Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1228: Space-Time Amber

Xu Qing had spent his youth wandering in misery. He had experienced the suffering of the human world. And he had survived it all thanks to his tenacious desire to keep on living.

Those experiences had made him cautious by nature. He would seek revenge over the smallest grievance, and had learned how to coldly slaughter his enemies. It had also fueled his thirst for knowledge, and had caused him to endlessly yearn for light and beauty. He was not the type of person who would casually open his heart to others.

His life had experienced twists and turns. But overall, things had been better than they had been in his youth. Slowly but surely, he had opened up his heart.

Unfortunately, though his path was like a blooming flower, it also came to be like a wilting flower. As he grew up, and as his heart opened, his world became filled with people…. He was moved in the depths of his being.

Also within him was a storm that could be called nothing other than fury! The first time he raged with fury was when Sergeant Thunder died. The next time was when Grandmaster Bai was murdered. It happened again when his own older brother had killed Master Sixth, and he had learned the truth about Peerless City. The fourth time was when Grand Emperor Swordsage perished.

Today was the fifth time.

Now that he was awake, he could see the many flaws in the illusion he had just experienced. But his feelings had been real. Now he knew what it was like to lose everyone he cared about. He had felt the pain, and he had felt the emptiness which followed. Now that he was awake, the intensity of his anger was equivalent to the intensity of the pain he had experienced. And now, he felt no need to respond to the words spoken by this True God who was still in the process of returning.

His aura, his bloodshot eyes, and the intense fluctuations rolling off him, became a pure killing intent that filled him, filled his immortal embryo, and filled the Aura Immortal Palace. It erupted!

The starry sky trembled. Ripples flowed through the heaven beyond heaven. In this starry sky, Xu Qing’s immortal embryo was boundless. The Aurora Immortal Palace was clear within it, and all of that heaven-shaking, earth-shattering power was unleashed onto the half-person half-spider god!

Rumbling sounds echoed out that surpassed everything from before. Boundless immortal light shone from the immortal palace. As it fell, the returning True God tried to dodge. Unfortunately… hē had not yet returned, and was very weak.

At the same time, the backlash from hīs arts of godhood brought pain to hīs soul. Hē could not hold back from screaming in anguish. The full weight of a heaven beyond heaven was not something that hē, a weakened True God, could stand up to.

Because of all those various factors, there was no possible way hē could escape. The majestic immortal palace crushed down. The True God trembled under the force of the blow. Hē shrank down, golden blood spraying out. Cracks spread out across hīs body, and pain swept through hīm like storm winds.

Hē wanted to fight back. But Xu Qing’s fury could not have been greater, and he would not give this god the chance to fight back.

The light of the Aurora Immortal Palace flared again, shining into the starry sky, and drawing even more power… to launch another crushing blow!

Rumbling sounds mixed with the scream of the True God. The True God’s fleshly body was crumbling even more. The spider half of the body was almost completely pulverized, and was leaking large amounts of ringsource. Hē continued to struggle, trying to use the escaping ringsource to fuel a god magic.

But Xu Qing had very nearly died just now, so there was no way he would let his guard down. He took a step forward, entering the Aurora Immortal Palace, where he sat down cross-legged in the main hall. In the outside world, the Aurora Immortal Palace was an illusion, but in this heaven beyond heaven, it was true and real.

Once seated inside, Xu Qing commanded full authority as the lord of this heaven beyond heaven. His cultivation base was insufficient, and he was not skilled enough to truly restrain a True God. But… the immortal palace itself was the most deadly weapon he could wield! He needed no divine abilities. No daoist magic could match the fury that raged in his heart right now. It was… pure violence!

In response to his very thoughts, the Aurora Immortal Palace once again smashed down onto the returning True God.

Once. Twice. Three times….

Xu Qing was venting his rage!

Ear-shattering rumbling sounds echoed out that drowned out the shrill screams of the True God. The god’s body was full of cracks. And then, another anguished scream echoed out as the spider half of the body collapsed into fragments.

Left behind was the person half of the body, whose gaze was extremely weak. However, pain in the fleshly body or the soul was not what this True God feared the most.

What hē feared… was the black hole below! It was a prison formed by the power of this heaven beyond heaven. If hē fell into that prison, then coming back again would be nearly impossible!

As the immortal palace smashed down on hīm again and again, hē got closer and closer to the black hole. At that critical juncture, hīs eyes suddenly lit up. Golden fire erupted from within them, incinerating everything around hīm as it flowed over his body.

