Chapter 445: Chapter 444: Big Fishing Contest

The most bewildered person at the scene was probably Yu Youxian.

She was live streaming in the Ming Zhong World, and all of a sudden, she vanished in front of her worldwide audience to be pulled here by Jiang Li, and told the competition has started.

“Keep it up, you need to become a person like your master.” Yu Youxian cheered herself on, aspiring to become a remarkable person like Bai Hongtu.

“The Human Emperor said we need to catch fish, so does that mean we need to craft a fishing rod?”

That was the first thing that came to Yu Youxian’s mind.

She easily crafted a fishing rod with excellent elasticity.

She baited her hook, sat by the lake, and waited leisurely for a bite.

Apart from being a bit slow-witted, Yu Youxian excelled in all other aspects, which greatly pleased Bai Hongtu.

Being adept at alchemy, artefact refining, formations, swordsmanship and more, Yu Youxian was an all-rounder with prodigious talent.

Bai Hongtu sent her to live stream in the Ming Zhong World with the intention of improving her responsiveness through interacting with viewers.

So far, there has been some progress, but not significantly.

…

“Master, the lake is so big, draining it may not be feasible, right?” Qin Luan’s first thought was to drain the lake, but in the face of this vast body of water, he felt inadequate at his current level of artifact refining skills.

“I think you’ve got water on the brain.” Yuan Wuxing had no idea what Qin Luan was thinking.

“In my opinion, netting fish seems to be the fastest method.”

Yuan Wuxing crafted a large fishing net and jumped into the lake.

With his Divinity Transformation stage body, even crashing into a mountain wouldn’t inflict any damage on him, so the resistance of the lake water was like nothing to him.

Yuan Wuxing energetically hauled the fishing net to catch fish.

After some thought, Qin Luan also crafted a fishing net to catch fish.

…

“Since it is fishing, a fishing net should be used naturally. The larger the net, the better.” Yu Yin murmured, trying her best to analyze the situation from Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu’s perspective.

Reluctantly, she admitted that when it came to a test of wit, no one was better than these two.

This was evident from how the former Human Emperor grudgingly announced the competition results. He didn’t want to admit it, but he had no choice.

Yu Yin’s artifact refining skills far surpassed Jiang Li’s. Using only basic materials, she crafted a fishing net so large that it could cover the entire lake, and the net was very sturdy.

“Not bad.”

Yu Yin started to place the fishing net along the lake side.

“When the time comes, even if I don’t pull in the net, I could say that the entire lake is within my net, and all the fish could be counted as caught by me.”

After some calculations, Yu Yin felt that her reasoning was justified.

While walking along the lakeside, she observed the performances of the other Human Emperor candidates.

…

“If I were to revert to my original dragon form, I could have all the fishes submit to me directly, it’s a pity Mr. Jiang forbade me from doing that.” Xiaoqing sighed regretfully.

“Mr. Jiang must be testing our control over artifact refining, although I’ve only learned a bit about refining artifacts.” Xia Chao found this examination hardest, as the other Human Emperor candidates’ fishing progress had already surpassed theirs.

“There are indeed refining techniques within the dragon bloodline, but the materials Mr. Jiang gave us are all basic ones for refining artifacts. Even if one has superb skills, it’s unlikely they could craft anything great.”

“Then what exactly does Mr. Jiang want to do?” Xia Chao was puzzled.

Xiaoqing was also puzzled: “I’m not sure, but since I know how fish behave, we can select the spots where it’s easiest for The fishes to fall for the bait.”

“I see quite a few cultivators fishing by the lake, should we just join them?”

“No, the commotion from catching fish is too great. It would be a loss for us whether we disturb them, or they disturb us.”

…

“…Subhuti asked the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One, by what name should we call this sutra, and how should we uphold it?’ The Buddha told Subhuti, ‘This sutra is named Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita)…’”

Wu Zhi, radiant with holiness, chanted the sutras. A soft gold light shone from around him, spreading into the lake and creating golden ripples.

Innumerable fish, shrimps, and crabs, influenced by the sutras, gathered around Wu Zhi to listen to the teachings.

The longer Wu Zhi chanted, the more fish, shrimps, and crabs gathered.

When Yu Yin passed by Wu Zhi’s spot, she saw countless tiny fish bubbling mouthfuls of water, raising their heads to listen to Wu Zhi’s chanting.

At first glance, all she could see were seething fish mouths opening and closing. Looking at it made Yu Yin’s eyes twitch, and she very much wished she could slap all these fish to death.

Fear of crowds was kicking in.

Brahma’s Pagoda was by their side, chatting incessantly.

Jiang Li had only teleported the Human Emperor candidates here, not their companions. But since Brahma’s Pagoda had mastery over spatial laws, it detected the spatial fluctuations and directly teleported itself next to Wu Zhi.

“Why go through all this bother? In my opinion, you should just craft a Storage Ring, then dive into the lake. As soon as you see a school of fish, use the Storage Ring to store the lake water, then pour it out, and all that’s left is the fish, right?”

“If you’re worried that a Storage Ring cannot contain living creatures, and that the fish will die once they’re inside, then wouldn’t for you to craft a special Storage Ring for the Beast Taming Sect solve the problem? It just has a smaller capacity.”

Wu Zhi stopped his chanting, took out the specially crafted Storage Ring, and stored all the fish in front of him inside.

“…This sutra is named Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita)…”

Wu Zhi continued his chanting, attracting the next wave of fish.

Brahma’s Pagoda thought that it was still too naive.

…

Ji Kongkong pondered for a moment, then dived into the lake, looking for pregnant fishes or fish eggs laid in the water plants.

“There’s no mention of when the competition will end, so when these fish eggs hatch, wouldn’t I have caught the highest number of fish?”

…

“What are you doing?” A melodic voice sounded near Li Nian’er’s ear, startling her.

Who could approach her without making a sound?

Li Nian’er swiftly turned around but couldn’t recognize the disguised Yu Yin. All she could tell was that the disguised Yu Yin was extremely beautiful.

Yu Yin looked at Li Nian’er, puzzled.

Li Nian’er had caught nearly a hundred fish with her net and then tossed it back into the lake, only to pull it up again, then throw it back into the lake, and on and on…repeating this cycle countless times.

“Obviously, I am fishing.” Li Nian’er remarked seriously.

“But aren’t you just catching the same fish in your net over and over again? There’s not a fish more, not a fish less.”

“You shouldn’t just look at the surface. Every time I pull up the net, it’s considered as me catching these one hundred fish, isn’t it?”

“So if I throw these fish back into the lake with the net and then haul them up again, isn’t it equivalent to me catching another hundred fish?”

Yu Yin, “…”

She never would have thought that someone as naive as Li Er could produce a daughter with such a perverse way of thinking.

“She really takes after Ao Chengcheng. Didn’t expect Li Nian’er to inherit her thought processes in addition to her looks.”

Yu Yin had communicated with female cultivators at the Body Integration Realm and was familiar with them all.

…

Jiang Li found some cultivators fishing nearby.

“How’s it going? How many fish have you caught?”

The old man fishing glanced at Jiang Li, “Young man, don’t be so restless. Fishing is about the state of mind. What does it matter how many fish you catch?”

The old man’s fish bucket was completely empty.

Jiang Li replied with a grin, “Is that so? But I did see quite a few people jump into the lake to catch fish.”