Beyond the Timescape [Wuxiaworld]

Blood-colored light filled the sky, turning everything crimson. The streak of red became like a scarlet curtain that covered all. The lands below were the same. They were like a hell of blood, with Xu Qing in control of it all.

The blood sphere seemed unstable, pulsing with terrifying energy that could eradicate anything and everything. The Firemoon cultivators who could see what was happening backed up, their hearts pounding. It almost felt like their own blood was about to be taken over.

Fan Shishuang’s pupils constricted. It was obvious that Xu Qing was in complete control. Whether it was breaking the fingers or taking control of the blood, Fan Shishuang could tell that... he wasn’t a match!

He hasn’t even used any of his main divine abilities....

Fan Shishuang sped up as he backed away.

Master Stillwinter, who was the focus of this situation, was visibly shaken as he hovered in midair. He knew his own divine abilities, and how threatening they were, and he could sense that the killing power of this blood sphere surpassed anything he had done up to this point. Heaven and earth was like a huge cage to him, and the all-encompassing red was something he simply couldn’t evade or withstand.

At that moment of deadly crisis, his years of fighting experience took over. Without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and exhaled sharply in the direction of the blood sphere. A stream of golden light shot out of his mouth. At the same time, he detonated his body, turning it into a host of blood clones that scattered in all directions.

The golden light rapidly turned so dazzling it was blinding. And in the middle of that light was a ring. It was made of golden bone, and though most of the flesh had been scraped off, there was a face on it.

That face’s eyes were full of terror as it moaned, “Milord, it’s me! Lil’ Fishy! We’re on the same side here.... Milord, I’ve missed you so much! It’s all the fault of that god-damned Master Stillwinter....”

The ring was the god’s finger from D-132, which Master Stillwinter had ultimately captured. Afterward, Master Stillwinter had used a brutal refinement technique to turn the finger into a ring. And now he was using it to block the blood sphere.

Maybe Xu Qing was thinking about old times, or maybe the finger’s words were actually effective. Either way, the blood sphere actually passed right through the ring without hurting īt at all.

In fact, the moment it happened, Master Stillwinter’s mark was completely removed from the ring. The god’s finger shivered from that near-death experience. As īt flew toward Xu Qing, īt was about to explain everything when Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior suddenly appeared and blocked īts path.

“Halt!” the patriarch said coolly. This definitely was one of the highlights of his life. After all, being able to say ‘halt’ to a god was something that most spirit automatons would never have a chance to do.

The god’s finger, despite being very irritated, didn’t dare to cause trouble in a moment like this, and thus smiled ingratiatingly.

Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to either of them or their emotional reactions. He was looking up into the sky.

Because of the distraction caused by the god’s finger, Master Stillwinter’s blood clones had scattered everywhere. Most were nearing the horizon, and though they hadn’t fully escaped the canopy of blood that covered everything, they were close. Every single one of the over 1,000 clones looked exactly like Master Stillwinter. And every single one had a very serious expression on its face. Eyes shining with mad killing intent, they glared at Xu Qing and all shouted the same thing.

“Sacrifice!”

“Sacrifice!”

“Sacrifice!”

Their voices echoed in the air as five blood-red secret troves appeared above, like five volcanoes rumbling loudly. They were the secret troves that Master Stillwinter had formed when in the Spirit Trove level. Although he was now in Void Returning, the five secret troves were still his foundation. Now, having no other choice, he was holding nothing back.

The moment the word ‘sacrifice’ echoed out, the heavenly daos in the five secret troves howled, and five figures emerged. One was a blood fiend with eight arms. One was a gobblewock with red scales. One was a patch of blood-colored skin. One was a crimson eyeball. And one was a stream of scarlet light. These were the heavenly daos that Master Stillwinter had subjugated in Spirit Trove.

Upon appearing, they didn’t shoot toward Xu Qing. Roaring decisively, they shot up into the air, blasting open the blood canopy that stretched from horizon to horizon.

