Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1159: So, You Actually Showed Up

All of the important players’ focus was now gathered at that teleportation portal. Viewed from afar, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The teleportation portal stood there just like always, and it wasn’t possible to see the corrections officer or Fourth True Monarch.

In the guise of Fourth True Monarch, Sir Star Ring was using a special spell formation as well as space-time fluctuations to cut off the area from outside view. Only very unusual and special people could detect what was going on, and Sir Star Ring had notified all of them in advance of what was to come. The peace and calm visible from the outside was an illusion. If you stepped past that, you would immediately hear the sound of order, which was like heavenly thunder.

Sir Star Ring stood there, overflowing with power and majesty; his mere gaze seemed able to latch onto any deviant behavior and force it to revert to normalcy. When he spoke, his voice seemingly became substantive. It transformed into countless glittering magical symbols that swirled around to form a majestic spell formation.

Silver light seemed to inundate heaven and earth in the area. It was as if daytime had come. This was… a dao voice turning into order itself!

The spell formation sent dazzling light out as Fourth True Monarch’s canon erupted, weighing down on everything with crushing might. It was like a sea in the sky, weighing down on everything below.

And it was all focused on… Sir Vilespirit.

Mountain-toppling, sea-draining energy made Sir Vilespirit like a lone rowboat in an angry sea, tossed about by tsunami waves. But his eyes didn’t show even a hint of surrender. Rather, his battle spirit spiked, and the huge broken sword behind him emanated a very aggressive aura. The moment the shocking silver spell formation appeared, veins had bulged on his face, and they quickly made the shape of a ghost face, malevolent and infinitely gruish.

He reached out and touched the spell formation. In the blink of an eye, the spectacular broken sword began emanating heaven-shaking, earth-shattering sword reverberations. Shimmering light then flowed out across the sword, filling in the missing pieces.

In the blink of an eye, it was whole. Sir Vilespirit took the hilt, and then… slashed it toward the spell formation that represented order.

The sword and the spell formation hit each other. A deafening boom rang out. The formation was powerful, but the broken sword was stronger. It was like a violent criminal who would allow order to be imposed only to slash it apart with a sword! The spell formation crumbled into fragments.

Sir Vilespirit shivered from head to toe, all while coughing up gobs of blood. As he staggered backward, it seemed as if much of his life force and soul had been absorbed by the broken sword. That was the price he had to pay to use it.

But he obviously couldn’t worry too much about that now. Taking advantage of the time the sword had bought, he shot closer to the teleportation portal. He was nearly there.

Of course, there was no way Sir Star Ring had run out of options. He had hardly put any thought to what he did moments ago. In fact, his expression remained completely calm as he waved his hand. That movement caused the chains to writhe like silver snakes, swirling through heaven and earth to form an even more astonishing spell formation. Whether it was in terms of aura, momentum, pressure, or complexity, it was far superior to the previous ones. These chains had become pure order.

The formation immediately shot toward Sir Vilespirit.

Sir Vilespirit’s face fell. Although he had never fought Sir Star Ring before, he knew that Sir Star Ring was strong. After all, he was known as the number one chosen in the eastern planetary system. And yet, finding out firsthand how strong he was still came as a surprise.

Of course, he still had more cards to play. His eyes glinted ferociously, and veins bulged on his face as the ghost face completely overtook his facial features. It was like he had become a different person, and he was now pulsing with a terrifying aura.

Even as the spell formation descended, he reached back and grabbed the sword. Allowing it to draw deeply on his life force, he stabbed it toward the spell formation. The dome of heaven went dark. The broken sword hit the spell formation with unstoppable momentum, but as they made contact, both ceased to move.

An instant later, the tip of the sword pierced through the formation. However… it stopped at the tip! It wasn’t that the sword wasn’t up to the task. Rather, the wielder couldn’t sustain its use. Blood sprayed out of his mouth as his body withered significantly.

Sir Star Ring was on the other side of the spell formation, looking as calm as ever. Looking coldly at Sir Vilespirit, he waved his hand. A boundless power surged from the spell formation.

Sir Vilespirit spasmed as he tumbled backward before flopping onto the ground, blood oozing out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He couldn’t even hold the broken sword. It spun off to the side, where it stabbed into the ground emanating a regretful thrumming sound. Everything was over.

“With battle prowess like that, the fact that you’ve been at odds with Zhou Zhengli for so many years indicates that Zhou Zhengli really has been feigning weakness. He’s clearly pushed that ability to the highest level of perfection.”

Sir Star Ring reached out toward Sir Vilespirit. No amount of struggling did any good on the part of Sir Vilespirit. He was hoisted up to dangle in midair. Chains swept forth and surrounded him. The canon symbols formed from sound swept forth like sealing marks.

“Considering how you’ve misbehaved, I’m going to strip your consciousness out of this world and send you back.”

The canon of order surged. He had a unique canon. But after he came to the fourth world, it changed. Perhaps it had been blessed by order itself, or perhaps it was because his canon was the same as that of his host. But either way, it gained the power to destroy! His canon of order could destroy the consciousness of an opponent. It was like an explosive purification.

The body of the corrections officer began to shake violently and let loose shaky screams. The canon of order swept through him, destroying all remnants of Sir Vilespirit. The process didn’t take long. Soon, the purification was complete. The consciousness had been destroyed.

