A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Holding Taoist talisman water in one hand and an exorcising artifact in the other, Zhang Jiao relied on his accumulated wealth, reputation, and status over the years, as well as the secret assistance of the Wei family, to continuously provide relief to disaster victims, and his fame spread throughout the twenty states of the Han Dynasty.

From the highest officials and palace eunuchs to ordinary people, Zhang Jiao's followers were everywhere.

Even those who did not receive his help regarded his actions and intellectual achievements as divine. Of the 200 million people in the entire Han Dynasty, more than 20 million were his followers.

Even Emperor Ling of Han heard of his reputation, invited him to the palace to preach, and was willing to make his Way of Great Peace the state religion and appoint him as the national teacher.

What a prestigious position this is! If Zhang Jiao agrees, he can become the founder of Taoism, the first national teacher in Chinese history, and enjoy endless wealth and honor, standing above hundreds of millions of people.

But Zhang Jiao did not agree. He refused Emperor Ling's request and traveled to various places to treat the sick and save lives.

Emperor Ling of Han had a very high opinion of himself. At the age of 11, he was able to remove the arrogant and domineering Dou Wu and the Empress Dowager who was ruling from behind the throne. He also had the partisans, relatives of the empress, powerful families, and eunuchs under his thumb.

He was able to seize power over the entire court at the age of 11, becoming the youngest emperor in Han Dynasty history to wield real power.

In this respect, even Emperor Wen and Emperor Wu could not compare to him.

But now he was being rejected by a mere Taoist priest, which made him feel that Zhang Jiao was very ungrateful.

"By my decree, Zhang Jiao has been found guilty of treason for privately providing relief to disaster victims. He is to be arrested and brought to justice immediately."

Two of the eunuchs beside him changed their expressions and wanted to plead for Zhang Jiao, but they remembered Zhang Jiao's orders not to reveal their identities.

Instead, Zhang Rang stepped forward and advised Emperor Ling of Han, "Your Majesty, Zhang Jiao's reputation is currently at its peak, and he is highly sought after by scholars."

"But in the end, he's nothing more than a charlatan; why should Your Majesty care?"

"It would be better to have someone forcibly remove the Taoist records of the Way of Peace. For a Taoist, this would be more painful than killing him, but on the surface, he would still have to thank His Majesty for sparing his life."

"If he doesn't know what's good for him, and His Majesty wants to kill him again, no one will dare to say a word against it."

Emperor Ling smiled with satisfaction, "As expected of my father, I will do as you say."

In the seventh year of Emperor Ling of Han's reign, Emperor Ling was brought to adulthood ahead of schedule. To celebrate this occasion, Emperor Ling granted Cai Yong's suggestion and spent hundreds of millions of taels of silver to have the "Investigation of Things," the "Book of Changes," and the "Three Generations" carved onto a massive stone three meters high and tens of meters wide.

This will serve as a unified standard for testing, preventing cheating on exams.

Scholars and students from all over the country flocked to this place, taking it as their standard.

Every day, tens of thousands of people come to copy and imitate, and vehicles fill the nearby streets and alleys.

In the tenth year of Emperor Ling of Han's reign, in order to counter the growing number of scholar-officials, Emperor Ling established the Hongdu Gate Academy in Chang'an.

It was established as an institution of higher learning on par with the National Central University and the Imperial Academy, and anyone who graduated from it could directly become an official.

However, due to the extremely poor relationship between Emperor Ling of Han and the scholars, famous scholars were unwilling to serve in the government.

Emperor Ling of Han forced those with high reputations to teach here, and all those who received the imperial edict resigned and went home, resorting to passive resistance.

Even students were unwilling to study there. There were no teachers, and they would be looked down upon after graduation. Apart from the large collection of books, it did not attract them at all.

Even students from poor families, those who excelled, could pass the selection process of the Imperial Academy and the National Central University, which had richer collections of books, the best teachers in the world, the best resources, and the best place to settle down after graduation.

Only a few poor students who are neither good enough for high-level jobs nor good enough for low-level jobs are willing to come to Hongdumen School to study, just in order to get a chance to study.

