Under Heaven

In the blink of an eye, seven months passed.

During these seven months, far too many things had occurred.

First, the Dao Court officially issued a manifesto to the world. With Luoyang as the capital, they established the Political Academy, the Science Institute, and the Dao Institute to govern the world, demanding that all provinces and commanderies submit to the Dao Court's jurisdiction.

Once the manifesto was issued, the world was struck with terror.

The officials of the various commanderies and counties in the Sili region did not even hesitate, immediately declaring unconditional obedience to the Dao Court's command. Ji Province, being the main base of the Yellow Turban Army, naturally would not defy the order. Bing Province and You Province, lacking a central leader and yearning for stability, dispatched envoys to the capital to negotiate with the Dao Court.

The officials of Liang Province, meanwhile, threw themselves toward the Dao Court in a panic and desperately begged for reinforcements, for the Qiang People of Liang Province had rebelled!

Song Yang, Beigong Boyu, Li Wenhou, and others had raised an army in revolt, electing Bian Zhang and Han Sui as their leaders. They killed the Administrator Chen Yi, amassed nearly one hundred thousand troops, invaded Liang Province, and threatened the Sanfu region.

The officials and generals guarding Liang Province, facing the cruel and tyrannical Qiang People, turned to the Dao Court without a second thought. Regardless of anything else, the Dao Court was "one of their own," representing the Hua, whereas the Qiang were the Yi.

Given the choice between the two, any human would choose the former, not to mention that the Dao Court possessed immense power, having easily crushed the former Han Court, making it a solid backer.

After deliberation, the Dao Court's Political Academy decided to appoint Zhang Liang as the commander-in-chief, with the defected Lu Zhi as his deputy. They led thirty thousand Yellow Turban troops and twenty thousand reorganized Han Army soldiers to campaign against the Qiang. The Dao Court's mission for them was to stall the Qiang forces; as long as no major disasters occurred, they were not required to seek military merit, only to stabilize the situation in Liang Province.

The purpose of this was naturally to buy time, waiting for any one of the group including Zhang Jiao to reach the introductory level of cultivation before letting them loose to annihilate the rebellious Qiang.

Other provinces and commanderies, seeing that the Dao Court's forces seemed tied down in Liang Province and still had to garrison Sili and Ji Province, assumed they could not spare the strength to attack them. Consequently, they turned a blind eye to the Dao Court's manifesto, though they dared not openly oppose it, intending only to huddle in their own territories and live comfortable little lives.

However, the development of events is always unexpected.

The refugees and commoners in Yan Province, Yu Province, Xu Province, and Qing Province, upon learning that the Yellow Turban Army had captured Luoyang, were greatly encouraged and once again erupted into uprisings of significant scale.

They fought under the banner of the Huang Tian Great Peace Sect, capturing cities and seizing strongholds, leaving the officials and scholars of each province in a state of utter exhaustion as they constantly organized armies to suppress them.

At the appropriate time, Zhang Bao, who was overseeing Ji Province, received orders from the Dao Court. He led forty thousand elite troops and twenty thousand local militia, splitting into two routes to march east and south simultaneously. Because of strict military discipline and a refusal to harm the common people, they were welcomed with sincere enthusiasm wherever they went.

Corrupt officials fled over walls, and almost no one dared to offer resistance. Often, before the Yellow Turban Army even arrived, many officials in the cities had already fled upon hearing the wind, leaving only a few honest and dutiful clerks to wait in the government offices for the Yellow Turban Army to arrive and conduct the "handover."

In just four months, Zhang Bao's forces successfully swept through most of the four provinces, exterminated numerous powerful clans that had been preying on the local populace, and successfully "linked up" with the insurgent armies.

But at this point, new conflicts erupted.

Some insurgent armies still maintained strict discipline and were willing to obey Zhang Bao's command and accept reorganization. However, there were also those with wild ambitions who led their mobs to slaughter villagers, rape, pillage, and amass great wealth, their ferocity being no less than that of the Han Army, and in some cases, even worse.

They committed these atrocities while feeling smug, claiming to be acting on behalf of Heaven, but unfortunately for them, they had run into a ruthless man like Zhang Bao.

