Chapter 127: The Taoist Priest Presents a Chart

In the desolate wilderness of Xiliang, an NPC Qiang tribe camp stood quietly.

A swift horse galloped up to the main tent, and a scout reported in a rush, "Reporting to the Grand Chieftain! After the uprising of Sword and Tripod Village, it was besieged by seventeen villages. They were defeated, and Sword and Tripod Village was destroyed. Additionally, one of our Western Qiang tribes engaged in a fierce battle with government troops, suffering two thousand casualties while eliminating over a thousand government soldiers."

Inside the tent, two men were present. Upon hearing the report, one of the Qiang chieftains sighed regretfully, "What a pity. We spent so much time on deployment and lost so many men in vain, yet they couldn't even hold out for five days. But this also shows that the imperial court is too powerful; they are not to be trifled with."

The other man inside the tent replied, "The imperial court's soldiers are powerful, and they are aided by numerous villages. It seems the time is not yet ripe for us to raise troops. Boyu, what do you think our next step should be? Should we send men to create more chaos so the imperial court is too overwhelmed to act? Then your tribe can seize the opportunity to revolt, and I will lead the Liangzhou righteous troops in response. You and I can join forces and dominate Liangyou."

"Don't be impatient, Marquis Wen. Such matters cannot be rushed. We should first secretly win over more villages and plan slowly. By my estimate, it shouldn't be too hard to covertly persuade some villages to defect to us. When the various heroes of Xiliang rise together, the imperial court won't know which end to tend to... We might as well just bribe those seventeen villages. If they all defect to us Qiangs, the imperial court will surely turn pale."

"Haha! Boyu's insight is brilliant!"

...

With the rebellion-suppression mission completed, everything returned to peace. The various villages within Wuwei Commandery intensified their efforts in construction.

Across the Three Kingdoms, from the provinces of Yanyun to the Central Plains, Jiangnan, Western Shu, and barbarian territories, player rebellions broke out one after another. However, they were all sporadic uprisings, quickly crushed by the imperial court and other villages, failing to make any significant waves.

The latest appointments for the Prefect of Wuwei Commandery were also delivered to White Village and Warring States Village, officially conferring upon the two leaders the rank of Township Chiefs.

Zhan Xiaobai didn't take the appointment to heart. He found that positions like Pavilion Chief and Township Chief were thankless jobs, essentially nothing more than nominal Captains of Security. When things were peaceful, no one treated you as a somebody. But the moment trouble arose, you were expected to immediately obey the dispatch of the NPC commanderies, providing men and resources to go to war. Fought-over easy battles were one thing, but if you ran into a hard campaign, you were finished—you wouldn't even recover your capital.

Moreover, all player villages acted independently and would not obey the commands of Pavilion Chiefs or Township Chiefs simply because of this minor administrative distinction.

White Village, Administrative Courtyard.

Spring and Autumn Shaoxia, A Fei, and the others had run off to Tiger Head Village, claiming they wanted to use the mountain bandits to train their troops and see how far their current strength lagged behind the bandits. Good grief, a classic case of excessive energy.

Sword Tyrant was busy all day increasing the production of various village products and expanding foreign trade.

After this great battle, the connections between the villages in Wuwei Commandery gradually grew closer, and the majority of villages established post stations, linking with one another. As more post stations were built, the cost of various facilities dropped rapidly, and the fees for using courier horses began to decrease as well. The price had now dropped by over fifty percent; traveling from White Village to Wuwei City only cost fifty copper coins, greatly boosting trade among the villages.

Were it not for the limited number of stables and courier horses in each village, players riding courier horses would likely be seen everywhere. (Courier horses could only travel along fixed routes between villages. Straying from the fixed routes would lead to getting lost. If the deviation was too large, the courier horses might walk slowly or even refuse to move at all. If players used courier horses to scout enemy positions, it was theoretically feasible. However, exceeding a predetermined time limit would result in a fine from the post station.)

Zhan Xiaobai was the only idle person in the village, wandering around from place to place all day, mingling with groups of players, or drinking with NPCs in the tavern to build relationships.

Zhan Xiaobai looked over the treasonous secret letter obtained from Sword and Tripod Village several times, unable to figure out what it was all about. This letter should have been given to Sword Like Madness by a certain Qiang chieftain to schedule the timing of the rebellion; it had no other use.

He had no choice but to throw the secret letter, the Qiang saber, the Qiang soldier tally, and the large weapon blueprint into the secret vault.
Qiang Soldier Tally: Commands 5 Qiang soldiers. Usage condition: Gain the trust of the Qiangs.
Large Weapon Blueprint: Level 40 Large Weapon—Giant Barricade Wooden Shield. A simple mobile wooden frame with wheels, upon which a giant wooden shield is erected, covered with thick animal hide to block incoming fire arrows, crossbow bolts, lances, giant crossbows, and other weapons.

