Beyond the Timescape [Wuxiaworld]

Xu Qing stared into the wish box, his eyes glittering.

As Wu Jianwu had explained, wish boxes could have anything in them. If you were lucky, it might be an imperial-class legacy. On the other hand, you could also get nothing more than some dried-up leaves. It all came down to chance.

Based on Xu Qing’s understanding, the fact that the very first wish box he opened had a medicinal pill and a jade slip meant that he was very lucky.

Settling his thoughts, he prepared to pick up the jade slip and examine it. However, before he did, his expression flickered, and he reached out and slammed the wish box shut. The aura from within the box was therefore cut off, yet his skin was already starting to turn dark.

“Poison?” Xu Qing’s pupils constricted.

It wasn’t just his flesh that was being affected. Even his internal organs were starting to rot. What was particularly shocking to Xu Qing was that he wasn’t experiencing any sensation of pain. Whether externally or internally, the symptoms were unlike anything he had ever seen. It almost seemed like he was hallucinating. He got absolutely no sensation from the darkening of his skin or the withering of his organs, and couldn’t detect any dharma force at work within him.

Yet based on what his eyes were telling him, and his understanding of the dao of poison, he knew that he had been poisoned.

What kind of poison is this…?

Flesh was starting to peel off of his face and drop to the ground, causing him to bleed profusely. In fact, it wasn’t just his face. It was happening to him all over. Yet even still, he felt absolutely no pain.

Mulling the situation over, he observed what was happening for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Though the rot had filled his entire body, the violet crystal’s powers of regeneration were combating the effects.

Another incense stick’s worth of time passed, and the rotting had ceased. Yet another incense stick’s worth of time passed, and violet light had spread to fill him, and was working on regenerating him. After about an hour had passed, he was back to normal. Keeping his breathing steady, he looked down thoughtfully at the wish box.

It’s a poison pill! A poison pill that’s been sealed away for countless years. And its mere aura is enough to kill someone in body and mind.

After some thought, he carefully opened the wish box again.

Even with his violet crystal, the poison was still shockingly effective against him, so he didn’t dare to actually pick up the pill and look at it. He was worried that if he touched it, the violet crystal might not be able to keep up with the effects of the pill, in which case he would be in danger. That said, he was no amateur when it came to the dao of poison, and was aware of the general principles of how to deal with the situation. After opening the box for a short time, he closed it again while the rotting effects spread through him.

Normally speaking, once you’re exposed to a poison a few times, your body will naturally start to resist it.

Ignoring the rotting that was spreading through his body, he took a large quantity of medicinal plants off of the rack next to him and started experimenting with a concoction to counter the symptoms. He had no idea what the primary ingredient in the poison was, so he had no way to even consider how to create an antidote. But he could counter the symptoms of rotting by creating a medicine focused on life force, energy, and blood.

Before long, he had a medicinal liquid prepared. When he took a mouthful, the symptoms disappeared almost immediately. Following this pattern, he repeatedly opened the box to do tests. The night passed quickly, and by daybreak, he had begun to build a resistance to the effects of the poison.

At that point, he put on a pair of gloves and then took out the jade slip. When he sent some dharma force into it, an ancient and weak voice spoke into his mind from the slip.

“What makes a great dao?

“Three thousand great daos, all may be holy. Might one of them be the dao of poison?

“People of the world disdain the treacherous and vicious. They disdain the poisonous and vile. How could those who mock it as a minor dao turn it into a great weapon?

“In the past, I did think the same, and spurned the vile methods of poison. One day, I cut down a nonhuman who emerged from a god domain. This cultivator commanded shocking battle prowess, and walked an incredibly treacherous dao. Before dying, his poisonous eyes glared at me, causing my cultivation to drop by an entire realm in a single day. Ten days later, I was a mortal. I lived for a sixty-year-cycle in the mundane world, experiencing endless torment and suffering. I wasted endless precious materials, but finally drove the poison from my body and collected it into a pill.

“Afterwards, I researched that pill until the apocalypse began. I never fully succeeded, and thus, am leaving behind this partially completed pill.

