Three realms composed the land of Qin.

The terrestrial realm, ruled by The Jade Emperor.

The seas, ruled by Longwang.

And, the Underworld, ruled by Yan Wang and his direct underlings.

In the latter one, the king of the underworld was currently in his courthouse, where he judged the actions of deceased mortals, and decided which layer of the underworld to send them to.

However, the usually crowded queue of the courthouse was empty, and only Yan Wang and another man were inside this facility.

This man had a scary appearance, and heavy armor covered his tall stature.

This was Zhong Kui, the commander of the armies of the underworld.

The commander and demon hunter seemed to be deep in thought, as he stood silently and faced his king.

"Yudi attacked your group?"

"Yes, my king."

Yan Wang folded his arms and sighed, "I didn't expect him to do this, it seems he has personal reasons to do so."

"On that topic...." Zhong Kui wanted to say something.

"I think he still holds a grudge over us, and that is why he immediately went on the offensive."

Yan Wang's red eyes bulged in and out repeatedly, and he shouted, "For Lao Zi's sake! I've confirmed repeatedly that his wife's daughter is not in the Underworld!"

However, the king calmed down, and he weakly said, "What are you going to do, Zhong Kui?"

Zhong Kui shook his head and replied, "Yudi probably threw them off far away, we won't be able to meet for a long time."

"..."

___________historical

-Mekong River, Nam Viet-

Alex sat on the front porch of the riverside hut and placed his feet in the cold and murky waters.

He needed to move very soon, but he didn't have any sense of direction.

Unfortunately, the kind homeowners were people who had only seen the nearby area for all their life, and they didn't know of any land to the 'northeast'.

Right now, they went fishing near the coast.

Suddenly, Alex caught sight of two rafts approaching the hut alongside each other.

The man, Binh, and the woman, Chau, waved to him and anchored their rafts on a small pier nearby.

Compared to the previous time, they had two heavy buckets full of fish.

'It seems they've had a plentiful harvest...' Alex smiled, feeling happy at their fortune.

They were whispering something, but Alex heard it very clearly.

"I told you the goddess of fortune would bless us one day, Chau-em."

"It seems you were right, Binh..."

These 'benefactors' of his were living on humble means, but they weren't stingy people, and, if anything, they were overly generous.

"Alex, we have had a great harvest today, we'll make you the fullest meal to nourish you back to full health!" The two exclaimed.

Alex felt his heart ache.

'They're too kind!'

He stood up, and he said, "I'll take care of the food!"

The couple refused, but he insisted to cook for them.

"You have had a great harvest, I'll show you how to fully make use of it and preserve the fish!" Alex was going to show them a technique he knew from both the modern world and Abdera.

He took a straw bucket, and then, placed a layer of salt on it.

Fortunately, since the area of the delta where they lived was rather close to the sea, shortages of salt were not problems they faced.

Over the layer of salt, he put down a layer of small fish.

Binh and Chau stared at him incredulously.

Then, he took some readily available spices and added them as a third layer.

Following that, he repeated this three-layer juxtaposition until the straw bucket was completely full.

In a few months, the fish would have completely dissolved along with the spices, and they would be left with a delicious, salty, and nutritious fish sauce.

"Wait a few months, and then sieve the end product to remove rough bits, and use the finished product on food," Alex proudly spoke.

The two did not understand what he was saying, but they trusted him.

After that, he prepared their actual meal.

It was also simple.

Over a charcoal fire, he cooked the larger fish until the insides were soft and tender, whereas the skin was crispy and savory.

While it was cooking, the oils from the fish dripped down on a tempered clay pot that was over the fire.

When it cooled down, he added a small amount of rice to the oil and ignited the fire once again.

A toasted smell of rice and fish spread through the air and triggered the appetite of the couple.

Alex added enough water to cook the rice, and covered the rustic pot.

It cooked very quickly, and the cooked rice was a golden color due to pre-cooking in the fish oil.

It only needed simple seasoning, and he served the meal and called the couple over.

The interior of the hut was full of steam and appetite-inducing fragrance.

The two drooled and immediately dug in.

"This is very good..."

"Yes..."

Suddenly, an ominous knock on the door interrupted their meal.

"Residents of the Mekong riverside, Binh and Chau, we are here to collect the weekly yield."

____________

-Northeastern Siberia-

"This is the hungriest I've ever felt..." Hermes observed the barren surroundings and lamented.

The snowstorm had fortunately stopped, but there was simply no vegetation or even shrubbery in this place.

The only living creatures around were the wolves.

"These wolves are quite stupid," Hermes had the tendency to speak to himself whenever he was alone.

The wolves looked at his shivering, feathery wings and tried to bite them off.

They thought he was a tasty bird.

On the flip side, in his hunger-induced mania, Hermes thought that there was something else delicious that was around.

"No...I can't...Artemis loves wolves..."

"But I'm so hungry...and there's no warm water to make some tea..."

Usually, Alex could heat up his stone teacup to brew tea, but he wasn't here.

Thus, Hermes felt an incoming dilemma.

He could either starve and remain starving forever since he could not die.

Or, he could eat the wolves, which seemed like an unpleasant idea.