Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1160: This Game Is Unwinnable!

Fourth True Monarch cultivated the canon of order. And thus, over the years, he had tracked down everyone who competed with him by cultivating the same canon, and killed them. Thus, the canon became his own. His dao of order became completely and utterly unique.

Unless he died, it would be impossible for anyone else in existence to take the canon of order. As of this moment, thirteen canons had appeared, yet only three canonical orders emerged from within the coffins.

“Wind cannot exist here!”

The moment the words drifted out, all wind in heaven and earth vanished. Countless grains of sand began to fall to the ground.

“Sand cannot exist here!”

The grains of sand stopped moving, then turned into absolutely nothing.

Up in midair, the black-garbed woman looked on, eyes narrowed.

Then came the third and last canonical order. “Other than me, no one from outside this space-time can exist here!”

A terrifying force descended as if to purify the area and drive everything away. When it hit the black-garbed woman, who shivered from head to toe, her consciousness started peeling away. Then, the eyes behind the mask turned crimson. Laughter rang out. It was a sinister, disdainful laughter.

“You’re not the real Fourth True Monarch, nor the Immortal Lord. So you order things not to happen, and you think they just won’t?”

There was a sudden boom as the black-garbed woman exploded, turning into a host of sand grains that weren’t permitted to exist. Then the woman forcefully reappeared, whereupon everything in the area was different.

Simultaneously, back in Young Aurora Hall, Xu Qing tilted the game board, causing all the pieces to slide off onto the ground. A clattering sound filled the hall. It was as if heaven and earth were transforming completely.

The independent dimension surrounding the teleportation portal had turned into a desert! Sand spread out infinitely in all directions. Within that desert was an invisible hand, drawing the outlines of various images.

An eagle spread its wings, letting loose a piercing cry as it shot toward Sir Star Ring. A rhino stepped out, threw its head back, and bellowed as it rushed in the same direction. A shapeless mass, like the outline of heavenly soldiers and commanders, formed and charged forth.

It was like a mural made from sand. The images came one after another!

Next, a blazing sun appeared in the mural of the desert, drawn by the invisible hand. Within it was a sun god. A bright moon rose, and a moon god was in it, looking down at all heaven and earth. Words appeared that turned into a story, which became a thread that formed the outline of another figure. The mural of the desert was transforming.

A figure bearing a sword materialized, surrounded by raging sword energy. He wore an imperial robe and crown, and was none other than the past life origin of the three souls Sunfire, Starfire, and Moonfire. This was the human emperor of that world that existed outside of the Revered Ancient mainland![1]

The desert rumbled as Sir Star Ring tumbled backward. At the same time, the desert world began to collapse and disperse. It was turning back into a teleportation portal!

Sir Star Ring’s face was still very grim, but as everything from before faded away, he realized that he still had a bit of the aura from Sir Vilespirit’s broken sword!

Time was up.

Up in midair, the black-garbed woman’s aura was weak. She backed up, and was on the verge of fading into nothing.

Eyes glittering coldly, Sir Star Ring said, “Well, you came here intending to throw my order into chaos. In that case….”

He reached out toward the black-garbed woman in a clutching motion. The sound of his voice transformed into a majestic spell formation. Chains whipped out, becoming a formation of order. And then, both formations glittered with silver light as they connected. As they spun, the power of order turned into a purifying force that swept over the black-garbed woman. In the blink of an eye, chains flew out of the spell formation to wrap up the figure in black. Then the sounds of order became magical symbols that flowed over the black robes.

As they poured into her, her consciousness started to be peeled away. Yet this black-garbed woman was no ordinary individual. Though she was in a weak state and in a bad situation, she still had a trump card to play.

All of a sudden, golden light surged out from the woman in black. Then the world changed again. It became nothing but sea and sky. The unusual thing was that the sky was below, the sea was overhead. Strangely, fish were swimming in the sky and birds were flying in the water. Everything was inverted. An enormous clay figure sat cross-legged in the sea, and was reflected in the sky. The clay figure’s eyes opened. One was real. One was false. It was a case of something true and something bogus. This was the godly authority of Starfire, which could invert the real and false![2]

An instant later, everything vanished, including the black-garbed woman. Only the chains remained, except they had nothing to latch onto, and could only clank around aimlessly. The peeling away had succeeded, but had also failed.

It was a success because the peeling method actually worked. But it was a failure because what it peeled away was false. An illusion.

Unfortunately, after such an interchange, the true identity of the black-garbed figure couldn’t be hidden from Sir Star Ring.

The fox maiden!

Sir Star Ring turned to look in the direction of Young Aurora Hall, his expression profoundly forbidding. Then he looked away. He had a more troublesome issue to deal with at the moment, thanks to the interference of the fox maiden. And there was nothing he could do about it.

An enraged figure had just appeared in the canopy of heaven, surrounded by boundless waves of lightning. It was none other than the Master of the middle-aged corrections officer who had just died. He was an honor guard in Scourgebolt Palace! He was glowering viciously, although inside he was actually laughing coldly.

That was because he was actually the real Sir Vilespirit! Because he had arrived in the fourth world a bit late, he had worked very hard to stay hidden. Using a secret magic known only to him, he had altered the perceptions of his apprentice, forcing the apprentice to believe himself to be Sir Vilespirit. He had even secretly put his canon treasure, the sword, into the apprentice to make him the perfect double, and also the perfect bait.

