Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1269: Elated Erniu!

Xu Qing stood in the teleportation portal made of star ring hemp. He had all of the requirements, including the star ring hemp from the Immortal Paragon, and the aura of the little golden rat.

With a mere thought, he could begin the teleportation. But instead, he continued to look up into the canopy of heaven. He was waiting for an answer to the question he had just asked.

A moment later, an ancient voice echoed out into the minor world, tinged with a faint bit of confusion.

“I don’t know either…. Years ago, I perished. When I returned, my recollections of the past were that of a god, but at the same time, I had scattered memories of a cultivator.

“Those two types of memories intersect, and thus, I often feel confused. Within that confusion is a voice that occasionally echoes out when the two types of memories clash. The voice tells me that there are clues left behind in my memories, and that one day, he’ll be able to use those clues to do something. Therefore, he says not to obsess over what I am. I should just walk the path in front of me until, one day, I will meet a cultivator who has a resonance with my memories.

“When you entered that pocket realm out there, I sensed the resonance with the clues. I understood… that you are the person I’ve been waiting for. As for the question you asked, I really have no way to answer it. Maybe I’m a god. Or maybe… I’m a cultivator.

“Furthermore, I have no way to prove what I’m saying is true. Whether you trust me or not… well, that’s up to you. I’m not hiding anything from you. If I impart to you the secret magic that can absorb the True Radiants’ True God, it will cause a stir in the pocket realm, and that will bring the risk that forces on the outside realize what’s happening. But the secret magic is real. Its absorption powers are real.”

Xu Qing looked down at the teleportation portal for a short time. “Transfer the secret magic to me.”

Up above, numerous bolts of lightning appeared, which converged into a jade slip that descended to Xu Qing.

He scanned it, whereupon a secret magic called the Dark Serenity God-Assimilating Incantation poured into his mind. Xu Qing’s eyes immediately narrowed. The first part of the name was definitely a shock to him.

The voice of the True God then echoed out again. “This secret magic comes from the cultivator memories within me. Only someone with immortal energy can use it.”

“Do the memories contain the cultivator’s name?” Xu Qing asked.

“….” A long moment passed before the True God replied, “Unfortunately, no.”

Within Xu Qing’s mind, the Dark Serenity God-Assimilating Incantation formed a dense network of magical symbols. After studying them with divine will, his eyes glittered with silver light. The air behind him vibrated as a towering immortal embryo materialized. Then the magical symbols of the Dark Serenity God-Assimilating Incantation became silver and spread over the surface of the immortal embryo, converging on its right hand.

The immortal embryo lifted that hand and shoved it upward to the sky! The sky shattered as the huge hand punched a hole right through it.

Instantly, the pocket realm was revealed, complete with its raging war between heaven and earth. The mountains erupted. The trees shot toward the sky. Blood rain fell in torrents. The huge black tumor twitched violently. What was more, all of the magical mushrooms began to shine with silver light. The light spread out to fill the entire pocket realm as a majestic silver hand formed.

It was none other than the hand of Xu Qing’s immortal embryo! And it sped directly toward the black tumor! The silver magical symbols rushed out of the hand, becoming a silver river. And because the black tumor was so involved in the intense fight with the True God below, īt was quickly covered over.

The silver river… ravenously devoured the tumor! In the blink of an eye, a terrifying torrent of ringsource poured through the silver symbols and into the immortal embryo. An instant later, Xu Qing was assimilating all of the ringsource!

And thus, that ringsource was converted into immortal energy that nourished his immortal embryo! His cultivation base began to rise, reaching the very border of late Quasi-Immortal….

The black tumor began to writhe violently, sending out the mighty pressure of a True God, along with an astounding godly voice.

“How impudent!” The voice shook the pocket realm with such intensity, that rifts opened up everywhere. At the same time, a slit appeared on the black tumor, which opened to reveal a golden eye!

Īt had no emotions. A cultivator or a postheaven god in this situation would be enraged, but right now, īt was simply apathetic. However, a lack of emotions didn’t equate to irrationality. Īt knew that if, during the process of absorbing the True God below, Xu Qing plundered īts own foundation, then īts future would be in jeopardy, and īt could very well die.

Normally speaking, a Quasi-Immortal cultivator couldn’t possibly steal from īt. The real reason… other than the secret magic being used, was that… īts enemy was behind it. The True God below struggled and fought back, and was going all out at the last minute.

As Xu Qing assimilated the ringsource, the mountain ranges became like a blade made of a spine, which slashed up and stabbed into the canopy of heaven with an ear-shattering boom. The trees burned themselves to bolster Xu Qing’s silver hand. Their golden light suppressed the godly might of the enemy god, making Xu Qing’s work easier.

At that moment of crisis, the tumor twitched, causing īts outer layer of skin to crumble and burn, as it was converting into a terrifying power. That power then sought to drive away Xu Qing and his power of absorption!

Though the True God below was able to block much of that power, it was still so terrifying that as soon as it hit the hand of Xu Qing’s immortal embryo, the hand shattered. The ringsource of a True God sprayed everywhere.

