Supreme Immortal Aperture.
Little East Sea.
Dragon Scale Sea Region.
A Gu Immortal, his sleeves drifting in the wind, hovered in mid-air, gazing down at the sea below.
His features were rather plain, yet his bearing was extraordinarily striking — a pair of deep black eyes that radiated an aura of ancient weariness.
He was none other than Fang Yuan's Time Path Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal clone.
At this moment, the seawater churned and waves rose and fell, yet there was not the slightest breeze.
"My Supreme Immortal Aperture hasn't undergone any atmospheric changes, so there are no shifting winds or clouds. The reason these waves roll across the Dragon Scale Sea Region is the immortal formation my main body once set up," the Time Path clone murmured to himself.
The Dragon Scale Sea Region was now arguably the foremost sea domain within the Supreme Immortal Aperture. Fang Yuan had devoted great effort to its development and invested enormous capital into it.
Looking more closely, the Time Path clone could see that amid the rolling waves, countless dragon fish shadows flickered — scales scraping against scales, packed so tightly together that their numbers were truly staggering.
Fang Yuan's successive investments had been immense, and combined with the extraordinarily rich Time Path resources within the Supreme Immortal Aperture, supplemented by Food Path methods, the dragon fish had reproduced at a tremendous rate, their numbers skyrocketing.
Not only were there ordinary dragon fish — among them were a great many copper dragon fish, quite a few iron dragon fish, and even a number of silver dragon fish.
Fang Yuan's clone narrowed his gaze, piercing through the dragon fish schools, searching toward the depths of the shoal.
Soon, a look of delight crossed his face as he spotted his target.
It was a dragon fish radiating brilliant golden light. Its body was covered in dense, heavy golden scales, and its eyes had shed the dull vacancy of the other dragon fish, carrying a spark of vivid intelligence.
Compared to the other dragon fish, it was the smallest — no larger than a person's palm, appearing almost miniature.
Yet in the observation of Fang Yuan's clone, this golden-scale dragon fish was saturated with Food Path dao marks, with almost no other alien dao marks to speak of.
Despite its small size, the aura it emitted was genuinely that of an Ancient Desolate Beast!
The other dragon fish could at most reach the level of Desolate Beasts, but the golden dragon fish could elevate all the way to Ancient Desolate Beast rank!
This was something that absolutely could not be underestimated — it meant that after the dragon fish breed had been improved to the golden scale stage, it had truly broken through the species' original limits, shattering its shackles to reach an entirely new height.
"Reaching this stage — having bred a golden dragon fish from the dragon fish population — can be considered the absolute limit," Fang Yuan's clone sighed with deep emotion.
The Ancient Golden Dragon Fish swam through the sea, and the dragon fish surrounding it — whether ordinary dragon fish or Desolate Beast dragon fish, copper, iron, or silver — all circled around the Ancient Golden Dragon Fish.
The Ancient Golden Dragon Fish was the natural sovereign of the dragon fish population. Once it appeared, it inevitably drew the devoted following and support of countless lesser dragon fish.
"Even I, the one who bred them, don't wield as much control over the shoal as the Ancient Golden Dragon Fish does," Fang Yuan's clone's eyes flickered as he paid particular attention to this point.
It could be said that if the Ancient Golden Dragon Fish were to compete with Fang Yuan for dominion over this school of dragon fish, Fang Yuan would absolutely be no match for the Ancient Golden Dragon Fish's ability to rally them.
If such an Ancient Desolate Beast merely showed itself among this dragon fish population, it could stir every single fish into unwavering devotion.
"Not that it matters. The Ancient Golden Dragon Fish rules over all the other dragon fish, and I rule over the Ancient Golden Dragon Fish. The pity is that dragon fish as a species simply have no combat capability. Even the Ancient Golden Dragon Fish ranks at the very bottom among Ancient Desolate Beasts. So these dragon fish can only be sold."
Time flowed swiftly, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
These days had been an agonizing ordeal for You Chan.
Although she had managed to produce silver dragon fish, it had actually been achieved with the assistance of Qin Baihe and the Heavenly Court — and, of course, by borrowing Fang Yuan's finished silver dragon fish product.
Thus, while You Chan could breed silver dragon fish, her output was far inferior to Fang Yuan's, the established authority.
In the Precious Yellow Heaven market, Fang Yuan still held the upper hand over You Chan in the dragon fish trade.
The effects of silver dragon fish were simply too good, and Fang Yuan had not raised his prices, leaving the other dragon fish with virtually no competitive edge.
Moreover, the scale of silver dragon fish that Fang Yuan sold dwarfed You Chan's operation.
The gap in strength between the two was plain for all to see — Fang Yuan held a clear and obvious advantage.
However, You Chan had not given up. She continued to press on, defending her position stubbornly and with considerable tenacity.
White Crane Sea Region.
Qin Baihe suddenly burst into a triumphant cry: "Hahaha! We've finally cracked this difficulty! Our methods have improved once more! With this, our silver dragon fish output can increase by more than just a notch!"
You Chan's face was haggard, but there was also joy in her eyes.
This was the result of half a month of relentless battle alongside Qin Baihe, working sleepless nights and days, and leveraging the achievements provided by the Heavenly Court.
"It's just… even with results like these, our silver dragon fish production speed still can't match that opponent's," You Chan sighed.
"Little Chan'er, you don't need to worry. As long as we keep working at it, silver dragon fish aren't like the Doubt Gu — eventually they'll be fully reverse-engineered. When that time comes, our output will be on par with that person's," Qin Baihe said with characteristic optimism.
"But even so, we'd only be matching that person. And to innovate further and create improvements in this area — the difficulty is far too high. We simply don't have that kind of capability. In other words, the best we can hope for is to maintain a draw with that person. And that's only on the condition that the other side doesn't introduce an entirely new breed of dragon fish." You Chan shook her head ceaselessly.
Qin Baihe opened her mouth to speak, wanting to comfort You Chan, but found that no words came.