Chapter 20

Rosy light filled the sky, the rising sun in the east. This is when Yunmze Marsh is at its most beautiful; the sunlight is faint yet gorgeous, piercing the year‑round water mist here as if passing through layer after layer of gauze, like a dream‑like world.

The room had large windows on all sides; a maid was hanging up the thick gauze curtains. Gan Tian, barefoot, got out of bed and knelt before the dressing table.

She couldn't help yawning, then sniffed: 'It seems there's more fragrance...'

Her dressing table was piled with everything; although she was still too young for rouge and powder, those around her had no such notion—their idea was that Gan Tian could go without, but must not lack them.

Xiao Bai lightly combed her hair, chuckling: 'Looks like it's from outside; I heard the young miss has returned, so everyone's vying to curry favor!'

Since Gan Tian doesn't use rouge or powder, she uses various scented powders and waters more often, so the servants like to give her these things.

'The fragrance won't keep long...' Gan Tian muttered a few times, then thought: 'You few, take it and divide it up!'

The maids behind her holding the washing supplies looked at each other, laughed, and all thanked her.

'Xiao Bai, split the hair into two sections and tie them low—just that.' Although the double low ponytail takes no skill, it's comfortable! Gan Tian is going out to play today, so she'll do whatever feels most at ease.

'Oh!' Xiao Bai's advantage is that she never keeps Gan Tian at arm's length; that's her secret to being a personal maid. Others might advise Gan Tian, but she won't— not even the lord and lady would say a word about such trifles, so why would these people go against the miss? As long as the miss is happy.

While tying her hair she muttered: 'People outside are getting less thoughtful; a few days ago they sent a batch of pearls, saying it was to celebrate the young miss's birthday. I and Zixia looked—either they weren't heavy enough or lacked luster... I don't believe it; we can't even find decent pearls!'

Zixia entered holding clothes, laughing: 'It's not that outsiders have only just become like this... what's good about what they send? Even when they occasionally send something nice, they ruin it—like the cloud‑silk garments sent last year; how rare is cloud‑silk? To cut it like that is truly vulgar! Even if the cloud‑silk were superb, the miss wouldn't wear it.'

After the double low ponytail was done, Xiao Bai fastened a pair of pearl clasps and said: 'The old pearls are still the best—these are the ones the East Sea Sea Lord sent three years ago...'

'Lake pearls and sea pearls are inherently different,' Gan Tian remarked offhand.

'Are these the fresh-cut flowers sent today?' Xiao Bai asked, then picked two light‑purple peonies and pinned them beside the pearl clasps.

Gan Tian rose to wash up; Zixia had two little maids display each set of clothes: 'Which set will the miss wear today?'

They were all newly made; Gan Tian glanced, pointed at one set: 'This one—it matches today's flowers.'

White strapless top, pink‑purple gauze pants, light‑purple gauze upper garment... In the area of Yunmze Marsh where spiritual energy is most abundant, the temperature varies little year‑round due to the influence of spiritual energy. Outside it's early winter now, but here one can still dress for summer.

'Going out to play today, this outfit is also convenient!' Saying that, Gan Tian went behind the screen to change clothes, while Zixia opened the shoe cabinet and picked matching shoes.

Deep‑purple silk slippers, small and soft, with no jeweled studs on the toe—just embroidered white peonies, each adorned with rice‑pearl dew drops; they suit Gan Tian's fresh look today perfectly.

'Find my fishing rod for me, and my little boat!' Gan Tian said while putting on her shoes, then recalled the letter she'd written last night, pointing: 'Send that letter out.'

Xiao Bai smiled while fetching Gan Tian's fishing rod: 'The miss is writing another letter to Young Master Zhu? Didn't you say you wouldn't speak to him anymore?'

'He gave me such a lovely little boat, and he's trying to please me, saying he'll look after me if I go to Clear Void Heaven... I'll grudgingly forgive him!' Gan Tian wore a reluctant expression.

The maids below all knew what was going on, and they burst into laughter, covering their mouths.

'The miss and Young Master Zhu are practically like siblings now—just sometimes a bit too childish.'

'Who's saying I'm like siblings with Zhu Babai!' Gan Tian glared at the maids, but it had no effect; she only took the fishing rod and slunk away.

Zhu Babai, three years older than Gan Tian, his father is the North Sea Sea Lord, so they are roughly both descendants of the 'Water God' lineage. When Gan Tian was young she studied for a while with several other Water God descendants, all taught by Zhu Babai's aunt—that's when their 'grudge' began.

