Chapter 1: Xu Yang_1

Dongting Lake, Cloud Dream Marsh, stretching across eight hundred miles, the mist and waves boundless and vast.

It was deep autumn, the wind mournful, the fog thickening, and the first hints of cold emerging.

In a patch of reeds, wisps of smoke rose from an old tattered boat with a black cloth canopy.

At the bow, in front of the cabin door, sat a man wearing a conical hat and a straw raincoat, perched on a small stool, tending to the small stove in front of him.

He appeared to be very old; beneath the conical hat, his hair was completely white and withered, his face deeply lined and spotted, bearing the signs of years and hardship. His bent body looked even thinner beneath the vast straw raincoat, exuding an air of twilight throughout, teetering on the brink, worn out and frail.

An old patched-up boat, an ancient fisherman, in the eight hundred miles of Dongting Lake, was not particularly unusual.

The old fisherman sat at the bow, manipulating the little stove, on which sat a small clay pot cooking a pale yellow coarse rice porridge, the inviting aroma of rice porridge slowly spreading.

Soon after, the soup boiled, and the old man took a large bowl from beside him. The bowl contained various prepared shrimps and crabs, as well as orange fish roe and tender fish flesh, heaped full to the brim.

The old man poured it all into the pot. As the porridge bubbled, the dark shrimps and crabs gradually turned red, and the tender, jade-like fish flesh slowly became snow white. A fragrance of fresh, sweet fishiness mixed with the faint aroma of rice porridge filled the air, and then he sprinkled in a few grains of salt, truly making one's mouth water.

In such a manner, after a short while, a pot of river fresh porridge was ready.

The old man took a small bowl, sitting leisurely at the bow, and began to eat.

River delicacies, fresh indeed, but also fishy, might be a rare treat for peasants on land, but to those who lived on the water, it could become somewhat bland or even distasteful.

Xu Yang, however, did not mind, quietly savoring the river fresh porridge he had eaten for uncountable years.

As he ate, he reflected.

How long had he been in this world?

Twenty years?

Thirty years?

No, it was forty years, forty-five years and three months!

Reincarnation, the mystery of the womb, past life memories...

He had been in this world for a full forty-five years!

"Forty-five years!"

Xu Yang sighed deeply and chewed on the shrimp and crabs in his bowl, including their shells.

He was a transmigrator, the kind who reincarnated, arriving in this world to become an ordinary fisherman's son. At the age of eighteen, he deciphered the mystery within the womb, regained his past life's memories, and confirmed that he was indeed reincarnated.

Disregarding the years before his memories returned, he had been in this world as a transmigrator for twenty-seven full years.

Twenty-seven years' time, for another transmigrator, might not mean becoming a founder or shaking the world, but should have achieved some successes and dominated a region.

But Xu Yang... was still a fisherman.

It wasn't that he wasn't striving hard enough, but that this world was more dangerous than he had imagined. A transmigrator's perspective, experience, and knowledge could indeed bring help, even wealth, power, and beautiful women, but could also bring grave dangers and even lethal threats.

In a feudal dynasty, an ancient world where social classes were firmly set and avenues for advancement were nearly sealed off, being an unsupported fisherman's son would be extremely risky to display any transmigrator's advantages. It would be like a child holding gold walking through a bustling market – no need to speak of the consequences.

So, for over twenty years, Xu Yang remained a fisherman... at least ostensibly.

But over those long twenty years, Xu Yang had not wasted his time; on the contrary, he had accumulated much.

Xu Yang

Lifespan: 45/145

Cultivation: None

Skills:

Eating (Chewing, Digestion, Essence, Strong Body, Free Flow)

Sleeping (Calming the Mind, Cultivation, Strengthening the Body, Illness Prevention, Longevity)

Breathing (Concealing Presence, Strong, Vigorous, Longevity)

Cooking (Delicious, Dissection, Essence, River Delicacies)

Fishing (Guaranteed Catch, Fresh, Rare)

Boating (Fast, Steady)

Aquaculture (Taming, Growth, Exotic Fish, Fish Eagle)

Disguise (Camouflage, Voice Changing, Shrinking Bone, Concealing Presence)

Knife Sharpening (Sharp)

Chopping (Powerful)

Flying Stone (Accurate)

Swimming (Like a Fish in Water)

...

These days, transmigrators more or less all have some form of cheat, and Xu Yang was no exception.

He had an attribute panel!

Although this attribute panel did not have a point-adding function, nor did it have experience tasks, it could bestow, or rather, solidify Xu Yang's abilities.

The method of solidification was simple, as long as Xu Yang persisted, and continuously engaged in an activity over the years, even if it was something as trivial as eating, drinking, or sleeping and breathing, the attribute panel would solidify it as a skill and generate various characteristics.

