Infinite Professions-Chapter 131 - 52: Spirit Fish

"Splash, splash, splash!"

The hemp rope was taut, and the iron bamboo bent like a bow.

Shen Hex’s feet sank firmly into the ground, stabilizing his body, while channeling his strength to slowly pull up the struggling creature from the water.

It wouldn’t budge!

This was a giant creature with astonishing strength. Although it couldn’t surpass him, it could withstand his hook and line.

If he couldn’t pull it out with one tug, it might snap the rope or hook, losing the giant creature he had painstakingly waited for.

But pulling like this wasn’t a solution; the immense strain from both sides on the mediocre rope and hook posed a great risk, one wrong move could break the rope or snap the hook.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, what to do?

Naturally, it was...

"Splash, splash, splash!"

Watching Shen Hex gradually retreat, white waves churned in the lake, and a vague giant shadow swayed its head and tail, struggling fiercely.

Despite the fierce struggle, it couldn’t surpass Shen Hex and was drawn out of the water, but the finger-thick hemp rope was stretched taut under the strain, with signs of breaking in some places.

If this continued, the fish would not be on land before the rope broke.

In the water, the giant shadow seemed to sense this and struggled even more fiercely.

As the ruler of this area of water, over the years it hadn’t lacked experiences of being caught, but those nets couldn’t withstand its strength, easily breaking apart in a struggle. Even reinforced wire nets couldn’t withstand its steel teeth, sometimes pulling the fisherman into the water for a meal.

Now tempted by the turtle meat, it was hooked painfully by an iron hook in its mouth.

But it only felt pain, yet refused to submit, rather its wild nature was stimulated further, determined to snap the hemp rope, even pull the person on the shore into the water.

Just as the giant shadow harbored ambition, exerting force bravely...

"Boom!"

A muffled sound, splashes of water flying.

What sound was that?

The giant shadow was startled, before it could react, a torrent of water surged towards it.

Earlier, Shen Hex, seeing the rope on the verge of breaking, stopped exerting, instead planted the iron bamboo rod into the ground, fully embedding it, except for the tip still exposed, tied with the rope.

This could last a short while, taking this opportunity, Shen Hex leapt forward, diving straight into the water, swimming along the taut rope towards the giant shadow.

He moved swiftly, like swimming fish or serpents, carrying a strong current, rushing directly in front of the giant shadow.

It turned out to be a seven-foot-long, covered in black scales, with a dragon-serpent-like stance, giant black snakehead.

Black snakeheads, also known as snakehead fish, are extremely fierce carnivorous fish.

The snakehead fighting against the hemp rope, when it saw Shen Hex approaching, was shocked, then shifted its target, ignoring the hook in its mouth, wagging its body and tail, crashing straight towards Shen Hex.

And then...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Shen Hex approached, True Qi gathered in his right fist, landed three consecutive punches on the snakehead.

Even though the snakehead was covered in scale armor, it couldn’t withstand Shen Hex’s True Qi-infused, Dragon Tiger Power punches, hit so hard that it became dizzy and disoriented, seeing stars, losing its sense of direction.

"Boom!"

Shen Hex saw the moment, delivered another punch, landing heavily on the fish’s head, flipping it over.

The belly of the fish flipped, completely powerless, Shen Hex seized the opportunity to pull the rope, dragging it towards the shore.

Soon, this giant creature was dragged onto dry land, by then half of the iron bamboo rod inserted in the ground had been pulled out, showing the intensity of the earlier struggle.

Shen Hex set down the rope, examined the snakehead, his gaze finally revealed satisfaction.

This trip, he had used ten pounds of turtle meat as bait. If he didn’t catch some equally rare or high-grade fish species, this trip would be a complete loss, unable to even recover the cost of bait.

Fortunately, Heaven does not disappoint those who earnestly strive, in the end he caught a Spirit Fish.

This snakehead was a Spirit Fish, although only Tier One, a Spirit Fish is a Spirit Fish, its nutritional value evidently surpassed a ten-pound old turtle, and its size wasn’t small; this seven-foot body could produce at least a hundred pounds of meat, equal to ten turtles.

