Achille Adephos VI
A cliche Xianxia tournament; tensions rise!
Now I know this wasn't too cliche since it only lasted two chapters instead of being drawn out over thirty, but I just don't have the patience to do that, so I won't.
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"Hello everyone! Welcome to the annual Grand-Emperor's Ten Heavens Fishing Trial! As always, the rules are thus: Each contestant has ten hours to catch as many fish as possible. The rarer a fish is the more points it's worth per gram, and whomever collects the most points by the end of the day wins the title of 'The Youth's Heavenly Fishing King' and a prize of spirit stones!" the Announcer shouted.
"It's time," Achille said, narrowing his eyes.
He began to run forward, towards the lake. At the same time, the twelve other participants, Jonathan included flood suit, each contestant leaping into the prepared fishing boats.
There were twelve of them, small wooden canoes laded with oars.. Achille leaped forward, his feet slamming into the inside of the canoe, transferring his forward momentum into it.
It was time for the first step in sighing! Selecting A Good Location! This phase was so integral to the process, fishing grandmasters called it the 'foundation of fishing.'
As the saying went '
even a good housewife cannot cook without rice'. Even a fishing grandmaster would be unable to catch a single trout, while with a good fishing spot, even an amateur could catch a heavenly roc.
As for how to select a good location, that was up to the individual. Some relied on instinct or math. Others simply eyeballed it. Only true fishing masters would employ special techniques to divine the best fishing location.
Luckily Achille had one of those arts. It was a special technique he had found in the depths of the Adephos library called the 'Bronze Monument Fishing Technique.'
Achille swirled Qi into his eyes, a lattice appealing in his vision. The grid encompassed the entire lake! This was the visual manifestation of the 'Bronze Monument Fishing Technique!'
Slowly, the grid began to deform, some spots rasing high in the air, while others fell. This was the indicator of what spots were best!
Achille immediately began to row towards the best spot, a murky dark part of the lake, that seemed full of mud.
"What is that Adephos body doing?" one audience member asked. "Any competent fisher will tell you, fish avoid dark and murky places like that! Don't tell me he is an absolute amatuer?"
"Of course, he stands no chance! Look at Young Master Jonathon! He has already secured what is in my humble opinion, the best location! The water is just clear enough fish will frequent it, while not being soo clear no fish would dare hide in it! He will definitely win this bet!"
"Oh! Is that the famed fishing grandmaster Xuege? If grandmaster said so, then it must be so! Quickly wife, put Little Zi's college saving on Jonathon's story! Don't hesitate, just do it!"
Since an expert had weighed in, public opinion had already shifted. Everyone immediately thought Achille was just an arrogant amateur who could not see the height of Mount Tai, while Jonathon was a fishing genius, and many people were now, having taken his victory as a given, bet fortunes on Jonathon, even those who were normally frugal. After all, who would give up free money?
Achille, who could hear the conversion of the crowd snorted in disdain. This was the so-called 'famed fishing grandmaster?' In Achille's opinion, he was just trash! Achille had absolute confidence in the 'Bronze Monument Fishing Technique', and it had never let him down.
Now it was time for the integral second phase! Picking Out the Bait! This second step was only slightly less important than the first step. Certain different fish liked certain different kinds of bait, so what kind of fish one attracted, and how many was decided by this phase!
One hundred types of fish from the 'Heaven and Earth Fishing Board' had been artificially introduced to the lake for the duration of the tournament, and skilled fishermen had already memorized the baits they liked best. Of course, of all the fish, the ones worth the most points were so rare and mysterious that no one knew what they liked. Except for Achille.
As someone born with an extraordinary golden spoon called the 'Adephos Family' in his mouth, not only had he seen these fish before, he had even eaten them!
Achille reached into his bag, retrieving a small ball of brown junk. To an outside observer, it looked like dirty trash, but to Achille' it was a great treasure.
After all, this ball of junk just happened to be the bait that the number one ranked 'Earth Guzzling Roc' loved to eat! If he could catch even a single earth Guzzling Roc, the tournament was in his hand!
"Look at Achille! What kind of bait is that? Don't tell me he has already given up and is just making a joke of the whole contest now? How contemptible!" One observer said, to the sounds of agreement.
"If you have no chance of winning, just give up!" another said. "Right now, all he is doing is spitting on the contest's reputation!"
Meanwhile, Jonathan reached into his bag to retrieve a small boll of golden silk. The moment the crowd saw it, everyone went wild.
"Is that… Don't tell me…."
"Yes, it must be so! The ultra-rare golden silkworm ball! He must be planning on catching Rank Three, the Golden Eyed Arowana! Unlike the bulk of the other contestants who are using low ranking bait to catch huge amounts of low-level fish, like the famous Jiang Heshou over there who has already caught a dozen Brown Skin trout, he is going for on big capture!"
Indeed, unlike the other contestants who had already begun to catch fish, Jonathon and Achille's spot on the ranking stayed at the bottom, though the perception fo each was as different as heaven and earth!
Jonathon: A young genus making a risky but awe-inspiring gamble!
Achille: Arrogant trash with no idea of what he was doing!
