Chapter 307: Chapter 205: Fisherman_3

However, a vast darkness, boundless and immeasurable.

Only the bright lights of a few large ships in the distance, along with some dark canopy boats equally adorned with oil lamps, were cruising and shuttling around.

Clearly, she wasn’t the only one hoping to “try her luck.”

“No good, too many people, even if you collide with some, you can’t snatch anything.”

“We can only go where there are fewer people, but there are Black Night Forks active in the center of the lake.”

“Right…”

As if she thought of something, Qing turned the boat around and headed for another area of water.

The dark canopy boat gradually moved away, and the lights around it also dwindled.

This was a “barren” area of water, with what seemed to be underground streams below, and only one-way streams at that, making the area rarely visited by fish or fishermen.

When she was younger, less aggressive and fierce, she couldn’t compete with the other fishermen, so she had to fish in places like this, and over time, she became familiar with it.

Although Spirit Fish had now appeared, this place remained unchanged, the fish were still sparse, and there were even fewer fishermen, which ironically gave her, a lone woman, a bit of an opportunity…

“Elder sister, look!”

A shout called her back to her senses.

“What is it?”

Qing looked in the direction of the voice and saw her younger brother leaning out of the window, staring ahead with a face full of surprise.

Qing looked up again and saw that ahead, a dark canopy boat was stationed on the surface of the lake, its prow also adorned with a lamp, but unlike the pitifully small fish oil lamp of their home, this lamp was bright and luminous, like a sun.

“That’s a lamp fueled by Blackfork Fish oil, only that kind of oil can ignite such a lamp!”

“A dark canopy boat, using such a lamp?”

“Could it be…”

With a jump in her heart, Qing looked intently and saw an old man sitting at the prow of the boat under the light.

He was draped in a straw raincoat, with a conical hat behind him, his hair completely gray and his face deeply wrinkled with age spots—all signs of the years he’d weathered, an utterly ordinary old Fisherman.

But it was this very old Fisherman…

He sat at the head of the boat, holding an extremely thin and long bamboo rod, fishing.

The bamboo rod was very long, with the thick end fitting nicely in his hand, but the thin tip at the front was somewhat unsuitable, even thinner than a girl’s little finger by a third.

An eight-foot fishing rod with such a slender tip, made of green bamboo material, could not help but raise doubts—should a fish take the bait, could the tip withstand it?

No, in this place, nets hardly caught a few fish, how could one possibly catch anything by fishing, especially on this cold winter night, with the north wind howling…

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

While her thoughts were still unsettled, the fishing rod suddenly dipped, the fishing line pulled rapidly, and a dark shadow emerged below the water.

“This…”

Qing stood rooted to the spot, somewhat taken aback.

The old man’s expression remained unchanged as he lifted the rod with one hand, with just a flick.

“Bang!!!”

As the fishing rod was lifted, like the crack of a whip, the strength turned into power in a burst, shattering the surface of the water as a dark shape flew out, landing on the boat deck.

“This is…”

“Black Night Fork!”

Qing’s pupils shrank as she gazed at the black-scaled large fish that had been pulled aboard, showing a look of horror.

With scales like armor and sharp, dagger-like teeth, it was a notorious monster fish of the Wuzhe Lake—the Black Night Fork.

The fish had the strength of an ox and was more ferocious than tigers or leopards in water, often attacking fishermen and capable of capsizing boats. Each year numerous fishermen would die at its hands.

But now…

“Bang!”

The three-foot-long, over a hundred pounds heavy Black Night Fork fish, was kicked directly into the fish hold by the Fisherman, and then there was no more movement, as if it had become a dead fish, showing none of the usual fierce valor of the “Black Night Fork.”

“Did this man just knock out the Black Night Fork with one kick?”

“How is that possible?”

“Could this be the legendary Martial World expert?”

“I heard that recently, quite a few figures from the Martial World have come to Wuzhe Lake…”

“Forget it, better to keep a distance.”

The old man sat back down and resumed fishing.

