A god-tier fishing spot, anglers lined up to give me money.

...for quite a while.

"call……"

Zeng Tianguo breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the diamond-patterned steel out of the crack in the cliff.

He swayed slightly, then used the pole to brace himself against the rock surface to steady himself.

Then they retreated to a sheltered ravine partially covered by ice.

The black dragon eel and the nine-headed dragon lionfish are locked in a fierce battle, and this spot is perfect for witnessing their epic fight.

Zeng Tianguo was leaning against the rock wall, about to close his eyes and regulate his breathing, when several footsteps came from the side.

Hello, do you need our help?

Gu Tianyu walked over, bent down, and took a closer look at Zeng Tianguo's condition. "You look badly injured."

Zeng Tianguo opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Gu Tianyu's face before looking at Bai Yiteng, Yang Qi, Qi Qingling, and Zhang San and Li Si who were following behind.

"Who are you?" Zeng Tianguo asked weakly.

Looking at this group of young people, he quickly identified them as master anglers.

But encountering a live angler in such a place was somewhat unexpected for him.

As Zeng Tianguo was sizing him up, Gu Tianyu was also sizing him up, and his gaze quickly fell on Zeng Tianguo's shoulder.

Upon seeing it, I froze completely.

Five stars lined up side by side. He opened his mouth, muttering to himself, "Five stars, five... a five-star general. He's a five-star general, and my grandfather is only a one-star. Who could it be? The central base seems to only have..."

Seeing that Gu Tianyu remained silent, Bai Yiteng leaned closer and said, "Hey, Young Master Gu, your uncle is asking you a question."

As she spoke, she tilted her head to look at Zeng Tianguo, and then saw the five stars on his shoulder. She immediately understood why Gu Tianyu was in a daze.

"😨, um, that... senpai..."

Shirai Ito stammered, tentatively asking, "My grandfather is Bai Banqiang, and who are you?"

Upon hearing the name Bai Banqiang, Zeng Tianguo, who was leaning against the stone wall, lowered his guard considerably. "Oh, so you're that gossipy guy from the Bai family."

"Wow, am I that famous?"

"Hahaha..." Zeng Tianguo was amused by this remark.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shiraito continued, "How so, senior, do you know my grandfather?"

"Yes, I know him. Your grandfather is quite strong, with the strength of an early-stage Fishing King. He's considered a big shot in our central base. But your grandfather seems very aloof. How come he's so... "

"You're joking, senior. Maybe I'm just too good."

Gu Tianyu: 🤮🤮🤮...

Yang Qi and others: *facepalm* 🙈....

"Haha, you're not modest at all."

As he spoke, Zeng Tianguo turned his gaze to Gu Tianyu: "This must be the young master from the Gu family."

Hearing that he was being called on, Gu Tianyu quickly replied, "Yes, Gu Tianyu, grandfather Gu Hua."

"Gu Hua's grandson." Zeng Tianguo nodded. "He's in the late stage of the Great Fishing Sect, quite strong. Keep up the good work, and try your best to surpass your grandfather."

He paused, looked at the nine people in front of him, and gave a friendly smile. "You haven't introduced yourself yet. My name is Zeng Tianguo, the commander-in-chief of the Central Base. Hello, young people."

Zeng Tianguo was laughing heartily, but the nine people present were internally screaming "Holy crap!"

Zeng Tianguo was the most powerful person in the central base.

The man before them, covered in wounds and leaning against the rock wall, was the supreme commander of the entire Central Great Wall. They dared not even think of it.

However, this also explains why he was able to fight a 600,000-jin (300,000 kg) fish king. If the number one person in central Taiwan didn't have this kind of strength, he wouldn't be called the number one person.

Shirai Ito bowed and said, "Senior, I was blind to your greatness. Just now... I spoke without any respect, please don't mind!"

Zeng Tianguo waved his hand: "No need to be nervous, I'm not that petty. Just treat me like a kind-hearted middle-aged man."