A tenfold return, who wouldn’t be pleased?

Seeing the dim night sky, Shen Hex didn’t dare linger, slapped the snakehead heavily on the head, ending its life, then hoisted it on his back, heading towards his black-pitched boat.

Why not form a contract?

Currently, prioritizing oneself is crucial; now he doesn’t have the conditions to provide feed and pills, contracting spirit beasts would not yield sufficient returns and would slow down his own cultivation, clearly not a wise choice.

Currently, having a group of Tuo Dragons doing the dirty work is enough, other spirit beasts can wait until his cultivation level rises before considering them.

Thus, Shen Hex hoisted the dead snakehead onto the black-pitched boat, first slashed its tail off, then hung it from the top of the cabin, using a small jar to collect fish blood, finally propelling the boat back, loading the previously caught ordinary big fish onto it.

A fruitful return!

Including the snakehead, there were eight big fish in total, weighing from dozens to over a hundred pounds, weighing the old black-pitched boat down heavily.

Luckily, Shen Hex was strong enough, arms rotating the paddles, forcibly navigating the boat back to the Tuo Dragon group’s habitat.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

After knocking three times on the boat board, the water surface churned, the Tuo Dragon leader appeared with a dozen others, looking eagerly at Shen Hex.

"Come!"

Shen Hex chuckled, first poured the jar of snakehead blood for them, then threw the seven or eight big fish into the water.

"Gulp, gulp!"

Though the snakehead was also a Tier One spirit beast, its blood still delighted the Tuo Dragon leader greatly, raising its head and opening its mouth to enjoy alone, leaving no share for the others.

After drinking the blackfish blood, it looked at the few big fish without interest, only glancing at the blackfish hanging inside the cabin.

"Climb!"

Shen Hex rolled his eyes at it, then quickly sailed away in his black sail boat under its reluctant gaze.

Leaving the Tuo Dragon Group’s habitat, he found a secluded shallow bay to dock the boat. The sky was already lightening a bit, and Shen Hex didn’t dare to delay, so he immediately started cleaning the blackfish.

The fish blood had already been drained, and next was just scaling and cutting up. However, Shen Hex found the scales extremely tough using the scraping rod, which couldn’t scrape them off at all. Helpless, he switched to a kitchen knife, first gutting it, then pulling off the skin and scales together.

The blackfish, about seven feet long, had its entire skin peeled off, which was large enough to wrap a person. Shen Hex pondered for a moment: "Perhaps I could use it to sew some leather armor. It’s a pity I hadn’t studied the Artifact Refining Technique before, otherwise, I might have been able to refine a Dharma Artifact."

The Artifact Refining Technique is one of the Cultivation System subjects, alongside the Alchemy Technique, Talismanic Technique, and Array, known as the Four Great Sources of the Hundred Skills of Cultivation.

Although Shen Hex had encountered Spirit Control Armors in the Spirit Control Realm, truth be told, these armors didn’t really count as Dharma Artifacts. They were more like oversized Spirit Control Rings, which could house a spirit beast to enhance spiritual power. Without the cooperation of a spirit beast, their power would be greatly reduced.

Therefore, Spirit Control Armors are Dharma Artifacts but not quite, unlike the comprehensiveness of true Artifact Refining Techniques.

But this is understandable, considering it’s a Small Thousand World’s Dharma Gate, naturally having some limitations.

In fact, Shen Hex had also considered buying the Artifact Refining Technique from the Human Empire to practice it in the Spirit Control Realm and even broadly pass it on, but ultimately, he abandoned the idea because he was short on funds at that time. Moreover, introducing this technique might have unpredictable effects on the Spirit Control Realm, making things too complicated for his liking.

But things are different now; his funds are sufficient, and this world is quite suitable. In the future, he might consider researching the Artifact Refining Technique, and even the Alchemy, Talismanic Technique, Array, and the Hundred Skills of Cultivation, to become a qualified cultivator.

Of course, that’s for the future.

For now...

Shen Hex threw the fish skin into a vat, then cleaned the knife blade, starting the final processing of the blackfish meat.

