Chapter 127: Tribulation Descends Upon Dongshan

The troubles weighing Fang Xun down were far from limited to that alone.

His nephew, Fang Han, who had come from afar, grew restless after idling away several days. Before long, he insisted on helping his uncle handle official affairs, even volunteering to oversee the registration of incoming refugees.

Naturally, Fang Xun refused, ordering him to remain at home and stay out of trouble.

Yet only two or three days later, Fang Han managed to cause an enormous disaster.

An anonymous report accused him of secretly soliciting and accepting lavish bribes from wealthy merchants, promising to bypass official procedures and grant them priority in settling as immigrants. The accusation surfaced early that morning, and by noon the entire commandery was already in an uproar.

Although Fang Han cried bitterly in the main hall, swearing to heaven that he had been framed...

To quell the rapidly spreading unrest, Fang Xun ultimately had no choice but to act with impartial severity. He ordered his own nephew imprisoned and immediately issued an official proclamation to calm the public.

'That brat Fang Han would never have the guts to do something like this. He's simply been set up.'

Fang Xun understood the situation perfectly.

'Yin Fengshuo's offensive truly comes like a raging storm, leaving no room to breathe.'

'As the saying goes, a superior of even one rank can crush those beneath him. As my direct superior, he can openly leverage his authority against me. No matter how many methods I possess, my hands are tied for the moment.'

Closing his eyes, Fang Xun rapidly searched his mind for a way to break the deadlock.

At that moment, Sun Chengyou pushed open the door and entered with an unusually grave expression.

Seeing something was amiss, Fang Xun's thoughts raced, and he immediately dismissed everyone else from the room.

The very first words out of Sun Chengyou's mouth struck like thunder from a clear sky.

"I must return to the Sacred Capital."

"So suddenly? The rebirth of Guling Commandery is at its most critical stage. Why would Senior leave for the capital now?" Although Fang Xun had already guessed who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, his expression still darkened considerably.

Sun Chengyou did not reveal the true reason. He merely let out a long sigh.

"This is a trial fated for you. Your master is also being restrained at the moment and can offer little assistance. Whatever happens, you must overcome it through your own strength."

"Yin Fengshuo has resolved to stake everything on this. He has mobilized nearly every resource at his disposal."

Sun Chengyou looked deeply at Fang Xun.

"If you can overcome this obstacle, your future will be limitless."

"If you fail..."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"But you needn't worry. Yin Fengshuo won't go too far. Right now, countless eyes throughout the imperial court are fixed upon this place. Every move he makes must remain within the boundaries of the law. You need only respond to each move as it comes."

"As long as you can endure until the rebirth of Guling Commandery is complete and the appointments for the Ninth Rank officials have been finalized, this tribulation will have passed."

After offering several more earnest words of advice, Sun Chengyou finally drifted away.

With his departure, the only person in Guling Commandery capable of restraining Yin Fengshuo was gone.

'Only within the rules...'

Fang Xun sneered inwardly.

To him, the schemes and struggles of officialdom were, at most, troublesome. They could hardly be called a true "tribulation."

What genuinely made his heart pound with unease was the faint yet ever-present aura of tribulation that had somehow begun enveloping Dongshan.

At first, Fang Xun had never noticed it, not even when he had personally been trapped within the Greed for Wealth Corrupts the Seal tribulation.

Everything changed when Li Shun threw the Sage's Stone Statue into Yunguan County, descending into the mortal world in his Heaven-Earth realm body.

From that lofty perspective, like a deity gazing down upon the world, Li Shun immediately saw through Fang Xun's predicament.

Tribulation Qi filled the heavens.

He was already trapped within calamity.

'The rebirth of Guling Commandery is an undertaking personally decreed by the Qian Emperor. There is no possibility of another tragedy like Yunguan County, where countless lives were lost.'

'Yet the Tribulation Qi I sensed cannot be mistaken.'

'I simply don't know in what form this calamity will erupt.'

A trace of irritation flashed through Fang Xun's heart.

Had matters truly remained within the limits Sun Chengyou described, Fang Xun would not have minded engaging Yin Fengshuo in a proper contest of political maneuvering.

After all, despite Yin Fengshuo's fierce offensive, none of his attacks had truly damaged Fang Xun's foundations.

