Chapter 1001: Grilled Fish Feast

True Word Venerable's lips curled slightly upward, revealing a relieved smile. Her mood was also very pleasant.

The Binyuan Spirit Fish was a precious species from Tianzhou, extremely difficult to cultivate. She had spent three years to finally raise a dozen of them, and one more year of cultivation would make them mature enough to advance her Soul Transformation Realm. She had waited a long time for this day.

Clapping her hands, she tossed the last bit of spirit rice into the pond and said, "If even one of them matures, I, your master, will have hope of advancing to the next stage of the Soul Transformation Realm..."

Just as she spoke, a hair-thin spatial rift appeared above the fish pond without any warning. A golden fishhook extended from within, snagging the small mouth of a Binyuan Spirit Fish. The fish struggled in pain, thrashing about in the water, but was mercilessly dragged into the void.

True Word Venerable froze. When she reacted, she immediately reached out and grabbed the fish's tail, attempting to pull it back. To her surprise, despite being in the Soul Transformation Realm, she couldn't counter the immense force. The Binyuan Spirit Fish slipped from her grasp, and she watched helplessly as it was dragged into the void.

Master Chenjing's eyes widened in disbelief. She could hardly believe what she had witnessed. Her master's fish had been stolen? Right in front of her master? And her master couldn't get it back?

"Master... what was that just now?" Master Chenjing couldn't quite comprehend it. Was it a spell? Or some kind of magical artifact? True Word Venerable stared at her empty palm, a little dazed.

Recovering, she clenched her fist, her beautiful face filled with anger. "Who stole my fish? You'd better hope I don't find out! Chenjing, move this pond into my bedroom!" The method was too bizarre; she was helpless even in its presence. How could she dare let the fish out of her sight?

Master Chenjing clicked her tongue. Who was this powerful being? To force a Venerable like her master into becoming a pond guardian.

Meanwhile, Jiang Fan lifted his rod and found he had actually caught a fish, which surprised him. "Where did I cast that rod?" he wondered. "How did I actually catch a fish?"

He had intended to casually toss the fish into a nearby ditch, but then a thought struck him. The Void Fishing Rod only caught spiritual items of heaven and earth. Either it came back empty, or if something was hooked, it shouldn't be ordinary. Upon closer inspection, he realized the fish contained an astonishing amount of spiritual energy; even with his two-aperture Nascent Soul cultivation, he couldn't fully absorb it. "What kind of fish is this? So potent?"

What made his mouth twitch slightly was that after a few struggles, the fish slowly stopped moving. "Too delicate, isn't it?" Jiang Fan was speechless; he had wanted to keep it alive. Seeing the spiritual energy rapidly leaking from the fish's body, he had no choice but to eat it.

However, before that, he turned his head to look in the direction where Hua Wuying had fled. "Silly girl, still running? Do you really think I'd let you get away?"

With a few Cloud Shadows, Jiang Fan instantly appeared before her. Hua Wuying was stunned. How could Jiang Fan be so much faster than when he used Cloud Shadows in the Myriad Tribulations Sacred Hall? He had covered seven or eight hundred miles in just a moment and caught up?

Jiang Fan leisurely sat under a tree. He cleaned the spirit fish in his hand, found a tree branch to skewer it, and then lit a fire to roast it on the spot. Apart from its incredibly dense spiritual energy, the fish's body was quite fragile, cooking easily over an ordinary flame, just like a common fish.

Hua Wuying knew she couldn't escape. With a pouting mouth, she sat sullenly beside Jiang Fan, not saying a word.

Not long after, a piece of roasted fish tail was offered to her. "Yours," he said.

Hua Wuying turned her face away and mumbled, "This junior has long abstained from grains; I don't need it." However, a faint, fragrant aroma drifted into her nostrils, astonishing her. It smelled so good! A fish aroma she had never encountered before.

