Li Shun

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Li Shun is a transmigrated soul who awakens in the body of an aged, crippled corvée laborer in Cold Mountain County. His survival depends on Square Inch, a hidden internal space containing Cold Mountain Grass, damaged stone statues, and a puppet reflecting the body he first possessed. He uses the awakened Threefold Self-Reflection statue to retry fatal outcomes and plan around the county's looming chaos. 2

While publicly presenting himself as a weak laborer, Li Shun secretly cultivates and trades Cold Mountain Grass for pages of the Book of Imperial Exegesis and intelligence 3. He learns that a Cold Mountain Venerable can elevate a laborer beyond corvée service, then exploits the Cold Mountain County turmoil to steal and consume one, greatly strengthening his divine soul and thought speed 3 22.

He later turns over a Cold Mountain Lord to County Magistrate Fang Xun, earning promotion to First-Class Gentleman 25. Fang Xun teaches him the Twelve Longevity Method, which lets Li Shun borrow lifespan from Heaven, regain a youthful body, and restore his damaged leg 26.

After surviving the Hundred Schools Gathering and the Primordial Illusion Realm, Li Shun receives the broken upper half of the Confucian Sage's Staff from Kong Changqing. The artifact restores itself in his hands and stabilizes the Threefold Self-Reflection statue in Square Inch, enabling Li Shun's breakthrough into the Profound Insight Realm 236 239.

At the Imperial Academy, Li Shun becomes Han Qi's disciple and studies multiple Confucian branches. Although he remains a Spring-Autumn Brush successor, Han Qi recognizes that his greatest aptitude lies in the secretive Sole Righteousness lineage. Its doctrines gradually reshape Li Shun's understanding of righteousness, decisiveness, and vengeance 262 264 272.

Appearance

Li Shun initially appears as a bent, white-haired, crippled laborer in coarse clothes. After borrowing longevity from Heaven, his body becomes that of a handsome youth with bright brows and sword-like eyes 25 26.

• His original possessed body was physically damaged by decades of forced labor, including a long-broken leg 25 26.
• His synchronized Square Inch puppet can retain the appearance and cultivation state of his youthful outer body 62.
• When operating as Fang Han in the Martial World, he inhabits the body of a young master of Heavenly Eye City's Fang Family 157 160.
• Fang Han's immortal witch body is annihilated by black heavenly lightning, but Li Shun's prior synchronization preserves its form and Azure Wood totem pattern within Square Inch for recovery 277.

Personality

Li Shun is patient, calculating, and highly protective of his secrets. He routinely adopts the mannerisms of a humble, frightened laborer or obedient disciple while concealing his actual knowledge, cultivation, and control of Square Inch. His performance before Fang Xun and Zhao Cheng is convincing enough to conceal his resistance to the Sacred Words Slip's indoctrination 3 25 85.

He is willing to be ruthless when necessary: he tortures Feng Guan for information, manipulates public opinion against Cheng Rang, and treats puppets as expendable safeguards against danger 7 74 142. However, he also values those he considers his own. He risks entering a suspected trap to rescue Feng Guan and repeatedly works with Li Qing despite the danger surrounding them 110 130.

Li Shun's defining conviction is that his identity does not wholly belong to the body named Li Shun. Square Inch preserves his independent sense of self against the doctrines, memories, and external influences imposed upon him 62 74.

His study of Sole Righteousness further changes his values without overwriting his will. He increasingly regards vengeance against irreconcilable enemies as a righteous duty and favors decisive action that prevents future retaliation 142 272.

Abilities & Skills

Square Inch

Square Inch is Li Shun's core secret: an inner domain connected to his consciousness and described by him as his heart. It houses puppets, Cold Mountain Grass, stone statues, Mystic Yellow qi, and other seized objects or inheritances 62 139.

