Chapter 2: Commanding the Marshes!

The Marsh Cauldron!

The cauldron that commands all the marshes and waters under heaven!

Indescribable information flooded in, shaking Liang Qu to his core—had his golden finger appeared?

The great cauldron looked ancient, greenish-black in color, and perfectly square.

Since the Marsh Cauldron resided within his mind, there was nothing to compare it against to gauge its size, yet intuitively, it felt overwhelmingly imposing.

The cauldron's surface was carved with numerous patterns; the most striking were a giant ape and a coiled heavenly dragon, followed by creatures with human faces and bird bodies, or dragon heads and human torsos, among many other designs.

The other side depicted an emperor in black robes, even more exaggerated, occupying nearly half the cauldron's surface, followed by a spear-wielding divine general of similarly large proportion, with many other patterns nearby, mostly human in form.

One side beasts, the other side humans?

Just as Liang Qu was about to ponder this, his attention was snatched away by something else.

[Cauldron Master: Liang Qu]

[Obtainable Marsh Spirit: Water Monkey (White)]

[Acquiring...]

[Acquired. Refine it?]

[Marsh Spirit: The spirit of the marshes and waters. Refining a Marsh Spirit grants its fate, bloodline, and talents.]

It really is a damn golden finger!

But why a water monkey?

Because he had drowned?

A popular phrase floated up in Liang Qu's mind...

An old man, the subway, a mobile phone.

No, that can't be related; Liang Qu shook his head vigorously, forcing his focus back.

Refine the Marsh Spirit... to refine or not to refine?

He looked at the walls around him, then touched his belly, now full from a recent meal; did he really have a choice?

Having come to this world, how could he be content being an ordinary person?

Though everyone has two eyes and one mouth, some are born with noble blood and others with base blood; some drink meat soup while scolding others, while others go hungry only to be scolded in return.

He could not forget that martial master who had punched through a boulder taller than a man with a single blow.

What exactly is a martial master!?

Refine!!

Following Liang Qu's decision, a white spirit monkey, half-substantial and half-illusory, flew out of the Marsh Cauldron, merging into his body as if swimming through the air.

A stream of warm energy spread from Liang Qu's spine, flowing to his limbs and bones.

If his life had initially been a flickering candle in the wind, this warm current was like adding back more than half the wax, no longer teetering on the brink of extinction.

Yet before he could fully perceive it, the warm current vanished without a trace, leaving him craving more.

[Refinement successful!]

[Cauldron Master: Liang Qu]

[Refined Marsh Spirit: Water Monkey (White) (Fusion: 5%)]

[Marsh Essence: None]

[River Favor: None]

[Evaluation: The Water Monkey Marsh Spirit originates from the great Lord of Huaiwo; insufficiently stimulated, it suits a trivial figure with a weak fate.]

"Consuming Marsh Essence can increase the fusion of the Marsh Spirit and improve its quality. By the way, who is the Lord of Huaiwo? The name sounds so familiar. And where does one get Marsh Essence..."

Liang Qu still had many questions, but he was in no hurry; he would take it one step at a time and first see what the Water Monkey actually was.

[Water Monkey (White): An aquatic spirit monkey, beloved by rivers, possessing the ability to control water.]

[Current fusion is low: reduces consumption in water; can control thirty catties of water force by expending stamina; provides detailed perception within three meters and vague perception of water zones within five meters; reduces presence in water.]

[Consuming Marsh Essence may upgrade it to the Marsh Spirit Green Gibbon (Green), capable of riding waves, and further to the Water King Ape (Purple), capable of churning rivers and overturning seas.]

Liang Qu was overjoyed; though the name of this Marsh Spirit sounded wet and sloppy, its abilities were anything but! He was practically a natural-born expert in the water!

The Jiang-Huai water system stretched for ten thousand miles, a land of abundant marshes sustaining hundreds of millions of living beings; the Jiang-Huai Marsh Wilds were a super-sized lake spanning three commanderies, filled with countless spiritual plants, treasure fish, and minerals.

However, treasures in the water were extremely difficult to obtain; firstly, great demons lurked in the deep waters, making it hard for human martial artists to compete, and secondly, the underwater realm was chaotic with obscure spiritual energy, making treasures hard to find.

Only occasionally could a fisherman luckily obtain one or two in the shallow waters.

Just last month, someone at the neighboring dock had caught a tiger-headed spotted fish, selling it for the astronomical price of three taels and five candareens of silver!

If he truly possessed such abilities, wouldn't that mean he exclusively controlled an undeveloped treasure vault?

Furthermore, if five percent fusion allowed control over thirty catties of water, wouldn't one hundred percent fusion allow control over at least six hundred catties?

For an ordinary person, that would be like a Water God walking the earth.

There were even other Marsh Spirits to obtain and upgrade!

If a white Marsh Spirit was already so fierce, what would a green or purple upgraded Marsh Spirit be like?

The so-called ability to churn rivers and overturn seas was truly captivating.

White, green, purple... what lay beyond? Were there more levels?

