The Great Immortal!

A gentle breeze and light clouds drift by, as I gaze until the birds fly south.

The plague bird was too fast, but because it was large and flew high in the sky, Zhu Ge was able to catch a glimpse of it.

Now, Zhu Ge and the fisherman in the straw raincoat travel on foot, so naturally they can't see any trace of the plague bird.

However, you can still see the traces it left behind.

"This is the plague of the Plague God Sparrow..."

Zhu Ge looked at the ground a kilometer away, her expression serious.

There, wisps of green energy spread from the sky to the ground.

The wind is blowing these gases away and diluting them, but it is precisely because of this that these gases are spreading.

To avoid being affected, the fisherman in the straw raincoat kept himself more than a thousand meters away from the gas.

This is the Plague Sparrow; even the mere trace of its flight is enough to make them retreat.

The gentleman had seen the signs of an impending plague outbreak in Hua Liusha and her daughter, which is why he went to Yuanyang City to seek medicine.

Along the way, Zhu Ge has not only sensed the aura of second-realm demonic beasts, but also quite a few third-realm ones.

If the fisherman in the straw raincoat hadn't been a third-level cultivator, he probably would have been dead long ago.

Therefore, Zhu Ge estimated that the gentleman had indeed fallen on hard times.

"Let's speed things up a bit."

The fisherman in the straw raincoat said in a deep voice, "We must get there as soon as possible. The city lord is extremely strict, and in the past, almost no one who disobeyed his orders has survived."

"I'd better keep you occupied. It would be better if you died..." Zhu Ge thought to himself.

However, he pretended to speed up a bit.

Even so, their speed wasn't very fast.

After all, there were quite a few auras from the Three Realms entrenched in the surrounding mountains and forests. If they flew by in the sky, it would be fine, but if they ran on the ground, even the fisherman in the straw raincoat wouldn't dare to provoke them.

This forces them to take a detour, otherwise they will step into the territory of these three realms.

As night fell, the fisherman in the straw raincoat stopped.

"Those demons and monsters are starting to stir." The fisherman in the straw raincoat frowned and looked around. "Let's stay here for the night and not make any rash moves."

Zhu Ge nodded and stopped beside the fisherman in the straw raincoat.

At night, predators naturally begin their hunt.

This caused many of the surrounding Three Realms to no longer remain stationary as before, but instead to wander around aimlessly.

The best way to avoid it is to stop and let these three realms exist on their own.

"Snapped!"

Zhu Ge sat down right there, slightly out of breath.

The fisherman in the straw raincoat sat down, his expression softening, and said kindly, "From now on, you'll be my trusted lieutenant. I'll teach you some rules first."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ge raised her head, revealing a respectful and attentive expression.

The fisherman in the straw raincoat smiled and said, "The first thing is to not disobey the city lord. The city lord has the power of life and death in Yuanyang City, and his words are more effective than those of the chieftain. Even the emperor's words are useless."

Local tyrant!

Zhu Ge immediately discerned the status of the city lord mentioned by the fisherman in the straw raincoat.

I instantly understood why the fisherman in the straw raincoat could be so callous in collecting taxes for the Awakening of Insects.

The superiors set an example for the subordinates!

A little indulgence at the top can lead to five parts arrogance in the middle and ten parts swagger among those below.

"Fisherman, who are these Lord of the Prefecture and Lord of the Frontier?" Zhu Ge asked curiously.

"There are twelve regional rulers in this world. I don't know about the others, but Yunjiang has three prefectures, namely my Honghe Prefecture, Dali Prefecture, and Dianchi Prefecture."

The fisherman in the straw raincoat probably genuinely considered Zhu Ge his subordinate at this point, and was therefore willing to reveal some basic knowledge:

"And to the south, in the south of my Great Sheng Dynasty, there is a place called the Southern Yue-Myanmar Wilderness, where countless Yue-Myanmar barbarians live. They are uneducated and resemble inferior monkeys."

"My Red River Prefecture guards the border, and the lord of Yuanyang City is also the lord of my Red River Prefecture. He is incredibly powerful and is a great immortal!"

"A great immortal?!" Zhu Ge's expression shifted. "Is he like that plague sparrow?"

"Not bad." The fisherman in the straw raincoat nodded: "The path of cultivation is divided into two stages: the first stage is Qi cultivation, the middle stage is Qi cultivation, the late stage is Qi cultivation. One begets two, two begets three, three begets all things, and then all things are transformed into the heart, thus entering the second stage."

"The second realm is cultivating the mind; when the mind is cultivated, the will is concentrated, and this is the third realm."

"And above the three realms, they are called... the Great Ones!"

The Great One!

Zhu Ge suddenly realized.

Above the three realms lies the realm known as "Great".