• Stores objects, plants, spirits, and puppet versions of individuals 2 79.
• Allows its stored Li Shun puppet to cultivate Cold Mountain Grass continuously 2 62.
• Can synchronize a puppet's fixed state with Li Shun's outer body when he chooses 62.
• May permit Li Shun to reappear through his puppet even if his external body is destroyed, according to his own understanding 62.
• Extracts special constitutions from puppets, such as Shentu Xin's Life-Qi Furnace, and can grant one extracted trait to another puppet at a time 79 80.
• Expands after absorbing Mystic Yellow qi and after Li Shun gains insight into its nature 116.
• Cannot yet expel a puppet once it has been stored 79.
• Conceals Li Shun's true thoughts from the ideological influence of cultivation methods, but the saint statues within it can still subtly affect him 61 131.
• Can force the Li Shun puppet into the outside world as a substitute, though doing so severely drains Li Shun and interrupts the puppet's ordinary work within Square Inch 5.
• Lets puppets execute assigned tasks continuously and without the mental exhaustion that limits Li Shun himself 187.
• Preserves Fang Han's synchronized body-state and Azure Wood Invocation totem after his physical body is destroyed by black heavenly lightning 277.
• Is assessed by Ancient Web as drawing upon a source capable of standing alongside the incomprehensible Outer Gods, making it more fundamental to Li Shun than either saint statue it contains 238.

Spirit-Splitting Life-Creation Technique

A Farmer School secret art Li Shun has refined to an exceptional degree. It is central to his early production of Cold Mountain Grass and the creation of substitutes 5 23 30.

• Can create an external substitute from the Li Shun puppet stored in Square Inch 5.
• Nourishes and restores Cold Mountain Grass and Cold Mountain Lords through scarlet life-force 23 30.
• Allows him to harvest and store a Cold Mountain Lord without directly carrying the plant away 20.
• Requires continual, careful tending to support the advancement of Cold Mountain Grass toward a Cold Mountain Venerable 23.

Threefold Self-Reflection

A divine ability associated with the damaged Confucian stone statue in Square Inch. It enables Li Shun to revisit and alter prior events through successive “reflections” 2 63.

• Requires repair and nourishment of the stone statue, initially through Cold Mountain Grass and later through other resources 2 128.
• Lets Li Shun preserve knowledge from failed timelines and revise his decisions 72 200.
• Can be used selectively with greater efficiency after Li Shun improves his understanding of it 139.
• Its resets affect Great Qian differently from the Martial World, creating a time discrepancy between worlds 194.
• Its full comprehension briefly raises Li Shun's perspective toward that of a Confucian Saint 225.
• The reborn Confucian Sage's Staff stabilizes the incomplete statue and increases its available reversions to nearly six, though each remains limited to approximately one day 239.

Heavenly Man Book / Heavenly Man's Writing

Li Shun gains access to the power associated with the intact stone statue, which can fabricate or rewrite a past and interfere with memory 63 66.

• Uses the name Heavenly Man Book while deceiving Jiang Chongguang about his memory-altering ability 66.
• Resists the Heavenly Man Book statue's attempt to overwrite his own past 63.
• Temporarily uses Heavenly Man's Writing while borrowing Sage-like power to erase a Creation Realm expert 129.
• Rewriting highly cultivated or karmically entangled targets causes severe backlash and consumption 129.

Twelve Longevity Method

A longevity art taught by Fang Xun that lets Li Shun perceive life breath and borrow lifespan from Heaven 25 26.

• Restores youth, vitality, and physical function by borrowing lifespan 26.
• Produces fate qi, which Li Shun can burn to temporarily amplify principle qi or accelerate cultivation 60.
• Allows him to compress years of cultivation into a day when supported by Fang Xun's memories and a stable Thought Furnace 60.
• Carries the danger of Heaven's lifespan demand and lifespan-seizing shadows 73 106.
• Cannot be used in the Martial World until the local Heaven's Dao recognizes the borrower 157.

Spring-Autumn Brush

Li Shun's primary Confucian cultivation lineage, inherited through Fang Xun's memories and formal discipleship 59.

• Condenses principle qi through Confucian classics and the Spring-Autumn Brush 59.
• Uses character formulas such as Strength Character Formula to enhance physical power 59 61.
• Can invoke protective teachings such as No Harm Can Touch the Body 106.
• Uses Thunder Gale Flashstep for short bursts of extreme flight speed, at the cost of later weakness 210.
• Its techniques become substantially stronger in the Primordial Illusion Realm because that realm possesses more complete heavenly laws 209.
• Uses Think Without Learning to subtly impair the judgment of weaker cultivators, as demonstrated during his manipulation of Cheng Rang 141.

Sole Righteousness

A secret and extreme Confucian School branch whose doctrine treats decisive extermination of evil and the fulfillment of vengeance as righteous acts. Han Qi identifies it as the lineage most suited to Li Shun's natural talent 262 264.

