Chapter 225: Controlling an Outer God Through Technique

The man was not alone when he stepped into the room. A cold and stern-looking woman dressed in dark robes entered with him, her hands tightly gripping a bizarre-looking dharma artifact.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and they were filled with extreme wariness and an icy chill. She locked her gaze firmly onto Li Shun as though scrutinizing an evil demon.

The aura surrounding her was taut like a bow drawn to its limit. It seemed that the slightest abnormality, no matter how faint, would be enough to make her erupt without hesitation and suppress Li Shun on the spot.

Neither of them showed any intention of introducing themselves or explaining their origins.

The middle-aged man looked down at Li Shun from above, his face as cold as frost. Without any unnecessary words, he curtly uttered four words:

“I ask. You answer.”

Although Li Shun was already quite familiar with the interrogation process, he showed none of it on his face. Instead, he deliberately put on an appropriately nervous and awkward expression and stiffly nodded.

Once again, the questions concerned the various classic texts and teachings of the Confucian school.

However, compared to the previous interrogation, this one was far more rigorous and exhaustive. They dissected everything down to the finest detail, from the profound principles hidden within the terse words of the ancient sages, to the commentaries and textual studies of Confucian scholars throughout the ages, and even Li Shun’s own insights into the Dao.

After being questioned for so long, Li Shun almost felt as though he were sitting for the imperial examinations, where every step was fraught with danger.

This extremely exhausting interrogation lasted a full two hours.

Throughout the entire process, Li Shun answered every question fluently, and not the slightest trace of muddled or abnormal aura appeared around him.

Only then did the tense expressions of the man and woman conducting the interrogation visibly relax little by little.

Once the questioning was over, the two took the initiative to introduce themselves.

The middle-aged man was named Fu Yue, a cultivator of the Confucian school who cultivated Righteousness Qi.

The woman was named Jiang Guanyu, and she was an inspector of Great Qian's Directorate of Celestial Observation.

Li Shun accordingly relaxed some of the nervousness in his expression. A trace of appropriately placed fear toward the unknown surfaced in his eyes as he asked, “Senior... before the illusion collapsed, I caught a glimpse of those enormous black shadows through the cracks in the heavenly curtain. What exactly were they?”

The two did not conceal anything from him.

Just as Zhao Cheng had done previously, they slowly revealed to Li Shun the astonishing secrets concerning the Outer Gods that existed throughout the heavens and earth of Great Qian.

Afterward, Jiang Guanyu sighed.

“This Hundred Schools Grand Gathering has attracted the gazes of those Outer Gods. If Great Siming had not acted decisively and employed heaven-reaching means to conceal the secrets of heaven, then the world of Great Qian truly might have been completely exposed to the eyes of those beings.”

Li Shun pretended to ponder deeply.

“Senior, do you mean that even if the aura of an Outer God truly manifested in the world just now, that does not necessarily mean the Outer Gods have discovered Great Qian's true location?”

Jiang Guanyu nodded slightly, a trace of pride in her voice.

“Great Qian has its own protection. Ever since the founding of our dynasty, it has been guarded by the Zhoutian Grand Formation, which encompasses heaven and earth. Even if the Outer Gods can use some kind of medium to establish a connection and forcibly send down an emissary, the formation prevents them from accurately locating Great Qian amid the boundless chaos.”

“The Zhoutian Grand Formation...”

Li Shun could not help recalling the feeling he had experienced when he first learned about the territory of Great Qian.

Now, his suspicions had finally been confirmed.

“The one hundred and eight provinces of Great Qian... The reason their territorial divisions differ so drastically from those of the old nations, even to the point of contradicting geographical principles, is because... this entire magnificent land is actually an unparalleled grand formation capable of concealing the heavens and covering the earth.”

As the three chatted, an extremely strange aura suddenly erupted from deep within the estate.

It carried an intense sense of corruption and contamination, shooting into the sky like a pillar of smoke from a signal fire.

Li Shun's expression changed immediately.

Jiang Guanyu, however, remained seated as steadily as a mountain. She spoke coldly.

“Don't panic. The imperial court made comprehensive preparations for this occasion. Not a single one of these corrupted creatures that have become emissaries of the Outer Gods will escape today.”

Hearing this, Li Shun wisely nodded.

