Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1199: Primeval Higher Star Pin

The Inkland was like a black hole. But at the same time, it wasn’t. There was no swirling vortex, nor was there any gravitational force that pulled things in. It was more like a cave in the starry sky, shaped like an ordinary circle. Few individuals were aware of where it led or how deep it went. The only thing Xu Qing was certain of was that his divine will couldn’t see inside.

It was comparable to a star domain. Compared to the Inksun Universe as a whole, it wasn’t very large. But when you stood at the edge of it, you would be filled with an intense sensation of grandeur. The wisps of ringsource aura that came out of it, like fog or catkins, made the Inkland black hole seem even more mysterious.

At the moment, Xu Qing was like a fish swimming down into the Inkland, struggling to make progress. Starfire followed along, pulsing with the power of a god to bolster him. They were working together. He would race down about thirty meters, and then Starfire would take the lead for a short time. The reason was that although there was no force of gravitation in the Inkland, there was a force of expulsion that got stronger the further in you went.

When Xu Qing had tried this alone, 30 meters had been his limit. By cooperating with Starfire he had pushed past that previous limit. But after switching back and forth several times, the force of expulsion was getting so strong that both of them were struggling to proceed.

At around 600 meters down, they couldn’t go any further. That seemed to be the limit for Quasi-Immortals.

That was also when Xu Qing suddenly detected a very unusual aroma coming from deeper inside. It smelled like rust, mixed with something like ammonia.

Upon reaching that 600-meter spot, Starfire looked around suspiciously, then down at the endlessness below them. “There’s something strange going on here…. This aroma… seems to be stirring some ancient memories in me….”

Meanwhile, creaking sounds were drifting out from Xu Qing, which came from the pressure on his fleshly body. Though his canon was strong, his fleshly body was still in the level of illusory reality. His canon, which he had been using to sustain his fleshly body, was starting to be eaten away by the force of expulsion.

Unfortunately, 600 meters was hardly scratching the surface when it came to the depths of this black hole. That said, the ringsource here was a bit more abundant than further up.

Though I can’t check any further, at least this is a better fishing spot. Despite being a Quasi-Immortal, Kun Wu didn’t have canon strong enough to go down this far.

After instructing Starfire to watch over him, he settled down cross-legged and took out the fishing pole. He cast the line, and it dropped down.

Kun Wu really had an extraordinary fishing pole…. Settling his energy and clearing his mind, he waited.

As Starfire stood guard, shē started thinking of the past. Shē was certain shē had never come to this place before, not even back when shē was actually a human. It seemed to hēr that the sense of familiarity came because, back when she reached godly ascension, shē had mysteriously acquired a massive amount of information about gods.

Time passed. Half a month went by.

Starfire continued to ponder things.

Xu Qing went on with his fishing. And then, after all of the time he had spent, he finally got some results. There was a tug on the fishing line.

His eyes snapped open, and he spotted a five-colored ball of light! It had appeared deeper down in the black hole, and though it was only about the size of a human head, it shone with intense brightness that made it very obvious to see in the darkness.

Though it looked like pure light, it was really a liquid, and it was attached to the fishhook. There was another tug on the line, and then Xu Qing yanked the pole up and dragged the liquid light toward him. As it neared, an intense ringsource aura spread in all directions.

Even when he was just sensing it, his immortal embryo was stirring in response. His eyes glittered brightly.

Starfire suddenly felt an instinctual longing building up inside. Ringsource was the most fundamental power in the thirty-six higher star rings. It formed the origin of gods and the structure of the star rings. Whether it was the godly authority of the gods, or the cultivator authority of the cultivators, substructurally speaking, they all came from ringsource. It was the same with both godhood and canon. It was something higher star rings literally could not be without. When cultivators formed an immortal embryo and then upgraded it to become a mature immortal, they absolutely had to use ringsource! Starfire knew that it was superlatively important to Xu Qing, so shē suppressed hēr longing.

Xu Qing reached out and grabbed the five-colored liquid light, looked at it for a moment, then squeezed it. The ball of light instantly transformed. It flowed up his arm and out to cover his body. And then, the body of illusory reality formed outside of Xu Qing’s soul began to soak it up like a sponge.

The light slowly began to weaken and dim. By the time it disappeared, Xu Qing’s aura had improved dramatically, and his body of illusory reality was now just on the verge of reaching the undying level.

