Chapter 135: The Celestial Book Quest That Pours Fuel on the Fire (Monthly Votes Urgently Needed!)

On May 23rd, within a single day, the Liangzhou announcement system frequently broadcasted news from various villages.

"Liangzhou System Message: The Warring States Village [Wuwei Commandery] has announced an alliance with the Mo Xiao Village [Wuwei Commandery], and the relations between the two villages have improved."

"Liangzhou System Message: Village XX [Jincheng Commandery] has declared hostility against Village XX [Jincheng Commandery], and the relations between the two villages have sharply deteriorated."

"Liangzhou System Message: Perfect Village [Wuwei Commandery] has declared neutrality. The village chief issued a statement refusing to participate in any form of war and wishing to maintain normal relations with all villages."

......

Accompanied by various acts of hostility and alliance-forming, sporadic sparks of war among players in different villages had begun to flare up. A minority of villages were losing their patience, sending out provocative signals to neighboring villages and beginning to hunt for pretexts to start a war.

Xiaobai Village remained peaceful and calm. The players went about their usual routines: slaying monsters, grinding levels, and gathering herbs.

Zhan Xiaobai, Sword Tyrant, and the other three senior elders had suspended their out-of-village activities, remaining stationed within the settlement to handle any sudden emergencies at a moment's notice. With nothing better to do, they gathered together to study regional security and rehearse defense strategies.

Habitually, they used tree branches to sketch a rough topographical map in the dirt for visual clarity. Autumn Water and Spring and Autumn Xiaoxia were the primary individuals responsible for the village's security and defense.

Autumn Water was in charge of the village's overall security strategy. Sword Tyrant did not concern himself with military affairs, managing logistics alone. Spring and Autumn Xiaoxia was responsible for leading troops in combat. Ah Fei served as the reserve, handling reconnaissance and vanguard duties.

As for Zhan Xiaobai, he held final decision-making authority.

Pointing at Xiaobai Village on the map, Autumn Water stated:

"The security situation of our village can be considered extremely safe compared to other player villages across Liangzhou. Six to seven li downstream lies Wutong Village. No village can easily pass through Wutong Village to launch an attack on us. If any downstream village attempts military action against us, they will first have to defeat Wutong Village, or else find themselves caught in a pincer attack. Thanks to Big Brother Bai's cultivation over the past few months, Wutong Village now boasts over two thousand players, and their weapons and equipment were all acquired from us at low prices—their strength is definitely not weak. As long as Wutong Village does not fall, our downstream flank is completely secure. Unless someone possesses military might as formidable as ours, Wutong Village cannot be defeated."

At this point, Autumn Water could not help casting a glance at Zhan Xiaobai, secretly admiring the wisdom of the decision he had made back then.

Initially, Zhan Xiaobai had merely lent a helping hand to Wutong Village to help them weather a crisis. Now, Wutong Village had become a secure protective barrier for Xiaobai Village, capable of both offensive and defensive operations. Most of the players in Wutong Village had relocated there only because Xiaobai Village could no longer accommodate such a large population. The bonds between the players of both villages remained exceptionally close.

Zhan Xiaobai smiled and nodded, gesturing for her to continue.

Autumn Water continued, "Five to six li upstream from us are Daqi Village and Hualing Village. Our relationship with Hualing Village is currently in its honeymoon phase, and the possibility of them coming to blows with us is virtually nonexistent." She smiled faintly. "As for Daqi, they lack the courage to cross us and are only capable of holding their ground. These two villages form our upstream barrier. If any village attempts to advance on us from the upstream direction, they will inevitably be intercepted and ambushed by these two. Therefore, the upstream direction is also thoroughly secure."

She paused for a moment. "That leaves us with Tiger and Leopard Village across the river, as well as the player villages located around Tiger Head Stronghold and the abandoned Gray Sunshine Village. These directions pose a certain degree of security threat. Tiger Head Stronghold is situated too far from us—over ten li away—and they have plenty of internal conflicts to deal with. They have little interest in crossing us, only praying that we won't attack them. As for villages even further away wishing to attack us? They'd exhaust themselves to death just running the distance. Calculating it this way, the only neighboring entity that genuinely poses a security threat to us is Tiger and Leopard Village across the river."

Autumn Water pointed an arrow toward Tiger and Leopard Village, and everyone fell into deep thought.

Spring and Autumn Xiaoxia shook his head and said, "I don't think Tiger and Leopard Village will engage in military conflict with us. If they send a small force, it won't even be enough between our teeth. If they send a large force, while it might exert some pressure on us, they would expose severe security vulnerabilities of their own, making it easy for other villages to loot a burning house."

