"Picking, picking, picking mushrooms, I found a little mushroom…"

 

An ancient ballad echoed through the dense forest, the voice melodious and pleasing, lively and bright. One would immediately assume that the singer was a lively and cheerful young girl.

 

However, if anyone saw the singer, they would be greatly surprised.

 

The singer was a bald man, with a dignified appearance, his body covered with clothes made of leaves. It was hard to imagine such a person singing a nursery rhyme.

 

The Immortal Maiden squatted by the lake, looking at her body, her eyes spinning.

 

"Although Lu Yang is not ugly, he is still a man. Since Lu Yang is not here, why not change into my appearance?"

 

The Immortal Maiden did as she thought. It was rare for her to be able to come out and play without anyone supervising, so she did as she pleased.

 

She put her two fingers together, held them to her lips, and softly muttered something, causing a resonance between heaven and earth, making the surrounding space blur and distort.

 

When the space returned to normal, the person squatting by the lake was no longer the bald Lu Yang, but a young girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen.

 

The young girl was innocent and lively, her big eyes sparkling, her long hair hanging down to her waist. She was wearing a beige dress, her feet bare, looking like a young lady who had sneaked out from home, not even properly dressed.

 

"Hehe, I'm so cute." The Immortal Maiden saw her original appearance in the lake and laughed happily.

 

She sat by the lake, barefoot, occasionally kicking the water, causing ripples to spread.

 

Small fish were attracted by the movement on the lake surface, thinking that food had appeared. When they swam closer and found that it was a human playing with water, they left in disappointment.

 

Although the Immortal Maiden could create anything in Lu Yang's spiritual space, those were just spiritual constructs, and playing with them didn't feel real. Unlike now, even kicking the water felt fun.

 

The lake water was icy cold, and her little feet soaked in the water felt so comfortable that she grinned with joy.

 

She picked up a slightly long branch from the lakeside, used her own immortal power as a fishing line, wrapped it around the branch, and made a simple fishing rod.

 

"Hey yo."

 

She didn't even put any bait, just cast the rod, showing a carefree attitude.

 

The immortal power condensed into a fishing line was only a thread, but it was still immortal power, a unique power of immortals. It didn't need bait, the fishing line itself was the best bait.

 

The Immortal Maiden squinted her eyes and half-laid by the lake. She used some kind of spell, and although the lakeside was muddy, she lay there without a speck of dirt on her.

 

If Lu Yang were here, he would recognize it. This was the Clean Clothes Spell he had been longing for. However, the Clean Clothes Spell used by the Immortal Maiden was many levels more sophisticated than the one taught by the Orchid Pavilion. It was already in the realm of immortal arts, and it consumed almost no power when cast.

 

Soon, a big fish was hooked, biting the fishing line tightly.

 

The big fish wanted to refine this thread of immortal power, but the gap in levels was too great, and it couldn't refine it.

 

"Got a bite?"

 

The Immortal Maiden suddenly stood up, her eyes flashing with excitement. She lifted her right hand, and a fathead fish jumped out of the water.

 

"Oh, it's a fathead fish. It's not good-looking, not tasty, and has no nutritional value." The Immortal Maiden shook her head in disappointment, patted the face of the fathead fish, signaled it to let go, and threw it back into the lake.

 

"Reincarnate into a tasty animal in your next life." The Immortal Maiden reminded the fathead fish, sparing its life. As a fish, it should know to repay kindness.

 

The fathead fish had not yet gained intelligence, so it couldn't understand what she was saying.

 

After the fathead fish left, various lake delicacies were hooked. Fish, shrimp, crabs, shells, and various creatures that appeared after ancient times, which the Immortal Maiden didn't recognize.

 

It didn't matter if she didn't recognize them. She had rich experience and cooking skills. She would know what could be eaten and what couldn't after trying once.

 

Soon, the area beside the Immortal Maiden was piled up with lake delicacies. She was worried that they would run away, so she mixed lake water and black soil to make mud, and then used the mud to encircle a small area, trapping all the lake delicacies.

 

Suddenly, a dark shadow shot out from the lake surface, covered in spikes, looking like a hedgehog, but its spikes were much shorter.

 

This lake was several times larger than the one controlled by the old turtle. Accordingly, the master who could control this lake was extraordinary.

 

The dark shadow was the master of the lake, with a cultivation level in the late Golden Elixir stage. It had swallowed countless humans and monsters while they were drinking water.

 

It was so greedy when it saw the Immortal Maiden. Although she seemed to be a young girl in the late Foundation Establishment stage, for some reason, it felt that if it could eat this young girl, it could immediately break its elixir and become an Elemental Infant stage monster.

 

By then, it could further expand its territory and become stronger.

 

Lu Yang was in the late Foundation Establishment stage, and the Bodhi Tree's avatar could inherit eighty percent of his power. In other words, the Immortal Maiden's current realm was also in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

 

The Immortal Maiden blinked, and was swallowed by the lake master into its stomach.

The lake master was not worried that the Immortal Maiden would attack from within. It had consumed a highly corrosive liquid, and anyone swallowed by it would find their attacks weakened by the corrosive liquid, posing no threat to it.

 

"Water Repelling… never mind, Little Fennel Fist."

 

Her soft fist hit the stomach wall, and the lake master felt as if there was a storm in its belly, even more severe, as if a huge force was stirring its body.

 

"Wait, let me…"

 

Before the lake master could finish begging for mercy, the force from the Little Fennel Fist tore it into several pieces.

 

The Immortal Maiden, holding a piece of the lake master's flesh, swam back to the surface of the lake.

 

Initially, she wanted to use the Water Repelling technique to deal with the lake master. But then she thought that the lake master was a creature she had never seen before, and she didn't know how it tasted. If she used the Water Repelling technique to drain the lake master's water, how could she eat it?

 

So she decided on a whim to use the Little Fennel Fist.

 

The Little Fennel Fist, which regulates qi and stomach, can nourish the opponent's body when hit. But if the opponent's body is healthy, this Little Fennel Fist becomes a death warrant.

 

"Why doesn't Lu Yang learn such a powerful fist technique? It's so wet and uncomfortable, Water Repelling."

 

As the words "Water Repelling" fell, the water around her quickly dispersed, and an invisible force lifted her up.

 

She stood on the surface of the lake, hands behind her back, holding a piece of the lake master's flesh, humming a tune as she returned to the shore, relaxed and content.

 

"I wonder how the lake master tastes."

 

Her culinary intuition told her that the lake master should taste good.

 

"There's no pot."

 

The Immortal Maiden scratched her head, there was not a single decent cooking utensil nearby.

 

She saw the lotus leaves on the lake, her eyes lit up: "I got it! I can wrap it in lotus leaves, cover it with mud on the outside, roast it with fire, and then it's ready to eat!"

 

She didn't bring any seasonings, so she used plants that looked like seasonings from the lakeside as actual seasonings.

 

"Immortal True Fire." She spat out a flame, a fire unknown to the world, independent of the one hundred and eight true fires.

 

The Immortal True Fire was gentle, burning the food, heating it from the inside out, and soon a fresh aroma wafted out.

 

Just as the Immortal Maiden was about to start eating, a gentle voice sounded behind her.

 

"Little girl, why are you here alone? It's very dangerous here."

 

The Immortal Maiden turned her head, her face showing confusion and ignorance, with a few spots of mud on her cheeks, splashed on while she was preparing the fish.

 

Behind her stood four people, all at the Golden Elixir stage. She wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but the Immortal Maiden felt they smirked maliciously, then disappeared, replaced by a kind and friendly smile.

 

"Little girl, where are your parents?"