Sole Righteousness, Mine Alone

The training ground fell deathly silent.

As if angered by Li Shun's clever rebuttal, the young scholar narrowed his eyes. A flash of fury crossed them.

Boom!

An invisible, terrifying pressure erupted from his seemingly slight frame. It bore down on Li Shun like mountains crashing onto his head, like a howling gale sweeping down from the ninth heaven.

In Li Shun's eyes, the young scholar behind the desk suddenly towered higher and higher, his figure swelling ten millionfold. Like an ancient giant standing between heaven and earth, he looked down on Li Shun as though he were an ant.

"Twisting words to justify yourself! Do you know your mistake?" The shout cracked like thunder, shaking Li Shun's sea of consciousness and sending his blood surging.

Yet Li Shun stood amid the raging storm, his expression unchanged.

"This disciple has done nothing wrong."

"The mistake is yours, Scholar."

The storm and its mountain-crushing pressure stopped dead the instant those eight words fell.

The thunderous punishment he had expected never came.

Crack...

The towering vision shattered like a mirror. Li Shun jolted back to himself and found that he was still standing in the tranquil training ground.

Behind the desk, the young scholar's fury had vanished. In its place was a faint smile as warm as a spring breeze.

"Well said: 'Rotten wood cannot be carved.'"

"You made your case with conviction, cited the classics, and argued it soundly."

"Neither might nor power could bend you." The young scholar clapped in admiration, his grim manner gone. "You truly have the backbone of a Confucian School student. Excellent!"

"Let me introduce myself again. My name is Han Qi. You may call me Teacher Han or Scholar Han."

Faced with this sudden warmth, Li Shun found it harder to relax than he had