Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

That day, Han Ji's message finally arrived, saying that he had caught ten more blue-faced sables in the past year and wanted to exchange them for two bottles of superior Hundred Spirits Pills with Zhang Yuanjing. In the past few months, Zhang Yuanjing had refined several batches of Hundred Spirits Pills, and he had five bottles of superior pills, which was more than enough for the transaction.

He had not fished for many days, devoting most of his energy to figuring out how to use the sable king's unformed inner core to lure larger red-finned fire-striped fish. After repeated consideration, he had gained some insights.

However, now that Han Ji had sent a message, he had to hurry up and urge him about the Vermillion Cloud Pill. So, he arranged to meet him on the southern outskirts of Xizhou City, north of Mount Meng.

Xizhou City stood on the alluvial plain of the Red Creek River. The city was vast, populous, and very prosperous. Near the city's southern edge, in a rural area, there was a pavilion where villagers bid farewell to travelers. Zhang Yuanjing met Han Ji there. Only the two of them were in the pavilion. Half a mile away, the post road was bustling with people and very noisy.

After Han Ji greeted him, he requested the transaction. In the past year, his cultivation had progressed rapidly. Originally, he thought his aptitude was limited, so his cultivation was lukewarm. He had expectations of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, but he wasn't obsessed with it.

After obtaining a large number of Hundred Spirits Pills, he finally realized that his cultivation speed was not due to poor aptitude. The rapid progress of his fellow disciples in the palace was not due to their good aptitude either. Pills were the key factor. He was a smart man, but his background had limited his vision, leading him down too many detours and wasting too much time.

"Not in a hurry. Let me ask you, are you willing to do what you said last time?" Zhang Yuanjing gestured for him to be patient and sit down to talk.

"The risk is too great. This junior doesn't have much confidence," Han Ji said slowly after a moment of silence.

Zhang Yuanjing smiled. "So, you have a way? Everything has risks. The key is whether you want to do it or not."

"Senior, this junior is over eighty years old, and now I only have one thought, which is to reach Foundation Establishment. If Senior can help me reach Foundation Establishment, then I am willing to do anything!" Han Ji suddenly raised his head and said resolutely.

"Hehe, eighty years old is nothing. When I reached Foundation Establishment, I was one hundred and twenty-four, with one foot already in the grave," Zhang Yuanjing shook his head and said with some self-deprecation. "Don't talk about helping you reach Foundation Establishment. Here are two Foundation Establishment Pills. If you're willing, go steal it. If not, forget it."

Han Ji's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately responded, "How do we trade?"

Zhang Yuanjing laughed. "Right here. Once you get the pill formula, send me a message. Of course, if I don't reply for a long time, I must be in seclusion. Please wait."

The two then completed the transaction. Han Ji received two more bottles of superior Hundred Spirits Pills and left in a hurry. Zhang Yuanjing took the ten blue-faced sables and returned to Zhangjiawan.

Half a year later, Zhang Yuanjing sat suspended above the water of Sanyuan Lake, holding a fishing rod made of high-quality spiritual materials, with a silver line as thick as a noodle dangling down into the river. The bait was the unformed inner core of the blue-faced sable king, sealed in a special jade jar and tied to the silver line.

Considering the red-finned fire-striped fish's madness for the blood and flesh of the blue-faced sable, he dared not use Zhang Xuan's method of placing the inner core in a deep pit. Firstly, the quality of this item was too high, and he didn't know what kind of big fish it would attract. The fire cotton net might not be able to trap it. Secondly, it would be too wasteful. Large and small fish would swarm in and devour the core in no time.

After thinking it over, he finally decided to personally take action and adopt the method of fishing, with the willing taking the bait. In this way, those red-finned fire-striped fish below the Wild Blood Realm would not appear due to their instinctive fear of cultivators. Even if they did appear, he could drive them away to prevent wasting the bait.

As for the big fish above the Wild Blood Realm, especially those above the Spirit Awakening Realm, the unformed inner core of the blue-faced sable king would be a huge temptation, enabling them to overcome their fear and take a gamble.

He wasn't entirely sure if this method would work. He figured that he was only at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even if the Wild Blood Realm big fish were afraid, the Spirit Awakening Realm big fish, who were used to stirring up trouble underwater, shouldn't be too afraid of him.

Of course, whether it succeeded or not mostly depended on this unformed inner core. If this item was truly something that the red-finned fire-striped fish had to obtain, then the big fish with high cultivation would definitely appear.

The jade jar containing the inner core was a treasure made of a rare material called "Leaking Fragrance Jade," originally used to hold precious pills. This material had a peculiar feature: after being refined, it could release the scent of the contents according to the cultivator's will, even seeping out a small amount of liquid.

It was said that before the ancient times, all pill transactions used this item as a bottle to hold the pills. This allowed buyers to smell and identify the quality without opening the bottle and damaging the medicinal properties. It should be known that pill transactions involved inspecting the pills more than once. If the seal was repeatedly opened, the pill would lose several points of its value before it was even sold. In recent ancient times, due to the scarcity of Leaking Fragrance Jade, only precious pills were preserved in this way.

Zhang Yuanjing obtained this jade jar from the Mustard Seed Space of the Thick Earth Sect. Originally, he saw that the pills inside were all destroyed, so he casually put it away without looking closely. It was only recently, when he was refining pills, that he remembered this item and took it out to store the pills, only to discover that it was made of Leaking Fragrance Jade. This jade was extremely tough, impervious to knives and fire. Even a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator's spiritual weapon could not damage it in a hurry, making it perfect for holding bait for fishing.

