Chapter 57

Three days later.

Zhao Futu led his group into Julu, and as expected, after the head of Dong Min was presented, although it was confirmed that it was not Dong Zhuo but his younger brother Dong Min, the Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jue was still very pleased and rewarded Zhao Futu and his group generously. This group had traveled a thousand miles from Nanyang to Ji Province to join him, and their loyalty was beyond doubt. At this time, the Yellow Turban Army was clearly lacking in capable generals. After several Yellow Turban leaders were killed in battle, it was urgent for Zhang Jue to promote a new batch of people!

Thus, that evening, Zhao Futu was invited to a banquet by Zhang Jue.

After distributing the wine and meat as rewards to his subordinates, Zhao Futu got up and prepared to attend the banquet. The Great Virtuous Teacher had no intention of integrating his troops but even assigned more people to him, hinting at the possibility of promoting him to a Yellow Turban general. Therefore, tonight's banquet was likely to give him a formal position. If he had a bit of luck, he might even become one of the Yellow Turban leaders.

This was because there were very few capable generals in the Yellow Turban Army.

Zhang Jue was not short of soldiers, but he lacked generals who could command them. He had already gathered over a million people in Julu, Guangzong, and Quyang, but there were not enough generals to train these soldiers. Even now, the main camp of the Yellow Turban Army had at most ten thousand regular soldiers, and it might not even reach that number. Most of them were just Yellow Turban followers gathered to fill the ranks.

The weaknesses of such an army were evident, as the ease with which Liu, Guan, and Zhang rescued Dong Zhuo from the midst of ten thousand soldiers clearly showed.

As soon as he left the camp, Zhao Futu felt a gaze watching him. This was not the first time; after reaching Julu, he had noticed several such gazes. However, he had blocked them all. As a cultivator, his innate perception was 18 points, and after completing the trial mission, he gained one more point. Entering this space, he received a 50% base attribute boost, making his perception soar to an astonishing 29 points!

With such high perception, almost no one could match him except for a few contract holders who had specially enhanced their bloodline perception abilities. His reconnaissance skill had the ability to suppress similar perception abilities. Anyone with lower perception who tried to spy on him would feel chest pain and a headache, and in severe cases, they would be counter-perceived and injured, even spitting blood.

Thus, these people could not probe Zhao Futu's attributes and could not determine how many plot worlds he had experienced.

Without a doubt, the contract holders in the Yellow Turban Army knew that Zhao Futu was the one who obtained the general's soul. Dong Min's head had already been delivered to Zhang Jue's camp, and if they still did not know he was the one who completed the hidden mission, the other contract holders might as well commit suicide. Unable to check Zhao Futu's attributes, these people naturally had more reservations. Although he was just one person, the most terrifying in the space were those who liked to act alone and could survive multiple plot worlds!

These lone wolves who could survive were not easy to deal with, and they were all top-notch troublemakers!

They were even more extreme than most contract holders!

In the Nightmare Space, which advocates teamwork and encourages contract holders to form groups, these lone wolves not only had to face various emergencies alone but also had to deal with the various difficult tasks in the space and the greedy gazes of other team contract holders. If someone could survive more than five main plot worlds, they were undoubtedly a top-tier terrifying existence!

At the beginning, most lone wolf contract holders were forced to join groups.

Only the most stubborn and powerful few continued to act alone after experiencing several task spaces.

Most of these people died, but a few survived.

Other contract holders liked to call these lone wolves "Rangers"!

...

When Zhao Futu entered Zhang Jue's camp, he immediately noticed that there were many other contract holders inside.

Contract holders from the same camp were not allowed to kill each other, or it would anger the Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jue. No one present would want to experience Zhang Jue's anger. This Great Virtuous Teacher, who ultimately died from the backlash of the Heavenly Dao, had a terrifying power that no one knew the extent of, but just one glance from him gave one a feeling of looking up at a towering mountain.

It was said that at the beginning, a contract holder tried to steal something and was struck dead by a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.

This was the only time the Great Virtuous Teacher took action!

As Zhao Futu entered the camp, his first glance was drawn to the figure in the center. He was middle-aged, wearing a yellow wide-sleeved robe, with flowing hair and a refined yet resolute face. His deep-set eyes were sharp like an eagle's, adding a fierce aura to his otherwise refined appearance. Without a doubt, this was the legendary Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jue, the one with supreme authority in Ji Province!

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a great disaster struck.

The disaster in Ji Province was particularly severe, and the local government did not provide relief, nor did the wealthy and powerful open their granaries to help the people, leading to countless deaths from starvation. In this era, hygiene conditions were very poor, and if too many people died without timely disposal, it would almost immediately lead to the spread of epidemics! It was at this time that the Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jue began to spread the Taiping Dao, and he quickly gathered hundreds of thousands of followers!

Historical evaluations of Zhang Jue are mixed, but to understand a person, one does not necessarily need to know their inner thoughts; one can see it from their actions.

At the time, epidemics were rampant in Ji Province, and neither heaven, the court, nor the aristocracy cared, coldly watching as the disaster-stricken people died of hunger, disease, and cold. The first slogan of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, "The blue sky is dead," could only be truly understood by those who experienced the disaster. How blind heaven must have been for them to shout "The blue sky is dead"!

No one cared for the suffering people, but Zhang Jue did.

No one treated the infected lower-class people, but Zhang Jue did.

He established the Taiping Dao, spread the Yellow Turban teachings, and gathered hundreds of thousands of followers, with countless loyal disciples. All of this grew from his initial efforts to lead his disciples to the epidemic-stricken areas to treat the sick and help the suffering. In those conditions, almost everyone was terrified of epidemics, and local officials even confined the refugees to die in the epidemic!

No one dared to go to these epidemic areas, and no one was willing to help the infected, but Zhang Jue did. Not only did he go, but he also mobilized everyone around him, starting with his brothers and then his disciples, to travel to various places affected by the epidemic and help the suffering lower-class people. At the beginning of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, countless people sold all their possessions and traveled thousands of miles to join him, the best answer to what he did that others dared not do!

Regardless of historical evaluations, whether Zhang Jue truly had magical powers, just by daring to lead people to the epidemic areas and help the suffering, he was absolutely not a person like Cao Cao, who would rather betray the world!

Therefore, he failed.