Master of Fangcun Chapter 2 The Fangcun Realm

Chapter 2: The Fangcun Realm

"I am back..."

The agonizing pain of the raging flas seed to linger still. Li Shun lay flat upon his bed for a long while before the sensation finally receded.

Once his mind had steadied, he suddenly flipped over and sat upright. With a solemn expression, he intoned in a heavy voice: "Three tis a day, I awaken my self!"

Accompanying this chant, a phantom, translucent high crown suddenly congealed above Li Shun’s head, and the coarse cloth garnts about his body transford into a wide, flowing robe.

The various events of the "previous day" flickered through his mind like a revolving lantern, finally freezing at the instant he was rcilessly swallowed by the sky-shrouding fire.

Only after this "Awakening of the Day" concluded did the illusory crown and robe dissipate like ripples upon water.

Li Shun felt as if a great weight had been lifted and he exhaled a long breath.

"The world is growing more chaotic by the day. Especially Lengshan County, situated at the frontier where the garrisoned forces are ager."

"If not for the supre treasure I carry, I would have died an unknown number of tis already."

Li Shun sighed inwardly, then silently concentrated within his mind: "Fangcun!"

The light and shadows before his eyes blurred abruptly. His consciousness felt as if it were hurtling through a vast, boundless white mist. In but a mont, his awareness descended into a singular, strange space.

This space was divided equally into three regions of identical size.

In both the first and second regions stood a stone statue. The difference was that the first statue was perfectly intact, while the second appeared as if it had been severed at the waist, leaving only the upper half of its torso remaining.

As for the third region...

A small figure, identical in countenance to Li Shun, stood with a wooden expression, tirelessly performing the Farr School’s Soul-Splitting Transformation Art.

And before him, the very Lengshan Grass that had moved Feng Guan to bitter tears grew in dense profusion. There were over a hundred stalks!

"Lengshan Grass, a thing unique to Lengshan County. Originally, it required absorbing the brilliance of the cold moon for ten years to nurture a single stalk. Yet, the Great Qian Empire can use this Soul-Splitting Transformation to forcibly drive up its yield."

"The so-called Soul-Splitting Transformation is to split the essence of a living being to nourish the wonders of Heaven and Earth. One uses the body’s essence and blood to provide nourishnt, day and night without ceasing. A grown man with surging qi and blood, exhausting a year’s worth of heart-blood, can barely manage to catalyze a single stalk of Lengshan Grass."

"I, along with the vast majority of the low-level commoners in this Lengshan County, am nothing more than flesh-and-blood fodder for the cultivation of this grass."

The original owner of the body Li Shun occupied after his soul-transmigration was not a native of Lengshan County. He had only been conscripted by the imperial court due to his corvée labor obligations.

He had stepped into this dead land at the age of eighteen and had not moved a single step away since.

"The Soul-Splitting Transformation Art's extraction of essence and blood is terrifyingly harsh; ordinary laborers basically do not live past fifty. That Feng Guan is only in his forties, yet his head is already full of white hair, showing every sign of senility."

"I, however, rely on this Fangcun Puppet. Not only has my qi and blood not decayed, but I have even amassed over a hundred stalks of Lengshan Grass that I did not hand over."

"A puppet has neither life nor death; there is no need to worry about the excessive consumption of essence and blood. Moreover, it can work without sleep or rest, its labor efficiency being nearly five tis that of an ordinary person."

Li Shun’s thoughts flowed as his gaze slowly moved past the field of ghostly blue Lengshan Grass, settling upon the half-shattered statue in the distance.

"Though they are both Fangcun Puppets, this one is far more difficult to manage..."

With a flicker of his thought, over ten stalks of Lengshan Grass were instantly uprooted, drifting down before the half-statue.

The statue wore a high crown and a long robe, yet its face was blurred and difficult to identify. Its body seed to have endured the erosion of endless ages; it was mottled and deathly pale, faintly exuding a sense of fragility as if it might collapse entirely at any mont.

However, as those ten-plus stalks of Lengshan Grass disintegrated in unison, transforming into flecks of azure cold light that enveloped it, the ruined statue actually began to radiate wisps of vitality, like a withered tree encountering spring!

It was not until the light of the Lengshan Grass vanished completely that the statue’s crumbling state finally stabilized.

"The restorative effect of the Lengshan Grass is becoming worse and worse..."

Li Shun scrutinized it for a mont, a trace of heaviness rising in his heart.

Whether it was the stone statue or the "Li Shun" who worked so diligently, both were puppets captured by this mysterious space.

And this space, which had existed within him since his transmigration, was nad by him as the Fangcun Realm.

"Though it is but a square inch of land, it contains infinite mysteries."

"Whether you are a powerless mortal or a mighty expert with the supernatural power to reach the heavens and rend the earth—once you enter this Fangcun, you shall be transford into a puppet..."

When Li Shun first arrived in the Fangcun Realm, the one-and-a-half statues and the "Li Shun" were already positioned within.

The puppet "Li Shun" was self-explanatory, a reflection of his physical body when he first arrived.

