Even emperors have it tough, so don't be too picky about the entries.

Zhang Jiao turned around and stepped barefoot onto the highest level of the altar.

Facing south, he slowly raised the peach wood sword.

Strangely, the mountain winds suddenly stopped.

The entire Panlong Ridge fell silent.

The 70,000 Yellow Turban soldiers looked up at their emperor with reverence.

Even the warhorses dared not snort.

Zhang Jiao used the Heavenly Gang Step, stepping on the nodes of the Eight Trigrams with each step.

Her long, loose hair suddenly flew up in the mountain wind.

He was muttering to himself.

One spell after another was uttered, carried by the wind, and reached the ears of the army.

Lao Tzu...

So be it...

Thunder God...

The black and yellow flags on the altar fluttered wildly in the wind, and the blue smoke from the incense burner was swirled into a twisted dragon that shot straight into the sky.

He suddenly stopped, slammed the peach wood sword on the table, grabbed a bowl of yellow wine from the table, and gulped down a large mouthful.

He suddenly turned around, facing the white cloth that had been prepared beforehand on the altar, and spat out the yellow wine he was drinking onto it with a "pfft".

The rice wine seeped onto the white cloth, initially appearing as a blurry water stain.

But the water stains seemed to be drawn together by some invisible hand, slowly gathering and condensing.

Finally, several large, blood-red characters appeared—

Chen Shao will surely die here!

At the foot of the altar, 70,000 Yellow Turban soldiers erupted in earth-shattering cheers.

...

At the end of the mountain road, dust began to rise.

Chen Shao's army finally arrived.

Chen Shao rode on the back of a donkey, his Green Dragon Crescent Blade held horizontally in front of the saddle, and looked up at the altar on the mountaintop.

On the altar, Zhang Jiao, dressed in an apricot-yellow Taoist robe, stood alone, barefoot and with his hair flowing freely. Behind him stood a towering yellow banner that seemed to reach into the clouds, the Bagua runes fluttering in the wind.

Chen Shao waved his hand, and the army immediately stopped.

The two gazed at each other from across the entire valley.

A legitimate emperor, and a warlord who rose up and swept across the Central Plains.

Two people who both wield divine power, their destinies collide here.

"When two dragons fight, one of them will surely die."

Zhang Jiao's voice came from the mountain.

Chen Shao frowned deeply; Zhang Jiao was indeed quite capable.

The figure was not large, yet it could come against the wind, its voice drifting lightly through the valley and into one's ears.

"Today, there can only be one of us."

Zhang Jiao, standing on the altar, pointed backward.

Pointing to the fluttering yellow turban banner.

"My Yellow Turban banner is right here; come and break it."

"If you can't break it, I'll personally pull down your imperial banner!"

After saying this, he leaped off the three-zhang-high altar.

Barefoot on the muddy ground, he walked towards the Yellow Turban army without looking back.

Yu Qi'an immediately turned his horse around and raised the command flag high:

"All troops, form ranks! Prepare to cross the mountains!"

The entire army obeyed orders without question, and the formation quickly contracted and assembled, forming an iron wall in front of the entrance to Panlongling Valley.

Aluminum cloth was the first to step forward.

"Your Majesty! This humble general is willing to lead my troops to the mountaintop, overturn that dilapidated altar, and tear down that tattered flag to use as a rag!"

He seemed to feel that this didn't highlight his abilities enough, so he immediately added another sentence.

"You don't need too many men. Give me a thousand infantrymen. If they can't take it down within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, I'll take my own head."

Look! Flatterers and sycophants have their advantages, namely, they are willing to work hard.

Chen Shao nodded with relief, "Don't panic."

Things are not that simple.

He carefully examined the altar on the mountaintop.

Strangely, the altar's frame appears to be made of iron, rather than peach wood, which is the most commonly used material for rituals.

Who would be so bored as to build an altar with an iron frame, especially in a place like this?

What exactly is Zhang Jiao up to?

Although Chen Shao did not believe that he really knew magic.

But Zhang Jiao's ability to dominate the north was not solely due to swindling and deception.

There must be something special about them.

He suddenly looked up at the sky.

The sun had cracked open, and the bright sunlight shone high in the sky.

What exactly is going on?

Chen Shao's heart skipped a beat, "Yuwen Bone!"

"Go up and take a look, find out if this altar is real or not."

"what?"

Yuwen Huagu, who was hiding in the crowd, never expected that Chen Shao would suddenly call his name.

I hid so well, yet you still managed to find me.

He didn't understand the altar, but what Chen Shao made him do was definitely not a good thing.

Yuwen Huagu kept this point firmly in mind.

He immediately trembled and limped over.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... My old leg pain has flared up again."

He rested his hands on his knees.

"Look... this old minister's legs are shaking so badly that he can't even stand up straight."

To prove he wasn't lying, he took two difficult steps forward.

Whether it was realistic acting or real pain, it did look like a muscle spasm, with him limping and dragging his right leg.

Yu Qi'an couldn't bear to watch any longer.

The whip pointed to the bright sun overhead.

"General, you're saying your old leg pain is acting up in this weather? Even if you're going to decline, can't you come up with a plausible excuse?"

Yuwen Huagu looked aggrieved.

"Yu Qi'an, what kind of talk is that!"

"Am I, Yuwen Huagu, that kind of person? If it weren't for my old leg pain acting up, I would have been the first to rush up, without even Your Majesty having to say a word."

He looked up at the sky.

The scorching sun beat down on his face, which surprised him somewhat.

"It's a bit strange. It's not windy or rainy, and it's not cloudy, so why did my old leg pain flare up?"

"But I swear to God, I really didn't lie!"

He had barely finished speaking.

A low rumble suddenly came from the horizon.

It rolled over the sky, over the mountains, and over everyone's heads.

The sky darkened in just a few breaths.

Just moments ago, the sun was shining brightly, but in the blink of an eye, dark clouds surged in from the horizon, growing thicker and lower.

It's like an inverted pot lid completely covering the entire Panlongling.

A mountain wind suddenly rose, causing the trees in the valley to sway wildly.

Immediately afterwards, a bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating the entire mountain range as if it were daytime.

In an instant, a rumble of thunder rolled overhead.

Large water droplets have already started to fall.

Yuwen Huagu stood in the rain, and miraculously, his legs stopped trembling.

He looked up at the sky filled with lightning and thunder, and suddenly burst into laughter:

"Did you see that!"

"Did I lie or not?!"

He smugly shook his head at Yu Qi'an.

"Lord Yu, did you see that? Thunder, rain, and my old leg pain is acting up again—it's all happening!"

"Even God couldn't stand your slander against me, so He came to bear witness."

"..." Yu Qi'an was speechless.

It seems there really is such a thing.

The "old cold legs" are like a rainy day sensor, even more accurate than the Imperial Observatory.

Chen Shao looked up at the sky.

Then I looked at the altar on the mountaintop, which was flickering in the lightning.

He took a deep breath.

"I finally understand!"