“The Lengshan mines are a forbidden zone. All mineral resources within belong to the imperial court. Concealing them for yourself is already a grave crime!” Fang Xun said coldly, his voice sharp and severe.
Below him, Li Shun, who stood with his head lowered awaiting judgment, trembled involuntarily upon hearing this.
Fortunately, Fang Xun’s tone soon softened.
“However, since you still possess a sense of reverence and took the initiative to hand it over, your crime can be pardoned.”
“As for the matter of your promotion in rank…”
“I will report it on your behalf for the time being.”
“Of course, it must pass layers of verification and strict approval from the Left and Right Chancellor’s offices in the capital. For now, I cannot give you a definite answer. Return and wait patiently for news.”
Fang Xun spoke calmly.
“My lord, you are truly a just and benevolent official!”
Li Shun felt as though he had been granted a great reprieve. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he kowtowed repeatedly, his voice choked with emotion.
Fang Xun watched Li Shun’s humble, retreating figure and could not help but smile faintly to himself, a sense of complete control rising in his heart.
...
Ten days later, on the thirteenth day of the fifth month.
Li Shun received notice that the court’s reward had been issued. He had successfully shed his lowly status and been promoted to the rank of First-rank Gongshi.
“I… I’ve become a Gongshi as well?”
Li Shun’s voice trembled slightly. His eyes reddened, his face filled with disbelief.
“Heh, it wasn’t easy. After all these years, cripple, you’ve finally made something of yourself.”
Constable Wu Kuang looked at him with a hint of emotion.
“Alright, don’t just stand there stunned. The County Magistrate is waiting to see you. Hurry and come with me.”
Li Shun had just taken a step forward when he suddenly stopped.
“Officer, please wait a moment. Allow me… allow me to tidy myself.”
As he spoke, he raised his withered hands and hurriedly yet solemnly smoothed out his worn coarse clothes. He then straightened his disheveled white hair before forcing his hunched back a little straighter. Only then did he limp after Wu Kuang toward the county office.
When they met again, Fang Xun had completely shed his previous imposing authority. In its place was a gentle and approachable expression.
“Now that you have been granted a noble rank, your circumstances will be entirely different. You will no longer need to endure the hardships of forced labor.”
Li Shun bowed deeply.
“It is all thanks to your guidance and support, my lord!”
Fang Xun suddenly asked, “Do you have a courtesy name?”
Li Shun froze for a moment. His eyes narrowed slightly as if sinking into distant memories.
“I vaguely recall… before I was exiled to Lengshan County, my parents had someone give me one. It was…”
“It was…”
After a long moment of thought, he finally remembered, speaking with certainty,
“Tui Zhi. Yes, that’s it. Tui Zhi.”
Fang Xun nodded thoughtfully.
“Li Shun, courtesy name Tui Zhi. Advancing and retreating with measure. A name with quite a profound meaning.”
He did not dwell on it further. His expression turned serious as he waved his hand, dismissing everyone else from the room.
Then, raising two fingers like a brush, he wrote a single character in the air.
“Seal.”
In an instant, strands of golden light wove through the air like tangible chains, spreading outward and completely sealing off the study.
Seeing this, Li Shun could not help but grow tense.
“My lord, what is this…”
Fang Xun replied calmly, “Tui Zhi, now that you have entered the ranks of nobility, you are qualified to learn the most important cultivation method of the Great Qian.”
“The Twelvefold Longevity Method.”
“Today, I will personally pass this method on to you.”
He suddenly asked, “Do you still remember Feng Jianwei?”
Li Shun nodded quickly, excitement flashing in his eyes.
“Could it be that Feng Jianwei cultivated this very method, allowing him to return to youth overnight?”
“Not only him. In the Great Qian court, from His Majesty down to the lowest officials, from nobles to soldiers and generals, all cultivate this method. Even among the various schools and professions, none can escape it.”
Fang Xun’s expression grew exceedingly solemn.
As he spoke, he flipped his wrist and produced a thin sheet of paper that emitted a faint golden glow.
Then, from his sleeve, he took out a white jade seal and pressed it down upon the golden paper with utmost care.
