Chapter 64: The Brush Bears Heaven and Earth’s Slaughter |
The heavy warhammer crashed toward Li Shun’s face. The violent gale it carried whipped his long hair into the air, yet it suddenly came to an abrupt halt.
Jiang Chongguang stared at Li Shun, a trace of surprise flashing across his eyes. “At death’s door, yet you show no fear. You’re quite the man.”
Li Shun merely let out a faint scoff, offering neither agreement nor denial.
Jiang Chongguang withdrew his hammer and looked Li Shun up and down once more before asking in a low voice, “That divine ability you used earlier to tamper with memories. What is it called?”
“You want to learn it? I can teach you.” Li Shun’s tone was as still as an ancient well.
Jiang Chongguang clearly did not believe him.
“We’re practically brothers. What is there to hide? This divine ability of mine is called Heavenly Being Codex.” Li Shun spoke lightly.
Yet upon hearing this, Jiang Chongguang’s expression changed drastically. He blurted out in shock, “Heavenly Being Codex? The sacred ability of the Historians’ Sage?”
Li Shun’s expression remained calm, but within his heart, a storm had already begun to surge.
In truth, when he had first taken control of the spaces within the two stone statues, he had already sensed something.
That half-ruined statue, possessing the ability Threefold Self-Reflection, should belong to the Confucian lineage.
As for the complete statue…
The Heavenly Being Codex could write falsehood into truth, fabricating reality out of nothing.
And that aura, condensed into something almost tangible, as if it could grind all things in existence into dust, that overwhelming killing intent.
At first, Li Shun had assumed that such killing intent came from the Military School or perhaps the Legalists.
But now, looking back and pondering carefully, he could clearly glimpse scenes within that boundless murderous aura.
Mass executions of entire clans.
Cities slaughtered for three days straight.
All buried alive.
Rivers deliberately breached, drowning countless households.
Years of great famine, where people devoured one another.
…
This was the killing of humanity, the killing of all things, the killing of heaven and earth itself.
The scenes of slaughter recorded in the grand annals of history had accumulated a vast, overwhelming killing intent, far surpassing that of any individual by hundreds or thousands of times.
Even the slightest trace of it was enough to shatter a person’s will in an instant. As Li Shun’s thoughts churned, Jiang Chongguang gradually recovered from his shock.
“You? Possessing the Historians’ Sage ability?” His gaze toward Li Shun was filled with suspicion.
“You don’t believe me? Then I’ll fabricate another memory for you. How about the time you wet yourself as a child?”
Before Li Shun even finished speaking, an image suddenly surfaced in Jiang Chongguang’s mind.
His face flushed bright red as he roared in embarrassment and anger, “Enough!”
He immediately raised his hammer.
Yet no matter what, he could not bring it down.
Jiang Chongguang’s face twisted with conflict, veins bulging on the hand gripping his weapon. “You… you really are a disciple of the Historians…”
Li Shun instantly noticed something unusual.
“Why wouldn’t I be? If you want to kill me, then do it. Don’t stand there pretending!”
Jiang Chongguang glared fiercely at him. “I am a rightful Scholar of Great Xiang. How could I harm someone of the Historians?”
“When the Qian Emperor destroyed Great Xiang, he even sought to erase its past. All under heaven feared his might, silenced like cicadas in winter, not daring to utter a word. Only the great figures of the Historians stood firm, unyielding, recording truth with iron bones, writing with blood as ink, preserving the history of my Xiang Kingdom…”
A look of sorrow surfaced in Jiang Chongguang’s eyes.
“Such hidden history exists after all. If that’s the case, then the historians has rendered a great favor to the Xiang Kingdom…” Li Shun murmured, deep in thought.
“That’s right.” Though somewhat conflicted, Jiang Chongguang still nodded in acknowledgment.
“Then could it be that you intend to repay kindness with enmity and put me to death?” Li Shun asked again.
“How could that be? I, Jiang Chongguang, am no ungrateful wretch who repays virtue with hatred!” Jiang Chongguang immediately retorted.
Li Shun seemed to let out a sigh of relief. “Good. As long as that’s the case.”
Seeing Li Shun like this, the anger Jiang Chongguang had just suppressed flared up once more. “Even so… the matter of you humiliating me cannot simply be let go!”