Astonishingly, hē was choosing to burn up his own body! Hē was self-destructing! Erasing the carrier would indicate that hē had failed to return. But at the same time, it would wipe out all traces of hīm! And that meant that hē might be able to return sometime in the future. But if the carrier body remained, and was stuffed into the black hole, then hē would have no such chance.

Therefore, hē didn’t hesitate for a moment to try to incinerate his carrier. Hē even ignited the large portion of godhood that had returned. It didn’t matter how heavy a price hē paid if hē could eventually return in the future. If there was one thing the gods didn’t lack, it was time. Hē could keep waiting!

Hē carried out the incineration with incredible decisiveness. It was so quick and violent that it seemed impossible to stop. In the blink of an eye, the flames raged to the extreme, and hīs body became incredibly weak.

Unfortunately, hē had underestimated Xu Qing!

As Xu Qing sat cross-legged in the immortal palace, glaring at the burning True God, the coldness in his eyes grew incredibly intense. He knew that True Gods were undying. As such, he had not attacked with the goal of killing this god. Instead, he wanted the god to experience excruciating pain!

And thus, it went without saying that he wasn’t going to let the god escape…. That was not the ending he wanted!

Xu Qing lifted his hand and said, “Be sealed!”

The Green Heaven trembled. Countless stars, galaxies, and universes all responded to his control by means of the immortal palace. The entire heaven beyond heaven… enacted a sealing! The heaven beyond heaven was completely cut off from the outside! He was making this heaven beyond heaven a gigantic prison!

Of course, it was part of a higher star ring, and True Gods were undying. The fact that as long as the true name existed, a True God could leave and come back was an expression of the love toward them shown by the higher star rings. They were like fish swimming in the sea. So this isolation wasn’t complete. It was like a fish net that, though spread wide, still had holes in it.

However, Xu Qing was not limited to this one method. All of a sudden, something flew out of the immortal palace and hovered in the starry sky outside!

It was an hourglass! In the reflected history of the Aurora Immortal Palace, Xu Qing had acquired… a space-time precious treasure! Contained within it was a two-hour time period that transcended this space-time! It could add an additional two hours to any point in time. And whatever happened inside could not be erased. It would exist beyond space-time and beyond the timescape! It could not be limited by any other space-time!

If someone who controlled space-time canon used it, then they could make that time flow normally, or more quickly or slowly. The limit was two hours.

After the hourglass appeared, a cracking sound rang out. The hourglass broke open, and the sand inside shone with a five-colored glow. As it spread, the burning True God, along with hīs body and godhood… was covered by the sand!

It added an additional two hours to hīm! It was a two-hour period that did not have any karma. Nor was it part of this space-time! Because Xu Qing controlled space-time canon, he could slow down the departure and the incineration by a significant amount. In that instant, the world suddenly had an additional two hours!

If the closing of the heaven beyond heaven was like the casting of a fish net, then the space-time sand was a way to slow down the fleeing fish! It ensured that the god could not escape quickly! And it drew out the period in which hē was weak!

This development caused the starry sky to tremble as the will of a true name echoed out with incredulity.

Xu Qing stood up in the immortal palace. His eyes were extremely cold as he stepped out into the starry sky, where he appeared in front of the weak god, who was now experiencing one breath of time that lasted for two hours.

“You like inflicting pain on others?” Xu Qing asked. It was the first time he had spoken during the fight, and his voice was as cold as ice. “Well, then you can enjoy it for a bit.”

Xu Qing waved his hand, and a coffin of ice appeared. It was a nine-colored coffin that pulsed with frigid energy. It was Young Lord Aurora’s ice coffin, which Xu Qing had taken from the Helioterran imperial clan! Immortal Lord Aurora and his wife had prepared the coffin for their son, and had sealed him inside as an infant. The coffin would freeze the fleshly body and the soul. And also time. It was only natural that objects made by Immortal Lords were astounding.

Xu Qing tossed the coffin toward the burning True God. Once the god was inside, he sealed the lid, which became solid ice! The True God, who was burning and not fully returned, was trapped inside. Time was also sealed inside!

To a certain extent, it meant that the True God was stuck in a state of partial return. The god could not leave, nor could hē return. It was like… being stuck in space-time amber!

From now on, the god would be stuck in burning pain that had no end. The undying nature of this True God was no longer a blessing to hīm from a higher star ring. It was a curse! At the same time, hē would provide a constant flow of ringsource. It was almost like hē had become a spirit stone!