Chapter 222: Layout and Planning

They then moved on to discussing specifics, such as troop deployment.

Hongmi Immortal spread a detailed map of Yuan Yang City on the table, marking the troop distribution and defensive weaknesses of the four walls.

They talked for hours as Zhu Ge painstakingly reviewed every detail about Yuan Yang City and all intelligence on the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python, determined to understand and master it all.

It was not until the next morning that Zhu Ge prepared to get up and leave, but Hongmi Immortal suddenly called out to him.

“Palace Master Zhu.”

“Hm?”

“Your brother… True Monarch Minmian, does he really not know what you are doing in Red River Prefecture?”

Zhu Ge turned his head and smiled. “He knows, but he won’t interfere. In his words, ‘The Human Race must strive for everything on its own.'”

“On its own…” Hongmi Immortal was silent for a long time, then slowly nodded. “Good. Thank you.”

“Right. I’m leaving.” Zhu Ge turned and walked out of the reception hall, leaving the city.

By the time he swam out of the city through the river channel entrance, the sky was already bright.

Morning light shone through the gaps in the poison clouds, casting a dark red glow on the Red River.

He climbed ashore, circulated his Blood Qi, and steamed his soaked clothes dry.

Mazhu shot out from the woods and nuzzled his hand with its head. “Master, I missed you so much!”

“Don’t be cheeky.” Zhu Ge smiled. “Let’s go. Back to camp.”

“You have no idea, Master. I was so scared while you were gone for so long…” Mazhu said as it broke into a gallop, heading for the camp.

At this time, the soldiers in the camp had already been training all morning.

Zhao Tieshan was leading the Martial Artists in practicing shield wall advances. The sound of shields colliding was like muffled thunder.

The Soldier Daoist Soldiers were practicing formation changes, four thousand strong, moving in perfect, disciplined unison.

Yu the Scholar sat on a large rock at the edge of the camp. He held a book in his hands, but his eyes were fixed on Yuan Yang City in the distance.

When he saw Zhu Ge return, he immediately stood up.

“How did it go?” Yu the Scholar asked with concern.

“Let’s talk inside.”

Zhu Ge walked into the main command tent, followed by Liu Jianjian, Zhao Tieshan, Yu the Scholar, and the others.

He took off his outer robe, hung it to the side, and took the map Hongmi Immortal had given him out of a grass bowl, spreading it on the table.

“The situation in Yuan Yang City is worse than I imagined, but Hongmi Immortal has agreed to submit to the Six Paths Palace. He will use our attack horn as the signal to join us in slaying the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python.”

He explained the situation in the city and the battle plan in detail.

Still, his plan boiled down to a few crucial points.

“Fight? We’re fighting the Plague God Sparrow?” Liu Jianjian tilted her head. “Master, can you defeat a Great Immortal?”

“I have to fight, whether I can win or not.” Zhu Ge smiled. “Besides, I won’t be fighting alone.”

“Huh? We’re really going to fight it?” Liu Jianjian was dumbfounded. “It could probably kill us all with a single puff of plague… Wouldn’t it be better to lure it here to Six Paths Valley and use the Fungus God Destruction Array…”

Liu Jianjian trailed off as realization dawned on her.

Zhu Ge just watched her with a smile, not saying a word, waiting for her to say it.

“Oh! Master, that’s what you meant, isn’t it?” Liu Jianjian’s cheeks flushed red. “I really thought we were going to fight it head-on. I was thinking, there’s no way Master would be so reckless.”

Hearing this, Yu the Scholar and the others all laughed.

Liu Jianjian was just someone who spoke her mind.

After all, everyone present knew about the Fungus God Destruction Array in Six Paths Valley. Why would they need to fight head-on?

“Attacking is the best course of action.” Yu the Scholar nodded, approving of Zhu Ge’s method, but then he sighed. “It’s just that the citizens in the city will suffer.”

Zhu Ge heard this and knew there was truly nothing to be done. “We can only hope for our victory.”

“Indeed.” Yu the Scholar nodded.

“Alright, let’s all review the plan and discuss it further,” Zhu Ge said.

“Right!”

…

Zhu Ge was so busy, his feet barely touched the ground.

During the day, he worked with Zhao Tieshan and Liu Jianjian to repeatedly war-game the invasion routes, marking every street and every piece of high ground on the map.

At night, he cultivated the Water Refining Technique of the Great Sun Glaze Body. Each session lasted twenty seconds, after which he would apply medicinal ointment. His body’s resilience grew stronger day by day.

Liu Jianjian wasn’t idle either.

She used the Demon Hunting Divine Technique to refine a few more Second Realm Demon Beasts, and the number of Demon Beasts in her hair grew.

The Strong Monkey King squatted on her shoulder, holding a bunch of bananas and eating them until its mouth was dripping with juice.

“Master, do you think we can win?” On the evening of the third day, Liu Jianjian sat on a hill behind the camp, gazing toward Yuan Yang City in the distance.

“We can.” Zhu Ge sat beside her. “As long as we don’t fall into chaos, we will win.”

“What if the Plague God Sparrow is even stronger than we think?”

“Then we run,” Zhu Ge said with a smile. “‘Where there’s life, there’s hope.’ If we can’t win, we run. If we can’t run, we fight with everything we’ve got. My luck has always been good; I won’t die that easily.”

‘If you can’t win, you run. What’s there to even talk about?’

However, Zhu Ge still had some doubts about a few things Hongmi Immortal had said.

‘Something feels off.’

‘But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter.’

This time, Zhu Ge’s strategy did not rely heavily on numerical superiority.

His last successful stratagem was due to the Raincoat Fisherman having too many weaknesses and underestimating him.

But this time, the plan had to revolve around at least two Great Realm experts.

Zhu Ge even decided that he had to have a backup plan ready.

‘What kind of backup plan?’

‘One for the possibility that Hongmi Immortal is a bad guy too.’

Other than that, Zhu Ge had basically made his plan foolproof.

‘I wonder how Yan Liyuan’s group will handle things… and Sui Niang…’

Zhu Ge thought about his prior arrangements and plans, and his heart settled slightly.

His arrangements and plans were naturally not as simple as just gathering a group of people.

If that were the case, Hongmi Immortal could have done it without him.

However, this time Hongmi Immortal also gave him some very good news.

A trial!

‘Even people like True Monarch Minmian and True Monarch of the Lantern are just pawns. I can’t imagine who is behind this all.’

‘Could it really be the Sages of Antiquity searching for their successors?’

‘Or is this a game being played among the powerful experts of the Human, Barbarian, and Demon Races?’

‘I just can’t figure it out!’

Frankly, creating a strategy based on the available information was already an impressive feat,

but he knew that often, a tiny error could lead to a disastrous failure.

The lack of certain key pieces of information could very well lead to ultimate failure.

Unfortunately, that key information was precisely what he couldn’t access.

‘Well, no matter…’ Zhu Ge looked at Liu Jianjian, who was chatting with the Demon Beasts in her hair, and smiled. “By the way, Jianjian, the true forms of the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python are of the Demon Race. Can you enslave them?”

Liu Jianjian jumped in fright, almost snapping the strand of hair in her hand.

The Sword Hero protested from within her hair, “Great Master! Stop scaring our Master! How could she possibly subdue a Great Realm expert!”

“If she did that, wouldn’t she have to drain all of us dry? Otherwise, where would our Master get enough Demon Qi to refine a Great Realm expert!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the air fell silent for a moment.

Zhu Ge’s eyes lit up. “Oh? So if she drains you all dry, she *can* refine one?”