Chapter 96: The Daoist Fishes, and Those Who Are Willing Come of Their Own Accord

"Who says that without a hook, one cannot catch a fish?"

Ze sat on the fishing platform, gently waved his hand, and cast the fishing line into the fourth layer of the Spirit Pool.

In this layer of the Spirit Pool, the fish were basically covered in Golden Scales, shimmering brilliantly under the sunlight, looking very beautiful and extraordinary.

The Golden Scales were broad, and upon them were naturally formed mysterious patterns, appearing extremely remarkable.

For a fish to grow Golden Scales is a sign that it has already begun to evolve toward a dragon; calling it a fish-dragon is not an exaggeration at all.

Further up, those fish with bodies entirely covered in Golden Scales, claws growing beneath their bellies, and horns atop their heads have reached an increasingly deep level of dragonification.

Calling them fish-dragons is not quite appropriate; calling them Dragon Fish is about right.

They only wait for their bloodlines to completely transform, to leap over the Dragon Gate, and from then on, they can transform into a True Dragon, soaring above the nine heavens.

Today, Ze is fishing in the fourth layer of the Spirit Pool, for those fish-dragons that have begun to dragonify but whose dragonification is not yet deep.

"Fellow Daoist, this rod of yours has no hook."

"These fish have already gained spiritual wisdom; how do you intend to catch them?"

Li Xiang felt it was somewhat magical, so he stood up and sat down beside the fishing platform.

He wanted to see how this Mr. Ze would go about fishing for fish-dragons.

"Hahaha!"

"This Daoist fishes, and those who are willing come of their own accord."

Hmm?

The strange words made Li Xiang feel a bit odd.

"Fellow Daoist, do you still remember the young attendant who led the way for you when you arrived?"

Seeing Li Xiang was somewhat confused, Ze turned to the side to explain to him.

"Naturally, I remember. That young attendant was exquisitely formed and looked very full of Spiritual Qi."

"But looking at his origins, it seems he is a Spirit Fish from this pool?"

That young attendant was clever and followed etiquette in his actions, which quite pleased Li Xiang.

Yet such a clever fellow only lingered within the seventh layer of the Spirit Pool.

Thinking of that, in these higher layers of pool water, those spirited fish-dragons and Dragon Fish should be even more clever and possess more spiritual nature.

How could they possibly be caught by this hookless rod for no reason?

Ze, however, nodded gently.

"That is exactly so."

"Does Fellow Daoist have any interest in hearing how my hookless rod catches these Spirit Fish?"

"I would like to hear the details!"

Li Xiang sat down, holding a cup of Spirit Wine in his left hand, and toasted the majestic Dragon Gate not far away.

Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate—in such a wondrous place, one must drink a large cup!

Ze sat on the fishing platform and pointed his finger toward the churning river channel at the very bottom of the Spirit Pool.

"Fellow Daoist, look!"

Standing on the pavilion at this moment and looking down from a height, he suddenly felt that the river channel beside him when he arrived was much wider, with countless fish swaying within it.

At a first glance, there was actually an illusion of facing a great river.

Dragon Gate Spits Spring, passing through the Ninefold Spirit Pool and falling to the ground, actually turned into rolling waves; it was truly profound.

Ze spoke softly:

"The Spirit Spring spat out by this Dragon Gate connects three mountains and four waters. The river channel below looks narrow, but if one leaves this small world, it connects to at least a dozen great rivers, thousands of streams, and countless mountain brooks and wild creeks."

"Ten thousand kinds of spiritual beauty gather here. Any fish with good fortune can swim against the current along the river channel to strive for the True Dragon bloodline."

Ze pointed to the Spirit Fish swaying in the sixth layer and said:

"That little fellow is named Yuan. He originally came from a foul ditch near the Southern Wilderness and was the most ordinary carp in the water. He was nearly starving to death, but who knew he would obtain an opportunity and come to this small world."

"Sailing against the current, one must advance or be driven back. He lived in the great river at the very bottom and had to strive to swim forward every single moment. If he was careless for even an instant, he would be washed away by the current, pushed out of this small world, and lose his good fortune."

"He cultivated bitterly all the way, suffering I don't know how much hardship, before he finally leaped into this ninth layer of the Spirit Pool."

"Once he entered that Spirit Pool, he no longer had to suffer the pain of being washed by the current. Nourished by the Spirit Rhyme, day by day, this little fellow finally opened his spiritual wisdom. Hmm, he is a little fellow with a firm Dao heart, with his whole mind set on transforming into a dragon."

"Year after year of trying, year after year of effort, swimming against the current, he finally rushed to this sixth layer of the Spirit Pool and grew his first Golden Scale."

"From then on, he defied the heavens to change his fate, transformed his bloodline, and stepped onto this path of evolving toward a divine dragon."

"Walking this path, through difficulties and dangers, it took him a full twenty years to reach this step."

As he spoke, Ze shook his head gently.

He suddenly turned to ask Li Xiang.

"Fellow Daoist, what do you think of this little fellow's character?"

"If he were a mortal cultivator, what do you think of his Dao heart? What Grade could he reach?"

