Chapter 1192: 18.30 First Grey Star - Star Pufferfish and the Cosmos Shark.
Lu Shang led the way, Leica trailed behind, and he waved his hands for the others to follow. Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan trailed closely behind the two leading fish, and the others followed. Lu Shang identified the location of the Star Puffer Fish and used some of his aura to draw the other fish toward their group.
Lu Shang finally stopped near the Star Puffer Fish\'s territory, stood in front of the group, and gestured for the others to follow. The other hunters, whose job it is to guard, spread out in four corners, and the Star Puffer Fish would float up in the center of their group.
However, Star Puffer Fish is incredibly sensitive; it would even pick up the aura of other creatures and would die immediately when touched or approached.
A shoal of Star Pufferfish eventually surfaced from below after a few minutes of waiting; they were about the size of an adult human fish and had a blending crystal color, allowing one to see its organs through their transparent skin.
Lu Ming eagerly attempted to catch one, just like the other member of the other group, but, predictably, it died before they could touch it, revealing its belly upside down and turning poisonous purple. It was also no longer edible.
With a fierce glare in his eyes, Leica struck Lu Ming\'s hand, and it was only then that Lu Ming realized he was too excited and had forgotten what Brother Leica had just told them before plunging to their knees, only being able to make an apologetic gesture with his hand clasped as if in prayer and bowing his head, as did the other person who had made the same mistake.
Leica looked directly at the two troublemakers, signaling them to keep a close eye on his movements. He then erased his aura and moved slowly toward the Star Pufferfish. Since the fish cannot sense Leica, they believed he was indistinguishable from water and did not die as they had anticipated. Leica used a long needle to puncture the fish\'s brain instantly, causing it to turn its belly up.
However, Leica\'s puffer fish remained transparent, in contrast to Lu Ming\'s nearly black-purple dead fish, indicating that he had handled this unique preparation ingredient correctly.
After Leica demonstrated the technique, the other three attempted to hunt pufferfish. They were unable to execute the maneuver as smoothly as Leica could, and they had to move quickly in order to insta-kill the fish. Despite numerous failures, the three eventually made some successful attempts, and within an hour, all four of them had hunted a few shoals of pufferfish.
Lu Shang gestures to Leica to leave first. Leica nods and uses his strings to wrap everyone\'s waist and swim to the surface faster than a mermaid. Everyone is caught off guard, but they have seen what that huge shadow was. Just when they have managed to reach their destination, an unknown big shadow is fast approaching them. Lu Shang and Leica immediately turned serious.
It was a huge shark. A great white shark with skin that looks like a galaxy. It\'s a Cosmos Shark that lives at the depths of the Milky Way River. The most vicious creatures that live in this place and the strongest predators in the Milky Way River. Lu Shang summoned his golden spear and blocked the path of the Cosmos Shark. This shark is quite powerful.
At least the peak class of Legend-grade ingredients unfortunately isn\'t edible except for its fin.
Leica, who was pulling away the rest of the ground, was thrown out of the water as if they were kicked out with a huge force; some weak ones nearly drowned and fell on the land while coughing out their lungs; only Leica was able to land on the edge of the river unharmed.
The enormous wave that flew towards the surface of the Milky Way River was caused by the force of the huge cosmos shark and Lu Shang blocking its path.
The others who were waiting for them were drenched in water, watching people fly out of the river as if something had thrown them out; only when they are Lu Shang blocking a huge shark with a spear do they realize that they are being attacked by this ingredient underwater. As for Ye Jieye, Mo Xuejing, and Su Jin, none of them got wet.
Water evaporates before it touches Ye Jieye, and turns to frost mist when it touches Mo Xuejing. Mo Xuejing shielded Su Jin.
Su Jun exclaims, "A huge cosmos shark!!!"
"Shang, take its fin and force it back into the water," Ye Jieye nonchalantly commanded.
Upon receiving his orders, Lu Shang engaged the massive shark in combat in midair. He severed the fin on its back and kicked it back into the river, causing the wave to dissipate into mist before it reached the edge. Mo Xuejing initiated the kick.
"My lord," Lu Shang passed the shark\'s fin to Ye Jieye who immediately hid it in his inventory.
Ye Jieye said, "I can make some shark\'s fin dumplings for the cubs when we get home."
People coughing in the background, but at least none of them had died; Leica had saved them from certain death moments ago, grateful that Lu Shang had the strength to take on the Cosmos Shark; Lu Ming was staring at his older brother, both in shock and admiration, as he never thought he would be this strong.
Lu Ming with glowing eyes, said to Lu Shang, "Big Brother! You\'re so strong!"
"Next time, train your body properly. A wave can even blow like that. This is because you don\'t balance your body and qi, that you end up this way." Lu Shang scolded him. With a golden spear in his hand that looks even taller than him, Lu Shang looks like a general.
"I promise to start training my body well."
