Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Golden Goose King that was flying in the front suddenly turned around and struck a goose behind it with one of its wings. The people on the ship saw the goose slow down, and the flock of geese realigned themselves into a proper v-shape.
Trainers on the other ships had also noticed the flock of feathered tyrants from Mount Riyue flying towards the lake.
The flock of Golden Geese had quite a bad reputation in Qingtang City. No one knew what had gone wrong in their evolutionary process that resulted in them being so foul-tempered. These birds would attack anyone at the slightest provocation. They were also an extremely curious type of bird that would scoop up anything that piqued their attention on the ground. Short of hiding inside the lake until these birds lost interest, there was absolutely no running away from them.
Gao Heng didn’t seem at all upset about the arrival of these creatures. Rather, he looked quite happy about it. This meant that whatever was at the bottom of the lake must have been worth a lot!
The thought of whether any of the trainers could retrieve Gao Heng’s prize for him had never crossed his mind. Any of them could outsmart these brutish creatures with a bit of strategic thinking.
Creativity was a human’s most powerful asset, after all.
Gao Heng stroked his beard. He could feel that everything was just within his grasp.
A small purple-backed carp with a golden-tipped dorsal fin was swimming around the Forbidden Magic Stone, which was giving it a peculiar sensation. Maybe this is fate, it thought.
It had heard that its mother had been able to become extremely powerful by swallowing a strange fruit. Since then, she had given birth to a number of powerful purple-backed carp. I want to give birth to a lot of powerful children just like mom! thought the little fish.
Not far away, a couple of 30-foot-long purple-backed carp noticed a huge figure in the distance.
“Giant one, stay back. This is our territory,” warned one of them.
Three hundred feet away, a massive carp swam by. From it came a deep, croaky sound. “Who are you to tell me to stay back? Watch your tongue, or I’ll swallow you whole.”
The purple-backed fish who had spoken strained its eyes at the giant carp. It shivered when it realized that it was a sub chief of the giant carp.
Every major tribe of carp living in Xihai Lake had a chief of its own. Each tribe was divided into several branches, which were in turn governed by a sub chief.
Why had a sub chief under the giant carp come all this way?
The purple-backed carp said warningly, “Don’t come any closer. Behind us is our chief’s most beloved daughter. If you dare lay a fin on her, our king will be very angry!”
The giant carp eyed the little purple carp that was swimming around the Forbidden Magic Stone, then roared with laughter.
It didn’t care who the little carp was. Would a bear fear the repercussions of eating a tiger’s cub?
Of course it wouldn’t.
A tiger would do the same thing to the bear’s own child if given the opportunity. All monsters were driven by the simple logic of survival of the fittest.
“Run!” shouted one of the purple-backed fish. The giant carp in front of them was now swimming towards them.
“The chief of the purple-backed carp slaughtered many of my kind. Today, I will have him pay for his misdeeds with the blood of his daughter!” said the giant carp, which then opened its mouth and bared its sharp teeth at the purple-backed carp.
Some of the purple-backed carp began trembling in fear. Still, they maintained their formation around the giant carp while shouting at the small purple-backed carp behind them to flee.
Currents of water began swirling around the giant carp, which was soon trapped inside an underwater vortex.
“You’re all abominations! Your evolutionary line is all wrong!!!” roared the giant carp. It then took in a huge gulp of water, expanding its gills and muscles drastically.
Its muscles began undulating like waves. Its blood vessels squirmed beneath its skin like earthworms.
“Brute strength is the only thing that matters in this world!” it roared. Its thunderous roar broke through the first layer of the vortex!
The giant carp then swung its tail and pierced through the vortex’s remaining layers. A black shadow now loomed over the purple-backed carp, who were all overwhelmed by fear.
After seeing the little purple-backed carp fleeing, the giant carp lowered its huge head and hurtled towards the Forbidden Magic Stone.
A Forbidden Magic Stone would repel other objects with the same element as itself. Since this Forbidden Magic Stone was endowed with the water element, it had repelled all the water around it and carved out a dry spot at the bottom of the lake.
However, the giant carp had evolved to rely more on its muscles than the power of the elements. The Forbidden Magic Stone would have little to no effect on it.
The giant carp swallowed the magic stone and immediately left the scene.
The lake sank into darkness when the Forbidden Magic Stone entered the giant carp’s mouth.
There was a cry from the Golden Goose King circling in the air. The glowing rock at the bottom of the lake had disappeared.
It pulled its wings in. Gradually, wind began gathering around it. In the next second, it swooped down like a sharp blade from the sky and let out a sonic boom in its wake.
Boom!
A 30-foot-tall geyser shot up into the air.
Ripples began emanating across the lake’s surface from the bird’s point of entry.
The fleeing giant carp suddenly felt a sharp pain in its back, as if someone had stabbed it with a sword. It began writhing in pain in the lake.
The giant carp eventually managed to shake off the Golden Goose King. As it wasn’t in its element, the bird propelled itself towards the surface of the water with a powerful stroke of its wings and launched itself out of the lake.
There was a deep wound on the giant carp’s back that blood was flowing profusely out of.
The giant carp then vanished into the depths of the lake.
On the shore, Gao Heng was furious. “God damn it, where is the thing? Where is it?!”
“Brother Gao, I think a giant carp just swallowed it.”
“Where’s the bloody fish?!”
“…It’s gone.”
“What are you standing there for? Go get me that fish!”
The sub chief of the giant carp had managed to blend into a large group of its own kind. There was no way to tell which one of them had swallowed the magic stone.
The sub chief furtively approached another giant carp. Both of them pressed their mouths together.
The other giant carp were all stunned by this scene.
After doing “mouth-to-mouth” with the sub chief, the other giant carp swam through the crowd of fish until it came out the other end. It then disappeared into the dark depths of the lake.
Half an hour later, the sub chief’s head began wobbling. Its vision had also become blurry. The pain in its back tormented it still! It was as if a sword carp had pierced through its body!
There was now a commotion on the shore of Xihai lake. Everyone had already made their own preparations to retrieve the prize from the bottom of the lake. However, it had suddenly disappeared.
“It was definitely swallowed by the sub chief of the giant carp. Don’t worry, brother Gao, we’ll get that fish for you,” said one of Gao Heng’s underlings while thumping his chest.
On the other side of the lake, a giant carp suddenly emerged from the water. A couple of people were standing near the shore in cloud-patterned clothing. “Go get it,” said one of them. “Also, number three, next time you’re controlling these things, I would appreciate it if you could tone down your dramatics. I’m getting secondhand embarrassment just listening to you talk.”
“Heh.” A short red-haired boy grinned.
The giant carp’s pupils dilated as it obediently opened its mouth. A blue light radiated from its mouth.
Someone immediately took the blue stone out of the fish’s mouth and put it inside a box.
The blue light disappeared when he shut the box.
“Let’s go. These people can search for the stone for as long as they want,” said one of them, who shot a scathing look at the crowd of people on the other side of the lake. They got on the backs of their cloud birds and put on their safety belts.
With a powerful flap of their wings, the cloud birds flew into the air. Soon, their figures receded into the sky.