"By the way, what are you doing here?"

Gu Tianyu said, "Senior Zeng, my team and I originally went to Aurora Island to carry out a mission against the Aurora Fish Spirit, but... alas, Aurora Island was flooded by a tsunami, and we almost perished."

Aurora Island? Zeng Tianguo frowned slightly. It was at least tens of kilometers away from here. How did they survive a tsunami of that magnitude and escape the mutated sea fish?

They appeared when the nine-headed fish appeared. Could it be that they are related to that fish?

No way...

Zeng Tianguo was puzzled, but Bai Yiteng interrupted, "Senior, you don't know, that scene was terrifying... Aurora Island was submerged, and the other anglers in our group were swallowed up one by one by those red-eyed things underwater. The nine of us barely escaped with our lives, and we had just come ashore from there when we saw..."

There was such a commotion over here, so I rushed over to check it out.

Shiraito paused for a moment, then asked, "Senior, why are you here alone...?"

After listening, Zeng Tianguo remained silent for a moment, then spoke: "It's like this, aba aba..."

He briefly described the situation at the Great Wall of the Boundary Sea: a sudden tsunami, a beast tide breaching the pass, and the highest alert being sounded simultaneously in the eastern, western, and central regions.

Then he explained his own situation.

"So that thing is the leader of this beast tide. Once we deal with it, the beast tide will recede."

"Hmm, if we deal with it, the beast tide should end... Unfortunately, we're outmatched."

Zeng Tianguo shook his head. "We fought all night, but still couldn't take it down. If that nine-headed fish hadn't suddenly appeared and interfered, I might already be dead here."

"I don't know why he's here."

Bai Yiteng and Gu Tianyu exchanged a quick glance, feigning ignorance, before saying, "We don't know either. We only saw it when we got ashore."

Gu Tianyu chimed in, "Yeah, I'm curious too. That nine-headed fish only looks like it weighs a few thousand pounds, how dare it touch the 60-pound King Fish?"

They had promised Yang Qi that they would never reveal the existence of Jiutian or their relationship with him without his permission.

No reason needed, just make one up.

Yang Qi breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as he didn't mention himself and remained a nobody, that would be good enough.

Zeng Tianguo looked at the expressions of the two, his gaze lingering on Bai Yiteng and Gu Tianyu's faces for a few seconds.

I just mentioned it to see their reaction, but it doesn't really matter.

Although he felt his idea was absurd, anything is possible, and it's never wrong to try.

After all, the 9-headed fish had just appeared when they showed up in this area; it's impossible to say that it wasn't suspicious at all.

But looking at their bewildered expressions, which didn't seem fake, Zeng Tianguo began to doubt himself again.

Could it be that I'm just overthinking things? Well, that makes sense, anglers and mutated fish are mortal enemies.

Zeng Tianguo withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the other seven people behind the two: "Aren't you going to introduce your teammates to me?"

Gu Tianyu turned to the side and pointed at Yang Qi: "This is our captain, Yang Qi, a peak Grand Fishing Master."

Qi Qingling, a late-stage Grand Fishing Master. The remaining five brothers are Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Dawu, Lin Ye, and Zhao Lei, all at the peak of the Grand Fishing Master level. The team leader is Brother Zhang; their safe return was largely thanks to the cover provided by the team leader and the other five brothers.

Zeng Tianguo's gaze swept across Yang Qi's face. Yang Qi stood next to Gu Tianyu, neither rushing forward to speak nor avoiding Zeng Tianguo's gaze.

Looking at this "captain," Zeng Tianguo felt that "something's not right" feeling resurface.

It's unusual for both the young master of the Gu family and the young master of the Bai family to be willing to let a stranger be their team leader.

This meant the person possessed extraordinary abilities. He didn't delve deeper, and nodded to them: "Hmm, all very good. It's good that you're alive."

"After we catch those two fish, you should come back with me. It'll be safer if you stay with me."

"Thank you for your trouble, senior."

……