These skill characteristics possessed the power to turn decay into magic.

Take eating as an example, Xu Yang's eating skill now had five skill characteristics: mastication, digestion, essence, strong body, and smooth flow.

Among them, the effect of mastication was that food could be chewed more efficiently, with a powerful set of teeth. Xu Yang could easily crunch through not just the shells of shrimp and crab but even the bones of pigs and cows, and then quickly digest them and absorb nutrients to strengthen himself with the characteristic of "digestion."

The subsequent essence and strong body meant he could get more essence and nutrients from food, have a stronger tonic effect, and strengthen his body.

Others might only absorb thirty to forty percent of the nutrients from a pound of meat, but he could absorb fifty to sixty percent, or even seventy to eighty percent, and make use of these nutrients to have a body-strengthening effect that was ten to twelve times as effective. It was like making one pound do the work of two.

As for the last characteristic, smooth flow... it meant just that, an unobstructed passage, never having to worry about constipation.

Well, that one might seem a bit superfluous, but if we disregard it, the other four skill characteristics were still very powerful.

Coupled with other skills like sleep, breathing, cooking, fishing, and breeding, although Xu Yang was still an old fisherman at the bottom of society, his physical condition was far superior to young and robust men, and he could even rival the legendary martial artists.

Indeed, legend. To someone like him, a commoner, every martial artist was a legendary figure, an existence to be admired from afar, unattainable.

Apart from a strong physique, these skills also granted Xu Yang a long life and various income-generating skills. Even without using the knowledge of a transmigrator and relying solely on his current fishing and hunting skills, he could still make a fortune on Dongting Lake, which spanned eight hundred miles.

But he had not done so because that was dangerous too. There was the possibility of skyrocketing to success, but also the possibility of sinking to the bottom of the lake.

With the help of the attribute panel, he could quietly accumulate wealth and steadily grow without needing to take such risks and invite disaster that threatened his life.

Therefore, after all these years, Xu Yang remained a fisherman, an old fisherman in his twilight years.

Due to factors such as living conditions and medical standards, the lifespan of ancients was generally not long, and this was even more so for boat-dwelling families. Reaching fifty was considered old age, and there were hardly any who lived to their sixties or seventies. The hard labor of braving the wind and rain was too taxing on life; few could endure to such an age.

At Xu Yang's age, he seemed to have only a few years left in the eyes of ordinary people, and it wouldn't be surprising if one day he passed away.

But in reality, Xu Yang had barely passed one-third of his life, and was in the prime of his life. Even if his lifespan did not increase further, he could still live another hundred years without illness or disaster.

Regrettably, that was just theoretical. An old fisherman over a hundred years old would definitely not be seen as a marvel but as a monster. In fact, he wouldn't even have to reach that age; in a few more years, his continued presence would attract all sorts of suspicion and scrutiny.

"Time is running short..."

Xu Yang sighed inwardly, sending the last shrimp into his mouth to be chewed into a paste before swallowing.

Soon, a warm feeling rose from his stomach, spreading to his limbs and nourishing his body.

A pot of fresh river delicacy porridge, enough for two or three burly men, was consumed cleanly by him alone.

Even so, he only felt half full.

Unsatisfied, Xu Yang stood up, took a moderately-sized fish basket from the side, and returned to the cabin. He lifted a wooden panel in the center of the cabin, revealing a hidden net cage beneath it.

Inside the net cage, there were many swimming fish and a few turtles. Xu Yang, with a scoop net in hand, carefully filled the fish basket almost full. The remaining creatures were all released from the cage, and only then did he leave the cabin, pushing the black-canopied boat towards the shore.

He propelled the boat slowly but steadily, the worn black-canopied boat gliding gently over the water, quickly arriving at a dock.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Xu Yang glanced at his reflection in the water. Staring back at him was an old fisherman, stooped in body, clad in a straw hat and oilskin coat, his face spotted and lined, looking extremely aged.

No problems.

Xu Yang nodded to himself, secured the boat, then picked up the fish basket and climbed ashore, his movements labored.

On the bank, a minor official dressed in dark clothes lounged in a reclining chair, idly waving a palm-leaf fan. He only languidly glanced at Xu Yang when he approached and said, "Oh, Old Xu, you're still not dead, huh?"

"Thanks to your good fortune."

Xu Yang, already hunched over, smiled and carefully fished out a few copper coins from his pocket. After counting them back and forth, he placed them on a small table beside the official.

"Mhm."

The official nodded, used his fan to sweep the coins into a bucket, and then paid no further attention to Xu Yang.

Xu Yang said nothing more, hoisted the fish basket on his back, and made his way to the Fish Market.