Chapter 1 The Yellow Turban Rebellion

The Yellow Turban Rebellion, Lingjing Xingzhe number: Difficulty level: D.

Type: Multiplayer (non-death type)

Main Quest: Assassinate the commander of the Yellow Turban Army

No. 82 Lingjing Xingzhe introduction: At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the largest religious organization in Chinese history launched a civil uprising that swept the world.

As an assassin trained by the inner court, you and your companions disguise yourselves as refugees and infiltrate a Yellow Turban Army to find an opportunity to assassinate their commander.

Zhang Yuanqing, wearing cloth clothes and a yellow turban around his forehead, stood at the entrance of the military camp with a crude spear in his hand, looking out at the camp behind him.

The tents were arranged in an orderly manner, and the rebel army carrying spears patrolled back and forth. From time to time, scout teams galloped out of the camp.

They were in a detachment of the Yellow Turban Army, about to attack a county town forty *li* away.

From morning onwards, scouts had been constantly entering and leaving the camp to deliver intelligence.

At most, one more day, and the siege would break out.

The army general was Zhang Liu, one of the Thirty-Six Commanders, who, according to Xiahou Aotian's information, seemed to be a Spring God.

Based on the difficulty assessment of the instance, he was likely a level 7 Spring God in the early stages.

Opposite him, Xiahou Aotian, also wearing cloth clothes and holding a spear, appeared, bored. "So boring, when is our shift change?"

As soon as they arrived at the instance, they became sentries guarding the camp. Zhang Yuanqing planned to find out which general in the camp understood the arts of gods and ghosts after the shift change, then kidnap him to refine pills and test whether Xiahou Aotian's plan was feasible.

Before locking onto the Star Official seat in the military camp, he didn't want to cause any trouble. If he attracted the attention of Commander Zhang Liu, there would inevitably be a fierce battle.

Of course, Zhang Yuanqing wasn't afraid of fighting. What he feared was accidentally killing Commander Zhang Liu, ending the instance, and returning directly!

They finally made it to noon. Zhang Yuanqing and Xiahou Aotian were replaced by two soldiers and went to the kitchen.

The so-called kitchen was actually an open space with dozens of triangular wooden frames hanging iron pots. Campfires licked the bottom, and steam rose from the pots. Soldiers lined up in a long line in front of the iron pots, receiving a bowl of meat soup and two coarse grain buns from the cooks. The food was not bad.

"There's even meat soup," Zhang Yuanqing marveled.

Xiahou Aotian behind him chuckled, "I advise you not to drink it."

Zhang Yuanqing looked back. "Why do you say that?"

"The Yellow Turban Army is a rebel army composed of starving people who rose up in rebellion. They can't even get enough to eat, where would the meat come from?" Xiahou Aotian's face showed a complex expression. "In troubled times, what kind of meat is most common?"

Zhang Yuanqing silently turned his head back and stopped talking.

Before long, the two received coarse grain buns and meat soup.

Zhang Yuanqing, holding the meat soup and chewing on a bun, looked around and approached a few of the most talkative soldiers, asking, "Brothers, I want to ask you something. Do we have any wise men in our army who can foresee the future and understand the arts of gods and ghosts?"

He secretly guided the soldiers' emotions, stimulating their desire to talk. "I know, I know."

"Aren't you talking about the military advisor?"

"The military advisor is a disciple of the Heavenly Duke General. He burns talismans to cure diseases, brings the dead back to life, and can also tell fortunes."

Several soldiers spoke one after another, vying to answer.

After Zhang Yuanqing asked about the location of the military advisor's tent and his name, he left with Xiahou Aotian.

On the way, after a pleasant conversation with several soldiers, he finally located the military advisor's tent.

The guards outside the tent turned a blind eye to their arrival.

Zhang Yuanqing lifted the thick cloth curtain and saw a middle-aged man in a Taoist robe mixing medicine at a table in the spacious tent.

Seeing that the two had bypassed his perception and entered the tent silently, the middle-aged man's expression changed. Just as he was about to speak, his eyes suddenly turned dull and he fell into an illusion.