He let out a cold snort, showing a hint of disdain toward Tiger and Leopard Village. "Based on my experience with them, Tiger and Leopard Village has always carefully avoided conflicts with us. They even travel far away to fish, competing with Daqi Village for fishing sections, specifically to avoid going to war with us over fishery resources. Tiger and Leopard Village's strategy is clearly to bully the weak and avoid the strong. Therefore, I believe they are likely to stab smaller neighboring villages in the back during this period, while proactively coming to our doorstep to request peaceful coexistence and non-aggression."

Sword Tyrant remarked, "Tiger and Leopard Village remains a thorn in our side. Yet, since they go out of their way to avoid us even when walking, it's awkward for us to proactively make a move against them. This is a tricky situation."

Zhan Xiaobai studied the map for a good while before suddenly smiling. "Are there really no dangers surrounding our village? If no one is going to proactively provoke us, won't we be bored out of our minds next? How strange—the more nervous everyone else gets, the more leisurely we become."

Autumn Water smiled and said, "That's all thanks to Big Brother Bai developing the village so rapidly and even constructing a wooden palisade wall. Who would dare set their sights on our village? Furthermore, villages across the entire game are keeping each other in check; no one dares to dispatch troops recklessly for fear of being ambushed and besieged. Therefore, the pretext and timing for war are crucial."

A wave of laughter erupted among the group.

Following the analysis, the situation seemed exceptionally clear-cut: as long as Xiaobai Village did not go looking for a fight, there would be no war. While relaxing, it was also somewhat monotonous. Since no village dared to trouble them, did it mean they had to go out and trouble others?

Ah Fei strongly suggested, "Big Brother, once Liangzhou descends into chaos, why don't we simply pick a small village to attack? Let's target the player villages near Tiger Head Mountain. Big Brother can lead the troops in person, and we'll go fight a battle there. Let's use this opportunity to teach them a lesson so they won't compete with us for the spawn points at Tiger Head Stronghold in the future."

Zhan Xiaobai shook his head with a smile. "Tiger Head Mountain? A bit too far. Just running the distance would take most of a day, and it'd run me to exhaustion. Besides, you guys bullied them hard enough a short while ago, and their village chief even came to me to complain. Starting a war without a righteous cause isn't entirely proper."

He pondered for a moment before suddenly turning serious. "Speaking of threats, I suddenly thought of an enemy who is very likely to take disadvantageous actions against us."

The group instantly perked up and eagerly asked, "Who?"

"Qiang and Di!"

Everyone turned solemn. How could they have forgotten about this NPC faction? If the Qiang and Di went on a rampage, Xiaobai Village lacked the strength to fend them off!

Autumn Water's face flushed red. Such a major hidden vulnerability had escaped her analysis, prompting her to say, "I am deeply sorry. My previous analysis was overly optimistic and neglected the power of NPCs."

Zhan Xiaobai shook his head. "You can't be blamed for that; I almost overlooked it myself. Let's continue."

Turning to the group, he said, "Other player villages are far too weak, and no one in our vicinity dares to provoke us. Within the borders of Liangzhou, our true enemies won't be players, but NPCs. They excel at cavalry raids over long distances; ten li is nothing more than the time it takes to eat a meal. Therefore, all our previous security analyses are void, and we need to reconsider how to defend against cavalry surprise attacks. Everyone, continue thinking and analyze countermeasures."

Autumn Water pondered for a moment and said, "If we factor in NPCs, then government troops, Qiang and Hu tribes, Liangzhou NPC warlords, Xiongnu, Yellow Turbans, and rebellious mobs will all be major forces threatening the survival of our village......"

......

At noon, outside Xiaobai Village, several NPC messengers dressed in official attire hastily rode their horses to the east gate of the village, claiming to carry an urgent dispatch that needed to be delivered directly to the village chief with utmost haste. Upon receiving the news, Zhan Xiaobai hurried out of the village to greet them.

The NPC messenger handed him a letter before spurring his horse onward toward Tiger and Leopard Village. Evidently, many villages would receive similar orders.

Zhan Xiaobai unsealed and read the letter, which turned out to be a personal decree from the Administrator of Wuwei Commandery.

"Wuwei Commandery has suffered months of drought, and unruly mobs are seizing the opportunity to stir up chaos, with disorder gradually spreading. Village Chief Xiaobai is hereby ordered to lead the righteous men of ten pavilions, extensively recruit local braves, safeguard order within the jurisdiction, and strictly guard against rebellious mobs. Anyone identified as a rebel party may be executed before reporting. If the Qiang and Hu tribes launch disturbances, report to the authorities immediately......"

Zhan Xiaobai found it amusing. It seemed the NPC Administrator of Wuwei City also sensed that the situation was turning ominous and was hurriedly sending men to various villages for early precautions.

Pity that no funds or supplies were provided. Had there been reinforcements of weapons and troops, he might have seriously considered helping the administrator maintain local public security. Since there was nothing offered, he had no mood to exert himself for Master Administrator. Once the rebellious troops rose in arms, the administrator could just deal with the headache himself; he lacked the capability to single-handedly withstand rampaging rebel forces.

