Zhao Ming was renowned throughout the village for his peerless fishing skills and superhuman swimming ability. Jiang Zhengyi, a ruthless and wealthy seafood magnate, was determined to plunder the depths of the Darkwater Lake despite villagers' warnings that the lake was protected by the Golden Trout King—a sacred beast that would bring calamity upon those who defied it. He scoffed at the superstition—until his daughter, Jiang Yuanyuan, was devoured by the beast. For five years, Jiang Zhengyi offered a bounty of 100,000 yuan for the head of the Golden Trout King, consumed by vengeance. Learning of Zhao Ming’s prowess, Jiang Zhengyi arrived at his doorstep with a fortune in hand. Zhao Ming agreed, but his mother, Zhang Xiuying—a keeper of the lake’s ancient taboos—forbade him. Spurned, Jiang Zhengyi turned to manipulation. He bribed Li Tufang, a local herbalist, to sneak saffron into a prenatal tonic meant for Zhao Ming’s pregnant wife, Qian Xiaoyun. The potion threw her into life-thr