The Fisherman shrugged but his face was all smiles. He reached into the air and pulled out a spectral chair and placed it down where he was going to fish. It was a simple bamboo chair.

Li Yu pulled out his own wooden rod that he had made during his travels. He hadn’t been across any bamboo forests since learning that fishing could help him connect with his Human Soul and it also allowed him to reconnect with a bit of his past. Fishing with his dad.

Li Yu wasn’t happy with his current rod but a true master never blamed his tools. He then tied some line to the wood pole, the line came from him tearing apart a black silk robe in his storage ring to get.

"Rules are simple," Li Yu announced. "One hour. The heaviest catch wins. A battle for fishing pride."

The Fisherman smirked. He didn't speak but he held up three fingers. Up to this point his souls had never directly spoken to him and he was wondering if they ever would. Could they even speak? He didn’t know.

"Three rounds?" Li Yu asked. The Fisherman nodded. They sat down on the bank and were ten feet apart.

Round one began. Li Yu baited his hook with a Spicy Spirit-Worm. He cast his line with perfect form. Zip. The lure landed in a deep pool near a submerged log.

"I sense a big one there," Li Yu muttered, his eyes glowing. "Calculated trajectory. Water temperature is optimal." He didn’t use his spiritual sense, that was not the point.

The Fisherman didn't use bait. He just tied a shiny rock to his line and dropped it into the water right in front of his feet. He leaned back and pulled his hat over his eyes. It appeared to fall asleep instantly.

Five minutes passed.

Li Yu’s rod bent. "Hah! Strike!"

He reeled furiously. "It fights! It's heavy! This is a monster!"

He pulled it up.

It was a Swamp Boot. An old muddy boot. But inside the boot was a very angry small catfish that bit Li Yu’s finger as he reached inside to take out his hook.

"Ow!" Li Yu shook the fish off. "A boot. Zero points."

He looked at the Fisherman.

The Fisherman’s rod dipped slightly. He lazily lifted his wrist.

Out of the water rose a Prism Scale Bass. It was beautiful and shimmering with seven colors. Given the size of it it probably weighed ten pounds. The fish didn't struggle. It just looked resigned, as if being caught by the Fisherman was an honor.

The Fisherman unhooked it and showed it to Li Yu with a deadpan expression. He then tossed it towards Li Yu and it went directly into his Koi Sanctuary much to Li Yu’s surprise.

“You can send things to the Koi Sanctuary directly as well?! I guess you are me after all… And you knew I didn’t have anything like that before too.” Li Yu shouted in surprise at first but then his voice got lower as he spoke.

Li Yu finally grit his teeth. "Beginner's luck!"

Round 2 then began.

"I'm using Qi manipulation," Li Yu announced. "No holding back."

He infused his line with water Qi, making it invisible. He changed his bait to one of the insects he found in the area and wiggled the bait to mimic a distressed insect. He scanned the water, calculating the currents, the shadows and predicting the movement of the local fauna.

The Fisherman picked a flower from the bank. He stuck it on his hook. He cast it into a patch of weeds that looked completely empty.

Li Yu waited. He was sweating. He focused.

Tug.

"Yes!" Li Yu pulled.

He landed a Stick-Eel. It looked like a stick but sadly for Li Yu it was tiny. It weighed only four ounces.

"Whyyyyyyyyyy?" Li Yu whined and begged openly to the universe. Meanwhile, the Fisherman’s line went taut. He didn't reel it in. He simply just leaned back.

A massive splash erupted from the weed patch. A Giant River Turtle surfaced. It wasn't hooked on, it was holding the flower in its mouth gently. On its back sat three large Golden Frogs. It walked all the way up on the land and in front of the Fisherman.

The Fisherman weighed the turtle by eyeing it. Li Yu’s rough guess was fifty pounds as he looked over. The Fisherman nodded to the turtle. The turtle nodded back and swam away.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Li Yu threw his hat on the ground. "That doesn't even count! It wasn't hooked! You are cheating! Using some kind of special power while we are having a contest of fishing skill!"

The Fisherman gave him a thumbs up.

The final round began, round 3. With Li Yu on the complete back foot.

"Fine," Li Yu growled. "You want to play hardball? I'm bringing out the heavy artillery."

Li Yu reached into his storage ring. He pulled out a piece of the Sky-Swine meat he had saved from Brother Tub. It radiated an intense and savory aroma.

"Nothing can resist this," Li Yu said confidently. "This is the bait of gods."

He cast it into the deepest and darkest part of the lagoon.

The Fisherman watched him. He looked at his own hook. It was empty. He looked around. The Fisherman found a piece of what looked like lint in his spectral pocket. He put the lint on the hook.

It casted the lint outward.

Li Yu’s rod nearly snapped in half. "THIS IS IT!" Li Yu roared, bracing his feet against a root. "IT'S HUGE! IT'S A LEVIATHAN!"