The golden paper’s seal shattered abruptly. Upon its surface, one could vaguely see countless tiny characters densely packed together, like swarms of flies.
Only then did Fang Xun, his expression solemn, hand the golden paper over to Li Shun.
The moment Li Shun’s fingertips touched it, the paper disintegrated into a cascade of starlight. Countless radiant characters scattered outward, transforming into streaks of meteoric light that shot straight toward him.
In an instant, an immense and profound cultivation method, spanning hundreds of thousands of words, was firmly engraved into his mind.
While deeply shaken by the mysterious profundities recorded within the text, Li Shun did not forget to maintain his disguise.
He clutched his head with both hands, brows tightly furrowed, putting on the appearance of someone whose spirit could scarcely bear the burden.
“Is there anything you do not understand?”
After a long while, once Li Shun had fully absorbed the contents of the golden paper and reopened his eyes, Fang Xun finally spoke.
“This ‘Cycle of Twelvefold Longevity Method’ is far too profound. This humble one truly…” Li Shun frowned with his aged face, letting out a bitter sigh.
“No matter. Speak of any point you find unclear, and this official will explain them one by one. Besides, you have now been promoted to a first-rank Gongshi. There is no need to keep calling yourself ‘this humble one’,” Fang Xun reminded him.
“Thi… I understand,” Li Shun nodded, correcting himself before slowly voicing the doubts in his heart.
Fang Xun showed not the slightest impatience. With steady patience, he answered each question in turn.
It was not until six in the evening, as the setting sun dipped below the horizon, that the transmission of the method finally came to an end.
“Once you formally begin cultivating, you will surely encounter many more uncertainties. Those will have to be comprehended by yourself.”
“What I have done today is only to guide you through the basics.”
“Return and cultivate diligently. By the time the sun rises tomorrow, you should have shed your mortal shell.” Fang Xun’s gaze lingered on Li Shun. Perhaps recalling his own first steps on the path of cultivation, his tone carried a faint trace of sentiment.
Li Shun cupped his hands and bowed deeply. “I will never forget the grace of your instruction, my lord.”
Fang Xun lightly flicked his sleeve, lifting the restrictions within the study.
Suppressing the wild joy and excitement surging in his heart, Li Shun left the county office and returned to his dilapidated courtyard.
Once back in the safety of his home, he relied on immense willpower to forcibly restrain the urge to begin cultivating immediately.
Instead, he sat in quiet meditation, regulating his breath and gathering his thoughts.
Only when a new day had quietly arrived, and he was certain that the Threefold Self-Reflection divine ability had sufficient recovery time, did Li Shun finally begin his cultivation in earnest.
The contents of the Cycle of Twelvefold Longevity slowly resurfaced in his mind.
“The Heavenly Dao is vast and distant; life and death follow constant law. Prosperity must decline, and all that flourishes will eventually wither.
Yet those who stand at the pinnacle of the six directions, how could they be willing to consign their bones to the Yellow Springs? Those who rule over all living things, how could they accept rotting alongside grass and trees?
The mediocre of the world fear fate and submit to death; recluses beyond the mundane flee the mortal world and beg for longevity.
These are but inferior paths.
If Heaven seeks to sever mankind, then mankind must defy the Heaven.
Thus, we reverse creation and overturn yin and yang.
And so, the Twelvefold Longevity Methods are recorded.”
At the very beginning of the technique was the general outline personally written by the Qian Emperor, laying out its core principles with striking clarity.
“The Twelvefold Longevity Stages are a means to borrow lifespan from Heaven and return to youth.”
“It is akin to living a second life, beginning from one’s peak vitality at sixteen, and ending in decline and death.”
“Across twelve cyclical stages, namely…”
“Longevity, Descending into the Mortal World, Flourishing Splendor, Manifesting Form, Establishing Prosperity, Peak Sovereignty, Withdrawing into Concealment, Gradual Decline, Sitting in Oblivion, Hidden in the Abyss, Returning to the Root, Mysterious Womb.”
Seated cross-legged, Li Shun slowly began to circulate this heaven-defying method that sought to overturn fate itself.