With a thought from Zhang Yuanjing, the crystal-clear outer wall of the jade jar seemed to have silver worms wriggling and shimmering waves. Then, countless tiny bubbles jumped against the jade wall, and a rich fragrance permeated the river water. Before long, the water within a hundred feet rippled, as if countless large fish were swimming back and forth, but they all hovered on the periphery, afraid to approach the area where Zhang Yuanjing was.

After half a quarter of an hour, there were no fewer than a thousand red-finned fire-striped fish surrounding the area. Looking down from mid-air, all one could see beneath the water was a red patch, like a ring of fire clouds, which was quite spectacular.

Zhang Yuanjing carefully examined them. Most of these red-finned fire-striped fish were only about a foot long, and only a few were two feet long. None were longer than three feet. He immediately understood that the big fish over three feet were all Wild Blood Realm demon beasts, which were even more timid and cautious than these small fish. He wasn't in a hurry, but sat steadily in mid-air, waiting quietly.

Another half a quarter of an hour passed when suddenly, the water rippled. A four-and-a-half-foot-long fish rushed over. He was about to stop it, but with a thought, he ignored it and let it gnaw on the jade jar.

His fishing line was also extraordinary, refined from Silver Soul Five-Colored Stone, which he obtained from Spirit Luck Child. It was considered a good spiritual material. This material was soft and tough, and could be used to create defensive spiritual weapons, so he wasn't afraid of it being bitten off by these red-finned fire-striped fish.

The four-foot fish bit the jade jar and tried to drag it away, but since the fishing rod was in Zhang Yuanjing's hands, it couldn't be moved. It opened its mouth wide and bit several times, and the jade jar made cracking sounds, but it was not damaged at all, and the inner core inside was naturally intact. Seeing that it couldn't bite through, the fish used brute force to pull hard, trying to break the silver line. After a dozen breaths, it ran out of strength and opened its mouth to bite again, still unwilling to give up.

Zhang Yuanjing shook his head with a smile, took out the Spirit Restraining Hoe, and struck. The speed of the hoe decreased by 30% when it entered the water, but the big fish was unable to dodge and was caught by the Spirit Restraining Hoe. Zhang Yuanjing pointed with a magic formula, and the fish was caught and thrown into the spirit beast bag.

Afterward, a fish nearly seven feet long came. Judging by its aura, it should be in the late stage of the Wild Blood Realm. Its strength was several times greater than the previous one, but it was still insignificant to Zhang Yuanjing. This fish tried a few times, but it didn't exhaust its energy like the previous one and was about to escape.

With a thought from Zhang Yuanjing, the outer wall of the jade jar wriggled, and several drops of inner core golden liquid seeped out. The fish immediately turned its head and bit the jade jar, swallowing the drops of golden liquid and desperately pulling the fishing line. Zhang Yuanjing raised his eyebrows and thought that it was indeed effective. He then struck with the Spirit Restraining Hoe and caught the fish as well.

Zhang Yuanjing caught two fish in a row. The surrounding fish instinctively felt fear, but the fragrance emitted from the jade jar was too tempting, so although they dared not break through, they were unwilling to leave.

After waiting another quarter of an hour and seeing that no big fish were coming, Zhang Yuanjing manipulated the jade jar to release a few more drops of inner core golden liquid. This golden liquid was the essence accumulated by the blue-faced sable king over a thousand years of cultivation and was the foundation for condensing the demon core. Each drop contained vast spiritual power.

As soon as the golden liquid was released, it was completely exposed to the eyes of thousands of fish, immediately causing a commotion and agitation. The water surface suddenly surged wildly. Just as the fish were about to lose control and swarm up, a low roar of "Ga" suddenly came from the noise, and the fish immediately quieted down.

Zhang Yuanjing's spirits lifted, knowing that a big demon fish had taken the bait.

In the downstream direction of the river, a large cloud of fire split open, and three red-finned fire-striped fish over ten feet long slowly swam in. The one in the middle was the most extraordinary, being fifteen feet long. Not only did it have red fins and fire patterns, but it also had a light red fleshy thorn growing on its head. Judging from its aura, its cultivation had already reached the late stage of the Spirit Awakening Realm.

The other two were both over ten feet long and had early Spirit Awakening Realm cultivation, but they had not grown fleshy thorns.

When Zhang Yuanjing saw this, he was delighted but also hesitated. If it were one or two big fish in the early Spirit Awakening Realm, he would have the confidence to catch them. However, if it was in the late Spirit Awakening Realm, its strength would be comparable to his. Moreover, being in the water, defeating it would not be easy, and capturing it alive would be extremely difficult.

However, his original intention was to catch big fish. Now that the big fish had come, wouldn't it be putting the cart before the horse to take the bait and leave?

At this time, the big fish in the late Spirit Awakening Realm shouted "Wow wow". The big fish on its left swung its long tail and instantly reached the jade jar. It bit down and yanked, pulling Zhang Yuanjing's arm straight.

Zhang Yuanjing's expression darkened. This fish's strength was so great that he needed to use 60% of his mana to stabilize himself. At this time, the other big fish in the early Spirit Awakening Realm also rushed over, bit the silver line, and pulled hard.

Zhang Yuanjing was standing in the air and had nowhere to borrow strength, so he was pulled to the side. As he was about to forcefully lift a mouthful of mana to first stabilize his body, the two fish saw the opportunity, struck the river water with their tails, and added a huge force, forcibly dragging him into the water.

The two fish immediately sped up and headed upstream. Zhang Yuanjing didn't let go. He stirred his mana, protected his whole body, and allowed the two fish to drag him around in the water.

The big fish in the late Spirit Awakening Realm followed behind, not attacking him, nor getting close, always maintaining a distance of more than five feet. Seeing that this fish was so cautious, Zhang Yuanjing had no good way for the time being, so he decided to wait for an opportunity and adapt to the situation.