181: Chapter 181 Another Treasure Hunt!

Having tamed the Black Crocodile, Lin Tian felt a weight lift from his chest, finally finding the peace of mind to carefully examine this lakebed.

He patted the Black Crocodile's broad forehead, signaling for it to wait in place, and then kicked his legs, swimming toward the cluster of reefs at the deepest part of the lakebed. The last time he came, he had barely sunk to the bottom before being chased into a frantic escape by the Black Crocodile, leaving him no time to take a closer look.

Now that the Black Crocodile was obediently crouching behind him, he had plenty of time to explore slowly. The aquatic plants on the lakebed were as dense as an underwater forest, their long, slender leaves swaying gently with the undercurrent. Several millstone-sized reefs were half-buried in the silt, their surfaces covered in slippery green moss.

A school of unknown small fish swam past him, their scales shimmering with a faint fluorescence in the dim water.

He bypassed the cluster of reefs and suddenly froze. Behind the reefs, at the deepest part of the lakebed, a small tree was actually growing. It wasn't an aquatic plant, nor was it coral; it was a real tree.

The trunk was only as thick as an arm, with smooth bark of a warm, pale green hue that glowed faintly in the water. Its branches spread out in all directions, each one crystal-clear, as if carved from jade.

The leaves were as thin as cicada wings, swaying gently with the current, yet not a single one was torn away by the water. The tree was not tall, only reaching about Lin Tian's chest, with its roots dug deep into the silt of the lakebed. The surrounding water was so crystal-clear that it was completely different from the other areas, as if filtered by an invisible barrier.

Lin Tian swam around the small tree, initially feeling a bit disappointed—there was no fruit on the tree, and it was completely bare, without even a single flower bud in sight.

Then he suddenly remembered something and stopped abruptly, re-examining the patterns on the trunk, the shape of the leaves, and the exceptionally clear water around it. In Baicao Valley, Elder Qian had once shown him a book titled Record of the World's Rare Trees, and on one of its pages was a drawing of a small tree almost identical to the one before him.

The water origin tree—a rare tree capable of altering water quality, a naturally nurtured Spiritual Root. Its roots could draw Spiritual Qi from underground Spiritual Veins and integrate it into the water, slowly transforming ordinary lake water into spiritual water suitable for the growth of spiritual fish.

Lin Tian's heart skipped a violent beat.

The reason Treasure Fish were so precious, aside from their slow growth, was that their greatest limitation was the water environment.

Ordinary water simply couldn't keep Treasure Fish alive. Having stayed at the Yunhai Fishery for nearly two years, he knew this all too well—beneath that massive lake lay a natural spiritual spring, with uniquely gifted water quality. The Qixia Sect had spent the effort of several generations to build it into a fishery.

Aside from the Yunhai Fishery, there was no other place within thousands of miles that could sustain Treasure Fish.

Therefore, even if someone stole Treasure Fish from the fishery, they wouldn't be able to keep them alive and would have to consume them quickly. But the water origin tree before him was practically a small natural spiritual spring in itself.

Three-year-old or five-year-old Treasure Fish couldn't survive for more than three days in ordinary water, but within the water covered by this tree's root system, they could completely survive and reproduce.

What did a body of water capable of sustaining Treasure Fish mean? It meant a new fishery could be established here, a private fishery belonging solely to him, Lin Tian.

At the Yunhai Fishery, he could only receive two Treasure Fish a month. His Breakthrough to the Fourth-Grade Late Stage had completely drained the savings he had accumulated over several months, and now his Breakthrough to the Fifth-Grade had swallowed up all the Treasure Fish and Medicinal Pills he had saved over half a year.

The further he Cultivated, the more massive the resources required became; relying solely on the meager salary from the fishery was simply not enough.

But if he raised dozens of Treasure Fish here, he could eat them whenever he wanted, and as many as he pleased. Moreover, at the bottom of this lake was a Fifth-Grade Transformation Realm Black Crocodile, which he had completely tamed using the Beast Taming Technique, making it a natural guardian beast.

With the water origin tree providing spiritual water, the Black Crocodile guarding the fish pond, and the Beast Taming Technique allowing for remote control—he lacked absolutely nothing.

What followed was simple. He returned to the Yunhai Fishery and continued serving as the captain of Team 7.

Two months slipped by smoothly amidst day-after-day patrols and Cultivation. During the two end-of-month salary distributions, he couldn't bear to eat those two Treasure Fish. Instead, he carefully kept them in a wooden tub and brought them back to his bamboo hut.

For the two Treasure Fish, he had specially asked the Senior Brother deacon in charge of distributing salaries for a favor, picking one female and one male.

The Demonic Sect intelligence he had handed over to Field Master Zhou had given his words weight before the Fishery Master, so the deacon was naturally more than happy to help with a minor matter like choosing two Treasure Fish of specific genders.

When he returned to that pristine lake with the two Treasure Fish, the Black Crocodile was faithfully crouching on a reef next to the water origin tree, its amber vertical pupils half-closed, and its wounds already scabbed over.

Sensing Lin Tian's aura descending from the surface, it immediately opened its eyes and let out a low whimper. Lin Tian swam to its side and opened the bamboo basket wrapped in oilcloth in his hand—two silver-white Treasure Fish were gently wagging their tails in the basket,

their scales shimmering with a faint fluorescence in the spiritual water emitted by the water origin tree. He brought the bamboo basket close to the water origin tree's root system and tilted it gently, letting the two Treasure Fish slide out of the basket. They had been in ordinary water for several days,

and although they were somewhat sluggish, the moment they entered the range of the water origin tree's root system, they immediately became as lively as if injected with adrenaline, darting and swimming between the branches, their silver-white scales glittering against the pale green trunk.

He extended his right index finger, and two deep purple spiritual threads emerged from his fingertips, piercing into the bodies of the two Treasure Fish respectively.

The intelligence of the Treasure Fish was extremely low, even inferior to that of wild rabbits. Without almost any resistance, their consciousnesses were completely penetrated by the spiritual threads. He handed down three directives:

First, stay obediently within the root system water of the water origin tree and do not swim out of the Black Crocodile's patrol range;

Second, if they encounter any danger, immediately hide in the deepest part of the water origin tree's roots, and the Black Crocodile will shield them from everything.

Once controlled by the spiritual threads, the two Treasure Fish were completely obedient to Lin Tian's commands, quietly settling down in a secluded, weed-choked corner around the water origin tree, their silver-white bodies flickering in and out of sight among the emerald-green aquatic plants.

Then he turned around, pressed his palm against the Black Crocodile's broad forehead, and sent the spiritual threads into its Sea of Consciousness once again.

A light flashed in the Black Crocodile's amber vertical pupils, showing no resistance to his command: Guard this body of water, keep a close eye on these two Treasure Fish, and let nothing approach them.

Unless you receive my order, kill any intruders on sight. The Black Crocodile let out a low roar, swished its thick tail, and its massive ten-meter-long body slowly sank into the deep water beside the water origin tree,

leaving only a pair of amber vertical pupils staring unblinkingly toward the two Treasure Fish through the gaps in the aquatic plants.

Having done all this, Lin Tian swam to the surface and sat on a lakeside reef to steam dry his soaked robes. Gazing at the lake surface dyed golden-red by the setting sun, his lips slowly curled upward. It was time to head back; there was still work to do at the fishery.

As for when these two Treasure Fish would produce their first batch of baby fish—the breeding cycle of Treasure Fish was three months to half a year, and he could afford to wait.

If he came to check on this place every few months, sooner or later, this lakebed would be teeming with silver-white Treasure Fish.