Chapter 504: The Secret of the Gathering Fish Swarm Was Actually Because of This!

Ning Fei piloted the Submarine, descending from the cruise ship into the depths of the ocean.

Bai Yi stayed on the boat to take care of Little Fox and the others, which put Ning Fei's mind at ease.

Once he submerged, the scene in the live stream defied the viewers' expectations yet again.

Beneath the pale blue water, dense swarms of ocean fish crowded together.

The netizens had never seen such a massive gathering of marine life.

Even the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world, hadn't offered a spectacle quite this magnificent.

Countless fish in mottled, vibrant colors swam freely through the water.

Various shellfish, starfish, jellyfish, and more were all clearly visible.

The sight made the viewers' eyes light up.

"So beautiful!"

"My god, this unnamed stretch of sea is actually this gorgeous!"

"Good lord, I used to think Atlantis was a myth, but now I completely believe it!"

"With this many fish, only the kingdom of Atlantis could possibly have this kind of attraction."

"Don't get too excited, everyone. If Atlantis were real, explorers would have found it long ago."

The netizens were thoroughly thrilled.

The marine life before them looked incredibly surreal.

It was like another world entirely.

At this moment, Ning Fei spoke up. "This area is in the subtropics. The ocean temperature is relatively high, making it far more suitable for the vast majority of ocean fish to survive."

"Because of that, the number and variety of fish will be extremely high."

"However, for this many fish to gather in this specific spot is indeed a bit strange."

"Not to mention the seabirds on the surface."

"Just what exactly is making these fish so excited?"

Ning Fei's words left the viewers even more eager for an answer.

"There has to be a treasure!"

"Now that you mention it, I think there's more to this too!"

"What in the world is it?!"

Ning Fei continued his descent. This patch of sea wasn't very deep; at around 500 meters down, the ocean floor was already visible.

Because it was a shallow sea, sunlight could still filter through, allowing for excellent visibility at the bottom.

The seabed was thickly covered in coral of various colors. There were vibrant yellows and reds, alongside darker, muted shades of gray and brown.

"Red mushroom coral, tiger ear mushroom coral, star polyp coral, sun coral..."

"There are a lot of coral species on this seabed."

Ning Fei let out a gasp of admiration upon seeing the coral reef.

Wearing his specially made Diving Suit, he parked the Submarine on the ocean floor and chose to exit through the rear hatch, plunging directly into the sea.

At the same time, Ning Fei chose to activate the Treasure Seeking Technique.

The ocean was simply too vast, and his movement speed underwater wasn't particularly fast. Since he wanted to uncover the secret behind the gathering of the birds and fish as quickly as possible, the Treasure Seeking Technique was the most convenient method.

Immediately, the item located by the Treasure Seeking Technique materialized in his mind.

"What kind of shape is this? It's quite unique."

Seeing the prompt provided by the System, a hint of astonishment flickered across Ning Fei's face.

The treasure icon located by the Treasure Seeking Technique looked somewhat like a snake, yet it was highly irregular.

"Could it be a special species of coral? Some top-tier corals are actually worth quite a lot."

The treasure's location wasn't far from him, so he decided to just swim over to it.

Ning Fei swam slowly forward along the ocean floor.

There was an abundance of fish at the bottom of the sea.

As he swam ahead, he happened upon a school of yellow fish moving in the same direction. Ning Fei simply blended in with the school and advanced alongside them.

It was a beautiful scene. Surrounded by a halo of tiny yellow fish, he looked full of life and vitality.

About half an hour later, Ning Fei finally reached the location indicated by the Treasure Seeking Technique.

Seeing the object that appeared before him, Ning Fei's expression filled with sheer astonishment.

Soon after, he let out a helpless laugh.

"So it was because of this thing."

"This completely caught me off guard."

Hearing Ning Fei's voice, the viewers were left deeply confused.

"What's wrong? Did Ning Guan master discover something?"

"Looks like it's those white stones?"

"Those don't really look like stones."

"Why are the shapes of these stones so weird?"

"Holy shit! Don't tell me those stones are Ambergris! If they are, then Ning Guan master is going to strike it rich!"

"Finally, someone who knows their stuff. That is indeed Ambergris. Ning Guan master's discovery this time is truly astonishing!"

"Can someone explain what Ambergris is?"

The chat filled with a dense flurry of bullet comments, erupting into a noisy debate.

Looking at the scene before him, Ning Fei chuckled and said, "These are all Ambergris."

"Ambergris is an extremely precious substance with a very high value."

"Of course, its origins might surprise you all."

"It is the excretion of sperm whales. In other words, it's essentially sperm whale feces."

"The reason there are so many seabirds and ocean fish in this area is likely tied to the scent of the Ambergris."

Ning Fei's explanation plunged the netizens into a brief silence.

Everyone felt as if a crow had just flown across their minds, leaving a trail of black ellipses in its wake.

"Ning Guan master means to say... the reason the seabirds are circling and the fish are so abundant is because of a few lumps of shit?"

"Ahem, it's called Ambergris, even though it amounts to the same thing."

"This is way too absurd!"

"Once you guys find out the price of Ambergris, you probably won't think that way anymore."

"Dried Ambergris can emit a long-lasting fragrance. When ignited, the scent fills the air even more powerfully. Back in the days of the imperial court, this was a fine treasure that only royalty and nobility could afford to use."

"Are you saying that the fragrances the emperors and concubines used on a daily basis were all just from 'burning shit'?"

"Exactly. This stuff smells incredibly good."

"Good lord, I've broadened my horizons once again!"

"Put it this way: just the Ambergris sitting in front of Ning Guan master right now won't go for anything less than a few million."

"What? A few lumps of feces can sell for millions? Rich people are crazy."

"Depending on the quality, it might be even more expensive!"

At this point, Ning Fei began another educational explanation.

"Sperm whales love to eat giant squid and giant octopuses. Squids and octopuses have hard, horny beaks inside their bodies that sperm whales can't digest. So, their intestines secrete a special waxy substance to envelop these food remnants, which slowly forms into Ambergris."

"Ambergris still inside a sperm whale's body holds absolutely no value, which also saves the sperm whales from being hunted specifically for it."

"Ambergris needs to be soaked in seawater to leach out all of its impurities before it can become top-grade."

"Generally speaking, the white ones are of the highest quality. It takes at least four to five hundred years of soaking for Ambergris to reach that white grade."

"The light black and gray ones are of somewhat lower quality. They've likely only been soaked for a few decades."

"The Ambergris here is entirely white, meaning it has already been soaked for hundreds of years. The quality is exceedingly high—it's practically like jade."

Ning Fei sighed in admiration.

The pieces of Ambergris before him were mostly the size of a fist; they weren't very large.

However, the treasure location marked by the System was still a little further ahead.

Ning Fei swam forward a bit.

He spotted some white Ambergris, as well as a few gray pieces.

The white Ambergris had its impurities completely purged, possessing only a unique scent that left people feeling relaxed and invigorated upon smelling it.

Next, he arrived at the exact location indicated by the Treasure Seeking Technique.

It was a gigantic white stone buried in the seafloor silt.

It was about two meters tall, and just looking at it, its weight was clearly quite substantial.

The few viewers who understood Ambergris from earlier instantly widened their eyes at the scene in the live stream, wearing expressions of sheer disbelief.

A single thought surged from the depths of their hearts:

'How is this possible?!'

At this very moment, Ning Fei simply murmured, "With a piece of Ambergris this massive, that sperm whale back then must have suffered quite a lot."