Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 82: Chapter 56: Green Fish (First Update)_1

Xu Yang looked at his own fins… well, he couldn’t see them.

At this moment, in the river, there was only a small green fish with a bowed back and bulbous eyes.

Its fins, like hands, reached forward but failed to touch anything, appearing strange and comical.

He… had turned into a fish?

Yes, he had become a fish!

If he had known it would be so magical, he wouldn’t have made such a careless wish.

Domination of the world may be cliché, but upon reflection, it didn’t seem too bad.

Now, what was he to do?

Should he restart?

Xu Yang fell silent for a while and eventually accepted reality, opting not to restart the dream.

Having lived so many years in dreams, he had seen and eaten much, but this experience was a first for him.

What did it feel like to become a fish?

He couldn’t quite articulate it. In any case, it felt bizarre; his fins seemed like hands, yet they were not hands. Without limbs for movement, he could only wiggle his body and tail, which was very uncomfortable for him.

Even though he had once transformed into a dragon in the Great Tang world, that “dragon” wasn’t a real dragon. It was a manifestation of his spirit will combined with the forces of nature, created under the state of Unity of Heaven and Man.

In reality, he was still a person, maintaining the body of a human. It’s just that he appeared to be in dragon form to the average person.

Therefore, he lacked the experience of becoming something completely different and now found adjusting to this new body difficult.

What, memories?

This little green fish, just about three inches long, still fell under the “fry” category. What memories could it have? There was only a single piece of information.

And that was…

Hungry, hungry, hungry, very hungry! So hungry! Extremely hungry!

It wasn’t just the fish that was hungry; Xu Yang was too.

This was a little green fish that died from malnutrition and hunger.

Even if Xu Yang came here through a Zhuanzhou Mengdie experience, with the power of his Divine Soul filling part of the void, the feeling of hunger in his stomach remained.

It wanted to eat!

But Xu Yang held back this instinctual urge.

Before one can do their work well, one must first sharpen their tools!

First, he needed to understand the situation, then devise a strategy, and finally take action.

That way, the results would come with half the effort!

The situation fell into two categories: the surrounding environment and his own state.

First was the surrounding environment.

Where was this?

He didn’t know!

A fish’s memory is limited, and this little green fish was no exception. Living in a state of constant hunger, there was no chance it could think of anything else.

Even with a full belly, the fish’s limited Spirit Wisdom was unlikely to provide Xu Yang with the environmental information he needed.

At present, Xu Yang only knew one thing—this dream world had a time flow difference of ten to one compared to real time: ten days in the dream equaled one day in reality.

Compared to the time difference of 365 times in Great Zhou and Great Tang, time in this world had shortened quite a bit, though he didn’t know why.

This was the environmental situation.

Now, looking at himself.

Xu Yang, as usual, called up the Attribute Panel.

Xu Yang

Race: Green Fish Cultivation: None

Lifespan: 0.3/6

Skills: None

Very concise.

He was now a four-month-old green fish, barely reaching the “mature” age.

However, due to the scarcity of food and poor nutrition, his body was much smaller than other green fish of the same age.

Being small meant having less strength, which made catching prey even more difficult, leading to death by starvation in the end.

This was the “original owner’s” life experience.

But now that he was Xu Yang, he naturally wouldn’t be so unlucky.

Call for aid from his primary body!

Xu Yang closed his eyes, and immediately a line of text appeared in the skill column.

Swimming (Muddy Water Jiao Dragon)

Thanks to the Heshi Jade, an extraordinary treasure, Xu Yang had not only cleansed his spirit during this time but also significantly increased his Divine Soul power.

Otherwise, he truly wouldn’t have been able to transmit this swimming skill with a four-word trait characteristic.

But that was the limit, as his Divine Soul from his primary body was already weakened. This skill would be the only support for the initial period.

Xu Yang opened his eyes and with a flick of his tail, the surrounding water began to move at his command, endowing him with a sudden burst of tremendous strength.

Human life is hard, but the life of a fish is even harder.

As a fish, you must constantly battle against nature to survive within it.

Water is also a part of nature. As a fish, you cannot be apart from water, but you cannot drift with the current either. If you want to eat, if you want to live, you must continually fight against the flow of water.

This was very difficult for a malnourished little green fish, which is why the “original owner” died of hunger.

It didn’t have enough strength to fight against the current, to oppose the environment, to obtain the food it needed to satisfy its own needs.

Xu Yang initially didn’t either, after all, it was his first day as a fish, and he was completely unfamiliar with fish skills.

But he had Skill Traits; with “Muddy Water Jiao Dragon” transmitted over, he was immediately elevated to the status of an equivalent-sized Jiao Dragon.

Jiao Dragons possess their own unique strength and can control the flow of water, making them an unmistakable “different species.”

The help this lent to Xu Yang goes without saying.

With a flick of his body and tail, propelled by the water, his tiny body shot out instantly.

Eat, eat, eat, he wanted to eat!

Fat what?

Green fish are omnivorous, with young ones primarily feeding on plankton, though they can also consume aquatic plants.

But plankton… is generally found in the excrement of larger fish.

It’s not that it’s not possible, just that there’s no need.

After all, Xu Yang is now a “Muddy Water Jiao Dragon” of the small green fish level.

He has the capital to hunt for prey, no need to eat that stuff.

Xu Yang swung his tail and swiftly swam, quickly arriving at a shallower part of the riverbed.

On the riverbed, there were many soft-bodied creatures with blue-black shells on their backs, moving slowly.

Snails!

