"To officially register in the commune, there's one last procedure."
"Follow me."
Lu Guizhou turned and stepped down from the circular platform.
An Youyu and Ning Cang followed him into the nearby Seven-Masts Maritime Affairs Office.
The resident official of Clown Float-Commune had gone to Seven-Masts Anchorage over a month ago to settle accounts, only to be caught in the sea blockade caused by the black flag, and had been unable to return ever since.
The file cabinets were all locked, but the long desk in the outer room for filling out forms was still usable.
Lu Guizhou pulled out an 【Entry Registration Slip】 and filled in An Youyu's name, age, rescue details, and guarantor item by item.
When he came to the aspect-fixing section, he wrote three more lines:
【Fish-Transformation: First-Transformation】
【King Path: Salamander Swim】
【Fish Aspect: Clown Salamander】
When he finished, he stamped the right bottom corner with the Clown Float-Commune seal and handed the bone pen to An Youyu.
"Here."
The final section was still blank.
【Registrant's Signature】
An Youyu took the bone pen.
Stroke by stroke, he wrote out his name.
An Youyu.
Ning Cang pressed his thumbprint in the guarantor section as well.
Waiting until the ink dried slightly, Lu Guizhou slid the entry registration slip into the collection box beside the file cabinet.
"When the resident official gets back, he'll add the slip to the maritime records."
"The Maritime Affairs Office only keeps records. Whether a commune takes someone in is still up to the float-commune itself."
"Your name is in the commune registry, and you've received your commune token. From now on, you are one of Clown's own."
An Youyu put down the bone pen and turned to walk out of the Maritime Affairs Office.
Outside the door stood a wooden board blanched white by the sea winds.
Maritime notices sent down by the Anchorage Association, missing-person posts, and request notices posted by the commune residents themselves were all pinned to it.
An Youyu casually glanced over it, but his steps suddenly paused.
At the very bottom of the wooden board hung an old notice with curled edges.
【Seeking Purchase: Three liang of Rare Salamander Blood with a Current Base of Three Hundred Fifty Pressure or higher.】
【Also Seeking: One stalk of Tiger-Head Mushroom.】
【Payment: One salvage boat.】
【Buyer: Ning Cang.】
An Youyu turned his head and looked at Ning Cang.
A salvage boat.
For boatfolk, that was practically the entire family livelihood used to put food on the table.
What could possibly be worth Ning Cang trading a whole boat for?
Rare Salamander Blood was something An Youyu actually recognized.
When a fish-transformed Formed a Current for the first time, their fish-swimming force condensed into a force current, and the pressure reached at that exact moment was called the 【Current Base】.
The higher the Current Base, the sturdier one's foundation for the future.
The Salamander Swimmers in the Northern Jurisdiction fish-transformation camp mostly Formed a Current at around Two Hundred Fifty Pressure.
Back then, An Youyu had Formed a Current at Three Hundred Pressure, which ranked him in the top three of the Salamander Swim path for his cohort.
Those who could accumulate force all the way past Three Hundred Fifty Pressure before Forming a Current were rare among the rare.
Out at sea, fish-transformed whose Current Base far exceeded ordinary cultivators on the same path were called 【Rare Ones】.
A Rare One on the Salamander Swim path was thus called a 【Rare Salamander】.
The medicinal potency of Salamander Swim blood was tied to the Current Base; only when the Current Base reached Three Hundred Fifty Pressure or higher could blood drawn from them be deemed 【Rare Salamander Blood】.
An Youyu had seen it before among the confiscated goods seized by the Yan Clan.
Though expensive, it could still occasionally be bought in the major anchorages of the Zijing Sea.
However, the Salt-Bone Sea was far too remote, and the 【Seven-Masts Waters】 where Clown was located was merely an insignificant small domain within the Salt-Bone Sea. Most passing traffic consisted of ordinary salvage boats and small merchant vessels, making it extremely difficult for such blood materials to ever flow in.
As for the Tiger-Head Mushroom, it was even more troublesome than Rare Salamander Blood.
After the continents sank, plants, herbs, and mushrooms capable of growing on the old soil became rare 【Land Medicines】.
Tiger-Head Mushrooms grew exclusively in 【Sunken Land Grotto-Heavens】.
