Chapter 849: Principles of Fishing

After reciting the oath, Zhong Shentong felt a heavy weight on his heart, as if an invisible shackles had been added.

"Hahaha, good," Ji Shaoli exclaimed, seemingly relieved. He instantly put away all the magic treasures that had been protecting him, appearing completely unguarded.

This further convinced Zhong Shentong that the initiation oath must contain some restrictive power.

"Since Fellow Daoist Zhong has joined, why doesn't little girl Liuli join as well?" Ji Shaoli said with a beaming smile.

Although his words were a suggestion, his tone brooked no refusal.

Zhong Shentong, left with no choice, signaled Liuli to comply.

There was no need for a special telepathic message.

Having only heard Zhong Shentong recite it once, Liuli had already memorized the entire oath.

She then repeated it perfectly, without missing a single word.

Watching her complete the initiation oath, and seeing her still appear carefree and completely unstressed, Zhong Shentong couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Indeed, a newborn calf fears no tiger. Such a young child knows nothing of the mysteries of True Immortals."

Ji Shaoli, noticing Zhong Shentong's troubled expression, spoke up, "Fellow Daoist Zhong, there's no need to worry. I've already contacted headquarters. This fishing pond will remain under your care."

"Everything will remain as it was."

Zhong Shentong was immediately surprised by this.

"Furthermore, we won't conceal this place at all. After all, only treasures need to be hidden. What reason is there to specially protect a mere ordinary small pond? However, outside your small temple in the mountains, you could set up a formation to prevent outsiders from prying again," Ji Shaoli said slowly.

"If it truly gets leaked, we can quickly arrive to provide support."

Ji Shaoli's detailed explanation dispelled most of Zhong Shentong's doubts.

"It seems I was overly cautious. This Myriad Realms Alliance truly lives up to its name," he thought to himself.

With Lin Ling's help, a protective formation was quickly set up outside the small temple.

Ji Shaoli then offered to take out some magic treasures for Zhong Shentong's self-defense.

Zhong Shentong, who hadn't felt such care in a long time, actually felt a little embarrassed.

"There's no need for these things. Over the years, I, this old Daoist, have fished up far too many miscellaneous items."

"If a real crisis arises, they wouldn't be much help anyway."

He shook his head.

As he spoke, he tossed over a storage ring.

"Fellow Daoist, see if there's anything valuable in here that I might have overlooked?"

Ji Shaoli's divine sense swept through the storage ring's space, which resembled a junkyard piled high with various items.

After a moment, he shook his head and said, "Not much value."

"However..." Ji Shaoli paused slightly.

"While some items aren't high quality, they might have other additional value. After all, most of these come from other cultivation realms. To my knowledge, some cultivators are quite interested in such objects."

Zhong Shentong nodded slightly: "I naturally understand that principle. But fearing it would attract unwanted attention, I simply chose not to sell them."

"But now, you don't need to worry about that," Ji Shaoli said, putting away the storage ring.

"We'll have specialists handle these items. When they're sold, half the profits will go to the alliance, and the other half will still be returned to you, Fellow Daoist."

Zhong Shentong had no objections to this arrangement and remarked, "Having strong backing is indeed better than fighting alone."

"The fishing pond is an extremely rare treasure. Within the alliance, strict confidentiality measures will be taken regarding it. Only occasionally will someone come to fish; it won't be very frequent," Ji Shaoli explained the future arrangements to Zhong Shentong.

These various measures made him feel increasingly at ease.

After this, Ji Shaoli then asked him about his experience fishing in the starry sky.

"What exactly is 'using intent as bait'?"

"Can any intent be used?"

After pondering for a moment, Zhong Shentong explained, "The fishing pond doesn't come with instructions; I've had to figure everything out on my own."

"Based on my experience over the years, using intent as bait generally follows the principle of like attracting like."

"There are countless light clusters within the fishing pond, each naturally categorized by different attributes."

"Light clusters similar to the condensed intent-bait are more easily caught."

Zhong Shentong then took out the Primordial Purple Gold Gourd and said, "For example, this gourd was something I was lucky enough to fish up after visualizing a similar gourd-shaped offensive magic treasure that I had seen before."

Ji Shaoli pondered after hearing this: "If those light clusters have their own consciousness, wouldn't that mean they are attracted to intent-bait that resembles them or piques their interest?"

Zhong Shentong nodded.

"Even so, it still largely depends on luck," Zhong Shentong said with a frown.

"The starry sky within this fishing pond is far too vast. The range that the intent-bait can influence each time is but a small corner of it. For the fishing line to drop and just happen to hit a light cluster that can be attracted..."

"Difficult, difficult, difficult!" Zhong Shentong repeated the word three times, expressing his helplessness.

"I think there should be a special technique meant to be used with this fishing pond, but it seems to have vanished, leaving only the pond in existence," he lamented.

Ji Shaoli also nodded in agreement.

The two's conversation was conducted solely through divine sense transmission.

Liuli and Lin Ling, who were nearby, were unaware of it.

In this short time, however, their relationship had quickly warmed up.

They no longer glared at each other, but were playing together.

Zhong Shentong watched this scene, filled with emotion.

"I see this Senior..."

After a moment of hesitation, Zhong Shentong still refrained from saying the word "Senior."

"This young lady named Lin Ling, she doesn't seem very old?" he asked tentatively.

Ji Shaoli nodded: "She's only been born for a little over a decade and hasn't experienced worldly affairs, so she still has a child's mentality."

These words completely stunned Zhong Shentong.

"A little over a decade? Harmonizing with the Dao?"

"Heh heh, Fellow Daoist, there's no need to be surprised. Within our alliance, there are countless peerless geniuses. This level of talent..."

"Is nothing remarkable," Ji Shaoli smiled mysteriously, offering only this simple explanation.

Zhong Shentong's mind reeled in utter shock.

Meanwhile, Ji Shaoli tried fishing again.

His mind settled, entering the infinitely dazzling starry sky.

"Intent as bait..."

He attempted to condense his visualization into bait.

As expected, he failed.

However, he was lucky this time and fished up a blue light cluster.

Its specific use was unclear, but it appeared to be a fragment of some magic treasure.

After a fruitless attempt to study it, Ji Shaoli temporarily put it away.

For a period after that, he stayed in the small temple, practicing daily to increase his proficiency.

As he grew more familiar with Zhong Shentong and his disciple, his progress soared with their guidance.

Half a month later, Ji Shaoli finally managed to condense intent-bait for the first time.