Beyond the Timescape - Chapter 1183: Undying Space-Time
Chapter 1183: Undying Space-Time
Outside of the immortal palace, and beyond the Fifth Star Ring’s western region… was the eastern planetary system.
At the highest point there was a collection of 1,000,000 pagodas. Even viewed from a distance, the pagodas seemed to go on forever. The pagodas glittered as if with starlight, and were organized in such a way that they apparently corresponded to actual heavenly bodies in the starry sky. What was more, all of the pagodas were connected to each other by a network of chains that represented order.
Located in the very middle of the 1,000,000 pagodas, there was one specific pagoda that was taller than all the others, whose radiant starlight illuminated the sky overhead. This was one of the most prominent pagodas in the entire star ring.
An old man in a daoist robe stood in that pagoda, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared off in the direction of the west. He had the demeanor of a transcendent being, with flowing white hair and eyes that seemed to contain the cyclings of the universe itself.
He was none other than the Pagoda Lord of the Star Ring Pagoda! And he was the Lower Immortal who was entrusted with guarding the east! He was also… Sir Star Ring’s Master!
“Sir Star Ring is fated to endure the Sun Lord Tribulation! That type of tribulation didn’t exist in the past. But a few years ago, it suddenly appeared…. Like the sudden arrival of an assassin, it restrains the fate of the sun lord. If he passes the tribulation, he will achieve the dao of the great rising sun of the east.”
The old man performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, and then… his eyes glittered. “If there are no twists and turns during the tribulation, then how could good fortune spring from extreme adversity? Sir Star Ring must accept the tribulation!”
***
Tribulation had come!
In the immortal palace’s fifth world, Sir Star Ring shook from head to toe. His five yin organs and six yang organs were in chaos. Coughing up a massive mouthful of blood, he staggered backward seven paces. Every step he took caused starlight to glitter around him.
Within him, determination surged. He was Sir Star Ring, the number one chosen in the eastern planetary system. And he was publicly recognized to be number one in his generation in the entire Fifth Star Ring. It was correct to say that he had lived a life of brilliance and glory. Whether because of his family background or his success in cultivation, he was a superstar.
His Master had arranged for him to inherit the Star Ring name from the Star Ring Pagoda, all to further his dao. And his Master had also arranged for Sir Vilespirit and Zhou Zhengli to be whetstones for him to hone his abilities.
Before meeting Xu Qing, his fate, his destiny, and his path had all been unobstructed. He didn’t have any misfortune to deal with. But then he met Xu Qing, and had been stymied at every turn. It was the case with his attempt to maintain order in the fourth world, as well as his attempted breakthrough in the fifth world. In fact, it had reached the point where he was starting to think that all of it had been foreordained.
And yet, even as that feeling rose within him… Sir Star Ring’s eyes glittered with cold light, all as a sharp blade within him cut away such thoughts, smashed any barriers, and destroyed thoughts of foreordination.
I’m in control of my life! he thought. He looked at Xu Qing, and the aura of a Quasi-Immortal built within him. The power of a Grand Emperor surged as countless chains appeared out of nowhere all around him. The sense of order was inimitably intense. He still had one move left….
The moment he stepped into the Quasi-Immortal level, he gained enlightenment of the balance that came when he upgraded his canon of order. And during that process, he had extracted something from within his life force. It was a measure of… law!
And that law had a name.
“Heaven’s principle!” Sir Star Ring said, reaching out with his right hand and making a grasping gesture. When he spoke, his words resonated like the sounds of heaven. “Come here!”[1]
A ripple spread through the fifth world as Xu Qing took a step forward, then stopped in place, his eyes gleaming. He had just sensed that there was something different about Sir Star Ring compared to earlier.
Earlier, he had perceived Sir Star Ring with great clarity. But now… he was blurry. And it wasn’t just Sir Star Ring himself, but also the space-time surrounding him. His past, present, and future, as well as all of his parallels, all became blurry at the same time.