Zhang Yuanqing took out the Little Red Riding Hood and kidnapped the military advisor. A quarter of an hour later, the two appeared on a wilderness far away from the military camp and began to prepare for refining pills.

Zhang Yuanqing held a writing brush, the tip of which was stained with golden-red ink, and half-crouched at the mouth of the furnace, concentrating on drawing spiritual talismans and formations.

Xiahou Aotian took out bottles and jars and poured them into the military advisor's mouth.

"Wu wu wu," the military advisor shook his head in terror.

"You eat people, people eat you, the cycle of heaven, retribution is inevitable." Xiahou Aotian pointed at the military advisor's brow, activating the medicinal effect.

The military advisor's head tilted and he fainted.

The refining process of the Three Talents Pill was extremely cumbersome. In addition to the main medicine, there were sixteen auxiliary medicines. Among them, the auxiliary medicines helped the main medicine calm the mind and balance the spirit, energy, and spirit.

There were the most anesthetic and hallucinogenic drugs. After Zhang Yuanqing finished drawing the spiritual talismans, Xiahou Aotian picked up the military advisor, threw him into the pill furnace, and summoned the *Sanwei Zhenhuo* (Samadhi True Fire), which hovered at the bottom of the pill furnace.

Then, he stepped on the formation, extending to the bottom of the pill furnace. The formation slowly rotated, sometimes reversing, sometimes turning clockwise. The *Sanwei Zhenhuo* at the bottom of the furnace was sometimes hot.

During the process, he occasionally moderated, opening the pill furnace several times to add medicinal materials and a small amount of purified water.

The bronze pill furnace swallowed golden light, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

Half an hour later, blood mist spurted from the vent holes of the pill furnace. Seeing this, Xiahou Aotian hurriedly extinguished the *Sanwei Zhenhuo* and used the formation to transport the pill furnace to the spiritual talisman formation that Zhang Yuanqing had carved more than ten meters away.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately used the power of the sun to ignite the spiritual talisman, burning the bronze pill furnace and purifying the remaining spiritual will in the pill.

The golden flame burned for a full quarter of an hour before extinguishing. The two couldn't wait to run to the pill furnace. When Xiahou Aotian opened the lid, a fishy fragrance rushed out.

In the pill chamber, a layer of sludge-like dye was deposited, and a dark red, pigeon egg-sized pill was half-sunken in the mud.

Feeling the spiritual power contained in the pill, Xiahou Aotian said with joy.

"Success, I really am a genius alchemist."

Zhang Yuanqing picked up the pill, put it in a porcelain bottle, and said, "The medicine is ready, let's hurry up and pass the instance."

He didn't even wait for Xiahou Aotian to respond before turning into starlight and disappearing. Xiahou Aotian stayed where he was, waiting quietly for three minutes, then heard the Lingjing Xingzhe prompt in his ear:

[Reward settlement in progress, obtained items: Star Stone, Yin Soldier Talisman....

[Settlement complete!

Ten minutes later, Xiahou Aotian exited the Lingjing Xingzhe, opened his item bar, and checked the two items. Both were low-grade materials of the Dominator level. The rewards for low-difficulty instances were basically materials. The function of these materials was also very simple: to refine props and consumables.

Making consumables was fine, the success rate was high, but if you wanted to refine props, most of them would be wasted. The failure rate of refining props was extremely high.

On the other side, after Zhang Yuanqing heard the Lingjing Xingzhe prompt in his ear, he immediately took out the pill and waited for the mark on his forehead to light up.

Zhang Yuanqing swallowed the pill in one gulp. The pill melted in his mouth, transforming into Taiyin (Great Yin) and Star power. Although this power was weak, Zhang Yuanqing was shocked to find that after his cells devoured this power, the total amount of spiritual power increased and solidified.

He was familiar with this feeling. Every time he passed an instance, the increase in experience would increase the upper limit, making him stronger.

Xiahou Aotian's plan was successful.

They successfully used the bug in the Lingjing Xingzhe mechanism to develop a method to bypass the character card and quickly increase their strength without entering the instance.

"If this plan is announced, Xiahou Aotian's academic success will indeed shock the world," Zhang Yuanqing muttered.

