Journey to the West: From Fish-Chasing Boy to the Boundless Heavenly Venerable of the Golden Palace

"Have you heard? A couple of days ago at Heron Beach in the middle of the river, General Iron Anchor and the minions of the Black Snake King got into another fight."

"It wasn't just a fight, it was a major battle! It's said that King Wuli sent out hundreds of monsters, but not only did they fail to capture General Tie Anchor, more than a dozen of them were killed."

"There aren't just a dozen or so, there are definitely dozens! And among them are four or five fish spirits in their transformation stage!"

"I heard that the entire army under the command of the Black Snake King was wiped out."

In the kitchen at dawn, the little spirits in the Qi Awakening stage were dividing up blood food while whispering excitedly to each other.

Hearing this while patrolling, Li Yue couldn't help but shake his head inwardly; the rumors were getting more and more outrageous.

Two days ago, he did fight with the minions of the Blackfish King again, but he only killed six small fish spirits. Seeing that things were not going well, the remaining dozen or so fled. It was not as impressive as the battle with hundreds of monsters.

To be honest, ever since the three transformed fish spirits of the Snakehead King were killed, the two sides have been enemies, and they have fought more than a dozen times in the past two months.

The other side had clearly discovered that Li Yue was trading with merchants and would go to their rescue if a ship encountered danger. So they simply sent fish-spirit water monsters to follow the passing ships, and to dispatch troops if any ship was in distress.

Therefore, unless Li Yue happens to be close enough to the distressed ship to arrive and rescue it first, an encounter is inevitable, and once they meet, a battle is practically unavoidable.

Although he suffered a few minor losses, he killed many of the Black Snake King's men, and gradually, the name of General Iron Anchor became well-known in the Tongtian River.

He has clearly become the number one figure, second only to the old turtle and the three demon kings!

On Li Yue's side, although he was greatly disturbed, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. By killing monsters and subduing demons in the Jingshui River, his experience points continued to increase, and his Iron Anchor General had already reached level two.

"You're also interested in that Anchor General."

Granny Hualian stood to the side and, seeing Li Yue listening to the little spirits chatting, couldn't help but ask with a smile.

"I'm just listening to it as casual conversation."

Li Yue said it casually, his gaze showing no emotion.

"To be able to fight against the rough reef all by himself is truly impressive."

The silver carp clicked its tongue in surprise, then suddenly said something.

"By the way, I heard that he and you are from the same clan, and he is also a carp spirit."

"What a coincidence."

Li Yue feigned slight surprise, but didn't say much.

There are at least dozens of carp spirits in the Tongtian River, so Granny Hualian shouldn't suspect him because of that; it was probably just a casual remark.

Although Li Yuexing was elusive and even somewhat mysterious in the eyes of the kitchen spirits, everyone knew that he was timid and honest, making it difficult to associate him with the fierce Iron Anchor General.

Have you heard?

As expected, Granny Hualian did not ask any further questions. Suddenly, she deliberately lowered her voice and said in a serious tone.

"There's a rumor that General Iron Anchor also obtained a golden lotus seed!"

"Golden lotus seeds?"

Li Yue was taken aback; this was truly unexpected.

He has no golden lotus seeds at all.

However, upon further reflection, it's hard to imagine that someone wielding such a divine artifact as the Wave-Stopping Dock, possessing supernatural powers and magic, would suddenly appear at this moment, inevitably leading others to think of Golden Lotus Seed.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself; this was a huge misunderstanding.

"I remember that on the day the immortals descended, there wasn't a single carp spirit among the spirits who received the golden lotus seeds."

"That day was that day, and now is now."

The silver carp snorted lightly, her face showing disdain.

"Those seven little demons were lucky enough to obtain the Golden Lotus Seeds, but little did they know that fortune and misfortune were intertwined. Because of the Golden Lotus Seeds, they were hunted down by almost all the aquatic creatures of the Tongtian River. In the end, only a few were able to keep the Golden Lotus Seeds. It is unknown who will ultimately get those seven Golden Lotus Seeds."

"so."

Li Yue nodded, agreeing that this was indeed the case.

Despite having a lewd talisman, Li Yue didn't really care about the golden lotus seeds that the eight thousand aquatic creatures of the Tongtian River coveted, so he didn't pay much attention to them.

