An Youyu carried the empty basin to the public warehouse.
Luo Dadou was still managing the accounts under the lamp, his abacus clacking loudly. Hearing that he was hungry again from practicing, Luo Dadou didn't ask much; he closed the account book and led him into the cold cabin to weigh the fish.
Outside the public warehouse stood a large cooking pot. An Youyu cleaned the fish, cut it into several pieces, threw them into the pot, added water, and cooked them, ladling out a full basin.
He carried it to the table and ate every bit, meat and bones alike.
The basin empty, his stomach was still uncomfortably tight with hunger.
He looked down at the bottom of the basin, then went back to fill more than half a basin again. Only when the last few fish bones were chewed up and swallowed was that gnawing hunger finally suppressed.
This single meal was already equivalent to two ordinary meals.
An Youyu felt somewhat bad about it.
"Eating like this, can the public warehouse hold up?"
"There's plenty."
Luo Dadou pulled the empty basin aside and answered crisply, "Just eat as much as you need."
With that, he turned and went into the cold cabin, picking out a few more fat fish for him.
An Youyu casually helped him move the ledger on the table aside, and only then did he see three characters written on the open page—
【War Preparation Ledger】
He glanced down at it.
Medicine money, fish money, registration fees—every item was recorded on it.
War Preparation Ledger
After the last Tide Battle ended, every year the commune would save some shell coins in the old chest holding the commune flag, thinking that if anyone ever raised the flag for Clown again, this money would be left for them to use.
Saved over three years, a large chunk of it was already spent during registration.
Now that An Youyu was truly going to compete, every household was sparing whatever they could from their own rations and savings.
The shell coins earned yesterday from selling that flying dagger wood ray—Lu Guizhou and Ning Cang hadn't kept a single coin, putting all of it in.
Registration cost money.
Medicine had to be bought.
Supplies for diving into Ghost Hollow had to be prepared.
And now, even the fish he ate meal after meal came out of this account.
An Youyu flipped through those few pages.
Line by line, the amounts weren't large.
But added all together, it was already everything Clown could muster right now.
Luo Dadou came back holding a few frozen fish. Seeing him still flipping through the ledger, he set the fish on the table.
"Thank you for giving Clown another chance to fight."
"Regardless of whether we can plant the flag back on the mast, this money is well spent."
An Youyu silently closed the ledger, picked up the frozen fish on the table, and returned to his cabin to continue his "dry swimming."
...
The food he ate soon proved its worth.
After finishing the first round of dry swimming, his Salamander Force recovered another thirty pressure.
Two hundred thirty.
An Youyu cooked fish again and practiced once more.
After the second meal, it only recovered twenty pressure.
The third time, ten pressure.
The closer he got to his old body's Three Hundred Pressure, the less Salamander Force the same basin of fish could yield.
Until daybreak.
Two hundred ninety pressure.
Only one step away from Three Hundred Pressure.
...
After dawn, the refrigerated cargo ship of Lockhead Float-Commune docked at the public warehouse.
The hatch covers were opened, and cold air drifted out along the deck as baskets of rock-hard frozen fish were lifted onto the trestle bridge by crewmen.
During the Wither Tide, offshore waters lacked fish, and the remaining inventory in Clown's public warehouse was already scarce; Luo Dadou had dared to let An Youyu eat freely last night precisely because he was waiting for this ship.
Cargo Lighter
Another cargo lighter docked as well.
Hanging at its bow was the sign of Scissors Float-Commune.
Most of the twenty-eight communes of Seven-Masts were named after the shapes of their Sea-Calming Stones. The one Scissors Float-Commune relied upon had a stone top split into two long prongs, shaped like a pair of open scissors.
In the last Tide Battle, Scissors Float-Commune ranked thirteenth, placing in the mid-tier.
They routinely bought old ships, reclaimed wood, and scrap iron to refurbish or dismantle for sale, so their ship brokers often came to Clown asking for goods.
This time, however, he walked straight to the public warehouse's large scale.
"I heard you're dissolving the commune? When the time comes, save the drying racks and trestle boards you can't take with you for me. I'll dismantle and haul them away myself to save you the trouble."
As he spoke, he casually patted the scale frame. "This can be factored in as well."
Luo Dadou slammed the weight onto the scale pan.
Clang!
"Get lost!"
The smile on the broker's face faltered.
"I'm just asking in advance..."
"Get the hell out of here!!"
...
Inside An Youyu's living cabin, the small stove was hardly ever extinguished.
Once cooked, he ate the fish.
Once done eating, he practiced.
When hungry again, he cooked more.
Today's eighteenth meal.
An Youyu chewed up and swallowed the last piece of fish bone, lying face down on the bedboard once more.
The surging currents of the calming tide ebbed and flowed in his consciousness.
The two black and white strands of Nirvana Breath circulated out along the fish aperture at the back of his head, dispersing into his whole body.
