Chapter 28: Exterminating the Parasites
The boy's words were filled with sincerity, and for a moment, the fishpond fell so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
Li Quanshu's smile froze on her face: "Junior Brother, although you're quite handsome, you don't need to speak sometimes."
Li Quanqing looked hurt: "Senior Sister, your words wound me deeply. I've always respected you like an elder brother, just like Senior Brother Quanlin!"
Li Quanshu ignored him: "Open the formation. Are these demonic parasites causing the large green fish to become aggressive and attack more frequently?"
Li Quanqing nodded, hesitating slightly: "Senior Sister, those parasites are hard to deal with."
"Don't worry, I can handle it."
The girl stood at the bow of the boat, her robes fluttering in the sea breeze, her brows raised, exuding a heroic aura.
As soon as she entered the formation, splash a parasitized large green fish leaped out of the water, hurtling toward her like a cannonball.
Li Quanshu remained unfazed. With a wave of her delicate hand, the temperature plummeted wherever her spiritual energy passed, and the seawater instantly froze into a layer of ice.
Crack! Crack!
The cold surged, and the ice spread rapidly. The large green fish struggled a few times before being completely frozen in the thick, hard ice.
"Ice-based cultivation technique!"
Li Quanqing's eyes widened in surprise. The girl had switched from her original Cloud Water Art to an ice-based technique.
Wind, thunder, and ice were the three most famous rare spiritual roots, and matching cultivation techniques were extremely scarce. He had no idea where she had gotten hers.
"Water and fire spiritual roots are naturally opposed, making cultivation difficult. My father went to great lengths to find a Pure Ice Art for me."
"He hoped that I could use the power of ice to completely suppress my fire spiritual root. Cultivating has indeed become much easier since then."
The biting cold swept over them, and Li Quanqing felt a twinge of envy.
For low-level cultivators, the offensive power of water-based spells was indeed much weaker than that of ice-based ones.
Li Quanshu looked at him with a playful expression: "Junior Brother, do you want to learn it too? Although this technique doesn't have a Foundation Establishment chapter, its power is immense, and it's more than enough for us."
Hearing this, Li Quanqing's hopes were instantly dashed.
Squeak! Squeak!
The large green fish, trapped in the ice, twitched slightly as the cold seeped in. Soon, the sharp, agonized cries of the parasites echoed through the air.
The green scales of the fish bulged as the Demon Transformation Parasites wriggled out, their thin, hook-like bodies sending shivers down one's spine.
They opened their grotesque mouths, lined with serrated teeth, and began gnawing at the ice, producing a sound like silkworms eating mulberry leaves.
"These demonic parasites are extremely vulnerable to cold. We can use this to force them out of the large green fish, minimizing the losses for the fish farmers."
Li Quanqing thought of the lunar essence condensed by the Moonlight Clams, which also belonged to the yin attribute and could effectively counter the parasites.
The girl stared intently, then suddenly sighed: "What a pity..."
As dozens of Demon Transformation Parasites fully emerged, the large green fish let out a crack and suddenly split into pieces.
The warm demon blood stained the ice, and the once plump, powerful fish now looked as fragile as paper.
The tails of the parasites had completely fused with the fish's spine, forming sections of sticky, flesh-covered green bones that dragged behind their bodies.
Only the large fish head remained, its eyes wide and mouth agape, helpless and futile.
Seeing this spine-chilling scene, Li Quanqing suddenly felt a dull ache in his lower back.
"This fish is beyond saving."
Li Quanshu concluded, gently pressing her hand down.
Crack! Crack!
The ice layer collapsed, and the cold erupted, freezing both the parasites and the large green fish into icy fragments.
Standing on lotus platforms and protected by the formation, they quickly moved through the fishpond, working diligently.
Some of the large green fish had only recently been parasitized and hadn't yet had their bones assimilated by the parasites.
A burst of cold was enough to drive the Demon Transformation Parasites out of their bodies.
