Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1064: Seeing Initial Clues

The golden rat that belonged to the old man from the Fifth Star Ring was so quick it could move faster than time. It left no traces of its passage, and could also hide within time itself. Only a truly almighty expert could ever detect it. That just went to show how terrifying it was.

Of course, to reach the same level as that rat from the Fifth Star Ring, this new rat would have to mature. And that would involve going through a host of tribulations, the type that were so difficult that only one out of a hundred individuals could survive. Accomplishing that would require paying a huge cost.

It wasn’t just that mysterious middle-aged cultivator who noticed what happened with the Chronoflitter.

Outside of the Devilbird holy land, in the Revered Ancient mainland, in the cave in Fardark territory, Sir Nightcrusher suddenly opened his eyes. They shone with bright golden light as hē looked up in the direction of the Devilbird holy land. Hīs blood was telling hīm that a descendant of hīs had just been born.[1]

A complicated look appeared in those eyes. Years ago, when Master Righteous Veil captured hīm and extinguished hīs godfire, hē did not have any descendants. Those two eggs were really hīs last hope to gain freedom. Using an innate ability, hē had extracted some of his bloodline power, then used time itself to conceal it from karma, and thus prevent Master Righteous Veil from noticing. And in the end... Xu Qing and Erniu took the eggs away. [2]

Although it seemed like that entire event was random, the truth was that only hē knew how much of it played out according to hīs own plan. Sir Nightcrusher eventually closed hīs eyes, whereupon hīs life force began to seep away. The only thing left behind was a faint murmur.

“Chronoflitter. Chronoflitter. The Chronoflitter Dynasty. Burrow through time. Pierce myriad spaces. Flee without a trace....”

***

In the nation of women in Grand Emperor Netherflame’s secluded meditation facilities, Xu Qing was feeling deeply shaken. He looked at the little golden rat in his palm, then at the huge euphoria iris. The moment the golden rat had been born, the latter went completely still and quiet. It wasn’t just the flower. Everything around him reacted the same. It went silent.

Only Xu Qing and the golden rat weren’t affected. The little rat squeaked and nuzzled Xu Qing’s finger. Then it seemed to pulse with incredible hunger. Flashing with golden light, it flew off Xu Qing’s palm, opened its mouth, and took a big bite out of space itself.

A rift appeared as space was torn open, and the rat swallowed the portion it had bitten. Unfortunately, it was still a juvenile, so doing this sort of thing was a bit difficult for it. The action had weakened it. However, it was still hungry, so it ravenously took another bite.

Space split open, and that disturbed the stillness. An instant later, everything went back to normal. The euphoria iris started flailing about again.

Astonishingly to Xu Qing, as everything went back to normal, a terrifying will approached through the void, heading toward the euphoria iris. Just barely sensing this will caused Xu Qing to shiver in fear, as if he were sinking into a sea of death.

There was no time for thinking or planning. Without the slightest hesitation, he grabbed the little golden rat, who seemed intent on taking a third bite. Then Xu Qing blurred into motion, becoming a stream of light that shot through the gap in space. As the terrifying will closed in at top speed, Xu Qing vanished.

Once through, he caught sight of a dazzling starry sky. He had no idea if there was a real starry sky outside of the memory world. But he knew that, regardless, he was in danger. Therefore, he didn’t slow down a bit.

A moment later, the sense of danger from that terrifying will vanished. Yet he didn’t let his guard down. That was because this boundless and indescribably beautiful starry sky also contained danger.

There was a tempest churning there. It swept everywhere, shattering heavenly bodies as it turned into something like a black hole that could devour anything and everything.

Xu Qing was on the edge of the tempest. Given the critical nature of the moment, he didn’t spend time thinking. He waved his hand to summon the Sageheaven Pagoda, and stepped inside. Without a moment of hesitation, he sent the pagoda racing away from the tempest.

This was the best thing Xu Qing could think to do. After all, the mysterious pagoda was designed to traverse starry skies. And the sageheaven god vine, which was part of the pagoda, was a mutant entity from the starry sky.

After about an hour, the speeding pagoda had left the outer border of the tempest. Seeing that, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he could sense longing from the sageheaven god vine.

