When the Clown docked back at the float-commune, the people waiting for news rushed onto the trestle bridge.
Hearing that the re-verification had passed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but when they heard that the drawn donation was the Tiger-Head Mushroom—and had to be turned in within seven days—several people who were about to offer congratulations choked back their words.
The Ning family had been searching for this medicine for two years. Many in the commune had helped run errands to look for it, so they all knew how hard it was to find.
Yet once inside the commune hall, everyone still brought up familiar boatmasters and old acquaintances from other communes one by one, hoping to find some kind of lead.
Lu Guizhou wrote down on paper a few channels that were still worth a try.
No one could guarantee they would find the medicine, but before he even had the chance to assign tomorrow's errands and messages, people stepped up one after another to volunteer.
Commune Hall
...
After returning to the commune, An Youyu went to the Ning house first, wanting to borrow a stove pot and a small scale.
Xiaoluo still remembered his appetite when eating fish, so she squatted by the stove and rummaged around for a long time, specifically picking out the largest pot in their house for him.
"Little Uncle, use this one. A small pot won't hold much."
She set the pot beside the stove, fetched the small scale, and handed it to An Youyu.
Standing close, An Youyu noticed that the two rows of white tooth scars on Xiaoluo's left cheek had bulged up again.
The scars dragged all the way from her cheek down to her jawline; the nearby muscle tightened repeatedly, twitching in waves under her skin.
Xiaoluo's situation was looking bad.
In the late stages of a Wolf-Toxin Sore, the poison would dig deep along the old scars, flaring up with increasing frequency. Once the muscle began twitching on its own, it wouldn't be long before it truly damaged the bone.
If dragged on for another half-month, the child might not be able to hold out.
Just as he was thinking this, the left corner of Xiaoluo's mouth suddenly jerked downward.
The scale rod slipped from her hand.
An Youyu caught it in a flash, tossed it onto the table, and supported her arms.
Xiaoluo gripped his sleeve tightly, her legs losing strength as her entire body slumped downward.
Her teeth bit down on her lower lip, quickly draining its color. Beads of sweat broke out across her forehead layer by layer, streaming down the sides of her face.
An Youyu could clearly feel her trembling.
The wolf toxin was indeed acting up again.
Even the hardened prisoners in the interrogation room who had endured blades and broken bones would roll on the ground in agony when the wolf toxin flared up.
How old was she?
Yet she refused to let out even a single cry.
Hasty footsteps sounded outside the door.
Zheng Azhu entered the room carrying a thread basket for mending nets. The moment she saw her daughter, the basket dropped straight from her hands.
"Xiaoluo!"
An Youyu quickly shifted half a step aside, and together they helped the child onto a stool.
Zheng Azhu supported her daughter's back while using one hand to continuously stroke her chest. The thin garment was already soaked through with sweat, her shoulders and back still shivering under her palm.
"Hang in there, Mommy's here."
Only after a good while did the twitching on Xiaoluo's face gradually subside.
She panted a few times. Her lips had not yet regained their color, but she tugged at An Youyu's sleeve first.
"Little Uncle."
"Hmm?"
"Today... did you draw a good slip?"
She still remembered to ask about his slip.
An Youyu felt a pang of shame.
Back then, he had repeatedly studied A'Man's habits, calculating how to gain a bit more care from the Ning family. Even the algae cakes he ate had been saved from this child's portion.
The Ning family had saved his life; he acknowledged this debt.
What was owed had to be paid back in full.
Those two ingredients needed to be gathered as soon as possible.
"I drew it," An Youyu answered her with a smile. "Thanks to you, it's a good slip."
Only then did Xiaoluo curve the corners of her mouth.
"Told you so."
An Youyu didn't say any more.
Bring back the Tiger-Head Mushroom first.
Then find a way for the Rare Salamander Blood.
There would always be a way.
Only when Xiaoluo was sitting steadily did he place the small scale back into the pot, scoop up the borrowed items, and walk out the door.
As he stepped out of the cabin, the sea breeze blew directly against his face.
Seven days.
Originally just the deadline for the external aid donation, it now carried an added weight.
...
Zheng Azhu had heard about drawing the Tiger-Head Mushroom before she even returned.
A medicine the entire float-commune hadn't been able to find in two years—could it really be brought back in just seven days?
If the Tiger-Head Mushroom wasn't brought back, Xiaoluo wouldn't get the life-saving medicinal primer;
If the donation wasn't turned in, An Youyu would lose his eligibility to compete, and the Clown wouldn't even retain its final chance to fight.