If anything, his methods were overly hasty and crude.

Anyone with discerning eyes could easily spot the flaws.

Fang Xun merely needed to sit patiently, wait until Yin Fengshuo exhausted himself, then seize upon a fatal weakness and launch a devastating counterattack.

The entire situation would reverse in an instant.

But...

He no longer had the luxury of concerning himself with such petty schemes.

'Both Fang Xun and Li Shun have become entangled in tribulation at the same time.'

'There are quite a few Celestial Phenomena cultivators within Great Qian. Yet those truly capable of touching the threshold of the next realm and drawing Heavenly Tribulation are exceedingly rare.'

'And yet it just so happens to fall upon master and disciple simultaneously.'

'Could it really be that someone believed those rumors about obtaining fortune through coincidence... and deliberately came to ride along with it?'

The thought felt utterly absurd.

At the same time, an indescribable sense of frustration welled up inside him.

He was being manipulated from the shadows, forced along by invisible hands, yet had no effective means of striking back.

Drawing a deep breath, Fang Xun forcibly suppressed the agitation in his heart.

'The overall situation is still unclear.'

'For now, I can only take things one step at a time and respond as circumstances unfold.'

'Yin Fengshuo isn't the greatest threat at the moment.'

'The real danger... is this unknown tribulation.'

On the thirteenth day of the third month, the situation suddenly took an unexpected turn.

Zheng Zhi rushed into the rear hall in a panic, shouting before he had even fully entered.

"My Lord, something terrible has happened! That terrifying black aura that appeared during the Langya earthquake... it's appeared again!"

Fang Xun's pupils contracted violently.

He shot to his feet.

The two of them became streaks of lightning as they hurried toward the scene. Surprisingly, it was not within the original disaster zone.

It was inside Dongshan Town itself.

Within the courtyard of an abandoned, desolate residence, a dried-up well slowly emitted faint wisps of black mist.

However, the moment the black mist rose above the lip of the well, it was forcibly blocked by a damaged seal that flickered between brightness and darkness, confining it to only a tiny area.

Ignoring the cold sweat streaming down his face, Zheng Zhi explained with a trembling voice,

"This courtyard has been abandoned for years. While making my routine inspection this morning, I suddenly heard strange noises from inside. When I came to investigate... I discovered this black mist..."

The terrifying scene of the Heavenly Dao Severance Qi engulfing an entire commandery remained fresh in his memory.

His fear was impossible to conceal.

Compared to him, however, Fang Xun remained remarkably composed.

After crouching beside the well and examining it for a long time, he finally discerned the truth.

The well had been dug extraordinarily deep, reaching directly into the earth veins below.

Most likely, when the ground split open in Langya Commandery, the Heavenly Dao Severance Qi had seeped through the fractured earth veins. Although the overwhelming majority had been suppressed, a tiny remnant had followed the underground currents all the way here.

'This seal upon the well...'

'It can actually hold back the Heavenly Dao Severance Qi, at least temporarily?'

"Have you determined who originally owned this courtyard?"

Fang Xun narrowed his eyes.

Zheng Zhi swallowed with difficulty.

"The archives contain no record."

Fang Xun's gaze instantly turned profound.

'The Heavenly Dao Severance Qi...'

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

Almost imperceptibly, he lifted his eyes toward the tribulation Qi permeating the heavens above.

A ruthless resolve suddenly surfaced within him.

'Since you're so fond of plotting against me...'

With a sweep of his sleeve, a pitch-black phantom roared forth.

The instant the shadow enveloped the well, the restless Heavenly Dao Severance Qi appeared to be suppressed, sinking back into its depths.

"Everything that happened today dies with us."

"No one is to speak a single word of it."

Fang Xun's expression remained calm, yet his tone allowed no room for refusal.

Believing Fang Xun had already resolved the crisis with a single move, Zheng Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief and repeatedly nodded in agreement.

What he failed to notice was that beneath the concealment of the Shentu Xin Phantom, the Heavenly Dao Severance Qi deep within the dried well had not dispersed in the slightest.

Instead, it was as though fresh fuel had been thrown upon a raging fire.

It grew ever more violent.

Fermenting.

Gathering strength.

Waiting.