• Li Shun's Liqi and state of mind react strongly to the branch's scripture, revealing an affinity that exceeds his aptitude for the Spring-Autumn Brush 264.
• Its study allows him to enter Unity of Text and Spirit, greatly accelerating his comprehension and cultivation progress 269 272.
• Its principles gradually influence the puppets in Square Inch through changes in Li Shun's own values, awakening Fang Han's desire for vengeance 272.
• Li Shun adopts the view that vengeance left unresolved prevents righteousness from standing and marks the Fan Clan and Shao Lingxu as future targets 272.

Through the Present to the Ancient

A difficult divine ability Li Shun researches after acquiring a wisp of residual Divine Power associated with the primordial gods 268 269.

• Uses divine power linked to the Ancient Primordial Vast Wilderness era rather than Li Shun's ordinary Confucian Liqi 268.
• Remains difficult for Li Shun to control because the Divine Power's rank greatly exceeds his own 269.
• Is pursued with patience during his Imperial Academy studies rather than forced through reckless experimentation 269.

Empty Boat, Self-Erasure

A secret concealment method taught by Wei Wuqi. It erases the user's sense of self and hostility, making them harder to detect 73 74.

• Reaches beginner stage within one hour 74.
• Lets Li Shun avoid the black shadows that demand borrowed lifespan during a reflection 75.
• Slows his cultivation because its principles conflict with the Spring-Autumn Brush 76.
• Cannot conceal him from Emperor Gan or Mu Wujiu at its highest level 96.

Azure Wood Invocation

One of the Primeval Ten Invocations inherited from Wu Peng. It is an ancient shamanic art requiring shaman-god bloodline 89 90.

• Contains thirty-six ancient melodies mastered by Li Shun inside Square Inch 90.
• Draws vitality from heaven and earth to temper and restore the body 157 158.
• Is dangerously overwhelming in Great Qian, where its vitality once blew Li Shun's body apart 158.
• Functions more gently through Fang Han's body in the Martial World 158.
• Is one of the Primordial Ten Blessings, ancient shamanic inheritances which cannot be acquired through mere theft without a proper shamanic inheritance 277.
• Its use through Fang Han attracts black heavenly lightning, a Heaven-and-Earth countermeasure against Outer God invasions that offers no chance of survival 277.

Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique

A twenty-eight-form sword art taught by Wei Wuqi, built around concealed killing intent 95.

• The final established form, Old Friend, hides the killing intent accumulated by the preceding twenty-seven forms 95.
• Elder Wei's sword can assault the heart and force victims into devastating illusions 96.
• Li Shun later deduces an improved final sword, Perish Together, despite doubting that his own insight should be sufficient to improve a Cosmos Realm divine ability 224.
• Uses Old Friend to induce Roushou to regard him as an ancient companion, enabling Li Shun to land a strike against the god during their ritualized duel 222.

Divine Favor of Formless Suspended Skull

At Unsalted Mountain, Li Shun is overwhelmed by the deity Formless Suspended Skull and becomes one of its servants 215.

• His consciousness is tainted, and his priorities become centered on serving the deity 215.
• Gains a deep-blue divine thread, matching the deity's Spirit Transformation 215.
• Uses the thread to slow his fall from Unsalted Mountain and descend safely to the Kuanghuang Clan village 215.

Ancient Web

Ancient Web is an enigmatic source of esoteric knowledge consulted by Li Shun concerning Square Inch, primordial inheritances, and heavenly tribulation 238 277.

• Identifies black heavenly lightning as a destructive defense mechanism formed by Heaven and Earth against Outer God invasions 277.
• Reveals the names of the Primordial Ten Blessings but refuses to provide the remaining nine inheritances to Li Shun 277.
• Warns through its refusal that authentic shamanic power requires a proper inheritance rather than forcible acquisition 277.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mu Clan Blood Seal — Proof of Li Shun's imperial ancestry; causes the Blood Armored Guards to kneel and recognize him as imperial kin 92 94.
• Spring-Autumn Brush — His condensed Confucian cultivation instrument and basis for character formulas 59.
• Sword Branch — The seemingly ordinary branch Wei Wuqi uses to transmit the Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique 95.
• Sacred Words Slip — A Confucian relic used in an attempt to indoctrinate him; Li Shun is protected from its control by the sage statue in Square Inch 84 85.
• Wu Peng Armor — Ancient armor that temporarily grants power near the Spirit Resonance Realm even to an ordinary mortal; Li Shun later gives it to Elder Mu 89.
• Tortoiseshell — An arcane relic stored in Square Inch that gathers primordial qi but resists manifestation in Great Qian 166.
• Confucian Sage's Staff — The broken upper half of the Confucian Sage's staff, bestowed by Kong Changqing. It restores its missing lower half upon Li Shun's touch and reinforces the Threefold Self-Reflection statue when placed in Square Inch 236 239.
• Turtle Treasure — Reforged by the Imperial Academy from primordial turtle fragments; provides "Beyond Calculation" concealment against tracking and curses and anchors the user's mind against Outer God corruption 284 293.

