Yin-Yang Anomaly in Tomb Commandery

Li Shun had yet to cultivate any flight technique, so Fang Xun could only bring him along.

A puppet could only exert half its original strength in reality, and Fang Xun no longer had the empowerment of his county magistrate office.

Thus, even with the Great Qian official road's qi veins aiding him, he still could not fly without rest.

"Now I know the benefits of having a means of transportation. Not to mention Changle Marquis's carriage, even the Black-Armored Army's Moonlit White is excellent." Though he was being carried by another and had not expended the slightest bit of effort himself, Li Shun still felt a trace of weariness after traveling a long distance for most of the day.

They traveled and rested by turns, finally reaching the borders of Cold Mountain Commandery two days later.

A checkpoint had been established at the border between the two commanderies.

The passage process was exceedingly slow, and the waiting line stretched like a long dragon.

They could vaguely hear complaints and discussions drifting from the crowd.

"Have you heard? A few days ago, there was an earthquake in Cold Mountain County. The entire county seat was buried."

"Hiss? Is that true? That terrifying? Not a single person in the whole county survived?"

"Absolutely true. I was far away that day, yet I could still hear the enormous commotion coming from Cold Mountain."

"I heard that the county magistrate, Fang Xun, survived."

"Bah! That dog official—every last commoner in the city died, and he still has the nerve to stay alive?"

"Ah, why are times becoming more and more unsettled lately? Cold Mountain had an earthquake, while South River suffered a severe drought. The people can barely survive!"

"Shh, keep your voice down! Are you tired of living?!"

Li Shun and [Fang Xun] heard the crowd's conversation, their faces utterly expressionless.

They did not join the long dragon of a queue. Instead, they passed through the crowd and went straight to the checkpoint at the front.

They presented the court documents.

The soldiers guarding the checkpoint carefully inspected the documents, then looked Fang Xun over.

Though their expressions did not change, a subtle flicker passed through their eyes.

"Go on."

[Fang Xun] cupped his hands.

"If I were still a county magistrate, with the official seal's empowerment, I would not even need to pass through the checkpoint for inspection. I could fly freely without triggering the relevant alerts."

"Of course, that is under ordinary circumstances. If there were military intelligence or some other emergency, scrutiny would be intensified, and even officials at the county magistrate level would still have to submit to inspection. Higher-ranking officials might be exempt."

"In short, Great Qian placed great importance on strict hierarchical order."

The relevant information flashed through his mind, and Li Shun and the other continued onward.

It was rather strange.

The moment they left Cold Mountain Commandery, the cold, oppressive feeling that had constantly lingered in their hearts vanished at once.

Li Shun's heart stirred. He suddenly turned and stared back, an inexplicable premonition arising within him. "Perhaps..."

"That Cold Mountain Soul has not completely disappeared. It is merely still lurking quietly in the depths of Cold Mountain."

"One day, I must return and investigate it thoroughly."

The thought vanished in a flash, but his steps did not stop.

A month later, on the sixth day of the second month.

"Imperial Tomb Commandery is up ahead. We finally made it."

Li Shun let out a long breath, unable to hide the exhaustion on his face.

"Before traveling next time, no matter what, I have to get a suitable mount."

"This is far too torturous."

More than a month of day-and-night travel had nearly worn away the lofty ambitions Li Shun had only just gathered.

Now that he was finally close to his destination, he abruptly felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted.

"Once we arrive, I will think of nothing and sleep for three days and three nights first."

Li Shun looked at [Fang Xun]. "At a time like this, I rather envy puppets. Neither born nor dead, knowing no fatigue."

The boundary of Imperial Tomb Commandery differed from every other commandery border Li Shun had passed along the way.

A pitch-black line, as though capable of devouring all things, stretched abruptly across Heaven and Earth.

It cut off all prying gazes.

Looking into the distance, it resembled an unfathomable abyss.

The inspection site was no longer a crude checkpoint, but a majestic pass roughly a hundred zhang high.

On the surface, the fortress had no gate through which one could pass.

[Fang Xun] stepped forward. Before he could draw near, a squad of heavily armored soldiers abruptly appeared before him and blocked his way.

Unlike the Black-Armored Army's black armor, the soldiers here wore dark-red attire resembling dried blood.

After carefully examining the documents, the tomb-guarding soldiers nodded.

Then they approached. Working in pairs, as though escorting prisoners, they pressed down on their shoulders from either side.

Li Shun's vision blurred. In the next moment, the towering pass had vanished from before his eyes.

In its place stood a gloomy forest.

Even stranger, it had clearly been daytime before they entered Tomb Commandery.

But now...

Li Shun looked up, only to see a bright moon hanging high overhead. It was somehow already night!

"Tomb Commandery forms a world of its own."

"Even the cycle of sun and moon, the flow of time itself, differs greatly from the outside world."