The countdown ended, and he left the Lingjing Xingzhe.

In a smoky, ruined city, Zhai Cai, wearing silver armor, jumped up and slashed forward, creating a brass-colored light that could defend against enemies.

The mutated monsters along the way were shattered in the light, and broken limbs and rags fell to the ground, spreading black and red blood.

At this moment, he felt something and held the knight's sword in front of him, activating the Wall of Protection.

The next second, petrifying rays, poison gas, condensed arrows, wind blades, thunder spears, and other attacks rained down on him.

The heavy brass wall remained motionless.

Suddenly, a wisp of poison gas seemed to find a loophole, wriggling and breaking through the brass wall, drifting towards Zhai Cai.

His face suddenly turned blue-black, his eyeballs were bloodshot, and the corners of Zhai Cai's mouth twitched slightly, forcibly suppressing the pain caused by the poison gas. He shouted, "In the name of a knight, I declare that the rules of this battle are that you cannot gang up on one person."

Immediately, he raised the knight's sword and said in a deep voice, "Those who violate the rules will be judged!"

With a single slash, more than a dozen streams of brass sword light scattered out. Cries of misery rang out in the darkness...

At this time, the toxins in Zhai Cai's body were completely decomposed and excreted as purple sweat.

Zhai Cai charged into the enemy, leaping and parkouring through the ruins, wielding his sword. He killed any lone dominators he encountered, and fled when surrounded by dominators.

Although the knight's attack methods were simple, the ascetic life during the transcendent stage had forged a body that was extremely enduring and highly tolerant of pain.

Like a killing machine on the battlefield.

The stains on the silver armor were washed away by blood, only to become dirty again, and then washed away by blood.

After an unknown amount of time, when the muscles in his arm spasmed and he gradually couldn't hold the sword, the mutated army finally retreated.

He stood on the ruins with his sword propped up, panting heavily, hot air rising from the gaps in his armor.

Zhai Cai looked around and saw several knights wearing the same silver armor.

The knight order stood scattered on the battlefield, with less than ten members remaining.

"Your growth is gratifying," a low voice came from afar.

Zhai Cai turned his head and saw a man wearing golden armor, holding a heavy sword, about forty or fifty years old, with blue eyes and a thick beard.

The leader of the Knight Order, Holy Knight Simon Rodney, one of the three demigods of the Holy See.

Zhai Cai evened out his breathing, lowered his head and bowed, "It is thanks to your good guidance."

In a month's time, Zhai Cai's combat power had increased dramatically. In addition to a significant increase in his physique and close combat ability, the ability to set rules, make judgments, and the Wall of Protection had all undergone qualitative leaps.

A level 7 body with combat power close to level 8. All of this was because of the secret manual given by Mr. Hui Chang.

Of course, getting the secret manual was only the beginning. The main reason was that Zhai Cai had a spirit of sharing. He passed on the secret manual to all the knights in the knight order, including the Holy Knight.

He called it: "Sharing life and death, sharing resources."

The knights who received the secret manual all had some insights in practice. After each battle, Zhai Cai would pull the knights together to discuss and share their experiences. They were all working for him.

With so many elite knights sharing their experiences, his cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds, and he finally survived the last day.

"It's time for you to leave," the Holy Knight said in a deep voice. "No matter what the outcome of this battle, someone must leave. The inheritance of the knights cannot be broken. You are the most talented of all the knights."

Zhai Cai should have been happy, but he couldn't help but look back, scanning the companions who had fought side by side for a whole month, scanning the battlefield where he had struggled on the edge of life and death many times.

A kind of unspeakable tragedy suddenly filled his heart, spreading emotions.

"Sacrifice is the destiny of a knight!" He looked at the Holy Knight and said his motto, which he had used for many years.

The Holy Knight said in a deep voice, "Sacrificing here is our destiny, but not yours."

"Go, preserve the inheritance of the knights, you will find the battlefield that belongs to you! Fight there, sacrifice there!"

Zhai Cai was silent for a long time. Seeing this, he turned around and left without saying a word. His figure gradually drifted away and finally disappeared, as if he had never appeared.

He returned!