Chapter 218: Infiltrating Yuan Yang City

Chapter 218: Chapter 218: Infiltrating Yuan Yang City

For the next three days, the camp was a hive of activity.

At dawn, before the sky had even brightened, the training grounds echoed with the shouts of drills.

Zhao Tieshan led the Martial Artists in practicing sword and shield coordination, shield wall advances, and spear thrusts.

Meanwhile, the Soldier Daoist Soldiers drilled formation changes—from Round Array to Pyramidal Array to square formations. Their steps were uniform, their discipline absolute.

In the morning, the Confucian Scholars sat cross-legged in an open area of the camp, chanting classics as their Literary Energy surged.

Yu the Scholar stood at the front, wielding a brush pen to write the character for "kill" again and again in the air. The other Confucian Scholars followed his lead.

Eighty "kill" characters materialized at once, erupting in a brilliant golden light that dyed the sky above the camp gold.

In the afternoon, Liu Jianjian led the Demon Beast Legion out of the camp to drill.

Sword and Axe Mantises and Strong Monkey Kings circled in the sky, Ink-Scale Pythons slithered across the ground, and Stone Monsters rolled down the hillsides, carving deep trenches in their wake.

Over ten thousand Demon Beasts roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens and sending wild animals scattering in terror for miles around.

Zhu Ge wasn’t idle, either.

By day, he inspected each unit and offered guidance on their training. At night, he cultivated the Water Refining Technique of the *Great Sun Glaze Body*, holding it for twenty seconds at a time before applying medicinal paste, repeating the cycle over and over.

His body’s resilience grew stronger by the day, and his Blood Qi became more condensed.

「Three days later, all preparations were complete.」

Zhu Ge stood at the highest point in the camp, gazing at the distant silhouette of Yuan Yang City.

"Today, I’m going to scout ahead," he said to the few people behind him. "You all stay in camp and wait for my signal."

"I have a special method. The Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python might not be able to find me, but a larger group would be easily detected."

"Understood. Be careful, then," Yu the Scholar nodded.

Zhu Ge nodded, vaulted onto Mazhu, and galloped off in the direction of Yuan Yang City.

Yuan Yang City was the heart of Red River Prefecture. It lay hidden high in the sky, with the Red River rising from the earth, flying up into the airborne city, and then falling back to the ground after passing through.

It was a magnificent and unbelievable sight.

However, this once-glorious city was now shrouded in a sickly green cloud of plague poison. In the Red River below it, enormous dark shadows appeared and disappeared.

’Something’s changed again?’

Zhu Ge stopped about three miles from Yuan Yang City.

"Mazhu, you wait here for me," Zhu Ge said, patting Mazhu.

"Yes, Master. Be careful." Mazhu could feel its own body tremble as they neared the plague cloud.

Zhu Ge dismounted, had Mazhu hide in a patch of woods, and activated his [Secret] Trait. Suppressing his aura, he advanced on foot.

The closer he got to Yuan Yang City, the thicker the toxic fog became. The plants on the ground were withered and black, and even the soil emanated a putrid stench.

"Brother, there’s no spiritual attack this time," Hua Liusha said in his mind. "Something must have changed."

Zhu Ge nodded slightly.

’And not just that. The pervasive plague is gone, and there are fewer animals and Demon Beasts around.’

’I’ve barely seen any on the way here.’

This put Zhu Ge on high alert.

’Something is definitely wrong!’

’They’re probably gearing up for something big...’

Zhu Ge narrowed his eyes.

’The final battle!’

’The Yuan Yang City Lord, Hongmi Immortal, had already been severely injured, yet the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python hadn’t reacted at all.’

’Clearly, they weren’t at full strength either.’

’But now, they must be close. The Red River Dragon Python and the Plague God Sparrow have finished their preparations.’

’I wonder when the great battle will begin...’

Zhu Ge could smell the smoke of war, and the gears of his plan began to turn in his mind.

But first, he needed to meet with the Yuan Yang City Lord, Hongmi Immortal.

He had to determine what role the only Great Realm expert in all of Red River Prefecture would play in his plan.

"Perfect. Time to go."

Zhu Ge assessed the situation, then walked straight out of the forest.

The [Secret] Trait wasn’t just optical camouflage, like a chameleon; it was a form of disregard.

As long as he had this Trait active, others would subconsciously ignore him.

Even if they saw him, they wouldn’t be able to focus their attention on him.

It could be said that this Trait was every bit as powerful as [Kunpeng] and [Spider].

Unfortunately, while [Kunpeng] and [Spider] had given him the ability to possess avatars, [Secret] had not granted his soul a new fragment.

SPLASH!

Zhu Ge reached the bank of the Red River and plunged straight in.

Any other beings nearby would subconsciously ignore him, assuming it was just a rock rolling into the water.

Then, Zhu Ge began swimming forward with a breaststroke.

With the Heart of Martial Arts Origin, his imitation of any animal was incredibly fast and accurate.

In no time, his breaststroke was more frog-like than an actual frog’s.

He had considered imitating a fish, but after a quick try, he found it more strenuous than the breaststroke.

’Probably because frogs have four limbs, just like people,’ he mused.

So, he swam upstream with a breaststroke and soon arrived at a sluice gate.

Normally, one would enter and exit Yuan Yang City via the ferry on the Red River.

But with the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python causing trouble, the ferry had naturally stopped running.

That was why Zhu Ge had no choice but to swim up the river.

However, a layer of an Array had appeared at the sluice gate, swirling with killing intent.

’An Array?’

Staring at the Array that enveloped the entire sluice gate, Zhu Ge was dumbfounded.

The Red River flowed through Yuan Yang City via one of its canals.

After entering Yuan Yang City, the single Red River split into thousands of channels to irrigate crops, then converged back into one before flowing out of the city.

Fortunately, there was no such thing as a sewer system in this era, and sewage wasn’t discharged into the Red River. Otherwise, Zhu Ge would have been overwhelmed by the stench.

But now that he had reached the mouth of the canal, he was stuck.

Before him, eight stalks of pale red rice were planted in the current, standing as still as mountains amidst the rushing water.

That’s right—there were only eight stalks of rice, yet Zhu Ge felt as if eight mountains were blocking his path.

Zhu Ge had no doubt that if he swam any further, he would likely be crushed into dust by a single grain of rice from those stalks.

It couldn’t be helped. Zhu Ge’s [Secret] Trait only worked on conscious living beings.

It was just like how, even with [Secret] active, the air could still touch him and the sun could still shine on him.

This Array could still obliterate him.

"Zhu Ge of Jianshui City has come to request an audience with the City Lord!"

With no other choice, Zhu Ge revealed himself, cupped his fist, and called out, "This concerns the Thirteen Cities of Red River Prefecture! I beseech you to let me enter the city!"

The moment his voice fell, Zhu Ge felt the hair on his body stand on end—the distinct sensation of being scanned by Divine Sense.

’Seven or eight of them!’

’It seems there are many Third Realm experts in the city...’ Zhu Ge realized.

A moment later, a voice called out.

"Zhu Ge? From Jianshui City? What proof do you have?" It was the cold voice of a woman.

Zhu Ge immediately took out the purple clay teapot and a document.

The document was the Jingzhe Official appointment letter that Mr. Langhao had issued to him, appointing him as the Jingzhe Official of Jianshui City.

Of course, he had never actually gotten around to collecting taxes.

"So it’s true? Wait a moment. I have already reported this to the City Lord. We will await his decision."