Now Achille began to the third phase of fishing, the easiest, but longest phase! Sitting Still!
He simply had to wait for something to bite! And so Achille sat, doing nothing.
He could see several of the other contestants using unique methods to catch fish, such as the current number one on the board, Herkacles Adente, who was suing a net of spiritual energy to catch fish en mass, or the second rank on the board Illusion Master Ophios Impetuim, who was using strange illusion arts to draw fish to his net.
Achille frowned. While he was not giving up on catching the Earth Guzzling Roc, he had to also guarantee his victory, and he had his own unique method to do so.
Unlike Hekacles or Ophios's, Achille's unique metho was his specialty: Arrays!
"Myriad Tributary Fishing Slaughtering Array!" Achille shouted. "Activate!"
A golden array carved his fishing rod began to glow, lines of golden Qi flowing out of it to create a box of light. ANy fish who entered into the killing zone would die!
Immediately Achille's points started to skyrocket!
Tenth place!
Eight Place!
Fifth place!
Already the other contestants were feeling the pressure of his advance and began t press forward harder.
"Don't think you'll surpass me!" Ophios shouted.
He cupped his hands, spitting blood into them.
"The secrecy fishing art passed down through my family since ancient times… Blood-Moon World, Illusory Heavens!" Ophios shouted, throwing the cupped blood into the water.
As he did so, an illusory image of a red moon formed on the surface of the water, and fish began to rush towards it, throwing their lives right into Ophios's hand.
Still, it wasn't enough to outpace Achill'es array!
Third place!
Second place!
Now Only Herakles stood between him and first place.
"You don't stand a chance of beating me," Heracles laughed. "Everyone knows the Adente family has won this contest for the last hundred years. Let me show you why!"
Heracles heaved his hands, a massive net pulling out of the water, filled to the brim with small fish, like sardines and the like.
Instantly Heracles pulled further ahead, nearly doubling his score.
"I suppose you do beat me in skill," Achille acknowledged.
But when skill failed... Throw money at the problem! When it came to being moneybags, no one beat the Adephos family!
Achille reached into his bag, pulling out a dozen pills.
"Oh, Heavens! Those are the ultra-expensive 'Skylark Blue Pills!' Each once costs as much as a small house! When they touch water, they release an aroma that fish find irresistible!"
Achile threw his hand, dozens of tiny blue pills flying into the lake. The moment they touched its surface, they exploded into clouds of blue colouring. Fish from all around the lake began to rush towards Achille boat, and right into his killing zone!
Achille points began to skyrocket, closing in on Heracles.
1100,
1300,
1450
1600!
He had reached the first place!
And with only five minutes left on the clock! It seemed Achille was going to win the tournament…
Second place!
Achille's eye jumped wide in shock, and so did everyone else's. That's because Jonathon had just jumped to the first palace!
Was this the so called 'reaching heaven in one stride?'
Could it be that Jonathon had actually caught the super rare Golden Eyed Arowana?
Indeed, looking over, Achille could see Jonathon holding a massive struggling fish, with glowing golden eyes and long fins!
Two minutes left! It seemed that Jonathon had one. After all his total points were more than double that of everyone else combined!
"It seems that Contestant Aurelias wins!" the announcer shouted.
"No, I do!" Achille shouted, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"What do you mean? Jonathan clearly wi-" Heracles interjected, before suddenly stopping eyes wide
In Achille's hand was none other than the ranked one 'Earth Guzzling Roc!'. O fishier of any repute would not be able to recognize the rarest fish on the ranking board!
Immediately the announcer mouth shut, and he stared agape. No had had ever caught that fish, during the one-thousand-year history of the tournament!
Achille points on the ranking board immediately jumped by one hundred thousand, putting him at an insurmountable advantage!
"How is that possible?" Ophios said, agape. "Even Foundation Establishment level Fisherman would have trouble catching that fish, let alone you!"
"-An amazing twist fold! In the final moments of the competition, Contestant Adephos caught the priceless Earth Guzzling Roc! We call him up to receive the first-place prize and the title of 'The Youths Heavenly Fishing King!'" the announcer shouted.
"... You bastard! What so called grandmaster!' Return me Little Zi's college money!" immediately the crowd turned on the armchair experts who had deceived them.
Achille smirked, walking over to Jonathon, who was visibly trembling.
"Now, I do surmise, that the time has come for you to relinquish the fishing rod you do treasure so much, to me!" Achille said, deliberately elongating his sentence just to screw with Johnathon!
".... Fine, But this isn't over, Adephos!" Jonathan spat. "I will have my revenge!
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(3) Tribulation Boosts. Bought with Omake. A Tribulation Boost guarantees a breakthrough from 9th Heavenstage Qi Condensation to Foundation Building. Other, more difficult paths may require more - likewise with breaking through to Core Formation, and then Nascent Soul
Does this apply to the higher levels of Qi Condensation as well? My plan is to basically get as far into Qi condensation as I can without dying of old age and then directly breakthrough to foundation establishment. If not, I would like to if I can get some kind of item that will permanently increase my willpower/Dao heart. If not, I'm fine with a generic cultivation boost.
Looks like he could really use that Beast Brandy!
