Dongting Immortal Clan

Before we know it, the end of the year is approaching.

Fish are harder to catch now.

Firstly, the riverbanks began to freeze over, making navigation difficult. The oars got stuck in the ice, making rowing very strenuous.

Secondly, the fish have all hidden in deep water, hiding in crevices and mud holes and refusing to come out.

Casting three or four nets doesn't yield as many fish as it did with the first one.

That day, Chen Dajiang wandered around the lake for a long time, casting his net five times, catching a total of seven or eight crucian carp and two bream.

The largest one was no bigger than the palm of your hand; when placed in the cabin, it wouldn't even cover the bottom of the bucket.

The cold wind on the lake was biting, and it felt like a knife scraping my face.

Chen Dajiang was wearing a tattered overcoat, and his hands were cracked from the cold. He had wrapped them with strips of cloth, which had turned dark red from the cold.

This kind of weather.

Logically, the ship shouldn't have set sail.

But there was really no food left at home; the rice jar had been empty the day before yesterday.

Both the long river and the lake need to cultivate themselves at home.

A few days ago, my father went to the lake to fetch water, but he slipped and fell into the icy lake.

He was fine, but he caught a cold and coughed so hard that the whole bed shook at night.

This responsibility then fell on his shoulders.

If we don't come up to the lake, our families will all go hungry.

A cold wind howled over the lake.

Looking around, there were several others like him who had set sail, all of them poor families from the surrounding villages.

Chen Dajiang saw a small boat in the northwest direction, its gray shadow rising and falling on the water.

As they got closer, they could see clearly that it was Li Laosan from the neighboring Lijia Village, wrapped in a straw raincoat, huddled at the stern of the boat rowing.

"Oe!"

Li Laosan also spotted him and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Chen Dajiang brought his boat alongside, and the two boats were joined together, with oars resting on the gunwale, gently swaying with the waves.

"Come!"

"Take a sip to warm yourself up."

Li Laosan took out a gourd from the bow of the boat, uncorked it, and handed it over.

Chen Dajiang took a swig, and his throat felt like it was on fire, burning all the way down his esophagus to his stomach.

He returned the gourd and wiped his mouth.

"Uncle Li, how was your harvest today?"

Li Laosan shook his head with a wry smile and picked up the wooden bucket from the cabin to show him.

There were only three or four small crucian carp, even fewer than his.

Chen Dajiang sighed, "Life is really tough."

"That's good enough."

Li Laosan put the wooden bucket back and rubbed his hands together.

"Old Zhao from Lianhu Village capsized his boat on the lake the day before yesterday, and he has not been found yet."

"Old Zhao?"

"Zhao Dehou?"

Chen Dajiang's heart tightened.

This was a man the same age as his father, who had spent his whole life on the lake. How could his boat suddenly capsize?

"It's him."

Li Laosan lowered his voice and looked around, as if afraid that something would hear him.

"I heard that when Old Zhao sailed his boat to Junshan Island, something suddenly bumped into him from below, and the boat capsized."

"Wang Laizi, who went out on the boat with him, was a good swimmer. He swam back and said nervously that he saw a dark thing underwater, which was bigger than the boat."

Li Laosan's voice trembled slightly as his eyes scanned the lake surface.

"Bigger than a ship?"

Chen Dajiang frowned.

"Wang Laizi said that the thing disappeared underwater after a brief moment of movement. He didn't see what it was clearly, but it definitely wasn't a fish; fish aren't that big."

As Li Laosan spoke, he also shrank his neck.

"The villagers all say that something came from the river."

Chen Dajiang didn't reply, but his heart was pounding.

These fishermen are most afraid of the lake not being clean.

Seeing Chen Dajiang's somber expression and silence, Li Laosan felt he had spoken too harshly and quickly waved his hand.

Let's not talk about this anymore.

Have you heard?

"After the New Year, another sect of immortal cultivation will come to Yunmeng to recruit disciples."

"The Mysterious Sect of Immortal Cultivation?"

Chen Dajiang's heart skipped a beat as he thought of Changhe and Hu'er.

