Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1212: Snatching Food From the Tiger’s Mouth

The amount of ringsource was flabbergasting. After all, this was a True God! In the higher star rings, True Gods were like darling children, and were doted on by all of the natural and magical laws.

That was one of the main reasons there was a big difference in the undying nature of True Gods versus Lower Immortals! As long as the true name of a True God still existed, as long as it was remembered… then the True God was not truly dead. It was part of the immutable substructure of higher star rings.

Not even the Immortal Paragon could change that. Maybe he could crush countless True Gods, but he could not prevent them from returning.

That was just the higher nature of True Gods. When it came to preheaven entities, immortals… could not equal gods.

What was more, there was only one Immortal Paragon. But after the level of God Paragon was the legendary Living God level. And in the system of the cultivators… Immortal Paragon was the end. There was no path after Immortal Paragon. Or if there was, no one had found it.

And thus, in order to truly destroy a True God down to its substructure, the Immortal Paragon needed to find that path and start walking it, to eventually reach that legendary immortal level that was equivalent to Living God.

That innate higher ability of True Gods was one of the reasons why the Fifth Star Ring suppressed and imprisoned them in a special way. Those True Gods existed between life and death. Such gods had lost freedom, but were not dead, and thus there was no need to contemplate the gods’ resurrection. That was really the only way to reduce the total number of True Gods in a star ring.

Right now, three low-level entities had appeared in front of this True God, entities that, when īt was in īts prime, could have crushed them like gnats. And now they were crazily absorbing īts ringsource!

Starfire inhaled deeply. This entire situation was just too stimulating to hēr. Up to this point in hēr life, shē had never even encountered a True God! In hēr god soul was the legacy of a god, and thus, shē inherently felt great reverence and longing toward True Gods. It led hēr to instinctively bow hēr head.

Normally speaking, shē wouldn’t dare to think of stealing from a True God. In fact, back when Xu Qing and Erniu had stolen the flesh and blood of the broken face, Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire had looked on in astonishment, but hadn’t dared to sow karma by joining in.

Starfire still felt the same. The main difference was that this True God was imprisoned, so if karma was sown, it wouldn’t be too problematic.

Another difference was that Starfire was no longer just a Flawless God in the Godfire Level like before. Shē was now an Altar God. All shē had to do was break through to one additional level, and shē would also be a True God!

Another reason in hēr decision… was that Xu Qing was going crazy absorbing the ringsource! Someone was setting an example! And thus, Starfire just gritted hēr teeth and ignored the reverence shē felt toward True Gods thanks to the legacy of a god within

A crazy look appeared in hēr eyes. Dense ringsource swept into Starfire, filling hēr god body, nourishing hēr god soul, completing hēr godly authority, and elevating hēr personhood. As a result, hēr godly authority… was advancing toward godhood! It felt wonderful to get stronger and stronger. Hēr life force was leaping, and as a result, shē couldn’t help but moan in delight.

It was a deeply moving sight. Unfortunately, neither Xu Qing nor the kelp were even slightly moved.

The kelp was excited for itself. It was a special life form. Technically speaking, it was nonhuman, but it was also the only example of its species in the entire Fifth Star Ring. For all intents and purposes, it was the species.

It did not need to practice cultivation to exist. From the moment it had been born, it simply absorbed the ringsource available in the starry sky to grow. In fact, not even it knew how mature it was in terms of growth. It just knew that it needed ringsource. A lot of ringsource. Unfortunately, even after all of the years standing guard over the prison, it had not come close to reaching maturity.

As far as it was concerned, maturity was being similar to a Lower Immortal or a True God. It had worked hard until now, and only now did it finally see hope. Thus, it devoured the ringsource with abandon.

Even more than those two, Xu Qing was putting everything on the line. He knew that time was limited! Even though the three of them were working together, they wouldn’t be able to stay in this spot for long. He needed to take advantage of every moment to absorb as much ringsource as possible.

Therefore, he unleashed his space-time. Overlapping universes and different versions of himself from other space-times appeared. And acting as one… they absorbed the ringsource! By using this space-time as the nexus, and drawing out other space-times along with other space-time versions of himself… Xu Qing was able to absorb the ringsource at an astonishing rate.

And thus, ringsource poured out of the wound in the sun, with about seventy percent of it going toward Xu Qing. He didn’t hesitate to devour it. Though he couldn’t digest much in a short time, he was well prepared. Being unable to absorb all of it on his own, he sent the rest to the other space-time versions of himself. Working together, they absorbed ringsource nonstop.

The nourishment brought to Xu Qing’s immortal embryo by the ringsource was unprecedented. His head filled with rumbling sounds, his soul rose to a higher level, his fleshly body improved, and his immortal embryo advanced! His immortal embryo had already entered the undying level, but now it was going past that. In the blink of an eye, it became more solid. And as the ringsource filled it, it glittered with dazzling light.

Light swirled as an undying will grew stronger and stronger in his immortal embryo. He almost instantly achieved major success! He trembled from head to toe, and his eyes shone brightly.

He knew full well that after the undying level of the immortal embryo, he needed to fuse the illusory reality with the undying. And to do that would require a huge boost of ringsource. By combining those elements, he would be able to complete his immortal embryo. And that would mean… that his cultivation base had broken out of Imperial Sovereign and into Quasi-Immortal!

The destined opportunity and good fortune at hand caused Xu Qing to go even more crazy.

When Xu Qing achieved major success with his immortal embryo, his space-time canon became full, and he gained even more control over space-time parallelism.