Convinced that his brother was correct, Lu Ming vowed to develop his body to match the strength of his elder brother, Ye Jieye, seeing Ye Jieye as a spiritual twin of their grandfather, a Heavenly Guardian, and never dreaming of becoming stronger than Ye Jieye.
Su Jin offered his lover a towel to dry himself, "A\'Ming, dry yourself first then change your clothes."
"Right, give your catch to Xiao Jin, he needs to learn from the boss how to prepare the Star Pufferfish. That\'s a special preparation ingredient after all." Lu Shang said.
The chef from the other group also approached them and asked, "Excuse me. Is it okay for me to watch too?"
"Go ahead. But let me warn you, it\'s hard to prepare that stupid fish. You might waste a lot in the process. Talk to your team." Lu Shang said.
Ye Jieye received all of Leica\'s caught Star Pufferfish. Mo Xuejing gave Leica the elite and rare-grade fish that he and Su Jin caught, letting Leica handle them because he wanted to see how Ye Jieye handled the fish because, once it turns purple, it is already poisonous and should never be eaten unless one wants to die.
The chef is all gathered on the table Ye Jieye is standing. There\'s Su Jin and a chef from the other group. Also, an extra, Mo Xuejing sitting beside Ye Jieye like an innocent child.
Ye Jieye looked at Mo Xuejing and said, "You don\'t need to learn this way of removing poison. In your case, you just need to freeze it and control it out of the Pufferfish. That\'s faster for you."
"Really? I want to try!" Mo Xuejing stood up wanting to try what Ye Jieye had told him just now.
Ye Jieye took a step back and allowed Mo Xuejing take his place. A translucent skin Star Pufferfish was placed on a chopping board in front of him, and Ye Jieye gestured to the little ball part of the fish.
"This is the poison pouch of the Pufferfish. Freeze it and turn it into mist. Control your power and don\'t allow any mist to touch the flesh of the fish as you take the most out of its body." Ye Jieye instructed.
Remembering all the commands Ye Jieye had given him just now, Mo Xuejing became serious and used his ice elements to control solely the Pufferfish\'s poison sack, freezing it beneath everyone\'s scrutiny so that the black ball inside the fish transformed into ice without damaging anything else.
"Good slowly melted it and drew out the mist. The only hole you can use is the fish\'s mouth," Ye Jieye said as he slightly made the Pufferfish open its mouth to its largest.
The transparent pufferfish turned shining gold, indicating that it has achieved the height of freshness and is ready to be cooked. The ice ball within gradually transformed into a white mist and slowly emerged from the pufferfish\'s mouth.
Nearly everyone in the neighborhood, with the exception of the four adults in Ye Jieye\'s party, was in disbelief; this was, in fact, the peak stage of the Star Pufferfish, blazing gold like a star, and once it was fully prepared, even common people could cook it.
Mo Xuejing smiled and said, "I did it?"
"You do," Mo Xuejing said as he jumped on Ye Jieye and hugged his neck.
In an attempt to defuse the awkward situation, Ye Jieye pretended to cough, held the knife, and placed another Pufferfish on the chopping board while Mo Xuejing placed the golden Pufferfish on the plate next to him. The two were grinning at each other, giving the impression that they were an intimate couple, but they froze instantly when they saw other people staring at them.
Cough!
"Look closely. I will only do it slowly once," Ye Jieye said to Su Jin, the other chef beside him.
"Yes, Sir."
It took a minute to cut the fish, as he purposefully slowed down to allow the other chef to witness the process. Once the Star Pufferfish was cut into two, Ye Jieye released the knife from his grasp and lightly touched the poison sack inside. His knife was made of material that can only be handled by experts. The knife blade can turn solid or soft under the controlled force of the chef\'s hands.
"Gently drag the poison sack out. Control the force of your hand. Once the sack broke the poison would spread and the fish would become useless," Ye Jieye instructed.
When Ye Jieye successfully extracted the Star Pufferfish\'s poison sack, it glowed golden, just like Mo Xuejing\'s fish did. However, Ye Jieye\'s fish is precisely cut into two halves, while Mo Xuejing\'s fish is still whole and uncut. Ye Jieye then burned the poison sack into nothing and spoke to the two chefs who were in front of him.
"You can try it at your own pace. This fish I cut is the payment for letting us borrow your equipment. You may go. I need to start cooking," Ye Jieye said.
He appeared to have no intention of preparing the pufferfish he handled just now, but they watched him make his way to the portable oven and pull out a roasted pork tenderloin with spinach and cheese inside, along with baked pork strips and some fried pork chops.
To begin preparing the Star Pufferfish, Su Jin and the other chef set up their own counter table. Lu Ming caught ten for Su Jin, and amazingly, he managed to prepare five but failed the other five. For the other chef, their group only caught five, and he prepared three but succeeded in preparing the two. Adding the one Ye Jieye gave them, their group now had three golden star pufferfish.
Ye Jieye decided to continue traveling, so the group split up, and the other group decided to descend the mountain.