The dead corrections officer flopped to the ground, and the sword off to the side disappeared.

During the entire fight, Sir Star Ring’s expression hadn’t changed at all. But now he reacted with surprise.

My order isn’t something deadly. Normally speaking, after driving out Sir Vilespirit’s consciousness and destroying it, the host should have gone back to normal. Instead… he actually died?[1]

Sir Star Ring looked off into the distance, his eyes gleaming coldly.

There can be only one explanation. This person was Sir Vilespirit. But at the same time, he wasn’t Sir Vilespirit!

Put precisely, he deeply believed himself to be Sir Vilespirit. Combined with the fact that the sword within him was real, it obscured his own senses. Even when dying, he believed himself to be Sir Vilespirit. Therefore, after driving the will out, Sir Vilespirit died, and he died. And that was because the traces of Sir Vilespirit within him were part of who he truly was.

The actual Sir Vilespirit is still alive!

Sir Star Ring scowled. There were a lot of people putting game pieces into play. There was more than one person fishing in the pond.

There was one game board, but pieces were being played onto it by Xu Qing, Sir Star Ring, and others.

It was virtually impossible for someone to reach this level of cultivation without being able to plot and scheme. And even people who came across as being simple-minded only used that as camouflage. What people could see on the outside meant nothing. Any who trusted what they saw at first sight were only moments away from disappearing forever. Whether it was covert plotting or overt plotting, whether it was playing Go or fishing, there are always ways to deal with any situation.

Sir Star Ring’s eyes glittered. Though he wasn’t dealing with simpletons, he would still crush them all. And even if he slipped up somehow, he had the ability to set things back on course.

With that, he reached out toward the spot where the sword had disappeared. Instantly, an energy appeared that had nothing to do with order. It was the aura of the broken sword, and by using it, Sir Star Ring planned to track down the real Sir Vilespirit. Unfortunately, the aura wouldn’t stick around for much longer. It was already fading.

That’ll be enough time. I want one more kill!

Sir Star Ring’s eyes glittered with killing intent as he prepared to shoot off in the direction indicated by the sword. However, that was when something very dramatic happened.

Colors suddenly flashed in the sky. Then a tempest raged into being around the teleportation portal. Grains of sand shot up from the ground, joining the tempest to create… a sandstorm.

In the blink of an eye, Sir Star Ring… was prevented from leaving. As intense rumbling sounds filled the area, Sir Star Ring floated up into the air, his hair and robes whipping around him, his eyes glinting aggressively. He was currently looking at a figure emerging within the vast sandstorm.

It was a woman dressed in a voluminous black robe, whose face was hidden behind a mask. Of course, physical appearances could be faked, so that in itself meant nothing.[2]

“So, you actually showed up,” Sir Star Ring said, his eyes glittering as he sensed the unfamiliar aura.

His plan had involved two major goals. The first was to crush Sir Vilespirit and thus quell chaos and restore order. The other… was to fish out the person who had been spreading rumors behind the scenes. Because that person had targeted him, it seemed most likely that they had differing goals. That person was not interested in maintaining order, which meant… that if they didn’t show up after what happened with Sir Vilespirit, it would count as a win. And if they did show up… then Sir Star Ring would get the clues he needed to determine their identity.

He had put his opponent in a no-win situation. That said, this person had come at a very inopportune time, just when Sir Star Ring needed to go track down Sir Vilespirit.

Therefore, Sir Star Ring simply turned to leave. After all, the sword aura was disappearing. And most importantly, Sir Vilespirit had obviously been doing some fishing of his own, using the fake version of himself as bait. He was clearly trying to make an opportunity to betray the palace without allowing Sir Star Ring to make things right. There was no time to waste.

Unfortunately, it was obvious that this black-garbed woman wasn’t going to back down from a fight just because Sir Star Ring wanted to leave.

The moment Sir Star Ring started moving, the black-garbed woman waved a hand, and the sandstorm issued intense rumbling sounds as a huge pair of eyes appeared. The eyes were gray. They seemed apathetic and emotionless as they stared at Sir Star Ring….

He couldn’t move. He got the sense that, as soon as the eyes looked at him, he had no body, and his consciousness was being separated and turned into countless grains of sand. And within each grain of sand was an individual consciousness.

“How interesting….”

Eyes flashing, Sir Star Ring waved his hand, causing numerous chains to fly out. They quickly formed a vortex in front of him, out of which emerged thirteen silver coffins. The coffins were of varying sizes and shapes, and all of them pulsed with an aura of order.

They did not open. It was as if it didn’t matter whether or not Sir Star Ring occupied the body of Fourth True Monarch, his will alone could not do this. This was an ability that came from the real Fourth True Monarch!

1. This is an important point which is said almost in passing, so I’m putting this footnote here to make sure readers notice it. Normally speaking, killing one of the possessed people will result in the consciousness of the outsider being expelled. Then the possessed person will go back to normal and continue along the normal track of history. This is one of the main explanations why everyone is trying to achieve their goals via intrigue as opposed to overt action. ☜

2. In reality, the gender of this person is not revealed until later. That’s easy to do in Chinese. Unfortunately, when you have extended scenes, it becomes almost impossible to keep the gender hidden in English. I mean, it’s possible, but at a certain point it becomes extremely awkward, and also obvious. So rather than bend over backward to hide the gender, I’m just revealing it a bit early. ☜