Her small mouth twitched, and she reluctantly accepted it. "Alright, I'll just have a taste." Glancing at the small piece of fish tail and then at the large chunk of fish in Jiang Fan's hand, she pouted. "How stingy." With that, she took a bite. The fish meat was incredibly sweet, without any fishy taste, melting in her mouth and transforming into streams of spiritual dew that merged into her body.

Her Golden Core, already at the complete ninth layer, subtly swelled. She was greatly astonished. "Ah, what kind of fish is this? Such rich spiritual energy! Even liquefied spiritual fluid isn't this potent, is it?"

Jiang Fan continued eating, saying, "Stop when you've had enough. It wouldn't be fun if your Golden Core exploded." Hua Wuying looked at the unfinished fish tail in her hand but couldn't resist the temptation. "I'll just have one more small bite!"

Moments later, her stomach was full. The fish tail had been sucked clean, leaving only bones and spines. "So full..." Hua Wuying rubbed her little belly, a satisfied expression on her face. "This fish is simply too delicious; I couldn't stop eating."

Jiang Fan also showed a deeply satisfied expression. The faint outline of a third aperture was forming on his Nascent Soul. This indicated he was on the verge of breaking through to the three-aperture Nascent Soul stage.

"What kind of fish is this, to have such an effect after eating just over half of it!" Jiang Fan marveled.

However, not breaking through was a good thing. Having broken through to the two-aperture Nascent Soul in one go, his cultivation was very unstable. It would be better to consolidate it first before opening the third aperture. With his cultivation improved, it was also time to practice his techniques.

He took out the Lightning Derivation Token for the Dark Sky Eye and began to comprehend it on the spot. An hour later, having gained some insights, he retrieved the dozens of blood lightning strands enveloped by the Heavenly Marrow.

This much lightning was enough for him to cultivate the Dark Sky Eye to its third layer! He immediately absorbed the blood lightning, allowing the Dark Sky Eye to rapidly solidify in one smooth process.

After an unknown period, he was suddenly awakened from his cultivation by a strange sound. He turned his head to look. It was Hua Wuying, who let out a soft groan. She clutched her lower abdomen, large beads of sweat appearing on her pale face, a trace of pain showing in her expression. Jiang Fan immediately understood what had happened. He frowned and said, "I told you not to be greedy."

"The spiritual energy in your body has reached the limit your Golden Core can withstand. Either your Golden Core will explode, or you'll have to undergo tribulation and transform into a Nascent Soul right now."

He was considering whether to take out a Heavenly Ascent Pill and then ask her master for double compensation later, when Hua Wuying, biting her red lip in pain, knelt on the ground and said, "Senior, this junior will undergo tribulation now. I humbly request senior to guard me." She took out a Heavenly Ascent Pill, filled with regret and fear. If she had known the fish was so potent, she never would have eaten it. Undergoing tribulation so rashly now, she feared it would be a bad omen.

Jiang Fan was surprised. So this disciple actually had a Heavenly Ascent Pill on her. That Song Lingyu was quite conscientious, not having plundered the Heavenly Ascent Pill from her disciple. He patted Hua Wuying's shoulder. "Don't panic. Your spiritual energy is unusually abundant right now, so undergoing tribulation will be much easier than for most people. Plus, with the Bodhi Pill, your success rate will be significantly higher. Adjust your mindset and face the Heavenly Tribulation. If it becomes truly dire, I will save you."

Hua Wuying's expression showed gratitude upon hearing this. "Thank you, Senior. If I succeed in tribulation, this junior will surely repay you handsomely." With that, she swallowed the Heavenly Ascent Pill, and a frantic aura of lightning soon approached from the horizon.

Jiang Fan floated into the air, looking down and surveying his surroundings, wary of anyone coming to cause trouble. Heavenly Tribulations at this stage were most easily disrupted. However, what he saw made him frown. "Your luck is truly terrible!" he muttered. "To actually run into people from Mount Sanqing here."