Listening to the inquiry from Ze, Li Xiang seriously savored the story and recalled it in his heart.

A firm Dao heart, swimming against the current.

Exhausting half a lifetime, just to transform into a dragon.

Regarding such character, various figures flashed through Li Xiang's mind as he compared and pondered.

After a long while, he spoke slowly.

"Twenty years—for a carp at the very bottom of the food chain, this can already be considered an extremely long period of time."

"If a person is willing to devote their energy to one thing for their entire life, even if their talent is average, I think it is perhaps possible for them to enter the Grade."

Li Xiang said softly.

What he said was not a lie.

Most ordinary people have average talent, provided they have no special opportunities.

The highest height they can reach in their entire life is the Seventh Grade.

This is not a joke, but something the teacher has stated as a fact.

The path of cultivation is inherently a matter of defying the heavens to change one's fate; how could there be any talk of it being even half-easy?

But if one's Dao heart is firm and one is willing to spend a lifetime in diligent cultivation, even with average talent.

Li Xiang feels that such a person can also cross that threshold and enter the Sixth Grade.

But thinking about it.

The Sixth Grade should be their limit.

"Hahaha!"

"Good!"

"Fellow Daoist thinks the same as I do; come, cheers!"

Ze picked up his wine cup and clinked it against Li Xiang's.

The fragrance of the wine overflowed, refreshing the heart and spirit.

Ze continued to speak slowly:

"Carp have lowly lives and base bloodlines."

"For such a creature, if it cultivates Qi and Blood, it is an extremely rare occurrence to reach the Seventh Grade within the Demon Race."

"But it is different; it practiced truly for twenty years as one day, comprehending the Spirit Rhyme, and actually cultivated a Golden Scale despite its lowly carp bloodline."

"A fish growing a Golden Scale, even if it is just an ordinary Golden Scale, represents that it has condensed a dragon's bloodline."

"With this bloodline, in the future, it can enter the Sixth Grade."

Ze looked at the swaying Spirit Fish below and sighed softly.

"It cultivated a Golden Scale; logically speaking, it should be able to cross the counter-currents of the seventh and sixth layers, enter the next Spirit Pool, and obtain more Spirit Rhyme."

"However, it did not."

"Does Fellow Daoist know why?"

Another question.

Li Xiang gave a bitter smile; was he asking him, or was he asking himself?

However, he felt the story was interesting and did not mind too much, casting his gaze toward the Spirit Pool.

Li Xiang only then noticed that in the seventh-layer Spirit Pool, there were many swimming fish with Golden Scales on their bodies, which were actually not much different from the Spirit Fish in the sixth layer, yet they still remained in the seventh layer.

They were submerged among countless ordinary fish.

Even though they had the qualifications to enter the sixth layer, they were still submerged in the vast sea of fish in the seventh layer.

In a trance.

Li Xiang saw a fish with a Golden Scale in the seventh layer take a dive, go against the current, and charge toward the sixth layer.

Although the sixth and seventh layers were only separated by a few dozen meters.

The difference in the amount of Spirit Rhyme between them was nearly tenfold!

No creature would refuse an excellent cultivation environment.

This fish with the Golden Scale charged upward with all its might; the flowing water column rolling down from above and smashing against its face could not hinder its progress in the slightest.

After all, fish that have obtained the True Dragon bloodline are all qualified to enter the sixth layer.

Soon, the fish advancing with all its might arrived at the edge of the sixth layer.

With just one leap, it would be able to enter the sixth layer.

It could continue to accumulate Spirit Rhyme here, gestate the True Dragon bloodline, and eventually condense half a body of Golden Scales to enter the fifth layer.

At the final moment, it flicked its tail and jumped up, leaping toward the sixth layer.

If nothing unexpected happened.

Something unexpected happened.

Just as it was about to land on the sixth layer, a swimming fish with six Golden Scales on its body suddenly jumped out of the pool.

A tail smashed down from the air, striking the Golden Scale fish fiercely.

It also took the opportunity to spit out a dark blue water column, which slammed into it.

It seemed to be mocking its overestimation of its own capabilities.

One had six scales, the other had one.

Without any suspense, the climbing fish-dragon was directly knocked back into the pool below.

And what was even more terrifying.

As it fell into the water, dozens of trash fish suddenly rushed toward the weakened fish, surrounding it in the center and frantically devouring its flesh and bloodline.

In just a few breaths, only a clean fish skeleton remained, falling and being washed away by the current.

At the same time, Ze's calm voice sounded.

"You only see that I have no hook, but you do not see that I have laid the bait."

"In fishing, the bait is actually much, much more important than the hook."

As he spoke, Ze reached out and pointed toward the Dragon Gate not far away.

The Spirit Spring cascaded down from the dragon's mouth, nourishing the nine Spirit Pools and the surging great river at the very bottom.

"The Dragon Gate Ten Leaps; those who leap over the Dragon Gate become a True Dragon."

"However, among the immeasurable creatures beneath it, only one can transform into a dragon."

"All other creatures are nameless."

"Do you not see, every layer of Spirit Rhyme decreases level by level."

"Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate, although it seems fair, gives every living creature a chance to become a True Dragon."

