Chapter 18: The Intelligent Fish Monster (Part 1)

  "Wow, brother, you're really so young!" The young Yu Ping couldn't help but exclaim when she saw Hai Long's elegant and refined appearance, while Yu Hua was also taken aback.

  Hai Long smiled slightly and said, "I didn't cheat you guys, did I? I said I'm not a bad person! Village chief, your village looks like it has over a hundred households, so I'll catch a hundred fish for you as a gift." Before Yu Xiang could stop him, Hai Long had already floated up into the air and landed in the middle of the small river. With his magic at work, he was able to float on the water's surface with just the buoyancy of the current. His days of fleeing had made Hai Long's control over his magic much stronger than before, although his magic wasn't abundant, it seemed to be endless. Under his deliberate urging, the Blood Eight Trigrams on his hand lit up, and Hai Long let out a loud shout. A red light beam about a foot in diameter suddenly shot towards the upstream river water. With a loud crash, a two-to-three-zhang-high (about 6-9 meters) water column splashed up from the river surface, and many fish in the river were stunned by the magic of the Blood Eight Trigrams. Hai Long lightly tapped on the river surface and rushed towards the water column. His shadow flickered constantly like an illusion, and one after another, the stunned fish were thrown onto the shore by him. Under the gaze of the villagers led by Yu Xiang, in almost just a blink of an eye, a small pile of still-flapping fish had accumulated on the shore, with a number that was only slightly more than a hundred.

  With a flash of his figure, the dragon king floated down onto the riverbank, looking at his handiwork with satisfaction. He thought to himself, "Having magical powers is really great! The six masters not coming down from the mountain was truly a mistake; it would have added so much more fun to life!"

  "Huh, what are you all staring at? Hurry up and catch the fish, or they'll die and won't be fresh. Look at your pale faces, drink some fish soup to nourish yourselves." In Hailong's voice, Yuqin and the others finally came back to their senses, their faces all wearing a strange expression, as if they had discovered a new continent, staring at Hailong in a way that made him feel awkward.

  The dragon's heart path, I'd better leave here quickly. Showing off his magical powers, he was afraid that the villagers would think of him as a god. Thinking of this, he just wanted to fly away, but then he heard a hoarse voice rising up, "What kind of person dares to take away my fish children and grandchildren, are you tired of living?" The dragon was taken aback, clearly feeling a surge of demonic energy coming from the small river. Looking closely, he saw that the originally turbulent river water had stopped flowing, and in the center of the river, a huge whirlpool was gradually forming.

  Hailong couldn't help but smile wryly, thinking that he wouldn't be so unlucky as to encounter a monster just by catching a few fish. He didn't run away because there were still many villagers around, and more importantly, the demonic energy emanating from the river wasn't strong enough to compare with the powerful magic of Mo Qi in the past. As a precaution, Hailong quickly took out the Illusory Dragon and Star Blue Ring from his Qiankun Seal, and a blue light flashed as he put on the cyan armor. He turned around and shouted at the villagers: "You guys hurry up and take these fish back to the village, there's a monster here!" As he spoke, he controlled the Illusory Dragon to float around his body, took out the mysterious small iron rod, and touched it with the light from the Qiankun Seal. The small iron rod instantly transformed into a two-meter-long, thick and thin rod.

  Yu Jin was, after all, the village elder. Although he hadn't seen much of the world, he knew this wasn't a place where he and the villagers should continue to stay. He hastily took off his outer garment and, along with the villagers, packed up those fish and quickly ran towards the village. He and the villagers had left, but they forgot two people - Yu Hua sisters. The two sisters were already stunned by the sea dragon's incredible display. At this time, seeing the sea dragon's majestic attire, they couldn't help but reveal admiring glances. Although they retreated a bit, they didn't go far.

  The sea dragon's attention was focused on the whirlpool, and his left hand's Blood Eight Trigrams had stored up magical power. Just then, with a loud crash, a huge fish head emerged from the whirlpool, its two red eyes staring fiercely at the sea dragon. When it saw the sea dragon's intimidating attire, it couldn't help but be slightly startled, and spoke in human language: "Youngster, why did you take away my fish children and grandchildren?"

