Wilbur spent an hour making a fishing rod. He tossed the bait into the water, and soon, there was movement on his float. Wilbur tugged on the rod and heard a loud snap. His fishing rod was snapped in half.
"You have to put effort into everything you do, otherwise, nothing will be sessful."
Wilbur went to look for fishing rod materials again. He spent a day crafting a fishing rod instead. It was dark outside when he looked up again. He was not in a hurry to fish, and he meditated in his room instead.
The old man saw that Wilbur was meditating without a hurry, so he nodded and felt very d. The next morning, Wilbur followed the old man to Lake Brant to fish.
Wilbur waited for two hours. Finally, the float moved. A carp that was around two kilograms was dragged out of the water. Wilbur bent down to grab the carp, but it was very slippery. Wilbur tried over ten times, but he still could not grab hold of the fish.
In the end, he got too frustrated and tossed the carp back into the water.
The old man said, "You gave up on a good opportunity, so you have to wait for another one. It''s your own fault for making mistakes. That has nothing to do with the carp."
"I understand. That carp wasn''t big enough. I''ll fish for a bigger one. Just wait and see, sir."
The old man did not speak. Wilbur kept waiting until thete afternoon, and he caught a carp around three kilograms. He seized the chance to keep practicing, but he could not do so until it was dark outside.
Wilbur went on practicing for two weeks. One day, he finally grabbed a carp around four kilograms in the afternoon.
"Sir, look! I managed to grab the carp!"
The old man nced at Wilbur and put away his fishing rod. He said, "Good, nicely done. It looks like you''re agile enough now. Let''s go. I''ll tell you my story when we go back. You should decide whether you want to look for the eighth dragon cauldron after you hear my story."
Wilbur followed the old man back to the cabin and listened to him retell his story.
The old man once lived in a bustling small town that used to be Gelsa. He was deeply in love with a girl named Jenny when he was in his twenties. He thought that Jenny was deeply in love with him too. Then, he discovered that Jenny cheated on him with another man.
It had been scorching hot during those days, with rumors of a potential sh flood that year. The old man was let down, so he walked along the river toward the mountains. He did not find any indication of a potential sh flood in the mountains, but during that moment, the idea of seeking revenge on Jenny emerged in his mind. Then, the old man intentionally built a dam in the mountains.
It had been raining heavily for days, umting a lot of water behind the dam in the mountains. The old men unleashed all the water on the town, which caused the sh flood in the end. The town was submerged underwater, and most people drowned. Only a few survived. After that incident, they moved away from Gelsa, leaving the old man behind since he insisted on staying.
Wilbur asked with a puzzled tone, "So, did Jenny escape?"
The old man replied, "It''s a shame, she didn''t escape. She and that man called Kean died in the sh flood. I thought I would be d, but I realized I was too selfish. Jenny was entitled to her own decisions too."
Wilbur sighed and asked, "So, is that why you kept staying here, sir? To make up for past mistakes?"
The old man shook his head and replied, "No, actually, I wanted to drown myself in the Gelsa''ske. Fremont saved my life. Not only that, but he also told me a shocking secret."
"What is it?"
The old man looked pleased. He replied, "A secret about merfolk. There is a special species in the Gelsa River, which is the merfolk. The merfolk never interacted with humans, but they plotted to take over Gelsa. Fremont told me that the dam I built at the mountains was not sturdy enough to hold that much water, so it could not have caused the sh flood."
Wilbur asked puzzlingly, "So, the merfolk caused the flood, right?"