Relationships

• Li Qing — His younger brother in Li Shun's adopted life. Li Qing guards his secrets, fights beside him, and repeatedly urges him to be more cautious about revealing Threefold Self-Reflection 57 75 110.
• Fang Xun — Former master and county magistrate. Fang Xun teaches Li Shun the Twelve Longevity Method and sponsors his Confucian path, then sacrifices him to the Imperial Tomb mission; they later reconcile before Fang Xun's death 25 84 98 149.
• Feng Guan — Former Cold Mountain neighbor and Li Shun's only friend during his years of labor. Their relationship survives torture, manipulation, and Feng Guan's disastrous plea for rescue 7 110 130.
• Wei Wuqi (Elder Wei) — Mentor who teaches Li Shun Empty Boat, Self-Erasure and the Emperor-Slaying Sword Technique. He recognizes traces of Emperor Gan's gaze upon Li Shun 73 95 98.
• Elder Mu — Guardian within the Imperial Tomb and source of Li Shun's Mu Clan blood seal. He reveals Li Shun's lineage, directs him through the burial earth, and grants access to Wu Peng's inheritance 90 92 93.
• Zhao Cheng — Fang Xun's senior and Li Shun's martial uncle. He sends Li Shun into the Imperial Tomb's sealed earth under the belief that the Sacred Words Slip has secured his obedience; later, he cooperates with Li Shun to investigate Fang Xun's ruined shrine and trap Shentu Xin 84 85 246 250.
• Kong Zhao — Senior brother, political informant, and ally. Li Shun saves him through a second reflection and later receives his support while acting as Shangyu County Magistrate 135 200 206.
• Duan Jiuzhang — Senior cultivator who approves of Li Shun's decision to rescue Feng Guan and accompanies him toward Yunguan County 110.
• Formless Suspended Skull — The grotesque deity whose divine will turns Li Shun into a favored servant 215.
• Kong Changqing — Patriarch of the Kong Family. Impressed by Li Shun's performance in the Primordial Illusion Realm, he gifts him the broken Confucian Sage's Staff and considers him a possible future sage of the Confucian School 236.
• Han Qi — Li Shun's Imperial Academy teacher and a Profound Insight Realm Confucian scholar. Han Qi recognizes Li Shun's aptitude for Sole Righteousness and guides his study of its doctrines 262 264.
• Fang Han — A puppet identity through which Li Shun operates in the Martial World. Fang Han's stolen Creation Realm and death leave him with a lingering grievance that Li Shun ultimately accepts as a duty of vengeance 157 272.
• Shentu Xin — Jun Family madman whose puppet yields the Life-Qi Furnace trait. He later destroys Fang Xun's shrine, prompting Li Shun and Zhao Cheng to pursue and trap him 79 246 250.
• Sun Lang — Heir of the Jun Family whom Li Shun provokes into pursuing Shentu Xin. Li Shun later draws Sun Lang into helping maintain the formation against Shentu Xin despite the Outer God's influence over him 249 250.
• Wang Zheng — A Legalist School successor who supplies Li Shun with intelligence on the Yin-Yang School, Shao Lingxu, and the Five Virtues Transformation lineage 273.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Cold Mountain County

Li Shun begins as an ostensibly helpless laborer while secretly operating Square Inch. He steals a Cold Mountain Venerable amid the county's chaos, consumes it to strengthen his divine soul, and engineers his elevation from corvée laborer to First-Class Gentleman 10 22 25.

Fang Xun's Disciple

After borrowing longevity and recovering his youth, Li Shun seeks a true cultivation inheritance. He becomes Fang Xun's disciple, condenses the Spring-Autumn Brush, and burns fate qi to advance at an abnormal rate 59 60.

Imperial Tomb Sealed Earth

Zhao Cheng sends Li Shun on a mission expected to end in his death. Li Shun feigns indoctrinated loyalty, enters the sealed earth, encounters the legacy of Wu Peng, learns Azure Wood Invocation, and discovers that the body named Li Shun descends from Emperor Gan's imperial line 84 85 89 92.