Within the minor world, Xu Qing’s entire majestic immortal embryo also suffered the effects, and exploded. Within the spell formation, Xu Qing coughed up a mouthful of silver blood, within which was some of the ringsource he had not fully absorbed. At the same time, he suffered a backlash thanks to the sudden interruption to his cultivation base breakthrough.

Of course, Xu Qing was a vicious individual. His eyes flashed, and before the blood could even land on the ground, it turned into a blood mist that he quickly inhaled. Blue veins bulged out all over him as the power of the immortal embryo once again surged. The immortal embryo appeared again and then forcefully thrust its hand up again!

The silver hand appeared again outside. Silver magical symbols flowed as it once more began to drain the black tumor!

This time, the absorption played out differently. The extent and the strength far surpassed the previous attempt. And that was because, this time, Xu Qing… didn’t assimilate it!

Normally speaking, the process would be to absorb and assimilate it at the same time, turning it into nourishing immortal energy. The entire process could be considered a complete cycle. But after what just happened, Xu Qing knew that expending the effort to assimilate the ringsource would take time away from absorbing it.

Eyes flashing with cold light, he decided to forgo the assimilation, and instead use himself as a vessel to simply contain the ringsource.

There would be some downsides. For one, there was a limit to how much Xu Qing could contain. After all, this was a peak True God. And if the True God could be considered an ocean, then Xu Qing was like a lake. The second downside was that a lot of the ringsource would be wasted, and what he took into himself wouldn’t be very pure.

But Xu Qing couldn’t worry about those things right now. He had an opportunity to enjoy a big meal right now, and he would swallow however much he could. And after he finished with the meal, he would try to take some to-go as well!

And thus, he viciously absorbed the ringsource! He quickly reached capacity, and yet continued working. What he could fit inside, he fit inside. And what he couldn’t fit inside, he kept outside!

Up in the sky, a whole section of the black tumor already looked shriveled up. Though it was small compared to the tumor as a whole, it was obvious that īt couldn’t fight back much thanks to being locked in combat with the True God below. What was more, that missing section further weakened īt, so that the attacks of the True God below were even more effective. After all, the two True Gods were fairly evenly matched to begin with.

The biggest factor in the black tumor’s loss of momentum was the fact that Xu Qing couldn’t contain all the ringsource, and was letting much of it drain. It was like a deflating balloon!

As a result, the black tumor was in incredible danger. At that critical moment, the tumor shivered, then ignited part of ītself, causing a loud cracking sound to ring out. Īt was trying to rip open the spatial barriers of the pocket realm to allow the energy inside to spread on the outside. Not only would that create an exit, but also, it would alert forces on the outside of what was happening.

Īt didn’t want to resort to this action unless there was absolutely no other option available. After all, it would introduce a host of other variables. But given what was going on, there didn’t seem to be any other option. Those variables were the key to resolving the crisis.

However… just as īt was preparing to rip open the pocket realm…. The silver magical symbols in the area collapsed on their own. The silver hand also vanished, as well as the immortal embryo in the minor world.

Xu Qing had taken the initiative to stop absorbing the ringsource. Without any hesitation, he activated the teleportation portal and vanished!

He left!

He had worked out a deal with the True God below, but given his personality, he wasn’t going to simply trust the other party completely.

From the earliest moment, he had not intended to actually help that True God. He only had one goal. And that was… to take the unbalanced situation and return it to a state of balance! That way, neither party would be able to target him.

“He left?” The black tumor abandoned the plan to rip open the pocket realm.

And then the True God below erupted with full force. Heaven and earth once again went back to fighting. Everything shook inside the pocket realm as the teleportation portal made of star ring hemp slowly dissipated.

But then, in the moment before it was completely and utterly gone….

A finger-sized blue worm with the face of a person burrowed out of the teleportation light. Once it was in the open, the star ring hemp completely faded into nothing, leaving behind no trace of its existence.

The blue worm looked around the area, stunned. “What freaking place is this?”

The human face on the worm looked confused…. If Xu Qing were present, he would definitely be both shocked and delighted. The worm was Erniu! Although Erniu was initially flabbergasted, it only took a moment for his nose to twitch. Then he turned to look in a specific direction, his eyes shining brightly.

That’s the aura of Altar God flesh! Holy crap! What is this place…?

Erniu excitedly blurred into motion. Burrowing out of the minor world, he quickly arrived… at the spot where Xu Qing had contended with those gods. He looked around at all the god corpses, which included quite a few Altar Gods. There was even a peak Altar God….

Erniu was shivering in elation, and he felt the impulse to rush forward.

Has luck finally smiled on me? The moment I show up, I’m presented with so much stuff to eat? Back in that damned Brilliant Heaven place, I got chased down just for stealing one Altar God. But here… thēy’re everywhere! And nobody else is around! I hit the motherlode!

Erniu raced forward. However, he still felt there was something suspicious going on, so he kept his guard up.

These gods haven’t been dead long. I wonder who killed thēm? Whoever did it has a really ruthless way of doing things!