On the eternal ark, Jiang Ming was busily tidying up the traces of the battlefield.
Fortunately, with his “disguise” ability, he could restore the damaged parts of the ship to their original state.
Although the scars still existed, at least from the surface, no abnormalities could be seen.
Moreover, these scars would disappear with the next upgrade, and as long as no violent collisions occurred during this period, no hidden dangers would be left behind.
At this moment, the pursuers behind him had already retreated.
The middle-aged man’s body had also been thrown into the sea, leaving only a gray Storage Pouch.
Looking at the Storage Pouch, Jiang Ming could not hide the excitement in his heart.
Although he did not know what specific items were in the Storage Pouch, the Storage Pouch itself was worth several Spirit Stones.
He vigilantly scanned his surroundings; there were no other boats nearby, and they were still far from the dock.
So, he cautiously opened the Storage Pouch and began to count the items inside.
The space inside the pouch was about one cubic meter, and the first thing that caught his eye was a dense pile of glowing crystals.
He roughly counted them; there were nearly two hundred Spirit Crystals.
Beside the pile of Spirit Crystals, there was also a grayish-white Jade Slip, two unknown Talismans, and a pitch-black dagger.
The rest were some worthless sundries, such as clothes and alcohol.
Jiang Ming had a 潔癖 regarding other men's items, so without even looking, he threw all these sundries into the sea.
Next, he carefully studied the other three items:
He first picked up the Jade Slip, and as his Divine Sense probed into it and he saw the content, his eyes lit up.
Inside was the Secret Manual of the 《Qi Concealment Art》 that he urgently needed!
He quickly browsed through it, confirmed the content was correct, and then put it back into the Storage Pouch.
This was not the time for careful study.
The two Talismans had Spiritual Qi faintly flowing on their surfaces, clearly indicating they were intact and could be used normally.
However, he needed to take time to figure out exactly what kind of Talismans they were.
As for the dagger, it was also a good item.
Its blade was extremely sharp, far superior to his fish-killing knife.
Although it had not reached the Magical Artifact level, its grade was estimated to be a top-tier Mortal Weapon.
After counting, he immediately put all the items, along with the Storage Pouch, into his independent space.
According to the news from Zhang Hu, this incident seemed quite significant, and he needed to be extra careful in his actions going forward.
......
The western clouds were still burning with the last touch of orange-red, coating the roof tiles with a warm glow.
Under the eaves, Jiang Ming and Old Sun sat opposite each other around a stone table.
On the table was a coarse porcelain bowl, filled with freshly stewed Great Azure Fish.
The amber broth shimmered with oil, and the hot steam, carrying a fresh aroma, slowly wafted upwards.
Old Sun stroked his half-white beard, picked up a piece of fish, carefully removed the small bones, slowly put it into his mouth, and squinted his eyes, smacking his lips:
“Xiao Ming, your cooking skills are getting better and better. Not only have you made the Great Azure Fish so delicious, but not a bit of the Spiritual Qi inside has been lost.”
Jiang Ming put down his chopsticks and grinned:
“If it’s delicious, eat more, and try to restore your cultivation to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.”
“My old bones are already half in the grave, it’s all the same whether I recover or not.
“Next time you catch a Half Spirit Fish, just take it to the fish market and sell it. I heard the price has gone up recently, so you can earn a bit more.”
As soon as Old Sun mentioned the price increase, an unidentifiable anger flared up in Jiang Ming’s heart.
At this time, more than half a month had passed since the last pursuit by the Poison Dragon Gang.
After Jiang Ming returned to Iron Sand Island, he learned that the incident was carefully planned by the Poison Dragon Gang.
They had kidnapped nearly a hundred fishermen on the island by bribing, threatening, and even abducting them.
This matter caused a great stir, and it was said that even the Iron Sand Island Master was alarmed.
But in the end, it came to nothing, and Zhang Hu and the others never returned.
With so many fishermen suddenly gone, the supply of Half Spirit Fish in the fish market immediately became insufficient.
A few days ago, the price finally rose from ten Spirit Crystals to fifteen Spirit Crystals.
Today, Jiang Ming caught a Great Azure Fish.
Since it was a herbivorous fish, it was not convenient to find food for it at the moment, so he did not plan to keep it in the Fish Pond and intended to sell it.
But when he arrived at the entrance of the fish market, he found that the management fee had also increased from five Spirit Crystals to ten Spirit Crystals!
For those fishermen who only caught one fish, this price increase was equivalent to no increase.
Jiang Ming simply decided not to sell it and brought it home to stew and enjoy with Old Sun.
Hearing that the management fee had also increased, Old Sun looked astonished.
He had been a fisherman his whole life and had never seen such a high management fee.
Jiang Ming sneered:
“Half a month ago, to prevent the Poison Dragon Gang from kidnapping people again, the Island Master doubled the patrol team near Iron Sand Island.
“This newly added management fee is used to support these people. It’s euphemistically called: taken from fishermen, used for fishermen.”
Old Sun sighed:
“There’s no other way, the Cultivation World is just like this; low-level Cultivators are always destined to be exploited.”
The two were silent for a moment, then Jiang Ming, remembering a doubt in his heart, asked:
“Master, do you know why the Poison Dragon Gang wanted to capture so many fishermen?”
These days, every time he went out to sea, he was on tenterhooks, fearing that people from the Poison Dragon Gang would suddenly appear.
Old Sun put down his chopsticks, pondered for a while, and shook his head, saying:
“I don’t know either. The Poison Dragon Gang has always mainly plundered merchant ships, and there are many skilled individuals in the gang. Logically, they shouldn’t look down on us poor fishermen.”
Seeing that he couldn't get an answer, Jiang Ming said nothing more, and the two focused on dealing with the delicious fish in the bowl.
......
The next morning, before dawn, Jiang Ming quietly got up.
He simply disguised himself and lightly left the small courtyard.
He hurried all the way to the dock; it was quiet all around, and the fishermen had not yet gone out to sea.
Taking advantage of no one being around, he flashed into the independent space of the eternal ark.
In a corner of the space, that Storage Pouch lay quietly.
He did not linger, picked up the Storage Pouch, left the independent space, and walked directly towards Iron Sand City in the center of the island.
This independent space was the safest place for him, and valuable items were usually stored here.
He only took it out today because he was going to Iron Sand City.
In fact, a few days ago, after successfully killing another Sword Shadow Fish in the Fish Pond, he had the idea of selling it in Iron Sand City.
He only waited a few more days because he was concerned that the law enforcement team might still be secretly investigating the Poison Dragon Gang incident.
The primary purpose of this trip to Iron Sand City was to sell the spines of those two Sword Shadow Fish.
In addition, he also planned to purchase some net water lotus and aquatic plant seeds.
net water lotus was a necessary Material for upgrading the eternal ark;
And aquatic plants were for planting in the Fish Pond to provide natural feed for Great Azure Fish and other herbivorous Half Spirit Fish.
If there were still Spirit Crystals left after purchasing the seeds, he also planned to buy a Body Refining Cultivation Technique or a Spirit Pet cub.
Currently, there were five Half Spirit Fish in the Fish Pond, and once they all successfully advanced to Spirit Fish, he alone would definitely not be able to consume them all.
One must know that it took him four full days to completely absorb the Spiritual Qi of the Spirit Fish he had eaten before!