Chapter 31

A faint blood light emerged, reflecting the yellow-orange crab egg into a blood-orange color.

Separated by a layer of translucent membrane, it didn't affect the Ze Ding's control effect in the slightest.

The blood water easily permeated the membrane, the "Chuan" character like the Five Elements Mountain suppressing Sun Wukong, descending from the sky, passing through the nutrient solution, bringing up blood-colored mist, and hitting the young crab.

Completely different from the thrill of controlling "Cannot Move" and the Fat Catfish, the moment the link was established, it felt like a breeze brushing against his face.

Liang Qu felt it; the final gap in the mental link was completely filled, marking that the water beasts he could currently control had reached their limit; unless he increased his mental strength, he couldn't control other water beasts.

【Successfully controlled Stone Claw Crab, can evolve】

The blood light dissipated, the crab egg turned back to orange-yellow, and the eye stalks of the Stone Claw Crab cub inside suddenly shook.

Is it waking up?

Liang Qu was pleasantly surprised and held the crab egg with both hands.

The development of the cub inside the crab egg was different from ordinary crabs; it skipped the large-eyed larval stage and went directly to the young crab stage, and the one he picked was the best-developed among the crab eggs, its body filling the entire crab egg ball, so it wasn't too surprising that it was about to be born.

As for the ones left over from the selection, they could only be thrown into the pot and turned into another sum of Water Essence after being boiled.

Raising them was impossible; the crab monster's displayed intelligence was too low, and it was hard to imagine that without control, a crustacean would have the concept of a "master" in its brain.

Troublesome, dangerous, full of uncertainty, and low-return things were things Liang Qu wouldn't do.

Inside the translucent ball membrane, the young crab waved its large claws, wanting to break through the membrane, but having just been born, it still had a soft shell, and breaking through the membrane was obviously very difficult, so it could only squeeze the membrane, causing it to constantly deform.

Beside the sampan, "Cannot Move" and "Fatty" floated side by side on the water surface, motionless, also staring at the young crab about to be born.

The young crab struggled more and more violently, from its large claws to its torso, and finally, its whole body was exerting force.

The ball membrane constantly expanded, deformed, twisted, and finally...

Pop!

Accompanied by a final sound similar to spitting bubbles, the translucent crab egg membrane finally ruptured, collapsing in a soft, wrinkled pile, and the transparent, sticky nutrient solution flowed out, seeping into the gaps of the wooden boards.

The newborn young crab immediately lay on the ground, using its pincers to clamp and gnaw on its own crab egg membrane bit by bit, while the white jade-like soft shell on its body became glossy and plump at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Except for the color, which was still white due to being in the juvenile stage, other parts were almost identical to the crab monster: an upright upper body, an inverted triangle from wide to narrow, with crab velvet resembling a belt at the waist, and six legs on the lower body—a mini version of a mini version.

Oh, the umbilical cover was also different; the male crab's was triangular, making its upper chest look like two large pectoral muscles, unexpectedly handsome.

After the young crab finished eating, Liang Qu touched it with the pad of his index finger; the young crab's shell already had a certain hardness, feeling somewhat jade-like, but it wasn't too hard; he didn't dare to test it, estimating it should be about the same as thin chocolate.

The fist-sized young crab held its head high and chest out, hands on its hips; obviously, having been recognized, it was very proud.

Liang Qu was amused and tapped the young crab's head with his finger pad: "Since you're only the size of a fist, I'll call you Fist."

He communicated with the Ze Ding again, wanting to see how much Water Essence this little guy needed to evolve.

【Can consume 800 points of Water Essence to evolve the Stone Claw Crab into a Stone Claw Crab King】

Eight hundred points!?

Liang Qu was startled by the Water Essence points required for the crab monster's evolution.

Eight hundred points was too much; one whole crab monster was only a hundred points, and eight hundred points would require killing more than eight.

One crab monster had forced one person and two beasts to flee in a sorry state, full of dangers; if it hadn't been a bit stupid, they would have died on the spot, and he didn't even dare to think about another one, let alone eight.

