Sage of Humanity
Chapter 1388 - 1386: Getting Something for Nothing
The All Phenomena Ocean is extremely dangerous, even cultivators cannot stay in the seawater for long, he had thought that there must be no life inside, but who knew there were living creatures within.
The thing brought back from under the sea had a body about a foot long, completely snow-white, flat in shape, half a finger wide, with half-transparent things that looked like wings on either side below the head, the head was gone, it should have been smashed by Lu Ye's punch just now.
But just from looking at the remaining large half of its body, this was clearly a fish!
There were actually fish in this dangerous All Phenomena Ocean… Lu Ye looked and clicked his tongue in amazement.
However, anything that could survive in the All Phenomena Ocean must not be an ordinary fish, Lu Ye had strong suspicions that this thing in his hand counted as a type of star beast, because only certain star beasts can survive in such harsh environments.
As he was examining it, suddenly a rough voice came to his ear: "Little Fellow Daoist, you are really lucky!"
Lu Ye followed the voice and looked up, only to see a figure rapidly approaching from not far to the side, the spirit force fluctuations on the person showed their Moon Jade cultivation level.
In the blink of an eye, the person speaking stood a short distance in front of Lu Ye, revealing their form.
It was a burly middle-aged man with a face full of stubble, tall and strong, with a bold face, and a pair of extremely lively big eyes staring at the dead fish in Lu Ye's hand, seemingly very interested in it.
Lu Ye couldn't help but be cautious.
The burly man obviously noticed this as well, and smiled slightly: "Little Fellow Daoist, no need to be nervous, though the All Phenomena Ocean has no law, there are still unwritten rules; under ordinary circumstances, those of higher cultivation won't easily make a move against those of lower cultivation."
"Not nervous." Lu Ye's words contradicted his heart.
"Did you catch this White Spirit?"
Lu Ye nodded.
"How did you catch it barehanded?" The burly man looked curious.
Lu Ye couldn't really explain the truth, so he made up something on the spot and gestured carelessly: "I was watching the sea, it came out to watch me, I got startled, and gave it a punch!"
The burly man was taken aback by Lu Ye's vivid gestures, and couldn't help but be amazed: "All these years in the All Phenomena Ocean, I've never seen anyone catch a White Spirit like this, Little Fellow Daoist, you are truly lucky."
Seeing that he genuinely seemed to have no malice, Lu Ye asked humbly: "Is this called White Spirit?"
The burly man nodded: "White Spirit Salmon, it counts as a type of star beast only found in the All Phenomena Ocean, naturally fragrant, with delicate flesh, can be cooked or made into elixirs. If cooked, it can purify spirit force, enhance the physical body, if made into elixirs, it can greatly increase the efficacy of elixirs, and several great elixirs use parts of the White Spirit's body as the main ingredient, especially the swim bladder and fish eyes are the most precious!"
Lu Ye truly didn't know this thing was so useful, he just thought it was an ordinary star beast earlier and almost threw it away.
He also vaguely realized one thing: "If I take this thing out to sell, won't it be worth quite a bit?"
The man explained that this thing could be cooked or made into elixirs, which was extremely beneficial to cultivators and also the main ingredient for several great elixirs, so the price shouldn't be cheap.
"Very valuable!" The burly man nodded solemnly, "A single White Spirit, depending on appearance and size, ranges from several thousand to tens of thousands of spirit jade!"
Lu Ye was startled, he realized that this White Spirit was valuable, but didn't expect it to be this valuable! Knowing that a spirit treasure is only a few thousand spirit jade, isn't this saying a single White Spirit equals a spirit treasure?
Calming his mind: "This one in my hand then?"
The burly man said: "The one in your hand, if it were intact, could sell for four to five thousand spirit jade without a problem, but unfortunately, the fish head is lost, so the price needs to be discounted, since the fish eyes and brain are extremely valuable medicinals." Suddenly changing the topic: "Little Fellow Daoist, are you willing to part with this White Spirit?"
"How much can Fellow Daoist offer?" Lu Ye asked.
"Two thousand six hundred jade!" The burly man directly offered a price, clearly with some consideration.
Two thousand six, not a low price, mainly this was something obtained for free, Lu Ye was pleasantly surprised, earlier he was worrying about spirit jade, didn't expect to get a windfall like this.
"Sold!" Lu Ye decisively said.
The burly man was slightly startled, then laughed and said: "It seems you are new here, aren't you afraid I might give a random low price and rip you off?"
Lu Ye said: "Fellow Daoist explained so much to me, having seen that I'm new here, if you really wanted to rip me off, you could've just offered a few hundred spirit jade, why bother with such a high price?"
The burly man laughed heartily: "Little Fellow Daoist, you are straightforward! I won't lie to you, today I need to host a guest and lack a main dish, so I was planning to go to the Angling Island to see if I could acquire a White Spirit, but the anglers there were unlucky and none had any fish, so I left disappointed, only to see that you had a White Spirit halfway back, it's my luck and yours, White Spirits are something I often buy, if you took this one to sell, it'd fetch a top price of two thousand five hundred jade!"
