Turning His Hand to Overturn the Clouds and Rain

The moment Cheng Rang said this, the summit of Three Elders Peak fell deathly silent.

Showing no respect for the imperial court was a capital offense!

Li Shun was merely an acting county magistrate. Even if he had been the magistrate in truth, he would surely lose his head if the charge stuck! Yet since Li Shun had dared order the eulogy carved into the cliff face in public, he had naturally anticipated every open attack, hidden arrow, and verbal assault that might follow.

Under everyone's gaze, Li Shun's expression did not change in the slightest.

He stared at Cheng Rang, gave a cold laugh, and said calmly, "The great affairs of a state are sacrifice and war. Sacrifice honors virtue, repays those who came before, and teaches the people. I honor the Three Elders not out of belief in fanciful spirits, but to honor those who began it all and repay their virtue."

At Li Shun's very first words, Cheng Rang, who had been sure of victory, changed color.

He had not expected Li Shun to respond so swiftly.

It was as though he had foreseen Cheng Rang's attack!

The great affairs of a state are sacrifice and war.

Those eight simple words seized the highest ground of law and moral order, giving Li Shun's worship of the Three Elders the soundest, most irrefutable justification.

Before anyone could react, Li Shun's voice turned fierce, exploding like spring thunder as he unleashed a blistering rebuke: "You say the county could have been founded without the Three Elders. That is the sophistry of an ignorant man!"

"In the primordial age, Southern Xu was overrun by miasma and disease, while ferocious beasts roared through the land. Had mighty elders not been the first to raise their arms, slay monsters, and spill their