Perhaps when the Ze Ling turned cyan or his martial path broke through three levels, plus the evolution of the two beasts, he could steadily kill one crab monster; otherwise, he would always be injured to some extent.

But this combat power was now his.

Liang Qu let the young crab jump into his palm, hoping in his heart that it would grow up quickly.

As a male crab, its combat power was definitely stronger; by then, he could walk sideways in the shallow water area, and any four or five-meter-long crocodile would be taught a lesson with one pincer.

It's just that I don't know when I can change the control method; scratching my finger always hurts.

Liang Qu's gaze passed through the young crab and saw the wound on his three-finger pad slowly healing; the healing effect of the lotus root he had just eaten hadn't completely dissipated.

It's a pity that in the battle with the crab monster, nearly one-third of the lotus root field was eaten or destroyed, and his heart was bleeding.

My lotus roots, they are all my lotus roots!

Liang Qu had feelings for the first pot of gold that started his fortune; the only way to make up for it was to smash the useless crab shells and bury them under the lotus root field as fertilizer.

The crab monster's giant cyan back shell could be used as a large shield, the two giant pincers could be used as small shields, the tips of the six jointed legs underneath could be used to make fish spears, and the rest was completely useless, which could be considered the final bit of waste utilization.

In the boat, the water was boiling, and the crab eggs put in earlier were cooked.

Liang Qu scooped one up, let it cool, and swallowed it whole with the soup, almost burning a blister.

【Water Essence +0.6】

Only this much?

Liang Qu was greatly disappointed; normally he would be ecstatic, but now his stomach was already full, and he really couldn't muster the interest to force down a 0. x gain.

"I'll give them all to you."

Liang Qu threw the remaining crab eggs to the two beasts, letting them reduce the Water Essence needed for their evolution a bit more.

The young crab was out of the question; cannibalism was too cruel, not to mention that it would be eating its own brothers and sisters.

After eating, Liang Qu looked at the sky; it was about four-thirty, and he hadn't expected one crab monster to take up so much of his time.

He remembered Senior Brother Xiang saying in the morning that Master Yang would go to the martial arts hall to teach in the afternoon or evening, and he definitely couldn't miss it when it reached the Xu hour.

Fortunately, there was still time, so Liang Qu told the Fat Catfish and "Cannot Move" to hurry up and catch fish.

The two beasts dived and disappeared, leaving only bubbles floating to the surface.

Watching the two beasts leave, Liang Qu looked at "Fist" on the bow of the boat and suddenly remembered something.

If he remembered correctly, crabs also seem to hibernate?

The crab monster under the water was so fierce that it made Liang Qu subconsciously ignore this matter.

He had taken in three little brothers in total, and two of them needed to hibernate...

Liang Qu suddenly felt a bit worried, only hoping that spirit monsters could have a higher tolerance for low temperatures; but even if the tolerance was high, the fist-sized young crab couldn't help.

Before spring next year, all the fish catch would probably have to rely on the Fat Catfish's own strength.

Just past five o'clock, the Fat Catfish lay on the bow of the boat and spat out three more fish along with water.

In one hour, the two beasts caught a total of twelve fish, with a price of about thirty or forty wen.

"That's about enough; it'll be too late if it's any later." Liang Qu turned his head to look at "Fist" on the bow, "From now on, you'll live in the water with Fatty and Cannot Move."

The young crab tapped its large pincers, walked along the edge of the boat, and finally bent its knees and jumped onto "Cannot Move's" head.

The three beasts floated on the water surface, "Fist" standing on the Pig-Mother Dragon's forehead, together watching Liang Qu row the boat away.

Returning to the pier, Lin Songbao said welcome, then weighed the fish and counted the money.

Looking at the Jianghuai marshlands, Liang Qu couldn't help but open his arms and spread his legs; his not-yet-dry trousers were blown by the cold wind, fluttering and looking extremely cool.

The sea is wide for fish to leap, the sky is high for birds to fly!

"You seem very happy?" Lin Songbao asked with a smile.

"That's right."

"Tell me so I can be happy too."

"It won't be happy if I say it."

"?"

Liang Qu smiled, tossed the money bag up, and caught it firmly when it fell in front of him.

Now, go back to class!