Chapter 61: Jiang Cheng’s Influence Continues to Grow

Translator: 549690339

Having acquired the “Fishing Talisman,” Shen Gengqin and Yue Lipeng did not dare to delay even for a moment and hurriedly drove to the spot they had previously agreed upon—a secluded fishing spot within Wu Mountain, where they had often come back empty-handed.

An hour later, the pair reached the end of the road, and then they carried their fishing gear and switched to walking.

A few more minutes passed, and they arrived at their predetermined location.

It was a location on Wu Mountain where an unnamed river flows, shallow and rapid with scarce fish smoke.

The fish that survive in harsh environments were usually strong, intelligent, cunning, and nimble.

Even experienced anglers would often leave here with diminished spirits.

Shen Gengqin’s expectation for the “Fishing Talisman” was that if it could catch fish in the worst fishing conditions, even if just one, then the talisman would be worth the purchase!

Being seasoned partners, the two didn’t need to communicate much.

Shen Gengqin took care of setting up and arranging the fishing rods while Yue Lipeng handled preparing the bait.

Soon, the preparation work for fishing was proficiently completed by the duo. Afterward, Shen Gengqin took out the “Fishing Talisman” with a sense of ceremony and solemnly attached it to the nylon line.

He cast the hook into the water in one smooth motion!

Yue Lipeng exclaimed, “After all, it’s five thousand Spirit Stones; I hope the talisman is effective.”

“If we can catch even one fish today, it’ll be a success…”

Before Shen Gengqin could finish his sentence, or even before he could sit on the folding stool, his fishing rod began to tremble with the pull of a fish!

“Awesome! Got a bite already!”

A fish biting within ten seconds of casting – what kind of miraculous talisman is this!

Shen Gengqin and Yue Lipeng were instantly overjoyed. However, it was not until Shen Gengqin pulled up the fish that he realized Yue Lipeng hadn’t prepared a bucket to hold the fish.

“Damn! This talisman is too strong! Way too strong!”

Watching Shen Gengqin catch fish, Yue Lipeng couldn’t contain his envy. He immediately took out his own fishing rod, hung the “Fishing Talisman,” and cast it into the water.

The moment the hook touched the water, Yue Lipeng instantly regretted his action, saying, “Oh no! I forgot to put on the bait!”

Shen Gengqin was immensely pleased and said teasingly, “That’s what you get for showing off. Embarrassed now, huh? How are you going to fish without bait? Stop making a fool of yourself.”

However, before Shen Gengqin could enjoy even a second of satisfaction, Yue Lipeng’s rod also started to shake with a fish on the line!

“Unbelievable! Even without bait, I caught one! That’s just absurd!”

While Yue Lipeng outwardly called it absurd, his face was already split into an ear-to-ear grin.

Shen Gengqin was actually okay, but his friend Yue had always been the butt of the joke in the fishing circle. When he would hang out with fishing buddies, he hardly dared to speak up.

Not catching fish could be quite humiliating.

But now, with the “Fishing Talisman,” let’s see who dares to look down on him!

Moreover, they were not catching fish in just any ordinary waters but in hellishly difficult ones. What’s more, he had caught fish even without using bait!

Invincible!

Yue Lipeng could only describe the talisman as invincible!

But soon, a long stretch without catching any fish made them cool down a bit.

“It can’t just be capable of catching one fish, right?”

“If it can only catch one, then it is indeed a bit pricey. We’re talking about five thousand Spirit Stones here.”

“Let’s just wait a bit longer.”

The pair consoled each other, but before long, their rods began to shake one after another.

“Damn! Another one’s on the line!”

“I’ve got one over here too!”

The second catch invigorated both Shen and Yue.

They began to anticipate whether there would be a third catch!

After all, this place was no ordinary fishing spot—if they could consistently catch fish here, that would be truly impressive.

Compared to Zhou Yunshan’s one-time big catch, the experiences of Shen Gengqin and Yue Lipeng were closer to what Jiang Cheng had anticipated.

Basically, they could reliably catch one or two fish every hour.

The sizes of the fish varied, but the total catch for a day was roughly the same.

“Hey, honey? It’s overtime at the office today; yeah, I won’t be coming home tonight. I’ll sleep at the office, so don’t wait up. Okay, gotta go.”

