Beast King: From Mon-key to Mon-god

Mastering the Six-Whisker Catfish really paid off. It's been less than five days since the discovery of the Bull Horn Pomfret, and today brought another surprise.

If you could catch a treasure fish every five days on average, I bet no one in the Yang Family Martial Arts School would enjoy such luxury.

With that thought, Liang Qu quickened his steps and reached Yixing City in half an hour.

Marshlands surround Pingyang Town, and he could have gone directly into the water, but to avoid drawing attention, he chose to return to the wharf.

At the wharf, guided by the directional sense in his spiritual link, Liang Qu took a boat out to the nearby area, where the paddles struck the water's surface, and the Zhupo Dragon emerged to answer his call.

The Jianghuai Zeye waters weren't as calm as they appeared. Not to mention the great demons in the deep, some Zhupo Dragons in the shallow areas with different species could grow four or five meters long and easily capsize a small sampan, so having the Unable to Move as a guard made things safer.

Liang Qu took his net and dove into the water. After eating the Bull Horn Pomfret, he had sold fish to learn martial arts. He hadn't been in the water since his integration increased and now felt incredibly light and free.

[Cauldron Master: Liang Qu]

[Ze Spirit Fusion: Water Monkey (White) (Integration: 8.3%)]

[Water Ze Essence: None]

[River's Favor: None]

[Dominion over Water Beasts: Taihua Crocodile, Six-Whisker Catfish]

[Evaluation: The Water Monkey Ze Spirit originates from the great Lord Huaiwo and can stimulate the insufficient and weak-willed small person]

The fusion had reached 8.3, and he could control water flows up to fifty pounds, a slight increase in control power, proving Liang Qu's original thought was correct.

Increasing the Ze Spirit's fusion not only made the water flows stronger but also improved control, turning them into water blades and making controlling blood a foreseeable future achievement. The prospects were bright.

Moreover, as Liang Qu pondered over the evaluation at the bottom, he had some reflections.

After obtaining the Ze Cauldron, he often observed the patterns on it. If he wasn't mistaken, the so-called Lord Huaiwo should be the famous Wu Zhiqi.

Wu Zhiqi's true form was a giant ape with a green body, white head, Golden Eyes and Snow Teeth, matching the most conspicuous pattern on the Ze Cauldron.

In legends, even Dayu and Yinglong could not kill it; they could only imprison it underwater.

Who is Yinglong?

That is a creator god from ancient legends, the True Dragon and progenitor of all dragon-kind. It is said even shrimps and fish that drink a drop of Yinglong's urine can become true dragons!

You can imagine the greatness by the comparison.

As for other patterns, they were likely other water deities, and the one with a human head and snake body might be Gonggong.

On the other side, Black Emperor's identity is unknown, but Liang Qu's intuition told him he was formidable, especially the spear-wielding deity with a weapon that looked very much like a halberd. Could it be God Erlang? Is God Erlang a water god?

With this, the Ze Cauldron was undoubtedly a divine artifact.

It is said that, in the deepest part of the Jianghuai Zeye, a Flood Dragon lies dormant, awakening once in a Jiazi to stir up storms, but before Wu Zhiqi, it was nothing more than a spicy snack.

It's just a pity that I am merely a Water Monkey, a world away from the Lord Huaiwo.

The journey is long, and I must strive harder!

Escorted by the Zhupo Dragon, Liang Qu found the Fat Catfish and discovered that the so-called treasure fish was actually a Tiger Head Spotted Fish with a body covered in orange stripes!

It was the same fish that someone had caught at the neighboring wharf last month!

However, the one in front of him was enormous, the size of an arm's length, and weighing nearly six or seven pounds. If sold, it could be even more expensive than the Bull Horn Pomfret!

Fatty, you truly are my lucky star!

Overjoyed, Liang Qu patted the Fat Catfish's head and instructed the two beasts to head in two different directions, forming a pincer movement around him.

Using the Water Monkey's ability, Liang Qu was hard to detect by the fish, so he let the Fat Catfish and Zhupo Dragon take the initiative.

The startled Tiger Head Spotted Fish turned to flee but found someone lying in ambush beside Liang Qu. It was too late to escape, and its great inertia made it impossible to turn.

Tens of pounds of water flow pressed down on the Tiger Head Spotted Fish, restraining its movements.

Liang Qu twisted his body, swung the net, and it soared like a beautifully hit golf ball, snaring the Tiger Head Spotted Fish inside!

Beautiful!

Liang Qu quickly flipped the net pole, wrapped the Tiger Head Spotted Fish within, carried it along with the net to his chest, swam upstream to the surface, and threw it into the hold of the boat.

