Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1317: Infecting Fate, Straightening with Chaos

Unbounded! Xu Qing thought.

Xu Qing hovered in the sky, peering into the well of myriad worlds, and the ancient immortal’s reflected fate, karma, and everything else. He had to admit that this ancient immortal definitely deserved to be called a chosen of his time. In fact, during all of his many battles in the Fifth Star Ring… he had never encountered someone with this kind of canon. It had reached a level beyond the control of ordinary Summer Immortals, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was very close to the level of an Immortal Lord.

He’s significantly stronger than when we met, half of a sixty-year-cycle ago!

Within the well, the ancient immortal looked up at Xu Qing. They were separated by the surface of the water, one being above it, the other below it. When their gazes met, the Revered Ancient mainland trembled. Mountains split open, the wind screamed, and increasingly intense pressure weighed down onto the hearts and minds of all living beings, turning into indescribable terror.

Meanwhile, the ancient immortal spoke in a raspy voice. “Countlessness is only the beginning of my canon. To complete the canon, I scatter countless streams of divine will to become countless clones. I even abandon my autonomy and allow a clone to become my main form. Then, I let the clones mature, devour each other, and fuse….

“The process caused the old me to dissipate. But my dao remains! Then, in the end, when my dao is complete, my canon is unbounded! I reconverged here, forming the power of statute. And now, the final leap requires only one thing. As for you… I can tell that you have not yet made the final leap.”

The ancient immortal’s profound eyes contained neither joy nor sadness. As he spoke, he lifted his right foot and then took a step forward. The moment he did, the surface of the well rumbled, and huge waves appeared.

It was like a massive tempest. Heaven and earth shook. The dome of the universe trembled. Everything was rocked.

The space within Xu Qing’s Fishing the Moon in the Well divine ability also vibrated. The true and false within, the illusory reality, distorted, and all the independent aspects of the divine ability showed signs of complete collapse. It didn’t seem like it could stand up to the force!

“I’ve seen canon like yours before,” the ancient immortal continued. “Ten thousand years ago in the Twenty-Seventh Star Ring, there was a god… who had something very similar to your canon. One thought to cover a myriad of worlds. Universal parallelism. Converge it into a flower of space-time, and wait for it to bear dao fruit.”[1]

As his voice drifted out, he took a second step. When that second footfall occurred, cracking sounds rang out from the surface of the well. Fissures appeared, snaking through the void, through space-time, and through parallelism.

The water of the well churned, becoming more turbid. What formed that turbidness… was the unbounded karma and unbounded fate of the ancient immortal! The true and false, the illusory reality, had reached their limit, and began to crumble.

The upgrade to the divine ability of Fishing the Moon in the Well was showing signs of irreversible collapse.

“In the end, you’re just too young and inexperienced.” Shaking his head, the ancient immortal took a third step. Heaven trembled and earth shuddered. The myriad worlds in the well collapsed. The true and false, the illusory and the reality, scattered further.

The world created by Fishing the Moon in the Well looked like a shattered mirror, and the fragments began to drift apart.

The image of the ancient immortal became complete once again beneath the shattered bits of the divine ability. But he looked very different. Though his face was still wrinkled and ancient, his eyes shone with unprecedented vitality! His long, flowing hair became flowing silver behind his back, like a galactic river pulsing with a unique aura. Outside of his body, seven-colored immortal mist swirled, the outworking of immortal might! His energy towered, provoking tideflows of heaven and earth, and dragging starlight down toward him. More than ever, he seemed like an unbounded entity.

A terrifying pressure erupted with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force, crushing everything in its path. The immortal prepared to take a fourth step.

“You talk too much,” Xu Qing said calmly. “Honestly, it’s annoying.”

As far as Xu Qing was concerned, his opponent did have a spectacular canon. That canon of the unbounded had put limitations on Xu Qing’s divine ability, to the point where it started to collapse, allowing the immortal to lunge out like a tiger released from a cage. But sometimes, the best way to deal with a tiger isn’t a strong cage! Sometimes, flexible ropes can work just as well!

Eyes glittering, Xu Qing lifted his right hand and then dropped it down. The shattered pieces of the divine ability began to transform.

“Activate parallel worlds!”

Instantly, the countless fragments of the shattered divine ability became mirror shards. As they spun out in all directions, they reflected the karma and fate of the unbounded ancient immortal, revealing a host of scenes.

In every single mirror shard, it was possible to see traces of the ancient immortal! That was parallelism, in other words, different space-times and different worlds!

In those many worlds, the ancient immortal wasn’t always a cultivator! In some, he was mortal. In others, he was an animal. In other cases, he was a plant. He wasn’t always the same gender, either. Sometimes he was a man, sometimes he was a woman! Then….