Their feelings were as good as siblings', but Zhu Babai kept provoking her from time to time—making it impossible to be friends!

On the Fairy Maiden Pond they launched a boat; a reed‑woven vessel as small as a walnut spun in place twice on the water, then gradually expanded until it reached the size of a normal small boat.

It is a specially exquisite and pretty little boat, practically a toy—Gan Tian couldn't refuse such a peace offering, so of course she could only forgive him!

I just don't know how such a boat came to be... If it were from childhood, Gan Tian might think this sort of thing is common. After all, immortals can hold Mount Sumeru in a mustard seed; having a personal storage space or treasure bag wouldn't be strange. In that case, artifacts that shrink and expand would be even less noteworthy.

But as Gan Tian gained experience, she realized it wasn't like that. This world is wondrous, yet not quite like the imagined cultivation world; there are, vaguely, 'rules'—it's not that immortals can move mountains and seas, speak and have it happen, do whatever they want!

In short, spells and such have their own operating principles, even if those principles seem utterly unreasonable to scientifically minded people.

But then again, who can dictate the world's operating principles? It's not a single world to begin with; perhaps to them the scientific side is what's truly hard to comprehend.

The vague conclusion also let Gan Tian accept things a bit more—everything's operation must follow some universal rule, like conservation of energy. If the power of cultivators in this world were rule‑less, she'd instead feel something was wrong, full of unreality.

Gan Tian has seen plenty of good things, but she's never actually seen a freely shrink‑and‑expand gadget like this! If such things were common, one can imagine how much they'd convenience life.

Always obedient and not prone to self‑destruction, Gan Tian for the first time felt the urge to understand the principle behind this boat's shrinking and expanding... Knowing that a child her age had better not learn these things! Premature knowledge of immortal arts carries safety hazards!

After she hesitantly inquired of Gan Cheng, she finally gave up the temptation... In principle this thing isn't hard; the spell is quite simple. The difficulty lies in crafting such a 'treasure'—it requires a very rare material, and the rarity of that material makes it a highly impractical forged artifact.

Gan Cheng actually has a few shrink‑and‑expand trinkets, but they're mostly novelties with little practical use.

After all, as a river lord, his entourage can be grand; there's no need to carry bulky items personally. If there were any large items that must be carried, they certainly couldn't be ordinary. But the problem is that the required raw material might interfere with certain miraculous forging materials.

There are simply too many uncontrollable factors!

Gan Tian's little boat isn't affected by that, mainly because its basic material is wood or the like, not those forging materials.

Using an extremely rare material just to make a little girl's toy—this is also uncommon in the cultivation world.

She jumped onto the boat, and it began to ride the wind automatically, needing no one to pole or steer it.

The Fairy Maiden Pond connects via waterways to other rivers and lakes; the boat looks slow but is actually swift. After a leisurely sway, it soon reached the edge of the central region of Yunmze Marsh.

This is where Gan Tian often fishes... If one must say what's special here, it's probably the converging undercurrents that link the five lakes and four seas, so fishing here can yield all kinds of fish. With good luck, even sea fish can be caught!

The boat was baited, the rod set, and Gan Tian first had a snack—prepared for her day‑out play, Xiao Bai really had everything ready!

The fish here aren't hard to catch; after an hour of fishing, Gan Tian's little bamboo creel was half full.

She reeled in the rod, dropped a few bamboo baskets into the water, then took out a bamboo mat, soft pillow, and thin blanket, laying them on the deck to bask in the sun for a nap.

The sunshine is wonderful... the gently rocking little boat feels like a cradle...

She was finally awakened by a splashing sound.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up, facing a boy— their boats were about to collide.

After sizing him up a few times, Gan Tian let out an 'oh~' and asked: 'Who are you? How did you get here?'

The boy also looked dazed, with an 'Who am I? Where am I?' expression: 'I... I mistakenly entered this place... could this be an immortal's abode?'

Gan Tian thought, then shook her head: 'No— are you a fisherman on Yunmze Marsh?'

Seeing him nod, she knew he'd wandered in by mistake, and pointed: 'Just keep heading southeast, rowing straight, and you'll get out.'

It's not easy to accidentally drift into the deep parts of Yunmze Marsh, but there are always these 'slip‑through' fish. Ordinary folk who get in find it hard to get out as well.