Qi exploded from Li Yu’s body as he wasn’t going to let this one get away. The water churned. He fought the beast for five minutes. His muscles burned. The rod creaked.

"COME... TO... PAPA!"

With a final mighty heave, Li Yu pulled his catch from the depths.

It flew through the air and landed on the grass.

It was a rotten log. A massive, waterlogged piece of wood covered in slime.

Li Yu stared at it. "It... it moved like a fish. How did it move like a fish?"

He looked closely. There were two large crabs attached to the log. They were using their claws to paddle it like an underwater submarine. They looked at Li Yu, snipped their claws and scurried away.

"I was outsmarted by crustaceans," Li Yu whispered to the universe once again, his soul crushed.

He turned to the Fisherman. "Well? What did you catch?"

The Fisherman stood up. He held his rod with two hands. His expression became serious. The air in the lagoon grew heavy. The birds stopped singing.

The water began to glow gold. Slowly and majestically a creature rose from the surface. It wasn't an ordinary fish. It was a Golden Sword Arowana.

It was four feet long and its nose was literally a sharp serrated blade. It hovered in the air, supported by the Fisherman’s Qi. It radiated the aura of a King of these waters.

The Fisherman looked at the fish. The fish looked at the Fisherman. The Fisherman bowed. The fish bowed back to it. Then the Fisherman tossed it at Li Yu once again and as it neared him it disappeared as before into his Koi Sanctuary.

The Fisherman turned to Li Yu. He didn't smile or gloat. The Fisherman simply dusted off his hands like it was business as usual and dissolved into particles of light. It had returned to Li Yu’s body and went back onto the island within Li Yu’s Ocean of Qi.

Inside his head, Li Yu heard a distinct telepathic sound. The first sound he had ever heard from his Human Soul.

‘Heh.’

Li Yu stood there on the riverbank, holding his nearly broken wooden rod and was staring at the empty water. He had never felt closer to his soul before but at the same time he had never been more furious at it. Even more so then when it had tried to hook the god like Being’s soul.

"This is rigged," Li Yu shouted at the trees. "My own soul is cheating! How can you cheat against yourself?!"

He packed up his gear and was grumbling furiously as he did it.

"I will get you next time," Li Yu vowed, shaking his fist at the heavens. "Next time, we will fish in a volcano. See how you like that."

After a while and recovering from his humiliating defeat, Li Yu continued his journey toward the Emerald Heart.

The jungle seemed to open up as he traveled deeper, the oppressive rot giving way to a vibrant and blooming vitality. He arrived at a small village called Root Hollow. It was built entirely inside the hollowed out trunk of a dead tree that was so large the village had streets, shops and a town square inside it. The locals call the tree the Giant’s Tree but there were no other trees like it around.

The people here were festive. Lanterns made of glowing gourds hung from the ceiling of the tree-cavern. It was some strange moss-like plant that was generating the glow. Open fire was forbidden here.

Li Yu walked into a tavern called The Sap Tap.

"What's the occasion?" Li Yu asked the bartender, a woman with bark-like skin.

"It's the Festival of the Returning Green," she smiled, pouring him a mug of thick sweet amber liquid. "Celebrating the victory over the recent invaders. And..." she pointed to a crude painting on the wall.

It was a painting of a figure in red armor, holding up a giant pair of claws.

"We are honoring the Champions," she said. "The Alliance and Demon Armies who cleared the blight and the Crab Walker who cleared the bandits."

Li Yu sipped his drink. It tasted like maple syrup and victory.

"He gets around, doesn't he?" Li Yu murmured.

"You know him?" the bartender asked.

"I know of him," Li Yu smiled. "He's... a very sideways thinker."

Suddenly, a commotion erupted at the door. A group of children ran in wearing boxes painted red. They were crab-walking and pinching each other.

"I am the Crab Lord!" one boy shouted. "I pinch thee!"

"No, I am the Crab Lord!" another girl yelled, wielding two wooden spoons like pincers. "Recite your poetry or perish!"

"Clickity-clack! Clickity-clack! The Great Red Crab is on attack! Drop the candy! Drop the treat! Or I will pinch your stinky feet!" The boy shouted.

The tavern erupted in laughter. Li Yu watched them and a warm feeling spread in his chest that had nothing to do with the alcohol.

Jian Xuan hadn't just fought battles. He had given these people something to smile about. In a land that had seen so much horror, especially recently, he had become a ridiculous joyful myth.

Li Yu raised his mug to the drawing on the wall.

"To the Crab," he toasted softly. "May your shell never crack, and your rhymes always... well, actually, your rhymes can improve. But the spirit is good."

He finished his drink, paid the tab and walked out into the bioluminescent night. The humidity was high, his fishing skills were questionable but his heart was light.

Unbeknown to Li Yu, as he was enjoying the environment around him he had advanced to the 4th stage of Soul Formation. A combination of everything he had experienced during his travels and his new found connection to his soul.