Chapter 328: Do I Really Have to Wait Until After Death?

Inside the wooden house, the furnishings are extremely simple: a table, two chairs, an oil lamp, and a set of coarse ceramic tea ware.

Zhang Jiao personally held the kettle and poured Yu Lin a steaming cup of coarse tea.

Yu Lin did not hold back, lifted the ceramic cup, gently blew away the floating leaves, and took a small sip.

After he set down the cup, Zhang Jiao finally spoke, his voice steady yet carrying a barely perceptible expectation: "Companion Yu, you have come this time to aid my Tai Ping Dao, to undertake great deeds, to rescue the common folk from fire and water, and to usher in a flourishing Yellow Heaven?"

Yu Lin met Zhang Jiao's gaze, but slowly shook his head and spoke bluntly: "Companion Zhang, I have no such world‑shaking ambitions. I came because I heard you possess the mysterious classic The Tai Ping Essential Art, and I longed to meet you, to ask for instruction, to learn a bit and broaden my knowledge."

He paused, seeing Zhang Jiao's expression unchanged as he listened quietly, and continued: "Of course, I will not let you teach me for free."

As he spoke, his right hand made a vague grasp in the air, his palm flashing faintly, and a primitive ancient volume of indeterminate material materialized out of thin air.

The moment the book appeared, a faint clear tone seemed to sound in the room, and an aura of profound, lofty mystery pointing to the Dao's origin spread, fleeting yet causing even someone like Zhang Jiao to be instantly shaken to the core.

"This is Laozi's direct authentic teaching," Yu Lin placed the book gently on the table, his tone even but each word weighty, "It has never appeared in the world, and it stands alone. I offer it in exchange for a glimpse of your The Tai Ping Essential Art; what do you think, companion?"

Zhang Jiao's gaze was firmly fixed the instant Yu Lin produced the book.

The volume seemed to exert a deadly attraction on him, a voice deep within screaming wildly, telling him the book aligns with his Dao; if he could comprehend it, he could break his shackles and perhaps even overturn the heavens.

His eyes could hardly leave the book, and his breathing quickened a few beats.

However, after a brief surge of excitement and struggle, a deep sense of helplessness and bitterness surfaced on Zhang Jiao's face.

He slowly closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, forced down the yearning in his heart, and when he opened them again, his gaze was clear, and he gave Yu Lin a wry smile and shook his head:

"Ah, I see… your sincerity moves me. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I will disappoint you."

He raised his hand and pointed to his forehead, his tone bearing a fated calm: "That The Tai Ping Essential Art, once it entered my mind, has already merged with my spirit."

"If I were to extract it, only after my body dies and my Dao vanishes might it manifest on its own."

"Even I, now, cannot transcribe its contents nor convey them orally; it is utterly impossible—words cannot reach, the brush cannot write."

Yu Lin: "…………"

He felt a wave of speechlessness inside.

Well, it seems that to obtain The Tai Ping Essential Art early, one truly has to wait until Zhang Jiao dies.

However, he is not in a hurry at this moment.

"Ah, so that's the reason," Yu Lin nodded, showing understanding, and was about to retrieve the book.

However, his movement paused slightly, his gaze lingering on Zhang Jiao's face, studying him carefully.

At first glance, Zhang Jiao's complexion was rosy, his eyes bright, his aura rather expansive, appearing as a cultivated master.

Yet beneath this seemingly vigorous life, a discordant decay lingered, like a raging fire burning its last fuel, nearing the sign of oil exhausted and lamp extinguished.

Recalling the historical record that Zhang Jiao died suddenly shortly after the uprising, a thought flashed through his mind.

He ceased to dwell on the technique exchange and asked directly, his gaze sharp as a blade, seeming to pierce Zhang Jiao's façade to the core:

"I observe, companion… you appear to have qi soaring like a canopy, yet your divine essence is silently draining, and your foundation shows signs of wavering. This condition is not like ordinary injury or illness; it seems more like… a deficiency in the source?"

He leaned forward slightly, asking word by word:

"But is it because you practice that The Tai Ping Essential Art?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jiao's body trembled imperceptibly.

He fell silent, and for a moment the room was filled only with the occasional crackle of the oil lamp's wick.

After a long while, he slowly lifted his head, his gaze seeming to pierce the roof, looking toward a distant past, with a mix of reminiscence, emotion, and an indescribable complexity, he spoke slowly, his voice low and hoarse:

"In those years, I was gathering herbs in the mountains when I met an old man, hair like a crane, face of a child, as if an immortal. He called himself the Old Immortal of Southern Flowers, saying I possessed Dao destiny, and he gave me three scrolls of The Tai Ping Essential Art…"

"He said then: 'If you obtain it, you shall fulfill the Divine Mission of Replacing Heaven, save all beings; if you harbor divergent intent, you will receive retribution.'"

Zhang Jiao withdrew his gaze, looking at Yu Lin, the bitterness on his face deepening:

"Now, in this state, perhaps… I have carried out that 'Divine Mission of Replacing Heaven', violating some taboo, or perhaps… I never fully grasped the true meaning the immortal transmitted."

He gave a wry smile, shook his head, and added at the end: "Perhaps also,"

"It is I, Zhang Jiao, who developed divergent intent; back then I saved the world, but my aspiration for universal righteousness was lost."

Yu Lin only listened, saying nothing.

According to the Book of Later Han, in the more than twenty years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, floods, droughts, and locust plagues were unusually frequent nationwide, especially in the northern regions.

For example: "Great Floods left the populace starving, roads clogged, affecting dozens of thousands of households, Jizhou especially so."

In just that brief sentence, without elaborate description, one can directly feel how the human world was a hell then.

And from the year 171 AD onward, a terrible Great Plague erupted across the realm.

In ancient times with poor medical conditions, the plague was a "dimensional reduction strike," causing "every household to have hidden corpses, every room to echo with wailing," even leading to "family annihilation" tragedies.

Additionally, local warlords colluded with officials, greedily annexing land, causing many peasant owners to go bankrupt, becoming wanderers or tenant farmers of the strong.

The Book of Later Han bluntly points out "officials act arbitrarily, corruption endless," with low‑level officials like jackals, gnawing the bones of the people.

It was amid this extreme desperation that Zhang Jiao and his Tai Ping Dao emerged.

When plague ran rampant and no medicine could be found, Zhang Jiao employed the Talisman Water Incantation method to heal the people.

The propagated Tai Ping Scripture advocated against wealth disparity, depicting a fair world where "all are equal, all born of Heaven," which held a deadly allure for people who saw no hope in reality.

Thus, even though the early uprising lost momentum due to disciple Tang Zhou's betrayal, the hastily organized revolt later rose across the Eight Provinces, with the world responding.

Although he failed, he thoroughly rang the death knell of the Eastern Han.

Only, perhaps during this process, his heart truly changed, giving rise to other thoughts...........

Yu Lin did not pursue the matter further; he simply stood, left a Jade Pendant, and said:

"Since that's the case, I won't trouble you further; if anything arises, you may use this Transmission to contact me."

"I will do something for you, as a prelude to taking it away… hmm."

"May your great undertaking proceed smoothly."