Chapter 36: The Imperial Shrimp! [1]
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Bei Feng hurriedly assumed his stance. As he had been delayed before coming out, he did not have any time for his usual practice before sunrise.
Each movement and every stroke he made appeared to be incomparably heavy. It was as though there was a thousand jin weight behind them!
Straining slightly, Bei Feng raised both his arms toward the sky, as if in an attempt to embrace the sun.
Every move now contained a deep and profound meaning. Although it might appear odd in the eyes of the average people, powerful martial artists would have definitely gleaned a hint of abstruse grace from Bei Feng’s movements had they seen him exercise them. As he continued his execution of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique, the speed at which the Blood and Qi in his body rotated became faster and faster, finally achieving a level beyond the limits of the human body!
Bei Feng’s blood circulated around his body with dizzying speed, causing huge amounts of hot air to continuously roil out of his nostrils.
Finally, as he assumed the final pose of the last movement set, the sun broke through the clouds and its first rays illuminated the earth with its brilliance!
Perhaps because Bei Feng had recently regained control over his inner demon, his progress with the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique had also taken a huge leap forward as well. A gold-glazed ray of light tinged with a hint of purple swiftly flew towards Bei Feng.
"Pah, pah, pah!"
A series of cracking sounds emanated out of Bei Feng’s body, as though firecrackers were going off within it!
The ray of light spread throughout his entire body, illuminating him from the inside out. A misty white light continuously emanated out of Bei Feng, causing him to look like a piece of glowing white jade!
At that instant, Extreme Arctic Frost released huge amounts of Frost Qi which began to run rampant throughout Bei Feng’s body. In response, the usually dormant Blood Origin Fruit’s medicinal essence also unleashed its might as if to flex its muscles.
As the three forces clashed wantonly within Bei Feng’s body, a process of continuous destruction and reconstruction began. As time passed, Bei Feng was drenched in a unique energy which was the result of the three opposing forces fusing within his body.
If Bei Feng’s body could be imagined as a piece of metal, then the unique fusion energy would be a powerful hammer, landing blow after blow on Bei Feng’s body!
Like a piece of metal going through refinement, vast amounts of impurities were constantly being forced out of Bei Feng’s body through the intense pressure, leaving behind a more perfect and powerful foundation!
The hazy white light around Bei Feng’s body became increasingly strong. This phenomenon was the result of the extreme speed at which his blood was flowing within his veins. The blood vessels were overheating and could only radiate the intense heat outwards!
The tri-fusion energy merged with Bei Feng’s blood as it surged like a powerful tide within his body, reaching every single part of his body.
One revolution after another, the blood pumped from his heart completed a full one hundred eight rounds of circulation before it finally slowed down and, like a car which had exhausted all of its fuel, not only his blood but also his Qi finally quieted down as well.
"Hou!"
Bei Feng took a deep breath and let out a long roar!
The roar lingered in the air for a long time, sounding as if dragons and tigers had descended upon the mountain! A multitude of birds scattered into the sky as they burst out of the surrounding trees in unison!
"Minor completion!"
Bei Feng was ecstatic. To reach the minor completion stage for the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique in such a short amount of time was truly an unexpected surprise!
Hurriedly pulling up the System Interface within his mind, Bei Feng confirmed that his stats had dramatically improved!
Human Race: Bei Feng (Level 1 Fisherman)
Strength: 28
Speed: 26
Mental Power: 34
Minor Illumination Breathing Technique: Minor Completion!
Weapon: Extreme Arctic Frost (Grade 2)
Required experience points to reach level 2 Fisherman: 6,900!
"What a huge improvement this is! The most impressive part is that my mental power had improved so much that it is now more than twice that of an average man’s!"
Bei Feng exclaimed aloud in excitement. His entire body was brimming with explosive power! It was likely that he could kill a bull with just a single punch now!
‘28 points of strength should allow me to wield around 250-300 kgF...hmm, my speed is still lagging behind a bit, but it shouldn’t be a problem to sprint 100 meters within 10 seconds!’
Bei Feng could only make a rough estimate in his mind since he had never actually tested his body’s capabilities.
It was as if his feet had grown wings as he sped nimbly through the woods, agile like a monkey. Trees and rocks did little to obstruct Bei Feng as each step brought him several meters forward.
***
"A bunch of trash! What’s the point in me wasting my resources on raising blockheads like you?! You can’t even handle a simple task like that? I’ve truly lost patience with you idiots!"
Wei Hui slammed the table as he stood up in rage. A hushed silence filled the entire office as panic invaded the hearts of the men gathered within it. In that moment, they all stood docilely with their hands behind their backs, just like critters which found themselves in the path of an enraged beast. All their usual arrogance had completely disappeared as they lowered their heads, each one hoping that they won’t be the unlucky bastard to meet Wei Hui’s wrath.
The more Wei Hui thought of recent events, the angrier he felt! A moment ago, he had been informed that Ol’ Black had actually somehow vanished off the face of the earth without leaving so much as a single trace!
"Motherf*cker! Why won’t you just die already?! You’d best not let me catch you, you little bastard!"
Wei Hui was filled with so much unspeakable rage that he’d almost ground his teeth into fine powder. The first batch of thugs he’d sent had returned with piss in their shoes and were all so terrified that they refused to even get near the cursed mansion. Nothing could persuade them otherwise. After that, he’d sent another group of thugs, but they too returned soon after with their limbs and wits broken. Finally, even an assassin had been dispatched to take care of the little bastard. However, not only did he fail to kill Bei Feng, he’d somehow disappeared and not even the slightest hint of his shadow could be found since then!
Wei Hui could not bear to wait any longer. Counting on his subordinates to get the job done was nothing more than a pipe dream. After pacing about inside the office for a bit, Wei Hui ultimately decided that the best and most straightforward thing to do was to...visit Bei Feng in person!