For a moment, Liang Qu felt intense greed for the so-called Marsh Essence, but unfortunately, he had no means to obtain it for now and would have to deal with that later.

As for why the divine artifact had chosen him, Liang Qu believed it must be heaven's reward for his act of righteousness.

What else could it be? Did it covet his malnutrition? His inability to afford food? His status as an orphan? He had only those meager skills, so why overthink it?

Having obtained a golden finger, Liang Qu could no longer rest easy sleeping.

His former self could not fish and even struggled to make a living, avoided by those around him, but now, with just this five percent Water Monkey ability, few fishermen in the entire Yixing Market could surpass him.

Good days were coming!

To the dock!

The moon was dark and the wind high; buildings lined the streets in orderly rows.

Liang Qu looked around, sizing up this strange world.

The entire Yixing Market had only one street in the true sense, running straight from the city center to the sole Shangrao Dock; it was paved with neat bluestone slabs, while the rest were merely yellow dirt paths worn down by footsteps, with most residents' houses built extending along this street.

A truly small place.

As far as Liang Qu knew, next to Yixing Market lay a bustling large town, and above that were counties, departments, and prefectures.

He found this unsurprising; this world was clearly an ancient one, where a "market" was not larger than a county but rather a residential area that gradually gathered like a fair, similar to the "Zengtou Market" in Water Margin; called a market, it was actually a small village relying on the river for its livelihood.

Once he gained the ability in the future, he would definitely go out and see this world!

Arriving at the dock, Liang Qu, breathing heavily, scanned the water surface along the riverbank; when he reached a certain shallow shoal, a sudden flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, and his gaze locked firmly onto a specific spot.

A thumb-sized small fish suddenly floated to the surface to breathe.

Inspired by fortune, Liang Qu actually reached out his hand, attempting to catch this bold little fish.

The small fish reacted swiftly, turning to flee upon being startled, but in an instant, strange water pressure pressed in on it from all sides; by the time the pressure vanished and it tried to escape again, the small fish was already in Liang Qu's palm.

Truly powerful!

Liang Qu scooped up a handful of clear green water; the small fish swam in his palm, its eyes shining brightly.

Licking his lips, he plunged his hand into the water; the moment the water in his palm touched the lake water, the small fish flicked its tail to dart away, but soon the water pressure struck again, and it was caught in his hand once more.

After repeating this four or five times and gaining some insight, Liang Qu finally stood up.

The small fish was thumb-sized, requiring very little water flow to control, so the stamina consumption was manageable, but using a large amount of water flow in a short time would be difficult to endure.

"It's a pity the Marsh Spirit's fusion is too low; the method of controlling water flow is very crude, capable only of squeezing, unable to form water blades, let alone control blood, though I should be able to do that in the future."

Stripping off his clothes in the reed marsh, Liang Qu slowly waded into the water.

The moment he entered the water, he felt the difference—it was not cold!

In the middle of the night during late autumn, the water in the Marsh Wilds was quite bone-chilling; his "father" had died from catching a chill after going into the water.

Was this the benefit of being affinity with water? Liang Qu tied up his hair and dove headfirst into the river.

Ripples spread out, shattering the moonlight.

Completely submerged in the water zone, an indescribable sense of intimacy spread through him, actually giving him the illusion of returning to his original world.

Thinking of the happiness of taking a bus for one yuan to watch the sunset in a city park, then going home to curl up on the sofa and eat noodles, it took Liang Qu a long while to snap out of it.

In order to live better!

He reined in his emotions and focused on finding fish.

The underwater world was pitch black and deep; relying on his perception ability, Liang Qu could detect living creatures approaching from five meters away, whereas fish would need to be within one and a half meters to detect him.

Along the way, Liang Qu "saw" many fish, but none could fetch a high price.

Having just eaten a baked cake, he was not too hungry; his body's weakness was caused by cumulative days and months, and one cannot become fat from a single mouthful, so he did not attempt to catch them.

After looking around, Liang Qu, having caught his breath, finally found a suitable target.

A large yellow croaker, about the length of an adult's forearm, weighing around three catties.

The yellow croaker was also a unique fish species of the Jiang-Huai region; while its nourishing effects were not outstanding, its flesh was sufficiently delicious, and many gourmet diners would pay a high price for it; this one before him was probably worth seventy to ninety cash coins.

As the saying goes, one catty of fish requires ten catties of strength; this happened to be the limit of Liang Qu's water-controlling ability.

Moreover, the yellow croaker had no scales, unlike ordinary fish which are slippery and hard to grab.

Thinking of this, Liang Qu approached carefully, swimming to about one and a half meters, the limit of his concealment distance, before suddenly darting forward.

The yellow croaker, startled, tried to flee, but Liang Qu loosely clenched his five fingers, and water pressure from all sides immediately immobilized it on the spot, rendering it unable to move.

He paddled forward, his five fingers like hooks, seizing the scaleless yellow croaker; carrying the fish, he swam to the surface and threaded a reed leaf through its gills.

Eighty cash coins secured!