Chapter 15: Big Fish! Magical Fish Stone

In a bend of the river, Lu Qing finally discovered a new fishing spot.

[Beginner Fishing Spot: A place rich in nutrients and lush with aquatic plants, a favorite foraging spot for fish schools.]

[There are strange fruits growing above this spot, which are a favorite food of certain strange fish. Fishing here might bring an unexpected surprise.]

The white light it emitted was actually much richer than the beginner fishing spot he had discovered before.

“Strange fruits growing above?”

Lu Qing looked up and searched the bank of the fishing spot.

Soon, a few strangely shaped plants caught his attention.

Under the investigation of his special ability, these plants also emitted a white light.

[Blood Apricot Tree: Can bear blood apricots, non-toxic, can be used for medicinal purposes.]

[It is rumored that blood apricots contain a special substance that is very popular with certain strange fish.]

“Blood apricots?”

Lu Qing looked at the small red fruits, the size of a little finger, hanging on the tree.

Is this the strange fruit that the strange fish likes to eat?

His heart stirred, and he walked forward.

Fortunately, the blood apricot tree was not too tall, and he easily picked a handful.

“Brother, this fruit looks so delicious.”

When Xiao Yan saw the bright red blood apricots in Lu Qing’s hand, she couldn’t help but swallow.

“This is not for eating.”

Although the information from his special ability indicated that blood apricots were non-toxic, it also said that this thing could be used for medicinal purposes. Since it was medicine, Lu Qing didn’t dare to let Xiao Yan eat it casually.

“It’s not for eating? Then why did you pick it, brother?”

“For fishing. Some fish really like to eat this kind of fruit. I want to see if I can use it to catch a big fish,” Lu Qing explained.

“Big fish also like to eat fruit?” Xiao Yan’s eyes widened.

“Yes, fish like to eat many things. Earthworms, fruits, corn, grass, they like to eat them all.”

“They also like to eat corn and grass?!” The little girl’s eyes widened even more.

It was the first time she had heard these things, and she immediately felt it was magical.

“So Xiao Yan can’t eat this fruit. It’s for catching big fish.”

“Mhm, mhm! I know!” The little girl nodded repeatedly.

Compared to the fruit, she was still more interested in the big fish.

“Xiao Yan, you wait here first. I’ll tidy up this area.”

After instructing Xiao Yan not to run around, Lu Qing tied the short-handled firewood knife he had brought to a wooden stick and began to clear the weeds and miscellaneous trees on the bank of the fishing spot.

Lu Qing had done this kind of thing countless times in his past life, so he was naturally adept at it.

Before long, he had cleared the weeds and miscellaneous trees on the bank and created a good fishing spot.

As for the few blood apricot trees, he didn’t touch them. After all, they were white-light level plants and were very valuable.

After the fishing spot was ready, Lu Qing prepared to start fishing.

He still didn’t chum the water. The grain at home was not so abundant that he could afford to be so extravagant.

In any case, the resources in this other world’s river were abundant, and he had a natural fishing spot chosen by his special ability. Even without chumming, he was still confident of catching fish.

Sitting on the bank, Lu Qing still planned to start with earthworms to ensure their food for the next two days.

He baited the hook with an earthworm, cast it into the water, and the float landed on the surface.

As expected of the fishing spot with the richest white light among the several spots chosen by his special ability.

Lu Qing had just put his hook down, and before he could even put down his fishing rod, he saw the float already moving.

It trembled a few times, then plunged sharply downwards.

With a flick of his wrist, Lu Qing heard a whoosh and immediately pulled the fish up.

The fish was not big, a small white fish about two fingers wide.

Lu Qing raised his eyebrows. It seemed that this small white fish was one of the most common fish in this river, its presence was everywhere.

“It’s a small white fish!”

Xiao Yan also saw the appearance of the hooked fish and immediately shouted.

“Yes, a small white fish. It seems we’ll have a big harvest today.”

Lu Qing took the fish off the hook and put it in the bucket.

Catching a fish so quickly, a smooth start, gave him a premonition that he might really catch a big one today.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing’s spirits were lifted.

However, the subsequent development was a bit beyond Lu Qing’s expectations.

After catching a few more small fish, he put the hook down again. After a long time, there was no sign of a fish biting.

“If the small fish aren’t biting, it’s either because there are no more fish, or there’s a big one down there chasing away the small fish school.”

The experienced Lu Qing immediately made his judgment.

He decisively lifted the hook, removed the earthworm, and then took out a small cloth bag.

