Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1137: The Immortal Palace Opens

This young man with red hair was second only to the Shining Stars in the southern planetary system. And that single glance was all it took for him to recognize Xu Qing! He couldn’t help but recall trying to chase Xu Qing down and kill him, only for him to escape by means of the ferry boat. But what came next was thunderous incredulousness striking his heart with immense force.

It was only natural… that he could tell Xu Qing was different now! He could not see canon, nor could he comprehend it. But the sensation from his cultivation base ensured that he was overwhelmed with a sense of deadly crisis that was difficult to put into words. It was a sense of danger that surpassed any sort of prickling sensation running down the spine. He went still, and so did his heart, his sea of consciousness, and his thoughts. At that moment he felt like he was facing his ultimate arch-nemesis! His face fell.

As for Xu Qing, his expression didn’t change, but his eyes were as cold as ice, causing space to stir, time to ripple, and space-time to lock down.

When he fought the dao fight with Li Mengtu, it had been a clean fight. The winner would have been able to take the loser’s dao. What was more, Xu Qing had greatly benefitted from the karma of Li Mengtu’s ancestor. But considering his background, Xu Qing had eventually given up on that fight.

Things were different with this red-haired young man! Killing intent rose, and space-time opened up! Heaven and earth blurred. All things distorted. As Xu Qing entered his space-time state and his thoughts spread out, he remained seated cross-legged, but his shadow was already on the move through space-time.

The red-haired young man was eternally motionless, and clearly visible to Xu Qing. It was as if he had become a scroll painting. His past. His future. All of it was clearly ‘visible’ to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing lifted his hand and gently pointed his finger out. He was like a person looking at a painting and poking a hole in the canvas. As a result, the person in the painting, and everything around them, were ripped apart.

What happened in the real world was that the space around the red-haired young man collapsed, and time was thrown into chaos. His body was hit by a majestic, indescribable force. His soul had no way to flee, and issued a howl of anguish. No matter how hard he fought and struggled… he was completely and utterly powerless to escape or defend himself. It looked like he was just about to be destroyed in body and soul.

But then, his fellow southerner Jiang Fan looked up and sighed. “There’s no need to be so angry, Fellow Daoist. Whatever happened in the past, we can talk it out. It’s not necessary to use canon to hurt anyone.”

As the words left his mouth, a mist sprang up around the red-haired young man, completely covering him. It was as if ink had been splashed onto the painting. People without canon wouldn’t be able to see what was happening. But people with canon would have a clear view of the red-haired young man being covered by mist. That mist was beyond anything ordinary, and was, in fact, the power of canon.

As a result, Xu Qing lost sight of the young man. It was a case of: “earth energy dispatched, heaven does not react, call the mist, the mist calls the gloom.”[1]

Jiang Fan’s canon was that of gloom, and it manifested as a mist. With the gloom mist covering the red-haired young man, it was as if he didn’t exist. It was as if he had been plucked right out of Xu Qing’s space-time canon. The only thing that could resist canon was another canon!

It was Xu Qing’s first time experiencing a canon-versus-canon conflict. The mist rippled mysteriously. It was full of killing intent and death, and would cause most people to be filled with terror. But in terms of Xu Qing’s thoughts….

The canon of this gloom mist seemed gruish, but also somewhat weak.

Remaining seated cross-legged, Xu Qing calmly said, “This time is space for me. And this space is time for me. Disperse!”

He waved his hand casually and, ignoring the spreading mist, reached into the middle of it. That grasping gesture caused violent fluctuations in space-time. The fluctuations came from the past, causing the past to crumble. And the future became like a popping bubble. As space-time stirred, fluctuations came from different time periods. The fluctuations converged, and ultimately turned into… a space-time tempest.

As the tempest built in force, Jiang Fan’s gloom mist held strong for only a few breaths of time before it completely dispersed. When the earth energy was dispatched and heaven did not react, the mist formed. But if heaven did react, then the mist could not exist!

The red-haired young man appeared again. He was still within Xu Qing’s space-time exactly as before.

And now that Jiang Fan’s gloom mist was gone, Xu Qing reached out, and there was nothing to stop him. He grabbed the young man’s past, present, and future! And he crushed them viciously!

A cracking sound rang out into the ears of everyone present.

The red-haired young man shivered from head to toe. His defiant thoughts were scattered into eternity. His despair became empty. His past, and everything that existed there, collapsed into fragments. His future, and all the things that had not come, were shattered like a popping balloon.

What was left behind was his body, standing there alone in space-time. But without a past to sustain it and a future to guide it, the present… had no foundation. It could not exist. As everyone watched, the red-haired young man, including his soul, quietly crumbled into ashes. Then the wind blew, and the ashes were scattered into heaven and earth.

Silence reigned.

The cultivators present who didn’t possess canon were all trembling. They had just witnessed a killing that they couldn’t even comprehend. The only thing they did comprehend… was that canon was terrifying.

Thankfully, among all the Imperial Sovereign cultivators in the Fifth Star Ring, the amount who had canon or canon treasures were as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns.

