The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

Chapter 99: Patiently Waiting, the Cunning Fish Demon

*Splash.*

Two ounces of Golden Wine cascaded into the dark water.

The unnaturally still, mirror-like surface of the Black Dragon Pool instantly fractured into a dozen rippling rings. This signaled the official start of their three-man fishing competition.

Jiang Chen placed the Giant Leaf down on the damp stone in front of him. The broad fronds served as a makeshift bobber system; whichever leaf twitched would betray a bite on the corresponding line.

Next, he pulled a wooden folding chair from his Storage Bag. He sank into the seat, cracked open a black-skinned watermelon, and settled in for the long haul, happily munching on the crisp, sweet fruit.

Mo Yu and Jin Fugui were no less prepared. As veteran anglers, they hadn’t just brought fishing rods. Sturdy stools, heavy-duty casting nets, and an assortment of tackle were all laid out with practiced precision.

“Last time we were here, we waited a full hour before anything bit,” Jin Fugui muttered, his eyes glued to the water. “Keep your eyes peeled. That Fish Demon might show up again.”

“There are three of us this time. We should be fine, right?”

Jin Fugui recalled their previous attempt to hook a Dragon Carp. The sheer peril of that encounter still haunted him. While he was grateful just to have survived, a knot of anxiety tightened in his gut. After all, no one knew if the Fish Demon would actually return, nor did anyone truly comprehend the depths of its monstrous strength.

Sure, they had an extra man this time, but Jiang Chen was only at the late Qi Condensation stage.

Time bled away, minute by agonizing minute.

At first, the Black Dragon Pool was suffocatingly quiet. Then, without warning, a cluster of pale bubbles broke the surface in the distance.

Initially, there were only a few, rising at long intervals. But as the intoxicating aroma of the Golden Wine diffused through the freezing water, the bubbles began to froth with increasing frenzy.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen and the other two exchanged sharp glances, their bodies tensing into high alert. They stared at the water so intensely they forgot to breathe.

Bubble after bubble drifted closer, tracing a path toward their position.

Just as the disturbance reached the exact spot where their hooks hung suspended in the dark… it stopped.

The movement ceased. The bubbles vanished.

The oppressive silence of the underground cavern rushed back in. It was as if the disturbance had been nothing but a phantom.

Jiang Chen took a slow, deep breath, feeling the damp chill of the cavern seep into his bones. *This Black Dragon Pool is genuinely cursed,* he thought.

Jin Fugui was the first to crack under the tension. “Old Jiang, Old Mo…” he whispered hoarsely. “What’s going on?”

Mo Yu waved a hand, his demeanor projecting the practiced calm of a master fisherman. “Just the fish playing games. Don’t rush it. And whatever you do, don’t check your hooks. You’ll spook them.”

Jiang Chen kept his mouth shut. This was his first time casting a line into the Black Dragon Pool, and their target was the legendary Dragon Carp—a creature rumored to possess a trace of true demon dragon blood. Whatever bizarre phenomena occurred down here, he was prepared to accept it.

For a long while, the eerie stillness held. Not a single bubble disturbed the black glass of the pool.

Yet, the three men remained anchored to their spots. They had come prepared to wait out the entire day. With their Storage Bags packed full of food and drink, they could practically live down here if they had to.

…

…

Time lost its meaning in the dim, claustrophobic depths of the cavern.

Jin Fugui, having indulged in a bit too much wine earlier, was now nodding off, his chin resting on his chest. Mo Yu, however, lived up to his reputation as a die-hard angler; his eyes were wide, unblinking, and fiercely focused on the water.

Jiang Chen had already polished off his watermelon. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a Top Grade sweet potato.

Unroasted, the flesh was dense and hard, but the white interior was surprisingly crisp and bursting with sweet juice. Every bite echoed through the cavern with a loud, satisfying *crunch*.

Once the potato was gone, Jiang Chen produced two pre-boiled eggs laid by his pearl chickens. He cracked the shells against his knee and began to peel them.

*Crunch.*

*Smack.*

“Hey… can’t you focus a bit on the water?” Mo Yu finally snapped, his patience fraying.

He was straining his eyes in the gloom, trying to catch the slightest movement. Jin Fugui snoring on the sidelines was one thing, but Jiang Chen was downright infuriating. The man’s jaw simply hadn’t stopped moving since they sat down.

