Chapter 75: Hua Liusha Stole the Fish Basket?
Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Hua Liusha Stole the Fish Basket?
Zhu Ge had anticipated everything about the Raincoat Fisherman!
The boat, the fishhook, the fishing song, the fish basket.
For the boat, he had arranged for the Yi People’s Witch, a Second Realm existence of the Witch Dao.
The Yi People’s Witch excelled at controlling fire!
Therefore, even without the Plague God Sparrow, the Raincoat Fisherman’s boat was doomed to be destroyed.
And as it happened, Sui Niang was well-versed in music. Her voice was melodious and beautiful, and with a little cultivation, she could step onto the path of music.
While it couldn’t completely counter the Raincoat Fisherman, it could still influence him to some degree.
For the fishhook, he had arranged Yu the Scholar.
Yu the Scholar had mastered the Great Revenge Theory of the Gongyang Confucian school. This, combined with his *Jianshan Notes*, had unexpectedly given him the power to block Divine Sense.
And the fish basket, of course, was the instrument Zhu Ge planned to use for the Tiger God and Xigui to pin down the Raincoat Fisherman.
The Raincoat Fisherman had no other defenses; the fish basket was his most important one.
The fish basket was for defense. Once the Raincoat Fisherman was forced to rely solely on it for protection, the plan was to have the god and ghost surround it, preventing his Divine Sense from escaping. This would effectively trap the Raincoat Fisherman inside his own basket.
During their travels, Zhu Ge had also discovered that the Raincoat Fisherman wasn’t adept at handling powerful Demon Beasts, even being unwilling to face Second Realm bears.
After all, the Raincoat Fisherman had been the one to teach Zhu Ge martial arts, yet the man had never fought himself. Back then, he’d even been afraid of those two Second Realm bears.
That was why Zhu Ge had specifically sent Hua Xiaomei to find the Black Tiger and the Great Ape—two Third Realm Essence-Devouring Realm Demon Beasts renowned for their strength—and deliver a false order from the great Plague God Sparrow.
The other First and Second Realm Demon Beasts were also mostly known for their brute strength.
However, while Zhu Ge had accounted for everything, he had forgotten to account for himself.
He had arranged for the Mechanism Master from Mengla Village to escort Yu the Scholar away, for the Yi people to take Sui Niang, and he had even made arrangements for Duan Lei and Ji Fuhui.
But he had forgotten himself!
’These Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters have targeted me!’
Zhu Ge’s body tensed, and he plunged directly into the jungle.
In the distance, the Great Ape and the Black Tiger exchanged a glance.
"He may have great potential, but right now he’s just a Martial Artist. Let the small fry handle him," the Great Ape said.
"Our mission from the Plague God Sparrow is to slaughter all Third Realm Human Race members. Next will be the Second Realm, First Realm, and then the ordinary people. It’s only a matter of time before this Martial Artist dies."
"This Raincoat Fisherman, though, was pretty unlucky to run into the two of us first. All the better for us now."
"Tell me about it! This unlucky human is ours now..." The Black Tiger nodded, his gaze shifting to the Raincoat Fisherman’s corpse. His eyes began to gleam.
"A Human Race cultivator of the Fishing Dao Fishing Realm. His flesh must be absolutely delicious!"
The Great Ape looked over as well, gulping. "You take a leg, I’ll take a leg. Let’s split him. Dig in."
...
RUSTLE—
Branches and leaves scraped against Zhu Ge’s body, left far behind as he sped onward.
Blood Qi surged through Zhu Ge’s body, his feet flying across the ground.
’Those two Third Realm Essence-Devouring Realm Demon Beasts are busy feasting on the Raincoat Fisherman’s corpse and dividing his belongings. I’m just a First Realm Martial Artist. They shouldn’t bother chasing me themselves.’
’Not many of the Late-Second Realm ones will come after me either. The Raincoat Fisherman had many treasures and a lot of food stored in his fish basket. They’ll all be busy trying to claim their share.’
’So, my priority now is to escape somewhere remote, somewhere those two Essence-Devouring Demon Beasts can’t sense me. Then, I can turn back and kill the rest of these Demon Beasts.’
Zhu Ge settled on his strategy.
Having successfully taken his revenge, his mind was clear, and he had advanced to the late stage of the Anger Realm. This was the perfect opportunity to hone his martial arts.
"Brother! Guess what I got?"
While Zhu Ge was busy fleeing, Hua Liusha’s smug voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"What did you get?" Zhu Ge asked as he ran.
Just moments ago, Hua Liusha and the Tiger God had acted as anchors, pinning the fish basket down. This had prevented the Raincoat Fisherman’s Divine Sense from escaping, leaving him to passively await his death.
By the time Zhu Ge used his Kunpeng trait to possess the Raincoat Fisherman’s body, Hua Liusha had already returned.
As for the Tiger God?
He had probably already run off!
