Chapter 769: The Old Fisherman
“Did you slay it?”
Lin Jin looked at the Clear Wind Sword, not knowing what happened. However, there was no blood on the blade so it probably didn’t succeed.
The green fish was clearly cunning and familiar with this place so it had managed to escape.
The immortals hurried over.
“Mr. Lin, we can’t find any Golden Tian Luo Pills in this pill ocean, and that only one earlier was eaten by that strange fish,” the inventory supervisor said dejectedly.
He had wanted to use this opportunity to gain credit but alas, he couldn’t find a single Golden Tian Luo Pill.
“It’s not only the Golden Tian Luo Pill. There may be countless pills here, but all the premium-grade pills are gone. These pills might have been swallowed by that strange fish too,” an immortal with keen observation remarked.
Lin Jin had seen how that green fish had appeared, aiming for the Golden Tian Luo Pill. It was possible that the creature had eaten them all. And that’s why they couldn’t get their hands on any.
Now what?
This pill ocean may be vast, but it didn’t have the pill Lin Jin needed most. Should they just give up and search somewhere else?
They might not be able to find it elsewhere though.
Lin Jin was uncertain for a moment there. This was where the value of the immortals shone. Among them were individuals who had lived for many millenniums so their knowledge was undoubtedly extensive. One of them stepped forward to say he might know about the green fish’s origin. It was said that after Tianzun had piled pills up for over tens of thousands of years, a pill spirit was born into this pill ocean. Some also said that Tianzun had caught a strange fish at the borders of the Chaos World, and fed it pills as a main source of food. But because the creature had consumed too many pills, medicinal effects had entered its bloodstream and bones that the creature itself was like a medicinal pill, filled with medicinal properties.
In short, they should catch the fish first.
Lin Jin had the same idea.
Also, there might be other Golden Tian Luo Pills here, so they should keep searching. Locating either the fish or pill would be fine.
They had manpower on their side so this should be an easy feat.
Upon Lin Jin’s instruction, the immortals commanded their pet beasts to search around. Lin Jin released Xiao Huo too to have him aid in the search.
If he were to find a Golden Tian Luo Pill, just eat it. If he found the fish, capture it. Otherwise, he could just eat it too.
With his unique const.i.tution, Xiao Huo was immune to toxins. Also, there must still be medicinal residue since the fish had only just swallowed the Golden Tian Luo Pill. Hence, Xiao Huo eating the fish would be equivalent to eating one pill.
For a moment there, the pill ocean was chaotic. Like waves rising in the ocean, countless pills were flipped up and rained down. As if a desperate thief had entered a mansion full of resources, it was simply rampant inside.
Just then, a few immortals shuddered. As if they just saw something incredible, they wore looks of disbelief.
The other immortals got curious.
“What did you guys see? Why the faces?” an immortal chuckled as he went over. Then, as if struck by a bolt from the blue, his smile froze and he, too, couldn’t speak.
Not just one, but the entire group of immortals had the same expression. They had clearly witnessed something astonis.h.i.+ng, or else these carefree old farts who had been living for thousands of years wouldn’t be so shocked.
Lin Jin flew over to find that in a corner of the pill ocean, there was a rock, looking much like an ocean reef.
Sitting on top of it was an old man.
Seemingly ordinary, he wore a straw hat, sat up with crossed legs, and held a fis.h.i.+ng pole in his hand. The man was actually fis.h.i.+ng.
It was indeed a strange sight, but not enough to startle the immortals so much.
The old man clearly wasn’t an ordinary person, and the focus lay on his ident.i.ty.
Lin Jin observed more carefully.
It was an ordinary old man with no trace of immortal energy on him. In other words, he was a mortal.
Now this was odd. Here inside Tianzun’s pill storage in the Nine-Heaven Realm, there was actually an old mortal man, fis.h.i.+ng in the pill ocean. This entire situation was strange indeed.
Still, no matter how strange, it shouldn’t be enough to shock the immortals into silence.
Lin Jin gave it some thought and ignored the others. He flew over by cloud with Xiao Huo by his side, also staring at the old man. In case he was to take action, Xiao Huo could react immediately.
After getting close, the old man never looked up, but he made a shus.h.i.+ng gesture at Lin Jin.
“Shh! The fish will be hooked soon!” the old man whispered. It was strange but upon hearing the old man, Lin Jin too subconsciously became mindful of his actions in fear of startling the old man’s fish.
He wasn’t being controlled by sorcery, but he vaguely guessed the old man’s ident.i.ty.
Lin Jin studied the old man’s fis.h.i.+ng pole. While it seemed like an ordinary fis.h.i.+ng pole, the item exuded unique spirit energy, so it must be an immortal magic treasure.
Also, the cus.h.i.+on he was sitting on wasn’t ordinary either. The same went for his clothes and straw hat.
It could be said that, aside from the old man being a mortal, nothing he used was ordinary.
Also, how could a normal person be able to fish here?
Lin Jin went over and sat down quietly to watch. The other immortals dared not move at all as the old man obviously had too distinguished a status in their minds. Their prudence was innate, but for Lin Jin, even if he had guessed who the old man was, he wasn’t too reserved. He was mostly just curious.
And so, the atmosphere fell silent. Everyone watched the old man fish without daring to move an inch or even make a sound.
After this momentary silence, there seemed to be movement from below the pill ocean.
As if something had swum over to circle around the spot where the old man’s line was set, like a fish probing bait.
The old man had an excited look in his eyes and his hands tightened slightly around his fis.h.i.+ng pole.
The next instant, the fis.h.i.+ng line abruptly tightened and the pole curved, being pulled downward.
“It’s hooked!”
The old man chuckled and began pulling. Then, a large green fish was pulled out of the pill ocean.
Lin Jin looked over. Wasn’t this the great green fish that ate the Golden Tian Luo Pill earlier? It was actually fished up by the old man! Lin Jin was just as dumbstruck.
“What are you staring for? Help me!” the old man shouted. Lin Jin snapped out of his reverie. The other immortals had reacted quicker than him this time, all scrambling forward to help. The old man pulled harder and the green fish was dragged over while being suspended in the air. Then, the fish was shrunk by a certain spell until it became a normal size, and was then tossed into the old man’s bucket.
There was water in the bucket. As the green fish swam inside, it was hard to imagine that this palm-sized creature used to be that ma.s.sive green fish that was about ten meters long.
Now that the old man had fished up the green fish, Lin Jin got up and bowed respectfully.
“I am a mere mortal, my name is Lin Jin.. Greetings, Tianzun!”