Chapter 458: Dragon blood

No, that’s not right; the world isn’t slowing down, but rather my perception is being enhanced.

Li Qi felt that the surrounding world had become clearer. The flow of Qi within his body was distinctly discernible, and the sounds, scenery, various fluctuations, and information around him were all easier to distinguish.

It was precisely because of this feeling that the illusion of time slowing down was produced.

He stepped back slightly, and this feeling abruptly vanished. He suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, dizziness, and the surrounding information became noisy again, just as if a slow current had suddenly turned into a great waterfall.

However, Li Qi took a deep breath and immediately returned to normal, then looked at the old man.

He was just an ordinary old man, with a cultivation of Eighth-Rank. He should be practicing Martial Dao… Wait, Martial Dao.

As mentioned before, Martial Dao does not have strict rank divisions. After reaching Eighth-Rank, it becomes very difficult to distinguish, because Martial Dao Inner Qi is chaotic and mixed together, making it impossible to see corresponding characteristics. One can only make a simple division based on the strength and quantity of Martial Dao Inner Qi, and the degree of condensation of Martial Dao Divine Intent, but even that is not accurate.

The accurate method of division still relies on actual combat.

If one can defeat a Fifth-Rank, then one is a Fifth-Rank Martial Artist; it’s very simple and easy to understand.

However, the old man showed no reaction; instead, he picked up his fishing rod and pulled out a silk thread from his fingertip.

Li Qi, being sharp-eyed and possessing True Knowledge Dao Resonance, immediately noticed that this silk thread was not a physical entity, but the old man’s Martial Dao Inner Qi.

He condensed Martial Dao Inner Qi into a thread, tied it to the fishing rod, and then cast it into the sea.

There was no hook, nor any bait.

Seeing this, Li Qi followed suit, drawing out thousands of wisps of Divine Qi, then weaving them into a thread, placing it on the fishing platform, and then controlling the fine thread to pass through the fishing rod and drop into the sea.

His perception was greatly amplified again, to the point where he could easily sense the conditions at the bottom of the water. The thread of Divine Qi extended from his body, like a tentacle, so there was no need for a bobber, or even a still water surface; he could still feel if a fish was biting at the bottom of the sea.

“This feeling is truly marvelous, but, old man, what kind of fish can you catch like this?” Li Qi adapted to this sensation of accelerated perception for a moment, then asked the old man.

“You’ve already adapted? You kid, you’ve got something. This fishing platform of mine was personally built for me by someone from the Dao of Reason. They said it could expand one’s senses. An ordinary person would throw up all over the place just by touching it. The sound of their own blood flowing and intestines蠕动 would make seventy percent of people unwilling to touch this thing for the rest of their lives, but you’ve already adapted? Dao of Heaven’s Evolution?” The old man asked curiously.

Only the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution could possess such terrifying adaptability.

He had once fought a True Dragon. He only threw three punches; each punch was stronger than the last, and the final punch was with full power.

With the first punch, the True Dragon’s head was broken and bleeding, its tendons snapped, and its bones fractured.

With the second punch, the True Dragon groaned slightly, its skin torn and flesh lacerated.

With the third punch, the True Dragon was unharmed and began to counterattack.

Then he conceded defeat.

He had never seen such a cheat. As long as the same move was seen once, it would immediately ‘adapt.’ He truly didn’t know if this adaptation had a limit.

However… it was precisely because of this power that he was attracted to come to this East Sea again. Was this young man in front of him practicing the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution?

But then Li Qi shook his head: “No, it’s just… for some reason, I’ve been constantly surrounded by this feeling, and now I’ve gotten used to it.”

He was indeed used to it. It was merely that his senses had become sharper. Compared to the constant bombardment of information flow from True Knowledge Dao Resonance, it was simply too easy.

It must be said that habit is a powerful force. Li Qi was now adept at processing this chaotic information.

However, looking at that silk thread, it was indeed very impressive.

Martial Dao Inner Qi is extremely violent, like the difference between a machine and magma compared to ordinary Qi. It is not easy to control Martial Dao Inner Qi and condense it into such a thread.

He had encountered a master.

Well, but thinking about it carefully, it was quite normal. This was, after all, a Fifth-Rank treasure ship of the Dao of Reason. This treasure ship must be full of hidden talents and countless powerful individuals. Everyone was following the Dao of Reason to the Deep Ocean for scientific research.

Thinking this way, the safety factor was simply explosive. Such a ship, even a True Dragon would probably find it difficult to deal with, unless a master of Fourth-Rank or above personally took action. But such masters knew what they were doing and naturally understood that the people on board were certainly not to be trifled with.

