Chapter 75: Black Stone Fish

Shen Chen's pupils constricted, a trace of wild joy and excitement appearing in his eyes. He had just seen a palm-sized black shadow dart past, and it suddenly reminded him of an ancient book he had once flipped through when he was the young master of his family.

The ancient book recorded: "There is a strange fish in this world, called the Black Stone Fish. It is about five inches long, pitch black, and swims extremely fast. It feeds on the residual fragments of the world's rarest black crystals. Its flesh is as dark as ink, and it is a rare and precious medicinal treasure in the world. It can strengthen the body, invigorate the blood, and replenish the true spirit. It is also said that this strange fish cannot be exposed to light; if it is exposed to light for more than ten breaths, it will die. After death, its flesh will harden like stone within a moment, losing all medicinal efficacy and turning into a deadly poison. Therefore, this strange fish usually lives in dark underground rivers, the bottom of thousand-year-old ice mountains, and other waters where there is no sunlight. Even if one has ten thousand taels of gold, it is still difficult to obtain one."

Shen Chen still remembered the text from the ancient book very clearly. Recalling it now, he couldn't help but feel his breath tighten!

There was no way around it; the name of the Black Stone Fish was simply too famous, a supreme rarity among the world's precious treasures. Describing it as priceless was not enough; it was something that all the nobles and officials in the world would vie for. It was a delicacy that must be served at banquets when the great powers of the Tianlong Continent gathered. Any cultivator who heard its name would find it hard to remain calm!

However, this strange fish was extremely rare. Just the two extremely harsh conditions of "living in dark underground rivers and the bottom of ice mountains" and "dying after being exposed to light for more than ten breaths, and turning into a deadly poison after death" made it almost impossible for many capable people to obtain it.

Who could have the ability to delve deep into underground rivers and return safely, let alone capture such a strange fish with special methods?

According to the ancient book that Shen Chen had read, those who managed to obtain such a strange fish usually spent day and night guarding the entrance of the underground river, setting up specially made fish traps, and praying to the gods, hoping for good luck to come their way. But most of those who hunted the Black Stone Fish would spend five to ten years, or even longer, without any success...

From this, it was clear that such a strange fish was incredibly rare. Although Shen Chen could not yet confirm whether the black shadows he had just seen were the legendary Black Stone Fish that fed on the residual fragments of black crystals, encountering such a thing in such a dire situation made it hard for anyone to remain calm. Shen Chen was so excited that he wanted to catch one of the "black shadows" immediately to take a look.

"These black shadows swim so fast. With my current condition, I'm afraid I can't catch them..." Soon, Shen Chen began to worry. He was still recovering from his severe injuries, and his body was so weak that he could hardly move his limbs. He was like a man on the verge of death, and it would be impossible for him to catch even a regular fish in a lake, let alone these fast-swimming black shadows!

This worried Shen Chen to no end. He didn't know how long he would have to drift in this dark underground river. If he couldn't quickly recover his strength and find food, he would most likely die here. Shen Chen was really unwilling to accept that!

The black shadows continued to dart past him, and this place seemed to be their lair. There were countless black shadows swimming around at high speed. Shen Chen tried to move his wrist, but before he could form a claw, the black shadow he had aimed at disappeared in the blink of an eye.

With such terrifying speed, even in his prime, Shen Chen wasn't confident he could catch one, let alone in his current state!

"What should I do?" Shen Chen felt like he wanted to vomit blood. He was now almost certain that those black shadows were most likely the legendary supreme rarity, the Black Stone Fish. They swam so fast and appeared in this dark underground river, so they couldn't be anything else.

"I need to think of a way. I can't just watch these treasures swim around and drool!" Shen Chen quickly made a decision. He had already died once and didn't want to die again, especially not from hunger or exhaustion in this dark underground river, turning into a cold, dry corpse.

"Right, I still have it..."

As he thought, Shen Chen's eyes suddenly focused, as if he had an idea. He then began to search his body.

A moment later, a delicate jade bottle appeared in Shen Chen's hand. Looking at the small bottle, Shen Chen felt a deep sense of relief. It seemed that heaven had not abandoned him. The cause and effect he had fought for in Black Stone Ridge months ago was finally of great use.

The jade bottle contained the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass that he and Wang Yue had unexpectedly obtained from the Black Stone Ridge valley during the Flowing Cloud Sect's outer disciple examination. At that time, they had almost died fighting the young Purple-Eyed Golden-Crowned Raven, and it had taken great effort to obtain this precious spirit grass. Now, even though the Flowing Cloud Sect was gone, he still had this treasure.

Shen Chen had always been reluctant to use this legendary spirit grass, even when he was severely injured, with his ribs and thighs pierced by arrows. He had wanted to maximize its effectiveness, so he had planned to store it and, when his resources were sufficient, refine it into the Yin-Yang Rebirth Pill.