“It’s the secret weapon!”

Xiao Yan immediately recognized it as the thing her brother had put away when they left home.

Lu Qing opened the cloth bag and took out a few shiny yellow things.

They were a few fresh corn kernels.

Lu Qing had gotten this corn from Auntie Wang next door this morning, naturally for the purpose of using it as bait.

In his past life, when Lu Qing went wild fishing and wanted to catch big fish, he basically used corn.

Fish like carp and grass carp particularly liked to eat corn, and it was a tried and true method.

He wasn’t sure if the big fish in this world were the same, but he had to give it a try.

If it still didn’t work, he planned to switch to the freshly picked blood apricots.

He baited the hook with a plump, fresh corn kernel and started fishing again.

To his surprise, this time, it was again beyond his expectations.

The hook had just entered the water, the float hadn’t even settled, and he was half-squatting, about to sit down.

Suddenly, without any warning, the float plunged into the water and disappeared. The fishing line tightened, and a huge force came from the fishing rod, pulling Lu Qing off balance.

Fortunately, Lu Qing reacted quickly, took a step forward, and stabilized himself.

“You rascal, a sneak attack, huh!”

Holding the fishing rod tightly with both hands and feeling the pulling force from the rod, Lu Qing’s face was filled with excitement.

A big fish, this was definitely a big fish!
Such strength was definitely not something a fish smaller than five catties could produce.

Whoosh!

Seeing that it couldn’t break free, the fish below started to exert force again, pulling the fishing line so hard that it whistled.

“Trying to escape from my hands? No way!”

Seeing the fish below exert force again, Lu Qing was not flustered at all. He gently loosened his hand, releasing most of the pulling force.

Then he tightened it again and continued to fight with the fish below.

This new fishing rod of his had been certified by his special ability to withstand a hundred catties of force. He didn’t believe this fish could break it.

“Go, brother!”

Xiao Yan, who was beside him, was also very nervous at this time.

But she didn’t dare to shout loudly, afraid of scaring away the big fish. She could only clench her small fists and cheer for her brother in a low voice.

The following time was a battle of wits and strength between Lu Qing and the fish.

The two sides pulled back and forth for a full half an hour before Lu Qing felt the fish’s strength begin to weaken.

“I’ve finally tired you out,” Lu Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

This tug-of-war had also consumed a lot of his stamina.

If it weren’t for the acupuncture from Old Doctor Chen two days ago, which had restored a lot of his vital energy, he really might not have been able to outlast this guy.

Once the fish reached its limit, it was even more impossible for it to escape from Lu Qing’s grasp.

After a while, with another burst of strength from Lu Qing, this big fish that had been fighting with him for a long time finally surfaced.

The two siblings finally got a glimpse of the fish’s true appearance.

“What a big fish!”

When she saw the fish’s head and back, Xiao Yan could no longer hold back her cry of surprise.

Even Lu Qing couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

Good heavens, with this size, this fish must be over ten catties.

Forcibly suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lu Qing continued to hold the fishing rod tightly.

The closer you get to the end of fishing, the less you can relax.

Otherwise, if the fish escaped at the last moment, he would probably regret it for half a day when he was eighty years old.

However, despite all his caution, an accident still happened when Lu Qing was about to land the fish.

Because he discovered a very important problem.

He hadn’t prepared a landing net!

Of course, he couldn’t really be blamed for this, because there was no such thing as a landing net at home.

Not to mention a landing net, there wasn’t even a net bag.

Without a landing net, he couldn’t just land the fish. Lu Qing could only choose to continue to play it.

He waited until the fish was completely exhausted before letting Xiao Yan hold the fishing rod. He then lay on the bank, planning to personally lift the fish up.

This was actually dangerous, because a fish of this size, if it still had some strength left, could knock a person out with a flick of its tail.

Fortunately, this fish was indeed completely exhausted by Lu Qing.

In the end, everything was thrilling but safe, and the fish was still lifted up by Lu Qing.

“Brother, this big fish seems to be taller than me!”

When the fish was brought to the bank far from the river, Xiao Yan measured it and exclaimed in amazement.

“It seems to be a little taller.”

Lu Qing looked, and it seemed to be true.

This big fish was over a meter long. If it were held up, it would indeed be a little taller than Xiao Yan.

“Let me see what kind of fish this is.”

Lu Qing saw that this big fish had a slender body, and its scales were as neat and shiny as armor plates, looking a bit domineering.

He immediately used his special ability to check the information of the big fish.