Qing also snapped out of her shock, began to row away.

Yet just then, she saw…

In the darkness, a bright light flashed by.

“Spirit Fish!”

Qing’s pupils contracted, ready to dive into the water, but at the last moment, reason stopped her.

In the darkness, the light was visible but not near her boat. Instead, it was in the center of the lake, in front of the old fisherman.

Wasn’t he a master capable of catching the Black Night Fork? To compete with him, was she seeking death?

Qing decisively chose to back down.

The old fisherman, too, did not enter the water but continued to fish with his bamboo rod, making Qing secretly anxious.

“Spirit Fish aren’t as fierce as the Black Night Fork; they’re just faster, stronger, and emit light. Diving in to catch them is the quickest method. How long will he fish like this? Perhaps it will simply escape—doesn’t he fear that?”

“Right, a Spirit Fish for ten silvers, even without tax no more than twenty. A Black Night Fork can fetch the same price; of course, he doesn’t care. How great it would be if I had such skill…”

“Slap slap slap!”

Before she could finish speaking, there was a splashing sound. The fisherman lifted his rod, and a Spirit Fish glowing with Spirit Light flew out of the water, landing precisely in front of him.

Only then did the fisherman reach out, remove the fishhook, and tossed the Spirit Fish into a fish basket beside him.

Wait, a fish basket?

Qing’s heart skipped a beat as she focused her gaze. Beside the old man, within the fish hold, there was indeed a fish basket, one that gleamed with sparkling light.

Could that be…

“Spirit Fish?”

“So many Spirit Fish?”

“He caught so many Spirit Fish?”

“This…”

Qing stared at the fish basket, dumbfounded, unable to accept it.

Just then…

“The esteemed senior truly has unparalleled fishing skills!”

“In less than half a night, a hundred Spirit Fish caught.”

“Impressive, impressive!”

“The world is full of remarkable people, and tonight I’ve opened my eyes once again.”

Loud voices echoed from all directions.

Qing was startled, coming back to her senses, and looked around.

Unbeknownst to her, lights had appeared from all around, all lit by Blackfork Fish oil lamps.

The lamps shone brightly, revealing boats and even well-crafted speedboats and dinghies, not the ordinary fishing boats with black canopies.

The speedboats moved swiftly, and though there were several people on each, no one was rowing—how they powered forward was a mystery.

In an instant, several speedboats converged from all around, but stayed at a distance, bowing respectfully to the old man and announcing their names.

“I am L Feihong from Jiangning Mansion, honored by the heroes of the Martial World with the title of Feihong Sword!”

“I am Li Batian from Jiangning Mansion. The friends of the Martial World jokingly call me the Iron Arm Divine Fist, but truly, I am unworthy of such praise.”

“I am Chen Hongtao from Ningzhou Prefecture…”

“I am Ning Bufan from Jiangzhou Mansion…”

“A pleasure to meet the senior!”

After introducing themselves, the old man gave no response.

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment, then tense.

Eventually, L Feihong broke the silence, “May I ask for your esteemed name, senior?”

Only then did the old fisherman reply, “A wanderer has no name to speak of, just a Fisherman fishing on the lake.”

“So it’s the Fisherman senior!”

The statement was neither warm nor cold, but L Feihong smoothly went with the flow, bowing and saying, “Senior has refined taste, fishing here at night. We’ve prepared a banquet on our boats, would you honor us with your presence?”

“Not interested.”

The Fisherman, holding his fishing rod, replied indifferently, “Come from where you will, return to where you should, and don’t scare my fish.”

“This…”

They looked at each other, frowning, but pushed on, “Without concealing it from the senior, the matter of the Spirit Fish in Wuzhe Lake is of great significance. It is not merely for our own private gain. If the senior insists on this and refuses to negotiate, then we will have no choice but to…”

“What will you do?”

The Fisherman cut in, “If you’re going to use force, then do it quickly. The night is only half over; there is still half a night’s fishing to be done.”