Game Theory

"I am now a mid-stage martial artist of the first realm."

Zhu Ge smiled broadly: "Although you are just ordinary people, I cherish our past friendship. How about you come with me to Yuanyang City to develop your careers? The fisherman in the straw raincoat will not treat us badly."

"How could you say such a thing!" Ji Fuhui's eyes turned red, and he wanted to step forward to hit Zhu Ge, but was stopped by Yu Xiucai.

"You've gone bad, Zhu Ge, you've gone bad!" Duan Lei's face was also full of anger.

"You can leave now, you're not welcome here," Yu Xiucai said coldly.

Only Sui Niang remained motionless, staring intently at Zhu Ge.

"I told you, this is my share." Zhu Ge's face also turned cold. "My family has been farming here for generations. Why should you kick me out? Humph, I'm going home!"

After saying that, Zhu Ge turned and walked away towards home, calling out loudly from afar:

"It's an honor for this place that I'm here! A month from now, when I've risen to prominence, none of you will be worthy to lick my boots!"

……

Zhu Ge returned home, looking around with a face full of emotion and nostalgia.

At the same time, a ripple suddenly appeared in my mind.

However, he seemed oblivious, glanced at the various items his parents had left behind, and then went down the mountain.

The village's cemetery lies at the foot of the mountain; all of them died because of the fungus god.

The song of blessing is for worshipping one's parents, and this is where the worship takes place.

At this time, besides a tombstone, there was a small mound at the foot of the mountain with the words "Tomb of Xianxian" written on it.

"Tsk tsk." Zhu Ge shook her head with a sigh: "Who told you to be so young?"

Next, he came to the blank tombstones in the village, his expression slightly agitated.

"Father, Mother, your son has made something of himself!" Zhu Ge's voice trembled slightly, as if he were overjoyed.

"I've followed a great man, and he's been able to lift me up to the top. I can finally eat my fill! I can finally make something of myself!"

Zhu Ge knelt down and kowtowed.

Meanwhile, high up, unbeknownst to Zhu Ge, a fisherman in a straw raincoat stood expressionless on his small boat, gazing at the clouds on the horizon.

After Zhu Ge kowtowed three times, the fisherman in the straw raincoat smiled and said softly:

"Not bad, he has ambitions to climb the social ladder. In addition, he is unaware that he is a martial arts prodigy. If properly nurtured, he can become my canine fang on the surface and my dirty knife in secret."

"It wasn't for nothing that I put so much effort into this... It's a pity that all the cultivators in Yuanyang City have a master or sect, otherwise why would I have taken this peasant as my fodder?"

"The villages in other parts of this area are not suitable for taking people in, but Zhu Ge is going through a major change and is in a vulnerable state of mind. We can take advantage of his weakness. Moreover, he has not studied Confucianism or Taoism and is not the kind of stubborn and inflexible person who is hard to persuade."

"Besides, these peasants can be subdued with a combination of kindness and severity, and it seems they are almost completely at my disposal now."

"However, I'll have to observe further. Zhu Ge is a clever person, so I should be cautious..."

……

Below, a voice came from the character "囍" in Zhu Ge's mind.

"Brother, what happened to me earlier...?"

Hua Xiaomei's voice sounded somewhat puzzled: "Why are you kowtowing here?"

Has Hua Liusha recovered?

Zhu Ge outwardly kowtowed excitedly, but inwardly he was telling Hua Xiaomei about what had happened during this time.

This made Hua Xiaomei increasingly silent, while the character "囍" in Zhu Ge's mind became increasingly vivid, like blood.

After Zhu Ge finished kowtowing, everything was as usual. He returned home with an arrogant expression and then practiced the "Wrathful Vajra Palm" move by move outside the house.

However, he was still communicating with Hua Xiaomei in his mind.

"...The spiritual sense of those at the Third Realm is impossible to guard against, so I dare not be careless for a moment, or I will die without a burial place!"

Zhu Ge responded to Hua Xiaomei.