In this world, the dissolution of a commune meant losing fresh water, drifting helplessly on the sea, and the destruction of families.
Zheng Azhu pulled her daughter closer into her arms.
She felt that her daughter's life and her family's path to survival were now entirely tied to that figure's back, with nowhere else to place her hopes.
An Youyu.
May every year bring peace, and every year bring fish.
May this time truly be a good sign, just as he said.
May every year bring peace, and every year bring fish.
...
Returning to his living cabin, An Youyu closed the door securely and lit a small fire by the open port window.
Several packets of medicinal ingredients and a ceramic box containing pure fish tallow were arranged one by one at his hand.
This formula from the Yan Clan Tide Court's medicine register was one he had used many times back in the interrogation room. He remembered the proportions, sequence, and heat control perfectly.
【D-Seventeen: Mind-Guarding Ointment】
"White spicy seed, two qian four fen; green gill powder, one qian two fen; bitter algae powder, six fen; pure fish tallow, four qian eight fen."
"...Roast according to ancient methods..."
An Youyu weighed out the amount for one box according to the formula and poured the white spicy seeds into the dry pot first.
After only a few turns with a wooden spatula, a crackling sound echoed from the pot.
A burnt odor rose.
"Tsk, this pot catches heat fast."
An Youyu felt a bit embarrassed; his hands had grown rusty.
He immediately lifted the pot and pulled two pieces of firewood out of the stove.
Roast according to ancient methods
A few white spicy seeds had already turned black.
He picked out the scorched seeds and made up the weight anew.
Having suffered a small blunder the first time, things went much smoother afterward.
The white spicy seeds were roasted and ground into powder, the pure fish tallow was gently melted, and the green gill powder was stirred in over two installments.
Once the color turned a pale green, he set the pot aside, using only the residual heat to mix in the final ingredient, the bitter algae powder.
The wooden spatula slowly swept across the bottom of the pot.
The ointment grew thicker and thicker.
A faint, bitter-spicy fragrance dispersed along with the steam.
Smelling this aroma, An Youyu felt a wave of complex emotions in his heart.
In the interrogation room, he had prepared this ointment to interrogate people.
Making it again now, however, was to venture into Ghost Hollow.
After continuing through the remaining twenty-three steps, the ointment in the pot finally took form.
An Youyu used the wooden spatula to scoop up a small bit; the paste clung to it without dripping.
Done.
He packed the Mind-Guarding Ointment into a box, sealed it carefully, and set it within arm's reach.
...
Next was the second item.
An Youyu retrieved the stone from the bottom of the basket.
Mirage-Suppressing Jade.
If it truly was, his confidence for this trip down the hollow would increase by another notch.
He didn't possess the refining formula for Mirage-Suppressing Jade, but when the instructor had processed this raw ore back in the day, he happened to have stayed nearby a few times.
Soak the stone in concentrated salt water and simmer it over a gentle flame.
Once a layer of the outer shell softened, scrape it off; if encountering a hard patch, soak it again.
This kind of work could not be rushed.
An Youyu watched the fire while slowly peeling off the outer skin layer by layer.
The greenish-gray stone dross accumulated at the bottom of the basin, and the raw ore shrank bit by bit.
When the final layer of hard shell soaked loose, he gently pried it open with a scraper.
A streak of dark blue-green emerged from under the gray skin.
There it was.
He continued cleaning along that line of dark blue-green, stripping away the remaining stone shell bit by bit, then rinsed off the salt residue with fresh water.
The gray skin was completely gone.
It was a section of dark blue-green mineral jade longer than a palm!!
Thick at one end and slightly narrower at the other, with several fine white veins wrapping around the jade's surface.
Judging by appearance alone, it already looked very much like it.
But whether it was or not still needed to be tested.
An Youyu wiped the jade surface clean, held the narrower end, and channeled a strand of Salamander Force into it.
A faint, dim green glow gradually leaked out from deep within the white veins.
Immediately after, the entire section of jade began to vibrate gently in his palm.
Hum.
The low hum was as fine as a strand of silk.
The subtle vibrations traveled along his finger bones all the way into his palm.
An Youyu's fingers tightened.
Bingo!
That was the feeling.
Mirage-Suppressing Jade
Back when the instructor tested jade, he had stood very close. The instructor said that after Mirage-Suppressing Jade absorbed force, it would generate vibrations on its own. When striking a Ghost Mirage, this vibrational force could shatter their intangible projections.
As long as it vibrated, it couldn't be wrong.
An Youyu slowly withdrew his Salamander Force.