Zhang Bao decisively sent troops to surround them. Every officer from the rank of platoon leader and above was beheaded and displayed to the public. For squad leaders, section leaders, and group leaders, one in three was executed. As for the ordinary soldiers, they were identified by the common people, and anyone with concrete evidence of killing the innocent was executed on the spot.

After such a brutal and extreme display of force, the insurgent armies that had defected were terrified, immediately restraining their own discipline and proactively accepting the reorganization of Zhang Bao's forces.

In this way, after five months of back-and-forth, the eight provinces including Ji, Yan, Qing, and Xu were all brought under the command of the Dao Court.

By this time, Zhang Jiao and the others had also successfully reached the introductory level of cultivation and had simply mastered the Earth Golem Technique. Huang Shao, He Yi, and the other four immediately rode fast horses to Liang Province to rendezvous with the main force of Zhang Liang and Lu Zhi. Following this, Zhang Liang launched an offensive against the Qiang army in Tianshui Commandery.

Over one hundred thousand men from both armies clashed on the open plains, fighting for two consecutive days in a stalemate.

It was not until the third day that twelve towering Earth Giants appeared on the battlefield, routing the Qiang army in one fell swoop. Zhang Liang and Lu Zhi seized the opportunity to lead their troops in a fierce pursuit, ultimately beheading over ten thousand enemy soldiers and capturing sixty thousand, with countless others missing. The Qiang were severely crippled and never again dared to harbor thoughts of looking eastward.

This battle completely solidified the peerless prestige of the Dao Court. The chief officials of Jing, Yang, Yi, and Jiao provinces softened their stance, dispatched envoys, and submitted to the Dao Court.

The world was thus settled.

"This purple orb of light is almost complete; it just lacks a little something..."

Inside the Luoyang imperial palace, Huang Tian looked inward at his sea of consciousness and found the purple orb of light becoming increasingly rounded and natural.

"I suppose it is because Jing, Yang, Yi, and Jiao provinces are still only nominally submissive. Once the army is stationed there and the officials from the Political Academy take over the local administration, it should be completely fulfilled."

Huang Tian guessed to himself, then closed his eyes. With a slight movement of his intent, time and space intertwined before his eyes.

The next instant, he opened his eyes abruptly to find himself in his familiar apartment.

"In the Late Han Dynasty World, I broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining, and in reality, I have also reached the third level of Qi Refining..."

He felt the changes within his body and joy welled up in his heart. He was quite satisfied with his speed of breakthrough; after all, he had been cultivating for less than a month, yet he had already surpassed the years of cultivation of others.

Getting up to stretch, Huang Tian took an orange from the bag on his nightstand, peeled it, and walked to the window to eat it quietly.

It was dusk, with clouds painting the sky and orange-red sunlight spilling onto the camphor trees by the roadside, adding a touch of pink to the leaves. Many vehicles shuttled through the street, and from the lowered windows, one could see the weary faces of people who had been busy all day.

Beep-beep~

A series of bells rang out as small electric scooters nimbly wove through the traffic, heading toward the distant sunset.

"The sky is beautiful, and the orange tastes good."

The sweet and sour flavor bloomed in his mouth. After swallowing the pulp, a faint, fresh scent of orange lingered on his lips and teeth. Huang Tian fed himself another segment until he had finished the entire orange.

He took a gentle breath of the cool evening breeze, walked to the sink to wash his hands, and then returned to the window. Leaning against the frame, he let the breeze blow over him as he pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped it open.

September 30th.

National Day was almost here.

"Little Zong is on break tomorrow..."

Huang Tian remembered and was just about to send a message to Zong Wenjun.

Whoosh-whoosh~

Two Feixin messages arrived. He looked down to see they were from Zong Wenjun.

[Rubbing cat head.jpg]

[I'm on holiday tomorrow, I'm coming over to see you.]

Huang Tian smiled and replied: [Did you buy your ticket yet?]

Whoosh~

[I bought it days ago, but I only managed to snag an afternoon ticket (sigh). I should arrive in Chang City around four tomorrow afternoon. I'll take a taxi straight from the airport to your place, so I'll probably get there a bit after five.]

Huang Tian: [Remember to double-check everything before you leave; don't leave anything behind.]

Zong Wenjun: [Don't worry~]