NOVEL NEXT Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Fishing
With no clues or direction, finding a way out seemed to have hit a bottleneck. As Lin Xiao walked along, he couldn't help but notice that the temperature seemed to have dropped a bit—though he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.
Unlike the ice cave, outside it had begun to snow. The snowfall grew heavier, and visibility decreased noticeably. Lin Xiao had to rely more on his spiritual sense to navigate.
The ground, which had been frozen solid, was now covered with a thick layer of snow, making normal walking difficult. Lin Xiao resorted to using his Treading on Air technique to travel above the snow, which, fortunately, didn't consume much spiritual energy since he was just moving at a normal pace.
As he walked, he suddenly spotted a large group of cultivators gathered around a broad ice lake, fishing in the snow. The lake was half nestled against a large snowy mountain. Most of the cultivators were fishing from the flat shore opposite the mountain, crowded together, sitting on thick wooden stakes driven into the snow, calmly casting their fishing rods into the lake.
Every so often, someone would smile joyfully and pull on their rod, hauling up a large, nearly meter-long silver-tailed black-scaled fish and tossing it into a big bag by their side.
Seeing how harmoniously these people were fishing together, Lin Xiao was puzzled. It was his first time in this secret realm, and although he had gathered a lot of information beforehand, he still didn't fully understand everything. He wasn't too familiar with the beasts that were said to appear in the realm in the coming days.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to join this group of cultivators. Safety in numbers!
Besides, he was eager to catch one of those silver-tailed fish. If he could take it back and have Fuzi cook it, it might even taste better than the small dish they had at Xianxiang Restaurant!
Looking around, Lin Xiao found a lone cultivator who seemed approachable and quietly asked, "Hey, brother, if there are fish in the lake, why don't you use spells to catch them? Why bother fishing one by one?"
The man looked up and saw a very young boy who, at first glance, didn't reveal his cultivation level. He smiled warmly and replied, "Brother, this must be your first time in this secret realm, right? This ice lake is the only place in the entire realm where you can find silver-tailed fish. But for some strange reason, no spells work in this lake—only regular fishing can catch the fish.
"So, what do you think? Want to give it a try? You're in luck; this ice lake just appeared today, and you stumbled upon it! I've got an extra fishing rod I can sell you for cheap—only 100 spirit stones! The quality is guaranteed, just like the one I'm using. Think about it—each silver-tailed fish is worth 50 spirit stones! Catch a third one, and you'll be making a profit!"
Hearing the price, Lin Xiao thought to himself, That's steep! But he smiled and replied, "I see. Thanks for the offer, brother, but I brought my own rod, so no need to trouble you." As he spoke, Lin Xiao pulled out a fishing rod from his private stash.
He had bought this rod after hearing others recommend it while gathering information in Yuanling City. The market price for a decent rod was around 50 spirit stones—manageable, and since catching just one fish would cover the cost, Lin Xiao had bought one.
The man looked a bit disappointed but quickly recovered, shifting his wooden stake over a bit and saying, "Come on, brother, fate brought us together! I'll make some space for you. We can squeeze in together." Then, eyeing Lin Xiao, he added, "I've also got some really comfortable wooden stakes for sitting—only 20 spirit stones each. Interested?"
But before he could finish his pitch, Lin Xiao had already pulled out a thicker, sturdier wooden stake from his stash and firmly planted it in the snow. Turning back with a grin, he asked, "Sorry, brother, what were you saying? The snow's so heavy I didn't hear you."
The man smacked his lips and said, "Brother, you're well-prepared for your first time in this realm!"
After some small talk, Lin Xiao joined the group, sitting on his stake and fishing in the heavy snow, becoming one of the many anglers on the ice lake's shore.
Fortunately, the cultivators here were all at least at the eighth or ninth level of the Qi Refining stage, so the thick snowflakes that fell on them melted instantly, preventing them from being buried like snowmen.
Before long, Lin Xiao experienced his first catch—a meter-long silver-tailed fish! Instead of putting it directly into his private stash, he followed the others' example and placed it in a large bag he had prepared in advance.
This large bag, also purchased in Yuanling City, could hold up to 50 fish of this size. However, it was only a temporary solution since the bag couldn't keep the fish alive for more than 24 hours. After that, the fish would die.
Some cultivators who had finished fishing would take their bags to a large ice platform in a sheltered area and start cleaning the fish on the spot, storing the cleaned fish in their storage bags. Storage bags couldn't hold live creatures, and spirit beast bags were expensive and had limited capacity, so they had to make do with this method.
Other cultivators with empty spirit beast bags would store a few live silver-tailed fish inside, as selling live fish to places like Xianxiang Restaurant or wealthy families would fetch a higher price.
Watching this, Lin Xiao asked the system, "Can my private stash store live creatures? I want to see if I can keep these fish alive."
Ding—Congratulations, host, for unlocking the private stash's live storage area. Note: This area can only store low-level creatures. High-level creatures with spiritual awareness (level 1 and above) cannot be stored.
It seemed the system was full of surprises, revealing new functions only when pushed. But Lin Xiao was satisfied with the result.
With this new capability, he felt energized and began fishing with renewed vigor.
Gradually, his large bag filled with more and more silver-tailed fish. The atmosphere among the fishing group was surprisingly good—there were no fights, thefts, or disputes. Perhaps the large crowd deterred any ill-intentioned individuals from making a move.