"Brother is right." Hua Xiaomei's voice was also a little downcast: "Brother, you must take care of yourself too..."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Just knowing the general situation is enough."

While practicing the martial arts technique she had recently acquired, Zhu Ge asked:

"By the way, little sister, what abilities do you currently possess? Be as specific as possible. I must kill the fisherman in the straw raincoat with a single blow, so the more you know, the better!"

Hua Xiaomei immediately replied, "One is a bewitching spirit, and I am a wedding ghost. My power is only weakened when I am facing people who are celebrating a wedding."

Zhu Ge nodded slightly.

This ability to bewitch is similar to the ability to steal a god's soul; it can be considered a ghost's talent.

Back then, some people in the village were bewitched, and some were deprived of their divine power, similar to Hua Xiaomei fighting with the fungus god for control.

"The second one is what the brother saw before. I can condense yin energy into yin qi to impact the soul of living beings," Hua Xiaomei said.

"But neither of my methods had much effect on the Confucian scholar Yu Xiucai, nor on the Fisherman in the Straw Raincoat who seriously injured me before. We ghosts... are too weak!"

Indeed, it seems that neither ghosts nor gods can compare to cultivators like immortals and scholars in certain situations.

However, ghosts and spirits are very powerful against ordinary people.

Moreover, even ghosts and spirits can't defeat immortals and scholars in a direct confrontation; if they resort to underhanded tactics, the outcome is uncertain.

"Yin energy? Like the one you came to see me that night?"

Zhu Ge recalled a night when Hua Xiaomei's yin energy came to the woods to find him, wanting to convey a message, and sang a nursery rhyme.

He accidentally knocked away Hua Xiaomei's yin energy, and at the time he thought it was a hallucination.

"Yes, that's right." Hua Xiaomei.

"Could you leave behind some remotely controllable Yin energy?" Zhu Ge asked.

Hua Xiaomei replied, "Sure!"

"Will we be discovered?" Zhu Ge asked nervously. "For example, by the fisherman in the straw raincoat? I suspect he's watching me right now."

There's no other way but to be safe than sorry!

He even suspected that this month-long period might be a trial period.

The fisherman in the straw raincoat didn't seem like a fool.

To ensure everything goes smoothly, Zhu Ge has no choice but to outwardly display absolute loyalty and sycophancy.

For example, during this month, it is very likely that the fisherman in the straw raincoat will be watching him with his divine sense from the shadows.

In other words, they ostensibly go back to report on their work, but in reality, they return after a day or two to secretly spy on others.

Of course, it's also possible that Zhu Ge was playing a game with thin air.

It's also possible that the fisherman in the straw raincoat stayed for a day or two and then went back.

Or perhaps the fisherman in the straw raincoat returned a day or two earlier to observe.

In short, there are too many possibilities!

Therefore, Zhu Ge dared not gamble!

He could only fight and lay the groundwork using the safest and most reliable methods.

This implies that the fisherman in the straw raincoat was watching him from the sky the whole time, without stopping for a moment.

"A fisherman in a straw raincoat? Unless he's a ghost or a god, he wouldn't be able to sense my yin energy," Hua Xiaomei replied to Zhu Ge.

"In the past, when I manipulated yin energy to bewitch Yu Xiucai, he didn't even realize it. That's one of my special abilities."

"Very good..." Zhu Ge's eyes flickered slightly, but he suppressed it again: "In that case, I also have some things to arrange for you to do."

Spider silk...is being woven!

However, from the outside, Zhu Ge seems to have completely become a bully.

After returning to the village, he began practicing martial arts and would occasionally show off to Ji Fuhui and Duan Lei.

He even mocked Ji Fuhui and Duan Lei for not being able to learn his martial arts skills with a very contemptuous attitude.

Duan Lei was alright, just standing there dumbfounded, thinking that Zhu Ge really looked down on him, so he desperately tried to beat his body.

Ji Fuhui, however, felt this was a provocation, so he went directly to Zhu Ge's house.

"Zhu Ge! Go and kowtow three times before Xianxian's tombstone, and I'll let bygones be bygones!"