Chapter 170: Chapter 168: Thousand-Year-Old Hidden
Scaled Fish_l
Translator: 549690339
The Water Charm Dragon remained calm, unmoving, as the youth cultivator stared at it intently. Lu Xuan adjusted his breathing and pulled out his Slivered Silver Blade.
The short Silver White Blade slowly pierced into the abdomen of the Water Charm Dragon.
Although the Water Charm Dragon is a Second Grade Flood Dragon, it doesn’t have scale armor to protect its abdomen, and its defensive abilities are not its strength. As a result, it wasn’t difficult to thrust the First Grade Slivered Silver Blade into it.
Lu Xuan gripped the hilt of the Silver White Slivered Silver Blade firmly, steadily and decisively making an incision.
Immediately, he probed with his Spiritual Sense, meticulously searching through every muscle and bone.
“Found you.”
In a certain part of the Water Charm Dragon’s body, although it looked no different from its flesh and blood, his Spiritual Sense detected a slight anomaly. He made a quick decision and manipulated this small ball of anomaly—before it could react, he quickly took it out of the Water Charm Dragon’s body.
A strange fish appeared on the ground.
The strange fish was about a foot long, elongated and translucent, with only a black lateral line running through it. On its head was an almost transparent, enormous suction pad.
“What is this?”
“As expected, there’s another demon beast living inside the Flood Dragon. Junior Brother Lu indeed possesses discerning eyes.”
Seeing the strange fish extracted from the Water Charm Dragon’s body, the nearby cultivators began to discuss.
Lu Xuan remained silent and took out a piece of Demon Beast Meat from a nearby bucket, placing it in front of the strange fish.
Seemingly finding a lifeline, the strange fish wriggled its body and burrowed into the Demon Beast Meat like a stream of water.
“If I found you the first time, naturally I can find you for the second time.”
Lu Xuan coldly snorted and easily pulled the strange fish out of the Demon Beast Meat.
The reason he took out the Demon Beast Meat was two-fold: to prove to other cultivators that the fish had the ability to parasitize and inhabit other creatures, and to take this opportunity to learn more about the peculiar fish.
A thought flashed across his mind.
[Hidden Scaled Fish, a First Grade demon beast, has weak offensive power but is skilled at concealing itself in water. It is non-toxic and edible.]
[Typically, it parasitizes water attribute demon beasts. When in the larval stage, the hatched Hidden Scaled Fish will look for the opportunity to enter the demon beast’s rear, silently merging with the demon beast’s body to absorb its Essence Blood and flesh.]
“Huh???”
Lu Xuan was taken aback when he first saw this information.
“Junior Brother Lu, what is this strange fish? How did such a large fish enter the Flood Dragon’s body?”
Although the people nearby were also raising Jiaolong Pythons in Thousand Dragon Lake, their primary focus was still on cultivation. Raising the Jiaolong Pythons was merely a means to earn Sword Marks.
As a result, they didn’t have a deep understanding of Spirit Beasts.
Lu Xuan hesitated for a moment, but eventually decided to tell the truth.
“This strange fish is called a Hidden Scaled Fish. I had read about it in a certain book. It usually parasitizes water attribute demon beasts, feeding on the Essence Blood and flesh of the demon beasts.”
“As for how it enters the body of the demon beast…”
“To the best of my knowledge, it enters through the rear of the demon beast.”
Everyone’s faces showed signs of confusion. They looked at the Hidden Scaled Fish on the ground, still struggling, and collectively tightened up.
“But how come we never noticed it? These Jiaolong Pythons have been raised by us since they were little. We occasionally check their physical condition, but we’ve never seen any trace of this strange fish before.”
One of the cultivators asked with confusion.
“It’s simple. The Hidden Scaled Fish’s ability to conceal itself is extremely strong. It practically merges with the Flood Dragon, and only a close-range search with Spiritual Sense, bit by bit, may possibly reveal their presence.”
