There were less than seven days left until the deadline to present the Tiger-Head Mushrooms.
An Youyu pressed his hand down on the old map of Ghost Hollow.
To enter, there were at least three hurdles.
The first was 【Three Hundred Pressure】.
Ghost Hollow lay about three hundred meters below the sea surface, a place filled with converging undercurrents and dense shipwrecks.
Local diving gear in Seven-Masts couldn't handle that salvage depth; he needed to recover to at least the Three Hundred Pressure of his peak past self before he had the right to enter the hollow and bring the medicine back up.
The second was 【Mind-Guarding Ointment】.
Mind-Guarding Ointment was listed as 【D-Seventeen】 in the Yan Clan Tide Court's medicine register, a compound fish material.
Once applied to the base of the tongue, as long as its effects lasted, illusions from Ghost Mirages below One Thousand Pressure could not invade the mind.
The formula wasn't particularly high-grade, but it was only passed to authorized internal personnel.
During his tenure as an interrogator, An Youyu had been taught the formula to prevent his mind from being confused during interrogations, and he had prepared it many times.
The ingredients—white spicy seed, green gill powder, bitter algae powder, and pure fish tallow—were not rare; the trick lay in the proportions and the roasting heat. He just needed to buy all the raw materials and mix them himself back home.
The third was a 【weapon】.
Among the Eight King Paths, the Ghost Mirage Path was especially troublesome.
Some Ghost Mirages could project reflections to turn their bodies intangible; a normal blade might clearly look like it hit, yet inflict no real damage.
To strike the actual body, one had to use a special material as a medium.
The rigid fin spines of the 【Mirror-Fin Fish】 were one such medium.
When handling mirage disasters in the Northern Jurisdiction, squads were equipped with daggers inlaid with these fin spines.
An Youyu flipped back through the search-and-rescue logs, finding no mention of mirage-breaking fish materials. If those four had carried only ordinary diving knives, encountering a Ghost Mirage would have made it hard for them to even fight back.
However, Mirror-Fin Fish were a specialty of the Zijing Sea, and Seven-Masts Anchorage might not have any in stock.
He would ask at the fish material shops first.
If they had none, he would look for other fish materials or minerals to see if there was a substitute.
An Youyu set the search-and-rescue logs aside and pointed to the unrolled old map.
"How much for this map?"
Shopkeeper Xing pushed the old map on the table closer to him.
"The map is yours for free, count it as the firm's sponsorship. Could I stamp your donation slip?"
When registering his draw, An Youyu had heard the clerk mention the rules of sponsorship: if the slip holder Seized the Mast, the firm stamped on the back of the slip would gain an added term of 【Renowned】 honor.
He took out his donation slip and handed it over.
"You certainly think highly of Clown, Shopkeeper."
Shopkeeper Xing smiled and pulled a stamp box from under the counter.
"Over thirty years ago, Double Pillars was also a weak commune, and our firm sponsored them all the same. Who can say for sure right now who will rise?"
Shopkeeper Xing stamped the back of the donation slip and handed it back to him.
"If we truly Seize the Mast, I'll return to thank you, Shopkeeper," An Youyu said.
"Then I'll be waiting to add characters to our bronze plaque."
An Youyu put away the slip and map, picked up his money box, and stepped out of Luotu Firm.
...
A pungent aroma of freshly ground spices drifted around the entrance to South Bridge.
An Youyu entered a shop, rubbed open a few white spicy seeds between his fingers, picked out fresh stock that left a moist oily sheen on his skin, weighed out two liang, and had them wrapped whole.
Heading along the bridge, he weighed out a bag of bitter algae powder at a medicine stall, then went into Fish Material Street to buy green gill powder.
The last ingredient, pure fish tallow, was found at an oil shop at the end of the street.
Uncovering several ceramic boxes, he selected one with white, clean fat that lacked any burnt fishy smell, and packed it into his money box as well.
The four raw ingredients cost him a total of thirteen shell coins.
【D-Seventeen Ingredients Formula】
...
Several fish material shops in a row had no "mirror-fin fish spines."
Following directions, An Youyu located a weapons shop to inquire about substitute materials.
The few pieces the shopkeeper brought out were all ordinary mineral materials from resource fish.
An Youyu asked about old items, and following the shopkeeper's pointer, went over to rummage through a basket of broken blades and miscellaneous materials by the wall.
He shifted the material basket aside, exposing a half-section of a dusty, elongated stone wedging one corner of the basket's bottom.
As he reached out and picked it up, Lingering Echoes of Old Objects suddenly sounded in his ears.
First came several crisp clangs of chisel strikes, followed by someone cursing.
