Chapter 238: White Tiger Star

Six years later, you returned to the capital.

You rose through the ranks, but by the time you reached this point, you had lost interest in officialdom; you merely gave lectures along the way, and eventually your disciples spread across the world.

That year you completed establishing your word and establishing your virtue.

Until that year, rebellion broke out in the region, and the court was overwhelmed and powerless to turn the tide, so they thought of you; for the sake of the state and the world, you, a frail civil official, led a hundred thousand fierce troops to the battlefield, perhaps because you were born with military knowledge, and in just two or three years you quelled the rebellion that had flared up repeatedly for over a hundred years in that place.

That year you were still under the age of knowing one's destiny.

They had already begun to call you a sage!

But just as you had barely suppressed the rebellion, the court again stirred with turmoil, as a vassal king rebelled; you did not halt your horse's hooves, and within merely a few months you once again quelled the vassal king's rebellion.

You were also promoted, but your achievements awed the court, the emperor grew wary, and many civil and military officials envied and hated your sacred writings, secretly slandering you.

Your mind grew ever clearer, and you despised the deceit and intrigue in the court, so you resigned your office, hung up your seal, and departed.

When you were sixty, rebellion again broke out in the region; you went alone to the bandits' stronghold, and the bandit leader surrendered at the sight of you.

And that year you also felt your body was not as strong as before, so you began to comprehend the methods of cultivation, gradually distancing yourself from the mundane world.

That year your father passed away, that year you also bade farewell to your lady, your son, and us, following the Daoist on a distant journey.

That year the emperor also sent people to try to recall you, but you merely left behind a sentence.

「」

「No more? 」

Zhang Jian searched several times, yet still could not find where the final sentence was!

Glancing at this final section, obviously missing a page, he chuckled to himself.

Perhaps this final sentence was detrimental to the current rulers, which is why it was removed.

Could it really be such a coincidence that it was eaten by rats?

……

Although Zhang Jian wishes to achieve the three immortalities, he will not walk the old path of the Jade Sage.

The Jade Sage has his own path, and he also has his own.

Zhang Jian currently gives lectures, and likewise organizes his thoughts and gains through the system, comprehending his own academic propositions.

Likewise teaching and transforming living beings, Zhang Jian is unwilling to go with the flow, passively accepting the changes brought by the court's structure.

Moreover, even if he is to become a sage, he is not a sage of any one dynasty or generation, but a sage of humanity.

As for the intention of Emperor Jingwu sending this volume of the Jade Sage's separate transmission, Zhang Jian roughly understands it; it is nothing more than a few indications: the court is showing him goodwill, clearly indicating it will help him complete the sage's path.

At the same time, there is no lack of advance warning.

Zhang Jian soon tossed it to the back of his mind.

……

When returning to his residence, Zhang Jian saw in the distance a grand and murderous aura coming from afar.

This was not the murderous aura produced by yin ghosts, but the murderous aura of blades and weapons.

Zhang Jian gestured for the bearers to move the sedan aside, and from afar he saw a military unit coming from the corner of the long street, horse hooves clattering!

Tall horses, and at the front was a burly war general wearing bright white armor, with several generals behind and beside him, each one with vigorous blood and energy.

"The Divine Strategy Army!"

Lifting the sedan curtain, Zhang Jian glanced and then withdrew his gaze.

The Divine Strategy Army is a new army that the current Emperor Jingwu painstakingly trained at great expense; after six years it has made some progress.

It has long served as the fire brigade for the capital region, and several campaigns against bandits have made the Divine Strategy Army's fame grow ever greater.

Especially the commander of this army, An Ruheng, who is not yet thirty, has already become famous throughout the region.

"The stars blaze fiercely, the aura forms the likeness of Greedy Wolf; such a tiger general is not easy to control—one careless move and he harms others and himself!"

At that moment, Zhang Jian heard a faint sound in his ear.

Zhang Jian followed the sound with his gaze and immediately saw two figures not far away using divine sense to communicate.

However, the frequency of the divine sense communication was very simple; under the cover of Zhang Jian's divine awareness, there was nowhere to hide.

