Sage of Humanity
Chapter 1392 - 1390: Turbulent Fishing Conditions
These people have been trading White Spirits here for years, so their price estimates for this item are quite precise, ensuring that the price is usually fair.
And if luck is on your side, you might even sell it for a higher price than usual, like Qiuh Pingyang before. When he needed to host distinguished guests, he was in urgent need of a White Spirit. If he had participated in the auction then, he would have definitely offered a higher price.
Seven or eight people chimed in one after another, and the price of the White Spirit kept rising steadily, until finally, someone offered 5,300 jade, marking the end of the auction.
Lu Ye handed the White Spirit over to that person and received 5,300 jade, concluding the transaction.
There's no need to worry about losses, because auctions like this rarely result in losses. Plus, it saves the trouble of finding a buyer yourself, even though this item sells well. Returning to All Phenomena Island would take Lu Ye quite some time.
The seven or eight people gathered nearby dispersed, waiting for other opportunities. The cultivator who obtained the White Spirit called over a ferryboat and quickly left, clearly intending to process it soon. The fresher the White Spirit, the tastier it is, and its value for elixir creation increases. Although it won't spoil in a storage ring, it's still best not to keep it too long.
So generally, once a White Spirit is out of the water, it will either be eaten or made into an elixir within two or three days. No one keeps it for any longer.
Lu Ye tidied his fishing gear and reattached a bait pill to the hook.
A sarcastic voice came from a hundred feet to the left: "A newbie's luck sure is amazing!"
In the angler's community, there's an odd legend: newbies always have great luck and usually make a catch easily. Of course, it's not always true. Take that specter from the Specter Race, for instance—after getting into this line on a whim, she never felt the joy of fishing even until bankruptcy. She only experienced boundless anxiety, pain, regret, and remorse...
Lu Ye had only been here for less than half a day and already made a catch. To the veteran anglers, what else could it be but luck?
Cast the line into the water, and the main body quickly retrieves the bait pill from underwater, leaving an empty hook, and swiftly swims away.
Having caught one fish already, it would be unwise to catch a second one in a short time, so the main body couldn't stay underwater, taking the bait pill with it to avoid unnecessary waste.
This thing is worth a hundred jade, after all.
Dozens of miles away, the main body returned. As it headed out to sea, someone passed by nearby, but they didn't find it strange. Cultivators are numerous in the All Phenomena Ocean, and some are curious about the deep sea. As long as they don't linger, there's generally no problem.
Holding a piece of spirit jade in each hand, Lu Ye sat down, calming his mind for cultivation while also working on the Defense Spirit Runes he hadn't finished before.
This is quite good.
When the main body remained in the sea, it was equivalent to passive cultivation, and the efficiency was very high. The only cost was the consumption of the Talent Tree's resources.
Returning to this reef, he continued cultivating. This way, his cultivation not only didn't lag but was even faster than normal.
The doppelganger fished over there, and when the time was right, it could catch one, meaning spirit jade would never run out!
Lu Ye suddenly realized that the All Phenomena Ocean is truly a great place!
But he knew he couldn't stay this comfortable forever.
No one is foolish, especially not in the cultivator community, where each might have lived countless years. Each is as sharp as a tack. Even if he catches a White Spirit every few days, over time, this will inevitably draw attention. It doesn't make sense for so many anglers to fish, and only Li Taibai has consistent catches.
So Lu Ye planned to both fish and catch, occasionally capturing a few White Spirits and not putting them on the hook, but instead having the main body change appearance and take them back to All Phenomena Island to sell. This plan would be more sustainable and discreet.
In the days that followed, without the help of the main body, the doppelganger indeed got no catches, and even broke a set of fishing lines, suffering significant losses.
Of the three sets of fishing lines the specter sold him, only one set remained!
Feeling the time was right, the main body went into action once again.
Just like last time, it lurked beside a hook with a bait pill, waiting for the right moment to strike, capturing a White Spirit, and stunning it a few times so it wasn't as lively, making it easier to reel in.
The whole process went smoothly. When Lu Ye's second White Spirit emerged from the water after several days, the anglers on both sides were dumbfounded.
They had been struggling here for over ten days, with only one fish each to barely break even, while Lu Ye, in just a few days, had caught two.
Could a newbie's luck really be this good?
The cultivators responsible for purchasing White Spirits gathered around again. This time, the White Spirit was much larger than the last, selling for nearly 6,000 jade.
If the previous one only broke even, then this one was pure profit.
In just a few days, earning over 6,000 jade was undeniably satisfying for a solitary person like Lu Ye.
Several days later, when Lu Ye harvested his third White Spirit and sold it for over 5,000 jade, the anglers on both sides could no longer sit still.
Watching others reap rewards was quite vexing.
