Chapter 31: Deep-Sea Swarm, Serpentine Bone Leviathan!

After the sailors agreed, the Thousand Currents turned its prow and followed the black pirate ships toward a certain direction.

Several days later.

"Is that where the fish shoal is?" Bai Xuan stood by the ship's rail. Not far off, several black pirate ships patrolled a stretch of sea, their skull flags conspicuous in the breeze.

With his Ocean-Gazer's Eye, he judged from the surrounding currents that there was indeed a massive shoal here—perhaps hundreds of thousands of catties in total!

"So it really is fish?" Bai Xuan was surprised. He hadn't expected that the black pirates hired them truly for fishing; he had imagined they were after some sunken treasure.

"Yes, this is where the fish shoal lies," Bai Xuanji appeared at the rail without a sound. "In a moment, take the crew and start hauling in the catch, but proceed with caution. The black pirates may not be as trustworthy as they seem.

"Pass the word: Among the shoal, there may be a rare variant, extremely strange. If any are found… well, say no more—such a thing would be unmistakable. Notify me at once."

"I understand," Bai Xuan replied.

It was clear from Bai Xuanji's words that he too distrusted the black pirates; this was merely a transaction.

The pirates were offering fifty taels of silver per sailor—five thousand taels for the whole crew! This was no small sum; few could produce such wealth without trembling.

Moreover, Bai Xuanji must have secured no small profit himself.

With such a high price paid by the pirates, it was truly astonishing. Whether they would play fair and keep to the deal remained to be seen.

The Thousand Currents anchored in the waters and began casting their nets.

"The fish shoal here is enormous—one haul and the net is so full it's hard to bring in. If we clear this lot, we won't need to fish further; we can head home," one sailor exclaimed.

A fishing voyage was always uncertain; sometimes there were too few fish to fill the hold, and they returned half-empty.

That's why whaling was so lucrative—a single large whale could fill the hold entirely.

But a shoal like this was no different. If the catch was of high quality, the profits would be immense.

"Silver-scaled ribbonfish!"

"Eight hundred cash a catty at the very least!" The sailors rejoiced.

The quality of the catch was high. A full ship could mean a hundred thousand catties—worth eight thousand strings of cash. That was half again the usual profit from a voyage.

"Keep hauling," Bai Xuan commanded from the deck.

His eyes, sharp as lightning, pierced the sea, tracking the movement of the shoal below. Should a snake-bone fish appear, he would spot it at once.

…

Several days passed.

"It seems the pirates are cautious too," Bai Xuan observed the distant ships.

The black pirate ships came and went freely, changing shifts at intervals—clearly they had an island base nearby, a hidden lair.

In that time, the catch had been handed over three times—twenty-four thousand strings' worth, more than twenty thousand taels of silver, more than the profit from killing two great whales.

The black pirates, no doubt, sold the bulk catch elsewhere. That was none of the Thousand Currents' concern.

As for the so-called rare variant the pirates wanted—none had shown up.

Bai Xuan had not been idle. He remained vigilant and practiced his spearwork daily. Yet, lacking demon beast meat for nourishment, his role as bosun meant more fisherman’s labor, and while his progress in the fisherman’s path was swift, his martial cultivation had stalled.

"Longevity Tree!" Bai Xuan silently intoned, and the bronze Dao tree appeared. In an instant, nine full points of Dao energy rushed into the "Trawling Net" branch.

At once, his muscles swelled, his blood and qi surging like a volcano about to erupt!

Trawling Net (Mastery, 92%)!

"Just a little more and I’ll break through to the next level. At this stage, it takes ten points to rise a single rank," Bai Xuan mused.

Once he achieved mastery, he suspected this skill would reach perfection—a fisherman’s ultimate art, surpassing the mundane, though still short of a higher realm.

At that moment, a commotion broke out on deck.

"Demon fish! Demon fish!" The net split open as a huge fish, more than three meters long, crashed onto the deck, its mouth tendrils writhing madly, snagging a panicked sailor and hauling him toward its maw.

