Far off the coast of the Golden Tiger continent, there was a large island called Haishan. The island was a one day walk from east to west and a four day walk from north to south. Sixteen thousand people lived on Haishan in twelve small settlements across the island. If not for the Shigong Temple located in the center of the island, Haishan would hold absolutely no significance in the wider world.
On the north-eastern coast of Haishan was Bluecrest Village, the ancestral home of the Yang Clan. For more than five hundred years, a cultivator had not been born to the Yang Clan, and the people of Bluecrest Village lived modest, uninspiring lives. The mortals of the Yang Clan sold fish to the other denizens of Haishan and prayed to their local nature gods that none of their stronger neighbors would one day decide to wipe them all out on a whim.
Floating on the water off the coast of Bluecrest Village was a fishing boat with a small sail and just enough space to carry ten people comfortably. Sitting on the boat’s deck were two people holding bamboo fishing poles over the calm blue water beneath and wearing wide straw hats to protect their skin from the harsh midday sun.
The people on the boat were a young man with long, unkempt hair and a strong physique named Yang Lin Shao and an older woman with slowly graying hair and eyes set in a stubborn glare named Yang Lin Daiyu. Both of the people on the boat had been sitting in silence for more than an hour. They had been out on the water for four hours, yet they had not caught a single fish.
Agitated by the lack of action, Shao decided to break the silence. “Do you think something has spooked the fish, Granny Fei?”
In a gruff voice, Granny Daiyu responded. “Maybe, maybe not. We might just be unlucky.” After a moment, Daiyu chuckled slightly before saying, “That reminds me of your father. Whenever he came back to the village without catching anything, he always swore that some underwater divine beast must have scared all the other fish away.”
“Can fish become divine beasts?”
“I don’t know, but your father was pretty sure they could.”
A contemplative expression passed over Shao’s face. “You never told me how my parents died.”
“Yes, I have. I told you that they died in an accident.”
“But how? What kind of accident?”
Granny Daiyu sighed and said, “Fine. I guess you’re old enough to know the truth now. It wasn’t an accident. They were with a caravan going to Silver Pine Village when they passed a cultivator heading the opposite direction. For some reason, the cultivator decided to kill six people traveling with the caravan, destroy the wagon, and steal a single fish.”
With a look of horror on his face, Shao asked, “What? Why did he do that?”
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“He must have been hungry,” Granny Daiyu said with a sad, self-effacing smile.
“Why haven’t I heard about this?”
“It happened a long time ago. In this village, all we can do is celebrate the good moments and forget the bad.”
“A cultivator killed six of us, and we didn’t do anything about it!? My parents were killed on a whim, and no one even tried to avenge them!?”
“There was nothing we could do. If we tried to take revenge, it would’ve just ended with more of us dying.”
Shao grit his teeth in rage, and he gripped his fishing pole with so much force that a hairline fracture appeared on it with a barely audible crack. “Who did it?”
“Ha,” Granny Daiyu enunciated. “If I tell you, you’ll just get yourself killed.”
“It’s…” Shao let out a growl like a feral animal. “It’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair, especially for mortals like us. Now shut up and focus on fishing.”
With anger clouding his thoughts, Shao turned his eyes toward the water. He never knew his parents because a cultivator decided to kill them on a whim? Powerful emotions passed through Shao as he sat on that boat, trying his hardest not to shatter the bamboo in his hands. He felt a strong hatred of all cultivators and a strong sense of shame at his inability to do anything to stop them. In that moment, he vowed to take revenge on the man who had killed his parents, even if it killed him.
Shao’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his fishing line going taut and his hands being pulled forward. He pulled up on the rod, snaring the hook on whatever creature had taken the bait.
“I have a bite!” Shao shouted. He had to tighten his grip on the rod to prevent it from being pulled out of his hands. “It’s a big one!”
Shao reached forward and grabbed the fishing line directly. Making sure not to snap the line, Shao slowly pulled his hand back. He struggled against the fish for almost a minute before its massive shadow could be seen near the surface. It was larger than a person and strong enough to pull the whole boat along with it.
Daiyu reached down and retrieved an iron-tipped harpoon from the deck and lifted it up with an expert’s precision. “Hold it in place, and I’ll spear it!”
Just as the fish was about to get within range of the harpoon, the fishing line snapped. In less than a second, the fish began to dive away from the boat, and its shadow in the water quickly started to fade.
With no hesitation, Shao grabbed the harpoon from Granny Daiyu’s hands and hefted it into a throwing position.
“There’s no point…” Granny Daiyu began to say.
Her words were cut off as Shao threw the harpoon with so much force that a massive jet of water exploded upward where it struck the water. The disturbance in the water almost capsized the boat, and Daiyu had to adjust her stance to prevent water from getting in.
The boat was stabilized, and the massive waterspout receded. Then, just as the sound of flowing water stopped, a giant dead fish floated to the surface. The fish was a trout that must have weighed more than three men put together, and the cause of its death was obvious. A massive fist-sized hole had formed in its midsection where the harpoon had hit it with enough force to travel all the way through the massive creature’s body without stopping.