Chapter 858: The Principles of Fishing
After reciting the words, Zhong Shentong felt a heaviness in his heart, as if an invisible shackle had been fastened around it.
"Hahaha, excellent." Ji Shaoli, meanwhile, looked as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He instantly withdrew all the protective artifacts surrounding him, making no show of defense.
This only strengthened Zhong Shentong's conviction that the oath of membership must contain some kind of restrictive power.
"Now that Cultivator Zhong has joined, little Liuli, why don't you join us as well?" Ji Shaoli said with a beaming smile.
Though it was phrased as a suggestion, his tone left no room for refusal.
Zhong Shentong sighed in resignation and gestured for Liuli to comply.
There was no need for a special transmission of thought.
Having heard Zhong Shentong recite it just once, Liuli had already memorized the entire oath.
She repeated it flawlessly, word for word.
Zhong Shentong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. "Truly, a newborn calf fears no tiger. Such a young child, ignorant of the profound mysteries of a True Immortal."
Seeing Zhong Shentong's troubled expression, Ji Shaoli spoke up. "Cultivator Zhong, you needn't worry. I've already contacted headquarters. You will remain the caretaker of this Fishing Pool."
"Everything will continue as before."
Zhong Shentong was utterly astonished to hear this.
"Furthermore, we won't make any effort to conceal this place. After all, only treasures need to be hidden. Why would anyone go to the trouble of specially protecting an ordinary little pond? However," Ji Shaoli continued in a measured tone, "we can set up a formation outside your mountain temple. That should prevent any more incidents of outsiders prying."
"And if word does get out, we can arrive quickly to provide support."
...
Ji Shaoli's detailed explanation dispelled most of Zhong Shentong's doubts.
"It seems I was being overly cautious," he thought to himself. "This Federation of All Worlds truly lives up to its name."
With Lin Ling's help, the protective formation outside the small temple was quickly completed.
Ji Shaoli then offered to give Zhong Shentong some artifacts for his own protection.
Having not felt such consideration in a long time, Zhong Shentong felt a little embarrassed.
"There's no need for that. This old Daoist has fished up far too much random junk over the years."
"If real danger strikes, they wouldn't be much use anyway."
He shook his head.
As he spoke, he tossed over a storage ring.
"Cultivator, take a look inside. See if there's anything I might have overlooked."
Ji Shaoli's spiritual sense swept across the storage ring's interior, which was so cluttered with items piled high that it resembled a junkyard.
After a moment, he shook his head. "Not much of value."
"However..." Ji Shaoli paused slightly.
"Though some of these items are of low quality, they might have other, less obvious value. After all, most of them come from other cultivation worlds. As far as I know, some cultivators are quite interested in objects like these."
Zhong Shentong nodded slightly. "I understand that principle, of course. But I was afraid of attracting unwanted attention, so I've always refrained from selling them."
"From now on, you won't have to worry about that," Ji Shaoli said, putting away the storage ring.
"We'll have specialists handle these items. When they're sold, half the profits will go to the Federation, and the other half will be returned to you."
Zhong Shentong had no objection to this arrangement and remarked, "Having backing is indeed much better than going it alone."
"The Fishing Pool is an exceedingly rare treasure. The Federation will implement strict confidentiality measures regarding it. Aside from the occasional visitor who might come to fish, it won't be used frequently," Ji Shaoli explained, laying out the future arrangements for Zhong Shentong.
These various measures put him more and more at ease.
Afterward, Ji Shaoli began to ask him about his experiences fishing in the starry expanse.
"This concept of using one's will as bait—how does it actually work?"
"Can it be any kind of thought?"
Zhong Shentong pondered for a moment before explaining, "The Fishing Pool didn't come with an instruction manual. I've had to figure everything out on my own through trial and error."
"Based on my experience over the years, using one's will as bait seems to follow a principle of 'like attracts like'."
"Inside the Fishing Pool, there are countless orbs of light, each with its own distinct properties and classifications."
"The orbs of light that are similar to the condensed thought-bait are the ones that are easiest to catch."
Zhong Shentong took out the Primordial Chaos Purple Gold Gourd again. "Take this gourd, for example. I was lucky enough to fish it out by visualizing another gourd-shaped offensive artifact I had seen once before."
Ji Shaoli became thoughtful upon hearing this. "If we consider those orbs of light to have a consciousness of their own, does that mean they are drawn to thought-bait that is either similar to them or that they find interesting?"
Zhong Shentong nodded.
"That may be so, but in the end, it still comes down to luck," Zhong Shentong said with a frown.
"The starry sky within the Fishing Pool is simply too vast. Each time, the thought-bait can only influence a tiny corner of it. For the line to drop and happen to land near an orb that it can attract..."
"Difficult, difficult, difficult!" Zhong Shentong repeated the word three times, expressing his helplessness.
"I believe there must have been a special technique meant to be used with this Fishing Pool, but it has long since vanished, leaving only the pool itself behind in this world," he lamented.
Ji Shaoli nodded in agreement.
Their conversation was conducted entirely through spiritual sense transmission.
Liuli and Lin Ling, standing to the side, were unaware of it.
In just this short time, however, their relationship had warmed considerably.
They were no longer glaring at each other but had started playing together.
Watching them, Zhong Shentong was filled with a multitude of emotions.
"It seems to me this sen—"
After a moment's hesitation, Zhong Shentong stopped himself from saying the word "senior."
"This young lady named Lin Ling... she doesn't seem very old?" he asked tentatively.
Ji Shaoli nodded. "She was born little more than a decade ago. Having not experienced the ways of the world, she still has the disposition of a child."
These words completely stunned Zhong Shentong.
"A little over a decade? Dao Integration?"
"Heh, Cultivator, there's no need to be so surprised. Within our Federation, peerless prodigies are countless. Someone of this caliber..."
"...is nothing special."
Ji Shaoli gave a mysterious smile, offering only this simple explanation.
Zhong Shentong's mind raced with wild thoughts, reeling from the shock.
Meanwhile, Ji Shaoli made another attempt at fishing.
He calmed his mind and entered the endless, brilliant starry sky.
"Will as bait..."
He tried to condense his visualized consciousness into bait.
But, as expected, he failed.
This time, however, his luck was good, and he fished out a blue orb of light.
He couldn't discern its specific use; it appeared to be a fragment of some artifact.
After a brief, fruitless examination, Ji Shaoli put it away for the time being.
For some time after that, he stayed at the small temple, practicing every day to build his proficiency.
As he grew more familiar with Zhong Shentong and his disciple, and with their guidance, his progress advanced by leaps and bounds.
Half a month later.
Ji Shaoli finally succeeded in condensing thought-bait for the first time.
——
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