In the blink of an eye, he acquired a hundred worlds! One hundred worlds. One hundred versions of himself. And thus, he was able to devour even more ringsource. It was like a snowball effect.

Starfire and the kelp went even more mad, and went all out trying to snatch as much ringsource as they could. And thus, as the three of them worked as hard as they could, the first wave of ringsource began to weaken.

Seeing that, Xu Qing’s eyes glittered, and he struggled to push the Acquisitioners medallion down a bit deeper. More ringsource gushed forth as a result. Starfire and the kelp excitedly cried out and prepared to devour it.

But even as the second wave of ringsource issued forth… the enormous sword began to glitter with silver light. The blinding light created a halo around the sword, almost like a sealing mark, and it began to settle over the wound, as if to cover it. As the wound was covered over, the flow of ringsource stopped. Intense rumbling echoed out, because the ringsource… was unable to emerge!

And then a deep, angry sound pulsed out of the silver light with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force.

“Who has the outrageous gall to steal the god fodder of an immortal like me??”

A burst of killing intent swept out in all directions.

Xu Qing’s gaze hardened. As he watched, the silver light became a sealing mark. The sword and the sealing mark did not have the same origin, as if the latter were a postheaven construction. However, now wasn’t the time to sit around contemplating the matter. As the killing intent flared, he backed up, all while sending space-time canon ahead of himself, and using the canon of parallelism to defend himself.

Starfire once again became a mark on his arm, where shē went all out to bolster Xu Qing. Xu Qing sped backward, just beyond the reach of the killing intent.

Even being just on the edge of the reach of the killing intent, it still managed to destroy many of his space-time bodies.

His true body coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood. That said, he didn’t waste the blood. He used it to unleash various blood escape arts. Rumbling booms echoed out one after another as he teleported backward to safety.

Gasping for breath, he continued to flee. Eventually, he reached the exit point, where he dashed outside. Once he was hovering out in the starry sky, he managed to relax a bit. After checking himself, he scanned the ringsource he had stored in his parallel space-times.

Once I digest all of that, I should be able to reach complete success with my immortal embryo, and become a Quasi-Immortal! However, it’s going to be close. I’d rather have a bit more, just to be safe. And then my battle prowess would soar when I reached Quasi-Immortal!

Licking his lips, he looked deeply at the sun. The killing intent from just now was not something that a Quasi-Immortal would possess.

That was a Lower Immortal…. This place was set up by a Lower Immortal as a place to gather ringsource. It’s all being confined here…. When I came along to snatch a bit of it for myself, it unleashed that sealing power.

As Xu Qing pondered the situation, he turned, looking away from the sun and at the huge kelp plant. After what it had absorbed just now, it had acquired an additional leaf. Though it was only a tiny bud at the moment, its aura was strong.

“You knew all along, didn’t you?” Xu Qing suddenly said.

The kelp was silent for a moment. Then it projected a message via divine will. “He is the last warden in this universe of the Aurora heaven beyond heaven. Years ago, he was a Quasi-Immortal, but eventually he became a Lower Immortal. He moved up in the world thanks to that, but in the process, some problems cropped up. And as a result, he hasn’t been able to leave his secluded meditation facilities.”

The kelp had answered honestly. Apparently, now that it got a good serving of ringsource, it didn’t feel the need to keep anything hidden.

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment. When Immortal Lord Aurora perished, the Aurora Immortal Palace lost its glory. All of the high-level officials there experienced tribulation, although it was limited to the immortals. People who didn’t qualify to attend the wedding and witness the succession, of which there were many, continued to live life as normal.

Without dealing with that sealing, it will be impossible to continue absorbing ringsource. Unfortunately, I can’t quite resign myself to giving up now.

His eyes glittered with cold light. Maybe he was dealing with an immortal, but the Fifth Star Ring was not a place of complete anarchy.

If I call for help, and we act as official Acquisitioners… then it won’t matter if this is an immortal. He can’t just defy the rules of the Fifth Star Ring! The more people we have working together to deal with the sealing power, the better. I’ll need Yuanshan Su and Sir Star Ring. Their cultivation bases will be a lot of help.

Having reached the conclusion that this was definitely the best idea, his eyes flashed and prepared to call out to them. But then the kelp shivered, and Xu Qing’s jade slip vibrated as a message came in.

It was Sir Star Ring!

“The imperial clan of the Helioterrans are keeping some big secrets. I can sense that they have something I need. Unfortunately, they possess an exemption order from the Spiritlight heaven beyond heaven. Because of that order, their species can ignore the Department of Acquisitions. What’s more, they have some powerful experts!

“At the moment, they’re using that order to refuse us entry. Also, their powerful experts are a real threat. Xu Qing, I’m willing to share the item I need with you. 50/50. Do you dare to work with me on this?”

The message was a request for help, although it was worded very tersely. That just conformed to Sir Star Ring’s proud personality.

Xu Qing’s eyebrows shot up. If Sir Star Ring was willing to ask for help, it indicated that he desperately needed the item in question. And it also meant that the powerful experts he mentioned were extremely strong! After some thought, Xu Qing sent a message back.

“I’ll help you if you agree to help me with a situation over here afterward.”

Sir Star Ring didn’t hesitate. He instantly responded. “Deal!”

“Deal!” Xu Qing put away the jade slip and prepared to leave. But after some thought, he looked curiously at the kelp. “Are you able to leave this place?”