Chapter 1: Chen Jianghe

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chen Jianghe

Early morning, on the day of Cold Dew.

Gliding through the thin morning mist, the young man paddled toward the center of the lake. His bamboo pole lightly tapped the water’s surface, sending out pale golden ripples. Magical Power condensed into silver threads around his wrist. Suddenly, a cyan shadow broke the ink-wash stillness of the water, its tail shattering the reflection of the rosy dawn clouds.

He thought, "Small Water Control Technique."

With a sharp flick of his wrist, the silver light shot toward the cyan fish, binding it tight. No matter how fiercely it struggled, the fish could not escape the silver threads. Reeling in his catch, he hauled the foot-long Large Cyan Fish onto his fishing boat.

Chen Jianghe weighed the Large Cyan Fish in his hands, then tossed it back into the lake with a satisfied smile.

"Over three and a half catties. It’s going to be another good year for the harvest."

BUBBLE BUBBLE.

A cluster of bubbles surfaced on the lake, shimmering with an amber halo under the morning sun. This was a signal from the pet Chen Jianghe kept at the bottom of the lake.

"Well done, Little Black. Once I sell the fish, I’ll reward you with a Spirit Awakening Pill."

BUBBLE. Two more colorful bubbles popped on the surface—Little Black’s satisfied response.

Chen Jianghe smiled in delight. He was a transmigrator who had been in this world for three years. Before crossing over, he had been a college student majoring in fine arts. On his way home to pay respects to his ancestors, he was struck by a bout of "tremendous luck"—a fatal accident. When he woke up, he was a Fisherman and Farmer for the Yun Family of Jingyue Lake.

It was a Cultivation World. Here, Immortals could soar through the skies, tunnel through the earth, move mountains, and drain seas. There were also Great Demons capable of seizing the sun and moon, shrinking a Thousand Mountains, and blotting out the sky when revealing their true forms.

His predecessor had also shared the surname Chen, though he had no given name. As an orphan with a Spirit Root, he had been brought back to Jingyue Lake by an Elder of the Yun Family and assigned to be a Fisherman and Farmer. Upon arriving at the Yun Family, he was given a Water Element Qi Refining Technique, ten grains of Spiritual Sand, and one Spirit-Encompassing Pill. From that moment on, he embarked upon the Immortal Path.

According to the Yun Family’s rules, a Fisherman and Farmer’s entire earnings from their first year of raising fish would be surrendered back to the Yun Family as compensation for their Guiding Immortal Talent.

The Yun Family of Jingyue Lake was the largest Cultivation Clan within an eight-hundred-mile radius. Rumors claimed they even had a Foundation Establishment Ancestor holding down the fort. Every Cultivation Family in the Jingyue Lake territory had to pay land rent to the Yun Family. But aside from collecting these rents, the Yun Family’s true financial foundation lay in selling cyan fish to the surrounding Marketplaces. These fish were a specialty of Jingyue Lake.

Because a Tier Two Lower-Grade Spiritual Vein rested at the bottom of Jingyue Lake, the cyan fish were not only delicious but also rich in Spiritual Qi.

Cyan fish were divided into Large Cyan Fish and Little Cyan Fish. Large Cyan Fish were, naturally, larger in size; fully grown, they weighed around three catties. However, because they were raised near the outer edges of Jingyue Lake, their meat contained little Spiritual Qi. As a result, they sold for a lower price, and the pay for the Fisherman and Farmer who raised them was similarly limited. Chen Jianghe raised exactly this kind of Large Cyan Fish. As for the Little Cyan Fish, he had heard the old Fisherman and Farmer next door mention that one needed Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivation or the status of a Senior Fisherman and Farmer to even be qualified to raise them.

Jingyue Lake was a circular body of water spanning a hundred miles in diameter. From high in the sky, it looked just like a full moon. The outer zone extended twenty miles inward from the shore; this was the designated water area where Basic-Level Fishermen and Farmers raised Large Cyan Fish. Extending another twenty miles past that was the inner zone, the waters reserved for Senior Fishermen and Farmers to raise Little Cyan Fish.

The Yun Family enforced strict rules: Basic-Level Fishermen and Farmers were strictly forbidden from entering the inner waters without authorization. Violators would have their Cultivation crippled, their legs broken, and be permanently expelled from the Yun Family. At the very center, surrounded by the inner waters, lay Huxing Island—the Yun Family’s primary estate and the area with the densest Spiritual Qi in all of Jingyue Lake.

As a Fisherman and Farmer, Chen Jianghe made his home on his fishing boat. Aside from going ashore to empty his chamber pot and purchase daily necessities, he practically lived on the water. At the First-Layer Qi Refining, his assigned breeding area was located at the very edge of the lake, spanning roughly five acres. Woven nets of aquatic plants functioned as walls beneath the surface, dividing the waters into specific breeding territories for each of the Yun Family’s Fishermen and Farmers.

Returning to his cabin, Chen Jianghe mentally calculated his expected earnings for the year.

During his first year, his Large Cyan Fish had averaged three catties each, yielding a total harvest of 1,200 catties. All of it had gone to the family as unpaid labor.

By his second year, armed with more experience, he harvested 1,800 catties of Large Cyan Fish, with an average weight of three catties and four taels per fish. For a Basic-Level Fisherman and Farmer, the annual baseline quota was 1,000 catties of Large Cyan Fish, which paid ten grains of Spiritual Sand. For every additional hundred catties produced, they earned one extra grain of Spiritual Sand. Furthermore, the baseline average weight per fish was three catties. If the average weight exceeded that, they were rewarded ten grains of Spiritual Sand for every extra tael. Chen Jianghe had heard that the bonus structure for Little Cyan Fish was the exact opposite—the smaller the fish, the higher the reward.

His harvest of 1,800 catties had earned him eighteen grains of Spiritual Sand. Combined with the forty-grain bonus for the average weight, his total earnings the previous year had been fifty-eight grains of Spiritual Sand. (For context, one Spirit Stone could be exchanged for one hundred grains of Spiritual Sand).

"This year, the average weight of my Large Cyan Fish should hit three and a half catties, and the total yield won’t be less than 2,000 catties. My pay should be around seventy grains of Spiritual Sand. Added to my savings, that’s finally enough to buy Little Black a Spirit Awakening Pill."

Little Black was a deep, ink-colored turtle who, by sheer coincidence, had become Chen Jianghe’s Spirit Pet. The most outrageous part of their bond, however, was that Chen Jianghe now shared Little Black’s lifespan. A turtle mark had appeared on the Spirit Platform within his Sea of Consciousness. Whenever his Divine Sense touched the mark, he could see his exact remaining lifespan.

[240 Years]

In this Cultivation World, the maximum lifespan of an ordinary mortal was about eighty years. A Qi Refining Cultivator could live to be a hundred and twenty, while even a Foundation Establishment Ancestor could only expect to reach two hundred and twenty. Only by consuming Lifespan Extension Pills could one push their life to two hundred and forty years.

Following classic transmigration tropes, this was undoubtedly his Golden Finger.

Before discovering his Golden Finger, Chen Jianghe had been restless. He felt that since he had transmigrated to a Cultivation World, he was obligated to carve out a glorious path, become an immortal patriarch, and do the transmigration community proud. But once he awakened this Golden Finger, his restless heart finally settled. He thought about the treacherous nature of the Cultivation World and the grueling hardships of the Immortal Path.