Jiang Chen blinked innocently. “Want some?”

“I—” Mo Yu started to refuse, but the moment the rich, dense Spirit Qi wafting from the peeled egg hit his senses, he subconsciously swallowed his pride.

Seeing the hesitation, Jiang Chen grinned and tossed one of the boiled eggs over.

Mo Yu caught it, turning the smooth white oval over in his palm with a critical eye. “Strange. What kind of egg is this?”

It was smaller than a standard chicken egg, yet the Spirit Qi radiating from it was incredibly potent. It defied logic.

Jiang Chen shrugged. “It’s from a pearl chicken I keep. Laid just yesterday.”

Thanks to his meticulous care, the hens had even upgraded from laying one egg a day to two.

Mo Yu peeled away the remaining shell. The tender, glistening egg white whetted his appetite instantly, and he popped the whole thing into his mouth.

The moment his teeth broke the surface, a wave of pure Spirit Qi exploded across his palate, surging intensely down his throat.

His eyes bulged.

*What the hell? This is a pearl chicken egg?*

It wasn’t like he had never eaten one before. Normal pearl chicken eggs were tiny, pathetic things with barely a wisp of spiritual energy. But Jiang Chen’s egg was not only larger, its Spirit Qi density—even after being boiled—was astronomically higher than normal.

*Heavens,* Mo Yu thought, staring at the young farmer. *This guy isn’t just a prodigy at cultivating crops; he has a terrifying knack for raising spirit beasts, too.*

Just as the two were savoring the lingering taste of the eggs, a heavy, wet *slosh* echoed from the Black Dragon Pool.

Down in the subterranean dark, the silence was absolute. Aside from the steady rhythm of their breathing and the thumping of their hearts, the cavern was dead. This sudden noise cut through the gloom like a knife.

Jiang Chen and Mo Yu reacted instantly, their heads snapping toward the black water.

The drowsy Jin Fugui was half a beat slower, his eyes fluttering open in a daze. When his vision cleared, he saw the unnaturally calm surface of the pool churning with tight, concentric ripples.

At the center of the disturbance, a furious stream of bubbles boiled up from the depths.

Something massive was circling Jiang Chen’s hook.

Mo Yu decisively abandoned his own rod, sliding quietly over to Jiang Chen’s side.

Jin Fugui finally shook off his sleep, his face pale. “What’s going on?” he hissed nervously.

“Get over here and help,” Mo Yu whispered back. “Old Jiang might be about to land the first catch.”

The three men huddled together, their eyes locked on the water.

Whatever lurked beneath the black surface was pacing around Jiang Chen’s line. It didn’t strike. It just hovered, either cautiously nibbling at the edges of the bait or deliberately toying with them.

Watching the water swirl, a cold sense of déjà vu washed over Jin Fugui. “Old Mo… don’t you think this looks exactly like what happened last time we tried to catch a Dragon Carp?”

Mo Yu froze. The blood drained from his face as realization hit him. “You don’t think the first thing on the line is…”

“A Dragon Carp?” Jiang Chen asked, genuinely surprised by his own good luck.

But Jin Fugui shook his head slowly, his voice dropping to a terrified whisper. “It’s the Fish Demon.”

Mo Yu nodded grimly. “Last time, we thought it was a Dragon Carp biting, too. But it was just a trick. The Fish Demon deliberately plays with the bait to lure you in. The moment you yank that line, it uses the tension to drag you straight into the water.”

*Hiss!*

Jiang Chen drew in a sharp breath, a cold sweat prickling his scalp. “It’s that cunning?”

*Splish-splash~*

The water began to churn violently.

Suddenly, one of the fronds on the Giant Leaf jerked hard, shaking wildly against the stone. To the untrained eye, it looked exactly like a massive fish had finally taken the bait.

But armed with the grim experience of his companions, Jiang Chen didn’t so much as twitch.

He sat frozen in his wooden chair, his hands resting loosely in his lap, playing dead. He absolutely refused to touch the rod. He wasn’t going to fall for the monster’s trap.

*Slosh!*

*Sploosh!*

The sound of the churning water grew deafening, echoing off the cavern walls. Then, with a sickening, heavy tear of the surface, a grotesque, massive fish tail breached the black water, slamming down with terrifying force!