Beyond the Timescape - Chapter 1092: The Heaven of a Minor World
Chapter 1092: The Heaven of a Minor World
Looking up at the eight eyeballs and the blood-red light they emitted, Xu Qing thought, Based on what I’ve seen over the past few days, I can tell that days on this world are thirty-four hours long. That’s a bit longer than Revered Ancient.And that means that it’ll be another eight hours before the ninth eyeball appears. While I’m waiting….
Xu Qing closed his eyes to assess his current cultivation base and battle prowess. He had been very familiar with his god clone, including its godly authority and other assets.
When going into battle like that, I could turn into a real killing machine. As for this immortal body….
Truth be told, he had not yet had a chance to have a real fight with this body.
When he fought Grand Emperor Netherflame, he had been working with his Eldest Brother to simply contain the enemy, and he had not used any divine abilities or magical techniques. Therefore, Xu Qing felt that his priority as he waited was to make sure all his magical techniques were in order and ready to use.
This immortal body cultivates the Ten Extreme Daos. However, because I’ve only reached the level of nine in both Spirit Trove and Void Returning, my current limit is nine extreme daos.
They start with the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Those serve as the foundation, and are also natural laws that govern the operation of heaven and earth. By using my five yin organs as the basis, I can use my own body to perform the cycles, as opposed to using heaven and earth as the origin. Because of that… my battle prowess is not limited by any specific location or world. In other words, I can use the power of the five elements anywhere I go.
Xu Qing lifted his hand and then stretched his fingers out and looked at them. A metal-type power gathered in his palm. When it reached an extreme level, Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed.
The dao of extreme metal will allow me to control any type of metal in heaven and earth. It’s not a specific magical technique, but rather, will rely on quick thinking to be beneficial. The same thing applies to wood, water, fire, and earth.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. With the dao of the five elements, all bits of wood around him could be pieced together based on his thoughts.
Theoretically speaking, the only limit to this five elements power is my own imagination. In other words, if I want divine abilities for the dao of five elements, I need to seek enlightenment about how to create them. Most importantly… any individual element can make a divine ability. Or, they can all be combined into a divine ability.
After experimenting briefly with each of the five elements, a thoughtful look appeared on his face.
Now, let’s deal with Little Shadow. Little Shadow does not suffer from any limitations because of the switch between god clone and immortal body.
Xu Qing waved his hand, and his shadow stretched out in all directions, ultimately covering the entire mountain. At that point, Xu Qing was able to see Little Shadow’s true form. It was a huge tree with a coffin hanging down from it, covered with numerous eyes. It pulsed with ingratiating emotional fluctuations.
And then there’s The Emperor’s Sword.
The Emperor’s Sword was part of immortal cultivation, so naturally speaking, it couldn’t stay inside a god clone long-term. Therefore, Xu Qing had extracted it and put it into his immortal body. Upon sensing the sword within him, he recalled the various sword stances Grand Emperor Swordsage had demonstrated.
Earth Treasury. Rending the Void. Heavenly Palaces. Star Splendor… The Human World.
Xu Qing spent some time mentally reviewing the five sword techniques before moving on.
Beyond all that, my magical techniques include Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits as well as my immortal skills.
A black spark appeared on Xu Qing’s forehead, which turned into a golden crow. Black fire spread all around him, which he could control and bolster with the dao of extreme fire. As the golden crow’s many tails spread, Xu Qing sensed something like a cheer coming from it.
After some contemplation, Xu Qing went on to the immortal skills. Immortal skills were a type of forbidden magic, and Xu Qing’s control was limited. He had Six Thieves Deceive Life and Five Dogs Cleave Immortals. The former had two dao lineaments, while the latter would require some personal enlightenment.
I can still use them.
His eyes shone with mysterious light as his authority of erasure formed.
Then I have my magical treasures….
He waved his hand, and three beams of light shot out. Three magical treasures. The first was a needle that could stitch karma. The second was a pair of shears that could sever perception. The third was a shield that could be used for defense. The first two came from the Vivifiends, while the last was something he had acquired in the Devilbird holy land. [1]
As for trump cards….
His eyes glittered
Fishing the Moon in the Well represents the dao of extreme space. That’s the first. My life essence sundials can influence the timescape, and they represent the dao of extreme time. That’s the second. And I have one more, assuming I can assemble it with the five elements. And that’s the God Decapitation Altar! Or I guess the most accurate way to say it would be a five elements God Decapitation Altar![2]
And finally…
He took a deep breath, and his expression became more serious.
The dao of extreme space and the dao of extreme time both have individual transformations.
He thought back to what he had seen when he opened his eyes in the vortex passageway.
Space was infinitely big and infinitely small. Time was infinitely long and infinitely short.
Xu Qing’s brow tightened into a frown, but soon relaxed. He knew that he needed enlightenment of additional factors before he could do anything like that with his immortal body. In fact, study and training was why he had chosen to travel to the Immortal Capital in the Fifth Star Ring to begin with.
There’s no reason to get anxious.
Calming his heart and mind, he closed his eyes to seek enlightenment. And thus, eight hours ticked by. At that point, ripples flowed through the dome of heaven, accompanied by thunderous rumblings.
All living beings were shaken to the core and instinctively looked up. High in the sky… a ninth eyeball had appeared. The moment it was there, the entire sky turned crimson! The gloomy world was stained with red, until everything… was the color of blood. A terrifying aura descended from above, becoming a dreadful tempest that covered anything and everything.
Along with it came the sound of murmuring, which were the voices of the heavenly daos speaking into the ears of all living beings. It became like thunder.