"But this chance is not something every fish has the opportunity to obtain."

"Sometimes, fate has actually already decided everything."

"Whether one can become a True Dragon does not depend solely on the fish's Dao heart or the fish's talent."

"It depends even more on the fish's fate."

Ze said leisurely:

"Some fish are born in impoverished places and never have the opportunity in their entire lives to enter the Dragon Gate World."

"Some fish are born right here on these high platforms of the Dragon Gate, with parents who both possess fish-dragon bloodlines."

"The resources of the Dragon Gate are limited; the more fish that enter, the more it means they have to share the resources."

"A decrease in resources means a decrease in their chances of entering the next level."

Ze's voice was calm, yet it seemed to carry the sedimentation of having seen through the ages.

"The Dragon Gate has already existed for thousands of years."

"A thousand years is an incomparably long span of time."

"Long enough for the slayer of evil to become the great evil, long enough for swimming fish to evolve into clans."

"Long enough for those of mixed-blood origin to forget the past and believe they were born with noble True Dragon bloodlines."

Ze sneered and spoke:

"They monopolize the opportunities for those in the lower levels to rise."

"These fellows think that perhaps a True Dragon should emerge from this pool beneath the Dragon Gate, but this True Dragon must come from the schools of fish within this Spirit Pool."

"The mixed-blood fish of the lower levels are not worthy of having the chance to transform into dragons."

"And so, the scene you see appeared."

Ze pointed to the Spirit Pool opposite.

"The top three levels look down on the middle three levels, while the middle three levels look down on the bottom three levels."

"Layer upon layer of monopoly, layer upon layer of disdain."

"Unless one possesses supreme power, one should absolutely not think of having a chance to enter the next level of the Spirit Pool."

Li Xiang was stunned.

Listening to Ze's introduction.

He suddenly felt very surprised.

Could it be that the world of fish is also so class-stratified and difficult to overcome?

He thought for a moment and spoke slowly.

"What about the bottom three levels?"

"As the very bottom of the chain of disdain, what about them?"

Li Xiang was somewhat curious.

But upon hearing his words, Ze's expression became very strange.

"The bottom three levels, the bottom three levels are the most bizarre; usually, it is the True Dragon bloodlines that despise the trash fish, but in the bottom three levels, it is the trash fish that despise the True Dragon bloodlines."

Speaking to this point, Ze laughed until he was out of breath.

"Because there is no chance to go up, the fish in the bottom three levels have actually gone mad; they cannot go up, so naturally they have no outlet for their frustration, and thus their temperaments become increasingly strange."

"They begin to envy and hate those of their own kind who have cultivated True Dragon bloodlines."

"Sometimes, some fish cultivate for decades, growing Golden Scales and True Dragon bloodlines, only to be ostracized by their own kind; although they cannot defeat the Golden Scale fish, when these Golden Scale fish swim against the current to leap up and enter the next level of the Spirit Pool, the fish in the bottom three levels will mostly offer cold sarcasm and disdain."

"Seeing a Golden Scale fish beaten down by the fish of the upper levels, they will not only refuse to help, but may even swarm them, taking advantage of the Golden Scale fish's weakness to tear it apart and eat it."

Ze sighed leisurely.

"This is a legacy left behind by one of our Demon Race ancestors before death."

"The Nine Rhyme Dragon Platforms were originally meant to nurture a True Dragon."

"True Dragon, True Dragon; this 'True' character is something this group of fish might not be able to cultivate even in another ten thousand years."

"True power relies on an invincible belief and an unwavering Dao heart."

"Relying on monopolizing the hierarchy in a delusional attempt to gain the recognition of the Dragon Gate and transform into a dragon is truly wishful thinking."

Ze said a lot.

It seemed he was very dissatisfied with these fish-dragons in the Spirit Pool.

That was why he was fishing here, to satisfy his appetite.

"By the way, fellow Daoist."

"You still haven't said how you managed to catch that fish named Yuan."

Li Xiang asked.

He had listened to the story for a long time and had indeed understood the history of this Dragon Gate.

But as for the specific method of fishing, Ze had been talking happily by himself and had completely forgotten about it.

"Haha."

"Fellow Daoist, do not blame me, do not blame me."

"I shall explain it one by one now."

"Fellow Daoist, I mentioned just now that you only saw me without a hook, but you did not see me set the bait."

"Do you know what my bait is, that it can make those fish below willingly follow me up?"

"Even though they clearly know that there is a possibility of being eaten by me and suffering eternal damnation, they still follow my hookless rod and hook themselves."

Li Xiang seemed to have some thoughts in his heart.

Just as he was about to speak, Ze beat him to it.

"I gave Yuan a chance."

"A chance in a world where class is locked."

"A chance to continue climbing upward."

This is a four-thousand-character chapter; for the sake of coherence, I will not split it up, so the update volume has not decreased.

P. S.: I changed a setting.

That is, changing Ze throwing Yuan from the 6th layer into the 5th layer to throwing him from the 7th to the 6th; I feel that writing it this way has a better flavor.

Please forgive me, everyone.

(End of this chapter)