Chapter 819: Whoosh Whoosh~ Storm of Pear Blossom Needles

The distant reef was being struck by waves with sharp cracking sounds; although he couldn't hear them from this distance, he could well imagine it.

The waves that occasionally surged up onto the beach also sparkled in the sunlight; the fine sand was washed clean by the sea, and looking from afar, there were even glints of crystalline light reflected by the sun.

Ye Yaodong drove while gazing at the distant beach; for a moment he lost focus and even overshot a little, but overshot was overshot — when he came back to himself, he simply stopped right where he was.

Father Ye noticed he had overshot as well. "We've already passed that patch of submerged reef…"

"This'll do. I've combed the seabed around that whole reef patch plenty of times already. Since I happened to overshoot today, let's just do it here. I'll go down and take a look. If it's too deep underneath and I can't reach the bottom, we can just switch spots."

"That works too. Just do as you see fit. Be careful going down, take it slow. After all, we don't know what's underneath from this distance — you've got to be careful in unfamiliar places."

"Mm."

While pulling off the cloth and nylon cover from the machine, he also glanced at the surrounding sea. This spot happened to be completely blocked from view of his fishing boat by the submerged reef, so Brother Brother Asheng and the others on their boat in the distance couldn't see him.

When he'd just driven over, he'd still been keeping an eye on whether they'd taken their boat farther out. He found they'd been well-behaved too — not running around with their boat, still trawling in this same patch of sea, working the surrounding area just like at night and in the morning.

Only now the submerged reef blocked his line of sight, so he couldn't see their fishing boat; by the same logic, they probably couldn't see his either.

This was actually a natural screen of cover, but as their boat worked back and forth, if it turned direction it should be able to see.

Anyway, he couldn't be bothered to care. He'd said he was looking for Jiang Yao — even if they saw him, there was nothing to explain.

He finished his preparations, took a deep breath, and only then jumped into the water.

"Be careful, take it slow. You're not familiar with this patch — go slowly, and keep a good eye on your surroundings."

He was wearing a face mask, so since it wasn't convenient to talk, he just nodded, then slowly began to dive down bit by bit.

The area of the submerged reef below, from his earlier observations, was quite large, but because the hose length was limited, he couldn't go too far — only the immediate surroundings.

He was also afraid of plunging down too hard and suddenly bumping into some creature he didn't recognize. What if it was a stonefish, or a blue-ringed octopus? Those were things that could kill a person.

But he didn't run into anything that venomous — instead he ran into something else life-threatening, which nearly scared the soul right out of him.

Ye Yaodong kicked his fins, head pointing down, and slowly swam deeper. He saw some fish and shrimp; although they all actively dodged out of the way, he still tried his best to avoid them.

As he gradually went deeper, the light dimmed a little, but visibility was still quite good. After all, today the sun was blazing high, the sky cloudless for ten thousand li, a sheet of deep blue, and its reflection gave the seawater a blue cast as well.

The water quality in this patch was already pretty good to begin with, and today's weather made the sea even clearer. The stronger the sun on the surface, the deeper the light could penetrate, making visibility extremely high.

This let him react in time and avoid the danger.

As he was gradually diving down, a dark, dense mass of fish up ahead on the surface came rushing rapidly toward him.

His eyes had originally lit up, and he'd been about to veer to the side and see what kind of fish they were. If they were good stuff — valuable fish — and there was still time, he'd quickly float back up, notify his dad to grab the hand-cast net and toss one to see if they could catch them in time.

But before he could even finish being pleased, he clearly saw a figure shoot straight past with a whoosh…

Holy shit!

His pupils contracted, and he cursed inwardly.

He was also so startled his eyes went wide!

He'd often seen it in wuxia dramas — the hero's flying daggers, the villain's hidden weapons — always shooting out from the sleeve with a "whoosh," thrilling to watch.

Watching them hit the target every time, he'd even praise how beautiful it was.

Only when you were actually there yourself, "thrilling" really was thrilling — but the most "being there" feeling of all was your scalp going numb.

Luckily he'd made sure to stand aside ahead of time. Just barely — he would have had to go meet Goddess Mazu again just now.

He'd only ever heard of this kind of fish before, never seen one.

This whole swarming mass of "long needles" whoosh-whoosh-whooshed past him toward the front, just like the "Storm of Pear Blossom Needles" in wuxia novels — a whole sheet of them blasting past with a whoosh.

It scared him into immediately ducking into a crevice in the reef beside him, afraid that even standing to the side wasn't safe enough, afraid some unseeing one might shoot straight through his body — then he'd really have to sing a cold, cold song.

Only after hiding in the reef crevice did he feel a full sense of safety, and his heart settled a little. He couldn't help feeling grateful, too — he didn't have a waterproof headlamp right now, and he'd gone down when the sunlight was strong. You had to know that the "Storm of Pear Blossom Needles" that had just shot past were also phototactic.

If he'd been wearing a headlamp and run into them underwater, he'd have been shot full of holes for sure.

