My Martial Arts Level Never Drops
Chapter 230 - 133: Survivor?
All this talk about the Treasure Fish.
...He had at least seen a Demon from afar on the river, but he had never once laid eyes on a Treasure Fish.
To his surprise, he was actually seeing one here today.
He focused his gaze. The Treasure Fish was at the far end of the ’Middle Finger’ marshland. The entire ’Middle Finger’ marshland was over four to five kilometers wide, and the fish was swimming in the middle, its body emitting a bright red glow.
It didn’t look very big, maybe twenty to thirty centimeters at most.
But its tail was magnificent, much like that of an oversized Butterfly Telescope goldfish.
Its four-lobed tail fin fanned out, the front edge curving toward its head. Viewed from above, it looked like a butterfly spreading its wings. The lines of its tail were elegant, and its movements were light and graceful. The long fin, as delicate as gossamer, shimmered with a brilliant red light. The sight alone was breathtaking!
Qin Fang was stunned for only a moment before he snapped back to his senses.
He quickly scanned his surroundings...
Ahead of him was the collapsed mountain peak, now a sheer cliff with a vertical drop of over four to five hundred meters. There was no way down from here.
’But that’s okay. I can get down from the side where the slope is a bit gentler!’
Without any hesitation, Qin Fang turned to the side, quickly identified a path, and leaped down!
His body was as agile as an Ape. The vegetation here had been completely swept away by the fierce winds, leaving nothing but bare rock. But when Qin Fang landed, his legs bent like springs. His formidable Physique instantly absorbed the full impact, and he launched himself again.
Like a giant spring, he bounded down the four-to-five-hundred-meter drop in about twenty leaps, landing safely at the foot of the mountain.
Then he sprinted straight for the marshland!
’You better not swim away...’
he thought to himself.
Behind him, Xile followed.
Its movements were no slower than Qin Fang’s, and were even more fluid. After all, it had four-wheel drive. A downhill run like this was even easier for it, like strolling on level ground.
Qin Fang wound his way along the base of the mountain and, in just a short while, arrived at the edge of the marshland.
He could hear the SPLASHING of water.
This was his first time truly standing at the edge of the marshland. From this vantage point, the vast expanse of water looked even more magnificent. His gaze stretched to the horizon, where black mountain peaks finally appeared...
’One could only imagine how enormous that palm must have been.’
Standing here was a completely different feeling from looking down on it from above.
The palm had slammed down, leaving its fingerprints in the earth. Those prints were now filled with water from the Chujiang River. The current was gentle. A while ago, the water had been incredibly murky, but now it was clear again.
The Middle Finger was the longest, so it didn’t take long for Qin Fang to spot the red, dawn-like glow on the water’s surface...
’I’m here, but how do I get the Treasure Fish out of the water?’
His eyes darted about rapidly.
’If this Treasure Fish decides to flee through the water, there’s no way I can catch it... It wouldn’t matter even if I could hold my breath for an hour.’
The Treasure Fish was definitely far more agile in the water than he was.
But having finally found a Treasure Fish, Qin Fang couldn’t bear to just watch it get away.
His mind raced as he reached the tip of the ’Middle Finger’. He took a closer look, and his brow furrowed...
The Treasure Fish was at least sixty meters away from him!
And relative to the entire length of the ’Middle Finger,’ that distance was probably no bigger than a fingernail.
’I can just imagine how massive that palm that fell from the sky must have been.’
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Qin Fang’s palm, so he had no way of crossing sixty-plus meters to snatch the Treasure Fish.
There were no nets anywhere nearby, either.
’What do I do?’
Qin Fang’s mind spun wildly.
’My first thought is naturally to use a Hidden Weapon...’
But the Treasure Fish was in the water. It was common knowledge that the refraction of the water’s surface would cause a huge discrepancy between where the eye saw something and its actual position.
Combined with the water’s resistance, trying to hit the target with a Hidden Weapon from the shore? That was basically a fool’s errand.
And if he startled the Treasure Fish, his chances of ever getting another opportunity would be slim to none.
As he was wracking his brain, he heard a SPLASH. The Treasure Fish suddenly leaped again, soaring four to five meters out of the water before crashing back down with another SPLASH.
It flashed a brilliant red.
This stunned Qin Fang...
Then his eyes narrowed...
’If you had stayed still in the water, I’d have no way of dealing with you.’
’But if you’re going to keep jumping around like this...’
With a flick of his hand, Qin Fang retrieved an Iron Nail from his robes...
He didn’t choose to use a Poisonous Thorn.
It wasn’t because he was afraid of the poison on the thorn... He had been consuming large amounts of that mysterious liquid, so Bee Venom was no longer a major threat to him.
While he would most likely have a toxic reaction, it certainly wouldn’t kill him.
But using poison might alter the quality of the Treasure Fish’s flesh... Qin Fang wasn’t sure if it would still be effective if its flesh was changed.
An Iron Nail was a much better choice. The Treasure Fish looked to be only twenty to thirty centimeters long, and even an Ordinary Person’s bite could break its skin... Take, for example, the legend of Xu Ran, the second person to acquire a Treasure Fish. When he realized nearby fishermen were about to fight him for it, didn’t he just eat it raw on the spot?
In that case, as long as Qin Fang’s Iron Nail hit its mark, he could surely kill this Treasure Fish!
’As long as the Treasure Fish is dead... getting it will be easy.’
Then, Qin Fang held his breath, his eyes fixed on the Light and Shadow under the water, waiting for the Treasure Fish to leap out again.
The water lapped and splashed against the bank. Qin Fang crouched on the ground, gripping the Iron Nails—three in total. He would likely only get one chance to strike. If he failed, he would most likely scare the Treasure Fish away for good.
Therefore, he had to avoid any mistakes at all costs.
He waited calmly, like a hunter.
Meanwhile, the Treasure Fish swam beneath the surface, captivating Qin Fang’s entire attention... One moment, the intense glow would approach the surface, growing brighter. But the next moment, it would suddenly dive deeper, the light dimming as if it might vanish at any second.