Rolling over to get on the boat, Liang Qu took out the stone knife and deftly sliced open the belly, throwing all the innards, gills, and offcuts to the two beasts.

With their mouths wide open, the two beasts swallowed eagerly, excitedly thrashing their tails and splashing copious foam on the water's surface.

"Hold on, did you two get bigger?"

As Liang Qu was cooking fish slices in boiling water, he suddenly noticed that the two water beasts seemed to have grown in size considerably.

Being too busy capturing the treasure fish previously, he hadn't paid attention, but now upon careful inspection, it turned out that Unable to Move had grown from being close to but not quite two meters, to definitely over two meters now.

The Fat Catfish too had grown – before, it was just over two meters, but now it looked to have grown by almost half a round, nearing two meters and thirty or forty centimeters.

He hadn't been in control of the two beasts for even a month; this was definitely not a normal growth rate.

Liang Qu suddenly recalled the evolutionary prompt from the Ze Cauldron earlier.

Could it be that the two beasts had absorbed the Water Ze Essence from those offcuts after eating the treasure fish?

He communicated with the Ze Cauldron.

[You can consume 77.9 points of Water Ze Essence to evolve the Taihua Crocodile into a Horned Crocodile.]

[You can consume 77.8 points of Water Ze Essence to evolve the Six-Whisker Catfish into a Tigerhead Catfish.]

Sure enough, there was a decrease!

Liang Qu was overjoyed; he hadn't expected that feeding the treasure fish offcuts would have such an effect, a complete utilization of waste without any cost!

"Good, the bigger the better. Big means strong, big means beautiful. Come on, eat more, the fish head is yours too."

After savoring the fish brain, Liang Qu tossed the fish head to the two beasts.

He might seem like a miserly boss, letting the ones who discovered the treasure fish eat only the scraps, but everything is relative.

Being under his command, they had developed intelligence and were much smarter than before, which is why they had a purpose in capturing the treasure fish.

Before, they wandered aimlessly, not knowing what a treasure fish looked like, much less how to capture one. Even if they encountered it, they would think it was just an ordinary fish and wouldn't bother catching it unless they were hungry.

Treasure fish are stronger and faster, and much harder to catch than ordinary fish.

All things considered, they had profited.

A seven-jin Tiger Head Spotted Fish, after removing the inedible parts, still had more than four jin of meat. Even though the fish meat was incredibly fresh and sweet, he had to force himself to keep eating, thankful that the contained Water Ze Essence did not disappoint.

[Water Ze Essence +3.4]

After sucking the marrow out of the fish bones and tossing the bones to the two beasts, Liang Qu felt slightly out of breath and his body heated up, but he insisted on getting up and started exercising according to the refinement method in Ape Fist.

Training right after consuming the treasure fish yielded the best results and should not be wasted.

The quality of the Tiger Head Spotted Fish was not as good as the Bull Horn Pomfret, but its larger size meant a greater overall boost to his vitality.

As Liang Qu practiced his punches, he quickly felt a rush of heat throughout his body, followed by the re-emergence of that trace of qi in his chest.

Previously, it would only appear halfway through his routine, but now just after finishing three stances, the qi was already present, which showed the exceptional effect of the treasure fish.

The qi surged and grew rapidly as he excreted sweat and oil. By the time he completed the entire set, he looked as if he had been fished out of water.

After drinking down the fish soup to replenish his fluids and feeling the fish meat in his stomach still not fully digested, Liang Qu overcame his fatigue and went through the routine once more.

He continued the exercises until dark, when the fish meat in his belly was completely digested.

By then, the trace of qi in his chest had grown from a thin strand to as thick as a lock of hair and did not immediately dissipate afterward; instead, it continued to circulate for a short time.

Exhausted, Liang Qu collapsed on the boat, unable to move, and with drooping eyelids, he fell into a deep sleep.

The Zhupo Dragon and the catfish circled the boat quietly, keeping watch.

The next morning, Liang Qu, sticky all over, dived into the water for a thorough wash, and once back on land, his body showed more defined muscle contours, and he seemed taller and more heroic.

According to what Hu Qi had said, as soon as the qi within the chest becomes thick as a pinkie finger, one could start the Skin Refinement challenge. Judging by his current progress, wouldn't it take less than three months?

The breakthrough in Skin Pass was within reach!

Liang Qu's mood soared as he looked towards the rising sun, seemingly picturing a brand-new life ahead of him.

"Fatty, go catch some fish. When you're done, continue guarding the lotus roots."