However, at this moment, Shen Chen couldn't wait any longer. The spirit grass was indeed precious, but preserving his life was crucial. Even without the temptation of the Black Stone Fish, Shen Chen would have taken it to heal his injuries and restore his strength.

"Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass... I hope you don't disappoint me..."

With this thought, Shen Chen didn't hesitate. He carefully unscrewed the bottle cap and gently placed the small grass, half of its leaves withered and the other half green, in his palm. He swallowed hard and put it in his mouth.

The small grass was only about an inch long. Before Shen Chen could taste anything, it was swallowed. As others would say, it was barely enough to fill a tooth gap.

"Chomp chomp... Hmm, the taste isn't great, a bit like drinking a small mouthful of bitter dew!" Shen Chen smacked his lips and smiled wryly. He was indeed very hungry, and this tiny bit of grass only made his stomach rumble even more.

However, soon, a surging wave of heat began to rise in his empty stomach. Sensing that the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass was starting to take effect, Shen Chen didn't waste any time. He immediately sat cross-legged and began to adjust his breathing.

At the same time, he activated the "Spirit Concentration Inquiry Technique." Previously, with an empty stomach and a lack of spiritual energy in the surroundings, this profound cultivation technique was difficult to practice. But now, with the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass in his stomach and its effects beginning to take hold, the technique started to work again.

This time, Shen Chen practiced the technique very seriously and carefully. First, he was afraid of wasting the precious effects of the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass. Second, strictly speaking, the "Spirit Concentration Inquiry Technique" was not entirely suitable for Shen Chen, who was only at the Sixth Level of the Blood Fusion Realm. Each time he practiced, the spiritual energy and blood energy would encounter significant resistance when passing through the unopened major acupoints, potentially causing injury or even internal bleeding and meridian damage.

Of course, despite these drawbacks, the "Spirit Concentration Inquiry Technique" was incredibly useful for Shen Chen. The speed of refining, adjusting, and integrating spiritual energy was many times faster than the lower-level human-grade technique, the "Spirit Concentration and Calm Mind Technique."

In this dire situation, Shen Chen chose to take a bold step and use the profound "Spirit Concentration Inquiry Technique" to refine the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass, rather than a simpler technique. He didn't want to waste any of the grass's effects, and the rapidly swimming Black Stone Fish were a huge temptation. He was already salivating, fearing that if he delayed, these rare fish would all swim away...

As the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass slowly dissolved in his stomach, the surging wave of heat became more intense.

However, what was extremely miraculous was that although the medicinal power of the spirit grass was vast and powerful, it was exceptionally gentle as it passed through Shen Chen's meridians, dantian, bones, and blood. It was like a gentle spring breeze reviving the earth, a mysterious and wondrous force nurturing and nourishing Shen Chen's damaged blood vessels, continuously replenishing his blood energy.

At the same time, the wounds on Shen Chen's body, which had been visibly drying and scarring, were rapidly healing. Around the scars, grayish gases were constantly being released, as if the medicinal power of the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass, while nurturing life, was also dispelling death and negative energy...

This process lasted for more than half an hour. When Shen Chen suddenly opened his eyes, he was pleasantly surprised to find that his injuries were almost completely healed. His previously weak and sickly body was now full of vitality, with a powerful flow of blood energy circulating through his meridians and dantian.

"Wow, truly worthy of the Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass. In just half an hour, it has restored me to about seventy to eighty percent of my usual state. It's truly amazing!" Shen Chen smacked his lips, feeling extremely delighted. If he had been in such a critical condition before, it would have taken at least a month of using various precious herbs to recover to this extent.

But now, just one Yin-Yang Revitalizing Grass had pulled him back from the brink of death and restored him to this level, and he hadn't even used the entire grass.

Shen Chen soon discovered that a considerable amount of the spirit grass's medicinal energy still remained in his dantian. This was clearly the residual medicinal energy left over after the grass had fully dissolved and healed his body.

After some thought, Shen Chen decided not to use the remaining medicinal energy in his dantian. Being restored to about seventy to eighty percent of his usual state was already satisfactory. In this endless darkness, who knew when he would see the light of day again? Keeping some reserves was not a bad idea...

"Hehehe..." Now, Shen Chen lifted his head, his eyes fixed on the black shadows darting past, and he smiled with ill intent. His smile was even a bit lecherous, like a man who was desperately thirsty suddenly seeing a group of naked women.

Shen Chen wasn't thirsty; he had already drunk a lot of river water when he fell into the underground river. But he was very hungry, and his stomach had been rumbling for a long time...

Page break for ads

End of page break for ads