Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1289: Swallowed in One Bite

The True God whose form was that of a slimy ball of flesh and blood immediately started writhing in response to the scene that was playing out. The god seemed just on the verge of piercing through the void and making an escape.

But then the Summer Immortal blurred into motion as she pursued the True God. She moved, waving her left hand, and her entire body surged with silver light as she unleashed her Summer Immortal power to foil the god’s escape. The True God lurched to a halt.

“Xu Qing, let’s join forces. We—”

Before the Summer Immortal could finish speaking, Xu Qing waved his hand, causing a fingernail to fly forth. The moment the fingernail appeared, a terrifying force swept out. The starry sky rippled. The void shattered. And though the power was not on the same level as the bridge from before, it still shook everything.

It was the dao weapon![1]

It instantly sucked in the space-time projections behind Xu Qing and combined them, resulting in a beam of light made of both gold and silver. It pierced through the void toward the True God, moving with such incredible speed that it arrived almost instantly.

The True God trembled, īts flesh and blood started collapsing, īts poison vanished, and the sea of plums became part of the void. The same thing happened to īts soul! Īt was killed in spirit and form!

It happened incredibly quickly. Xu Qing attacked with efficient speed, and his aura and the terrifying nature of the fingernail shook heaven and earth.

The Summer Immortal looked at him, stunned. He’s not just some Quasi-Immortal…. He’s obviously a Summer Immortal! And with that dao weapon, ordinary Summer Immortals would have to be very careful around him. He’s obviously just on the verge of a breakthrough. He has everything, even the completed immortal embryo. All he needs to become a mature immortal is an upgrade in canon!

“True Monarch,” she said, “wait for me just one moment!”

The surrounding gods were fleeing like mad. As for the cultivators, they knew that they had just escaped death. After bowing to Xu Qing, they started chasing down and killing the gods.

The Summer Immortal joined in. Without the True God present, it wasn’t hard at all for the Summer Immortal to lead her subordinates and wipe out the surviving gods. After the work was done, the Summer Immortal returned to Xu Qing and bowed to him.

“Many thanks for your assistance!” she said sincerely.

Xu Qing returned her salute, then chatted with her a bit. After coming to understand the latest developments in the Fourth Star Ring, he bid farewell. As he disappeared into the starry sky, the Summer Immortal struggled to clear her mind.

He’s a true monarch, and he has destiny aura. He’s also the younger brother of Immortal Lord Mi Ming…. There could hardly be anyone more respectable than him in the entire Fifth Star Ring! And his battle prowess is astonishing…. The next time I see him, he’ll surely have broken through and become a Summer Immortal.

Having reached this point in her train of thought, her heart suddenly started racing.

It doesn’t seem like he has a daoist partner….

***

Xu Qing had no way of knowing what that female Summer Immortal was thinking. He was currently drifting along through the starry sky of the Fourth Star Ring.

The deeper he went, the more devastation he saw. He saw shattered planets and destroyed god kingdoms. The ravages of war were endless in the Fourth Star Ring. Everything was in decline.

There was hardly any starlight, and none of the golden glow that came from god kingdoms. Roughly half of the entire star ring had descended into utter darkness and gloom. The supply depot planets stretching from the Fifth Star Ring were just about the only thing bringing light into the Fourth Star Ring. The cultivators were starting to wrap things up once and for all.

According to what that Summer Immortal told me, the end stages of the war involved two things. First, the cultivator army is trying to force the gods into picking a spot for the final battle. Second, the supply depot planets are being used as staging areas to purge any resistance fighters. The main army is up on the front lines. Further back… all the work is being done by Corpsedrainers and various defense squadrons.

Xu Qing found himself thinking about Zhou Zhengli and the others.

I can probably track them down by means of the supply depot planets. Reminiscing about his old comrades-in-arms made him smile. I wonder how they’re doing…?

In that manner, time passed. Xu Qing traveled in the Fourth Star Ring looking for the destined opportunity he needed.

He would occasionally run into surviving gods. Given that he was a peak Quasi-Immortal who had battle prowess sufficient to equal a Summer Immortal, the only things he had to worry about were peak True Gods and God Lords.

On one of the supply depot planets, he was finally able to make contact with Zhou Zhengli. After determining his location, he headed there to meet his old comrades-in-arms.

***

Zhou Zhengli and the other Undertakers had just finished a mission and had earned the right to take an extensive leave. They were currently on their way back to their local supply depot planet, where they would then part ways for their time off.

After Xu Qing went missing along with Goddess Starryeyes, Zhou Zhengli and his Undertakers progressed a lot. They had participated in the general offensive against the Fourth Star Ring, and had earned a lot of battle credits. They had continued the Undertaker tradition of draining corpses on the battlefield, all while being proactive in their activities.

All of them had made significant progress with their cultivation base. Every member was a Quasi-Immortal, while Sir Star Ring was already a mid Quasi-Immortal on the verge of a breakthrough to the late level.

Sir Vilespirit and Yuanshan Su were very close to breaking out of early Quasi-Immortal. Hordeslayer and Rampart were in a similar position. Their mood had improved a lot after Xu Qing left. Being so free from worry had led to them feeling very proud of their accomplishments.