Once the parasites emerged from the ice, Li Quanqing immediately used his Golden Metal Sword Energy to slice them into mincemeat, ensuring they were completely eradicated.
Only then would Li Quanshu thaw the ice and release the severely chilled large green fish, at least saving their lives.
With his golden finger ability, any fish that hadn't been completely cleansed of parasites was promptly identified and executed on the spot.
A day passed, and they had dealt with five hundred large green fish. Only about seventy or eighty could be saved.
"The losses are devastating!"
Li Quanqing crushed a few green fish scales in his hand, which were as brittle as rotten wood. His heart ached.
The Demon Transformation Parasites fused with the spine and bones of their hosts. When nearing death, they would devour all the essence within the host, leaving nothing behind.
The large green fish had truly died in vain.
Their flesh, blood, scales, and bones had all been consumed by these parasites.
Li Quanqing was heartbroken over the loss of spirit stones and grain but even more so over the light sphere rewards he hadn't been able to harvest.
Surprisingly, the Stone Spirit Loaches, with their rock-hard skin and lack of scales, had managed to escape unscathed.
"The losses are indeed heavy, but Junior Brother, you're not the worst off."
Li Quanshu sat cross-legged on the other side of the reef, holding a spirit stone and meditating under the moonlight to recover the spiritual energy she had expended during the day.
"The parasite outbreak in the B-zone fishpond is truly terrifying. There were even Azure Jade Carp that were parasitized, their bodies hollowed out, and from them emerged Qi Refinement-level demon butterflies!"
The scene was horrifying. The demon butterflies filled the sky, blotting out the sun, and giving birth to new life from the corpses of the spirit fish.
The large green fish's dream of becoming a demon immortal had ended before it even began, their bodies hollowed out, serving only as vessels for the parasites.
It was said that even the Li family's Foundation Establishment cultivators were alarmed, instructing the higher-ups to temporarily seal off the news and investigate the mastermind behind this.
However, Li Quanqing doubted they would succeed.
The elders hadn't even figured out the name or origin of these parasites yet.
"Recently, all family cultivators who practice ice-based techniques have been secretly summoned, but their numbers are far too few."
"Fortunately, with the help of a large number of ice-based talismans, we managed to prevent the parasite outbreak in the B-zone fishpond from spreading further."
Li Quanshu lay on the rock, playing with the Ironbone Crabs, her feet gently tapping the water's surface. Her delicate features showed rare signs of exhaustion:
"However, since parasites have been found in your fishpond, it's likely that the remaining fishponds won't be spared either!"
The girl's prediction was correct. Within just two days,
the parasite outbreak began to spread across the hundreds of li of the B-zone fishpond, shocking the entire family and casting a shadow of gloom over everyone.
Time was tight, and the task was urgent. After dealing with Li Quanqing's problem,
Li Quanshu didn't even have time to rest. Under the family's arrangements, she immediately headed to other zones to continue the parasite extermination mission.
Looking at the now nearly empty fishpond, with only a few large green fish swimming leisurely in the water,
Li Quanqing felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
Slurp! Slurp!
The unpleasant sound broke the melancholic atmosphere.
The Ironbone Crab King was using its claws to hold a Demon Transformation Parasite, eating it with great relish, clearly enjoying itself.
It swallowed the entire parasite like a spicy strip, so delicious that it kept tapping the rock with its claws, producing a rhythmic tap-tap sound.
The other Ironbone Crabs were also fighting over the parasites. Some ended up sharing the same one, and with a pop, the parasite's body split open, its juices spilling out.
"Is it really that delicious?"
Li Quanqing couldn't help but feel curious.
These were the frozen corpses of the parasites. He had kept some on a whim, trying to feed them to the Ironbone Crabs.
Unexpectedly, the results were surprisingly good.
[Harvested one Qi Refinement stage Ironbone Crab. Reward: One high-grade Golden Light Talisman!]
After eating a few "spicy strips," the Ironbone Crab King finally reached maturity.