48 – The Great Replenishing Substance

【Golden Loach: A rare fish, entirely golden, skilled at burrowing.】

【Contains spiritual energy, meat is fresh and nourishing, capable of nourishing yin and boosting yang, it is a great replenishing substance.】

【According to legend, Golden Loaches always appear in pairs, a male and a female, never wandering alone.】

Looking at the creature in the bucket, its body glowing with a white and red hue, resembling a loach, Lu Qing was overjoyed.

As expected, this guy is a rare fish.

And it’s of the same level as the Red Moon Carp.

What made Lu Qing even more delighted was the information on the third note.

These Golden Loaches always appear in pairs, never alone.

In that case, there should be another Golden Loach down there!

Although he didn’t know if the other Golden Loach had been scared away by the commotion earlier, Lu Qing still wanted to try.

He baited the hook with another Blood Apricot and sank it to the bottom.

He thought he would have to wait a long time again, or even get nothing.

However, to Lu Qing’s surprise, it didn’t take long after he lowered the hook before he saw the float suddenly sink.

“So soon?!”

Lu Qing was caught off guard, but he quickly reacted, immediately grabbing the fishing rod.

What followed seemed inevitable.

After another bout of struggle, he caught another Golden Loach.

Looking at the two Golden Loaches in the bucket, Lu Qing fell silent.

It seems he underestimated the allure of Blood Apricot to rare fish.

Fruits deemed as exotic by supernatural power were indeed extraordinary.

He wondered what was so peculiar about them that they could attract these rare fish so relentlessly.

Lu Qing put away a few Blood Apricots, intending to ask his master about these exotic fruits when he had the chance.

Baiting the hook with another Blood Apricot, Lu Qing continued to fish.

But this time, his luck wasn’t so good.

He waited for a long time without any fish biting the hook.

Not to mention rare fish, even common fish were nowhere to be seen.

“Strange… Could it be that these rare fish are territorial and only one type appears each time?” Lu Qing wondered.

He thought for a moment, then replaced the Blood Apricot with a worm.

Lowering the hook into the water again, this time, a fish bit the hook quickly.

With a beautiful flick of the hook, a small white fish was flapping its tail midair.

Looking at the small white fish on the hook, Lu Qing fell silent.

“You really are everywhere, aren’t you…”

Feeling there were no rare fish left below, Lu Qing didn’t bait with Blood Apricot again.

He continued using worms to fish.

After a while, he caught dozens of small white fish.

These should be enough for the black little beast to have a good meal.

After catching enough for the black little beast’s meal, Lu Qing prepared to pack up.

It was a bit of a pity; he had planned to catch a big fish or two to give the black little beast a hearty meal.

But perhaps due to the presence of the Golden Loaches, big fish were nowhere to be found today.

Even though he had switched to corn bait, there was no movement.

Unable to catch any big fish, he had no choice but to let the black little beast settle for small fish again. After all, small fish taste good too.

“Xiao Yan, let’s go home.”

After packing up, Lu Qing picked up the bucket and called out to Xiao Yan, who was playing on the grass a short distance away.

“Coming, Brother.”

The little one dashed back, clutching a small bunch of wildflowers.

She had been picking wildflowers.

“Brother, look, I just picked these flowers. Aren’t they pretty?”

Xiao Yan proudly showed off the flowers in her hand.

“Very pretty.”

Lu Qing nodded, noticing some grass leaves in her hair, and casually picked them out.

“Hehe, I knew it! Brother definitely likes it.”

Xiao Yan was overjoyed upon receiving the praise.

Seeing the little one so happy, Lu Qing’s heart suddenly stirred.

“Xiao Yan, do you ever get bored coming with Brother to fish every day?”

“What does bored mean?” The little one tilted her head, confused.

“Uh… it means do you ever feel unhappy?” Lu Qing rephrased.

“Nope, as long as I’m with Brother, I won’t feel unhappy.” The little one said earnestly, “There are flowers to pick and butterflies to chase, it’s so much fun!”

“…Alright.”

Lu Qing was left speechless.

Originally, he thought that if Xiao Yan felt bored, next time he would leave her in the village to play with other children.

After all, she often ran off after meals to play with her friends in the village.

Since she didn’t feel that way, he’d leave it for now.

Returning home, he emptied the small fish, leaving only two golden tenches in the bucket, and fell deep into thought.

He was considering how to handle these two golden tenches.

Should he sell them or keep them to eat?

Actually, Lu Qing was more inclined to eat them.

Firstly, if he sold them, his master hadn’t had much time to go to town lately, and he wasn’t sure how long the two golden tenches would survive after leaving the river.

If they died in a couple of days, it would be a big loss.

Secondly, he wasn’t as short of money as before.

These rare fish were hard to come by, and selling them felt like a waste.

Lastly, the benefits of the golden tenches were very tempting.

According to the introduction of their special abilities, these golden tenches were highly nourishing.

Now that he had already started practicing the Body Nourishing Fist, stepping into the Qi and Blood Realm was within reach.

The only thing lacking was that his body was still weak due to a severe illness he had before. His foundation wasn’t strong.

These two golden tenches might make up for this shortcoming.

After some thought, Lu Qing decided to keep and eat both golden tenches.

However, although he decided to eat them, Lu Qing didn’t plan to enjoy them alone.

He intended to take them to the small courtyard halfway up the mountain tomorrow to share with his master.

The last time with the Red Moon Carp, he originally wanted to give it to his master but ended up selling it for money.

Since becoming a disciple, Lu Qing had never been able to repay his master for anything, only receiving kindness.

This time, having caught another rare fish, it was an opportunity for his master to have a good taste.

Lu Qing had a very good plan, but that evening, an unexpected incident occurred.

After Xiao Yan fell asleep, the black little beast came scratching at the door again.

As usual, Lu Qing brought out a basin of fish and placed it on the ground.

To his surprise, the black little beast, which usually devoured the fish as soon as he put it down, did not come forward this time.

Instead, it sniffed a few times, its eyes brightening as if it had discovered something. It began circling around Lu Qing.

After a few circles, it sat there quietly watching him.

“What’s wrong, not eating? Today I even added more fish for you.” Lu Qing said curiously.

Had this little creature changed its taste, not interested in fish anymore?

“Meow!”

The black little beast suddenly let out a soft cry, startling Lu Qing.

It was the first time he had heard it make a sound.

Before, in the first few nights, he had only heard it issue warning growls, which were very different from this current sound.

Now it sounded almost like a cat, tender and cute, even pleasantly melodious.

However, Lu Qing couldn’t be concerned with how the black little beast sounded.

Because he realized that after the little creature cried out, it was staring intently into his house.

To be precise, it was looking in the direction of the kitchen.

Recalling the little beast’s behavior of sniffing him earlier, Lu Qing suddenly had a thought.

“Could it be…”