Having secured leave with the head of his household, Yue Lipeng was ready to pull an all-nighter with Old Shen, aiming for a 24-hour non-stop fishing challenge to test the limit of the “Fishing Talisman!”

Two days later, on the banks of the Main Channel of the Wu River.

Two ordinary-looking middle-aged men, carrying regular fishing gear, arrived at a section of the river crowded with local anglers.

A few years ago, due to overfishing, the fish stocks in the Wu River had become scarce, leading to an eight-year ban on commercial fishing.

The “fishing ban” was aimed at commercial harvesting and didn’t forbid local anglers from fishing.

The imperial court had done the math, figuring that anglers typically used ten-plus pounds of bait to catch just one pound of fish.

Is this even fishing?

This is sheer benevolence and compassion of the human Bodhisattva!

Thanks to the “Bodhisattvas,” the fish populations swiftly recovered, and thus the Main Channel of Wu River essentially became the guaranteed fishing spot for the local anglers.

Catching a lot of fish wasn’t easy, but as long as you put in the effort, coming up empty-handed was unlikely.

However, Shen Gengqin and Yue Lipeng didn’t come here for the abundance of fish but for the abundance of people.

“Old Shen, let me take over tomorrow,” Yue Lipeng whispered.

“Ah, don’t worry! I’ll definitely back you up tomorrow,” Shen Gengqin assured.

Shen and Yue only brought one set of fishing gear this time.

Yue Lipeng kept his hands in his pockets, not intending to fish at all.

Shen Gengqin set up his stool ordinarily, erected his fishing rod holder in a commonplace manner, mixed his bait unremarkably, and cast his line undistinguishedly.

At least up to this point, he was indistinguishable from the countless average anglers around him.

But from the moment his hook hit the water, Shen Gengqin suddenly became the center of attention.

Because no more than thirty seconds after his hook entered the water, he immediately caught a decent-sized fish!

This act drew frequent glances from nearby fishermen, but nobody found it too strange; after all, everyone has their lucky moments. Catching one fish isn’t a big deal, right? Who hasn’t caught a fish before?

Everyone has their moment of glory; don’t assume it will last forever.

Yet, the problem arose here.

Shen Gengqin’s luck seemed extraordinarily good; after catching a fish on his first cast, he almost instantly caught another on his second.

And it didn’t stop there; the third cast was the same!

The fourth, too!

Four fish on the hook within twenty minutes!

Most crucially, within two hundred meters of Shen Gengqin, no one else could catch a fish! It was as though all the fish in this stretch of water were congregating under Shen Gengqin’s feet, just waiting to bite his hook!

Now that was something!

Countless people rushed over, disregarding their own rods, and just stood behind Shen Gengqin to watch him fish.

“Bro, you’re awesome!”

“How do you fish like that? Whose fishing gear did you buy?”

“Big bro, can I try your bait?”

“Are you teaching classes, bro? Teach me, please!”

After so many years in the fishing community, Shen Gengqin was respected like this for the first time.

Man, that felt good!

Those Spirit Stones were damn well spent!

Struggling to keep his facial expression under control, he put on the air of a fishing master, “Ahem, just a bit of luck today. Old Yue, is my new fishing rod ready?”

Yue Lipeng silently swapped out the “old Fishing Talisman” on the rod, which was on cooldown, for another “new Fishing Talisman” from his pocket that had its cooldown refreshed.

They had bought two more Fishing Talismans from Jiang Cheng. In total, they had purchased four.

Euphemistically called “spares.”

Indeed, they were “spares” so when one talisman went on cooldown, you could immediately swap to a fresh one and continue fishing happily!

With the “new fishing rod” prepared by Yue Lipeng, under the expectant gaze of the onlookers, Shen Gengqin cast his line into the water.

And then, a fish bit immediately!

The crowd was shocked.

“Amazing!”

“That’s too incredible!”

“Holy crap! A fish god!”

“I, Wu Zhibo, acknowledge you as the strongest!”

Under the admiring gaze of everyone, Shen Gengqin’s legs shook with excitement, but he still tried his best to appear nonchalant, “I’m not a fish god. I, Shen Gengqin, am just an ordinary person who prefers not to reveal his name.”