Under his gaze, a rich white light soon appeared on the big fish’s body.

“It’s a white light.”

Lu Qing was a little disappointed.

He was thinking that such a big fish might reach the red-light level.

But on second thought, he felt that he was being too greedy.

If this big fish was at the red-light level, it was uncertain whether he could have pulled it up.

You know, he had only seen red-light level things twice.

One was Old Doctor Chen, and the other was the Snow Silkworm Silk.

And both of them were extraordinary.

Old Doctor Chen was a cultivator, and the Snow Silkworm Silk was a strange treasure.

If this big fish also reached the red-light level, it might have some special abilities.

In that case, it was uncertain who would be pulling whom.

Maybe he would have been dragged into the water in the first round.

After calming down, Lu Qing focused his attention on the newly appeared line of text.

[Green Armored Fish: A large fish species, covered in green armored scales, a hegemon in the river. Contains a fish stone.]

[It is rumored that a mature Green Armored Fish has a fish stone in its throat. If it is taken out, polished, and worn, it has the effect of calming the soul and steadying the mind.]

When Lu Qing saw the information on the line of text, he was pleasantly surprised.

A fish stone!

This big fish he had just caught actually had a fish stone!
Lu Qing was no stranger to fish stones.

In his past life, he had once caught a wild big green fish weighing more than twenty catties, and it had a fish stone inside.

At that time, a boss offered to buy it from him for tens of thousands of yuan, but he didn’t sell it.

As for the reason, besides liking it, it was naturally because there was a rumor in the fishing circle.

That is, a fish stone of sufficient age has the function of ensuring safety.

Lu Qing didn’t know if the fish stones in his past life could ensure safety.

But the fish stone in this Green Armored Fish’s body was recognized by his special ability as having the effect of calming the soul and steadying the mind.

It just so happened that ever since her parents passed away, Xiao Yan had not been sleeping well at night. She often woke up from nightmares and needed him to hold her to continue sleeping.

If the fish stone of this Green Armored Fish was really so magical, that would be great.

In his excitement, Lu Qing almost couldn’t help but directly gut this Green Armored Fish.

Fortunately, he was still rational and finally restrained himself.

“Brother, how are we going to take this big fish home? The bucket doesn’t seem to fit,” Xiao Yan asked with some distress.

She had just measured it. This big fish was much taller than the wooden bucket they had brought, and it couldn’t fit in at all.

“It’s okay, I’ll make a grass rope later and carry it back on my back!” Lu Qing said with full confidence.

It was just a big fish of ten or twenty catties.

He had already caught the fish, was he afraid he couldn’t carry it back?

“Is that so? Then are we still going to fish?” Xiao Yan asked again.

This question stumped Lu Qing.

Based on his usual experience, he had just fought with this Green Armored Fish for so long, playing it all over the water near the fishing spot.

Usually at this time, the spot would have been completely spooked. Even if there were fish, they would have all run away.

But when he thought of the blood apricots he had picked earlier, he hesitated a little.

According to the information given by his special ability, blood apricots were a favorite food of certain strange fish.

As a seasoned fishing enthusiast, he was really quite curious about the so-called strange fish.

What was so special about something that could be crowned with the word “strange” by his special ability?

Even this Green Armored Fish with a fish stone didn’t seem to be called strange by his special ability.

So what was so strange about the so-called strange fish?

After struggling for a while, Lu Qing finally decided to fish for a while longer.

It was called a strange fish, after all. What if they weren’t afraid of the Green Armored Fish and hadn’t been scared away?

And so, with this侥幸, Lu Qing filled a bucket with water, put the Green Armored Fish head down, barely soaking it in the bucket, and then sat down at the fishing spot again.

However, he had also made up his mind to only fish for a while.

After a while, if there were still no fish biting, he would go home. Otherwise, the Green Armored Fish wouldn’t be able to last too long.

Dead fish are not as delicious as live fish.

After getting into position again, Lu Qing directly baited the hook with a blood apricot this time.

He cast the hook into the water and began to wait quietly.

Time passed by, and soon, half an hour had passed.

The float didn’t move at all, as if it were stationary.

“So the spot is really spooked, huh? Even the strange fish can’t avoid it,” Lu Qing sighed.

This result was not beyond his expectations.

It was just that he had been holding on to a sliver of hope just now.

“I should go back.”

Just as Lu Qing was about to pack up his fishing rod and prepare to go home, he suddenly saw the float plunge into the water!

(End of this chapter)