Even if they used some coded language.

But these codes, under the marvelous function of the Myriad Worlds Spirit Awareness Sphere within him, were nowhere to hide.

After breaking through the Yin Spirit realm, Zhang Jian became increasingly able to sense the marvel of the Myriad Worlds Spirit Awareness Sphere—not only understanding all kinds of languages, but also having the ability to break coded language.

It is truly mysterious.

The two Daoists before him appeared to be Daoists from some cultivator's sect, seemingly deliberately left in Haojing City to scout the court's realities.

Yet the two Daoists did not dare to deeply probe the fortune of this commander before them.

They only said: "Since he is the Greedy Wolf commander, we might as well try to make contact with him—perhaps he could be of use to us!"

"Not bad, but we still need to continue observing, to discern his true and false!"

Zhang Jian heard this, and his gaze flickered.

Among the Big Dipper, Greedy Wolf is a very complex star pattern—it governs killing and punishment, yet is also prone to backlash.

At that moment, the two Daoists suddenly turned their gaze toward the interior of the Divine Strategy Army, among the dozen or so generals behind.

Several of these generals also had some starlight and star patterns on their bodies—one could see at a glance that talent abounded.

But the two Daoists' gaze mainly fell upon one figure among them.

"White Tiger star pattern—who is this young Commander-in-Chief?"

The other Daoist furrowed his brow.

Although the White Tiger star pattern is not as overbearing as the Three Evil Stars' fate, it should not be underestimated.

This is also the fate of a valiant general; if fortune favors him, he has hope of becoming a regional commander.

The two Daoists' information in Haojing is not reliable, but after asking some of the "Haojing commoners" nearby, they quickly obtained the news.

The commander of the Shen Ce Army was named Zhang Lu, a rising young general among the border troops, and also the son-in-law of Xia Yuan Zhang, commander of the Guang Hua Army; it was rumored that he came from the lowly origins of a noble family's servant.

Upon hearing this, one of the Daoists sighed: "I originally thought that damage to the dragon vein would bring some backlash upon the court of Great Qian, but I never expected that outstanding generals would continue to emerge in succession!"

The other figure coldly laughed: "Although outstanding generals do keep appearing, I see that the dog emperor may not necessarily be able to control these proud and fierce soldiers; when the chaotic age arrives, it may well be Great Qian itself that suffers the harm!"

Zhang Jian at this moment absorbed the gazes of the two Daoists into his eyes, his vast spiritual awareness having already examined their backgrounds thoroughly from top to bottom.

These two Daoists harbored within their bodies a strand of Xuan Yin magical power; both were Daoists of the Golden Core realm, and should have come from a left-hand path tradition known as the Jin Niang Sect.

This tradition was not the Northern Blood Slaughter Sect, nor the Fire Worship Sect and other such heterodox paths, but rather a powerful sect that had once maintained ties with the inner court of the Shu state of the previous dynasty.

Zhang Jian glanced at Zhang Lu within the Shen Ce Army, a faint smile appearing at the bottom of his eyes; initially arranging for Zhang Lu to marry into the Xia family was undoubtedly a correct choice, leveraging the Xia family's influence in the city garrison army, Zhang Lu quickly secured his footing in the Shen Ce Army.

The Shen Ce Army nominally consisted of elites drawn from various armies, but in reality was mainly composed of elite troops from the city garrison and the imperial guards.

Although the Xia family was not a prestigious clan within Hao Jing City, they were a hereditary military household, and among the lower-ranking officers in Hao Jing City, they had considerable connections.

……

Zhang Jian did not subsequently ease up on his lectures, but shifted part of his focus to his current official post; he still held the rank of fourth-grade, Minister of the Grand Agriculture Temple, a position attached to the Lesser Treasury Office, overseeing agriculture and sericulture.

For Zhang Jian, this was a path forward.

To educate and enlighten the people, to awaken the wisdom of the common folk—this was the deed of sages and worthies; and if he could achieve something notable in his position as Minister of the Grand Agriculture Temple, helping those common folk fill their stomachs, that too would be the deed of sages and worthies.