The Conjoining Membrane caught the aperture breath piece by piece.
Salamander Force continued filling into the depths of his flesh and blood.
Shoulders and back.
Waist and abdomen.
Limbs.
Until even the final empty spot was held firm by Salamander Force.
An Youyu lay on the bedboard, remaining motionless for a long time.
It was finally back.
From his head falling into the whirlpool tide, to waking up on Clown Float-Commune, and now to this moment.
This newly regrown body had finally returned to the peak of his old body's First-Transformation.
Three Hundred Pressure
Three Hundred Pressure!!
Further ahead, it would be time to Form a Current!
His previous Current Base was Three Hundred Pressure, a foundation already strong enough to rank him among the top three in the Salamander Swim path of his class at the Northern Jurisdiction fish-transformation camp.
An Youyu halted his swimming posture and waited with concentrated focus.
Waiting—waiting for the Salamander Force scattered throughout his body to automatically connect, one part pulling another, until it finally threaded together into his first complete current of force.
Yet he waited for a long time.
Nothing happened.
How could that be?
He closed his eyes and inspected himself internally, checking all the way from his fish aperture down to his limbs.
This inspection left him utterly stunned.
Three Hundred Pressure was already reached.
Yet this Fish Aspect...
Was not yet full.
An Youyu's five fingers resting on the bed edge slowly tightened, his breathing growing increasingly rapid.
Excitement.
He was beside himself with excitement.
This meant his Current Base exceeded his original "Three Hundred."
Yet how high it could go, he couldn't say for sure.
Three hundred ten?
Three hundred twenty?
Or...
Three hundred fifty.
Thinking of three hundred fifty, An Youyu immediately sat up straight.
For First-Transformation of Salamander Swim, one whose Current Base could surpass Three Hundred Fifty Pressure could truly be called a rare talent—a Rare Salamander.
An Youyu looked down at his own hands.
A few hours ago, Xiaoluo had gripped this sleeve, in so much pain that even her lips turned white from biting them.
Old Knobby had said that to completely purge the wolf toxin in her jawbone, besides the Tiger-Head Mushroom, three liang of Rare Salamander Blood from someone at Three Hundred Fifty Pressure or higher was also needed.
Three liang.
They couldn't find it.
No one sold it in Seven-Masts either.
Where to even beg for it remained completely unknown.
Yet if this Fish Aspect could truly store up to Three Hundred Fifty Pressure...
The blood was right here.
He didn't even need to look for anyone else.
Draining it from his own body would be enough.
Xiaoluo was saved.
A surge of emotion swelled right up in An Youyu's chest.
That Fish Roe Stone...
What it reshaped might be far more than just a body.
Even the foundational Current Base set when he was thirteen had been modified anew.
Yet whether his post-Nirvana Current Base could truly reach the "Rare Salamander rank" of Three Hundred Fifty Pressure could not be known by guessing; he had to cultivate his way up to find out.
An Youyu immediately lay back down on the bedboard.
The 《Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method》 operated once again.
One cycle passed.
Then a few more cycles.
Only when sweat broke out on his forehead again did An Youyu finally bring his practice to a halt.
Inside his body, it was still Three Hundred Pressure.
Not a single fraction more.
The problem was clear now.
What the 《Tide-Calming Salamander Swimming Method》 could bring back was only the strength his old body had once cultivated.
Three Hundred Pressure was the path he had walked in the past, and he had now walked it to the end.
This new Nirvana Body-Abandoning Salamander could still move further ahead, but the old method could no longer guide him.
To add the three hundred and first strand of Salamander Force, he had to change paths—a path of breath circulation that could allow this new Fish Aspect to continue accumulating force.
Back when he worked for the Tide Court in Zijing Sea, he had seen colleagues like this.
That person's Salamander Force had stagnated at One Hundred Ninety Pressure, making no progress despite long practice. Later, by referring to other old registers of Salamander Swim and comparing their postures and breath routes with their own, they gained insights, gradually modified their original method, added another ten pressure, and finally formed their first current.
Yet very few people could actually succeed through this path.
Even within Salamander Swim, Fish Aspects, aperture breath, and fish organs all differed from person to person; another person's method could not be adopted wholesomely.
If the insight was incorrect or the modification improper, a single stray breath could damage the aperture and ruin the aspect.
Then again, searching for a method in other old registers of Salamander Swim was not entirely hopeless.
If an old register of Salamander Swim could be found in the Seven-Masts Waters, he would start trying from there.
Lu Guizhou had been to Yancheng Anchorage and dealt with boatmasters from various communes year-round, so he knew more avenues than An Youyu did.
At daybreak, he would ask the old chief first and read whichever one could be found.
As long as there was a method to let this Fish Aspect continue accumulating force, whether Three Hundred Fifty Pressure was truly its Current Base would soon be tested out.
...
Rate on N.U.
