Chapter 54

Lei Huxi's "business" took its first step.

However, he was very clear that for the fish in the pond to grow smoothly, Xiaopang would be a crucial factor.

Ever since Xiaopang came into contact with seawater, it showed a much higher acceptance of it. Especially after the pond in the small farm was renovated and filled with artificial seawater, Xiaopang treated it as its home.

The two arowanas often helped it clean its body, and each cleaning session brought about changes in the arowanas. In particular, the golden arowana's tail turned a deep red, and its entire body shone with a brilliant yet gentle golden yellow.

Moreover, its weight clearly exceeded 3 pounds.

Lei Huxi specifically looked it up online, and if he was not mistaken, this should be a very valuable and prestigious large golden arowana with a golden back.

This fish definitely surpassed Jiang Bin's.

The aura of the dragon was indeed extraordinary.

However, what troubled Lei Huxi was the silver arowana. It did make progress, but this progress was not what Lei Huxi wanted.

Originally silver with a hint of red on its fins and tail, it now not only turned a strange white but also lost the red on its fins and tail.

According to Lei Huxi's judgment, the silver arowana not only gained no benefits from Xiaopang but also regressed.

Forget it, with this large golden arowana, it was enough to match any other.

What was troubling was the fish pond. Xiaopang refused to enter the ten-acre pond, which would greatly affect Lei Huxi's entire plan.

He patiently worked on Xiaopang, reasoning and appealing to its emotions, and continuously tempted it with various delicious foods. Finally, Xiaopang gave in.

In the evening, Lei Huxi excitedly brought Xiaopang to the ten-acre pond. He thought Xiaopang would jump in immediately, but it made no move.

Xiaopang's fat body crawled back and forth at the edge of the pond, as if observing the situation.

Lei Huxi did not disturb it and waited quietly.

After about 30 minutes, Xiaopang stopped moving, wriggled to the shallow water, and began to exert itself.

Its snow-white body, tinged with a hint of deep red, began to swell rapidly. In just a few seconds, it grew to twice its size.

Xiaopang worked very hard, causing the surrounding water to churn, and the deep red streaks suddenly emitted a strange red glow.

The churning water around it also turned a peculiar red...

What was Xiaopang doing? Was it spitting out dragon saliva? But it looked different from before.

It exerted more effort than ever before, and the deep red gradually covered its white body. Eventually, Xiaopang's entire body turned red.

Red as blood.

A drop... What was that? Dragon saliva?

It didn't look like it. The dragon saliva Xiaopang had spat out before was golden yellow, but this time, a drop of emerald green came out of Xiaopang's mouth.

It was a small, emerald green ball.

Initially, it was the size of a grain of rice, then it grew to the size of a soybean... Finally, it formed the size of a broad bean.

This "emerald ball" left Xiaopang's mouth and fell into the water.

With Xiaopang at the center, the churning water spread, and a green color rapidly expanded, eventually covering the entire pond.

Heaven, a small drop of the "emerald ball" produced such an effect.

In a short while, the fish fry gathered together, seemingly aware of what was happening, and swam joyfully in the green water, with some larger ones occasionally leaping out of the water.

When every corner of the pond was covered in green, the green gradually dissipated.

The speed of its dissipation was much faster than its spread. In just two minutes, the pond returned to its normal color.

The fish fry became even more lively...

That drop of "emerald ball" was actually the essence of the dragon, one of the most precious things in its body. For Xiaopang's size, a broad bean-sized drop was already its limit.

Once it was spat out, it needed the aura of jade to nourish it and several days of rest to recover its essence.

Lei Huxi, not being a dragon, did not understand the subtleties. That small drop of essence benefited the fish in the ten-acre pond more than living with Xiaopang.

In the future, in terms of size, growth rate, and quality, they would far surpass ordinary fish.

Lei Huxi looked down and saw Xiaopang lying motionless in the shallow water, as if dead. He was shocked and quickly picked it up, only to find its body cold and the red color fading, returning to a white body with a hint of deep red.

Strange, what did it spit out? Why did it seem like its life was drained?