Imperial Kin and Confucian Politics

Upon returning from the Imperial Tomb, Li Shun uses the Mu Clan Blood Seal to command the respect of the Blood Armored Guards and publicly severs ties with Fang Xun. He later accepts Fang Xun's apologies, becomes entangled in court investigations, and gains Kong Zhao as a key Confucian ally 94 98 135.

Shangyu County

As acting magistrate, Li Shun uses governance, memorial inscriptions, and public reverence for the Three Elders to generate Mystic Yellow qi. He advances to Grand Simplicity, then destroys Cheng Rang's challenge through calculated rhetoric, staged conflict, and official pressure 135 139 142.

Martial World

Through Fang Han's body, Li Shun enters a separate martial world. He seeks a path to become an innate grandmaster, uses Azure Wood Invocation to temper his martial body, learns Emperor Fist Years, and uses Square Inch to observe grandmasters who cultivate the Twelve Longevity Method 157 160 184.

Hundred Schools Gathering and the Primordial Illusion Realm

Li Shun joins the Hundred Schools Gathering after reaching upper-grade Spirit Resonance. In the Primordial Illusion Realm, he confronts ancient monsters, the ten-sun calamity, the blue moon, Unsalted Mountain's deity, and Mount Buzhou's guardian Roushou 206 209 215 221.

After the Grand Arbiter's intervention ends the gathering, Li Shun returns to the Kong Family Ancestral Residence, where his standing among the Confucian School's younger generation is greatly elevated 233 236.

Confucian Sage's Staff and Profound Insight

Kong Changqing presents Li Shun with the broken upper half of the Confucian Sage's Staff. The staff restores itself, and Li Shun uses it to reinforce the incomplete Threefold Self-Reflection statue, increasing his available reversions and enabling his breakthrough into the Profound Insight Realm 236 239.

Imperial Academy and Sole Righteousness

Li Shun enters the Imperial Academy under Han Qi's guidance. There he learns that his natural affinity lies in Sole Righteousness rather than the Spring-Autumn Brush alone, studies its ruthless Confucian doctrines, and begins researching the primordial divine ability Through the Present to the Ancient 262 264 269.

Fang Han's Vengeance and the Black Tribulation

When Fang Han's lingering grievance reveals that the Fan Clan stripped his Creation Realm and transferred it to Shao Lingxu, Li Shun adopts Fang Han's vengeance as his own. While preparing to investigate the Yin-Yang School, Fang Han is later struck down by manipulated black heavenly lightning; Li Shun preserves the puppet's synchronized state and Azure Wood totem within Square Inch 272 273 277.

Fang Xun Shrine Investigation

Li Shun interrupts his journey to Sacred Capital after learning that Fang Xun's shrine has been destroyed. Working with Zhao Cheng, he traces the incident to Shentu Xin, provokes Sun Lang into joining the pursuit, and helps trap Shentu Xin in a killing formation 246 249 250.

Notable Quotes

“Square Inch is my heart.” 62

“I am merely myself. That soul who came from beyond the heavens, not the laborer born in the imperial mausoleum who spent his life toiling away on Cold Mountain.” 62

“If I could take them all into my possession and extract all manner of heaven-defying qualities... Would I not be able to forge a perfect body?” 80

“To face death without flinching for the sake of a friend and neighbor—this is righteousness. To recognize a perilous situation and seek every possible safeguard—this is wisdom.” 110

“If vengeance is not extinguished, righteousness cannot stand; if blood is not shed, the Dao cannot shine forth.” 272

Trivia

• Li Shun's courtesy name, Tui Zhi, is interpreted by Fang Xun as “knowing when to advance and when to retreat.” 25
• He initially claims to have borrowed only fifty-five years of lifespan while actually possessing two hundred years 29.
• The Threefold Self-Reflection statue resembles, but is not identical to, the Confucian Sage seen through the Sacred Words Slip 84.
• Li Shun considers Square Inch more important than either Threefold Self-Reflection or Heavenly Man Book; he refuses to allow even Li Qing to learn its full nature 139.
• The Primordial Ten Blessings consist of Azure Wood Invocation, Star-Tethering Edict, Soul-Summoning Song, Sea-Covering Chant, Scarlet Earth Howl, Mountain-Subduing Rhythm, Heaven's Sigh, Grand Sound Decree, Calamity-Slaying Cry, and Abyss-Sinking Sigh 277.