"Chipped another edge! Just a few scraps of Stone Eel, yet they ruined two of my chisels."
"Don't bother using them to patch the house either. That pungent fishy odor gives you a headache even with the windows wide open. Last time I stuffed a few pieces into the bulkhead gaps, it choked the whole cabin so badly nobody could sleep, and we had to rip the planks off in the end."
"Throw it outside to wedge the baskets."
An Youyu flipped the stone over.
The charred end was encrusted with a ring of greenish-gray crust, looking like dried foam left behind.
He pinched it with his fingernail, but couldn't scrape off even a speck of dust.
His thumb suddenly froze.
He had seen this layer of crust before.
In the fish-transformation camp of the Northern Jurisdiction, an instructor had once processed a raw ore like this right in front of him. Scraping away the thick outer crust layer by layer revealed the dark blue-green 【Mirage-Suppressing Jade】 beneath.
An Youyu's heart thudded violently, nearly causing him to cry out in surprise.
Someone had actually used this stuff to wedge a basket?
Basket-Padding Stone
Yet it was hardly surprising.
The raw ore was encased in a thick oxidation skin, showing not even a hint of jade color; anyone who had never seen it before wouldn't recognize its true appearance even if they had heard of Mirage-Suppressing Jade.
This material was pitifully rare in the sea; whenever a shipment appeared, it was reserved long in advance. The Northern Jurisdiction kept it locked in their inner vault, releasing it only when instructors led teams to deal with mirage disasters.
On ordinary assignments, one was lucky to be issued a 【Mirror-Fin Fish Spine】; getting Mirage-Suppressing Jade was out of the question.
Infusing fish-swimming force into the jade allowed one to break through the intangibility of Ghost Mirages below One Thousand Pressure. As long as one found the true body, striking down while holding the jade would deal real damage.
At the thought, his grip on the stone tightened involuntarily.
Heading into Ghost Hollow with one more tool capable of harming Ghost Mirages meant one more chance of returning alive.
For now, this piece of raw ore couldn't be used directly.
The outer oxidation skin had to be stripped clean first; only by peeling it open would he know how much jade remained inside.
Fortunately, he still remembered the process for removing the skin.
First soak it in concentrated salt water, then simmer it over a gentle flame. When the hard skin foamed with greenish-gray bubbles and gradually softened into layers, scrape it off while hot, flip it over, and continue simmering.
That was the exact method the instructor had used to process the raw ore back then.
An Youyu kept his expression neutral, wedged the stone back under the basket, and picked up a scrap piece of thick fish skin leftover from cutting, draping it over the basket's rim.
"This basket along with this piece of hide—one coin, deal?"
The shopkeeper waved his hand.
"Empty out the iron bits inside, and take it."
An Youyu paid the money, moved the old blades into an adjacent material basket, and set the empty basket down at his feet.
He casually tossed the half-piece of basket-padding stone inside, covered it with the fish skin, set his money box on top, and carried the basket out of the shop.
...
When he returned to the Clown, the flying dagger wood ray had already been sold, and Lu Guizhou and Ning Cang were waiting for him.
Ning Cang was grateful that he was willing to compete for Clown, offering a few comforting words and saying they would figure out a way together after returning to the commune.
But that stalk of medicine hadn't been found in two years, and now it concerned whether the entire commune could join the battle, so he couldn't feel relaxed at all.
Lu Guizhou took the money box and opened it; the few newly bought packages occupied only a corner, leaving most of the shell coins behind.
"You only bought this little?"
An Youyu had barely said "It's enough" before Lu Guizhou closed the lid, turned, and went off the ship. Not long after, he returned with a few bottles of soda and set them beside An Youyu.
"You need to prepare these too," Lu Guizhou said, picking up a bottle and handing it to him. "You've been running around all half-day—drink up to quench your thirst."
An Youyu took it and popped the stopper; a stream of fine bubbles fizzed out from the bottle's mouth with a hiss.
【Soda】—it really had been a while since he last drank it.
Active substances extracted from fish lungs were blended into water; drinking it strengthened the body and increased lung capacity, making it useful when cultivating to increase pressure.
He tipped his head back and took a gulp, the tiny bubbles tingling his tongue; swallowing it down brought a refreshing feeling all the way from his throat to his chest.
Happy Water
No wonder it was also called 【Happy Water】.
Back then, when he grew tired of training, the thought of being able to drink a bottle like this after finishing his session made the half-day feel far less grueling.
The Clown cast off its mooring lines and left the port, sailing along the waterway it had come from toward the float-commune.
...
Rate on N.U.