Xu Qing opened his eyes, scanned himself, and then took out the little white bottle he had acquired from Sir Vilespirit. With the wave of his hand, he dissolved the bottle into nothing.

The liquid inside then floated over to him. It was also about the size of a head, and emitted the exact same five-colored glow. It was also ringsource!

“Exactly the same…” he murmured, eyes narrowing. Then, without any hesitation, he reached out and grabbed it.

The same thing happened. His body of illusory reality absorbed it and his aura surged. His fleshly body improved, until finally… he was shining with boundless light. Thunderous rumbling sounds echoed out everywhere. His true fleshly body, which was within his body of illusory reality, became transparent, as if it was melting and transforming on a fundamental level!

The process of undying illusory reality involved sending the soul out, and then using the illusory body to slowly replace the real body! Major success in that level came when the real body, which had been absorbed by the illusion, also became an illusion, and turned into a soul!

That level was called the undying. Of course, it wasn’t truly undying.

That was because after that point, the fleshly body and the soul would be remolded and would intersect. It was like the soul gaining a body and the body gaining a soul. Then all of the preconditions could be considered met. That was why it would be impossible for someone like that to be killed by someone in the same cultivation level. Only someone on a higher level could do so.

Xu Qing’s cultivation base had now reached that level.

His real body, hidden in illusion, was becoming increasingly transparent. Finally… they switched, so that the real became illusion. The true body became a soul, and the illusory reality became reality! The inner became reality. The outer became reality!

Xu Qing’s aura climbed higher, and his canon glittered as it flowed inside and outside of him.

His eyes opened and they were calm, but full of aggression. He seemed threatening without being angry, and at the same time, full of determination.

Starfire was shaken to the core. As of this moment, Xu Qing seemed significantly stronger to hēr than he had before.

Xu Qing pondered the situation. Next comes the final transposition of the undying illusory reality. The interior reality and the exterior reality must fuse, and then become… the immortal embryo! And that’s going to require… a lot more ringsource.

Based on what he could tell, that next step was going to require the equivalent of a hundred balls of ringsource like those he had just used.

Having reached this point in his train of thought, Xu Qing looked down. Considering that his fleshly body was stronger now, he figured he should try to sink down further. Before he could, Starfire reached out to stop him. He turned to look at

Starfire’s expression was grave, which was very unusual.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed.

“While you were working on your cultivation,” shē said, “I was thinking back to the time I reached godly ascension, and received a host of information about gods…. As I was sifting through all of those memories, I realized why this place seems familiar to me.

“What’s actually familiar is that aroma. It’s the smell of the rust from primeval higher star iron.

“One piece of that information I received is this: the thirty-six higher star rings don’t have fixed sizes. As history progresses, they occasionally grow and expand. It’s something the thirty-six higher star rings just automatically do.

“When they do that, rips will appear in them. And whenever those rips appear, the God Paragon of the star ring uses a special material to create a type of pin that they will then use to pin close the rips. It prevents the rips from getting bigger, and allows them to eventually heal. The material they use to create the pins is called primeval higher star iron!”

Having reached this point in the explanation, Starfire looked around. “That’s the aroma here. It’s primeval higher star iron.”

“So…?” Xu Qing said.

“If my speculations are correct, this Inkland black hole is probably a spot where one of those rips occurred in the ancient past. In order to prevent the rip from spreading, the God Paragon of the Fifth Star Ring used a pin here!

“But the terrifying pin that could prevent a star ring from being ripped open has been taken away! It’s no longer here! However, the iron pin itself needs to be constantly maintained. In order to preserve it permanently, it would need to be returned here occasionally.

“That’s most likely why the Inksun Universe is considered a strategic resource…. I’d say there’s an eighty to ninety percent chance this place is designed to maintain a primeval higher star pin! And down below us….”

Starfire looked down into the gloomy abyss.

“I bet only that God Paragon could know… what’s on the other side of the spot that the pin was used on. We definitely aren’t strong enough to know.

“That got me thinking. A universe designed to maintain a primeval higher star pin should be extremely important in any star ring. So why give it to you? And thus… I suggest you don’t explore any further.”

Although Starfire did not provide a complete explanation, hēr tone of voice and serious expression made it clear that shē was suspicious of the entire situation. Hēr instincts were telling hēr that there was something going on.

Lowering hēr voice, shē said, “To put it plainly, taking a primeval higher star pin away wouldn’t require any sort of sacrifice. But… upon returning it, all living beings in this universe would need to become… sacrificial offerings.”