The next day, Owen Bertram went to the riverbank as usual, pretending to look for pearls. After observing for a while and finding nothing unusual, he quickly ran towards the tree hole.
Soon, Owen pulled out a bag from the tree hole. Inside, there were three weapons, two tokens, six gems, and something that looked like a tortoise shell.
Owen picked up the gems and exclaimed, "These are great, but I don't dare to use them."
At that moment, Little Loach inside his gourd began to cause a ruckus.
Owen let Little Loach out, wondering what mischief it was up to this time.
Little Loach went straight for those items. Owen hastily raised the gems, still reluctant to use them. Although they were precious, they would come in handy once he left the village.
However, Little Loach ignored the gems and bit into a Willow leaf blade instead.
Crack!
A piece of the Willow leaf blade was bitten off by it!
Owen was startled, "You can eat this too?"
Little Loach took a few more bites and then anxiously circled around Owen. Owen attached his soul to Little Loach and understood what it wanted.
"It's too big; help me cut it."
Owen widened his eyes, "This is a cultivator's weapon, not a steak, you know?"
"How am I supposed to cut it for you? With that tiny toothpick dagger you gave me?"
Little Loach grew even more anxious, leaving Owen with no choice but to draw his Bone dagger. "Listen, these are magical instruments, not my crappy little knife. If the Bone dagger gets damaged, you have to replace it for me."
Owen dared not use these instruments carelessly.
As the Bone dagger touched the Willow leaf blade, crack! The blade was cut in half.
It was difficult indeed, but he had managed to cut the Willow leaf blade!
Owen looked at the Bone dagger in his hand, puzzled. "Is this thing really that powerful? It can even cut through a cultivator's magical instrument?"
Little Loach squirmed impatiently, and Owen snapped back to reality. "Alright, alright, no need to rush."
With one cut after another, Owen chopped the Willow leaf blade into small pieces. Little Loach, like a greedy snake, followed behind him, swallowing the pieces one by one.
The two astonishingly managed to work together in sync!
After devouring the entire Willow leaf blade, the little creature still seemed unsatisfied. Owen then cut up another Crescent moon flying dagger for it.
This time, Little Loach finally seemed content. It rolled around on the ground, holding its slightly whitened belly up towards the sun.
Owen knew this would happen and grumbled, "You're getting lazier by the day, always trying to get away with doing less work. We still have to support our little sister, you know.
She may be a bit naïve, but she's still our flesh and blood. I'm the elder brother, and you're the second brother. We both have some abilities now, so we can't let our sister go hungry anymore, can we?"
It seemed that these words had an effect, as Little Loach courageously took on the responsibility of supporting their family. It rolled around a couple more times, and then suddenly quivered, emitting a burst of multicolored radiance that flowed all over its body.
After that, the little creature shook again, producing a metallic clang!
Owen noticed that the fine scales on Little Loach's body were now shimmering with a magnificent metallic sheen, and it seemed to have grown larger too.
It had been a foot long before, but now it was around a foot and three or four inches.
Then, acting swaggeringly, Little Loach brushed its whiskers with its tail, jumped into the water, and urged, "Let's get to work! We still have a sister to feed."
Owen Bertram put the remaining items back into the bag and, after some consideration, decided to store them in the tree hollow.
Then, he returned to the small river where he usually worked, with a bold idea in mind.
Little Loach had grown much larger, its tail alone capable of smashing a Fierce Fish to pieces. It could easily survive in the nearby waters of the village. However, Owen was too young, and it would be too conspicuous for a teenager to go to the Great River in search of pearls.
The village not only had poor and desperate people, but also dangerous criminals on death row.
So Owen's plan was to attach his soul to Little Loach and let it search for pearls in the Great River. After finding the pearl, Little Loach would still be the one to bring it back.
Little Loach used to be too weak.
Now, the problem was that Owen had never tried to control Little Loach from such a long distance.
Owen hid himself by the small river, his soul connected with Little Loach, who then swam downstream. After about seven or eight miles, a larger river appeared.
Owen breathed a sigh of relief, the connection between himself and Little Loach was still very tight. It seemed that within the village, Little Loach would have no problem reaching any body of water.
Little Loach blended with the current and ventured into the heart of the Great River. Owen felt a sense of excitement, this was his first time in such a large river.
Extinct Village was quite strange, with the influence of Cold Poison, all living creatures here had become ferocious, and the fishes and shrimps in this river were no exception.
The larger the river, the more powerful the fierce creatures, but there would also be more and larger pearls.
However, after attaching his soul this time, Owen felt something strange in his throat, not exactly uncomfortable, but peculiar.
Suddenly, a surge of water rushed from the side, causing Little Loach to tumble.
A gigantic Fierce Fish, half a zhang long, swam arrogantly past. Owen secretly gasped as he saw the fish's tail but also noted that the front half resembled a river shrimp. Its two black pincers were hook-shaped, sharp as a slaughter knife.
Two long whiskers grew on its head, dangling two glowing Bone Beads.
Owen drooled with envy, feeling that the two Bone Beads should be worth more than ordinary pearls.
A strong appetite emerged in Little Loach's body... Owen immediately suppressed it.
Without a doubt, that terrible fish was the overlord of this area of the river. It paid no attention to such a small piece of flesh as Little Loach and swam away, swaying its massive body.
"This thing... is probably a Demon Beast, right?"
This was Owen's first time at the Great River, and he was naturally quite curious. He swam around and once, closer to the shore, saw Uncle Yao from the village standing on the bank, constantly moving his body and holding a dagger in his mouth before diving into the water to search for pearls.
A few Shichen later, Owen had a rough understanding of this section of the river and was preparing to start his search. However, he suddenly spotted a glimmer at the bottom of the river ahead and thought, is my luck that good?
Little Loach's round body twisted and quietly swam toward the light, but the glow disappeared just as it approached.
Owen suddenly became cautious, sinking to the bottom of the river and crawling through the sediment.
The water was dark and gloomy; Owen finally saw that it was the Dominant Ferocious Fish! The flashing light earlier was not a pearl, but its two Bone Beads.
Owen turned to leave, but halfway through, he stopped.
Just now, that Fierce Fish extinguished its Bone Beads, not looking like it was hunting. Moreover, its two large pincers were stuck in the mud, as if burying something.
Owen thought for a moment, then hid in the sediment, waiting. After a while, he went back and took another look. The Fierce Fish was still in its original place, so Little Loach quietly retreated.
When he went to observe the area for the fourth time, the Fierce Fish was finally gone. However, Owen didn't dare act rashly. He memorized the location before returning the way he came. The sky was getting dark after a day of adventure.
Owen went home, had dinner with his sister, and then, holding her, crawled into the burrow.