At this moment, the old man, holding the line, spoke.

“So that’s how it is. Let’s talk about fishing then, young man. You don’t necessarily have to wait for the fish to bite the hook. Watch closely.” As the old man spoke, his finger moved.

The fishing line in his hand was suddenly filled with power. Although it was just a single thread, its tip abruptly transformed into a steel needle, then plunged downwards fiercely!

Calling it fishing, this was practically dynamite fishing!

The thread composed of Martial Dao Inner Qi instantly rushed towards the deep sea, stretching longer and longer, rapidly extending over a thousand li!

As the distance increases, controlling the end of the silk thread becomes increasingly difficult, much like a meteor hammer.

If it’s just a meteor hammer a foot or two long, as long as you can pick it up, you can play with it.

But if it’s a meteor hammer seventy or eighty meters long, the difficulty of wielding it increases exponentially. If you want to wield it artfully, the required skill and strength must reach levels far beyond imagination.

And now, that silk thread was more than seventy or eighty meters long? It was over a thousand li long! It went directly towards the deep waters of the East Sea.

Li Qi immediately engaged his full perception, simultaneously extending the thread of Divine Qi in his hand.

With the enhanced perception from the fishing platform, he also began to follow the Divine Qi thread downwards, trying to clearly discern what the old man was doing and how he was fishing.

But as the thread extended, Li Qi only managed to delve about two hundred li into the seabed before it became extremely strenuous.

He only felt… a delay.

That’s right, it was like a delay. Every time he wanted to move the thread, he had to make a movement, but this movement would take a full six or seven seconds to transmit to the tip of the thread.

If he made other movements during that time, these movements would interfere with each other, causing the thread to operate completely out of control.

Li Qi tried several times and found that at this distance, not only were actions not real-time, but even perception couldn’t be real-time. He had no choice but to give up and pull it up fifty li.

At a depth of one hundred fifty li in the water, he finally felt a sense of control over the thread, like… an ordinary person holding a sword. It wasn’t like an extension of his arm, but at least slashes and thrusts could be performed.

If it were in the air, Li Qi felt he could extend it about four or five hundred li and still maintain normalcy, because there was less interference in the air, making it easier to control the thread.

But underwater, with numerous undercurrents, and even the waves of the water itself, and the interference from the surrounding treasure ship, all these things made it increasingly difficult.

“Very impressive. With your current cultivation, I thought you could only play in the shallow waters of fifty li. You seem particularly good at this kind of precise control, including perception, body, and all sorts of chaotic Qi.” The old man praised Li Qi upon seeing him quickly adapt to the deep water of one hundred fifty li.

“I always encounter situations that require handling a large amount of chaotic Qi, so my control has improved a bit,” Li Qi replied with a smile.

This was also true. Whether it was the Grand Ritual, or the Heaven Worship, or dealing with the chaotic Qi and chaotic Dao within his body, all required these precise handling abilities. Dealing with hundreds of millions of wisps of Qi at a time was indeed very difficult.

Such training allowed Li Qi to control a thread made of thousands of wisps of Qi, manipulating these Qi in one hundred fifty li of deep water as if bending his own finger.

As he spoke, the old man’s expression suddenly changed: “Here it comes! It’s on the hook!”

Li Qi immediately focused his attention and looked at the other party.

Although he couldn’t sense the water flow a thousand li below at all, and didn’t know what was happening down there, he could observe the old man’s movements and results beside him.

He saw a surge of powerful Martial Dao Inner Qi suddenly gush from his hand, making the silk thread extremely tough. Immediately, he began to pull, and the thread seemed to bear the weight of ten thousand jun, stretched taut and trembling constantly.

Then, he saw him pull sharply!

Saliva poured from the Dragon’s Den, a腥风 rolled through the蛟室,

Like a whirlwind rising, great waves came rolling in!

Water surged and churned, and only the sound of the wind was heard. Three or four li away, waves surged higher than the ship!

Giant waves formed in an instant, surging and turbulent, threatening to overturn the sky, high and violently rising. Whenever they erupted, the wave crests were several li high, with the power to overturn mountains and topple peaks. Thunder and lightning raged, as if a Dragon was moving a deep pool!

However, this was a Fifth-Rank treasure ship after all. The Dingfeng Bead embedded in the treasure ship shimmered slightly, and no matter how the wind and thunder roared outside, the area within one li around the treasure ship remained as calm as a mirror, not shaking in the slightest.

Such a huge commotion also drew the attention of many people on board.

Li Qi carefully observed the old man’s movements. That seemed to be a Martial Skill, and… it contained something beyond Martial Skill, but Li Qi couldn’t see what it was clearly.