The boy murmured 'uh‑uh' and dared not speak... he had already decided in his heart that, even if this wasn't an immortal's dwelling, it was close enough, and before him stood a little fairy maiden.

Gan Tian glanced at him; the outside world was already winter, yet he wore thin clothes, his jacket even ragged, suggesting his family was poor.

Besides, a boy his age in an ordinary household would be expected to help with chores, but not to sail a boat this far alone. Fishing is a proper job; it wouldn't fall on a teenager's shoulders—normally the head of the household does it.

She sighed: "What are you standing there for? You didn't come to fish, did you?"

"... Yes, yes, yes!" Even though the other party was a little fairy, the boy came to his senses then. His mother was seriously ill at home, his father had injured his leg in a brawl in the neighboring village, and now was a difficult time, with his younger brothers and sisters still waiting for food!

He piloted his father's boat out to fish, just to support the family!

Fishermen couldn't come to this water area; originally hardly anyone fished here, only Gan Tian occasionally came to fish. Over time, the fish stocks here became abundant, and the fish weren't very bright. As the boy cast and hauled his nets, his catch was plentiful.

Seeing the lively catch jumping about in the hold, the boy was overjoyed.

He believed such a haul was thanks to the little fairy's guidance, and was about to thank her—when he looked back, he saw the little fairy, having put away her bamboo basket, had cast her hook, only that hook happened to be straight!

He blurted out: "Immortal maiden, you should bend that hook before using it…"

The little immortal maiden doesn't eat mortal food—does she even know hooks are supposed to be bent?

Gan Tian just cast her hook and calmly said: "I know hooks are supposed to be bent… but, gain is my fortune, loss is my fate— a bent hook means 'seeking', a straight hook means 'taking'… oh, a fish is coming!"

Saying that, however, it was a golden carp!

Glittering gold, quite extraordinary… this carp actually doesn't taste very good, but because it's rare enough and looks impressive, its price is extremely high—wealthy families keep it as an ornamental fish.

Gan Tian wasn't quite satisfied with that fish, so she dropped the straight hook again; after a while she hauled up a large fish with a small patch of red scales on its fin, and only then did she nod in satisfaction. The boy didn't recognize that fish, only seeing the little immortal maiden take out a small scaling knife, scrape it along the fish's body, and silver scales flutter down.

The scales that fell onto the deck actually turned into silver!

Gan Tian only scraped for a moment before stopping, then released the big fish again, which slipped away with a swish beneath the water.

The boy realized this might be divine marvel, so he dared not say anything more, just casting his nets as widely as possible and hauling in as many fish as he could. As dusk struggled at the lake bottom, a lone duck cried, the fishing boat's evening song faintly audible, seeming both near and far, like mountains and rivers, the boy came to his senses and knew it was time to leave.

Just as he was about to head southeast as the little fairy had said, he noticed her boat had vanished at some point. Instead, his own deck now had a small bamboo basket holding several fish, which he quickly transferred to a washtub—all were golden carp and white‑belly red carp, etc.

Only after moving them to the washtub did he discover that the bottom of the basket was a sheet of flashing silver light—exactly the fish‑scale silver from before!

The boy rowed his boat southeast, passing through a layer of mist, remembering not to hesitate and just keep rowing. After who knows how long, the view suddenly opened up!

At that moment only a sliver of light remained on the horizon, and the scenery before him was familiar—there were still a few fishing boats here and there heading home.

After returning home the boy sold all the fish he'd caught, but the most valuable were still the few in the bamboo basket, which a merchant specializing in such trade took off his hands—with that money the family could not only get through this toughest period, but also become a prosperous household in the village.

"These are all of them—where's the money?" the boy said, lifting the washtub.

The merchant handed over cash and took the goods, but was greatly astonished when he saw a red carp while taking the fish and exchanging the tub.

"How strange—this red carp is found only in the Pine River; how could it appear in the Cloud Dream Marsh?"

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Yesterday the application for V passed; it should go live next Monday!

Thanks for your support, everyone! An extra chapter today! Thanks to the little angels who voted with super votes or poured nutrient solution for me between 2020-04-24 02:45:09 and 2020-04-25 02:20:16~

Thanks to the little angels who poured nutrient solution: Pingpingpingping'an, Pan Xiao Xiannü 10 bottles; Meng Ruo 2 bottles; Fenghuang Hua Youkai, Ye Zi 1 bottle;

Thank you all very much for your support—I'll keep working hard!