The village already had thick wooden palisade walls, and Zhan Xiaobai didn't think anyone would rashly come to attack him, nor did he think a major battle would break out anytime soon, so he had no use for it in the short term.

This was also why Zhan Xiaobai felt regretful; he had finally obtained a design blueprint for a large weapon, yet it was a defensive one, and manufacturing it was extremely troublesome—let alone building such a large-scale weapon system, White Village hadn't even mastered wheel-making technology yet.

During his free time, Zhan Xiaobai studied the scroll of the Thirty-Six Volumes of the Heavenly Book of the Yellow Turban alone, wondering how this Yellow Turban questline was supposed to be triggered. All secrets were hidden within the Heavenly Book; once the Heavenly Book was deciphered, he should presumably be able to receive the hidden quests within it.

Li Asan hurried in and said, "Lord, a strange Taoist priest says he wishes to see you."

"Oh, a Taoist priest?"

Zhan Xiaobai was surprised. What a coincidence. He had just started studying this volume of Daoist celestial books, and a Taoist priest showed up?

To his knowledge, the most famous Taoists in the Three Kingdoms were Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban Taoists and Zhang Lu's Five Pecks of Rice Taoism from Hanzhong. He wondered what background this Taoist priest came from.

"What is so strange about him, and what does he want with me?"

Li Asan said with some indignation, "This Taoist priest has been wandering around the village for a while now. He doesn't do any proper work, and always runs off to tell the villagers strange things, asking them to follow and believe in Taoism. To avoid shaking the villagers' hearts, I have strictly forbidden the villagers from interacting with him to prevent any trouble. Right, Lord, he said he has an item to hand over to you."

"Oh? There is such a thing? I must go take a look."

Zhan Xiaobai, quite interested, put the Heavenly Book away in the secret vault. Together with Li Asan, he left the courtyard to meet this Taoist priest.

The NPC Taoist priest was wandering around the village, making comments on the various village facilities. Whenever he saw NPC villagers, he would enthusiastically pull them aside and preach his doctrines of righteousness. Unfortunately, the NPC villagers of White Village were well-fed and clothed, and showed little interest in his doctrines. "Attain immortality? Not interested," they said, walking away.

Upon seeing Zhan Xiaobai and Li Asan approaching, the Taoist quickly stepped forward, smiling and bowing respectfully, "This poor priest greets the Deputy Village Chief. I wonder who this is?"

Li Asan said, "This is our Village Chief."

The NPC Taoist hurriedly said respectfully, "Oh, so it is Village Chief Xiaobai. I have heard much about you. This poor priest pays his respects."

Zhan Xiaobai waved his hand to dismiss the formalities and looked the Taoist over. He was a middle-aged NPC Taoist, dressed in a simple, dirty, and disheveled hemp Daoist robe, looking unkempt and travel-worn. He did not wear a yellow turban on his head, making it obvious he was not one of the legendary Yellow Turban Taoists. Nor did he look much like a Five Pecks of Rice Taoist from his impressions.

Zhan Xiaobai smiled and asked, "This Daoist master has come to visit our village, and I am most welcoming. By the way, I heard from Elder Li that you have an item to give me. I wonder what kind of item it is?"

The Taoist hurriedly replied, "Indeed. This poor priest has a special building blueprint here, which I am willing to offer. I just don't know if the Village Chief is willing to accept it?"

Zhan Xiaobai was surprised and delighted. "A building blueprint? I've been longing for one! If the Daoist master is giving it away, I will certainly accept it. But I wonder what kind of building blueprint it is?"

The Taoist explained, "It is a blueprint for a thatched shrine. Once this building is constructed, it can attract Taoist priests to reside here, preside over the shrine, and practice Daoist arts... Actually, this poor priest hopes to become the abbot of this thatched shrine, and I hope Village Chief will grant permission."

A thatched shrine?

If it were a lifestyle or production building, Zhan Xiaobai would likely have agreed immediately. But adding a thatched shrine with mysterious functions required some consideration. What if it attracted a bunch of shouting and killing Yellow Turban Taoists, or Five Pecks of Rice Taoists who demanded contributions of five pecks of rice? Heaven knows what trouble that might bring to White Village. He certainly didn't want White Village to become a place where all sorts of eccentric Taoist priests ran amok.

Zhan Xiaobai asked doubtfully, "I wonder which sect of Taoism the Daoist master belongs to, and what kind of thatched shrine this is?"