Then he had stayed hidden in the shadows to wait for his apprentice to foster the proper karma. That was why the apprentice, believing himself to be the real Sir Vilespirit, had done the things that Sir Vilespirit would have done. For example, betray the palace.

The real Sir Vilespirit had planned all along to operate from within the shadows and within the light at the same time. In that manner, he pinned down Fourth True Monarch while simultaneously making it possible for him to actually betray the palace. That had been his plan from the beginning.

However, based on how things played out, he eventually changed his mind. He came up with an even more ingenious plan.

As the lightning crackled, he rushed forward loudly and with great purpose so that he attracted a lot of attention. Moving at top speed, he shot toward the area protected by the spell formation, within which was the teleportation portal. He slammed into the formation. A huge boom rang out that filled the immortal palace.

“Exalted True Monarch, why did you murder my apprentice??” he shouted. Instantly, the immortal palace was thrown into an uproar.

Countless streams of divine will converged on the teleportation portal. The spell formation shattered, revealing Fourth True Monarch as well as the furious old honor guard from the Scourgebolt Palace. In addition, there on the ground was… the corpse of the corrections officer.

Sounding completely furious, Sir Vilespirit said, “My apprentice went out to collect some gloomthunder serum, only to be brutally executed right here. Look, he has lineaments of order on him! That’s obviously evidence that you killed him, True Monarch!

“You need to tell me right now what crime my apprentice committed that gave you the right to cut him down in cold blood! Don’t tell me he perpetrated some heinous act against the immortal palace! If that’s the case, then I’ll accept the matter without objection!

“But if you can’t provide a good explanation, then that means you murdered an innocent person. Not even you, True Monarch, can do something like that without providing compensation and accepting punishment. At the very least, you’ll be locked up, and depending on the severity, you could face the death penalty.”

Sir Star Ring said nothing in response. He knew that he had been boxed into a corner. Even if he had thought to get rid of the corpse sooner, it wouldn’t have done any good. It would be a simple matter to look back through time to see what happened. He really had killed the apprentice. Besides, there were other things that happened that he didn’t want anyone to see.

There were basically two options here. One would be to claim that the apprentice committed a crime worthy of death. The other option would be to say that he didn’t commit a crime.

If he had committed such a crime, then the killing could be justified. However, whatever crime he claimed had been committed, it needed to count as a betrayal in order to satisfy the honor guard. If that happened, then it would validate Sir Vilespirit’s betrayal, and it would cause significant waves in space-time. That, in turn, would mean that Sir Star Ring had failed to maintain order.

If the apprentice did not commit a crime, then Sir Star Ring would have no way to explain the killing!

Personal grudges or other enmities couldn’t be a good explanation. If Sir Star Ring admitted to killing for that reason, then it would raise the ire of the masses, and he would definitely be jailed. If that happened, then he would be trapped for the next half-month, and would have no way to prevent other outsiders from creating waves in space-time. That would amount to him losing the entire game of Go.

If you considered which of the two options was worse, it meant that there was really only one choice to make. And that was to claim that the apprentice had committed some crime that harmed the interests of the immortal palace.

How ruthless!

Sir Star Ring sighed inwardly. All of this was happening thanks to the interference of the fox maiden. If that hadn’t happened, he would have had time to deal with Sir Vilespirit, and would not be facing such a dilemma.

He could claim that the apprentice had been possessed. Unfortunately, Sir Vilespirit had already made a very persuasive argument, and unless he got what he wanted, it was obvious that he would demand hard evidence to prove any claim true or false.

Besides, claiming the apprentice had been possessed wouldn’t necessarily justify killing him. If anything, it would make people suspect that he had been killed to keep him quiet. After all, interrogation was the best option in a case like that, not execution.

If it wasn’t for the recent rumors, this situation might not be so serious. But the rumors were still circulating, and Fourth True Monarch was at the center of them all. People were saying that he had been possessed. That made things all the more dangerous. It was easy to imagine a scenario in which he tried to explain things away only to end up implicating himself.

Finally, Sir Star Ring looked up, first at Sir Vilespirit hovering in midair, and then at the distant Young Aurora Hall. Finally, he floated up into the air, his face completely expressionless.

“This person betrayed the palace! He has a classified jade slip on him with all the proof. That’s why I had no choice but to kill him!”

Sir Vilespirit trembled, and was visibly struggling to breathe steadily. He could sense the broken sword calling out excitedly to him. The connection between him and the sword was now closer than ever. Space-time was whipping up into a tempest. It was becoming a timescape vortex that no one else could see or even sense. Unheard-of waves were rolling out.

Over in Young Aurora Hall, Xu Qing was in the middle of picking up all the game pieces that had fallen down. He suddenly looked up and smiled faintly.

He was holding a handful of sand. It was time sand, and each grain represented a law of time. Every grain that entered into him could significantly bolster his space-time canon! That was how he had benefited from Sir Vilespirit stirring up waves in space-time.[3]

1. The story of this emperor was told in chapter 897. ☜

2. This reflects what we saw in chapter 663 and 706. ☜

3. The relation between time and sand seems to echo what happened in chapter 1117. ☜

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