“This pill is a poison, and it is also taboo! If you are a high-level cultivator, do not attempt to use it. You will be damned by myriad tribulations and will die beyond the shadow of a doubt. Seek a low-level Gold Core cultivator with one heavenly palace, then use this poison pill as their gold core. That person will become a poison core cultivator like no other in existence. [1]

“Only in this way can one transform the soul and truly walk the path of the taboo pill!

“Based on my calculations, the path of the taboo pill uses poison to shake all living beings. Use the taboo to eradicate myriad worlds. Ultimate dread and terror! Or perhaps, fathom the magic of god domains to be the archenemy of all peoples!”

Waves of astonishment filled Xu Qing’s heart and mind as he stared at the jade slip. At the same time, he once again filled with rot.

As the power of the violet crystal worked within him against the poison, he closed his eyes and contemplated the contents of the jade slip. By the time he opened his eyes again, day had passed, and it was night again.

After repeatedly exposing himself to the strange poison in the wish box, he had slowly but surely improved his natural resistance by a small degree. And yet, it was still with extreme caution that he opened the wish box. As of now, he still didn’t dare touch the pill, not even with a glove on.

It’s a consummate poison pill from a previous epoch, but it’s not designed to be given to someone to consume. Instead, it can be assimilated and turned into a Gold Core.

His eyes sparkled as he looked at the pill for a time, then closed the box again. After he had recovered, he opened it again to continue his research.

By the time it was light again, he had gone through numerous rounds of research, and was starting to get an idea of what he was working with. This poison pill seemed like it was a destined opportunity to achieve a great dao, and also a turning point in the Gold Core level. It was different from the Gold Core level in the current epoch; if someone really practiced cultivation with this pill, their killing power would be shocking. However, the process of doing so would be incredibly dangerous.

As Xu Qing considered what the jade slip said, he thought about how he actually wasn’t very far from the Gold Core level himself.

Unfortunately, the pill isn’t complete. It’s also experienced the baptism of ancient time, to the point where it’s in danger of crumbling into nothing....

Based on Xu Qing’s skill with poison, he could tell that the black pill was itself beginning to decay, and using it properly would require reconcocting it. The process of reconcocting it would also be a step in researching and understanding it.

To reconcoct the pill, to bring it to life... will require a massive amount of poison ingredients!

Xu Qing closed the box again and carefully put it away. He took a deep breath as anticipation swirled in his heart. From what he could tell, this particular wish box contained very amazing contents. And that made him even more interested in finding out what was in the other wish box.

I wonder when the wartime rewards will be distributed. If he wanted to reconcoct the pill, he would need a massive amount of spirit stones to buy all of the poisonous plants he would need. Given that he was embarrassingly short of money right now, he couldn’t help but think of the rewards the sect had promised.

The rewards for the Seazombie war had not been distributed, though, so there was currently nothing he could do on that front. Taking out his identity medallion, he checked the division files to see what had been going on in the past few days.

Almost immediately, his eyes narrowed.

During the time he had been researching the taboo poison pill, he hadn’t paid any attention to anything else. Therefore, he had been completely unaware that there was a huge commotion among the sect disciples. It was a dramatic situation related to the chosen visitors from the Seven Sect Coalition! Those chosen had been acting very overbearingly, and as a result, were the center of attention among all of the Seven Blood Eyes disciples.

On the day after they arrived, the chosen from the seven sects, following certain missions and orders, began issuing dueling challenges to the highnesses from the various mountain peaks! It seemed they wanted to establish prestige!

That was especially true of Master Shengyun from the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect, who was the number one chosen in the Seven Sect Coalition, highest ranking member of his sect’s echelon, and whose cultivation base was so high he could crush any other cultivator in the same level as himself. He was incredibly famous, not just in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, but also in the other prefectures in Sea-Sealing County. As for his duel challenge, he had issued it to the First Peak.

After all, the First Peak’s supervisory sect was Master Shengyun’s Soaring Cloud Sword Sect.

On the day he issued the challenge, he went to the First Peak, offered formal greetings to the patriarch and peaklord, and had challenged the First Peak’s grand highness to a duel.

Unfortunately, the First Peak’s grand highness was in seclusion trying to break through to the Gold Core level, and thus could not accept the challenge. As a result, the one to fight was the second highness, who was in the great circle of Foundation Establishment.