“As for the Flood Dragon, although it’s aware of the slow drain of its Essence Blood, it can’t locate them due to the Hidden Scaled Fish’s parasitic ability.”
Lu Xuan patiently explained to the cultivators.
“Junior Brother Lu, I have a final question, I’d appreciate if you could answer it for me.”
“Just how damaging would this Hidden Scaled Fish, parasitizing inside the Jiaolong, be to the Jiaolong?”
The others present perked up their ears simultaneously, their attention centered on Lu Xuan. This was the heart of their concern as well.
After all, every Cultivator present had at least dozens Jiaolong Pythons under their command. If these Hidden Scaled Fish could cause severe damage to their Jiaolongs, that would be a tough pill to swallow.
“It wouldn’t be too harmful. The main effect would be the interference in growth of the Jiaolong. It wouldn’t threaten their lives.”
Lu Xuan affirmed.
His answer eased down their nerves significantly.
The young cultivator removed the Golden Ring from the body of the Water Charm Dragon and a pale spiritual light engulfed the faint white dragon, covering the wound left by Lu Xuan.
After treating itself, the Water Charm Dragon gazed in the direction of Lu Xuan and gave a grateful low moan as it disappeared into the water.
As he watched it disappear, Lu Xuan returned to drawing blood, examining the remaining Jiaolong Pythons.
Fortunately, no new Hidden Scaled Fish made their appearance amongst the subsequent Jiaolongs, which alleviated the young cultivator’s stress significantly.
“Junior Brother Lu, you’ve had a hard time.”
He passed Lu Xuan a black cloth bag stuffed with an abundance of Spirit Stones.
“You’re too kind, Senior Brother.”
“Although I have discovered the Hidden Scaled Fish, there might be other hidden factors. Therefore, I need to take the Water Dragon Essence Blood back to my refuge for a thorough examination.”
Having given his instructions, Lu Xuan accepted the bag with a grin. He subtly weighed it and deduced, with his vast experience, that the weight didn’t quite add up to the number of Spirit Stones guessed before. It was noticeably heavier.
He placed the cloth bag inside his Storage Bag.
“Junior Brother Lu, please examine mine first!”
“Junior Brother, look at mine, look at mine, the Jiaolong I’m caring for is the closest.”
“All of you Senior Brothers, please don’t worry. I will check all of them.”
Lu Xuan spoke with composure.
With the double allure of Spirit Stones and Water Dragon Essence Blood, he couldn’t refuse even if he wished to!
He randomly picked a cultivator and proceeded towards the water area under the latter’s elated expressions.
Once is coincidence, twice is ability. With prior experience, the blood-drawing examination process was now quicker than before.
In dozens of Jiaolong Pythons, no abnormal situations were found.
Without stopping, Lu Xuan aggressively rushed towards the next location.
His concerned behavior was viewed by others as him worrying about the safety of fellow cultivator’s spirit beasts. All were deeply moved, and any previous unpleasantness was dissolved.
Thus, Lu Xuan vigorously examined all the Jiaolong Pythons in all locations, and identified eight instances of Hidden Scaled Fish parasitization.
When abnormal situations were discovered, the Cultivators at the back voluntarily increased Lu Xuan’s remuneration and gave him more Spirit Stones.
Lu Xuan’s Storage Bag began to brim with Water Dragon Essence Blood. Bottle by bottle, jar by jar, it was nearly like a small hill.
“Junior Brother Lu, do you have any insight regarding these Hidden Scaled Fish?”
With the last Jiaolong examined and squeezed dry of blood, all the Jiaolong in this area have been examined and squeezed by Lu Xuan.
“My guess is, the Hidden Scaled Fish might be hidden in a Jiaolong that has been caught from the outside, then put in Thousand Dragon Lake. They grew and reproduced at the bottom of the lake and gradually chose the host Jiaolong to parasitize.”
Lu Xuan speculated..