“Who wants to be on your side? Return Sushu at once!” Jiang Chongguang roared in fury. With a stomp of his foot, his figure shot forward like a cannon, arriving before “Han Sushu” in an instant.
A strange crimson fla burst forth as his body abruptly swelled to twice its size. His arms lashed out like iron shackles, intent on capturing his opponent.
But…
“Han Sushu” rely glanced at him.
In that single instant, Jiang Chongguang froze midair, completely unable to move.
It was as though countless invisible chains had bound him in place, or as if a towering mountain had descended upon his head.
Veins bulged across Jiang Chongguang’s body. Despite his imnse brute strength, he could not break free in the slightest.
He could not even utter a single sound.
“Han Sushu” let out a soft chuckle. “You do possess so brute strength.”
Then he shook his head. “A pity. It is nothing more than brute strength.”
“I originally thought of bringing you along, to accomplish this great feat together. But now…”
“Han Sushu” sighed with a trace of regret.
The next mont, Jiang Chongguang, who had been suspended in midair, was flung backward at several tis the speed of his charge, smashing violently into the stone wall of the underground palace.
A thunderous crash echoed as his body embedded deeply into the mountain.
Only then did “Han Sushu” turn his gaze toward Li Shun.
With just a single look, Li Shun felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
The sensation was subtle, yet terrifying.
It was as if he were a storage of oil filled to the brim, while the other party was but a tiny spark. With the slightest misstep, he would be ignited instantly and explode into nothingness.
“This is no illusion.”
“Just now… I truly felt traces of my life force being burned.”
“Even the air seems to still carry the scent of sothing reduced to ashes…”
“The sll of burnt fuel!”
A chill ran through Li Shun’s heart.
Yet “Han Sushu” made no further move against them. Instead, he locked the two of them inside a narrow chamber within the underground palace.
The room appeared to be filled with rare treasures gathered from across Imperial Mausoleum Commandary. All kinds of exotic items were piled within, dazzling to the eye and fragrant to the nose.
“Until I succeed, the two of you will stay here quietly.”
“There’s more than enough inside for you to eat.”
“Han Sushu” left only that brief instruction. Then, a stone wall rose out of thin air, sealing the chamber completely.
Through the thick barrier, they could faintly hear the sound of sothing heavy being dragged outside from ti to ti.
After quite a while, Jiang Chongguang finally regained the ability to move.
“Let out, you bastard!”
Furious beyond asure, he pulled out a massive hamr and began smashing against the wall repeatedly. Yet the stone seed reinforced beyond belief. Not even a speck of dust fell from it.
“Brother, don’t waste your strength. That man is far stronger than you. You might as well accept it,” Li Shun said casually, stuffing a star-speckled fruit into his mouth as he spoke.
Ignoring him completely, Jiang Chongguang continued hamring hundreds of tis, until he was utterly exhausted. Only then did he collapse weakly onto the ground.
“When did you offend soone this powerful?” After finishing the fruit, Li Shun grabbed a fiery-red lingzhi and began chewing, asking as he did so.
“Who would provoke lunatics like them?” Jiang Chongguang muttered bitterly.
A glint flashed in Li Shun’s eyes as he caught the implication. “You know his background?”
“The characteristics of his aura are far too obvious. That man… should be from the Jun Clan.”[1]
For the first ti, a trace of fear appeared in Jiang Chongguang’s eyes, despite his usual fearlessness.
“The Jun Clan?”
Li Shun pondered for a mont before finally retrieving the answer from the depths of Fang Xun’s mories.
A flicker of shock passed through his mind.
“The Jun Clan that advocates the Great Equilibrium of dissemination, where all things are assimilated into one?”
Jiang Chongguang nodded.
Li Shun’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The Jun was one of the most secretive schools among the Hundred Schools of Thought. Its followers were exceedingly few, and their beliefs ran counter to mainstream views, which was why they rarely appeared in the world.
Yet whenever they did erge, it was always accompanied by earth-shattering events.
“No wonder I just felt a fatal crisis, as if my very life force was about to ignite…”
The core doctrine of the Jun School was simple yet extre: “All things flow; immortality is a sin.” In their view, the ultimate truth of heaven and earth lay in Circulation. The aning of life was found in intense combustion and eventual destruction.
To them, life and death were essential to the natural order of the world. Anyone who attempted to disrupt this cycle was a heretic.
And so, in their eyes, any cultivator who practiced the Twelvefold Longevity thods was a sinner.
As for the Qian Emperor, who created the Twelvefold Longevity system, he was the ultimate culprit who had thrown the natural order into chaos.
There was no doubt that such beliefs stood in direct opposition to the Great Qian Dynasty, where all schools pursued longevity.
They were, in effect, enemies of the entire world.
Thus, the Jun School had long been explicitly outlawed by Great Qian law. Like the remnants of fallen nations, they were hunted and wanted by the authorities.
For over a century, there had been no trace of their existence. Li Shun had assud they had already gone extinct.
Yet now, they had appeared within the Imperial Mausoleum.
“If that person truly belongs to the Jun School, then it’s no surprise you were no match for him,” Li Shun said with a nod.
The Jun School upheld the principle of “true power without borrowing, great skill without reliance on tools.” They believed that the mont one depended on external objects in battle, both body and will would begin to decay. Thus, they cultivated only themselves, pushing the limits of the physical body to the extre.
Moreover, due to their unwavering belief that “all things flow,” they held no fear of death whatsoever.
They cared nothing for their lifespan. Whether in cultivation or combat, igniting their life force was as natural to them as breathing.
At the sa ti, they disdained and even despised the act of borrowing lifespan. As a result, their lives were often exceedingly short. Each generation of Jun disciples who entered the world would not last more than three years.
Like a fleeting flash of brilliance, gone in an instant.
Though their ti in the world was brief, their combat strength was anything but weak.
They wielded their life force without restraint, often fighting with the resolve to perish alongside their enemies.
To most, they were nothing short of madn.
Even those far stronger than them were reluctant to engage in battle. It was simply not worth the effort.
No matter how formidable the Jun School was, they would vanish on their own within a few years. Why waste energy risking one’s life against them?
With their identity revealed, Li Shun imdiately understood why they had set fire to the Imperial Mausoleum.
The Jun School believed that “kings and bones are equal.” Whether one was a lofty emperor or a naless skeleton by the roadside, there was no fundantal difference. In the relentless cycle of heaven and earth, all would beco ash and fertilizer alike.
And the Qian Emperor, as the one who had disrupted this balance, was naturally their foremost target for retribution.
“However, if the Jun School intends to burn the imperial tombs, why would they involve Han Sushu?”
After a brief mont of thought, Li Shun arrived at a likely answer.
“The Imperial Mausoleum Commandary exists as a world unto itself, heavily guarded. The Jun School, however, is not skilled in breaking restrictions. Even if they had such intentions before, they would have had no way to enter.”
“But…”
A thought flashed through Li Shun’s mind as he recalled the undercurrents within the Great Qian court.
“The Qian Emperor has not appeared for a long ti. The officials have begun to test the waters. And so, they deliberately allowed Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu to enter the Imperial Mausoleum.”
“That would also explain why Han Sushu ‘coincidentally’ obtained the thod to enter the mausoleum.”
[1]:- 鈞 (Jūn) aning: Equal / balanced / impartial. Also associated with: Weight standard (30 jin) in ancient China. Authority / asure / equilibrium
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