Chapter 225: The Power of Kunpeng

Zhu Ge knew instinctively. This could not possibly be the Plague God Sparrow’s shrine!

Throughout his journey, whether he was facing existences of the First Realm, Second Realm, or Third Realm, almost none of them had been fools.

How could this Plague God Sparrow, which had started as a mere sparrow and reached its current state, be an easy opponent?

‘A trap!’

Zhu Ge’s heart sank.

‘Good thing I’m naturally suspicious, and good thing I have [Secret].’

‘Destroying the shrine definitely won’t be that easy.’

However, Hongmi Immortal had said that the Plague God Sparrow should be carrying its shrine with it. Otherwise, even a powerful god couldn’t stray too far from their own shrine.

Generally speaking, a god can only operate within the area covered by their shrine.

The Plague God Sparrow’s shrine was indeed within a radius of a thousand li.

‘But what if its shrine is scattered in different places?’

‘What if its shrine is inside its own body?’

Logically, all the gods Zhu Ge had encountered so far had turned their own bodies into their shrines.

So, in most cases, for a being like the Plague God Sparrow that had achieved godhood, destroying its physical body would be enough.

‘I’ll re-examine this trap later. If I really can’t find it, I’ll find a way to get rid of this trap then.’

Zhu Ge made up his mind instantly.

‘First, I’ll look around some more!’

‘If I can’t find it, I’ll have no choice but to take a desperate gamble and destroy this trap.’

At that moment, outside, Hongmi Immortal had already begun to clash with the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python, and waves of fluctuations could be felt from the battle.

Zhu Ge remained completely unmoved and immediately activated [Kunpeng].

‘Kunpeng trait, equip!’

[Name: Zhu Ge]

[Lifespan: 301 years]

[Trait: Kunpeng]

[Inventory: Spider, Secret]

Equipping the [Kunpeng] trait for one minute now only cost four years of his life. Zhu Ge could afford it.

WHUMMM—

The moment he equipped it, Zhu Ge felt everything around him go quiet, as if the entire world had slowed down.

‘This is the first time I’ve equipped it after entering the Second Realm. I didn’t expect this kind of change…’

Zhu Ge was slightly startled.

An earth-shattering change!

Previously, when he wore it during his Mortal Era, not only did it cost ten years of life, but his eyes would also be bloodshot and his mind groggy after each use.

Now, after equipping [Kunpeng], he still felt a sense of sluggishness, like just after waking up in the morning.

However, everything in the world seemed different.

The places Zhu Ge had just passed through, the Demon Beasts he had seen, everything before his eyes… it was all revealed in exquisite detail!

Zhu Ge closed his eyes, then snapped them open.

[Kunpeng] granted him not just calmness, but also insight!

The ability to instantly piece together countless fragments of information into a complete picture made it seem, for a moment, as if Zhu Ge could see the very rules of the world, the Great Dao itself.

And now, the altar before him—the texture of every giant stone, the flow of every wisp of mist, the fluctuation of every trace of Spiritual Qi—all of it became incomparably clear in his eyes.

‘It’s not here.’

He glanced at the dark green bead in the center of the pit.

The bead contained immense plague power, but it wasn’t the shrine!

It was just a container for storing power, a lure.

The real shrine wasn’t on this altar.

‘Let me see…’ Zhu Ge turned, his gaze sweeping over the area around the altar.

Poisonous clouds churned, and ruins stretched on endlessly.

The Third Realm Demon Beasts were still slumbering in the distance, completely unaware of the changes on the altar.

His [Secret] trait suppressed his aura to the absolute minimum, making it impossible for even Divine Sense to lock onto him.

Zhu Ge’s mind raced. ‘The Plague God Sparrow can’t be carrying the shrine on its person. The farther a god is from its shrine, the weaker its power. Since it’s besieging Yuan Yang City, the shrine must be nearby.’

‘But it wouldn’t put it in an obvious place, nor would it leave it where the Demon Beasts could guard it. It doesn’t trust anyone, including the subordinates it has infected.’

‘Even if these Demon Beasts are, in a sense, similar to the Tiger God’s Chong Ghosts.’

‘Therefore, the shrine must be hidden in a place it considers safe, where no one would discover it.’

Zhu Ge’s gaze fell to the base of the altar.

The altar was built from black megaliths, but at the seam where its base met the ground, a section was raised up at an odd angle.

Normally, Zhu Ge would never have noticed it.

But now, Zhu Ge was, in a way, like the princess from “The Princess and the Pea”—able to feel the pea even through hundreds of mattresses.

A patch of dirt was raised by just a few millimeters, yet Zhu Ge detected it.

‘Could it be here?’

Zhu Ge leaped down from the top of the altar, landing silently at its base.

He crouched down and lightly touched the seam with his finger.

It felt cool to the touch. It wasn’t stone, but some kind of elastic material.

He pried at it, and a palm-sized, dark green scale was wedged out from the seam.

The back of the scale was densely engraved with tiny Array Patterns. At the center of the patterns was an embedded, rice-sized, dark green crystal that emitted a faint glow.

‘The shrine?!’

Zhu Ge raised an eyebrow.

‘Not a traditional temple or statue, but a single scale.’

‘A scale with absolutely no aura!’

The Plague God Sparrow had refined its shrine into one of its own scales and hidden it in the base of the altar.

The slumbering Third Realm Demon Beasts were just a distraction, and the bead was just a trap.

The real shrine was hidden in this most inconspicuous corner.

‘Such a deep scheme,’ Zhu Ge sighed inwardly.

Without hesitation, he gripped the scale in his palm, pouring his Blood Qi, Literary Energy, and Witch Power into it all at once.

KRAK—

The scale shattered, the dark green crystal exploded, and a plume of dark green smoke shot out, emitting a piercing shriek.

Although the shriek wasn’t loud, it shot straight into the heavens, piercing through the poisonous clouds.

To the south, the Plague God Sparrow, which was locked in battle with Hongmi Immortal, trembled violently and let out a pained cry.

“NO!!!! WHO IS IT?!”

Its voice was filled with terror and rage.

With its shrine destroyed, its power plummeted instantly, and the dark green feathers on its body lost their luster.

How could Hongmi Immortal possibly let this opportunity go?

He pointed his Bone Staff, and a pillar of crimson fire descended from the sky, enveloping the Plague God Sparrow.

“Fire, come!”

The Plague God Sparrow failed to dodge in time and was struck by the pillar of fire, its feathers bursting into flame.

It shrieked miserably and beat its wings, trying to escape, but Hongmi Immortal’s second pillar of fire was already upon it.

BOOM—

The Plague God Sparrow plummeted from the sky and crashed into the walls of Yuan Yang City, smashing a huge gap in a section of the wall.

“Kill!” The morale of the Soldiers in the city surged. They charged out of the city gates and began to fight the Demon Beasts outside.

Zhu Ge tossed the shattered scale to the ground and stood up. He glanced south, then turned and headed toward the Six Paths Palace.

The time for his [Kunpeng] trait was up.

Zhu Ge’s consciousness withdrew from that state of transcendent insight. His brain felt slightly swollen, but his thoughts remained clear—it wasn’t as painful as it had been during his Mortal Era.

‘Just one last step,’ he thought, taking a deep breath and quickening his pace.

‘Lure it!’

‘Now that I’ve destroyed the shrine, the Plague God Sparrow will definitely come to kill me!’

‘And now, I will lead the Plague God Sparrow to the Fungus God Destruction Array!’