It was a longing directed toward the starry sky itself. It deeply wished that Xu Qing would let it leave the pagoda and roam wildly. After a bit of thought, Xu Qing cast his senses out to confirm that the tempest was a great distance away. Then he sent a message of approval to the vine.

The vine let loose a sound like a cheer. Unwrapping from the pagoda, it swelled in size, reaching a length of 30,000 meters. Then, it wrapped one end of itself around the pagoda, while the other end swayed back and forth.

Seeing that, Xu Qing stepped out of the pagoda. The vine swirled around, letting loose more cheering. The free end then stretched forward so he could step onto it. A tremor passed through it, and then a mysterious will spread out, and it started speeding through the starry sky like a fish through water.

If an ordinary cultivator could see what was happening, they would be shaken to the core. There was Xu Qing, his long robe whipping about him as he sat atop the god vine. The vine was 30,000 meters long, and looked completely glorious. It glittered with starlight, and its leaves pulsated as the starry sky seemed to part, making a path for it to fly along like a dragon.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. From the sense of joy coming from the vine, and its speed, he could tell that the starry sky truly was its domain.

As they sped through the starry sky, they passed countless fragments that shone like heavenly bodies. There were images in the fragments. They were memory worlds!

However, after what he had just experienced in the world of the euphoria irises, Xu Qing knew how dangerous the memory worlds could be. He wouldn’t go into one casually, and thus, instructed the god vine to skirt them.

At the same time, he started searching for whatever worlds contained the empress and his Eldest Brother.

This place is where a Grand Emperor went into secluded meditation. There is danger everywhere. Finding the empress as quickly as possible is definitely the right thing to do.

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing had the vine speed up.

***

In the blood-red world, in the transparent tumor of flesh atop the huge sea, the middle-aged cultivator who had sensed the chronoflitter suddenly looked up again. He looked up at the fine hair covering the flesh that was the dome of heaven, and then his pupils constricted, as if he had just caught sight of something completely unbelievable.

An instant later, he struggled to control his breathing as he closed his eyes to think.

His eyes opened a moment later, and they glowed with a strange light as he raised his hand and pointed to the dome of heaven. The fine hair above stopped moving briefly, then started intertwining as if arranging into a specific pattern.

***

Xu Qing was far away in the starry sky, in a place where there were seven or eight memory worlds. However, those worlds were slowly blurring until they disappeared, to be replaced by a far larger memory world. What was more, that memory world was moving forward slowly, almost as if it were making a path for Xu Qing to follow.

Sometime later, the god vine shot through the starry sky, bringing Xu Qing close to the memory fragment ahead, which was larger than any other he had seen up to this point. The image within that memory fragment was a necropolis. After some thought, he instructed the god vine to go around it.

But then, golden light flared in his bag of holding, and the little golden rat shot out, pulsing with a sensation of longing. It became a beam of golden light that shot with astonishing speed toward the memory world.

Xu Qing’s face fell. He had no time to stop it, and thus, could only frown and send the god vine flying toward the memory fragment.

A moment later, he entered it. His vision blurred, he felt like he was piercing through something. He felt the exact same sensation as when he’d entered the world of euphoria irises.

When his vision cleared, he saw a sprawling necropolis in front of him. At the entrance of the necropolis was a blue pool of water, the fragrant aroma of which filled the first level of the necropolis.

The little golden rat had jumped into the pool, and was excitedly drinking, which caused its aura to grow stronger.

There were no other entities present.

Xu Qing checked himself and found that, yet again, he looked like Netherflame. But this time, he was covered with wounds and splattered with blood. He felt incredibly weak. He had clearly just fought a brutal battle.

Just as he was gaining his bearings, an emotionless stream of divine will emerged from the depths of the necropolis.

“Master Netherflame, you are the first person in the past 30,000 years to pass the 931st assessment of our Heavenmaker species. As stipulated, you may now cleanse your fleshly body once, for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”

Xu Qing looked more closely at the pool of water. A moment later, he walked up to it and looked at the golden rat.

This memory world is strange. There was no test. Nothing difficult happened. It just directly led to the acquisition of a destined opportunity.

