But all of this caused Ye Cangtian's mouth to twitch.
"Just a casual flick and the river is full?"
Did he think he was throwing bombs to catch fish?
What a boast!
He glanced at the old man, his eyes flickering for a long time before he finally refrained from voicing his thoughts.
After all, the old man was advanced in years, and it was normal for him to reminisce about his vigorous youth, though his descriptions were somewhat exaggerated.
Thinking this, Ye Cangtian smiled and said, "Old sir, wasn't that fish we had earlier delicious? Don't you want to eat that one?"
"That's right!"
The old man smiled slightly, glanced at Ye Cangtian, and then chuckled, "In the ruins, while the fangfish are indeed delicious, they still fall far short compared to the ruin sturgeon. That thing is simply..."
As soon as he mentioned the sturgeon, the old man's eyes lit up, and he became voluble.
From the quality of its flesh to its roe, and even its dragon tendons, he described every detail meticulously. Even Ye Cangtian couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
"Old sir, do you happen to have another fishing rod? I'd like to relax for a bit too."
Huh?
The old man looked at Ye Cangtian in confusion, scrutinizing him from head to toe. "You want to fish too?"
Seeing the old man's demeanor, Ye Cangtian was taken aback and retorted, "Yes! What's wrong?"
"Young man, it's not that I'm stingy!"
"It's that your strength is too weak, and you'll damage the fishing rod and line. I'd feel heartbroken!"
"If you're going to fish, you might as well just catch fish in the river yourself!"
The old man said this without reservation.
Ye Cangtian's face instantly turned red with frustration.
Was his strength weak?
Perhaps his strength didn't rank among the top in the ruins, but it definitely surpassed most people, right?
"Old sir, why do you look down on people like that? How about this, if I break your fishing gear, I'll compensate you, alright?"
Ye Cangtian's stubbornness flared up, and coupled with his frustration at not finding a place to stay, he couldn't stand being treated this way.
"Alright, alright."
"Let's be clear from the start. All my fishing gear is homemade. A set that's damaged costs 100 medium-grade white spirit stones, and the bait is free."
"I won't force you. If you agree, you can fish. If not, then forget it."
The old man preemptively set the price.
"Good!"
Ye Cangtian wasn't one to procrastinate. Although the compensation for the fishing gear seemed exorbitant, he simply wanted to prove his fishing skills.
Besides, as long as he didn't break the gear, it would be fine.
The next moment, Ye Cangtian took the fishing rod, attached the bait, and after everything was ready, cast the bait into the great river.
Plop!
Not long after, ripples appeared on the river surface, and the fishing float began to bob up and down.
Seeing this, Ye Cangtian didn't say a word. He immediately lifted the fishing rod, then loosened his grip slightly, and didn't forget to give the old man a challenging smile.
Although the old man's fishing method was quite forceful, in Ye Cangtian's opinion, it was amateurish. Why use spiritual energy for fishing?
Wouldn't that be exhausting?
Fishing was about engaging in a tug-of-war with the fish.
Only by exhausting the fish completely could it be reeled in easily, and the joy of fishing lay in this process.
Bang!
In the next instant, a faint sound was heard. The fishing line was instantly bitten through by a fish, which then took the opportunity to escape.
"..."
Ye Cangtian was dumbfounded.
He had just intended to show off his skills to the old man, but before he could even begin, it was already over.
Talk about a slap in the face!
"100 spirit stones," the old man said calmly.
He didn't say anything more, nor did he mock. He appeared quite composed, as if everything had unfolded as it should.
"Uh, old sir, the fishing line is also 100?"
Ye Cangtian's forehead was covered in dark lines. A hundred spirit stones could buy a lot of fish, and now he had to pay for just a single line, which genuinely pained him.
After all, these spirit stones were earned with his life.
"In my eyes, the fishing rod and the fishing line are equally important. Fish or don't fish!" the old man said indifferently.