“And wasn’t it you who suddenly descended from the sky and tried to take my life? I merely acted in self-defense. What, you’re allowed to kill others, but others aren’t allowed to fight back? It seems that even after all these years since its fall, the royal family of Xiang still carries quite the imposing air.” Li Shun let out a cold laugh.
“You…” Jiang Chongguang was left speechless for a moment, completely stifled.
He pointed at Li Shun’s nose, his chest filled with raging frustration yet with nowhere to vent it.
“Boom!”
In the end, Jiang Chongguang could only smash his fist into the ground in fury, causing the entire underground palace to tremble violently.
‘Though Jiang Chongguang is gifted, he’s still just a half-grown youth at heart. Not too difficult to handle.’ After their verbal exchange, Li Shun had already gained a rough understanding of Jiang Chongguang’s temperament.
“In truth, there’s no irreconcilable hatred between us. That so-called breakthrough opportunity doesn’t necessarily mean we must fight to the death.”
“Perhaps you don’t know this yet, but the reason your uncle, Xiong Jin, chose to attack the Lengshan County Yamen and seize the Lengshan Venerable was due to the influence of the [Greed for Wealth Corrupts the Seal] tribulation cycle. And the one pulling the strings behind it all is Zhou Xunzhen of the Jixia Academy. Using the lives of an entire county as sacrifice, he has already broken through the Celestial Phenomena Realm and stepped into the Creation Realm. If you’re looking for your true enemy, then it is Zhou Xunzhen!” After a long silence, Li Shun spoke again.
“What?” Jiang Chongguang felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Seeing the doubt still lingering in his eyes, Li Shun continued, “This isn’t some top-secret matter. If you care to investigate, you’ll uncover the truth easily enough. Of course, Zhou Xunzhen is now a Creation Realm expert, while you are merely in the Mortal Physique Realm. I doubt you’d dare seek revenge against him, so instead you vent your anger on me, a mere historian of the same realm.”
Provoked by Li Shun’s words, Jiang Chongguang immediately roared, “Nonsense! I dared to dig into the Qian Emperor’s mausoleum. Why would I fear someone in the Creation Realm?!”
“Zhou Xunzhen… Greed for Wealth Corrupts the Seal…”
Still, he hadn’t completely lost his rationality. He muttered those words under his breath, while his mind replayed everything that had happened in Lengshan County.
“No wonder I was so easily stirred to act impulsively back then. The urge to storm the county yamen and kill Fang Xun’s son to avenge my uncle just wouldn’t go away.”
“And Sushu…”
“After saving me, he said Lengshan County was no longer a place to stay. With how clever Sushu is, he must have already seen through everything. But why didn’t he tell me?”
Jiang Chongguang seemed to awaken from a dream, slapping his thigh in frustration.
Li Shun, however, suddenly recalled something and asked, “I heard that when you infiltrated the Lengshan County Yamen, you seemed extremely familiar with its layout, heading straight for Fang Xun’s son’s room. How did you know?”
Jiang Chongguang rolled his eyes. “I was influenced by the tribulation, not brainless. How could I not prepare thoroughly before acting?”
“I abducted the wet nurse’s family and used both threats and incentives. Naturally, she told me everything. It’s just a pity I still fell into Fang Xun’s trap!”
“I see.”
From Fang Xun’s memories, Li Shun knew that Fang Xun had already sensed something off about the wet nurse and had deliberately played along.
But those details no longer mattered. Everything that had happened in Lengshan had already been buried.
Even Fang Xun himself had become an unthinking puppet.
Li Shun shook his head inwardly.
“Zhou Xunzhen. No matter what realm you stand in, I will settle this debt sooner or later!”
Jiang Chongguang was gritting his teeth in a vow when he suddenly sensed movement coming from the entrance passage.
He immediately grew alert.
But when he saw who it was, joy surged across his face as he hurried forward. “Sushu, you finally—”
Before he could finish, his figure abruptly retreated.
Staring intently at the newcomer, his expression turned grave as he said coldly, “You’re not Sushu. Who exactly are you?”
The visitor looked exactly like Han Sushu, even his voice was identical.
Yet the moment he spoke, he openly admitted it.
“You’re quite perceptive for a little one.”
“I’m indeed not Han Su Shu. I’m merely borrowing his body for a while.”
“But don’t worry. Our goals are not so different.”
“You came here to dig a grave.”
“And I…”
“…have come to set a fire and burn this entire place to the ground!”
A strange and eerily calm madness churned within the depths of “Han Sushu’s” eyes.