A sense of great danger erupted inside Xu Qing. And the source… was Sir Star Ring’s invisible hand! Astonishingly, there was a mote in that hand, something that resembled a speck of dust! The moment Xu Qing spotted it, his heart raced. He suddenly had the sense that he was facing the entire starry sky. It could not be defied or seized!
The Quasi-Immortal Grand Emperors who were watching the events play out were visibly taken aback.
“Is that…?”
“Heaven’s principle??”
“Very impressive of Sir Star Ring!”
The canon of order could be upgraded to balance. By commanding the canon of balance, Sir Star Ring could walk the path of the Quasi-Immortal. But after breaking out of Quasi-Immortal and stepping into Lower Immortal, balance wouldn’t be enough. Sir Star Ring would need to push his canon of order to the highest peak.
After balance came… heaven’s principle!
However, it shouldn’t have been possible for Sir Star Ring to gain sufficient enlightenment of his canon to push it to the level of heaven’s principle. Normally speaking, he would seek enlightenment during the process of transforming his immortal embryo into a mature immortal. It wouldn’t be until the very end that he would have a portion of heaven’s principle! That was when he would become a Lower Immortal! That was the path he should tread going forward.
He shouldn’t have been able to do it now. But he was the number one Shining Star. What was more, he was the only one of the Shining Stars who had not relied on the Senior generation to provide his canon. He had relied only on himself to become the most astounding chosen of the generation. And thus, though seeking heaven’s principle had been difficult, in the moment of his cultivation base breakthrough, he had extracted… a mote of heaven’s principle!
That mote was the source of the danger Xu Qing sensed. Sir Star Ring waved his hand, and the mote… descended!
An unstoppable force bore down on Xu Qing! This mote of heaven’s principle could bury all things. It could reject your ability to even exist! Xu Qing’s pupils constricted, and the sense of danger within him grew to an incredible level. However, there was no time to formulate a complicated plan.
As the mote descended, it entered Xu Qing’s world and appeared in front of him. It looked like a mote of dust, but it was almost infinitely heavy, and nothing Xu Qing did would enable him to defend against it. Rumbling sounds filled his mind. His fleshly body, unable to sustain the force, began to crumble. The same thing happened to his soul as the mote continued to fall.
Xu Qing struggled to breathe as a sensation of impending death swept over him like tide waters. There was no time for thought or planning. Lunging backward, he left the fifth world, and in fact, he left the immortal palace entirely.
When he reappeared, he was out on the Fallen Immortal Moors. And yet… he was still sinking into death. His life was still draining away. His fleshly body couldn’t last any longer, and it exploded. He existed only in drifting soul form as he shot across the Fallen Immortal Moors along with his canon.
Unfortunately, heaven’s principle just couldn’t be stopped. An instant later… Xu Qing’s soul exploded.
As it dissipated, he bitterly thought about the life he had lived. And he thought about how things had gone so poorly in the fourth world. But at least working together with Sir Star Ring, he had managed to maintain order. And that had earned him the right to enter the fifth world. Unfortunately, the destined opportunity he had encountered in the fifth world gave him no choice. Sir Star Ring, who he had considered a friend, ultimately became his greatest enemy.
That was fate. Xu Qing sighed and dispersed into nothing. The space-time around him crumbled before being erased out of existence.
Astonishingly, as that space-time collapsed, another Xu Qing appeared in the immortal palace’s fifth world, and he was currently falling back at high speed. There was still a mote falling down toward him. In the end… he was destroyed in body and soul. Yet the battle still went on. A third Xu Qing appeared, also falling back.
As these scenes played out, the Quasi-Immortal Grand Emperors who were watching the fight reacted with strange expressions.
“This person… has space-time canon!”
“He’s taken his space-time canon to such a high level that it’s manifesting as law.”
“He’s using space-time selves to substitute for his true body in death!”
As they saw Sir Star Ring’s mote falling, and Xu Qing using substitutions to meet it, something astonishing suddenly happened. A host of space-time fluctuations suddenly appeared, along with numerous instances of different space-times. And all of those space-times began to eat away at the mote of heaven’s principle.
