At a time when the Yellow Turban Army faced troubles both within and without, the various provinces and commanderies began recruiting troops on their own, concentrating their forces, and clearing the countryside to resist the Yellow Turbans. This further strained the Yellow Turban Soldiers' supply lines. Huangfu Song, with the Northern Army as his main force, arrived at Cangting in Dong Commandery in August 194. He routed the enemy, captured Bu Ji alive, and slaughtered more than seven thousand men, leaving the Yellow Turban Soldiers in even greater dire straits.
At the Yellow Turban Army's main camp in Guangzong, the Great Teacher of Virtue, Zhang Jiao, was in steadily worsening health. He seemed to have fallen into a state of utter weakness. Old Immortal Nanhua had bestowed boundless magical power upon him, along with spells to save the people from suffering. Why had things turned out this way? Had he really been defeated?
Zhang Jiao suddenly sat up in bed and slowly walked to a corner of the camp. He dug up a treasure box with his bare hands. It looked ordinary, but a seal covered it: a yellow piece of Talisman Paper, glowing faintly as it sealed the box. Zhang Jiao cautiously broke the seal and took out a plain-looking roll of silk.
Zhang Jiao had come across the silk by chance. A strange Yin Energy clung to it, making him, a Great Teacher of Virtue who practiced Daoist Magic, loathe it. But he thought it would be a shame to destroy, so he had kept it sealed in the treasure box. Zhang Jiao spat out a breath of vital essence, which enveloped the roll of silk. Suddenly, a vast wave of Yin Energy burst from it, transformed into a streak of Flowing Light, and merged into Zhang Jiao's