In his previous life on Earth, blackfish was also a highly popular edible fish, mostly used to make pickled fish soup.

But Shen Hex was different, as there was a unique method of eating it in his hometown before he crossed over.

Fish raw!

Also called sashimi.

Simply put, it involves eating the fish raw.

Although it sounds hard to accept, in truth, it tastes really good.

Of course, the main reason was that he dared not light a fire. After the turtle fish lesson, he knew that once a spirit fish-level blackfish was cooked, who knew what kind of fragrance it might emit.

To be safe, he’d better make sashimi.

Shen Hex picked up the knife, and in no time, under the gleam of the cold light, this over a hundred-pound blackfish was sliced into fillets.

The fish fillets were crystal clear, resembling jade, with a translucent feel.

Shen Hex rummaged through the cabin, found the wild ginger and onions he had collected earlier, along with some other seasonings, chopped them all up, and mixed them together. Adding the soy sauce, vinegar, and oil he bought from the market earlier, a dipping sauce was quickly prepared.

Then, without saying much, he picked up the chopsticks and began eating. He picked up a few slices of fish, mixed them with the dipping sauce, and sent them into his mouth, first tasting the flavor of soy, vinegar, and oil, followed by the aroma of onions and ginger, ending with the crisp, refreshing sweetness of the fish.

"Hmm~!"

Although Shen Hex was a seasoned eater, this bite still made his body cheer.

Poor Old Zhong had lived over seventy years, fishing his entire life on Dongting Lake, yet he had never tasted a bite of spirit fish meat.

Not to mention spirit fish, he hadn’t even enjoyed a bit of turtle fish.

Clad in silk and satin, yet not a producer of silkworms!

And so on, who knows how long, all the hundred-pound fish meat had disappeared into his stomach.

Shen Hex sat still, silently channeling the Primordial Skill. The essence of the spirit fish transformed into a stream of warmth that spread into his limbs and bones, filling the weak and aging blood of this old body.

Eventually, everything went smoothly. Shen Hex’s body trembled slightly as the essence of the spirit fish strengthened and expanded his True Qi, establishing a Qi Sea in the Dantian, transforming it into a purer, more refined Gang Qi.

True Qi transformed into Gang, Martial Arts Second Tier!

Two months of effort, and he reached the second tier. Such progress speed, though not world-shattering, was still one in a million.

But to Shen Hex, it was perfectly reasonable. After all, with accumulations from two lifetimes, he had already thoroughly understood and digested the initial cultivation stages. As long as the materials were provided, the progress naturally surged.

As his cultivation entered the second tier, a stream of Life Source Power opened up, slowly dispelling the senescence within him. The gray and withered long hair gradually became full and black, and his deeply furrowed face visibly rejuvenated.

Soon, he transformed from an old man, around seventy or eighty years old, into a robust middle-aged man in his forties or fifties.

This was an extension of lifespan, a restoration of youth!

Shen Hex stretched his muscles and bones, feeling greatly comfortable, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

But it wasn’t over yet. Shen Hex glanced at the professional panel and found that the fisherman’s Professional Level was already full.

Clearly, catching this blackfish had earned him a significant amount of professional experience.

With the level maxed out, there’s no reason to stay.

"Retain Professional Talent!"

"Commence Professional Advancement!"

"Based on your experiences and actions, you can choose one of the following Tier One Professions to replace your original profession of fisherman!" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Profession one: Martial Artist!"

"Professional Talent: Dragon Tiger Stance Skill."

"Profession two: Beast Master!"

"Professional Talent: Water Beast Breeding."

"Profession three: Spirit Fisherman (You have obtained an Immortal Fate through fishing, thus stepping away from the ranks of mere mortals; you can now refer to yourself as a Spirit Fisherman, gaining moderate professional experience through fishing, catching, and breeding fish. Each Professional Level upgrade slightly increases Spiritual Root aptitude.)"

"Professional Talent: Fate Fisher (An advanced fishing talent, you are a Spirit Fisherman capable of fishing Immortal Fate, significantly increasing the chance of catching fish, and substantially enhancing the probability of rare fish taking the bait, with a small chance of reeling in Immortal Fate.)"