Master Shengyun only made one move in the duel. Using that, he crushed the second highness’ bones, nearly killing him, and leaving his cultivation base half-crippled. A Gold Core elder tried to interfere with the fight, but was unable to help the second highness. In fact, Master Shengyun slammed into him and knocked him back 300 meters.

This event stunned Seven Blood Eyes, especially when Master Shengyun ignited all four of his life flames against a Gold Core expert. Given that he had a life lamp and an imperial-class technique, it gave him the shocking and legendary battle prowess equivalent to six flames. That type of battle prowess was a thing of legend among Foundation Establishment cultivators, and was inaccessible to the vast majority of people. It was a level of strength fully deserving of being called ‘the absolute peak’ of Foundation Establishment.

That was why it was said that Master Shengyun would probably be an Ancient Emperor one day. Stories of the duel spread throughout the continent of South Phoenix, and of course left the disciples of Seven Blood Eyes feeling very powerless. Master Shengyun was just too strong.

At the same time, other chosen from the Seven Sect Coalition issued dueling challenges to other mountain peaks, though none of them could devastate their opponents like Master Shengyun.

Though there were victories and defeats on both sides, overall, the Seven Sect Coalition chosen had the upper hand. That said, not all of the mountain peaks received dueling challenges. The Seventh Peak... did not receive a single challenge.

Unfortunately, one mountain peak couldn’t represent the entire sect. Therefore, as time passed, Seven Blood Eyes, despite having come out victorious in the war against the Seazombies, began to fill with frustration.

Furthermore, the challenges were witnessed by all of the visitors to the sect, enabling everyone to see first-hand how mighty the Seven Sect Coalition was. Everyone could tell that the Seven Sect Coalition had come to establish prestige and put Seven Blood Eyes in place.

This was not a contest between high-level cultivators. That was because the battle prowess of high-level cultivators didn’t need to be tested. Sir Bloodsmelter had shocking aptitude and mysterious destined opportunities. Unexpectedly, he had recently broken through from the Spirit Trove level into the Void Returning level, just the same as the other patriarchs from the seven sects. However, he was only one person.

What was more, the Seven Sect Coalition’s true battle prowess didn’t come just from those seven patriarchs, but most importantly, from their taboo magical treasures! There was no question that they possessed superior battle prowess. Therefore, the patriarchs didn’t need to come. Instead, they sent their chosen disciples with the goal of... crushing the spirits of the Seven Blood Eyes disciples, and making them feel powerless down to the core of their being.

That was obvious to Xu Qing. That said, it wasn’t a concern to him. He wasn’t one of the highnesses. Though he had accomplished something amazing and thus been placed into the echelon, he wasn’t the mastermind behind that event. Thus, with the highnesses around, there was no reason anyone would cause trouble for him.

Days passed.

The chosen from the seven sects continued to act aggressively, and the Seven Blood Eyes disciples got more frustrated. One evening when Xu Qing was researching his new poison pill, he looked up when his identity medallion vibrated. It was an urgent message from the Violent Crimes Division.

“Sir, there’s a large gathering of Night Dove operatives in Harbor 79. There’s some sort of deal going down. And the customer... is a chosen from the Seven Sect Coalition’s House of Grue Hunters. It’s Sima Ling! How do we handle this, sir? Please advise!” [2] [3]

1. It’s worth noting that the character translated as ‘core’ can also be translated as ‘pill.’ This is why the “Core” level of cultivation is often intertwined with pill concocting. ☜

2. Sima Ling: Sima is a compound surname that does not appear on the list of 100 common Chinese surnames. Compound surnames like this are archaic, and impart a sense of old-timeyness. That said, Sima is probably one of the most common of the ancient compound surnames, and there are still people nowadays who have this surname, though it’s not seen often. It is not pronounced “seemuh.” Instead, the first syllable rhymes (roughly speaking) with the English word “uh.” The second syllable roughly rhymes with “maw.” So together it’s sort of like “suh-maw.” To hear it pronounced by google, click here. Ling means “mound, tomb, hill.” Madam Deathblade says this sounds like a decent, respectable name. ☜

3. By way of reminder, Harbor 79 is where Xu Qing was originally assigned when he joined the sect in chapter 52. ☜

Deathblade's Thoughts

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