Zhou Zhengli was the only one whose cultivation base hadn’t changed much. However, given how deceptive he was, it was hard for anyone to tell the truth of the matter.[2]

After arriving at the supply depot planet, Zhou Zhengli looked around at everyone preparing to leave.

Grinning, he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have some news for you. I recently got word from the young lord. He’s currently on the way to this very planet.”

His announcement was met with various reactions.

Sir Vilespirit’s eyes narrowed, and he quickly took steps to rein in the instinctive cruelty that had been building in him lately. Yuanshan Su seemed dazed. Sir Star Ring’s facial expression didn’t change at all, but his eyes glittered.

The biggest reaction came from Hordeslayer and Rampart. The two sword people had been secretly transmitting a conversation in which they were talking about where to go to have fun on their time off. But Zhou Zhengli’s announcement caused their hearts to start pounding. Eventually, everyone went their separate ways.

Zhou Zhengli continued to smile as he watched them go to different parts of the supply depot planet. Inside, he was feeling quite excited.

There were two people who were most excited about Xu Qing’s return. They were Zhou Zhengli and Li Mengtu, who had stayed off-planet to work on his cultivation. The two of them were Xu Qing’s earliest followers, and they had benefited the most when Immortal Lord Mi Ming shook the entire Fifth Star Ring.

They had both noticed how Fifth Star Ring cultivators looked up to them more. Virtually all doors were open to them on this supply depot planet. Even the Summer Immortal in charge of the entire planet treated them with respect.

Because of that, Zhou Zhengli couldn’t have been more pleased with the choice he had made years ago.

Zhou Zhengli knew what everyone else was thinking, but he didn’t care. He knew that all of their little plots and schemes were nullified the moment Xu Qing helped Young Lord Aurora. So it was no surprise they had all disappeared the moment they heard Xu Qing was coming back. He laughed softly as he watched them go, then prepared to wait in place so that he was the first to welcome Xu Qing.

Those who left went to do different things.

***

Sir Vilespirit went into seclusion. The broken sword inside of him was trembling. “He’s on the way back. If you want to go forward with that matter we discussed, I don’t care. But… do you really dare?”

In response, the broken sword inside of Sir Vilespirit emitted a flustered and exasperated sensation.

***

The brothers Hordeslayer and Rampart were now in no mood to have fun. Instead, they raced back to their mansion grotto to try to come up with a plan.

“What do we do…? That guy is coming back!”

“We’re finished. Finished! I knew things were just going too well. Our sword bodies are sharper than ever. Once he notices, he’s definitely going to get greedy!”

“This is all your fault! I told you not to eat so much!”

“This is your fault. You were the one who started eating!”

***

Sir Star Ring left the supply depot planet, turning into a bright beam of light that shot through the starry sky to a secret mansion grotto he had constructed. It was located on a shattered planet that had seemed like the perfect place for cultivation. After settling down cross-legged, his eyes shone brightly.

Although the gap between us continues to widen, Xu Qing… I’m not going to allow myself to fall too far behind!

He waved his hand, and a little pile of dust motes appeared in front of him. It was no ordinary dust, as each mote was terrifyingly heavy.

They were motes of heaven’s principle!

Sir Star Ring eyed the motes with anticipation rising within him. He had worked very hard recently, and had come across some destined opportunities that had allowed him to increase his stockpile of heaven’s principle. It was all for his future breakthrough to Summer Immortal.

He planned to walk a different path than Xu Qing. Xu Qing still had not gained enlightenment of the canon that would take him to Summer Immortal. But Sir Star Ring had long known that his canon was heaven’s principle.

I’ve almost assimilated enough by this point. Just a few more days of assimilation, and I should be able to fully fuse with heaven’s principle! At that point, the only thing I’ll lack to break through to Summer Immortal will be a bit of ringsource to nourish my immortal embryo!

With that thought in mind, Sir Star Ring resolutely performed a double-handed incantation gesture, then focused his thoughts inward on the assimilation process.

However, that was when something unexpected happened!

Without any warning whatsoever, the air in the mansion grotto rippled, and a huge mouth appeared. It seemed to be made of pure greed, and resembled a mad dog’s mouth! Before Sir Star Ring could even react, the mouth swallowed the dust of heaven’s principle in one bite!

It was gone, just like that. Not one mote was left behind. Then the mouth vanished! The only thing left behind was the sound of a satisfied burp.

It happened too quickly. Sir Star Ring was initially stunned, and then his eyes filled with rage as he let loose a furious roar. His cultivation base raged!

1. Xu Qing got the dao weapon in chapter 1253 and we saw it in action in 1259. ☜

2. A long time ago during the immortal palace arc, I mentioned that the author eventually described Zhou Zhengli using the same term he used to describe the Seventh Peak traditions from the Seven Blood Eyes days. This is what I was talking about. If you recall, Seventh Peak disciples had the reputation of being ‘deceptive.’ The same term is used here to describe Zhou Zhengli. ☜