As for those one-and-a-half statues...

To this day, Li Shun had not yet figured out their specific origins.

Initially, the statues were covered in fine cracks, existing in a nearly discarded, shattered state. It was not until once, on a whim, Li Shun tried transplanting Lengshan Grass to their region.

After that half-shattered statue absorbed the Lengshan Grass, the cracks actually seed to improve.

Later, under Li Shun’s continuous nourishnt with Lengshan Grass, the statue's condition finally stabilized.

Thus, its Divine Ability, the Threefold Awakening, was awakened.

"Three tis a day, I reflect upon myself. Just as the na implies, once this Divine Ability is activated, one can experience the cycle of a single day three tis. No matter what happens in the first two instances, they are as illusions. Only the final ti, the third ti, is the reality that settles all."

"It can be activated willfully, or it can be passively triggered by the statue after an unexpected death."

"It is precisely because I have the protection of the Threefold Awakening that I have been able to survive to this day with the body of a re blade of grass."

"However, each ti the Divine Ability is used, the statue suffers a backlash and is damaged, requiring ten or more stalks of Lengshan Grass to barely repair it. Furthermore, the nourishing effect is continuously diminishing..."

"The price is truly too great. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I will not easily employ this Divine Ability."

"A calamity like today's was unavoidable."

"A pity. If only that other complete statue could also be awakened..."

"A re half-statue possesses the great Divine Ability of ti reversal. I truly do not know what kind of power a complete one would hold."

Li Shun’s mind wandered toward the distant possibilities, his gaze involuntarily drifting toward the figure standing silently in the distance.

That stone statue was covered in a cobweb-like network of fine cracks; it had clearly suffered extrely grievous injuries.

Furthermore, it showed no reaction whatsoever to the Lengshan Grass from the outside world, remaining silent until now.

"Perhaps it requires a higher grade of spiritual item for nourishnt."

Li Shun shook his head slightly, pulling his scattered thoughts back to the various changes he had experienced "yesterday."

"The Xiang remnants launched a sudden attack, striking the Lengshan County Magistrate’s office..."

"In truth, for , preserving my life is not difficult at all. I need only hide within the underground refuge and patiently wait for that group of baleful stars to leave. If I hadn't egged him on, and if Feng Guan hadn't used the 'Listen to the Wind, Seize the Shadow' art to spy on them, we wouldn't have been discovered."

"But... each activation of the Threefold Awakening cos at a heavy cost. If I only know how to hide blindly and do not know how to utilize this rare opportunity of ti reset to seek profit, would that not be a waste of God’s gifts!"

His consciousness withdrew from the Fangcun Realm like a receding tide. Li Shun woke up slowly and, using the cover of night, examined his own physical body in reality.

"Over these years, although I have relied on the Fangcun Puppet to endure the hardships of corvée labor on my behalf, avoiding the disaster of decaying essence and blood. A mortal coil remains mortal, and in the end, it cannot withstand the erosion of ti."

"The original Li Shun left his hotown at eighteen to serve here. After muddling through eleven years of hard labor in Lengshan County, he was replaced by . And I have been trapped in this cage for twenty-six years!"

"Strictly speaking, the days of corvée labor in Great Qian are acceptable. One can move freely within the county town and receive a monthly wage. One need only hand over a stalk of Lengshan Grass on ti each year and not stray a single step from Lengshan County to live without worry. Furthermore, if there is a surplus of Lengshan Grass, one can keep it for oneself, either to consu or to trade with others."

"Thus, the vast majority of the laborers have long since adapted to this life.

"However...

"I am now fifty-four years of age. Among a group of Lengshan laborers whose average age is barely forty, I have beco sowhat conspicuous.

"If a few more years pass, it will be hard to ensure that I won't be targeted by soone with ill intentions.

"Moreover... I am unwilling!

In the heavy darkness of the night, a strange and burning ghostly light quietly rose in the depths of Li Shun’s eyes: "Great Qian possesses thods that can return the old to youth, but such things are absolutely not for a low-level laborer to know.

"Although the Fangcun Realm within my body is extraordinary, it cannot change the fact that I am gradually aging.

"The laws of Great Qian are strict, and the classes are clearly defined. For a laborer to change their destiny against the heavens is almost impossible under normal circumstances.

"Now that chaos is gradually rising everywhere, for , it is instead where opportunity lies.

"Wealth and prestige are found within peril!

"Possessing Fangcun, I absolutely will not, and absolutely should not, be trapped in this remote Lengshan County for my entire life!"

At present, though there were only three plots of land within the Fangcun, through the boundless white mist churning at the periphery, one could faintly glimpse even broader, unchartered territories.

Li Shun had a premonition: if he could open up new regions, perhaps he could take in more and more puppets.

"To cultivate the Way of Immortality, to expand the Fangcun Land, and to collect the heroes of the world..."

Li Shun, who had endured and hibernated at the very bottom of the Great Qian Empire for over twenty years, the fire nad ambition within his heart had already beco a prairie blaze, no longer to be suppressed!