Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1142: Escaping the Fairy Tale

The second world was like a painting, and now it was split into two parts. One part was orange, and it was spreading. The other part was white, and it was being painted.

It was like a chase…. Something like an orange sea roared as the monster within it raged wickedly. As the orange sea spread, a five-colored shadow sped away from it.

That five-colored shadow was Xu Qing. He was fleeing with all his might. The orange sea behind him howled dangerously. He knew that if he slowed down even a bit, he would be devoured by the sea.

The imp with the three words on its head was also running, but he seemed very calm. Matching Xu Qing’s speed perfectly, he ran along and said, “Hurry up! The monster’s coming!

“Yo! Monster! If you’ve got what it takes, speed up! If you can eat my son, I’ll admit you’re pretty amazing! Come on! Pull out your best tricks. Beat my son to death. Beat him to death!

“Son, why are you running so slowly? You listen to me, if you get caught, then daddy won’t save you.”

The imp’s voice was quite annoying to Xu Qing, especially when combined with the howls of the monster. He felt provoked.

The orange sea chasing Xu Qing seethed with even greater intensity. And then it transformed, becoming an extremely ugly and vicious-looking xuanwu turtle. Xu Qing’s face fell, and he barely managed to avoid being snapped up by the xuanwu turtle.

“See? SEE??” the imp shrieked. “What did I just say? Hey, monster, you’re a real bastard!”[1]

The monster seemed to get angrier. Then the xuanwu turtle transformed into an orange toad. It was covered with orange sludge, and its croaks were like thunder. It would occasionally jump forward and occasionally spit out orange muck. It was a lot more ferocious-looking than the turtle from earlier.

The fleeing Xu Qing felt greater pressure than ever, and on a few occasions he barely avoided being caught by the toad. The danger he was in only seemed to get the imp more excited.

“That’s right. That’s right! You really are an ugly toad, you bastard turtle! You’re evil. Hideous! Can you do anything else but spit stuff out of your mouth? If you’ve got what it takes then spit it a bit farther, why don’t you?”

Xu Qing’s scalp went numb. And then the orange sea seethed, and the toad disappeared. In its place came… a huge sea cucumber. It spat out a very long stream of orange paint that covered everything as it shot toward Xu Qing.

The imp was ecstatic. “You headless, faceless weirdo! You really transformed into something appropriate this time. You have a body that’s covered with spikes but is totally limp! Most outrageous is that you’re actually peeing in our direction! Get out of the way, son! The bastard turtle is angry! It’s trying to cover us in pee!”

It seemed there was no escape from the orange paint that was falling onto them. The imp reached out, made another circle, and jumped in. Xu Qing followed. When they reappeared, they were somewhere else. The imp put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“My son ain’t scared of that! You missed, loser!”

Xu Qing was at a complete loss for words. No matter how the monster changed, the appearance was ugly and evil. It seemed obvious it was a representation of the imp’s rage and hatred toward the Immortal Paragon. At the moment, Xu Qing wasn’t going to bother wondering why the imp kept calling him ‘son.’ It was becoming very obvious… that the imp was off in the head.

The orange sea howled and raged. But it didn’t transform again. Instead, the monster walked out of the sea, whereupon a rain of blood began to fall in the world. The monster started chasing Xu Qing.

The imp screamed. “He’s angry! He’s really angry!”

The monster suddenly flung the bucket in its hand, and orange paint filled the sky. It spread out so thoroughly above Xu Qing that there was no possibility of evading it. In fact, the imp drew another circle… only for it to fail. Everything was affected, making escape impossible.

The furious monster thrust the paintbrush in its right hand directly in Xu Qing’s direction.

The sudden danger caused the imp’s eyes to open wide. “The monster is really pulling out all the stops!”

The imp blurred. It was made of threads, which unraveled as it blurred. It was using some move that Xu Qing couldn’t comprehend to disappear without a trace…. Xu Qing frowned, but then relaxed and just looked at the orange paint overhead and the paintbrush sweeping toward him. He refused to believe that the imp had come to get him only to get him halfway away. That didn’t seem like something Immortal Lord Aurora’s rancorous will would do.

That means there’s still a chance to escape.

Xu Qing just stood there, and ultimately, he was proved right. Even as the paintbrush and the orange color neared, a line appeared in the empty spot right in front of him. A head stuck out of it. It was the imp. He looked at Xu Qing for a moment, then drew something with his hand.