"Cancel all my afternoon appointments and ready a car for me immediately!"
Wei Hui picked up the phone and barked sharply.
"I want to see if this kid really has the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard!"
In order to build up a thriving business in the property market, Wei Hui had depended mostly on the most profitable path, which was tearing down existing buildings and constructing new ones in their place. Of course, people were generally unwilling to see their properties acquired and demolished. Thus, Wei Hui had long ago acquired a whole deck full of shameless and underhanded methods which he often used to force people to transfer their properties to him. If the d*mned brat continued to be ignorant and refused to submit, then, this time, even if he had to sacrifice a scapegoat, he would still sweep away this annoying obstacle!
***
Back at the old mansion, Bei Feng was currently scrubbing himself like a maniac. It seemed like no matter how he scrubbed, large amounts of dark, foul filth would still remain, stubbornly clinging to his skin.
In the beginning, there was only a thin layer of greyish sweat appearing after every cultivation session. Then, as he progressed further in his cultivation, the greyish sweat became darker and darker in color. And now, what was being excreted from his body was actually a dark and slimy liquid which contained strands of red blood!
On the side, Bai Xiang was looking at Bei Feng with an incredulous expression. Apart from the strange stinky filth on Bei Feng’s body, he was dying to ask where the gigantic shrimp in the yard had came from!
Although he could not be said to be a clever person, Bai Xiang was absolutely not a fool! Even he knew that a 3-meter long shrimp like that should not exist in this world! He had never heard of a shrimp that could grow to such an incredible size!
In the end, Bai Xiang still decided not to push the matter. Just like how Bei Feng did not ask about his immense strength and his childhood, he too would not pry into Bei Feng’s secrets.
"Come, Bai Xiang, help me deal with this shrimp here."
Bei Feng felt a looming headache as he stared stupidly at the giant shrimp before him. Disregarding its massive size, its shell was so f*cking hard! This was simply akin to a mice trying to pull a turtle, with nowhere to get a grip on its smooth shell. He had no clue on how to start with this shrimp!
"Ok. What should I do?" Bai Xiang brandished Bei Feng’s cleaver at the shrimp and asked.
"It’s simple, we don’t want the head and body. Just cut out the huge piece of flesh on its back. Other than that, the pincers and legs can be eaten as well," Bei Feng looked at the Imperial Shrimp and said.
Bai Xiang nodded and with a sway of his massive hips, he swung the custom-made cleaver at the intersection between the creature’s neck and its back with all his strength!
"Kuang!"
"Ding, dang!"
However, instead of the expected crisp sound of metal cleaving through meat, two sharp clanging sounds rang out through the yard. The first was the loud metallic sound of the cleaver smashing into the solid shell. As for the other, it was the sound of Bei Feng’s treasured cleaver breaking into two and falling onto the ground!
"Ah! Boss, you can’t blame me for this, this cleaver is really a bit too flimsy," Bai Xiang said with an innocent look on his face.
"I don’t blame you…"
Bei Feng stared wistfully at the Imperial Shrimp before him. The treasure was right before his eyes, and yet he was unable to do anything to it!
"Argh! I don’t believe I can’t subdue you! Bai Xiang, go to the hardware store in the village and buy an electric cutter!"
Bei Feng seemed as though he had been possessed by a devil. ‘Your Daddy I will definitely have you for dinner today!’
Perhaps its was because the gluttony attribute was a powerful moving force, Bai Xiang returned extremely quickly with a brand new mini electric cutter in his hands. Staring venomously at the Giant Imperial Shrimp, Bei Feng quickly fitted the blade onto the cutter and turned on the power source.
"CHIII!"
An ear-grating sound immediately resonated across the mansion, spreading loudly across the quiet countryside, as obvious as a sore thumb.
Fiery sparks flew wildly about the yard as Bei Feng started sawing at the joints of one of the pincers.
Although it was a little slow, the electric cutter still managed to sink its teeth into the hard shell, allowing Bei Feng to see a glimmer of hope.
Satisfied, he dumped the rest of the menial task onto Bai Xiang and returned to his room to lie down comfortably in front of the TV.
As expected, Bai Xiang excitedly ran into Bei Feng’s room around half an hour later, hugging a gigantic pincer in front of his chest.
Casually giving Bai Xiang a few words of encouragement, Bei Feng took the gigantic pincer and hurried to the kitchen. He was actually filled with curiosity and anticipation with regards to the taste of this Imperial Shrimp!
The traditional stove was a little troublesome to set up, but the food prepared atop it was absolutely top-class! Bei Feng first lit a handful of hay on fire, added some dried bamboo and threw a bunch of evenly chopped firewood into the furnace. In no time, a hearty fire appeared underneath the wok.
Then, he poured some water into the wok and placed a traditional bamboo steamer into it. After that, he directly positioned the Imperial Shrimp’s pincer atop the steamer and closed the lid.
The sauce and the seasoning were the easiest to prepare. The sauce was just the combination of some soy sauce, rice chilli and a few other spices like coriander leaves. Of course, getting the amount just right required some level of skill.
It went without saying that the most important trait of seafood lay in its freshness. The sauce and seasoning must not be too excessive, or they would end up overpowering the fresh and sweet taste of the seafood dish.
[1] TL/N: Question: if a shrimp grew larger by thousands of times, does it become a lobster? ED/N: We believe that the author doesn’t see any difference between shrimps and lobsters because he says "Imperial Shrimp", but also "lobster" (and some qualities of this creature resemble lobsters). We’re going to use "shrimp" since it’s the official name used by the author when he directly refers to it (Imperial Shrimp, not Imperial Lobster) and because it’s another world’s shrimp, so who says it cannot be like a lobster somewhat.