Jiang Fan sat in the crowd, looking at Xu Qing with narrowed eyes. He had not interfered because of some deep relationship with the red-haired young man. In reality, the two were little more than acquaintances. The main reason he had interfered was because they were both from the south. Had he not been present to witness what happened, it wouldn’t have mattered much. But he couldn’t simply stand by while one of his fellows from the south was cut down.

Unfortunately, Xu Qing’s canon… caused fear to rise up even in him. What was more, he had never heard any rumors of someone like this in the west.

And he had noticed earlier when Li Mengtu offered formal greetings. That was very thought-provoking.

Seated next to him was Yuanshan Su, who was looking at Xu Qing with glittering eyes. Her canon was like a distant mountain, and was extremely weighty.[2]

Xu Qing didn’t react at all to the two of them staring at him, and instead, just closed his eyes to meditate.

In contrast, Li Mengtu’s gaze was very aggressive as he glared at Jiang Fan and Yuanshan Su. As of now, it was very clear whose side he was on.

Jiang Fan still felt fear in his heart, but he smiled warmly, as if nothing had just happened. “That’s a very impressive canon, Fellow Daoist.”

Then he closed his eyes.

Yuanshan Su also smiled and looked at Xu Qing, her gaze weighty but full of interest.

Xu Qing ignored them.

The others present were in awe, and Patriarch Diling was feeling very excited. He knew that whether in position or status, he was far beneath the eight Shining Stars. What was more, though he hadn’t seen anything during the conflict of canons just now, he had been in a much better position to see the event than the other cultivators present. As a result, he was rejoicing inside. He was also very glad that he had chosen not to attack Xu Qing back in the Desert of Time. Otherwise….

Patriarch Diling took a deep breath, and his heart started to race. All of a sudden, he realized that this entire situation might be a great opportunity for him. An opportunity most other people could only dream of.

Lowering his voice, he respectfully said, “Exalted one, I just remembered something else about the Aurora Immortal Palace….”

He had changed the way he addressed Xu Qing without even thinking about it.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, looked at Patriarch Diling and waited for him to continue.

“Exalted one, like I said before, there are eight worlds in the Aurora Immortal Palace. The way to determine which world you’re on is to look at the boundary stele. Each world has one, and it has the number of the world on it.

“Normally speaking, Imperial Sovereigns go into the third world. And that’s where they stay. Only people with canon, or Quasi-Immortals, will go to the fourth world or beyond. Of course, the destined opportunities and good fortune improve with each level. Supposedly, if you can get into the eighth world, you’ll get a destined opportunity leading to the Summer Immortal level! That’s why Quasi-Immortals are so interested in this place!

“When the Fallen Immortal Moors open up, everyone starts out at the same place, the immortal foyer. From there, you have to select one of three paths.

“The first path is in the middle. Supposedly, it goes to a bridge.

“The second path is on the left, and it’s a tranquil trail.

“And on the right, there’s an endless black river. That’s the third path.

“From ancient times until now, the Aurora Immortal Palace has only had those three paths.

“Remember, exalted one, you can’t cross the bridge. Based on all of the written accounts, five out of ten people who go that way end up dead. The path to the left is dangerous, but eight out of ten people who go there have no trouble. It’s the best option out of the three.”

Patriarch Diling wasn’t holding anything back, and was explaining all the details that he knew.

“What about the right-hand path?” Xu Qing asked.

The person to answer wasn’t Patriarch Diling, but rather, Li Mengtu.

“Ten out of ten die,” he said. He looked at Xu Qing. “What this guy just said is true. The left-hand path is the only safe one. And the difference compared to the others is significant. The trail on the left goes directly to the third level. There is no chance of it taking you to the first or second level.

“If you go across the bridge, you’ll reach the second level. It’s dangerous, but there are more destined opportunities there. If you go that way, though, you can’t get to the first level. Taking the path on the right is the most complete of all paths, because you start at the first level. But no one has ever survived that.”

Xu Qing nodded and was about to ask another question when he suddenly looked at the stone stele up ahead. The surging spirit energy there had reached a deafening level, as if it were a raging tide. The wind kicked up. The spirit tide surged. In the shortest of moments, it covered the moors. From a distance, it looked like everyone present was being covered over by a sea of spirit energy.

At the same time, an incredibly majestic immortal palace appeared within the spirit sea. Dazzling colors spread out everywhere. Compared to it, all of the people present were like ants.

What was more, more cultivators were still arriving.

1. This passage is a line of text from the Erya, which is an ancient Chinese text that Wikipedia describes as “a dictionary, glossary, synonymicon, thesaurus, and encyclopaedia.” As the Wikipedia article itself says, it has not been fully translated into English. I couldn’t find a translation of this passage, although I didn’t spend too much time on it, as it seems to me the author simply used it because it mentions mist and gloom. Incidentally, the Chinese character I’m rendering as gloom is a sort of unique character referring to darkness, obscurity, night. It’s not commonly used by the author. ☜

2. Yuanshan’s surname means “distant mountain(s),” so there is some wordplay connection between her canon and her name. ☜

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