Eyes narrowing, he sent his divine will out to check the pool. The moment his divine will touched it, his expression flickered, and his eyes shone.

He had no idea what the ‘water’ in the pond was made of. But... just now, when his divine will touched it, something that Xu Qing didn’t understand happened, which resulted in his fleshly body and soul being deeply nourished. In fact, he could tell that the soul injuries he had sustained in his fight with Sir Westdevil had recovered by more than half.

But of even greater significance was what happened with his fleshly body! He got the clear sensation... that his fleshly body was being replenished. Put precisely, it was being filled with life force. Though his fleshly body had seemed fine before, the reality was that it had a huge deficit. Now, strength was pouring into it.

What kind of water is this that can cause a sensation like this in a fleshly body made from Eminent Desolation’s flesh and blood?

Xu Qing took a deep breath. After a bit of thought, as well as some observation, including a look at the little golden rat, he decided that the water was safe. Eyes shining with determination, he knelt down and dipped his right hand into the water.

The moment he made contact, he felt massive amounts of life force pouring into him. His mind reeled as his cultivation base and aura erupted. And most important, his fleshly body surged with strength. He was becoming increasingly flawless!

***

In another memory world, Grand Emperor Netherflame had just fought a fierce battle with a clone of himself. He now stood amidst sprawling ruins, clad in a long violet robe, his hand clenched around the neck of a second version of himself.

Out of the captives’ eyes, ears, nose, and mouth flowed streams of white energy.

The version in the violet robe absorbed the energy, while the captive version trembled and howled in agony. Eventually, the captive version’s shape began to change. Instead of looking like Netherflame, the captive looked like a woman. It was one of the two women who had come from the western Devilbirds. The absorption process continued. Sometime later, the woman’s external form collapsed, revealing that she was actually an old hag!

If Xu Qing had been there, he would have recognized her. That old woman... was actually the seventh Imperial Sovereign from the western Devilbirds’ seventh Imperial Sovereign mountain! Her eyes shone with despair and venom.

“Who... are you...?”

The violet-clad Netherflame said nothing, and his facial expression didn’t change. Eventually, the seventh Imperial Sovereign collapsed into dust. Netherflame licked his lips, turned, and walked off.

As he did, Netherflame’s outer form changed. It faded away, turning into a tall figure with long black hair and a young face.

He was none other than Yue Dong’s pursuer, Young Lord Yun!

However, though his physical appearance was that of Young Lord Yun, his eyes seemed profoundly ancient. The truth was that he wasn’t Young Lord Yun, he was actually the patriarch of the Yun Clan. He was Patriarch Yun![3]

Ascending to the highest point in that world, he clasped hands to the dome of heaven.“Your humble servant has complied with your orders from years ago, Grand Emperor, and come here for an audience. Everything you predicted would happen over the past years has indeed come true. The sons rebelled. The Lan Clan plotted evil. And as they fought, both in the open and in the shadows, they sought to open the way to the grotto-heaven.”

The dome of heaven swirled. Winds shifted. A pair of cold eyes appeared and looked down.

A moment later, Young Lord Yun clasped hands and bowed. “Your orders shall be followed!”

1. Sir Nightcrusher appeared last in chapter 927. ☜

2. Master Righteous Veil was mentioned in chapter 927, 961, and 1040. I originally rendered his name as Master Deluo, but eventually consulted the author about it, after which I settled on Righteous Veil. For more information about that, check the footnote in chapter 927. ☜

3. The line elaborating on the identity of this person isn’t actually in the original text. I added it. The reason is that a few chapters from now, it becomes clear that this character is not the young lord but the patriarch, except that there is no explanation other than the line in this chapter about his eyes looking ancient. I was initially confused and thought the author had made a mistake. However, it’s clear based on later events and references that this character is the patriarch. There is never any explanation about when the switch happened. Was he always the patriarch? Or did he switch roles after going offscreen a while back? We don’t know for sure, although there are vague clues in previous and subsequent chapters. Regardless, I feel it makes slightly more sense to just outright explain who he is, rather than assume the audience will realize from this seemingly throwaway line of text that he’s actually the patriarch of the clan. ☜