He'd really dodged just in time. Before, whenever he ran into a school of fish going down, Hui would always deliberately swim right into them, turning two circles among the school on purpose, enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by fish, and savoring it.

Luckily today, for some reason, he'd thought to stand to the side and take a look before floating up to notify his dad to get the net ready.

If he'd just stayed put right there, he really would have been pierced through with a chill to the heart, his heart flying free.

He peeked out from the reef crevice. Some of these "Storm of Pear Blossom Needles" were only a few dozen centimeters long, but some were actually around a meter long. Those giant long needles swayed past his eyes sheet after sheet — he stared, utterly transfixed.

This wave of fish was also far larger than he'd imagined. Earlier he'd only seen a dark, dense mass rushing this way, unable to make out the species or numbers clearly. As it turned out, sheet after sheet kept passing by, with no end in sight.

After a while he was getting a bit numb to it. He waited a long time before the gaps between the fish thinned out, no longer so dense, and he figured this big wave of fish should be about over.

If they didn't pass soon, his time would be up too. If he got turned into a porcupine because of this, he'd die with no peace of mind — dodging the Storm of Pear Blossom Needles only to die of regret because he ran out of time.

He waited patiently a while longer, until at the tail end only two or three stragglers were left, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. But just in case, he didn't go out right away — he kept hiding in the crevice, taking a breather.

What if there were stragglers? Life was more important!

After all, he still had a little time left. He wasn't counting on reaching the bottom now either — once they were completely past, he'd have to float up for a breath and steady his nerves.

The shock this dangerous school of fish gave him was second only to the sardine storm — except this time it was danger that set his nerves on edge, while the sardine storm had been pure awe and wild joy.

After the school had completely passed, and for quite a while nothing showed up at the mouth of the crevice, he cautiously poked just his two eyes out, stuck his head out a bit, and looked toward where they'd come from and where they'd gone.

Only then did he confidently wriggle his whole body out of the crevice — but the instant he wriggled out, his clothes got snagged on the reef.

Damn it — when the roof leaks it always rains all night. Even the rocks were bullying him now, snagging his clothes — wasn't that obviously trying to delay him?

Bad luck!

He turned his head to look, tugged once, and freed his snagged clothes — but then accidentally noticed that underneath the crevice behind him, there seemed to be a bunch of crates wedged in?

Crates?

Looked like crates, right?

The depth below still looked to be about three or four meters. His time had just been held up too long by that school of fish — it was almost up. He didn't dare waste a moment now, no time to go down and check.

Damn it — his attention had been completely drawn by the school of fish just now.

And he'd been too tense himself. Surviving the accident by the skin of his teeth and having a crevice to hide in was already a blessing from Amitabha — how could he have noticed anything else?

At the time he'd also been busy staring at the school of fish outside. After all, it was something that threatened his life — he had no mind to look carefully at his surroundings.

Who would have thought there were crates under this crevice?

He instantly thought of the box buried under the osmanthus tree in his courtyard at his doorstep; his heart burned with heat. Could there also be treasures hidden in the box below?

No, the border patrol had previously conducted a carpet search of the nearby island and found only a cave; they heard there were merely a few boxes of gold and silver treasures...

Could it be...

His heart grew even more excited, even more burning...

Throughout history, how many treasures have fallen into the sea, buried and undiscovered by anyone.

His eyes gleamed as he stared fixedly at the wooden box below, yet his body remained motionless; he was somewhat reluctant to go straight up, but if he went down, there was no time left.

After hesitating for a moment, he forced himself to tear his gaze away, kicked his fins, and swam upward.

Damn it, he could only come back down to check later.

Anyway, the box was right here; it wouldn't grow legs and run away. Life was paramount; he must surface first to catch his breath.

Ye Yaodong burst through the water with a splash and saw his father stretching his neck, searching everywhere; upon seeing him surface, his father visibly relaxed entirely.

He hurriedly swam over to his father and climbed up, grabbing his father's hand.

"You finally came up; you nearly scared me to death just now. Those were all needlefish!"

As soon as Ye Yaodong flipped himself onto the boat, he saw two nets of needlefish lying on the deck.

"Did you see those fish swim past? Ah, damn it, I was nearly scared to death underwater; I was almost pricked into a hedgehog. It was far too dangerous. Fortunately, I carried Goddess Mazu's throne for three days; Goddess Mazu blessed me and granted me a way of life. Otherwise, Father, you would have had to send off a black-haired person with white hair..."

"Tut, tut, tut! What nonsense are you spouting? You have great fortune and a long life, great fortune and a long life. Goddess Mazu blesses you; nothing happened at all..."

"It was truly too dangerous. Not long after I entered the water, before I even reached the bottom, and without noticing how many meters deep I was, I saw a dark mass swimming toward me from ahead; I thought it was a school of fish. If I had acted according to my usual nature, I would have definitely stayed in place, letting the school of fish circle around me. Suddenly, I didn't know what came over my brain; I just thought of moving to the side, then going up to remind you..."