There were also some eunuchs' family members and powerful relatives who were attached to the eunuchs, who joined the Red Capital Meixue in order to show their loyalty to Emperor Ling of Han.

Emperor Ling of Han was so angry at these people's actions that his nose almost twisted, but he still reluctantly rewarded these ordinary poor scholars.

Furthermore, after these students graduated, they were forcibly appointed to official positions such as governor, attendant, and prefect.

However, these students were simply not capable of fulfilling these duties, and in the court's evaluations, they were always ranked at the very bottom, which was a slap in the face to Emperor Ling of Han.

In the twelfth year of Emperor Ling of Han, Zhang Jiao and Ma Yuanyi returned to Ma Yuanyi's hometown, Shanyang County.

The magistrate of Shanyang County was a graduate of Hongdu Gate Academy and a distant nephew of the Grand Eunuch Zhao Zhong.

During the two years he served as county magistrate, Shanyang County was frequently struck by disasters. First came an earthquake, followed by floods and droughts. In this year, a locust plague struck, leaving the land barren for miles.

Zhang Jiao and Ma Yuanyi arrived at Ma Yuanyi's hometown, Ma Family Village.

Ma Yuanyi excitedly told Zhang Jiao about the interesting things that happened in the village, constantly naming one fellow villager after another, most of whom were his younger brothers.

These past few years have passed, and his younger brother must have grown into a strong young man, able to travel the world with them, healing the sick and saving lives.

As Zhang Jiao walked, his gaze sharpened, and his pace involuntarily slowed.

Ma Yuanyi, eager to return home, immediately noticed this.

"Master, what's wrong?"

Ma Yuanyi asked curiously.

"Yuanyi, prepare yourself mentally."

Zhang Jiao's tone gave Ma Yuanyi a bad feeling. He looked towards Majia Village, where the outline of the village was vaguely visible.

Following in Zhang Jiao's footsteps, Majia Village drew closer and closer, and Ma Yuanyi saw it more and more clearly.

There wasn't a wisp of smoke rising from the village; the houses were dilapidated, and not a soul could be seen; it was almost devoid of any sign of life.

Ma Yuanyi bypassed Zhang Jiao and rushed into the village.

"Village Chief! Zhengxin! And everyone!"

"I am Ma Yuanyi, I'm back!"

"Say something! I'm a little pony!"

Ma Yuanyi ran to the village chief's door, but his legs felt like lead, and he couldn't run another step.

Zhang Jiao, who was following behind him, sighed. He could already smell the stench of a corpse.

Zhang Jiao stepped forward and pushed open the door to the village chief's house, only to be met by two wolves that were gnawing on the corpses on the ground.

Ma Yuanyi recognized the corpse at a glance as his younger brother, Ma Zhengxin.

"brute!"

Ma Yuanyi raised his magic sword and charged towards the two wolves.

Zhang Jiao followed closely behind. As a Taoist priest, he also knew a little about martial arts.

When the two wolves saw someone disturbing their meal, they looked over with their bright green eyes, let out a howl, and pounced.

Zhang Jiao seized the opportunity, sliding through the wolf's body with a sliding tackle, cutting through his sword and the wolf's wound on its belly.

One fatal blow.

While Ma Yuanyi was still wrestling with the wolf, Zhang Jiao walked over and beheaded the wolf in a few swift moves.

Ma Yuanyi stepped forward, looked at his younger brother, and knelt down on the ground.

Reaching out to touch her brother's mangled corpse, she was still lost in disbelief.

Zhang Jiao saw that Ma Zhengxin was still tightly clutching the peace talisman that Ma Yuanyi had given him, but unfortunately, the talisman did not guarantee him peace.

Zhang Jiao seemed to see the mutilated boy muttering to himself before he died.

"The Taiping Talisman was bestowed by the Great Teacher of Virtue, and my brother said it can protect me."

Recalling the moment of parting, the boy said that when he grew up, he would follow Ma Yuanyi to treat and save people.