  The dragon saw that the big fish's voice had softened, and his heart was slightly delighted, knowing that the monster in front of him was not highly skilled. He put on a dignified air and said calmly: "You fish monster, this is a place where humans live, you have been hiding here for a long time, absorbing human essence, today is the day of your demise." As he spoke, the small iron rod in his hand pointed, and the white dragon's body suddenly grew larger, transforming into a three-meter-long white dragon with sharp teeth and claws, charging towards the big fish. The massive pressure instantly split the river water, revealing the monster fish's sturdy body. Under the pressure, the monster fish suddenly felt fear and begged loudly: "Spare my life, spare my life!" The white dragon circled in the air, floating above the big fish's head without attacking. The dragon's majestic voice said: "Do you have anything else to say? I am a disciple of Lianyun Sect, passing by here today, just in time to eliminate the evil for the people." Although his words sounded good, his body was already trembling slightly. Using the dragon was extremely exhausting, even for a cultivator at the fetal stage, it was difficult to use smoothly. The dragon's consumption had already reached its limit, if not for the constant flow of spiritual energy from the protective mirror on his chest, he would have collapsed long ago.

  The strange fish said with a sad voice: "Immortal, you are wise and just. I am only an ordinary fish who has recently become a spirit after 100 years of cultivation, able to speak human language by absorbing the spiritual energy from the water. I have not harmed any common people here. Immortal, please spare my life! It is not easy for me to achieve this after 100 years of bitter cultivation!"

  The dragon's face relaxed a bit, barely controlling his legs to prevent them from shaking too much. With a wave of his hand, he recalled the illusory dragon and was really unable to hold on any longer. The small iron club struck the ground, making a loud "thud" sound, and using this force, he propped up his body and said to the fish monster: "Alright, since you indeed don't have much demonic energy, I'll spare your life for today. However, if I find out that you dare harm humans, be careful with your fish head. Life in this village is very difficult. From now on, every other day, send a hundred fresh fish to the shore, and consider it as taking care of this village."

  The fish monster hesitated for a moment and said: "Immortal, you cultivators aren't the most afraid of killing lives? My fish children and grandchildren are not few, but..."

  Hailong shouted, "There's nothing good to say. Although I detest killing, I also can't just watch the villagers here starve to death. Follow my orders, and let me bear all the guilt alone."

  The strange fish looked at the majestic sea dragon and nodded reluctantly for its own name, saying: "Respectfully following the immortal's instructions."

  The sea dragon hummed in satisfaction and said, "Alright, you can go now. From now on, cultivate well and as long as you don't affect humans or join the evil demon sects, one day you'll be able to attain the Great Dao." The strange fish was startled by the sea dragon's words and heard that he was willing to let him off, so he quickly thanked him and swiftly dove into the water, disappearing from sight.

  Hailong let out a huge sigh of relief in his heart. Since the mixture of several abnormal magical powers inside him, he felt the danger of being insufficient for the first time. When he used the Illusory Dragon just now, he clearly felt that the energy absorbed by the dragon was much faster than the energy he circulated and produced. He didn't know if the Illusory Dragon could defeat this strange fish at all. With his current magical powers, he only had the power of one strike. If he failed, he would be at the mercy of others. In fact, the fish spirit's fear of him was reasonable. A newly formed demon was like a novice cultivator, and that fish spirit didn't have any magical tools. Even if Hailong used the Blood Eight Trigrams, it wasn't something the fish spirit could handle. It was just that Hailong had seen too many powerful people, so when he encountered this fish, he couldn't help but feel tense, which led to this situation. Now, both Hailong and the fish spirit hiding in the deep water were secretly rejoicing in their hearts.

