Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1239: Corpsedrainer Squadron

The war was heating up in the eastern theater. Fighting was breaking out all over the place. Sparks flew. The scale of the fighting wasn’t very large. Most battles were skirmishes involving about a thousand combatants. But the number of battles was growing.

Of course, war had to be judged as a whole. And there was a reason for everything that was happening. It didn’t matter if it was large-scale battles or minor skirmishes, they all played out for specific reasons. And if those various goals were met, then it would build up momentum to reach the biggest goal of all. That was the essence of war. It was like a game.

For example, the information brought in by Xu Qing and everyone else seemed to point to the same conclusion: the event in the staging areas of the eastern theater was over. At the same time, more skirmishes were breaking out on the front lines. Given that… the goal was obvious.

Both gods and cultivators were using the skirmishes to hide their true motives! At the moment, as sparks were flying because of all the skirmishes, there was one battlefield located in an asteroid belt.

The fighting was bloody. Taking in the scene as a whole, rumbling booms echoed out, rubble sprayed everywhere, and mutagen clashed with immortal energy constantly. One side was making an incursion. The other side was trying to stop them. It was a very intense situation.

Beyond the periphery of the fighting, amongst some scattered asteroids, a group of people was observing the battlefield. There were a few hundred of them, all wearing gray and black garments. They looked like vultures, their eyes glittering as they kept a close eye on their surroundings. Clearly, they were ready to fall back if the fighting got too close to them.

One of them, an old man, was talking to some cultivators standing around him. Read full story at novel•fire.net

“I was right, eh? I knew this fight wouldn’t end quickly. My guess is that it’ll keep going for at least another hour. You know, if I hadn’t noticed you a few months ago, and also sensed your command medallion just now, I wouldn’t have called you over here.”

The cultivators around him all had baleful auras that were surprising even to him. That was especially true of their leader, who had the strongest baleful aura of all.

“You know, you’re actually pretty famous for getting through the staging areas to the front lines. But since you’re part of the Logistics Division now, there are some things you need to understand.”

The people around him were, of course, Xu Qing and the other ascendees. After their request for a mission was approved, they had been assigned to this location, and had arrived only about four hours ago. However, before they could get close to the battlefield, this old man had stopped them.

He was also a Corpsedrainer. Being aware of who Xu Qing and the other ascendees were, he had shown them some goodwill by inviting them over.

In response to his words, Xu Qing and Sir Star Ring exchanged a glance, then clasped hands, bowed, and sincerely asked for more information.

The old man nodded. “Technically speaking, we’re part of the Logistics Division. But that’s just the official, nice-sounding version of what we are. As you know, everybody calls us Corpsedrainers!

“Considering we clean up after battles, it only makes sense that we have to wait until the fighting is over before we start working. If we didn’t, then we wouldn’t be Corpsedrainers. We would be actually fighting in the war! Remember, the fighting is done by the army cultivators. We don’t take part. We only go in after the fighting!

“That’s because… if we went in too soon, it could affect the strategy and tactics of the army cultivators. What’s more, part of our mission is to make sure that our army cultivators have a path of retreat if they suffer a defeat!”

The old man clearly took his responsibilities very seriously.

Xu Qing and everyone else nodded solemnly. Truth be told, they hadn’t intended to go onto the battlefield. They had just wanted to get close enough to be in the position to get ringsource as quickly as possible. After all, they believed themselves to be quite skilled at acquiring ringsource.

They had quite a bit of experience due to their time in the Department of Acquisitions. During that time, they had managed to meet all their quotas, but had also been able to siphon off plenty of ringsource for their own use. The difference was that they had taken ringsource from living targets before. This would be their first time harvesting it from dead gods.

When the old man saw how attentive Xu Qing and the others were being, he relaxed a bit and cleared his throat.

“Everything I just said is the official position of the army. In reality, we don’t really need to guard the escape routes. And if we do go onto the battlefield, there’s almost no chance we would affect the army.

“Now I’ll tell you the real deal. The truth is that we don’t want to go onto the battlefield too early because, for all we know, it might get us killed. Once the fighting starts to wrap up, things are a lot safer. Of course, it’s hard to predict how things will end in war, so we need to always be ready to evacuate if our side ends up losing.