Fortunately, Li Shun had already prepared himself mentally, so he was not overly surprised.

"With the land of one commandery, Tomb Commandery imitates the thirteen provinces beneath Heaven."

"It is not merely an imitation in name. It is an almost real replica at a ratio of one to ten. Every mountain, river, and lake in Great Qian can be found in miniature within Tomb Commandery."

"It is said that the original vision was even more mad—a one-to-one recreation of the Great Qian World within the tomb. But after a detailed assessment of the difficulty, they discovered that even with Great Qian's national strength, it could scarcely bear the cost of building such a tomb. They had no choice but to abandon the plan and settle for the next best thing."

"The spatial ratio is one to ten."

"As for the time ratio... one day outside sees the sun and moon cycle seven times in Tomb Commandery."

"In other words, time flows nearly seven times faster here!"

"Thus, people's lifespans are also consumed at an accelerated rate here. Aside from the families who have guarded the tomb for generations and the craftsmen who built the Imperial Tomb, almost no one would choose to set foot here voluntarily."

Li Shun's gaze flickered.

"I wonder, if I activate Threefold Self-Reflection here, exactly what point in time I will return to."

"Will it still be one day ago, or..."

"Seven days ago?"

"I can take this chance to test it out and probe the truth."

As Li Shun pondered, he suddenly heard a voice from the road ahead, brimming with relief.

"At last, we have been waiting for you!"

The speaker was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties. He wore a gray long robe, and the anxious look had yet to fade from his face.

He said to Fang Xun, "Warden, hurry and come with me. This old man truly cannot keep things under control any longer."

[Fang Xun] remained calm and said in a deep voice, "What exactly has happened? Could it be that tomb-raiding thieves have intruded again?"

"That is not it." The middle-aged man looked embarrassed.

After a pause, he said in a low voice, "Those unruly commoners from East Mountain Town have gathered again. They are demanding that their former warden return."

"Hm?" Li Shun was somewhat surprised.

"You do not know, Warden. The old warden guarded this place diligently for more than five hundred years and held considerable prestige. This time, his dismissal for crimes has caused the townsfolk great dissatisfaction. They often gather, make trouble, and demonstrate."

Li Shun frowned slightly and said coldly, "Is this not sheer nonsense? They disregard the laws of the court—why not arrest every last one of them?"

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly. "Warden, you have only just arrived, so you may not know that the laws within Tomb Commandery differ slightly from those outside. Everything places protecting the tomb first. Since you had not arrived for so long, they used the excuse that no one was presiding over the great task of guarding the tomb and demanded the old warden's return. With righteousness on their side, it is not easy to arrest them by force..."

"Take me to see them!"

The middle-aged man led the way. Before long, they had arrived in East Mountain Town.

A large crowd could vaguely be seen gathered on the streets, shouting loudly.

At their head stood a thin young man.

"Sir, this man is called Li Qing. He is the biggest thorn in the side. His strength has even reached the upper tier of the Spirit Resonance Realm; ordinary constables are no match for him," the middle-aged man quietly reminded him.

The moment Li Qing saw Fang Xun approach, his eyes flickered. Then he deliberately shouted, "That newly appointed warden has yet to arrive. Clearly, he does not intend to come at all! Recently, there have been signs of tomb-raiding thieves appearing again. If they truly break into the mausoleum, we will all die."

"Either bring the old warden back, or appoint a new warden first!"

The instant Li Qing spoke, several dozen people behind him echoed his call.

[Fang Xun], however, remained expressionless. He walked step by step to the front of the crowd and confronted them.

Li Qing narrowed his eyes, and a dangerous gleam flashed through them.

His fists clenched, as though he would strike in the next moment.

Just then...

Li Shun, who had originally stood behind [Fang Xun], stepped forward and positioned himself between the two.

He slapped Li Qing directly across the face.

Smack!

The crisp sound rang through the street.

Li Qing's expression changed drastically. "You dare hit me?"

Before his words had even fallen, Li Shun slapped him again.

Li Qing was instantly completely stunned.

He did not know why, despite the person before him having no cultivation whatsoever, he could not evade the slaps coming at him.

Yet before all his underlings, he had actually been slapped twice in succession.

He could scarcely suppress the fury in his heart.

Just as he was about to salvage his dignity, he heard the other party's cold voice.

"Little Dumpling, after all these years without seeing you, you have truly grown capable."

"Hm?" Li Qing froze at once.

Little Dumpling was his childhood nickname.

Only a handful of people in the world knew it.

And...

Since his elder brother had left and his younger sister had died of old age, no one had called him that for many years.

In that instant, Li Qing seemed to think of something.

His eyes widened as he stared fiercely at the youth before him.

That face faintly overlapped with an image from distant memory. Trembling, he spoke in disbelief.

"Brother?"