fishing.

Dense, heavy billows of mist lingered over the pool, though they soon dissipated and grew thin.

With a splash, after waiting half an hour, the float trembled several times. He pulled the line up to find a crucian carp about two fingers wide.

See, I told you there are fish here!

Chen Yu became increasingly convinced that his previous inability to catch anything was due to that black fish. He glanced at the fish basket placed in the water, secured by a hemp rope tied to one end. Inside, the black fish remained very quiet and did not make too much of a fuss.

Quite sensible.

He had no intention of eating it; at only palm-sized, it didn't yield much meat, and simply looking at its appearance made it hard to identify the species, preventing him from bringing himself to eat it.

A snakehead? It certainly looked black, but not quite like one.

It was probably a species native to this world. His past self hadn't fished many times and had even less interest in eating fish, so his memories held no relevant impressions.

After brief consideration, he decided to take it back and raise it for a while.

Yet, judging by its appearance, it seemed to be a carnivore, and Chen Yu was somewhat uncertain. He had just put a loach and a few rice prawns into his water basin; if those were devoured, that would spell trouble.

Better put it in the water vat first.

With that thought, he made his decision. At the same time, he cast his fishing rod out once more. As for the crucian carp, he tossed it back into the pool—it was too small; he would let it grow a bit more.

The float bobbed and quivered. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, he pressed down in a hurry and lifted the rod. This time, it was a tiny bitterling, no bigger than a thumb, its wide mouth opening and closing incessantly.

Unhooking it, he tossed it into the fish basket. Perhaps because it was too small, the black fish couldn't even be bothered to snap at it, letting the bitterling dart back and forth while it curled up in a corner, blowing bubbles.

Time passed, and before he knew it, evening arrived. After spending half the day at it, he had caught quite a few more. One had to admit that the effect of the spirit-liquid-infused earthworms was truly extraordinary.

The largest one weighed a solid half-jin; it was a black carp, its back a deep evergreen, looking plump and robust.

Aside from that, there was also a grass carp, but it was too small, so he released it back. Heaven knows why this creature had fancied eating an earthworm.

Crucian carp were the most abundant in the pool. Out of more than a dozen casts yielding eight or nine fish in total, five were silver crucian carp.

Pity that most of them were not very plump. With the thought that he could always catch a few more whenever he returned, Chen Yu felt no urgent need to bring all his catch back.

He released the ones that should be released. Only those bearing wounds—which likely wouldn't survive—were kept by him to be taken back for soup.

Packing up his gear, despite the black fish's mouthful of fearsome fangs, for some reason it was currently getting along peacefully with the black carp and crucian carp, neither jumping nor thrashing.

Splash!

Pulling up the fish basket by the rope, he glanced inside and weighed it up and down a few times. Chen Yu understood in his heart: it weighed a little over two catties—far less than his previous haul using the shrimp trap in the small stream, but still well beyond expectations.

"This is what you call a real opening haul!"

The fishing rod had finally tasted success, and pulling in the fish could be considered getting his wish fulfilled.

Having packed everything properly, he shouldered his basket, turned, crossed the stream, and plunged into the overgrown weeds, quickly disappearing from sight.

August 2nd.

Rumble!

The sound of thunder persisted. Although the skies had cleared over the past two days, with the arrival of August, the occasional dry thunderclap still made people somewhat apprehensive, uncertain when a storm might break out.

However, Chen Yu had been cooped up inside the Taoist temple for days without venturing out much, so he didn't pay it much mind.

The newly planted Changbai millet seedlings on the mountain hadn't sprouted yet. During this time, he had been pondering whether to water them with spirit liquid. But considering that his reserves of spiritual origin and vital energy were running low, and on top of that, he needed to maintain his internal Qi-gathering to strengthen himself, he ultimately decided against it.

Nurturing a patch of medicinal herbs was already quite a stretch, and the mountain plots definitely wouldn't be seeing any spirit-liquid ripening anytime soon.

"It's just a matter of waiting a bit longer."

Chen Yu didn't take it to heart. Ripening crops with spirit liquid could accelerate their growth and maturation while simultaneously adding a slight effect of nourishing qi and blood.

Yet that was all it did. The yellow-husked millet in his rice vat still had plenty left, and Brother Chicken was still diligently testing the grains cultivated from four different spiritual energies one by one, so there was no need to waste energy on this for the time being.

The mountain plots could just be farmed casually; after all, Changbai millet required no tending, unlike spring millet which demanded weeding and watering.

Instead, the medicinal herb patch required some of his attention.

Coming behind the courtyard, a patch of flora and fauna spread out, exuding a complex scent blended from various odors.

Chen Yu fanned the air before his nose, his gaze falling upon the sturdiest-looking "big-headed" flower. It stood a full eight chi tall, towering a head higher than himself.

A flower the size of a wooden barrel unfolded into sixteen petals, its stem upright, the outer skin lined with barbs and a layer of fine down.

Right at the very center of the flower hung a tumor-like lump—truly ugly in appearance, bumpy and uneven, with a blackish-purple, glossy rind and an interior shimmering with things resembling crushed stone fragments.

He did not get close. This snow-white wild dandelion, previously a common sight by the roadside, had transformed into this state under the catalysis of spiritual energy, and the change was by no means small.

Noticing a grayish-yellow haze diffusing around the base of the roots, Chen Yu knew this meant the spiritual energy catalysis had reached its final stage, and this bizarre-looking wild dandelion had arrived at maturity.

Yet... how should he deal with it?

He did not touch it directly with his hands. The fishy stench that had been faintly perceptible when the flower was still blooming was now overwhelmingly potent. Fearing there might be toxins, he wrapped a layer of Qi around the fruit.

Short-term contact would not trigger a structural change.

Assisted by the Art of Object Manipulation, he twisted and plucked it off.

Instantly, an even more putrid and fishy odor assailed his nose, forcing him to take several steps back and wave his hand to unleash a vast wave of Qi, condensing it into a wind to blow the stench clean.

This smell was far too pungent!

Only after the sensation eased slightly did Chen Yu approach again. Looking closer, he saw dense, blackish-purple liquid droplets oozing from the fractured surface, converging and flowing together, unleashing an even more piercing and eye-watering stench that seemed to lunge at him.

His stomach churned. Even with his level of mental fortitude, he almost couldn't hold it back—swallowing the mutated peach in a rush back then hadn't been nearly this agonizing.

"..."

His Qi surged rapidly, nearly half of it released to wrap around the fruit layer by layer, sealing the odors tightly within.

He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it fortunate that he hadn't touched it with his bare hands just now; toxicity aside, the mere suffocating stench alone could have made him nauseous for ten days and a half month.

Fetching a wooden box, he placed the neatly wrapped, plump fruit inside, sealed it tightly, and set it aside.

As for the wild dandelion plant itself, he dug it up as well. Fortunately, it seemed all the strange odors and fishy stench had been absorbed by the fruit; the roots and flowers retained only a trace, which was not severe.

Afterward, he turned his attention to the other two matured plants, which were much better-behaved. The mutated mixed-smoke grass had merely grown larger fruit, expanding severalfold, while showing little other change.

The fresh sheep-plant had also grown much taller, yet it emitted no strange odor. During the excavation, he discovered a layer of sticky medium within the damaged roots, looking somewhat similar to hemp.

With three newly harvested spiritual plants placed before him, Chen Yu abandoned the idea of letting Brother Chicken taste-test them. No matter how one looked at these things, they didn't seem edible.