Then, all people in the world, be they mortals or cultivators, regardless of whether they were in villages or cities, or even out in the wilderness… all prostrated toward the dome of heaven. Regardless of what their facial expressions had been before, the murmuring caused them to look fanatical. And regardless of how emaciated they were or how withered their life force was, they didn’t hesitate to sacrifice some of themselves.
It was the same with children and the elderly. Everyone participated. Because of the willing sacrifice, the life force became streams of white smoke that rose up into the air toward the nine blood-colored eyeballs.
The eyeballs absorbed it!
As Xu Qing coldly observed things play out, he circulated his cultivation base, tapped into his five yin organs, and activated his seven major worlds. Spirit power flowed into his eyes.
That was when he could see that he wasn’t looking at nine eyeballs! Astonishingly, there were nine spell formations. And within each spell formation was a skeletal corpse seated cross-legged.
They still have life force. They’re not dead.
Xu Qing studied the nine corpses; he could tell from their facial features that they weren’t species from this world. They were human!
They’re all wearing the same clothes, too. Are they from the same organization? How were they injured?
As Xu Qing watched, the life force from the world converged on the nine corpses. However, after that, it came out of the tops of their heads and drifted off to a distant location that Xu Qing couldn’t see….
They’re not injured. They’re actually filtering out impurities!
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. Around then, a faint aura of awakening appeared on Xu Qing’s shoulder. Next, Starfire slowly transformed from a clay fox statue back into a flesh-and-blood form.
When shē opened hēr eyes, shē grumbled, “Where the hell are we, boy? Which star ring did we end up in? Why does this place suppress gods so strongly? It’s terrifying…. In fact, it rejects all forms of godly power! I could barely wake myself up.”
When Xu Qing didn’t answer, shē opened hēr eyes and looked at the lands below. Hēr pupils constricted.
“There’s a Flawless God sealed underground!” Shē studied the surrounding world, then noticed the nine eyeballs in the dome of heaven. Shē gasped. “It’s a god-assimilating spell formation!”
“Senior,” Xu Qing said, “I did make it clear that I was going to a place that doesn’t welcome gods.”
Starfire shrank in on hērself and weakly said, “The force of suppression on me is too strong. This isn’t a matter of ‘not welcoming’ gods…. This is a minor world set up specifically to assimilate a god. It’s extracting power from the god below to nourish the living beings here. But that’s only the first level of filtration. Next, the living beings send their life force to those nine cultivators. That’s the second level of filtration.
“After those two levels, an incomparably pure power is sent out for someone else to absorb. Very ruthless. In fact, this is even more ruthless than your Revered Ancient. I wonder who set this up. And how many formations like this are there….”
Starfire was clearly afraid of this place. After some thought, shē transformed into an earring on Xu Qing’s ear.
“This should be safer,” shē whispered. Then a tongue emerged from the earring and licked Xu Qing’s ear. Shē could sense the energy of his primal yang. That seemed to placate hēr a bit.
It felt a bit unsettling to Xu Qing, but considering the state Starfire was in, he didn’t stop hēr. He looked back up at the nine eyeballs in the dome of heaven.
“I don’t think they’ve sensed you,” Starfire said dully. “Are you just going to leave this place?”
Xu Qing shook his head. “It would be simple to break free. But there are likely more levels of defense outside. I’m still not fully recovered. What’s more, considering I don’t know the full story, I don’t want to do anything until I’m back at my peak.”
He had always been the type of person who remained unflustered. And he was extremely patient. He had been like that as a child, and that hadn’t changed after he joined Seven Blood Eyes. He was in an unfamiliar place, and therefore his best options were either to do nothing, or to wait until he was confident about what would happen if he did do something.
“Fine,” Starfire said. “I won’t do anything to help you for now. The pressure is too immense. I need to sleep a bit to get used to it.”
Starfire seemed very listless, and at the same time, helpless. All shē could do was grumble to hērself about the risk shē had taken to come to a hellish place like this for some primal yang.
Xu Qing just nodded and continued to observe what was happening.
And thus, the night passed.
The living beings in this world made this same sacrifice whenever the nine eyeballs came out. When the day dawned, the sacrifice was over, and all of them were in an extremely weak state. That said, the nine eyeballs didn’t absorb too much life force. They left some behind. That ensured that there was always some hope in the world, and people didn’t descend into true despair.
Up above, eight of the eyeballs were no longer visible. There was only one there.
In the following days, Xu Qing remained seated cross-legged atop the mountain. By the time a fourth eyeball was visible above, the injuries he had sustained in the Primeval Sea vortex were fully recovered. He was back at his peak.
He didn’t waste any time. For the next few days, he sought enlightenment about how to combine the dao of the five elements with the God Decapitation Altar. He also spent some time thinking about his experiences with space and time in the vortex passageway. He was becoming increasingly convinced that what he had experienced with space and time in the vortex were going to be crucial in confirming the dao he was personally searching for.
Time passed.
The world grew increasingly crimson as the ninth day came. The ninth terrifying eyeball slowly appeared in the canopy of heaven. Blood-colored light spread as the living beings began to offer their sacrifice.
Xu Qing stood.
“It’s time to leave,” he said calmly, and he stepped up into the sky!
The sky trembled. Lightning snaked out beneath his feet in all directions. Each step he took seemed to shake the entire world, and the brilliance of the spreading lightning vied with heaven itself!
The nine eyeballs suddenly stopped absorbing the life force energy. And then, as they sensed Xu Qing, they swiveled to face him!
1. The needle first appeared in chapter 974.2. The shears first appeared in chapter 980. The shield first appeared in chapter 1070. ☜
2. The God Decapitation Altar section started in about chapter 633 and went on for something like ten chapters. After that, Xu Qing used it a handful of times in various chapters. ☜