Those places were isolated land realms left behind after fragments of the old continent became trapped in spatial folds, and most of their entrances were hidden deep in the lower sea layers where ordinary boatfolk could not even find the threshold.
And Rare Salamander Blood paired with Tiger-Head Mushroom happened to be able to purge old toxins that had settled deep into bone and flesh over many years.
An Youyu's gaze lingered on the words 【Buyer: Ning Cang】 for a moment.
"Are you seeking medicine for someone?"
Ning Cang followed his gaze, reaching out to press down the corner of the notice blown up by the wind.
"Family."
An Youyu glanced at him.
"Surely it's not for me, is it?"
Ning Cang finally chuckled.
"That notice has been up for nearly two years. Back then, who knew what sea you were drifting in?"
An Youyu stopped joking.
Ning Cang had two children at home, but he had not seen them yet.
"Is it only posted here?"
"A notice was circulated long ago. There are twenty-eight float-communes in the Seven-Masts Waters, and every float-commune's Maritime Affairs Board has a copy."
"Not a single person responded?"
"None."
Ning Cang's lips twitched.
"Among the Eight King Paths, the Salamander Swim path generally has the lowest threshold for Forming a Current. It's rare to see someone hold off until Three Hundred Pressure of Salamander Force to Form a Current, let alone Three Hundred Fifty. Seven-Masts hasn't heard of a single one in all these years."
"What about the Tiger-Head Mushroom?"
"None either."
An Youyu asked no further.
Suddenly, a wave of loud cursing came from the public warehouse.
"You two wasteful brats!"
"Is that how you stack gray-winged rays on top of each other?!"
"Drag them gently! If a wing membrane gets scraped, peeling off the skin of both of you won't cover the cost!"
Two older children were stepping through fish scales scattered across the ground, working together to drag a gray-winged ray, stumbling awkwardly along as the public warehouse manager, Luo Dadou, gave chase right behind them, spewing a barrage of scolding.
Although the Fish Rain had stopped, the work of processing the catch was only just beginning.
Those that could be kept alive had to be sent into the breeding tanks; those that died upon leaving the water had to be bled immediately. Parts usable as fish materials had to be stripped while fresh, washed clean, and hung out to dry.
Fish that were smashed from the fall from above or couldn't be salted in time couldn't be wasted either.
Outside the public warehouse, several large cauldrons had already been set up. The scraped-off meat scraps were perfect for making communal stew, as the sounds of scraping scales, chopping bones, and splashing water blended into one.
Bloody water trickled down through the cracks in the wooden planks, rendering the entire floating platform fishy-smelling and slick.
Ning Cang pulled his gaze back from the Maritime Affairs Board and casually grabbed a fish knife against the wall.
"Come on, give us a hand."
After speaking, he suddenly remembered something.
"You just recovered from your illness. Maybe you should go back and rest."
"I'm fine now."
An Youyu followed him toward the public warehouse.
As he passed the doorway, he casually grabbed a leather apron and tied it around his waist.
Suddenly, someone shouted up ahead.
Two men were carrying a wooden crate of freshly butchered fish meat into the warehouse. The man in back stepped on a fish scale, slipped, and the wooden crate immediately flew out of his grip.
Over a hundred jin of fish meat crashed down toward the deck.
An Youyu moved before the crate could hit the ground, catching it, channeling his Salamander Force to steady the hundred-plus jin of fish meat, and then carried it into the public warehouse.
When he came back out, the man who had lost his grip was still staring at his right hand.
"One Hundred Pressure... means you have a hundred jin of force in a single hand?"
Ning Cang laughed. "That's not how it works. Whatever strength a person originally has, One Hundred Pressure adds another hundred jin on top of it."
Relying solely on raw physical body strength, strong men who could lift or grip a hundred jin were not rare.
Where One Hundred Pressure was truly formidable was that fish-swimming force did not replace physical strength, but stacked directly upon one's base power.
The man looked down at his own arms, then looked back at An Youyu.
"If he could already exert a hundred jin to begin with, plus another hundred..."
"Two hundred jin?"
Ning Cang jerked his chin toward An Youyu.
"Want to know?"
"Arm-wrestle him yourself and you'll find out."
...
Rate on N.U.