“You lot are just too young and inexperienced. If I hadn’t stopped you just now, you would have gone too close to the fighting, and that would have put you in a lot of danger. Another thing you should keep in mind is that you should never get into conflicts with the army cultivators, as—”

All of a sudden, Xu Qing’s expression flickered. He, along with Sir Star Ring and the others, all looked over at the battlefield. The old man stopped talking and did the same. They saw a huge swell of immortal energy, and could hear cheering. Then a dao flag was hoisted up.

“Victory!” the old man said, his eyes lighting up. Not bothering to go into any further detail about the rules, he shot forward. “Let’s get to work, everybody!”

As he led the way, the squadron under his command flew forward like vultures who had spread their wings. Xu Qing and the others followed. In short order, they slashed into the asteroid belt like sharp blades.

Within the rubble, they saw god corpses and god blood everywhere, as well as severed limbs and destroyed treasures. There were quite a few cultivator corpses as well.

The cultivator army had already moved on, although a few warriors had remained behind to collect ringsource. The old man and his subordinates didn’t seem surprised by that. They didn’t even glance at the warriors as they swarmed over the unattended corpses. Some cut things apart, some focused on collections, some stored up the gains. They worked together smoothly and with great speed. They were obviously very used to this. Only a few dozen breaths later, they had already cleared much of the battlefield.

The god corpses were collected up, but the cultivator corpses were treated with great respect.

Xu Qing and the others looked on with astonishment. Zhou Zhengli and the other top ascendees suddenly felt great respect. There was no doubt that the old man and his subordinates had pushed their harvesting skills to the point of perfection! Their speed was nothing short of stupefying.

“These people are on a different level when it comes to looting corpses,” someone said. “They’re totally beyond us!”

Xu Qing and the others exchanged glances, then hurried onto the battlefield to start working.

Despite having a background in the Department of Acquisitions, compared to the old man and his people, they couldn’t compete in terms of speed and thoroughness. Furthermore, these gods were dead, so the ringsource in them wasn’t very active. The levels were also much lower than in living gods, which meant that it took a lot of work.

Thankfully, there were plenty of corpses. Obviously, getting a lot of ringsource would involve dealing with a lot of corpses. The Corpsedrainers had their own set of rules. Once someone started working on the corpse of a god, no one would interfere, even if they were taking a long time.

Xu Qing realized that quickly, and made sure to abide by the rules.

And yet, there were still conflicts. They weren’t conflicts between Corpsedrainers, but with the army cultivators. The army cultivators were bossy and domineering, and when it came to collecting the corpses, they were rude and unreasonable. They didn’t make any attempt to hide their disdain of the Corpsedrainers. It made sense considering that their army was the one who had killed these gods….

But there were official arrangements for the resources and battle trophies of war, so there was no grounds for the army cultivators to do much. What usually happened was that after army forces won a battle and moved on, they would leave some people behind to collect some loot, all for the purpose of keeping morale up. Such practices were tacitly approved of.

The Corpsedrainers were used to it, and would usually just rely on their speed to make up for the difference. Xu Qing and the ascendees had just started as Corpsedrainers, so they were clearly not as fast as the others. As a result, they were the first ones the army cultivators targeted.

A few hours later, the massive battlefield was almost totally cleared. The corpses of the cultivators had been attended to properly, and taken away by the army. The corpses of the gods had been collected, with the old man and the Corpsedrainers getting about sixty percent of them. The army cultivators got about thirty percent. The final ten percent… went to Xu Qing and the ascendees.

When the battlefield was cleared, the army cultivators left. Xu Qing and the ascendees were left muttering a bit discontentedly.

Seeing that, the old man came over with a broad smile on his face. “You don’t seem too happy. Feel like you got robbed? You’ll figure things out soon enough. In the end, they did kill these gods, so it’s not unusual at all for them to take some of the corpses. Things will get better for you as you learn to go faster.”

With that, the old man bade farewell and led his subordinates away.

Xu Qing and the ascendees were now alone in the asteroid belt. They didn’t feel any less discontent.

The old man had misjudged them. Their discontent wasn’t because they had performed poorly or were angry. It was true that the army had slain these gods, so it was completely justifiable for them to take the corpses as loot. After all, if the ascendees were in that position, they would be irritated if other people showed up and took the corpses of the gods they had slaughtered. No, they were discontent for a different reason….

“We’re not as fast as the other Corpsedrainers, and we have no right to get in arguments with the army cultivators….”

“Since the Corpsedrainers can only start working after the fighting is over….”

“Maybe we should just go onto the battlefield earlier.”

Everyone exchanged glances, and their eyes were glittering.