Chapter 42: Fourth-Grade East Lake Pearl

"Hm?" Zhao Xing pricked up his ears, listening to the direction of the wind.

"What's wrong, Young Master?" After boarding the boat, Xu Lao Ba shook the water from his ears—he'd just plunged in headfirst.

"Shh, don't make a sound."

Xu Lao Ba immediately went stock-still, his face a little stiff. Could there be something unclean? Surely not—he'd worshipped the East Lake Elder in broad daylight! His heart, Xu Lao Ba's, was truly sincere! He really hadn't thought about the Wang family's young lady while praying.

"Paddle that way." Zhao Xing pointed in a direction. At the same time, he activated Bright Eyes with magic power, expanding his scanning range.

Although the lake water blocked his view, as long as it wasn't too murky, Zhao Xing could see clearly through a depth of ten-odd meters.

"Okay, okay!" Xu Lao Ba poled the boat with all his might. He didn't dare ask more now—clearly this Young Master wasn't doing this for the first time. He felt Zhao Xing could spot things even better than a river salvager.

"What is it that wandering souls instinctively avoid? Cold, light… that does match the traits of an East Lake Pearl, but for an East Lake Pearl to affect ghosts, it'd have to be at least third-grade, right?"

Zhao Xing focused his mind and cast the spell, Bright Eyes working nonstop. Right now it was approaching the Ding Mao hour—the time when ghost-wealth fortune was at its strongest.

If he couldn't find it within a quarter-hour, it would be very hard to find afterward.

The so-called strong and weak moments of fortune—when strong, you could stumble onto treasure just walking; when weak, even if treasure fell into your hands you wouldn't recognize it.

"If there's still no haul by the second Ding Mao moment, I'm afraid the third one will be hard to catch too." Zhao Xing grabbed a bamboo pole, and together with Xu Lao Ba put their backs into it, heading in the direction of the wind.

After poling hard for half a quarter-hour, Zhao Xing's eyes suddenly lit up: "Stop!"

Deep at the bottom of the lake here was a submerged reef, and beneath the reef lay a dead turtle, a pale blue pearl held in its mouth.

Because the reef grew in an interlocking pattern, the pearl couldn't be seen from the other three directions on the water's surface—only from the position where Zhao Xing was.

"Turtle? So that's what it meant. I thought it was just some nonsensical ghost talk… Xu Lao Ba, how deep can you dive?"

Xu Lao Ba thumped his chest proudly: "Within thirty meters, it's all territory Xu Lao Ba can take with his bare hands."

Zhao Xing nodded and said: "Good. Dive in from here. Go down fifteen meters and you'll find a cluster of submerged reefs about ten meters square. On the south side of the reefs, there's an interlocking spot—angle down three chi and seven cun and you'll be able to feel the treasure!"

"You got it! Watch me, Young Master!" Seeing how certain Zhao Xing was, Xu Lao Ba rubbed his hands together and leaped into the water.

Zhao Xing, meanwhile, watched quietly from the boat.

Xu Lao Ba really wasn't bragging—he dove down with ease, and following the directions Zhao Xing had given, easily found the blue pearl in the dead turtle's mouth.

Then Xu Lao Ba slowly rose back up, a wisp of blue light rippling gently through the water.

"Young Master, Young Master! There's really treasure!" Xu Lao Ba was thrilled too.

"Come up quick." Zhao Xing hurriedly hauled him onto the boat.

"Hiss-ha, hiss~" Xu Lao Ba tossed the pearl onto the small boat, and once he was up he kept sucking in air. In the middle of a hot day, he actually felt a chill—and it was all because of this pearl.

"A fourth-grade East Lake Pearl, and an extremely rare Ice Pearl at that. This quality… should count as mid-grade fourth?" Zhao Xing picked up the pearl and examined it in his hand.

A wave of cold surged from his palm, as if he were holding a block of ice.

Xu Lao Ba couldn't bear it, but Zhao Xing, a third-stage Qi Gathering cultivator, had no problem.

