Chapter 340 - 236: A Big Catch
Chapter 340: Chapter 236: A Big Catch
The reservoir was surrounded by rolling, snow-covered mountains. The layer of ice on the lake was over twenty centimeters thick, and a biting wind howled, sharp as a knife.
A glance around brought to mind a line from a classic poem: "A thousand mountains, no sign of birds in flight; ten thousand paths, no trace of human life."
By the edge of the vast reservoir, the four of them were the only ones there to play.
Having reached Minor Spirit Body Achievement, Li Xiang felt no cold at all after stripping naked. Entering the water, he was instead met with a gentle warmth, making it even cozier than being on the shore.
He stretched his limbs with perfect coordination and swam freely through the icy water, neither fast nor slow, the very picture of leisure.
Lei Xiaohui sent the drone into the air, making it circle around Li Xiang. She flew it closer and then farther away, employing various camera movement techniques.
After all, the space he had smashed open earlier with the White Jade Golden Hook Rod was limited, leaving him little room to maneuver. So, Li Xiang left the area and dove beneath the ice, swimming off into the distance.
The three girls leaped onto the ice and gave chase.
Their coordination was excellent and their movements were agile, so they didn’t fall while running on the ice. They didn’t run the whole time, either, sometimes using their momentum to slide.
The only thing was, they were all wearing regular shoes, so their sliding wasn’t as smooth as it would have been on ice skates.
"AWOOOO~ Go, Brother Xiang!" Yao Yao shouted, waving her arms as she slid. "Go, go, go, Brother Xiang, go! WOOO~"
"Brother Xiang is amazing! He can hold his breath for so long!"
"A little faster, Brother Xiang! Put more muscle into it!"
Yao Yao screamed nonstop, unleashing her uniquely wild energy. She single-handedly created the atmosphere of an entire cheerleading squad. It had to be said, with a girl like her around, there was never a dull moment—only laughter and cheer.
Swept up in her energy, Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui would also shout encouragement from time to time. But those two, especially Zhao Xueqing, were too reserved and couldn’t really let loose.
Li Xiang could hold his breath for over thirty minutes, but since Lei Xiaohui was recording a video, he naturally didn’t stay under that long. After just seven or eight minutes, he stopped, hammered on the ice to break a large hole, and popped his head out for a break.
"You guys want to give it a try? It’s pretty warm down here," Li Xiang said.
Yao Yao shook her head. "Eek, no thanks. I can’t stand the cold."
Lei Xiaohui said, "I’m flying the drone."
Zhao Xueqing was a little tempted, but since Yao Yao and Lei Xiaohui weren’t going, she was too embarrassed to say she wanted to. Besides, none of them had brought swimsuits.
’I can’t just go in wearing my regular underwear, can I?’
There were also some deeply ingrained beliefs. Even though they were Extraordinary Beings now, they were still concerned. The idea was that girls shouldn’t have too much contact with icy things. Winter swimming in a frozen lake? It was said to cause "womb cold," a condition that could lead to female health issues.
In reality, the chances were slim, since they were protected by their Spiritual Power. But old habits die hard. It was like sleeping in the summer and covering your belly button with the corner of a blanket, no matter how hot it was.
As for Li Xiang, he was brimming with masculine energy, his body like a furnace. After swimming for a while, not only did he not have goosebumps, but his fair skin had taken on a healthy, rosy glow, making it impossible for the girls to look away.
In this world of ice and snow, everyone was usually bundled up in thick clothes. A rare treat like this didn’t come along often.
Since none of the girls were coming down, Li Xiang continued on. He planned to swim across the entire reservoir, smashing a hole in the ice every so often.
After four or five holes, he had almost reached the center of the reservoir. Suddenly, Li Xiang dove deep underwater. At first, the three girls thought nothing of it. With Li Xiang’s power, how could he possibly be in danger?
But fifteen minutes passed, and Li Xiang still hadn’t surfaced.
Twenty minutes passed, and Li Xiang still hadn’t surfaced.
Twenty-five minutes passed, and Li Xiang still hadn’t surfaced.
The three girls couldn’t help but start to worry. Before, Li Xiang had surfaced every seven or eight minutes at most.
Zhao Xueqing started taking off her clothes. "Why don’t I go down and look for Brother Xiang? What if he got a leg cramp and is drowning?"
Lei Xiaohui also put down the drone’s remote control. "I’ll go too," she said, and also began to undress.
Seeing this, Yao Yao thought, ’I can’t be the one left behind!’ and started taking her clothes off too. "I’m going too."
Just as the three girls had stripped down to their underwear, about to jump in wearing just that, the water stirred.
A figure shot out from the large hole next to them like a sky-piercing arrow. It was Li Xiang, and he was holding a huge grass carp that had to be twenty or thirty pounds.
As soon as Li Xiang was out, he eagerly tossed the big grass carp onto the ice, where it flopped around wildly.
The three girls stared at each other, speechless. ’Brother, how could you do this to us? We took off our clothes and were about to risk "womb cold" to save you, and you just burst out of the water holding a fish?’
Li Xiang glanced over and was dumbfounded. ’Why are they dressed so... suggestively?’
The girls’ underwear was all in strikingly different styles: some lace, some frilly, some with cutouts, a bodysuit, a T-back... And this was different from swimsuits. The exquisite patterns and elegant designs were much more appealing to the eye.
The three girls, blushing, immediately put their clothes back on.
Li Xiang changed the subject. "There are a ton of fish in this reservoir. I’ll go down and catch a few more. Xiaohui, have your brother bring some nets over. Just tell him there are some huge ones here. We’ll get at least three or four hundred pounds today, then we can all split it. We can treat it as getting a head start on supplies for the New Year."
Although the New Year was still two or three months away, and cured fish was usually made during the twelfth lunar month, the weather was already so cold that it was possible to make it early.
Yao Yao asked worriedly, "Brother Xiang, what if the fish in this reservoir are being farmed by someone?"
Li Xiang shook his head. "Don’t worry. This reservoir is one of our county’s drinking water sources. There’s no way they’d contract it out for fish farming. These are all wild fish."