Chapter 124: Borrowing the Sage's Body

While Li Shun lay unconscious, the Fangcun Space was undergoing the greatest upheaval it had ever experienced.

At the heart of the space, the three stone statues had originally stood in a delicate balance, with Li Shun holding a slight advantage.

Now, however, the Heavenly Codex stone statue had not only reclaimed every newly opened domain that Li Shun had painstakingly expanded, it had even begun encroaching upon territory that originally belonged to him. The once featureless statue was gradually revealing distinct facial features.

It was as though a Sage had awakened and descended into the world, preparing to break free from the stone.

All of this had happened because, in order to survive, Li Shun had forcibly hurled the Heavenly Codex stone statue from the Fangcun Space into the real world.

At that instant, it was as if a Heaven-Earth Realm expert had descended upon him. He had truly become a Historian Sage who wielded boundless authority.

The myriad phenomena of heaven and earth, every strand of karma and destiny, all flowed beneath the tip of his brush and across the pages before him.

With nothing more than a casually written judgment, he had erased a newly advanced Creation Realm cultivator from existence.

This was the Historian School's supreme divine ability.

Yet any act that defied heaven demanded an equally terrible price.

The stature of a Sage belonged to the Heaven-Earth Realm, far beyond what the current Li Shun was capable of bearing.

Although the Sage's soul had descended for only a few fleeting breaths, the burden it brought was enough to make his soul feel as though it would shatter.

The agony was beyond description. Every corner of his soul seemed to swell violently before being torn apart and broken into pieces. Under the overwhelming torrent of that majestic will, his own consciousness had been diluted to the extreme.

It felt as though he had lost himself.

As though the Sage had possessed his body.

Even more alarming was the complete upheaval within the central core of the Fangcun Space.

Every new expansion within the Fangcun Space had been extraordinarily difficult to achieve.

It either required a moment of profound enlightenment or the aid of the Xuanhuang Qi of Heaven and Earth.

The advantage Li Shun had accumulated over decades had vanished in a single day.

Although he still did not know what would happen if another stone statue completely occupied the central core of Fangcun, he was certain it would bring disaster rather than fortune.

'This is the power of a Sage. It truly cannot be used lightly.'

'I was forced into risking my life this time.'

'Fortunately... things have not yet reached the point of no return.'

As Li Shun gradually separated his consciousness from the state of "becoming the Sage," the violently turbulent Fangcun Space slowly regained its calm.

His gaze once more fell upon the Heavenly Codex stone statue.

As the saying goes, fortune and disaster often accompany one another.

Although the Heavenly Codex stone statue had gained the upper hand this time, Li Shun had not come away empty-handed.

Every memory from the brief period during which he had embodied the Historian Sage had been preserved in perfect detail.

Though it had lasted only a few breaths, viewing the world from that lofty perspective, as though overlooking heaven and earth from the eyes of a god, had elevated Li Shun's comprehension of Heavenly Being Authored a Codex to a level that ordinary cultivators could never hope to attain even after decades of painstaking cultivation.

'It's even more efficient than using the Xuanhuang Qi of Heaven and Earth to directly erode the Sage's stone statue.'

'After all, during that moment, I truly borrowed the Sage's body and personally wielded the brush to perform this divine art.'

Li Shun closed his eyes, savoring once more the mysterious state he had experienced.

'The myriad phenomena of heaven and earth, all living beings beneath the heavens, were like words written within a book, entirely under my control.'

'With a single stroke, I could alter them.'

'With another, I could rewrite them.'

'When my gaze fell upon Yunguan County, every thread of karma, every destiny, every joy and sorrow within that region rose and fell with but a single thought of mine.'

'Zuo Yan had already broken through into the Creation Realm, yet even he could not withstand a single casual stroke of my brush.'

'Feng Guan had long since been reduced to ashes during that calamity, yet I forcibly pulled him back from the gates of death with another stroke, allowing him to return to life.'

The supreme authority to bestow life or death, to rewrite fate itself, was intoxicating beyond words.

Even now, merely recalling it afterward caused Li Shun's heart to stir, almost tempting him to lose himself in that sensation once again.