True Knowledge Dao Resonance saw this thing, presenting a distorted form that he had never seen before. He saw it, but couldn’t see it clearly, nor did he recognize it.

The Information Stream Vision was even more blurred. He did indeed see an abstract piece of information, but he couldn’t understand what it was. In the Information Stream Vision, this thing appeared as a vague purple halo.

Before Li Qi could get closer to examine it, this thing beyond Martial Skill suddenly disappeared. At the same time, the line had also tightened, pulling the ‘big fish’ from below the surface of the water.

It was such a spectacular scene!

A gigantic old softshell turtle, fully five or six li in circumference, probably weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, was biting a bright thread as fine as silk, and was actually pulled out of the water by this fine thread, its expression inexplicably terrified, yet unable to release its mouth.

The old man got excited. He secured the silk thread, wrapped it around his hand a few times to prevent it from slipping, and holding the thread, he half-stepped into the long river, pulling upwards.

The old softshell turtle cried out in pain, shouting tearfully: “Senior, Senior! This humble one’s cultivation was not easy, not easy at all! Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life, please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me!”

Li Qi looked closely, and it was actually a Sixth-Rank old softshell turtle! The shell on its body had already cultivated profound runes, forming a Formation of its own, indestructible and capable of moving mountains.

And it could move the mountains of the world.

But such a powerful and hard-shelled old softshell turtle, having taken the hook, was actually pulled out of the water by the old man with brute force!

What immense strength!

As he spoke, waves churned like snow, resembling a Dragon leaving its abyss. Whirlpools formed in bursts, and within a hundred li, except for the location of the treasure ship beneath their feet, everything else seemed to be boiling, with bubbles constantly emerging. That was the manifestation of the water vapor in the great sea being agitated.

The old softshell turtle was forcibly dragged over. Seeing the treasure ship, it dared not struggle even more, its body shrinking smaller and smaller, turning into a turtle about one meter long.

Then the wind and waves subsided. The old softshell turtle was dragged onto the deck, continuously begging for mercy: “Grandpas, both grandpas, please spare this little demon! This little demon has cultivated for over four thousand years to reach this day! I still have over two thousand family members at home, all relying on me to establish themselves in this area. If I die, they will probably all be driven out by past enemies, and then they will have no way to live…”

Li Qi remained silent. Fishing, well, it was normal for what was caught to have intelligence. This was all part of the natural cycle, and he didn’t feel anything about it.

As long as the grand balance wasn’t disrupted, one or two such creatures wouldn’t be a problem.

He was just a little curious about how the old man intended to deal with it.

The robust old man smiled and said, “I know your cultivation was not easy, but when I come fishing, I can’t let go of what I catch. How about this, you give me a drop of your essence blood as a memento.”

Essence blood is blood that contains Divine Intent and the Dao path within the body. Although important, for an old softshell turtle like this, even if its entire body were drained, it would still yield ten pounds or so. Just one drop indeed only meant keeping it as a memento.

The old softshell turtle thanked him repeatedly, kowtowing frantically, then bit its tongue and spat out a drop of essence blood.

It was clear that he was very sincere. This drop of essence blood was of excellent quality, at least equivalent to four or five drops of concentrated essence.

Seeing this, the old man smiled, grabbed the old softshell turtle, and with a forceful throw, tossed it into the water.

At the same time, he took out a box from his mustard seed pouch and opened it.

Li Qi was still watching the commotion when he was blinded by a burst of treasure light!

Inside that box were countless drops of essence blood!

There were so many! Li Qi glanced at it and estimated there were hundreds of thousands of drops! And more, because the box was also layered!

The lowest rank was Seventh-Rank!

The box had three layers in total!

The old man sealed and preserved the essence blood with a secret method, then placed it in the box, and looked at Li Qi proudly: “How about it, isn’t it spectacular? I’ve been fishing for a thousand years, and these are all the results.”

Li Qi nodded and said, “They are all… demon dragon blood. That old softshell turtle just now was also heading towards becoming a Dragon. Old man, do you have a grudge against the True Dragon clan? No wonder you came to the East Sea.”

“Oh, you’re very clever~, that’s right, it’s all demon dragon blood. I come to the East Sea regularly to fish, only for demon dragons, and this time is no different.” The old man laughed: “Alright, this time I’ll catch one first, you better hurry up! Don’t come back empty-handed!”

After speaking, he cast his fishing line again.

Only this time, Li Qi clearly saw the blurry thing on him just now.

Dragon blood!

Li Qi was startled! This old man must be using Dragon blood to temper his body!

He had an enmity with a True Dragon!