One of the main foods for green fish.

Xu Yang swam forward, opened his mouth, and swallowed a snail.

Green fish have teeth, but not the kind of teeth we think of, rather pharyngeal teeth located in the pharynx. Thus, when eating snails, they can’t directly bite but need to first swallow them, then use their pharyngeal teeth to crush the shells and spit them out, consuming only the snail’s flesh and innards.

The entire process can be described in three words.

Crisp and crunchy!

A few crunches, and a snail entered his stomach.

The feeling of hunger slightly abated.

But only very slightly.

Xu Yang looked around and locked onto another snail. He flicked his tail, darted forward, and swallowed it in one gulp.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

It must be said, the green fish’s choice to feed on snails is the right one.

As the body of the green fish is large, sluggish, and awkward, hunting for shrimp or crabs is very difficult.

Snails, on the other hand, move slowly and are plentiful; they are the green fish’s favorite food.

That’s why the green fish is also known as the snail green fish.

Xu Yang roamed freely through this stretch of the riverbed, quickly preying on over a dozen snails.

Just as he was about to feel full…

“Gurgle gurgle!”

The sound of rapid water flow came, Xu Yang’s expression changed, and with a flick of his tail, he darted into a small crevice.

No sooner had Xu Yang squeezed into the crevice, than he saw water churn, and a terrifying shadow swam past fiercely through the water.

That was… a large catfish, an exaggeratedly large catfish.

The large catfish carried an imposing momentum, bit into a panicked and fleeing big green fish, and with a shake of its hefty body, it forcefully tore the green fish apart into shreds, then began to savor the flesh amidst a bloody scene.

Within the crevice, having witnessed this, Xu Yang shrank further back.

The survival of the fittest, the natural order of predation—there’s nothing to be said about that.

Big fish eat small fish, and small fish eat shrimp. If you don’t want to become someone else’s meal, then grow stronger until you become the biggest of them all.

But how to grow stronger?

Martial Arts Scripture?

Xu Yang furrowed his nonexistent brows.

The Martial Arts Scripture, with its endless wonders, encompasses everything, but after all, it was designed for humans to practice and never considered the issue of fish.

Therefore, he wasn’t sure whether he could still cultivate the Martial Arts Scripture and, with a “fish body”, develop Inner Strength, True Qi, and Divine

Intent Gang Qi.

Try it out!

Without overthinking, Xu Yang immediately began to operate the Martial Arts Scripture.

Then, he encountered a problem.

It didn’t work!

The Cultivation Technique of the Martial Arts Scripture is based on the human body, using structures essential to humans like “meridians”, “mana points”, and “Dantian”, to mobilize Qi Blood and condense Inner Strength. Then, storing this Inner Strength in the Dantian, enhancing its quality step by step, is followed by the development of True Qi and Gang Qi.

The structure of a fish’s body is completely different from that of a human’s, hence the Martial Arts Scripture can’t be applied.

Though Xu Yang could solve this problem, given that he is the Founder of

Martial Scripture and a great figure in the Martial Path who can create his own

Cultivation Techniques, naturally, he could also improve them. Modifying the Martial Arts Scripture to fit the structure of a “fish body” was not a difficult task for him.

At most, it would take some time and effort.

But that wouldn’t completely resolve the issue.

When compared to the human body, the fish body lacks many key structures.

For example… the Dantian!

Compared to humans, the fish body not only has narrower meridians and fewer mana points, but the Dantian is almost nonexistent.

That means the efficiency of condensing Qi Blood and cultivating Inner Strength in a fish body is far lower than in a human body.

Xu Yang estimated it to be at least a hundred times lower.

Low cultivation efficiency’s one thing, but with no Dantian for storage, the painstakingly cultivated Inner Strength would either be expelled from the body or forcibly retained within, keeping the state of being saturated with Inner Strength at all times.

This does more harm than good, putting a tremendous strain on the body, and it could lead to exploding from the inside without a trace one day.

How to solve this problem?

After much thought, Xu Yang could only come up with one solution.

And that was… Body Training!

If there’s no Dantian and no storage, then don’t store it at all.

All the Inner Strength that’s been condensed should be used to strengthen the body.

The Martial Arts Scripture amalgamates all martial arts under heaven, and Divine Skills for body training are not in the minority; naturally, there is a set body training Cultivation Technique.

To focus on body training without cultivating Inner Strength isn’t a very good choice, to be honest.

After all, Inner Strength plays a variety of roles, and many martial arts must be supported by Inner Strength to be executed. If one trains only the body, honestly, that is simply a brute, easily manipulated by others.

But some things, good or bad, aren’t the key; what’s essential is suitability.

What’s suitable is the best.

At this moment, Xu Yang had no better choice; body training was the only way out.

So—train!

In a moment, the strategy was decided.

Xu Yang peeked out from the crevice to check the situation.

To outsiders… to other fish, this little green fish seemed to be sneaking peeks surreptitiously, showing almost human-like behavior, which appeared quite peculiar and amusing.

A moment later, after confirming that the large catfish had left, Xu Yang didn’t linger any longer. He dashed out from the crevice and continued to prey on defenseless snails.

Whether it’s practicing Cultivation Techniques or Body Training, the foundation is the Qi Blood strength of the body—oh no, the fish body.

So, to cultivate, one must first build up Qi Blood.

If you’re malnourished and your Qi Blood is deficient, then practicing will not only be of no benefit but can even be harmful.

You must first eat your fill.

Soon, the water was filled with the faint sounds of “crack crack crack..”