What appeared right in front of Xu Qing was… a sundial! Then the imp mimed the motion of turning the sundial back. And finally, he looked at Xu Qing in anticipation. This was clearly a test.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. The orange paint and the paintbrush were closing in, so there wasn’t time to sit around pondering what to do. His space-time canon suddenly erupted and he reached out and spun the gnomon. If he didn’t have canon related to space-time, his action would have resulted in nothing at all. Only someone with space-time canon, or with a space-time canon treasure, could do something with that sundial.

When Xu Qing took action… everything spun! The paintbrush and the paint went backward.

The imp’s expression became one of extreme excitement. “Son, you really are my son!”

Even as those words left the imp’s mouth, the monster roared. The roar was so terrifyingly powerful that it ripped space-time to shreds and shattered the sundial. The orange paint and the paintbrush returned.

This time, the imp didn’t flee. Instead, he roared with laughter.

“Bahahaha! My son isn’t scared!”

He strode in front of Xu Qing, blocking him from the monster, his face full of excitement and pride. As he put one hand on his waist, a cape appeared on his back. And his right hand… suddenly had a sword in it. It was a strange sword, as it was surrounded by numerous threads that represented its astonishing sword light. As for the cape, it swirled despite there being no wind. At the same time, a proud song could just barely be heard in the air…. All of this indicated… what the imp truly represented!

“Let the glory of justice shine down on my son!” the imp said loudly, raising the sword up and slashing it down on nothing. Justice split the world apart. Sticking his chin up, he tossed something to Xu Qing that looked like a jade slip made of threads.

“Son,” he said coolly, “get out of here. You can leave now. You’ve escaped the monster. From here on out, you can roam wherever you wish!”

Xu Qing accepted the jade slip, turned, and fled into the rift. As he did, he heard the imp speaking behind him.

“Go! You’ve made the decision to go, so why stay? I said for you to go! From now on, there won’t be anybody to take care of you. Whether you live or die, it will all be up to your own destiny….

“From now on, your path is your own to walk…. If you fall down, nobody will be there to lift you up. No one will laugh and tousle your hair and offer encouragement. From now on, nobody will protect you. You have to learn how to protect other people. From now on, you… are going to have to grow up. From now on, you won’t be in a fairy tale….”

Although the imp was clearly smiling, it sounded more like he was crying…. The orange paint and the paintbrush never fell. The monster no longer looked angry. He looked kind. Finally, there was a sigh. And then one more thing was said, though it was impossible to say if it was the monster speaking, or the imp. Maybe it was both.

“So, what is rebellion, my son…?”

***

The voice faded into obscurity.

After Xu Qing entered the rift, something different appeared in his senses. It was height.

The world in front of him returned to normal. There were seven colors in the sky. The spirit energy was strong. Immortal sounds drifted in the air, and nearby immortal pavilions shone dazzlingly. This was… the immortal palace!

Xu Qing was no longer a five-colored shadow. His fleshly body was back from within time. His eyes were open. He was in the third world.

Taking a deep breath, he thought back to what he had experienced in the two previous worlds. He had gained a lot of enlightenment. Whether it was the substructure of those two worlds, or the stories hidden within the fairy tales.

First came Grandmaster Bai, and then came everything he had heard as he left. He looked down at his hand, which held a jade slip. It was the jade slip the imp had given him in the second world. Originally, it had been made of the same threads that made up the second world, but now… it had gained height, and he could feel it. It was a real jade slip!

He scanned it with divine will. There was nothing inside of it. It was empty. He had no idea why the imp had given it to him. Suddenly, he found himself thinking back to the words he had heard as he left the second world.

That monster represented the Immortal Paragon. And the imp was Aurora. On the surface, it seems like Aurora was a rebel, and the Immortal Paragon was chasing him down to kill him. But based on the last thing I heard, I feel like there’s a deeper meaning…. It felt like I was hearing a father talk to a son.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything.

There’s definitely more to the story of Aurora and the Immortal Paragon. Considering this jade slip comes from a lower level world, it must be remarkable in some way.

After some thought, Xu Qing took a deep breath and prepared to put the jade slip away. Just as he did… a crafty voice suddenly spoke from the jade slip.

“Hahaha! Did you really believe me, son?”

1. There is some wordplay here, as the word I’m rendering as ‘bastard’ in this context also is a word that means turtle. ☜

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!