Chapter 484

Low in the sky, the white fire clouds suddenly churned, transforming into a massive white hand whose five fingers, thick as pillars, plunged straight into the depths of the water.

A soft “plop.”

The moment the white flame-formed hand sank beneath the lake’s surface, the surrounding water roiled violently, billowing thick steam; within a few breaths, the lake water over an area of nearly an acre had turned scalding hot, like boiling water.

In moments, countless dead fish floated to the surface, their white bellies up; numerous low-grade spiritual fish leapt out of the water one after another, hopping frantically like ants on a hot pan, unwilling to remain in the lake for even a fraction longer.

Among these spiritual fish were unmistakably more than ten that looked identical, as if stamped from the same mold—silver fish.

Seeing this, Wang Yu reached out his hand and immediately closed his five fingers.

“Boom!”

The white hand, half-submerged in the lake, shot upward like lightning, snatching all more than ten spiritual fish into its palm.

“Plop. Plop.”

The spiritual fish, like birds startled by a bowstring, shot off in all directions as fleeting afterimages, trying to escape the white hand’s grasp.

At that moment, Wang Yu on the pavilion boat simply said lightly, “Net.”

A sharp “chit-chit” erupted!

The white hand exploded apart, transforming into countless strands of white flame that whirled and interwove, instantly forming a dense white fire net.

The afterimages of the spiritual fish, upon striking the net, burst into clusters of blue light.

These blue lights rolled together toward the center of the fire net, and the silver giant fish reformed, flicked its tail, and emitted concentric rings of blue aura that surged outward like rolling waves against the fire net.

“Sizzle.”

Where water met fire, vast mist surged skyward, but when the mist dispersed, the white fire net remained intact, radiating waves of heat, undiminished in strength.

Conversely, the silver giant fish, in the scorching air, moved slowly and weakly.

Clearly, the repeated explosions had left this newly ascended demonic fish exhausted.

“Wang Daoist, your fire cultivation art is ruthlessly dominant—perfectly suited to suppress this demon fish’s transformation arts. Let me subdue it.” Seeing this, Yan Lingxiang rejoiced, formed a hand seal with one hand, and pointed at his bronze ring.

Below, on the lake’s surface, the bronze ring emitted a low “hum,” then vanished in a blur from its original spot.

The next instant, within the fire net, space rippled, and the bronze ring emerged, sliding over the giant fish’s massive body.

The young man muttered a command and pointed at his artifact from afar.

A piercing shriek rang out.

The bronze ring instantly shot out countless fine green threads, deeply embedding themselves into every part of the giant fish’s body; each thread bore faint, shifting phantom inscriptions.

The silver giant fish let out a strange “Moo!” Its body flashed with blue light, but it could no longer split apart.

At that moment, a white lightning-like streak also shot downward, piercing through the fire net and flashing past the giant fish’s tail.

“Crack.”

Half the fish’s tail was cleanly severed, spewing a torrent of blood.

The demonic fish screamed in agony, but under the control of the green threads from the ring, it could no longer use any escape technique.

On the pavilion boat, the young man chanted softly, continuously pointing at his artifact below.

A strange sight appeared.

The bronze ring began slowly shrinking, and the demon fish bound within it shrank in tandem.

Within just a dozen breaths, both had reduced to the size of a palm.

Seeing this, Yan Lingxiang reached down toward his artifact and gestured.

“Whoosh.”

The bronze ring, carrying the now-miniature silver demon fish, soared upward.

Wang Yu released his hand seal, and the white fire net dissolved into strands of white flame that flew back toward him, vanishing into his body in an instant.

On the other side, the short-bearded man let out a long breath, gestured once, and his white flying sword shot back as a streak of light, vanishing into its yellow sword case.

The sword case trembled slightly, then flew back to rest on the man’s back.

“Hah! Thank you both for your aid—this demonic fish is finally dealt with. The promised reward will be delivered without fail. Come with me back now; the Sima family will properly entertain you.” The man laughed heartily, bowing to the two.

“Then we won’t be so formal.”

The young man readily agreed, then stuck two talismans onto the demon fish, retrieved his bronze ring, pulled out a gourd artifact, and sealed the fish inside—all with a broad smile.

Wang Yu naturally had no objection, but before leaving, he slapped his waist-mounted beast bag, and Da Lv flew out, diving straight into the lake below where the battle had taken place.

Moments later, the black-green iron-headed crocodile returned, triumphantly dragging a large, gleaming silver fish tail, and vanished back into the beast bag.

The short-bearded man and Yan Lingxiang exchanged glances but said nothing.

Soon after, the pavilion boat set off, flying straight toward a cluster of buildings not far from the lake’s edge.

The next day.

A bone boat rose from one of the buildings by the lake, circled once in midair, then accelerated sharply in a set direction.

On the bone boat.

Wang Yu played with a black, egg-sized ore in his hand.

At first glance, the ore seemed ordinary, but upon closer inspection, faint, dense silver threads could be seen seeping from its surface.

A slight shake of the ore produced a faint rumbling thunder.

This second-rank “Thunder Rumbling Stone” was one of the Sima family’s treasured artifacts—and his reward for this mission.

With this thunder-affinity material, he had now gathered all the components needed to forge the core vessel for Xiao Bai; once he returned to Mimountain Sect, he could begin refining the vessel.

As Wang Yu thought of this, he flipped his palm, and the black ore vanished; yet he glanced sidelong at the young man beside him.

Yan Lingxiang, at that moment, held a round basin-like artifact, smiling as he amused a miniature silver fish missing half its tail.

The basin contained clear, transparent water, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

The tiny fish weakly bubbled out a stream of air bubbles in the water.

This miniature fish with the broken tail was, of course, the silver giant fish.

To keep this second-rank demonic fish, Yan Lingxiang had even forfeited the reward promised by the Sima family and paid Wang Yu tens of thousands of spirit stones as compensation for monopolizing the fish.

Now, seeing Yan Lingxiang so delighted, it was clear that despite the heavy cost, this Zhongqi Sect foundation-establishment officer still felt he had gained the better end of the deal.

This made Wang Yu unable to help asking:

“Yan Daoist, why do you value this second-rank demonic fish so much? Is it truly because of its so-called ‘Shattered Form and Shadow’ ability? Though peculiar, it seems easily countered by fire-based arts—is it truly worth such a price?”