"Congratulations, Young Master! You've got a third-grade East Lake Pearl." Xu Lao Ba hastened to offer his congratulations. He couldn't tell it was fourth-grade—he thought it was only third, since he'd never in his life seen a fourth-grade one.

"I have to thank you for this." Zhao Xing smiled faintly and tucked the pearl away. "Once we're back, there'll be a reward in it for you."

"Thank you, Young Master." Xu Lao Ba's face lit up with joy. By their agreement he got no share of the profits, but if the boss was happy enough to tip him, that was a windfall.

As river salvagers, they didn't often get tips—because if a job were guaranteed profit, the salvagers would just do it themselves; there was still a real risk of taking a loss.

"This single pearl alone is enough to be called sudden wealth." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

A fourth-grade East Lake Pearl is a treasure produced by a 'tide-change,' and one only appears after a ten-year tide-change. As for an Ice Pearl, that's even rarer—at the very least it could fetch five hundred taels!

"A fourth-grade Ice Pearl is most useful to martial artists. It can greatly reduce the bodily strain from cultivating fire-aspect cultivation methods or Wu Ji, and it can also be used to aid water-aspect cultivation. Find the right buyer and doubling the price wouldn't be strange."

Having obtained the treasure, Zhao Xing's mood lifted considerably.

Originally he could have headed back once he'd found the Ice Pearl, but since he was already here and there was still another Ding Mao moment, he might as well not miss it—who'd complain about having too much money?

Over the next large part of an hour, ghost-wealth fortune declined.

Still, relying on Bright Eyes, Zhao Xing found another dozen or so first-grade East Lake Pearls.

Xu Lao Ba was simply prostrating himself in admiration of Zhao Xing.

Every dive brought a haul, never coming up empty—tell me, are you convinced or not?

When he goes back and talks about it, even the boss probably won't believe him!

…………

Time passed. In Zhao Xing's next hour, he couldn't find anything good—just a single earring inlaid with a green gemstone, dropped by some noble lady while boating, who knows which.

"A single one without its pair is probably only worth seven or eight taels."

"But it's time to head back." Zhao Xing checked the almanac.

It was already the fourth quarter of the Hai hour. There wouldn't be any more gains from here on out—especially past the Zi hour, trying to make ghost-wealth would only bring bad luck.

"Xu Lao Ba, let's head back." Zhao Xing decided to call it a day.

"You got it!" Xu Lao Ba was also well satisfied. Today's haul was enough for him to brag about to his companions for a long time once he got back.

"Ah—"

"Someone fell in the water!"

"Big boat, head over there quick, save them!"

The voices suddenly came drifting on the wind. Xu Lao Ba froze for a moment, turned his head, and asked Zhao Xing: "Young Master, it sounds like someone fell in over there."

"I saw. But someone's already in the water and has them—no need for us to worry."

"True enough. Nine out of ten people on East Lake can swim." Xu Lao Ba began poling toward the shore.

After passing a patch of reeds, they happened to encounter a river lantern drifting toward them, illuminating the reed patch.

A small boat was moored in the reed patch, and standing on it was a young girl—none other than Lin Baiwei, whom they'd seen before.

Seeing the big boat and the lotus lantern drifting over, she couldn't help but show a look of embarrassment.

Especially the appearance of Zhao Xing and Xu Lao Ba made her a bit at a loss. Because she was soaked through, her graceful figure was faintly visible in the glow of the lotus lantern—and what worried her even more was that her aunt was still in the water.

If the big boat came over and people gathered to watch, it would be nothing short of a public punishment.

"This..." Xu Lao Ba hurriedly lowered his head, preparing to take a detour.

"No need for such trouble." Zhao Xing stopped him, then the Drifting Clouds art enveloped the entire Grass Bay, concealing both Lin Baiwei and Lin Li.

"Thank you." A mosquito-thin voice came through the wind.

Zhao Xing and Xu Lao Ba went ashore.