Chapter 41: Immortal Art Conception

  PS: Thanks to 'two French brothers' for their repeated generous support since 1888, thank you so much!

  On the second day, Yuan Tan abandoned 4,000 infantrymen and fled in disarray out of Chang County through a gap exposed by Gan Ning and Wu Qing's two generals. He left behind 4,000 soldiers, who were easily captured by Zhang Xiu under the command of Wu Zhong with one battalion of troops. In this great victory, Zhang Xiu's army won a crushing victory, capturing nearly 7,000 enemy soldiers, killing over 1,300, and seizing countless weapons and supplies. They defended Chang County and repelled the enemy at the gate of Chang County.

  This great victory has further boosted the morale of the entire Chang County, countless believers are overjoyed and their faith is even more devout. As for outsiders, they naturally kept it a secret and announced the news according to the agreement with Yuan Tan, in order to paralyze the enemy!

  This is also due to the fact that in this era, information was not circulating smoothly, and Chang County was a tightly sealed place. As a result, even someone as close as Kong Rong believed what was said in the propaganda, making Kong Rong pay even less attention to the entire Donglai Prefecture!

  After all, compared to the rich and prosperous Beihai, Donglai Prefecture seems to have a larger population and a broader territory, but it is actually a place of little value, not even worth mentioning in Kong Rong's heart. Now that he has heard that Donglai Prefecture poses no threat, he is extremely satisfied and has put his mind at ease.

  To know that now Qingzhou has countless refugees, for the population of Kong Rong, it is not greedy at all, he just needs to guard his own well-built and extremely rich Beihai!

  But after hearing the news, Tian Kai was also slightly disappointed in his heart. However, the bandit army was able to defeat Yuan Tan so miserably, which already made him very happy. In this way, only Yan Liang's 20,000-strong army posed a threat, although it was still necessary for him to be on high alert, but he no longer cared that much!

  At the same time, in Xuzhou direction, the historically brutal massacre by Cao Cao finally occurred. However, it was not Cao Cao who committed the atrocity, but rather Xu Zhou's Tao Qian, who had intended to curry favor with Cao Cao. He arranged for his generals to escort Cao Cao's father back to their hometown, but unexpectedly, the generals were covetous of Cao Cao's family wealth and brazenly killed Cao Cao's father and his entire household, making off with gold, silver, and other valuables before fleeing into the mountains to become bandits.

  When Cao Cao went on an expedition, he hated the entire Xuzhou and vowed to exterminate the land of Xuzhou!

  The brave Xuzhou, where is the weak Tao Qian comparable? Although also bought a batch of ironware from Zhang Xu, barely resisted for a while, but still can't stop Cao Cao's army like wolves and tigers.

  On the way, Cao Cao led his army to slaughter more than a dozen cities and attacked Xuzhou Prefecture. Tao Qian sent someone to ask for help from the three brothers of Da Er, who showed extraordinary bravery during the siege of Beihai, as well as Kong Rong and Tian Kai, the governor of Qingzhou. Kong Rong and Tian Kai were still defending against Yan Liang's army at that time, so they did not promise immediately but provided material support to Liu Bei's three brothers instead. The three brothers led 2,000 soldiers into Xuzhou...

  He had just achieved a great victory, and his mood was extremely joyful. However, when he saw the intelligence in his hand, he felt extremely disappointed: "Alas, the Central Plains War has begun after all. From today on, the entire Central Plains will be plunged into chaos, and Yuan Shao can now seize the opportunity to attack Gongsun Zan with ease. I wonder how long Gongsun Zan can still provoke for."

  With a great shock in his heart, Zhang Xu also decided to speed up his own pace. In the following days, on the one hand, he was more careful about the news of the vassals, and on the other hand, he continued to carry out activities to win over the people, trying to make the people feel at ease as soon as possible after a good harvest, so that these children could completely return to him and become his loyal followers. In this way, he could take advantage of the momentum to take down the entire Donglai County!

  When the time comes, he will take charge of Donglai County's land, reclaiming and cultivating it, repairing water conservancy projects, recruiting refugees, and using the entire county as his foundation. Then he will have the qualifications to participate in a major war, or even disrupt the course of history!

  In Zhang Xu's mind, the more warlords there are, the better. That way he can muddy the waters and fish in troubled waters even more effectively. But if Yuan and Cao were to swallow up their respective opponents, allowing the three brothers of Dai Er to dominate the Central Plains, that would be absolutely detrimental to his interests!

  On this day, Zhang Xu visited a villager in a village and cured his illness after saving him, but he got the suggestion of the village owner.

  Upon hearing the words of the shopkeeper, Zhang Xu was also greatly moved, but he had forgotten one crucial thing - the cultivation of a pastor or Taoist priest!

  As a Xian Shi, he is undoubtedly the highest deity on his own territory, and in the hearts of believers, there is not much difference between him and God. So if you want to make him perform personally every time, wouldn't that exhaust him? And this boss, who is also a student from Tongziying University, is Zhang Xuan's most loyal supporter and believer.

  This man then presented Zhang Xu with a suggestion.

  "Now that the great master has such immense divine power, with the ability to bestow blessings upon everyone and also transmit them, why not transmit some immortal methods to us? In this way, it will be even more convenient to spread the master's kindness and virtue!"

  Upon hearing this, Zhang Xu suddenly patted his own head and secretly thought to himself that he was a blockhead. After all, being a Taoist priest or a pastor is the best way to spread faith.

  He had forgotten this plan for passing on his faith, which was the greatest sin of all. At that moment Zhang Xu was considering whether it was feasible to put this into practice.

  "Hmm, now although the personnel are still insufficient, but for me to convey faith and bless believers, the immortal official doesn't need internal administration ability, only needs pious faith, in this way, I, the immortal master, can be freed!"

  Zhang Xu's mood suddenly became overjoyed, after all, a village or a natural village, arranging an immortal official is enough, and it doesn't need too many people. But using these professional guys to spread his faith, this is undoubtedly a great thing, and it can also increase his prestige in the hearts of believers. After all, mystery is one of the foundations for maintaining faith.

  After some thought, Zhang Xu made a decision. Although his current abilities were shallow, he could still grant the loyal and devoted officials under his command the seeds of talismans, allowing them to draw and wield talismans as well. Since it was something he had granted himself, it was completely within his control. Although there were some limitations on the level of what he granted, it was extremely confidential and could be taken back at any time. Moreover, after granting it, they could use it with ease!

  Slowly, Zhang Xu began to perfect his own Xian Fa (Mystical Method) of granting blessings. After all, the way of incense and fire worship was something he had created himself, and it wasn't entirely perfected yet. This Xian Fa was given to the Xian Guan (Immortal Officials), theoretically there shouldn't be any problems, but in reality, it still needed to be carefully refined before it could be used!

  "Qīng shuǐ fú, jīn gāng fú, dà lì fú, níng shén fú. Now this immortal master will impart these four talismans to you, and because I myself have researched them, all can be mastered. However, for now, the Dà Lì Fú and Níng Shén Fú cannot be bestowed upon you, so I shall bestow upon you the Qīng Shuǐ Fú and Jīn Gāng Fú..."

  A sudden movement in Zhang Xu's heart, and he had made up his mind...