The fisherman in the straw raincoat nodded and said:

"The powerful beings are incredibly strong and can roam freely across this land. There are very few people in the world who can reach this level."

"Confucianism and Taoism have great scholars who can wield sharp tongues and subdue enemies with a single word."

"For example, in the martial arts path you follow, there are also distinctions between great heroes and great generals. Great heroes travel the world alone, while great generals lead armies and deploy troops to deter the border regions."

"And our city lord is a great immortal!"

"After experiencing the Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul stages, one's magical power is boundless. A single flying sword can take down an enemy's head from ten thousand miles away. The Nascent Soul can manifest supreme techniques upon leaving the body, and one person can subdue an entire prefecture!"

Great Immortal!

The realm of the great!

One person can govern an entire prefecture!

It turns out there aren't any first, second, third, or fourth realms; after the third realm comes a completely new one... Zhu Ge felt a longing for this realm, but then a question arose: "But what about that plague sparrow just now..."

"Its true form is an evil god, which delights in absorbing the power of fear and despair generated by creatures caught in plagues." The fisherman in the straw raincoat's expression turned solemn.

"He particularly enjoys diluting the spirit that humanity develops as it slowly dies of disease."

"Because of the unity of the human race, when one person falls ill, the whole family helps, and the death is slow, so the spirit is more abundant and pure. People around will also generate various kinds of spirit, so it has always been eyeing my Yunjiang with covetous eyes."

"He originally resided in the desolate wilderness of southern Vietnam, but for some reason he suddenly broke into our territory. I'm afraid his intentions towards Yuanyang City are not good..."

It's obvious that the Plague God Sparrow's grand trip to Yuanyang City wasn't just for tea and conversation.

Zhu Ge then asked, "Does the fisherman know how many paths of cultivation there are in the world? For example, what are the characteristics of the fisherman's path that you have taken?"

This is also the key question Zhu Ge wanted to ask.

If fishermen understand its characteristics, they might be able to devise some strategies to counter it.

"There are too many paths to cultivation in the world. It is said that the ancient philosophers all had their own lineages, but I don't know much about them anymore."

The fisherman in the straw raincoat shook his head: "As for my fishing skills, it's a family tradition, so let's not talk about it..."

Family legacy?

Zhu Ge nodded thoughtfully, about to say something, when she saw the fisherman in the straw raincoat suddenly turn his head to look to the side.

Seeing this, Zhu Ge shut her mouth and looked in that direction as well.

Even under the moonlight, the darkness remained intense.

Yet, within this dense darkness, something seemed to be moving about.

"How dare you!"

The fisherman in the straw raincoat stood up abruptly, releasing his inner energy without reservation, and looked at the creature in the darkness.

And the being in the darkness also released its aura.

The two realm-three auras collided, and Zhu Ge was sent flying.

"I am the Jingzhe Official of Yuanyang City. If you insist on hunting me, you will surely be suppressed by the Lord of Yuanyang City afterward!"

The fisherman in the straw raincoat produced a fish basket in his left hand and a fishhook in his right, his face contorted with anger: "This place isn't far from Yuanyang City, don't make a mistake!"

"roar!!!"

A roar echoed through the mountains and forests, and a black tiger, five or six meters tall, leaped out of the forest, baring its teeth and claws as it lunged at the fisherman in his straw raincoat.

This was none other than a black tiger at the third realm.

"Bang!!!"

The fisherman in the straw raincoat threw his fishing hook, which collided with the black tiger's sharp claws.

"boom!!!"

After a loud bang, a strong wind suddenly arose, the fisherman in the straw raincoat took a few steps back, while the black tiger was sent flying backward.

The fisherman in the straw raincoat sneered after regaining his footing: "A mere early-stage Devouring Essence Realm cultivator dares to treat me as prey?"

"Zhu Ge, you should know that these three realms of demons and monsters are: the first realm is the realm of spirits, the second realm is the realm of human form."

The fisherman in his straw raincoat even had the leisure to teach the blessing song:

"The three realms are differentiated. Demons devour essence, which means they consume the essence of heaven and earth. Essence is infinite, and its roots, stems and leaves are constantly regenerating. Monsters are exquisite, and even a stupid body can have an exquisite mind."

"Demons are made of flesh and blood, spirits are made of plants and trees, and monsters are made of earth, stone and metal. Demons, spirits and monsters are differentiated among the three realms."

"Therefore, the flesh and blood of this Devouring Demon are the most delicious. Watch me skin this black tiger, and we'll eat it with our wine!"

The fisherman in the straw raincoat leisurely introduced the situation to Zhu Ge, seemingly not taking the presence of the aura that appeared not far away seriously at all.

Unexpectedly, even more auras surged in from all directions at this moment.

The fisherman in the straw raincoat suddenly changed his expression.

"Something's wrong?! What's going on?!"