Hearing Granny Hualian say this now, it was like a sudden enlightenment.

"Hurry up, all of you! Don't even think about resting until you've finished cutting all this bloody food!"

After exchanging a few words with Li Yuexian, Granny Hualian walked to the table and scolded the little spirits who were dividing up the blood food.

Li Yue also went to continue patrolling to prevent any small monsters from stealing the food.

Aside from his conflict with the Black Snake King, the Tongtian River has been unusually turbulent these past few days.

Not only the snakehead king, but also the shrimp upstream and the whale-swallowing king downstream are making various moves, frequently sending monsters to invade the waters of the water turtles.

The patrolling soldiers of the Water Turtle tribe have been constantly clashing with them, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries.

Therefore, the Water Palace issued an order that, apart from the patrol team, no one else was allowed to leave the Water Palace at will. If they had to leave, they had to inform their respective commanders or stewards and obtain their approval before leaving.

In this way, Li Yue could no longer use fishing as an excuse to go out during the day.

Fortunately, the silver carp was quite lenient with him, and if any boats encountered danger, he could still find an excuse to leave.

"What happened?"

The Tongtian River is in such turmoil that something is clearly happening.

Li Yue thought about it and concluded that no matter how the three demon kings fought each other or sent people to search everywhere, they were ultimately inseparable from the Golden Lotus Seed.

In fact, the turmoil in the Tongtian River began when the Immortal of the Nest-Building Cultivator preached and seven golden lotus seeds appeared in the world.

Li Yue sighed inwardly. He originally wanted to focus on improving his position as a priest in the Yin Si Lu, and then escape ashore once his Taoist cultivation and supernatural powers had improved. However, many setbacks occurred.

But that's how things are. What can a little fish spirit like him do? In this turbulent current, all he can do is protect himself.

"Quickly! The princess has ordered that 30,000 catties of blood food be prepared immediately!"

Just after Chen Shi (7-9 AM), a clam spirit suddenly came to the kitchen and hurriedly gave a loud order.

"Thirty thousand catties!"

As soon as the silver carp woman approached, she was stunned by the number. After a moment, she came to her senses and pleaded with a pained expression.

"Little Clam Spirit, this is enough for five days' worth of blood food! How can we possibly prepare it all in such a short time!"

"Stop talking nonsense! This is the princess's order. Everything must be ready before 11 PM, or I'll pluck out all your scales!"

The clam spirit snorted coldly, not bothering to argue with the carp woman, and turned to leave after delivering the message.

The Flower Carp Granny stood there stunned, then ran towards the kitchen and roared loudly at all the little monsters.

"Are you all deaf?! Didn't you hear me? Prepare the blood offerings right now, or I'll tear your bones off!"

Then he quickly had all the bloody food brought out and began to divide it.

With only two hours left, Li Yue also went to the table and helped with the division.

While busy, he was also puzzled as to why the Grand Steward suddenly wanted so much blood food.

The princess mentioned by the clam spirit is one of the old turtle's daughters. After transforming into human form, she was named Yuyao and is now the Grand Steward of the Water Palace, in charge of all logistical affairs.

Two hours and 30,000 catties of blood food—normally, even if the kitchen was working like crazy, it would be impossible to finish.

But Granny Hua Lian inquired and learned that there was an upcoming battle in the Water Palace, and these blood offerings were for rewarding the troops.

There were a total of 600 brave soldiers and 30,000 catties of blood food, which is 50 catties per person.

Since that's the case, we only need to make each portion into 50-pound portions. Smaller items like fish, shrimp, chicken, and duck don't need to be divided at all. Even larger animals like pigs and sheep only need to be cut into several pieces.

After two hours, the 30,000 catties of blood food were finally divided up, and the little demons carried it up in carts and on their backs.

"Finally finished."

Watching the blood offering depart, Granny Flower Carp breathed a sigh of relief; her scales were saved after all.

"Sir, what's this all about? There's suddenly a battle going on. What happened?"

Li Yue, standing to the side, couldn't help but ask a question.

"I don't know, but judging from the situation, it looks like a tough battle is about to begin."

The silver carp smacked her lips, then let out a soft sigh and smiled.

"Fortunately, we're just menial laborers, so we don't have to risk our lives."