He quickly took out the jade he bought from the Yun Dong antique market and placed Xiaopang on it.

This time, Xiaopang absorbed the aura of the jade much more slowly, with the aura entering its body bit by bit.

Moreover, Xiaopang's body was undergoing a strange change.

The white color was...

Lei Huxi rubbed his eyes hard.

He wasn't hallucinating, absolutely not. Xiaopang was shedding its skin!

Heaven, he had only heard that snakes shed their skin, but dragons too?

The process of shedding skin was very long, taking over an hour, and it was still not complete.

Moreover, Lei Huxi observed that every so often, Xiaopang would rest for a few minutes, and the flow of aura from the jade would speed up. When Xiaopang felt it had absorbed enough aura, it would continue its actions, and the flow of aura from the jade would slow down again, just enough to ensure it did not stop.

After two hours, the jade's color became increasingly dull, and Xiaopang's movements clearly sped up.

Suddenly, it absorbed the last bit of aura from the jade and then bumped forward.

A white skin remained on the jade.

Xiaopang's body was still white but now had a faint pink hue.

Moreover, its body had grown from 15 cm to 20 cm.

In fact, at this point, Xiaopang had completed its first evolution.

Once it spat out its essence and promptly received the aura of the jade, it could complete its first evolution.

As for the benefits of the evolution? Lei Huxi didn't know, and neither did Xiaopang. After all, it had been sealed since birth.

Lei Huxi noticed that although Xiaopang was resting, it kept looking at the skin it had shed and then at Lei Huxi.

Was it asking him to pick up the skin?

Lei Huxi curiously picked it up.

But as soon as he touched it, something happened.

The skin seemed to react to Lei Huxi's body and quickly melted into droplets that entered his body through every pore.

A warm, pleasant feeling soon filled Lei Huxi's entire body...

What was this?

When the droplets from the skin completely entered Lei Huxi's body, he suddenly felt an intense desire:

Water, he needed water!

He needed water more than ever!

In front of him was a ten-acre pond, and Lei Huxi, without a second thought, jumped in.

Fortunately, in the countryside, most people were elderly and went to bed early, so the village was empty. Otherwise, anyone who saw him might have thought he was having a breakdown.

As soon as Lei Huxi jumped into the water, the newly evolved Xiaopang also jumped in.

Lei Huxi was amazed to find that he could perfectly merge with the water. He swam freely, and Xiaopang stayed by his side, guiding him.

Xiaopang looked fat but was incredibly agile in the water, moving gracefully, which made Lei Huxi involuntarily mimic its movements.

Although it was no longer a true divine dragon, Xiaopang was still a dragon, and the water was its world.

Xiaopang dived into the water, and Lei Huxi, without hesitation, followed.

Lei Huxi tightly closed his eyes and held his breath, but Xiaopang kept touching his eyes.

He gritted his teeth, opened his eyes, and was surprised to find that his vision underwater was not affected at all, and he could see everything clearly.

The small fish and shrimp swimming around him, the floating aquatic plants...

Heaven, was this the underwater world?

After holding his breath for too long, Lei Huxi wanted to surface for air, but Xiaopang tried to stop him, opening and closing its mouth as if telling him to follow its actions.

Lei Huxi had a natural trust in Xiaopang. Despite knowing that humans breathing underwater without any equipment violated all biological common sense, he still opened his mouth...

He did not choke. The most incredible thing happened:

Lei Huxi found that he could breathe underwater.

Just like a fish, he could breathe freely.

The skin shed by the dragon was also a very precious thing. After completing its evolution, a dragon would eat its shed skin, which, although not very beneficial to the dragon, would never be left for other creatures.

If other creatures obtained the skin, they could gain valuable abilities.

Xiaopang left its shed skin for Lei Huxi, a form of gratitude. Xiaopang, though lazy and gluttonous, liked being with Lei Huxi.

Lei Huxi was Xiaopang's only and last friend in the world, a friend who could be trusted unconditionally.

After the skin merged with Lei Huxi, he gained the ability to breathe underwater like a fish.