"you do not say."

Li Laosan smiled again.

"My cousin works as a laborer in the city, and he said he posted a notice."

"In early spring, March, both the Taixu Sect and the Biluo Temple will come to Yunmeng to recruit disciples. Anyone under the age of fifteen can give it a try."

As he spoke, Li Laosan sighed.

"It's a pity that my sons are all stupid, so it would be a waste for them to go."

"Your younger brother is quite clever, and the age is just right. Why don't you send him over for a try?"

Chen Dajiang gave a vague reply, but his heart was churning.

Taixu Sect and Biluo Temple.

He had never heard of these names before.

If we could send the small lake there...

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he suppressed it.

"We'll see."

Chen Dajiang changed the subject.

Li Laosan then chatted with him about other things.

Whose cow went missing? Whose wife gave birth? The grain shops in town raised their prices again. The salt official in the city was replaced...

Chen Dajiang responded half-heartedly, but his hands were busy; he tidied up the net and cast it again.

The feel of the net was clearly off when it was cast.

It was much heavier than before, as if it had caught some living creature struggling underneath.

Chen Dajiang's spirits lifted.

Knowing the goods had been shipped, they quickly closed the net.

He pulled upwards with alternating hands, the frostbitten wounds aching from the hemp rope, and fresh blood seeped from the strips of cloth.

Soon, the fishing net emerged from the water.

Several small fish lay at the bottom of the net, but one stood out.

The fish was entirely silvery-white, with fine, dense scales that shimmered in the hazy sunlight. It was about a foot long, with a slender body and a tail that resembled a pair of scissors.

Chen Dajiang had been fishing on the lake for over a decade and had never seen this kind of fish before.

"Yo!"

Li Laosan leaned over for a look and his eyes widened.

"That's a silver threadfin bream!"

"When I was a child, I heard from the elders that there was a kind of spirit fish in the lake called the silver thread fish. It was very rare and not easy to see."

"Take them to town and sell them; one can fetch two or three hundred coins. Eating them will grant you a long and healthy life!"

Chen Dajiang's heart pounded.

Two or three hundred coins is enough to buy a month's worth of food.

Now that their father had money to buy medicine, their younger brothers no longer had to go hungry while practicing their spiritual disciplines.

Chen Dajiang quickly and carefully took the silver threadfin fish out of the net and put it into the wooden bucket, afraid of damaging its scales.

There were other things in that net.

It was a few river clams.

It's about the size of a fist, with a bluish-black shell covered in seaweed.

River clams are worthless, their meat is tough and fishy, ​​and nobody likes to eat them. Chen Dajiang originally wanted to throw them back.

But then I thought, we haven't had any meat at home for several meals, so I'll take it back and cook it; at least it'll taste like meat.

So Chen Dajiang collected the clams as well and threw them in a corner of the cabin.

Taking advantage of the daylight, he cast two more nets, but didn't catch anything worthwhile.

As darkness fell, the wind on the lake picked up, causing the boat to rock violently.

After saying goodbye to Li Laosan, Chen Dajiang rowed back.

……

By the time we returned to Baiyukou, it was already dark.

Chen Xiaohu waited at the entrance of the village. When he saw his elder brother's boat in the distance, he ran over to help moor the boat and unload the catch.

He picked up the wooden bucket and immediately spotted the silver threadfin fish, exclaiming in surprise.

"What kind of fish is this? It's so beautiful!"

Chen Xiaohu was very curious.

Chen Dajiang carried the bucket into the kitchen, poured the fish into the basin, and echoed Li Laosan's words:

"This is called a silver threadfin fish."

"You could sell it for two or three hundred coins at the market!"

Chen Changhe was squatting in front of the stove tending the fire when he heard the noise and came over.

After staring at the silver threadfin fish for a few moments, he suddenly frowned and reached into the basin to stir the water.

Startled, the silver threadfin fish flicked its tail, splashing water all over his face.

"Lake..."

Chen Changhe wiped his face and quickly called out to Chen Xiaohu.

"Something's not right with this fish!"