'This Historian School divine ability is no less extraordinary than the Confucian School's Threefold Self-Reflection.'

'Unfortunately, the stronger the cultivation of the person being rewritten, and the deeper the karmic entanglements surrounding them, the greater the backlash and cost of writing upon them. At the time, everything happened too suddenly. I only had enough time to save those ordinary civilians with little or no cultivation. As for those burdened by countless karmic ties, I simply had no time to concern myself with them.'

'Still... perhaps that was actually a blessing.'

Li Shun pondered silently.

He had vaguely sensed that the destinies of certain individuals within Yunguan County were secretly intertwined with the Sacred Capital, separated by countless millions of miles.

Those tangled strands of karma had, through Feng Guan, quietly attached themselves to him.

Those karmic threads had been hidden so deeply and so subtly that, had he not viewed the entire situation through the Sage's perspective, he would have remained as blind as a man trying to judge an elephant by touch.

'Someone within the Sacred Capital has been laying out this scheme.'

'Using Feng Guan as bait, they lured me deep into this remote county. Even Duan Jiuzhang accompanying me was likely part of their calculations.'

His time borrowing the Sage's body to comprehend Creation had ultimately been too brief.

Li Shun had been unable to identify the mastermind lurking behind everything.

Yet this single warning alone was enough to make him remain vigilant.

'They went to such lengths to plot against me. What exactly are they after? If all they wanted was my life, there would have been no need for such elaborate arrangements.'

'Is it because of the Mu Clan bloodline flowing through me? Or is there another secret hidden beneath all of this?'

'No matter what, this matter is far from over. One day, I will settle this debt.'

A cold glint flashed through Li Shun's eyes.

Although he had failed to identify the mastermind, he had firmly memorized the aura carried by those few karmic threads.

If they ever crossed paths again amidst the countless people beneath heaven, he would recognize them with a single glance.

'Although I narrowly survived this ordeal, it has also left behind a fatal flaw.'

'The violent upheaval within the Fangcun Space caused me to temporarily lose control over my external puppets. As a result, both Li Shun and Fang Xun fell unconscious at exactly the same moment.'

'And it happened in full view of everyone. If someone were to investigate carefully...'

Before the events at Yunguan County, Li Shun might have believed that such a flaw would never attract anyone's attention.

But now, after gaining a much deeper understanding of the powers wielded by Great Qian's Creation realm and Heaven-Earth realm cultivators, he no longer thought so.

'I cannot afford even the slightest complacency.'

'The moment a flaw appears, someone will eventually discover it.'

'Things don't seem to be going well on Fang Xun's side either.'

His eyes flickered.

For the first time, the thought of sacrificing one limb to save the whole entered his mind.

'But obtaining Fang Xun as a puppet was no easy feat.'

'Abandoning him now... is something I truly find difficult to accept.'

'I'll observe a little longer.'

After hesitating for quite some time, Li Shun finally shook his head.

His thoughts gradually settled as his consciousness returned to the real world.

"Brother, you're finally awake!"

Li Qing had remained by his bedside the entire time. The moment he saw Li Shun open his eyes, his face lit up with joy.

"How are you feeling? Is there anywhere that still feels uncomfortable?"

"Senior Duan said the baleful aura invaded your heart meridians and temporarily affected your mind. Fortunately, it's nothing serious."

Li Qing hurriedly added another explanation.

Li Shun's voice was slightly hoarse.

"I slept for quite a while. I feel much better now."

He let out a long sigh, his expression becoming rather complicated.

"I thought I was merely lending a hand to rescue an old acquaintance. Who could have imagined I'd stumble straight into such a catastrophic calamity? If Senior Duan hadn't been there to hold the line, the consequences would have been unimaginable..."

Hearing this, lingering fear also appeared on Li Qing's face.

"By the way, where is Senior Duan now?" Li Shun asked.

"Senior Duan is busy handling the aftermath throughout the city. Nearly every official in Yunguan County was wiped out. The newly appointed officials are still on their way here, so all the chaos within the city currently requires Senior Duan to personally oversee it."

Li Shun frowned deeply.

"So... the imperial court has already learned about what happened in Yunguan County?" he asked in a low voice.