Chapter 432: Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel
"Mr. Qi, I'll come back to pick you up in three days."
After setting the time, Xu Hai watched Qi Han go ashore, then hurriedly manipulated the air currents, quickly setting sail and leaving this stretch of sea.
With ten-thousand-year spirit beasts appearing in the area, he didn't dare linger for even a moment.
Once the ship had completely disappeared from Qi Han's sight, Qi Han shrugged, patted Pururu in his arms, and said, "Alright, now it's just the two of us."
"Meow~"
Zhui Yun had already been sent into the system's little world by Qi Han. Although it could fly, Qi Han had no intention of letting it carry him across the sea this time.
In regions where sea spirit beasts roamed freely, flying was actually quite difficult. Unless one flew at several thousand meters high—beyond the reach of sea spirit beasts' attacks—many sea spirit beasts had the ability to strike airborne targets. Flying at lower altitudes would simply turn one into a living target.
Coincidentally, Qi Han's target this time, the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel, possessed an innate ability to spit high-pressure water jets. Those jets were like blades of water, with terrifying penetrating power—more than enough to take the life of any weak creature.
So, flying was out of the question.
Stepping onto the island, Qi Han first carried out a simple survey of the island's overall situation.
After all, if nothing unexpected happened, this would be his base for the next three days.
The island had a small amount of freshwater resources, which was why trees could grow here. Aside from that, there were only some low shrubs, trees of modest age, and a small number of animals that weren't even spirit beasts.
Things like wild rabbits, for example.
But compared to the surrounding islands, this place was already quite good.
After finishing his inspection, Qi Han returned to the reef where he had first landed. Holding Pururu, he sat down on a rock and began recalling all the information he knew about the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel as an ingredient.
The Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel was a type of pseudo-dragon, one of the few sea spirit beasts that possessed dragon blood within their bodies. Unlike ordinary eels, it not only lived in the ocean, but its body surface was also covered in a thin yet extremely tough layer of scales.
These scales were smooth like fish scales, allowing it to swim through seawater without resistance, yet they were remarkably resilient, possessing a certain level of strength and defensive capability. When the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel surfaced, its bluish scales would reflect a bright azure sheen—hence the origin of its name.
Among sea spirit beasts, its combat strength was not considered top-tier. Even when it reached the ten-thousand-year level, that was more due to its nature of immediately burrowing into seabed mud or rock crevices whenever danger appeared.
This trait greatly reduced the danger of Qi Han's mission, but the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel's extreme tendency to play it safe also made finding these creatures much more difficult.
"Ru Yi, get me a bucket of silver-thread fish."
"Thank you for your patronage. One hundred gold coins."
Qi Han's face twitched almost imperceptibly, but he still obediently handed over a gold note worth one hundred gold coins.
Immediately afterward, a bucket of silver-thread fish appeared in Qi Han's hands.
Inside the small bucket, these special fish called silver-thread fish were tangled together like strands of silver wire. Each silver-thread fish was only as thick as a scallion, yet its body length was as long as a forearm.
Silver-thread fish were also a type of fish abundantly found in the ocean, and they happened to be one of the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel's favorite foods. Using them as bait to lure Azure-Scaled Dragon Eels could be considered extremely reliable.
The silver-thread fish specially raised by Ru Yi were far more delicious than naturally grown ones—surely they would be irresistible.
With that thought, Qi Han reached in, grabbed one, looked at the silver-thread fish wildly writhing and coiling around his hand, and let out a chuckle before tossing it straight into the water.
Trying to use silver-thread fish as bait the way one would go fishing was unrealistic. Spirit beasts were not ordinary animals, and the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel—being a pseudo-dragon with dragon blood—possessed considerable intelligence. It could see through the existence of a fishing line at a glance and would never bite a hook.
Only truly fresh, living silver-thread fish had any chance of luring them out from the seabed, drawing them into the shallower waters to hunt.
The moment the silver-thread fish was tossed into the water, it sprang to life. As it swam rapidly, faint silvery glimmers rippled across its surface as it fled toward deeper waters, away from the reef.
What the hell?
If the bait got away, what was there left to fish with?
Qi Han cursed his own oversight in his heart. Next time, before tossing in a silver-thread fish, he would definitely remember to injure it first—otherwise it would swim off far too fast.
Just as Qi Han had already given up on this silver-thread fish and was about to grab another one from the bucket, a flash of azure suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.
Hm?
Qi Han's movements froze. He quietly lowered his head, careful not to expose himself.
Beneath the silver-thread fish, a long, slender azure eel rapidly emerged, snapping its jaws shut around the fleeing fish in a single bite.
That was fast!
Qi Han couldn't help but feel astonished. From the moment he threw the silver-thread fish into the water to the appearance of the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel, less than two seconds had probably passed.
Was one of them lurking nearby?
The silver-thread fish was bitten in half. With Qi Han's keen eyesight, he could clearly see the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel's slightly whitish mouth chew a few times before swallowing half of the fish, then turning to devour the remaining half.
At that very moment, another Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel suddenly surfaced and clamped down on the other half of the silver-thread fish.
Because its charge had been too fast to stop in time, inertia carried its body out of the water. In the next instant, it leapt into the air, tracing a bright azure arc before falling back toward the sea.
Good grief—this one was really going all out just to steal a bite.
Qi Han couldn't help clicking his tongue. But then he saw the Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel that had lost its prey recover from its brief moment of stunned confusion and instantly retaliate, spitting a jet of water straight at the thief as it was about to splash back into the sea.
The food thief seemed prepared. With a twist of its body, it dodged the water jet and then plunged back into the water.
The water jet did not lose its momentum. In an instant, it shot toward a nearby reef close to Qi Han. Before his astonished eyes, it punched straight through the rock, leaving behind a small, clean hole.
Damn…
Qi Han drew in a sharp breath. That level of piercing power was probably not much weaker than the high-pressure water-jet cutting machines from his previous life.
And this was merely a casual spray from a thousand-year Azure-Scaled Dragon Eel whose body length was only around two meters.
As the thief disappeared back into the sea, the fight between the two Azure-Scaled Dragon Eels was far from over. They twisted and grappled violently with each other, and at the same time, one jet of water after another shot out from beneath the surface in all directions as they dodged—like out-of-control fountains spraying chaotically.
Qi Han instinctively shrank his head back, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.
Both Azure-Scaled Dragon Eels were only at the thousand-year level, so he had no intention of exposing himself by acting too early.
Still, this served as a valuable reminder: when fighting sea spirit beasts like these, it was best not to enter the water rashly.
On land, at least he could see the water jets. With fast enough reactions, dodging one or two might still be possible.
In the water, however, those jets were invisible and formless—far harder to guard against.
Only after the two Azure-Scaled Dragon Eels stopped spraying water did Qi Han finally raise his head to observe them again.
Both dragon eels bore some injuries, but they were all minor. Clearly, neither could gain the upper hand over the other. Now, the two Azure-Scaled Dragon Eels separated, preparing to dive down and sink back into the depths to rest and recover.
That wouldn't do.
Qi Han's heart tightened with urgency.
Although these two weren't the ones he needed, he was counting on them to attract more dragon eels.
Don't run, dragon eels!
<+>
if you want to see more chapters of this story and don't mind playing $5 per month to see my latest update, please go to my Patreon[1]
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/collection/67255?view=condensed[2]
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 474: A Terrifying Truth[3]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/becoming-food-in-152113444[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/67255?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/collection/67255?view=condensed
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/becoming-food-in-152113444
[4] https://www.patreon.com/posts/becoming-food-in-152113444