  Under the deliberate urging of Hailong, the internal force circulated rapidly in his body, recovering a bit of his magic power. His spirit suddenly improved a lot. After taking a deep breath, he was about to leave when two clear voices sounded beside him, "Immortal, please accept us as your disciples." Hailong was taken aback and looked aside to see the Yu sisters kneeling beside him with reverence, looking at him with admiration. The scene before him was so similar to when he first went up Mount Lianyun, wasn't it? At that time, hadn't he and Zhang Huan also wanted to take the various masters as their teachers? Zhang Huan's disappointed face kept appearing in his mind, and Hailong had become somewhat infatuated without realizing it.

  "Master, are you willing to accept us? We didn't know you were an immortal before and said many disrespectful things. Please don't be angry! Master, please take us in. My sister and I can endure hardship and will definitely serve you well, no matter what tasks you give us, we won't complain." She was a clever little girl, the poor life in the mountain village had forged her strong character. Just now, when she saw Ha Long subdue the fish spirit, she knew that her chance had come, such a chance might only come once in a lifetime. Immediately, she pulled her still somewhat confused sister to kneel down in front of Ha Long and begged him pitifully.

  Hailong came back to his senses, looking at the two sisters in front of him, and couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. Although he was very intelligent, he had been asleep for three years since he was 14, and his mindset was still mostly stuck in that time. He thought to himself, if he took these two sisters as his disciples, he would no longer be the lowest-ranking disciple of the Lianyun Sect. From now on, he would have disciples to attend to him, and his life would definitely be very carefree. Thinking of this, he slowly nodded his head. Yuhua was overjoyed, immediately seizing the opportunity, pulling her sister to respectfully kowtow three times to Hailong, saying: "Disciples pay their respects to Master."

  The dragon nodded and immediately regretted it. He was still evading the pursuit of the Demon Sect, and the Jade Flower sisters were just ordinary little girls. If he brought them along, it would inevitably greatly affect his progress. Not only would the possibility of exposure be greater, but bringing them along would also have a significant impact on his speed. With a bitter smile, he said, "Don't call me Master for now. I nodded my head not to take you as apprentices. Hurry up and get up first." He then quickly helped the Jade Flower sisters up.

  Yu Hua's eyes reddened, she wanted to kneel down again, but couldn't resist the power of Hai Long, so she choked back tears and said: "Master, do you look down on us? We are indeed poor people who have never seen the world, but I really want to be your apprentice! Please, please agree, let me follow you, I promise to listen to everything. Please..."

  In the midst of Yu Hua's sorrowful and pleading voice, Village Chief Yu Qing had already led the villagers out, although they were far away earlier. However, the "divine majesty" displayed by Hai Long deeply shocked their hearts. Especially that white dragon which suddenly appeared out of thin air, making them believe that Hai Long was a heavenly deity descended to earth. Yu Qing led the crowd in kneeling down, piously saying: "Great Immortal, thank you for driving away the monster for us. We represent the villagers in thanking you. Please forgive our previous disrespect."

  The dragon couldn't help but secretly sigh and said, "Don't be like this. Actually, I haven't done anything. However, from now on, you can have fish to eat. Every other day, you can go to the riverbank and wait, at which time, the fish spirit in the river will deliver 100 fresh fish. With these fish, your lives will necessarily get better from now on. Yu Hua, I'm really sorry, but I truly cannot accept you as my disciple right now. I'm not some superior immortal, just an ordinary cultivator. If you really want to take this path, it's not impossible, and I can give you some guidance. Firstly, cultivation requires a very long time, and perhaps in this lifetime, you won't be able to see your loved ones again. Secondly, cultivation requires a resolute heart, and you absolutely cannot give up halfway. If you can do these two things, then in November of this year, you can go to the outside of Lianyun Mountain in the Western Regions and wait. The sect I belong to, Lianyun Sect, is located there, and the opportunity will depend on your own grasp. Sorry, I'll take my leave first." After finishing speaking, he slightly released his magical power, shook off Yu Hua who was holding onto him, and floated up, transforming into a wisp of ethereal shadow that disappeared from everyone's line of sight.

  The final chapter of today has arrived