Li Shun’s physical body had already been buried beneath the cataclysmic disaster of mountains collapsing and earth splitting.
Yet his consciousness still remained.
His primary awareness had retreated into the Fangcun space, while a small portion lay dormant within the gnat he had raised.
Originally, there had been forty-seven of these tiny creatures. But during the calamity at Lengshan, more than half had perished for various reasons.
Now, only twenty-one remained.
Hidden in the darkness, they gathered together. Li Shun’s will gradually awakened, beginning to read through everything they had witnessed over the course of the day.
He skipped past the deaths of Lengshan’s common folk in the disaster, focusing instead on the scene of Zhou Xunzhen walking through the air, ascending step by step toward the heavens.
“Breaking through the Celestial Phenomena to enter Creation… borrowing another lifetime from the heavens?”
Li Shun’s mind trembled violently.
“Could it be that all of this was part of Zhou Xunzhen’s grand design, all for the sake of stealing more years from heaven?”
Recalling the frail, withered state Zhou Xunzhen had shown before, a bone-deep chill spread through Li Shun.
Scenes of every interaction he had ever had with Zhou Xunzhen replayed in his mind.
When he first purchased the Record of Emperor's Exegesis, there had been nothing unusual.
At the time, Zhou Xunzhen had seemed like nothing more than an ordinary bookstore owner.
Only later, when his aged appearance became more pronounced, did something begin to feel off.
Li Shun repeatedly recalled Zhou Xunzhen’s words:
“When one remains in a bookshop, one’s world shrinks to this tiny, peaceful space. The only concerns are a few incomplete scrolls and a handful of trivial profits. Though the days are dull and monotonous, at least the soul remains at ease. But once you step outside, into the mortal world’s endless turmoil, desire clouds the heart and takes lives.”
“Desire clouds the heart… and takes lives…”
As Li Shun reflected on everything he had experienced in Lengshan County over the years, his heart grew even colder with realization.
He suddenly understood that Feng Guan’s repeated susceptibility to his manipulation was likely not due solely to personality or his own eloquence.
The strange, all-encompassing scheme laid over Lengshan County by Zhou Xunzhen was likely the true root of it all.
Perhaps even…
“I’ve been here for twenty-six years since transmigrating. Despite possessing a supreme treasure, I have never found a way to truly use it under Great Qian’s harsh system. As I aged, my ambitions gradually faded. I was even prepared to live out the rest of my life in quiet resignation.”
“But in recent years, unwillingness and ambition have begun to rise within me once again.”
“Could that, too, be the result of Zhou Xunzhen’s scheme?”
A chill spread through Li Shun’s heart as he examined the changes within himself.
“Most likely… that is the case.”
The more he thought, the colder he felt.
“When great powers lay their schemes, those caught within are like ants. A single misstep leads to death and annihilation.”
“Even with Fangcun’s protection, I am walking on thin ice.”
A wave of lingering fear washed over him.
“Fortunately, I previously assumed Zhou Xunzhen was already dead. After borrowing lifespan, I never returned to the bookshop. Otherwise, my gaining two hundred years of life would have surely been exposed…”
The wings of the gnats trembled continuously, mirroring the turbulence within Li Shun’s heart.
The night deepened. The day was nearing its end.
“I’ve lost my physical body. Only my consciousness remains. I must activate Threefold Self-Reflection.”
“The question is… what should I do after activating it?”
“Should I flee in panic, or…”
“I still have one chance left to make a mistake.”
“The good news is that no matter how powerful Zhou Xunzhen is, he cannot detect or resist the temporal reversal of Threefold Self-Reflection. My past experience purchasing the Record of Emperor's Exegesis has already proven this.”
Gradually, Li Shun calmed himself.
The heavy snow had ceased. Silence blanketed the world.
He carefully considered his course of action for “tomorrow.”
“Blindly fleeing is not a solution. Who knows what other great schemes I might stumble into?”
“Lengshan is dangerous, but now that the veil has been torn, even an ant like me has a chance to see clearly.”
“Snatching chestnuts from the fire…”
A plan slowly took shape in Li Shun’s mind.
“I Examine Myself Thrice Each Day!”
As that vast and resonant declaration echoed through heaven and earth, time itself reversed.
New Calendar Year 573, First Day of the First Month.
The Second Reflection.
Under the cover of night, forty-seven gnats dispersed, flying toward every corner of the city.
As dawn faintly broke, Li Shun discovered that Fang Xun had left the city alone.
Not long after, the county commandant, Cheng Yishu, took Yu Niang with him and pursued Fang Xun.
“These three likely perished in this calamity as well.”
With a thought, Li Shun directed half of the gnats to follow them from a distance.
He then summoned the puppet [Li Shun] and waited patiently for the right moment.
When the laborers set out for the Lengshan mines, he blended into the crowd and left the city with them.
Afterward, he changed direction and hurried toward Fang Xun’s location.
Fortunately, the first stretch of the journey followed a Great Qian official road, allowing him to maintain a steady pace.
“And along the way, it seems there hasn’t been any obstruction.”
“So that means the layout set by Zhou Xunzhen carries no real restrictive barrier. If one wishes to leave, they can do so at any time.”
Li Shun suddenly recalled the Marquis of Changle who had once visited Lengshan.
A realization dawned on him.
“Perhaps when she chose not to silence anyone back then, it was because she had already discerned the arrangement here. Once trapped within this scheme, escape is impossible. There’s no need to kill those who are doomed to die.”
By noon, the gnats tracking Cheng Yishu and Yu Niang lost their trail.
“They veered off the official road, and their speed suddenly surged.”
“But it should be roughly in this direction.”
With a shift of his thoughts, Li Shun scattered more than twenty gnats to search the area.
Unfortunately, their numbers were too few, and their search coverage was limited.
After searching for quite some time, they still failed to locate any trace of Fang Xun and the others.
Just as Li Shun was lamenting his misfortune, a series of faint, distant rumbles suddenly reached him, pointing the way forward.
The gnats flapped their wings and sped toward the source of the sound.
From afar, they caught sight of Fang Xun and Cheng Yishu locked in a desperate battle.
“So yesterday, they must have died killing each other. But how did Yu Niang die?”
The gnats did not approach, only observing from a distance.
Li Shun gradually discerned the situation.
In terms of raw strength alone, Cheng Yishu was likely the superior of the two.
However, Fang Xun had struck first with a sneak attack and possessed the advantage of higher official authority, allowing him to maintain the upper hand throughout the fight.
Cheng Yishu gradually faltered and was ultimately slain.
After burning Cheng Yishu’s body to ashes with a single blaze, Fang Xun turned his attention to Yu Niang.
“Yu Niang, listen to my explanation…”
Watching as Yu Niang’s body swelled grotesquely, trapping Fang Xun in an unbreakable grip before erupting into a bloody explosion, even Li Shun felt his heart skip a beat.
“When one’s mind is clouded by greed, their actions truly defy all reason.”
Gazing at the half-bodied, dying Fang Xun, the twenty-odd gnats slowly approached.
Fang Xun’s consciousness began to fade. At the brink of death, he dimly saw a swarm of insects descending before him.
“To think that I, Fang Xun, would end up as food for vermin after death.”
Grief surged within him. Then, clarity returned briefly as his eyes widened toward the sky, filled with resentment.
His aura grew weaker by the moment, on the verge of extinguishing.
At that instant, Fang Xun suddenly felt an insect crawl into his mouth.
“Even ants dare to bully me!”
His heart filled with even deeper despair.
And yet…
After the gnats entered his body, he felt no discomfort whatsoever.
Instead, a cool sensation spread through him, clearing his mind for a brief moment.