Seeming to notice Zhan Xiaobai's doubts, the Taoist smiled and explained, "Village Chief worries too much. This poor priest is merely an ordinary Taoist who studies the arts of Huang-Lao. The thatched shrine to be built is also a common one, simply to give this poor priest a place to dwell and occasionally observe astronomical phenomena and ethereal fortunes to aid in my personal cultivation. It has absolutely no other ill effects."

Zhan Xiaobai nodded. "Then tell me the specific attributes of the thatched shrine."

The Taoist shook his head. "I am not clear on the attributes of this building either. This blueprint was given to me by my master. He instructed me to travel across the land and find a powerful village to construct this thatched shrine, ensuring the shrine wouldn't be easily destroyed. This poor priest has traveled to many places and asked many people, and learned that White Village in Xiliang is renowned far and wide, which is why I have come specifically to offer this blueprint. As for the attributes of the building on the blueprint, I am unaware."

Looking at his expression, Zhan Xiaobai didn't think he was lying, so he asked, "Who is your master?"

The Taoist chuckled apologetically, "My master is a nameless mountain Taoist, obscure and not worth mentioning. The blueprint he gave me is also a standard thatched shrine blueprint."

This Taoist was extremely smooth-tongued. Zhan Xiaobai questioned him for a long time without discovering his true background, so he had no choice but to stop pressing.

Zhan Xiaobai asked him for the blueprint to take a look.

However, the Taoist didn't hand over the blueprint immediately. Instead, he smiled and said, "Village Chief, I kindly request that you permit this poor priest to preach within the village. Because the timing is not yet ripe to build the thatched shrine, we must wait until there are enough villagers in the village who believe in the Dao before the thatched shrine can be successfully erected."

Zhan Xiaobai was stunned for a moment. He was trying to sell a blueprint, yet there was a catch—he had to preach first before handing over the blueprint. Was this NPC Taoist moonlighting as a salesman?

Li Asan had no favorable impression of the dirty and disheveled Taoist. With a scoff, he said to Zhan Xiaobai, "Lord, this person doesn't look like a capable Taoist. And this thatched shrine doesn't seem to have any real use; it's no big deal if we don't build it!"

Zhan Xiaobai hesitated, wanting to reject the Taoist's request.

Growing a bit anxious, the Taoist hurriedly said, "Village Chief, Deputy Village Chief, spreading the doctrines of Taoism helps stabilize the public sentiment of the villagers. It is entirely beneficial and harmless. Furthermore, once the thatched shrine is built, if anyone wishes to become a Taoist priest, this poor priest can perform the initiation rites for them, turning them into a Taoist priest. There are many benefits!"

The thatched shrine provided the class-transfer service for the special profession of Taoist priest?

Zhan Xiaobai was somewhat surprised. Players only had a few basic professions to freely choose from, and Taoist priest was not among them. He asked, "Can players also class-transfer into Taoist priests?"

"Anyone can, as long as they are above Level 10, with no other restrictions."

"Can they learn skills?"

"They can learn two types: talisman incantations and Daoist arts." The Taoist finished with a smile, then muttered quietly, "It's just that the learning requirements are a bit harsh..."

Without thinking twice, Zhan Xiaobai immediately granted the Taoist permission to preach within the village. This Daoist temple was likely similar to martial arts schools and academies, belonging to buildings that imparted skills on a large scale. Needless to say, a building like this had to be built.

However, he still instructed Li Asan to keep a close eye on him. Preaching was fine, but if the Taoist was found inciting villagers to plot conspiracies, dabbling in Yellow Turban affairs, or promoting Five Pecks of Rice teachings, the militia were to arrest him immediately.

The Taoist showered them with profuse expressions of gratitude, repeatedly vowing that he would do no such thing, and then began openly preaching within the village.

The presence of a wandering NPC Taoist in the village quickly caught the attention of the players. Whenever players approached him with questions, the Taoist would smile and say, "No rush, no rush. Once the thatched shrine is built, you will naturally be able to accept quests."

Under Li Asan's strict supervision, it took the Taoist several days to convince dozens of NPC villagers to believe in Taoism.

Only then did the Taoist feel the time was ripe. He presented the blueprint to Zhan Xiaobai, requesting permission to construct a special building within the village—a Primary Thatched Shrine.

Zhan Xiaobai obtained the blueprint and checked its attributes.

Primary Thatched Shrine Construction Blueprint—[Rustic Thatched Shrine].
Construction Requirements: 1. Villagers' Daoist faith must reach 30 points (1 person equals 1 point of faith). 2. Requires one presiding Daoist priest for the thatched shrine, who must be at least an Advanced Taoist. 3. Requires a geomantically auspicious location (directly affecting the efficacy of the thatched shrine).