"100 it is, just put it on my tab."
"And give me another fishing line."
Ye Cangtian gritted his teeth upon hearing this. With such an uncooperative old man, he was determined to get back at him.
A short while later.
The bait was cast into the river again. Not long after, another fish bit the bait.
Ye Cangtian, as usual, used his old method. The fish he caught last time had sharp teeth and was too fierce. He didn't believe every fish would be like that.
But the result was the same.
"200 spirit stones."
...
"800 spirit stones."
After eight consecutive casts, the fishing line broke each time. Ye Cangtian felt his heart bleeding!
This was almost a thousand spirit stones, enough to buy a small residential house in the capital.
Despite this, Ye Cangtian's stubbornness kicked in. He was determined to succeed at least once.
On the ninth attempt, the bait was quickly taken again. This time, Ye Cangtian channeled the spiritual energy within him into the fishing rod and line.
After eight casts, he had already figured out that the fish in the great river were mostly ferocious and possessed sharp teeth. Compared to them, the old man's fishing line seemed weak and inadequate.
Therefore, injecting a trace of spiritual energy to protect the fishing line was necessary.
Indeed, with the infusion of spiritual energy, the fishing line did not break this time, and Ye Cangtian showed a smile.
Since the line hadn't broken, he would show the old man what proper fishing was, and what a true tug-of-war looked like...
Perhaps it was because Ye Cangtian was too intensely engaged in the tug-of-war with the fish that he failed to notice the shock in the old man's eyes, as if he were witnessing something incredible.
"This..."
How was this possible?
With the young man's strength, how could he achieve spiritual energy emanating from his body?
At his age and realm, to achieve such a feat?
Even the little girl from the Dongfang family probably couldn't do this, right?
Truly limitless potential...
The old man muttered to himself but did not interrupt Ye Cangtian.
"Damn it, just a small fry, I don't believe I can't outmuscle you!"
On the other side.
Ye Cangtian muttered to himself, desperately engaged in a tug-of-war with the fish.
He truly hadn't expected a fish to have such immense strength, almost dragging him into the water!
Ye Cangtian was indignant and exclaimed in disbelief. Even the sharks he had fished in the Pacific Ocean didn't possess such power!
It should be noted that Ye Cangtian had been maintaining spiritual energy infusion throughout, in a way that outputted ten parts of spiritual energy to gain only one or two parts of benefit, consuming a considerable amount.
If this stalemate continued, he might run out of spiritual energy before he could even reel in the fish.
Snap!
In the next moment, the fishing line snapped again.
Ye Cangtian's expression turned somewhat grim. He had intended to adopt the old man's method, suddenly exerting a strong force to fling the fish ashore.
However, he had never expected that just as he was withdrawing some spiritual energy to gather strength, at that very moment, the fishing line snapped, rendering his efforts in vain.
"900 spirit stones."
Ye Cangtian said in a deep voice, then reached out his large hand again to ask for another fishing line. He refused to believe that this damned fish couldn't be caught!
"You've expended quite a bit. Don't try again. The result will be the same."
The old man glanced at Ye Cangtian and spoke slowly.
In truth, the young man had done his best, but his strength was still a bit lacking, and his spiritual energy output was not stable enough. These were things that couldn't be changed overnight.
"What? Worried I don't have spirit stones?"
Ye Cangtian frowned, casually took out a thousand spirit stones from his Qiankun bag, and placed them directly before the old man.
"It's not about the spirit stones!"
"It's about your control over spiritual energy not being proficient enough. You need to practice diligently. Why waste spirit stones here?"
The old man did not accept the spirit stones but said patiently.
Ye Cangtian pondered for a moment. It was indeed a problem.
Suddenly, he looked up at the old man, his brow furrowed. "Old sir, are you willing to teach me?"
Spending a thousand spirit stones just to fish for a while. If he didn't gain any benefit from the old man, it would be too much of a loss!