txolops Chapter 29 Fish Eggs and Monster Eggs
Chapter 29 Fish Eggs and Monster Eggs
"Little Grey, fly up into the sky and keep an eye on things for me."
"I'm going to catch the Blackwater Catfish at the bottom of that black pool. I wonder if they're still there."
Su Qingyan put the corpses of the demonic cultivator and the giant snake beast into his storage bag, frowned, and said to Little Grey with a worried expression.
After taking the antidote, Little Grey felt much more relaxed and flew high into the sky in high spirits, circling around Plum Blossom Village.
Finding no danger, Su Qingyan, after receiving a signal from Little Grey, returned to the edge of the Blackwater Pool.
He held a Shadowless Earth Spirit Needle in his hand, silently sensing the movements in the Blackwater Pool using the abilities attached to his talent, [Fisherman's Master].
However, half an hour passed.
He found many ordinary fish, but he couldn't find any trace of the black water catfish.
"That shouldn't be the case."
"Based on the results of the previous experiment on the banks of the Sankeng River, as long as there are fish in the water, my intuition should be able to detect them."
"A spirit fish is still a fish; it shouldn't be outside the scope of this talent, right?"
"Or is it because the commotion caused by the giant serpent beast's battle, or because of its death, that the Xuan Shui Catfish clan has left this black water pool again through the underground river?"
"Or perhaps we've chosen the wrong black pool, and the Xuan Shui Catfish population isn't located in this particular black pool?"
"There are quite a few possibilities," Su Qingyan thought to himself, pondering and making various guesses.
He used to be a terrible swimmer.
However, after replicating his talent [Master of Fishing], he has a natural affinity for water, and even feels that as long as he jumps into the water, he can learn to swim very quickly.
Since he couldn't find any trace of the Xuan Shui Catfish clan, he decided to go into the water to investigate.
At the same time, he didn't completely trust his intuition, so he instructed Little Grey beside him, "Little Grey, if I start to drown after I jump in, remember to save me in time."
Seeing Little Grey nod, Su Qingyan took a deep breath and plunged into the black pool.
When he first fell into the water, he was a little scared and flustered.
However, he soon felt that after his body was enveloped by the water, he had a natural and intimate feeling like he was on land. It was very harmonious, just like walking on his feet. His hands and feet slid involuntarily, without even having to think about it.
And then... he learned to swim.
He didn't feel like a fish, the kind of swimmer who's slippery in the water and likes to stay in the water for a long time.
It's more like a duck, waterfowl, or cormorant—animals that catch fish, entering the water specifically to catch fish, without immersing their entire body in the water for extended periods.
Time slowly passed by.
It didn't take long for Su Qingyan to reach a certain level of swimming skill, allowing her to swim with ease and go wherever she wanted.
Su Qingyan gradually gained confidence.
So they began to explore the entire Blackwater Pool.
Although the water in the Blackwater Pool appears dark black from the outside, it is not murky.
The truth is quite the opposite; the water in the Black Pool is very clear and very deep, with no bottom in sight.
Su Qingyan swam down more than ten meters, but couldn't see the bottom at all.
However, he did find the entrance to an underground river, from which water and bubbles were constantly emerging.
On the rock wall near the entrance to this underground river, Su Qingyan found a cluster of fish eggs attached to the aquatic plants. Each egg was about the size of a marble, covered with a thick layer of gelatinous membrane, giving it a "solidified black" appearance. However, beneath the dark surface, a faint blue glow was slowly pulsating, much like a poison coated in sugar, slippery and cold.
Seeing the spiritual energy emanating from the fish eggs from time to time, Su Qingyan knew that these were definitely not ordinary objects.
Just then, his talent [Master of Fishing] came into play, allowing him to keenly notice an unusual glimmer of light flashing in the shadows of the underground river.
His eyesight was enhanced by a natural gift at that moment, allowing him to see the source of the light—a large catfish.
