Mythical Version of Three Kingdom

In Jingzhou, Pang Tong was feeling frustrated after learning that Zhuge Liang had declined to become his uncle’s disciple. Without saying a word, he packed his bags and prepared to leave Jingzhou. He casually packed the so-called ”ten thousand volumes of wisdom” that Pang Degong had intended to teach him, which amounted to just a couple of hundred pages of books.

In short, Pang Tong was determined to compete with Zhuge Liang to the very end. No matter what, he wanted to see who would come out on top. He had heard that Zhuge Liang had already understood his own talent, while Pang Tong was still unclear about his own. Naturally, this left him dissatisfied. Zhuge Liang, who was two years younger than him, had already awakened his talent, which deeply hurt the pride of Pang Tong, who had always considered himself superior.

Now, Pang Tong found himself staring at a Daoist priest. Although he had encountered mountain bandits and thieves after leaving Jingzhou, a strategist with over ninety intelligence points naturally had some means of self-defense. After traveling and learning basic spiritual attack techniques, dealing with common ruffians wasn’t a problem. However, this time, he had come across a rather unusual person.

”Interesting, very interesting,” the Daoist circled Pang Tong, inspecting him from head to toe with curiosity. ”How strange. Why is it that when I look at you, I see my own death? This is quite amusing.”

”Why do you say that, sir? You appear to be in excellent health—how could death be near?” Pang Tong responded with a cheeky grin. After all, it was never wise to offend a Daoist in the wild, and Pang Tong knew this well.

”I didn’t say it was today. I’m just saying that I see my death in your presence. Quite strange, really. I always thought I’d live long enough to become an immortal, yet here you are, and my death is near.” The Daoist, Zixu Shangren, continued circling Pang Tong.

”Young man, you’re heading to Xuzhou, aren’t you? Although it’s strange that I see my death when I look at you, I’m actually happy to see a different future. I’m in a good mood today. Tell me, what do you want to learn? What do you want to know? I can help you out. But don’t go to Xuzhou—if you do, you might not make it back.” After circling Pang Tong a few more times, Zixu stopped in front of him and stroked his beard.

”Hmm?” Pang Tong hesitated. Whether or not this old man actually had the ability to see the future, anyone who could foresee their own death and still be happy about it was definitely not normal. Pang Tong’s eyes gleamed with thought. ”I, Pang Tong, ask you, sir, to tell me about my spiritual talent,” he said, spreading out his immense spiritual energy with a look of pride.

Instantly, Zixu saw countless possible futures collapsing and reviving, until the entire future became a chaotic mess. His eyes lit up with excitement. Years ago, he had seen several possible futures in Li Ru and had guided him as a result. But this young man was even more extraordinary. Even when Pang Tong restrained his spiritual power, different futures emerged. When he fully unleashed it, the future vanished entirely!

No future— or rather, a future shrouded in chaos. This meant that this young man standing before him was one of the creators of future events. The direction of the future would be heavily influenced by this young man’s choices. As such, nothing in his future was certain—everything was for him to shape.”Hahaha! Your name is Pang Tong? Good, very good,” Zixu laughed as he rapidly calculated Pang Tong’s abilities, his talent working furiously. After a long while, Zixu looked at Pang Tong. ”Young man, you are the most talented, most potential-filled strategist I’ve ever encountered. You may very well be the most talented and promising strategist in the world. You don’t have a spiritual talent that resembles magic or divine power like others do, but you possess a foundational strength far beyond theirs!”

Under Zixu’s explanation, Pang Tong quickly understood his spiritual talent. If Zhuge Liang’s talent allowed him to activate the spiritual talents of all his allies, then Pang Tong’s talent allowed him to absorb and accumulate the attributes of all his enemies!

Perhaps the degree of accumulation wasn’t high, and as his intelligence increased, each enemy strategist would add fewer attributes to Pang Tong. But even so, it meant that for every strategist added to the battlefield, Pang Tong’s attributes would grow stronger. Every point above 100 in attributes was a qualitative leap, while for his opponents, it was only a quantitative change. Pang Tong’s attributes, however, would undergo qualitative transformations...

In simple terms, if Zhuge Liang specialized in skill-based strategies, Pang Tong directly focused on attribute enhancements. He abandoned all skills for pure overpowering strength! After all, if his raw strength outmatched his opponents’ skills, then skills didn’t matter.

Because of this, Pang Tong wasn’t afraid of strong opponents. Even if he faced a dozen Sima Yi’s, he could absorb their attributes and add them to his own. Once his spiritual energy maintained these attributes, even Sima Yi’s talent couldn’t counter Pang Tong’s overwhelming strength. A fully powered Pang Tong would certainly make Sima Yi realize the true might of his enemy!

In summary, Pang Tong’s ability thrived on strong opponents— the stronger they were, the stronger he would become. And if his enemies were weak, he could easily crush them. The only enemies Pang Tong despised were those who were neither weak nor strong enough to provide him with attributes worth absorbing.

Unfortunately, when he later faced Zhang Ren during his campaign in Shu, Zhang Ren was just strong enough to disrupt Pang Tong’s usual overconfidence. Accustomed to dominating weaker minds and thinking that failing to absorb attributes meant his opponents were weak, Pang Tong underestimated Zhang Ren and paid the price.

Looking back at his encounters with Cao Cao and Zhou Yu compared to his encounter with Zhang Ren, it was clear that Pang Tong excelled when facing top strategists. But with Zhang Ren, Pang Tong had clearly misjudged his opponent, assuming he was a pushover.

Pang Tong quickly realized that his talent was best suited for facing numerous enemies or for turning the tide in battles where he was outnumbered. Compared to Zhuge Liang’s spiritual talent, his own was not inferior, and in some areas, it even surpassed Zhuge Liang’s. Although Pang Tong had some doubts about how Zixu had deduced this, he decided it would be worth testing out in the future.

”Thank you, sir, for your guidance,” Pang Tong said, grateful regardless of whether the information was accurate or not. After all, the old man’s words made sense. When Pang Tong had activated his talent and set Zhuge Liang as his rival, he had felt his own thought processes suddenly sharpen.

Pang Tong’s mind raced. He knew he was talented, but whether he liked it or not, it seemed he was still slightly behind Zhuge Liang. That meant he could extract a lot of attributes from Zhuge Liang...

From that moment on, Pang Tong resolved to become both a rival and a companion to Zhuge Liang. As long as he could gain attributes from Zhuge Liang, he was confident that he would no longer fear him.

Pang Tong had no idea that in history, he had indeed encountered Zixu, forming a connection with him. However, the Zixu in that world had not been as ruthless.

Even more unknown to Pang Tong was that in history, it was due to this connection with Zixu that, when Pang Tong later entered Shu, Zixu sensed destiny drawing near and began giving strange advice to Zhang Ren and Deng Xian. Zhang Ren’s sudden enlightenment led him to eliminate Pang Tong, and the rest was history.

Zixu successfully removed a major player of great destiny but was subsequently backlashed by fate. A few days later, Zhuge Liang arrived with a massive army, and Zixu, already weakened by the backlash, was ultimately caught in the ensuing conflict and perished alongside Pang Tong. This fateful connection was, indeed, strange beyond words...