The anglers on both sides seemed to know each other and exchanged words via Mental Consciousness, after which Lu Ye saw them moving together toward his position from the left and right.
Soon, with a tacit understanding, they cast their lines into the water, ten feet away from Lu Ye.
The one on the left was the previously sarcastic young man with a large, prominent mole beside his nose, and the one on the right appeared to be an elder around fifty years old.
Noticing Lu Ye's gaze, the young man couldn't even bother acknowledging Lu Ye, acting oblivious.
The old man chuckled and said, "Let's fish together, let's fish together. Fellow Daoist, it seems like the fish situation on your side is thriving; you can't catch them all by yourself."
This feels a bit shameless...
Everyone is spaced a hundred feet apart, and it's not like these two haven't hooked any fish—they just can't pull them up. There's no reason for them to crowd me.
Lu Ye thought it was probably envy and frustration at play. The way these two were acting was definitely bullying towards him, the newcomer.
If it were combat, Lu Ye wouldn't hesitate; he'd just swing his blade.
But since everyone was just fishing, fighting would ruin the mood and likely provoke anger from others.
The main point was these two probably had other acquaintances. If Lu Ye really fought them, he'd be at a disadvantage. He only knew Piao Ke, a casual acquaintance, and couldn't expect him to jump in to help.
In the end, the hundred-foot distance was just an unspoken rule; no one was required to follow it.
Lu Ye glanced at the old man and then looked away without saying much.
The old man and the young man with a mole exchanged a knowing look, smiling slightly with a sense of smugness.
Deep under the sea, the original body shifted, slowly searching for the location of the old man's bait pill...
Honestly, if the old man weren't so close to the doppelganger, it wouldn't be easy for the original body to find his bait pill. The sea water of the All Phenomena Ocean suppressed Mental Consciousness too much. A Constellation Mid-Stage like Lu Ye could only extend his Mental Consciousness three inches away from his body, making it practically useless underwater.
The depths of the ocean were also pitch dark. The original body could easily find the doppelganger's bait pill location because they had a connection, and the doppelganger could provide accurate guidance.
If they were truly a hundred feet apart, Lu Ye would most likely have to rely on luck to find someone else's bait pill.
But since they were so close, it was much easier to locate it.
After finding the old man's bait pill, the original body gently pinched it and then suddenly exerted force.
The old man immediately sensed something. His fishing skills were undoubtedly exceptional; he raised the pole slightly without using much force at all.
Yet, the moment the fishing line went taut, his expression changed. Before he could adjust, the line snapped.
Staring at the broken line, the old man wasn't upset; instead, he was exhilarated: "A big catch!"
Only a big catch would tug so powerfully. If he managed to reel it in, it would easily sell for over ten thousand spirit jade, maybe even more.
He quickly took out another set of fishing lines, baited it again, and cast it into the water.
The original body had already moved to the other side, found the bait pill of the young man with a mole, and similarly grabbed and yanked it.
As a result, the young man with a mole faced the same treatment as the old man!
His expression also became excited, secretly imagining the joy of landing a big fish.
For the next half-day, the old man and the young man with a mole kept raising their poles, but invariably, the bait pills would either go missing, or the fishing lines would break.
Most of the time, it was the bait pills that went missing...
The main reason was that Lu Ye didn't know how many sets of fishing lines they had, so he couldn't snap too many. Otherwise, if they run out of lines and stopped fishing, he wouldn't be able to get more bait pills.
These experiences only made the old man and the young man with a mole more convinced that they encountered a big catch, as ordinary White Spirits nibbled cautiously on bait.
Only those kinds of unusually large catches would gulp down the bait whole, given their large mouths.
But as time passed, their expressions shifted from excitement and anticipation to disappointment and despair...
Until a certain moment, the old man looked at the empty hook, full of melancholy: "Why is today's fish activity so aggressive?"
He had exhausted all the bait pills he brought. In less than two hours, he had lost over three thousand spirit jade.
This was something he had never encountered in his decades of fishing.
He looked at Lu Ye with curiosity: "Little friend, haven't you had any action on your side?"
He and the young man with a mole had surrounded Lu Ye, and while the two of them continually raised their poles, Lu Ye's side was unusually calm, with not even a nibble, which was clearly suspicious.
Lu Ye lightly lifted his rod, revealing an empty hook, and said nonchalantly, "I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I forgot to bait it."
The old man blinked, unsure if Lu Ye was telling the truth or lying. But judging by his and the young man's experiences, Lu Ye not baiting his hook undoubtedly spared him from a disaster, at least avoiding unnecessary loss.
The old man left in low spirits; he needed to return to All Phenomena Island to buy more bait pills.
The young man with a mole persisted for a bit longer but inevitably met the same fate as the old man. Before leaving, he was visibly furious!
For anglers, nothing is more frustrating than knowing there's a big catch, yet somehow being unable to reel it in!