CHAPTER 496: CHAPTER 496: KOI FISH

"Huh?"

Li Yong was taken aback. Wasn’t it him who first spotted this koi?

The koi in his living room’s fish tank had just died, lacking one to maintain Feng Shui. He had planned to visit the town’s fish market in a couple of days.

But after studying this morning, he happened to crave some fish, so he strolled to the dock, unexpectedly finding a koi there.

This koi was tri-colored, its red, white, and blue interlaced gracefully, its body long and elegant—probably prettier than most on the fish market, perfect for the white porcelain fish tank with a narrow neck.

Although the big man’s asking price was slightly high, Li Yong hadn’t even started bargaining yet, and someone had already agreed to the price.

"Lu Lang, look at the eyes of this fish, don’t they seem particularly pitiful?"

Liu Qingyan lightly leaned over, approaching the fish hold on the boat to look at the koi.

"Let’s take it back and keep it in the pond at the courtyard."

Lu Zheng had combined several courtyard houses, modeled after Suzhou gardens, with small bridges and flowing waters. Though the water was still, it was planted with aquatic plants and lotuses. Occasionally using True Qi for filtration, the water was clear, with a few koi swimming.

"Sure!" Lu Zheng nodded, then reached for his sleeve and pulled out three treasure notes, each worth one thousand coins, handing them to the boatman.

"By the way, there’s a wooden bucket on the boat, right? Give me one. How much is it?" Lu Zheng asked.

"No charge! No charge!" The big man accepted the treasure notes, beaming with joy, waved his hands repeatedly, and had his companion fetch a wooden bucket from the cabin. He then scooped the koi along with half a bucket of water from the fish hold.

Li Yong didn’t utter a word as the transaction between Lu Zheng and the boatman was completed.

He blinked, pouted, and shook his head.

Forget it. A gentleman doesn’t take away someone else’s fondness, especially when it was a pretty girl who spoke up; he could always visit the fish market later in the afternoon.

"Boatman, get me two fat fish." Li Yong nodded and smiled at Lu Zheng, then turned to the big man and said.

"Alright, alright!" The big man nodded, pleased with the good business, grabbing a rope with one hand while reaching for fish in the hold with the other.

Holding the bucket with one hand and fish with the other, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan turned, nodding to Li Yong, and took their leave.

Li Yong returned the nod, paid, and took the two fish handed over by the big man. He was about to strike up a conversation with Lu Zheng when he realized they were suddenly nowhere in sight.

"Huh?" Li Yong blinked, wondering if they were that fast.

Holding two fish, Li Yong quickly walked out of the dock, standing at its edge and looking around, yet still didn’t find them.

"How strange." Li Yong shook his head, glancing around at several carriages near the dock, but didn’t investigate further.

"Never mind, maybe they are young masters or misses from the State Capital on an outing; since it’s missed, it wasn’t meant to be."

Shaking his head, dismissing the feeling of having missed something significant, Li Yong quickly headed home to cook with the two fish.

Above the clouds, Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan watched Li Yong talking to himself as he left, exchanged a smile, then turned their cloud back towards Tonglin County.

...

On the cloud, Lu Zheng looked at the koi in the bucket, lost in thought.

Liu Qingyan’s eyes glimmered as she glanced from Lu Zheng to the koi, chuckling, "What’s wrong, Lu Lang? Worried this koi will be bullied by those bigger ones?"

"That’s not it; just hoping it doesn’t bully the regular koi." Lu Zheng shook his head.

"Hmm?" Liu Qingyan was taken aback. There was more to Lu Zheng’s words, could it be...

She sent out a stream of Demon Power into the koi, inspecting it, but found nothing unusual.

Liu Qingyan looked at Lu Zheng, who simply smiled and nodded.

In truth, Lu Zheng hadn’t thought much of it initially, as it was just an ordinary koi, common in the world.

The problem was, right after agreeing with Liu Qingyan to buy the koi and exchanging money and goods with the boatman, he received over three hundred, close to four hundred, points of Light of Fortune, almost scaring him to death.

Either it was from this koi or from that scholar Li Yong.

Or perhaps the two of them added together!

It was more than what the two old demons from Du Yu Mountain had provided!

Could it also be an old demon?

Thus, even after exploring with True Qi three times without detecting anything unusual, Lu Zheng wasn’t going to assume it was just an ordinary koi.

So the question arose, how to deal with this koi?

"What to do?"

"Naturally, release it," Lu Zheng said matter-of-factly, "I’ll descend the cloud and release it back into the river."

No matter what, safety came first. Lu Zheng couldn’t bring the koi home. Besides, having earned several hundred strands of Light of Fortune, he wasn’t at a loss!

"But..."

Liu Qingyan hesitated, "What if it gets captured again by a regular fisherman?"

With such a beautiful koi, Liu Qingyan had a natural bit of sympathy.

"Oh, right."

Lu Zheng blinked, realizing that if this fish was an old demon, how could it be so easily caught?

If it encountered someone with no appreciation, who cooked it directly, what then?

Could it be...

It’s known that the Light of Fortune isn’t wholly related to one’s own strength, encompassing skill, potential, luck, and influence, with strength being the most apparent representation.

Thus, old demon Light of Fortune was abundant, and Zhu Yushan, Du Yueyao, and Wang Xiaowan would gain it when changing fortunes.

And in front of him, if this koi were an old demon, it wouldn’t let mortals catch it easily, having long revealed its form to consume them.

This behavior suggested either high potential with low strength or an age-old monster gravely wounded.

No matter, facing this koi, Lu Zheng should be capable of handling it.

If so...

"Speak up, about your origins?"

Lu Zheng calmly inquired while holding Liu Qingyan, ready to react or escape if necessary.

If it were a man-eating demon, he’d kill it for the Light of Fortune; if a noble in distress, save it for the Light of Fortune.

As he finished speaking, he watched the bucket closely, observing the koi swimming with no reaction.

Lu Zheng grimaced, threatening, "If you don’t explain, I’ll cook you for soup back home!"

Buying a fish yielding so much Light of Fortune, if cooked for soup, would it reach a thousand?

Lu Zheng swallowed, finding the idea tempting.

"Hmph! Sister Fox will protect me!"

A clear voice suddenly sounded from the koi’s mouth.

Liu Qingyan was startled. Was it truly a demon?

Lu Zheng was equally surprised. This koi could see through Liu Qingyan’s true form?

An age-old demon! It must be an age-old demon!

Lu Zheng squinted, protecting Liu Qingyan while keeping a safe distance from the bucket, "Junior Lu Zheng of White Cloud Temple, I request the senior to show themselves."

"Hehe? Do you call me senior?"

The koi’s voice was filled with amusement, but then it asked, "How did you discover me? No one has ever seen through the Transformation Technique taught by my father king."

Liu Qingyan looked at Lu Zheng, who explained calmly, "First, the big koi in the fish hold were avoiding you, which was unusual.

Second, when the boatman scooped you with the bucket, you weren’t panicked or struggling, not typical fish behavior.

Third, your eyes held a certain spirit, unlike ordinary fish."

He was joking; knowing the outcome, guessing the process is simple, isn’t it?

"Oh, that’s how it was? You’re amazing!" The koi was indeed fooled.

"So..."

In the next moment, the koi leapt out of the bucket, instantly transforming into a human figure.