The dim glow in the white veins receded, and the low hum ceased.
He weighed the piece of jade in his hand.
A piece of Mirage-Suppressing Jade this large, if properly forged, would be enough to craft a handy weapon.
However, Mirage-Suppressing Jade couldn't be melted with ordinary firewood; it required sea-fire and needed force above One Thousand Pressure to forge.
He had no sea-fire, and his Salamander Force was far from One Thousand Pressure.
Fortunately, Mirage-Suppressing Jade harmed mirages through the material itself.
With one end thick and the other narrow, holding the narrow end and smashing with the thick end would work just as well.
However, the dark blue-green jade color and white veins might expose its nature if seen by someone who knew their stuff.
An Youyu rummaged out some grayish-black waterproof sealant used for boat repairs, coated the entire piece of jade, waited for the coating to dry near the stove, and wrapped the narrow end tightly with coarse fish skin, turn by turn.
Held in hand, it looked like a worn, old stone pestle.
He gripped it and swung it a few times.
The fish skin clung to his palm without slipping, making it quite handy.
An Youyu put the stone pestle into his money box, placing it together with the box of Mind-Guarding Ointment.
His equipment for sneaking into Ghost Hollow was finally taking shape.
The next step was to restore his "fish-swimming force" to Three Hundred Pressure.
...
Late at night, the footsteps on the trestle bridge gradually died down.
An Youyu removed his outer coat, lay face down on the bedboard, closed his eyes to visualize the surging currents of the calming tide, and began practicing the 《Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method》 once more.
Inhale: stretch the back and extend the limbs.
Exhale: lower the body in sync with the imaginary receding tide.
Shoulders and back, waist and hips, and limbs expanded and contracted in sequence.
These movements were already engraved into his muscle memory.
In the fish aperture at the back of his head, the two black and white strands of Nirvana Breath rotated one clockwise and one counter-clockwise, slowly circulating along their former paths.
The nourishment accumulated from the "all-commune feast" during the Fish Rain was drawn out bit by bit.
The Conjoining Membrane dispersed throughout his flesh and blood caught the aperture breath, filling his body strand by strand with familiar Salamander Force once again.
An Youyu could feel the force returning.
The dry swimming continued.
Continued.
Continued.
Dry swimming
Only after practicing for a long while did An Youyu bring his swimming posture to a halt.
He lay flat on the bedboard to catch his breath, then pushed himself up.
Salamander Force circulated through his limbs and bones.
A notch thicker.
And a notch more stable.
An Youyu closed his eyes and estimated.
Two Hundred Pressure.
Finally back to Two Hundred Pressure.
At this pressure level, the techniques available to him were entirely different.
【Blood Swim】.
Blood Swim
An Youyu hadn't used this fish technique in a long time, yet he still remembered the old fish-skin volume the instructor had used to teach him back then.
Stamped on the corner of the cover was a blood-red court seal, and the opening line read:
【《Blood Swim》】
【Exclusive transmission of the Zijing Tide Court, classified as Rare.】
【For the Salamander Swim lineage; can be learned by those possessing the Conjoining Membrane.】
【Can only be executed once Salamander Force reaches Two Hundred Pressure.】
Using a fingernail, he picked off a tiny piece of bloody flesh from his fingertip, cupped it in his palm, and activated his Conjoining Membrane.
He channeled Salamander Force into it.
The speck of flesh slowly contracted, then lengthened bit by bit.
Its outer layer gradually hardened.
In the end, a tiny blood thorn lay quietly in his palm, retaining a thin streak of dark red inside.
An Youyu stared at it for a moment.
Aperture opened at thirteen.
Two Hundred Pressure at fourteen.
Back when he was first transferred to work as a water scout, this was the very first technique he had learned.
Later, when he became an interrogator, Blood Swim practically became his bread and butter.
After so long.
It was back.
However, unformed Salamander Force made it difficult to precisely control "Blood Swim."
Urging it to turn, it would keep swimming forward;
Wanting it to stop, it would dart ahead another section.
Only when Salamander Force Formed a Current could the direction and force of "Blood Swim" be accurately mastered.
Just one hundred pressure more.
As long as he returned to Three Hundred Pressure, many things would return along with it.
The diving threshold for Ghost Hollow happened to be Three Hundred Pressure as well.
An Youyu tossed the blood thorn into the dying embers of the stove hearth, wiped his palm clean, and lay back down.
Again.
Just as he took a breath, his stomach suddenly tightened violently.
Gurgle!
His stomach was rebelling.
...
Rate on N.U.