Putting the letter away, he returned to the village.

The players inside were busy with their respective tasks, maintaining orderly discipline. The four gates of the village remained open rather than closed. Inside the village gates, NPC militia holding horns atop the intermediate watchtowers and NPC militia equipped with bows and deerskin armor atop the primary arrow towers vigilantly scanned the surroundings both inside and outside the village.

Autumn Water had taken a patrol out, Sword Tyrant was handling commercial affairs, and Spring and Autumn Xiaoxia along with Ah Fei were wandering around the village with players from the Xiaoxia Army and Flying General Corps. Moments later, they would run off to the blacksmith shop to forge suitable weapons, and bumping into leaders of other legions, the whole crowd would holler and head off to the tavern for drinks, never resting for a single second.

Zhan Xiaobai returned to the administrative courtyard and placed the letter into the secret vault.

Inadvertently, his gaze fell upon the items resting inside: the final volume, *Jiazi*, of the thirty-six volumes of heavenly books, the *Taiping Qingling Shu*, as well as the glowing Moonlight Treasure Box gifted by the old Daoist priest. He paused.

He picked up the volume of the heavenly book. Woven into the silk was a magnificent landscape painting depicting countless peasants following an elder in an uprising. Inscribed across the silk was a line of vigorous clerical script: "The Azure Sky is already dead, the Yellow Sky shall soon be established; the year is Jiazi, and the realm shall experience great peace." Hidden within it were certain secrets that remained impossible to crack.

However, the Moonlight Treasure Box possessed the ability to identify any mystical item.

Zhan Xiaobai held both items in his hands, pondering for a long while before putting them back down. The thirty-six volumes of heavenly books possessed immense power; each volume could shorten the timeline by a month, pushing the game world closer to the Yellow Yellow Turban Rebellion—they were divine scrolls capable of reversing destiny.

Players who obtained these scrolls would undoubtedly acquire a powerful skill, yet they would simultaneously inflict a disaster upon all other players in the game by depriving them of a month to prepare for the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

To put it bluntly, these thirty-six volumes of heavenly books would elevate thirty-six players out of the millions across the realm, pushing them to the pinnacle, while burdening all other players with immense pressure and forcing them to face formidable NPC factions ahead of schedule.

Precisely because of this reason, Zhan Xiaobai had yet to weigh the pros and cons clearly, holding back and refusing to use the Moonlight Treasure Box to identify the heavenly book. He could not control when the other thirty-five volumes would be activated. Nevertheless, delaying the activation of the heavenly book in his own possession to grant himself ample time for calm preparation was by no means a bad thing.

Just as Zhan Xiaobai returned the heavenly book and the treasure box to the secret vault, a system chime rang out.

"All-China Region System Announcement: The first volume of the thirty-six volumes of Yellow Turban heavenly books has officially triggered its historical storyline quest progression. Once the quest is completed, the historical timeline will automatically advance by one month; player factions will remain unchanged, while NPC factions will automatically adjust. The quest workflow is as follows:......"

"All-China Region System Announcement: The second volume of the thirty-six volumes of Yellow Turban heavenly books has officially triggered its historical storyline quest progression. Once the quest is completed, the historical timeline will automatically advance by one month; player factions will remain unchanged, while NPC factions will automatically adjust. The quest workflow is as follows:......"

......

Yellow Turban quests erupted one after another. In the blink of an eye, the preceding thirty-five volumes of heavenly books had all been activated.

Zhan Xiaobai was startled. Did that mean it was his turn?

Sure enough, inside the secret vault, the Moonlight Treasure Box and the heavenly book scroll suddenly lifted into the air on their own, colliding with one another. In an instant, a dazzling light filled the entire secret vault.

System message:

"All-China Region System Announcement: The final volume of the thirty-six volumes of Yellow Turban heavenly books has officially triggered its historical storyline quest progression. Once the quest is completed, the historical timeline will automatically advance by one month; player factions will remain unchanged, while NPC factions will automatically adjust. The quest workflow is as follows:......"

Shielding his eyes with his arm, Zhan Xiaobai watched as the light faded, staring dumbfounded at the unfurled heavenly book resting within the vault. Damn it, manual appraisal wasn't even needed—fully automated identification; treasures were truly overpowered.

At this tense juncture, thirty-six Yellow Turban quests were triggering simultaneously—wasn't that like pouring oil on fire?

Players across villages throughout the entire game erupted in an uproar. That was a historical storyline quest! Once completed, rewards would be unimaginably lavish. The great Yellow Turban chaos was imminent; how exhilarating—time to go complete the quests right away!

The reason all players felt such excitement was simple: the workflow for the thirty-six volumes of Yellow Turban heavenly books explicitly stated—this was not a battle for a single person, but for a multitude!