It was precisely because he urgently needed to buy a White Spirit for the banquet that the burly man was willing to offer Lu Ye one hundred extra jade.
Lu Ye understood in his heart: "I must thank you, Fellow Daoist!"
He felt a sense of emotion, this vast All Phenomena Ocean, with so many cultivating people; some toil and risk their lives for spirit jade, while others can spend thousands of spirit jade on a fish without batting an eye.
Truly, the stink of meat and wine at the rich man's gate, while there are frozen bones lying on the road.
The burly man descended, exchanged two thousand six hundred jade with Lu Ye, and the deal was settled.
"Fellow Daoist, you mentioned Angling Island earlier. What kind of place is that?" Lu Ye asked curiously.
The burly man said, "It's a place where anglers gather. Because the White Spirit Salmon is extremely rare and precious, there's a group of people on this side of the All Phenomena Ocean who specialize in fishing for White Spirit Salmon for a living. Angling Island is their gathering place."
The burly man seemed to have seen through Lu Ye's intentions, kindly advising him: "If Little Fellow Daoist finds it interesting, you can go observe a bit. It's an unoccupied island and allows free passage, but I must advise you lightly, don't easily get involved. Among those anglers, there's a saying that's quite true."
"What saying?"
The burly man gave him a deep look: "Fishing ruins three generations, playing fish ruins a lifetime! Some people enter this field by chance, yet end up losing both money and themselves."
What kind of saying is that? Lu Ye was somewhat puzzled.
But the burly man seemed to have seen many people like Lu Ye and knew some things must be personally experienced to understand, others' advice is futile. He laughed and said: "But if you have another harvest next time, you could directly come to Dali Island to find me. I purchase White Spirit Salmon in large quantities for a long time! Just say you're looking for Qiuh Pingyang when you get to Dali Island, and I'll give you the best price!"
Lu Ye remembered his name and the direction he pointed to Dali Island.
Qiuh Pingyang left, and according to him, once the White Spirit Salmon leaves the sea, it must be processed as soon as possible; otherwise, whether for cooking or making elixirs, its effectiveness would greatly diminish.
Watching Qiuh Pingyang's figure disappear, Lu Ye took out his star map to inspect, and indeed found a place named Angling Island on it.
Having nothing else to do, he took off and flew towards it, ready to check things out.
His biggest problem at the moment was the lack of spirit jade. Cultivation requires spirit jade, and while the fuel reserves for his Talent Tree were temporarily adequate, since there are channels for replenishment here, the more reserves, the better, to prevent being unable to find any means to replenish when needed later.
So no matter how much spirit jade he has, it's never enough.
Originally, he was contemplating where to find money, but capturing a White Spirit Salmon by chance gave him a direction.
The capture of the White Spirit Salmon earlier was due to luck, but he can't rely on having such good luck every time. And even if he had that luck, continually presenting White Spirit Salmon is hard to explain; if noticed by those with intentions, he might potentially expose his secret for lingering long in the All Phenomena Ocean.
This could very likely happen; if White Spirit Salmon wasn't so valuable, it wouldn't matter. But since a single White Spirit Salmon is worth thousands to tens of thousands of spirit jade, who wouldn't be tempted?
In a place like the All Phenomena Ocean, no amount of caution is too much.
He now only has a vague idea in his mind, not a concrete plan on how to proceed; no matter what, first, he needs to visit Angling Island to see the situation.
After flying for half a day, he slowly approached Angling Island.
Reaching this point, scattered anglers standing on the reefs wielding their fishing gear could already be seen, fishing patiently.
Judging by their motionless stance, it seemed they weren't having much success.
The closer he got, the more anglers there appeared to be.
The All Phenomena Ocean is a place full of opportunities and chances, gathering potent cultivators from numerous Star Systems; every day, a large amount of goods is transported and consumed here. Naturally, the daily consumption of spirit jade in such a place is enormous. Some people are so poor they can't guarantee cultivation resources, while others are rich enough to treat White Spirit Salmon worth thousands of spirit jade as appetizers.
It's safe to say every cultivator new to this place has dreamt of sudden wealth for a night!
And angling happens to satisfy these cultivators' simple and honest pursuit, because compared to other ways to get rich, angling is relatively low-barrier yet highly rewarding.
Of course, it's also risky!
Otherwise, Qiuh Pingyang wouldn't have said things like "fishing ruins three generations, playing fish ruins a lifetime" to Lu Ye.
Yet cultivators often take interest in matters with high risk and rewards, especially those who are young and inexperienced. They tend to think of themselves as particularly talented, that nothing is arduous for them, and they will undoubtedly succeed, only to get beaten by reality and eventually have to accept their fate quietly.
But throughout history, such people are numerous beyond count, with one generation following another; when some exit, more join. Since the existence of the All Phenomena Ocean, the group of anglers has never disappeared. Especially in recent years, it's shown an escalating trend of growth.
Because the price of the White Spirit Salmon has been continuously soaring, attracting even more people to join the ranks of anglers.