That fellow was extremely cunning. Back when the "teacher" wasn’t around, he didn’t dare make a move. He hadn’t started a conflict even when Yu the Scholar was at the Second Realm.
Later, when both the Raincoat Fisherman and Zhu Ge went to the Tiger God’s three great mountains, the Tiger God still didn’t dare make a peep.
He was terrified of dying, plain and simple.
So, for this siege on the Raincoat Fisherman, the Tiger God had merely sent a proxy, something akin to a Chong Ghost whose mind had been taken over.
Hua Liusha was different.
The mother-daughter pair, Sui Niang and Xianxian, had been very close with Hua Liusha.
Zhu Ge wasn’t the only one enraged when Xianxian was raped and murdered; Hua Liusha was furious as well.
That was why Hua Liusha had used her full strength this time.
As a Second Realm Transformation Realm Ghost, her specialty was dealing with souls.
He just didn’t know what Hua Liusha had managed to steal.
"Take a look at this!"
Hua Liusha’s voice was filled with delight.
Zhu Ge’s frantic pace faltered for a fraction of a second before he pushed himself to go even faster.
And now, inside his mind, alongside the ungerminated Fungus God seed and the "Xi" character, a straw bowl had appeared.
Or rather, it wasn’t a straw bowl, but half of a fish basket.
"You stole the fish basket?!"
Zhu Ge was stunned. "But didn’t the Great Ape take the fish basket?"
"I was covering the outside of the fish basket when I happened to discover that it’s actually made of three sections—top, middle, and bottom. It also has an inner and outer layer," Hua Liusha said smugly.
"So I stole the inner part! Without a god or ghost noticing!"
"I guess that really was without a god or ghost noticing!" Zhu Ge exclaimed in admiration.
After all, Hua Liusha was a Ghost, and the Tiger God was a god.
And even if there had been other minor gods and ghosts present, none were on a higher level than Hua Liusha and the Tiger God.
So it truly was done without a single god or ghost being the wiser.
"This inner lining must be for storage, while the outer shell is for protection. In other words..." Hua Liusha hummed.
"Brother, hurry up and praise me! Look, you haven’t even given me a betrothal gift, and I’ve already brought you such a huge dowry!"
"Hahaha, good little sister! I’m so lucky to have you!" Genuine joy filled Zhu Ge’s heart, but another glance at the pursuing monsters sent a chill through him.
"Now isn’t the time to take inventory. Little sister, you check what’s inside the basket for now. Also, I’ll need you to support me with your Yin Qi later. I might not be able to beat them on my own!"
"Okay!" Hua Liusha also knew there were too many pursuers on their tail for Zhu Ge to have time to go through their haul from the Raincoat Fisherman.
But since Hua Liusha resided in Zhu Ge’s mind, she was free to examine the contents of the basket first.
"ROAR!!!"
With a great roar, an incredibly fast Hua Bao pounced down from the canopy above Zhu Ge, fangs and claws bared.
A Spirit Realm!
A Demon Beast!
For demons, spirits, and monsters, the First Realm was the Spirit Realm. All things possessed a spirit; once that spirituality was nurtured and awakened, they entered the Spirit Realm.
The Zhu Ge of before would not have been able to defeat it.
But now, Zhu Ge lashed out with a direct palm strike, smashing it into the Hua Bao’s skull.
CRACK!!!
With the sound of cracking bone, the Hua Bao was sent flying sideways. It hadn’t died, but it couldn’t even stand steadily, and Blood Qi sprayed from its jaws.
’I only used ten percent of my strength.’
As he ran, Zhu Ge glanced back and clenched his fist.
Unbelievably, his Body Cultivation Technique was astonishingly powerful.
They were both in the First Realm, though he was at the late stage while the Hua Bao had only been at the initial stage.
But back then, the power gap between Yu the Scholar and beings like the Fungus God or Hua Liusha hadn’t been nearly so vast.
*Great Sun Glaze Body*!
It was all thanks to the *Great Sun Glaze Body*!
According to Yu the Scholar, he and his teacher had accidentally found the *Great Sun Glaze Body* in a cave. Inside, there had only been a skeleton.
They had originally planned to take it to Yuan Yang City to sell for money to pay off a debt, but they never expected the series of events that followed.
’It seems that enduring the wind’s tempering day after day has finally paid off.’
This made Zhu Ge even more eager to see how powerful he would become when he mastered the first stage of the *Great Sun Glaze Body*, Wind Refining.
After all, he was currently just lying in a coffin, cultivating in a faint air current.
If, in the later stages, he could temper his body with the Nine Heavens Gang Wind, he couldn’t imagine how powerful it would become.
’This attack by the demon horde is the perfect opportunity. I’ll practice my Body Refinement and hone my martial arts at the same time!’
’Only by raising my Martial Dao Cultivation can I gain more time. Otherwise, I’ll be dead in a year!’