In the blink of an eye, three space-times collapsed. After that, seven of them collapsed. Next, a total of twenty collapsed. As one space-time after another collapsed, the mote of heaven’s principle got lighter and lighter. It got blurrier and blurrier. Finally, after forty-six space-times had been destroyed… the mote collapsed into ashes.
The remaining space-times glittered, and within one of them, Xu Qing looked up at Sir Star Ring, his eyes shining.
“This heaven’s principle is very impressive….” His heart was already starting to pound from the thought of it.
A bitter look appeared on Sir Star Ring’s face as he heard Xu Qing’s words. He was currently looking at the area surrounding his opponent. Endless space-time fluctuations rolled out. He had no idea how many space-times there were, so he had no idea of what limits his opponent had. What was more, he had no way to know who he was talking to. Was it someone from a different space-time, or was it his true body?
This was the canon of parallelism. The magic of overlapping universes ensured that whenever Xu Qing faced an opponent, he could use a version of himself from another space-time to substitute for him in death.
In theory, he could do it endlessly. But in reality, he had a limit. He was hindered because of his immortal embryo, as well as his opponent’s command of canon. Because of that, he couldn’t go past 54 right now!
What was more, there were downsides to his death substitution magic. The versions of himself from other space-times were actually connected to his true self. They were like secondary versions. And therefore, when they died, it did have an effect on his true body in the real world. He could deal with those effects, and they wouldn’t do anything to his foundation.
But what it meant was that the key to killing Xu Qing was… to destroy all of the space-times he was using, and kill all of the space-time selves. Only then could an opponent truly put an end to Xu Qing.
Speaking calmly from within that instance of space-time, Xu Qing said, “What I’m wondering now is if killing you would allow me to extract that mote of heaven’s principle from your life force….”
He extended his hand, and astonishingly, an overflow of sword will spilled out, transforming into… The Emperor’s Sword! I wasn’t just a single version of The Emperor’s Sword. All of the Xu Qing’s in the other surrounding space-times also extended their hands and summoned the sword. Then all of them slashed forth!
It was impossible to tell which of them was in the real world. And it wasn’t possible to identify which stream of sword energy was real and which was illusory. The streams of sword energy slashed out of their respective space-times, then converged in the fifth world, forming an astonishing and deadly sword that shot toward Sir Star Ring.
In the blink of an eye, they slashed right through him! After going through him, the remaining sword energy tore open a huge hole in the air behind him. As for Sir Star Ring, he shivered from head to toe, and then his body… collapsed and turned into ashes.
All of the space-times began to vanish, and all the other versions of Xu Qing, including the one who had just been speaking, blurred.
That was when the real Xu Qing stepped out of the depths of one of the space-times, and hovered in front of the spot where Sir Star Ring had died. His gaze hardened. He did not sense any change to his Immortal Capital permission medallion.
Not dead?
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed, yet he didn’t look very surprised. This was the number one Shining Star, and he had just experienced a breakthrough. It was no stretch of the imagination to assume he would have astonishing life-saving abilities.
But I still want that mote of heaven’s principle….
He reached out and made a grasping motion backed by space-time. The spot where Sir Star Ring had died rippled, and then a stream of energy flew from it into Xu Qing’s hand.
It was a scrap of energy, evidence left behind by Sir Star Ring that could be used to track him. After taking a moment to study it, Xu Qing’s eyes flashed coldly.
“He’s not far off!”
1. The term “heaven’s principle” or perhaps “heavenly principles” is a real-life term used by Neo-Confucian philosophers to explain the universe. Another dictionary definition is “natural order,” and I was even tempted to translate it as that. Considering that Sir Star Ring was on the side of “order,” it makes sense. However, the characters are completely different from those I’ve been translating as “order,” and I don’t want to create a false character connection. So I will stick with ‘heaven’s principle.’ ☜
