Chapter 297: The Invisible Algae
Chapter 297: The Invisible Algae
On the outskirts of Kongming Island, Lu Chen stood tall and straight on a massive boulder, gazing down at the waters below.
Song Yu and two other Sung clan cultivators, weathered by the sun and wind, stood anxiously behind him.
Suddenly, a Kongming Spirit Fish, nearly five feet in length, shot out of the water and crashed into a large reef ahead.
Lu Chen's brows furrowed slightly, and he unleashed a surge of spiritual pressure to intercept the fish, which was attempting to harm itself.
With a thought, the spirit fish floated gently before him, its tail twitching anxiously in mid-air. The fish shimmered with a crystalline glow, appearing incredibly beautiful.
Without a word, Lu Chen produced a Fu talisman in his hand. Sacred, pure white light radiated from the talisman, enveloping the controlled spirit fish.
Even as the white light faded, the fish showed no signs of any abnormalities.
The Immaculate Jade pendant hanging around his neck also indicated no presence of any sinister influence.
"Firstly, we can rule out the presence of a sinister entity," Lu Chen thought to himself.
He then slowly extended his spiritual sense into the fish's body, meticulously examining every inch of its flesh and organs. Again, he found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Bring me some of the seaweed used to feed these spirit fish." Lu Chen instructed the two Sung clan cultivators who specialized in raising the Kongming Spirit Fish.
Feeding them was his tried and true method for dealing with uncertain situations.
He took a handful of pale blue seaweed from the dark-skinned cultivator and forcibly stuffed it into the spirit fish's mouth.
As he focused his attention on the fish's body, a piece of information suddenly flashed through his mind.
Kongming Spirit Fish: A second-rate demon beast known for its incredible speed and delicious, tender meat. It is rich in spiritual energy and highly favored by cultivators.
The spirit fish is in a frenzied state due to the presence of Invisible Algae within its body.
"So, there is something hidden within it! But what is this Invisible Algae?" Lu Chen's eyes lit up with excitement, but he soon furrowed his brows in confusion.
He had thoroughly searched the spirit fish earlier but found nothing that seemed related to the Invisible Algae.
"There's only one possibility then. This Invisible Algae has an extremely stealthy nature, capable of evading even the detection of a cultivator in the early stages of foundation establishment," Lu Chen thought, fully trusting the information that appeared in his mind. He was now even more convinced that he simply hadn't been able to locate the algae himself.
"How can I find it then?" he wondered, just as he was about to release the spirit fish back into the water. But his movement suddenly halted.
"If it can't be found on shore in a short time, returning it to the water and its familiar environment will only make it harder to discover," Lu Chen realized.
"Right now, I should place the Invisible Algae in an unfamiliar environment. By changing its living conditions, perhaps I can find a breakthrough and expose it," he thought.
With that in mind, Lu Chen retracted the spiritual energy he had extended and froze the spirit fish in mid-air.
Under the scorching sun, the spirit fish felt extremely uncomfortable as the sunlight bore down on it.
"I'm going to use this spirit fish for an experiment," Lu Chen declared, his tone brooking no opposition.
As he spoke, a crimson longsword appeared in his hand. The sword trembled slightly, and the crimson patterns on its surface shifted, causing fiery flames to erupt from both sides of the Blazing Edge.
With Lu Chen's spiritual power guiding them, the crimson flames drifted below the spirit fish, arranging themselves to roast the fish's underside continuously.
"Hiding within this fish, I wonder if you're prepared to perish along with it," Lu Chen said coldly.
As the fiery flames continued to roast the spirit fish's underside, a burnt smell began to waft through the air, and its once shimmering body turned charred black.
"I've finally found you."
Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief as he channeled a thin strand of Emerald source energy, as fine as a silk thread, from his fingertips.
Since the invisible algae was a spiritual plant, then the Cyanwood source energy, condensed from the life essence of the Green Spirit Deer and imbued with the purest wood and plant spirit energy from the heavens and earth, could be used to nurture and cultivate it.
True to his expectation, the delicate strand of Cyan Wood source energy was absorbed by the transparent globule.
He focused his mental energy on the droplet, and a thought emerged in his mind.
Invisible Algae, a second-rate spiritual plant that originates from the depths of the ocean. It is formless and colorless, possessing an extremely strong ability to hide and parasitize sea creatures, gradually merging with them. When mature, it can be used to refine invisible talismans and charms.
It is extremely difficult to survive in a scorching environment.
When I entered your body and merged with you, you didn't even sense my presence.
"So, it's a peculiar spiritual plant," Lu Chen mused.
The crimson flames in his hand intensified, erupting with searing heat, causing the large globule of transparent water to change continuously and shrink in size.
Finally, only a thin, transparent membrane remained, wriggling in his hand.
"Master Lu, is this the culprit behind the abnormal behavior of the Kongming Spirit Fish, driving them to the point of self-harm?"
Song Yu asked curiously from the side, and the other two cultivators who specialized in raising the spirit fish also looked on with intrigue.
"Indeed," Lu Chen nodded in affirmation. "This is called Invisible Algae, a special type of spiritual plant. It is formless and colorless, with an extremely strong ability to hide. It's very difficult to detect when it parasitizes a spirit fish."
"I see. No wonder we couldn't find anything wrong even after trying so many methods. In the water, it's just a droplet, and when merged with the spirit fish, it becomes indistinguishable," Song Yu exclaimed.
"Even if the spirit fish sense something amiss in their bodies and try to mitigate the risk in various ways, they can't find a solution because they don't know what's causing it," one of the cultivators added.
"We're fortunate to have Master Lu identify the root cause of the spirit fish's abnormal behavior," the other cultivator said, heaving a sigh of relief.
If something had happened to these Kongming Spirit Fish, resulting in a significant loss, his value in the Sky Sword Sect would have plummeted.
"However, why would this type of peculiar spiritual plant appear in the waters where we raise the spirit fish? We've never detected its presence in all these years," the dark-skinned cultivator asked, puzzled.
Lu Chen held the thin, transparent membrane that kept flowing in his hand, a subtle glint flashing in his eyes.
"This Invisible Algae usually grows in the depths of the ocean. The waters where these spirit fish are raised are in the coastal area. So, what attracted these spiritual plants to travel thousands of miles and end up here?" Lu Chen wondered silently.
"Even if a sea beast carried the seeds or spores of the Invisible Algae here, it's unlikely to cause such a large number of spirit fish to exhibit abnormal behavior in a short period," he continued.
"Then, there's only one possibility. Someone deliberately scattered a large amount of Invisible Algae seeds or young plants in these waters," he deduced.
"It seems that the primary goal is to eliminate a large number of Kongming Spirit Fish and occupy these waters with the Invisible Algae, altering the spirit fish's living environment and driving them away."
"Of course, it's also possible that this scheme was devised specifically to inflict a huge loss on the Song family."
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