The alchemy manual that Su Qingyan found in the demon cultivator's storage bag recorded the method for refining the Xuan Shui Pill. When introducing the main ingredient of the Xuan Shui Pill, the blood of the Xuan Shui catfish, he thoughtfully drew the appearance of the Xuan Shui catfish on it.
At that time, Su Qingyan had carefully examined the picture in the journal and remembered it quite clearly, so he was very certain that the Xuan Shui catfish drawn in the journal looked exactly the same as the catfish in this underground river!
This is the Xuan Shui catfish!
Upon discovering this, Su Qingyan was first startled, then overjoyed.
"I never expected that the Xuan Shui Catfish clan would be hiding in this underground river."
"Looks like we've found the right location, this is the Blackwater Pool."
Su Qingyan silently patted the storage bag clipped to his belt and quietly took out a Shadowless Earth Spirit Needle and held it in his hand.
"go!"
He gave a soft shout in his heart, made a simple hand seal with one hand, and then suddenly summoned the Shadowless Earth Spirit Needle, stabbing it into the Xuan Shui Catfish in the dark river with lightning speed.
Unfortunately, this Xuan Shui catfish was timid by nature, and it would run away immediately if it sensed even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy.
In addition, its speed was extremely fast. After leaving a clump of turbid water in its place, it disappeared without a trace, causing Su Qingyan's Shadowless Earth Spirit Needle to miss its mark.
Having missed his target, Su Qingyan immediately rushed into the entrance of the underground river, but could no longer see the Xuan Shui Catfish; it had already run far away.
The entrance to the underground river wasn't large; Su Qingyan could squeeze his head in, but not his body.
Unwilling to let the Xuan Shui catfish slip away right under his nose, Su Qingyan pulled out its head and quickly dug open the soil on both sides of the underground river with his hands to widen the passage of the underground river.
However, this method only made Su Qingyan feel less upset; it had no other effect.
The black catfish we just saw has long since disappeared.
But as Su Qingyan dug, instead of catching the Xuan Shui catfish, he unearthed a large, bluish-green egg.
Its size was similar to the ostrich eggs Su Qingyan had seen on TV before his transmigration, and the spiritual aura that occasionally emanated from its surface was much richer than that of the fish eggs on the nearby rock wall.
Through the greenish-blue eggshell, he could clearly sense the immense life force inside, as well as a ferocious aura that did not belong to fish.
At this moment, having calmed down, Su Qingyan held the egg in his hands. A flood of information came to mind, and he couldn't help but wonder, "Only one Xuan Shui catfish is guarding this place. Where are the others?"
"Could it be that the other Xuan Shui catfish sensed the danger and ran away in advance, while this Xuan Shui catfish was unwilling to leave because of these fish eggs nearby?"
"Could it be... that these are the eggs of the Black Water Catfish?"
"This is very likely. After all, apart from the Xuan Shui Catfish, there are no other spirit fish in this black water pool. In addition, these fish eggs occasionally emit spiritual energy, so they must not be ordinary fish eggs. Therefore, they are most likely the fish eggs laid by the Xuan Shui Catfish."
"And this bluish-green egg, with its extremely rich spiritual energy, is not the egg of an ordinary wild beast, and it is even unlikely to be the egg of a half-demon beast. It must be a demon beast egg."
"The only monster residing in this black pool is that giant serpent monster."
"So, this egg is the child of that giant serpent monster?"
"Based on this, we can further speculate that the giant serpent demon and the Xuan Shui catfish clan have a mutually beneficial relationship. The giant serpent demon provides protection for the Xuan Shui catfish clan, allowing them to survive and reproduce in this area."
"The Xuan Shui Catfish provides its labor for the Great Serpent Beast, helping it take care of its offspring (eggs) and doing chores such as expanding its dwelling and cleaning up garbage."
Su Qingyan's mind worked quickly, and using the information at hand, he soon deduced most of the truth of the matter.
When he looked again at the fish eggs beside him and the large egg in his hand, his eyes were filled with eager emotion.
..............