During the previous reflection, only one disciple of the Hundred Schools had been corrupted and transformed into an emissary of an Outer God.

But this reflection...

What Zhao Cheng had said was indeed correct.

Once someone who knew of the existence of the Outer Gods entered the illusion, it would inevitably trigger a catastrophe.

As the night progressed, abnormalities within the estate erupted one after another.

Until just before dawn, a total of five terrifying and bizarre auras tore through the night sky and descended in succession.

Even the mighty experts of the Creation realm stationed around the perimeter gradually began to show signs of strain from simultaneously suppressing so many emissaries of the Outer Gods.

With his keen divine sense, Li Shun could clearly perceive that the experts were taking increasingly longer to suppress and kill those corrupted creatures.

Fortunately, there were no serious complications in the end.

The long night had finally passed.

Hearing the outside world gradually return to silence, the three people inside the room simultaneously breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

“For the Hundred Schools Grand Gathering to cause such an enormous blunder... If we want to organize another one in the future, I'm afraid it will be harder than ascending to heaven.”

“The officials at court will certainly put up tremendous resistance.”

Fu Yue's face was filled with worry as he sighed heavily.

Jiang Guanyu, however, merely snorted in disdain.

“No matter how difficult it is, we still have to grit our teeth and hold it! At the end of the day, only five people were corrupted by the Outer Gods this time. No matter how bad the situation became, could it really be worse than that tragedy all those years ago, when a gathering filled with peerless prodigies ended with not a single survivor?”

Fu Yue fell silent.

Only after a long while did he let out a deep sigh and reluctantly agree.

“The Zhoutian Grand Formation has completely sealed this world. Although it can protect Great Qian from the gaze of the Outer Gods to the greatest extent possible, it has also indirectly caused the world we inhabit to become trapped in a state of stagnation and isolation, like a pool of stagnant water.”

“Think back to the ancient era before Great Qian was founded, when the Hundred Schools contended and flourished. What an extraordinary age that was. The various sages and saints of the Hundred Schools frequently descended into the mortal world.”

“But now, Great Qian has existed for a full five hundred years, and not a single Sage has descended into the mortal realm again.”

“Although His Majesty now shields all living beings from wind and rain with his supreme heavenly might, nevertheless...”

Fu Yue did not dare continue. He merely shook his head and sighed.

“The Primordial Illusion is already one of the few remaining methods in Great Qian capable of allowing cultivators to come into contact with the complete Dao. Moreover, compared to the alternatives, it is already the path with the lightest price and greatest safety. If we shut it down completely, would that not be akin to refusing food for fear of choking?”

...

Li Shun sat silently to one side.

He committed every word the two people had spoken firmly to memory without uttering a single comment.

Only after the outside world had completely settled down and there was no longer even the slightest trace of an evil aura did Fu Yue and Jiang Guanyu finally open the door and leave.

Not long afterward, Li Shun once again saw Zhao Cheng hurrying over.

His face was deathly pale, as though he had just endured one fierce battle after another.

“It's good that you're fine. It's good that you're fine.”

“Of the three Confucian participants, He Wanbai and Xu Tingchen were both contaminated by an Outer God. If you had fallen as well...”

A trace of lingering fear flashed through Zhao Cheng's eyes.

Hearing this, Li Shun also felt a chill run through him.

“What? Their minds were corrupted?”

Zhao Cheng nodded.

“Of the five people who were corrupted, two were from our Confucian school.”

“Ah, this really is...”

In his subsequent conversation with Zhao Cheng, Li Shun learned even more information.

The doctrines of the Hundred Schools had always been regarded as anchors against the corruption of the Outer Gods.

The more flawless, profound, and internally coherent a school's teachings were, the stronger their anchoring effect on a cultivator's soul.

Thus, Great Qian's long-standing tradition of the Hundred Schools contending was never merely an internal struggle between different Dao traditions for believers and incense offerings.

Its even greater significance lay in using the methods of the human world to resist the countless indescribable deities that existed beyond the heavens.

Zhao Cheng looked at Li Shun, his eyes filled with relief.

“Fortunately, we had you this time!”

“If the entire Confucian school had been wiped out today, I'm afraid there would have been no place for our Confucian school in the imperial court from this day onward.”