Xu Qing suddenly rotated his hand. Eyes glinting coldly, he said, “Change!”

That one word caused the parallels to change. Myriad worlds were thrown into chaos! The mirror shards rippled and distorted as astonishing and unbelievable changes occurred.

The reflections of karma and fate in the shards were forcibly reversed and transformed. Men became women. Women became men. In some cases, cultivators became mortals. Humans became animals. Animals became plants. Everything changed.

And there was more. In the parallel worlds, natural disasters began to play out! Meteors fell and volcanoes erupted, evaporating seas! Rivers ran in reverse, devouring entire cities. In one mirror shard was an immortal tree that protected the entire world, which was a reflection of the karma of the ancient immortal. The tree started to wither from the roots, and the leaves fell like blood-red tears.

This was the power of Xu Qing’s canon and statute of ontology. In all of the parallels and space-times, he was making adjustments to the various independent versions.

All of those changes led to a large-scale overturning of the cage, turning it into a pliable rope! And that affected the true form of the target! It used chaos to set something straight!

All of a sudden, all of the faces of the mirrors shifted to face the ancient immortal, whereupon Xu Qing’s right hand closed.

“Unify!”

The words echoed out and the mirrors shattered. All of the overturned karma and fate spread out, then rolled toward the ancient immortal like a wave of doom. It brought with it boundless tainted karma and boundless infected fate.

The ancient immortal had been about to take a fourth step, but now he stopped in place. He saw his karma threads being devoured by that intangible power, and he saw his fate being infected. The previously smooth and glossy threads of fate were on the verge of being destroyed.

It was like a spirit spring contaminated by a bloody corpse. Gold became brown, and ugly tumors spread. It didn’t seem reversible! As those things happened, the wrinkles covering his ancient face became real crevices that started crumbling!

The silver light of immortals in his eyes started to dim, eventually turning into silver dust that drifted to the ground, leaving behind nothing but his turbid gaze. The long, silver hair behind him withered and curled. The glittering starlight turned into darkness, as though to signify the impending destruction. The seven-colored immortal mist swirling around him became sticky, like a corrosive spirit fluid that clumped on his clothing.

The same type of thing happened to his immortal power. Striations appeared all over him, which leaked dark, impure vital energy. Some of it flowed in reverse within him, becoming like magma within his bones. A spurt of black, crystalline blood sprayed out of his mouth and he staggered backward.

He struggled to circulate immortal power within him. However, the immortal might which he could usually manipulate with a mere thought seemed cut off from him by some vague barrier. The immortal light that formed on his fingertips became like dying moths that drifted to the ground below.

Ultimately, the depths of his soul were infected. Countless chaotic memory fragments assailed his sea of consciousness. The infected karma and fate brought a tempest with them. Everything rippled and distorted, like a painting dusted with poison powder. Even the color became poisonous, stabbing directly into his soul.

Veins bulged on his forehead, and his ears seemed to fill with millions upon millions of echoing curses. They were the wills of all those he had devoured in his life. Because of karmic infection, they had forgotten about their dao oaths, and only remembered the defiance they felt before being devoured.

And thus, the ancient immortal began to decline, turning from an immortal into a mortal. It looked as though even a slight push would cause him to disperse, and would result in the flame of his life force being wiped out.

And yet… Xu Qing didn’t advance. He just stood calmly in place observing.

Eventually, the ancient immortal shook his head. Speaking in a raspy voice, he said, “Quite an impressive toppling and transformation! Your infection succeeded. But you still face limitations. You’re not quite on my level….”

As calm as ever, Xu Qing replied, “Your canon starts out as countlessness. Upon completion, it becomes boundlessness. But I’m not convinced that you’ve failed to produce statute. You… are still hiding your statute. I supposed you don’t want to use it casually. So the question is… are you going to use it now, or not?”

The ancient immortal said nothing at first. A moment later, he smiled. “Well I’m involved now. And having observed you push your canon of parallelism to the limit, I have an idea of what your statute power is. And now you’re trying to pressure me into revealing my statute so that you can observe it. However, I have the feeling that observing my statute is just a pretext. In reality… you’re waiting for something, aren’t you?”

All of a sudden, silver began to shine through the turbidness in his eyes. “What are you waiting for?”

Xu Qing shot a meaningful look back at the ancient immortal. “I’m waiting for the same thing as you. And time is on my side.”

The ancient immortal’s pupils constricted.

1. If you’re like me and forgot if the Twenty-Seventh was mentioned among the current gods with space-time canon and statute, then you’ll want to go back to check chapter 1305. ☜