"Not good!" On the far side of the deck, third mate Liu Yuezh straightened in alarm. He was too far away; he could only watch as the sailor was about to be torn apart.

Just then, Bai Xuan seized the cold-iron fish spear from his back, flickered across the deck, and slashed down, severing the tendril. Blood spurted; the sailor tumbled to the planks and scrambled away.

The demon fish shrieked in pain, a sound unlike any ordinary fish!

Hiss!

It tried to lunge and bite again, but Bai Xuan drove the spear through its skull and twisted. Brain matter oozed out; the demon fish convulsed, then lay still.

"Throw it overboard," Bai Xuan ordered.

The sailors, still shaken, now looked on in awe.

"The bosun, so young, dispatched the demon fish in a single blow?"

"Turns out his skill with the spear is formidable."

"That spear—could it be forged of cold iron?"

Until now, the crew had respected Bai Xuan for his position and his uncanny ability to read the currents and locate fish. But now that he had shown his true strength, things changed.

Many sailors addressed him with newfound respect; even Gao Hong and third mate Liu Yuezh showed a change in demeanor.

"What skill! So young, yet his power is hidden deep," Liu Yuezh thought, suddenly weighing his own position. Bai Xuan’s prospects were surely bright; it was better to befriend him than to oppose him.

Bai Xuan sensed the shift in attitude.

"Strength is what counts," he reflected.

No display of ability compares to the awe of slaying a demon fish with a single blow. On the Chaotic Seas, only might commanded respect.

…

A few days later.

"What kind of fish is this?"

"The net's about to break!"

The sailors were in a panic.

Finding a demon fish in the net was hardly unusual, but this time, the creature was so massive, so fierce, that even with a dozen sailors pulling together, the net nearly broke free!

At the critical moment, Bai Xuan strode forward, wrapped his arms around the net, planted his feet like tree roots, and heaved.

His mastery of the trawling net, now nearly perfect, let him easily haul in a thousand catties at once. With his martial strength added, his arms could rival ten thousand catties—none could match him.

Under his grip, the net halted its downward slide and slowly rose.

"What is that fish?"

With a crash, the net released, and a giant fish tumbled onto the deck, stunning all present.

It was a monstrous fish, its body encased in hardened bone, its skull serpent-like and terrifying.

"Sought high and low, only to find it with no effort at all!" Bai Xuan’s eyes flashed with joy.

This was the very snake-bone fish he was after!

Such deep-sea variants were exceedingly rare, drawn only by the presence of vast shoals.

On the deck, the snake-bone fish thrashed wildly. Sailors struck at it with knives, but the blades snapped with a ringing clang.

"As expected, a variant. Its bone is nearly as tough as my iron-hard bones; ordinary weapons are useless," Bai Xuan observed.

He held back, grounded his spear, and announced, "These deep-sea fish can’t survive long out of water. Bind it with nets and stand back!"

"Yes, bosun!" the sailors chorused, retreating as ropes flew out, binding the snake-bone fish tighter the more it struggled. Soon it slowed, weakened, and lost its vitality.

Swish!

Bai Xuan flickered forward and thrust his spear through the gap in its skull. The giant fish spasmed, then went limp.

"All right, start butchering the catch!" Bai Xuan commanded.

The sailors moved in. The snake-bone fish’s exoskeleton was incredibly tough—almost impossible to cleave—but after death, its muscles loosened, the bones unlocked, and it could be taken apart bit by bit.

"That tender flesh is just what I need," Bai Xuan thought.

According to the manual, only a small portion of the fish was edible. Most of its energy went into growing bone; only about ten catties of blood-rich flesh remained.

Sure enough, when they finally split the belly, a vivid, crystalline piece of flesh appeared, blood shimmering as if still alive.

Bai Xuan was delighted and prepared to claim the ten-odd catties of meat for himself.

But one of the black pirate ships drew swiftly alongside.

"Put down that snake-bone fish!"

"Such variant fish must be handed to us for inspection. You have no right to take it!"

From the approaching ship, a dozen pirates armed with swords and knives shouted their demand, their tone brooking no argument, as if policing the fishermen.