The dome of heaven trembled. The vortex seethed, and blood-red lightning crashed everywhere in shocking fashion. Within the vortex, an image appeared. It depicted a vast void within which was a shocking kunpeng bird shackled with numerous chains. It pulsed with a powerful heavenly dao aura. This was the ancient heavenly dao that had been captured by the Firemoon Darkheaven people! [1]

Looking closely, it appeared as if every chain was stabbed into the kunpeng’s body. What was more, there was an enormous chain like a whip behind it that lashed it constantly, ripping its flesh into shreds. The whip was covered with numerous sealing marks that glittered brightly. And every lash of the whip caused a sound like heavenly thunder to echo out and mingle with the anguished howls of the ancient heavenly dao.

The howls contained immeasurable pain, and seemed to be pleading for death. The sound surpassed natural and magical laws, and they caused Xu Qing’s blood sphere to slow down and stop in midair.

This wasn’t Xu Qing’s first time witnessing this ancient heavenly dao. However, unlike the last time, Master Stillwinter wasn’t just drawing on the power of its sound. He was... sacrificing his own heavenly daos!

In the blink of an eye, his five heavenly daos shot into the vortex, where they crumbled into fragments that merged into the whip, adding five sealing marks to it and increasing its power. It was a process that couldn’t be reversed. Master Stillwinter had lost his five heavenly daos for all eternity, which would have a massive impact on his cultivation base. In fact, if he wanted to recover, it would require paying a stupefying price. That was the main reason he hadn’t resorted to this tactic in his last fight with Xu Qing.

But making this sacrifice gave him a spectacular boost to his strength. In the blink of an eye, one of the chains binding the ancient heavenly dao came off. It shot through the rift in the sky, clinking down to appear above the Ghost Chariot Wildwood. Then it swept toward Xu Qing, backed by natural laws that couldn’t be blocked or evaded.

RUMBLE!

Xu Qing shivered as the chain smacked into him and knocked him back by 3,000 meters.

The power of the chain then became a host of red lightning bolts that smashed into him. The Ninedawns mage armor blocked them, but the nine skulls roared as cracks spread out over them.

Xu Qing’s soul trembled, and a glimmer of surprise could be seen in his eyes. Inside, however, he was completely taken aback. The power of that chain was so terrifying that it took all of the might of the mage armor to protect him. Although the Ninedawns mage armor seemed like it was about to collapse, Xu Qing could sense that it was already repairing itself.

Apparently, the chain itself had some of the essence of an antemage in it. What was more, Xu Qing had known all along that the Ninedawns skulls couldn’t form a true mage state. He needed to break through to Void Returning before he could fuse the skulls to do that.

The chains binding that ancient heavenly dao are really effective....

Xu Qing looked at the ancient heavenly dao out in the void, and was suddenly struck with a realization.

The God-Rejecting Mage Formation....

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t pursue the train of thought.

Noticing that the chain seemed to be on the verge of disappearing, he bit the tip of his tongue and spat out some blood. A tremor passed through him, and his god state began to show signs of collapsing. From that he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to stand up to a second blow like he had the first one.

As for Master Stillwinter, he obviously had no information that could have informed him about how the chain would react to the Ninedawns skulls. Xu Qing was still alive, but if you ride a tiger, it’s hard to get off, and therefore, the faces of all his blood clones grimaced viciously.

“Sacrifice!!”

This time, he was going to sacrifice his own life force.

Master Stillwinter’s body withered, and he went from looking young to elderly. In fact, half of him collapsed into ash. As the powerful life force entered the void, a second chain dropped down.

In the shortest of moments it swept toward Xu Qing in another devastating attack.

RUMBLE!

Xu Qing coughed up three mouthfuls of blood as his god state collapsed and his flesh was shredded, revealing bone beneath. His Ninedawns mage armor was largely ravaged and began falling off him. The wounds covering him made it clear that a third blow like this would kill him.

Holding nothing back, he fled. He also seemed to be ready to take a risk, as though he had a trump card to unleash.

As a result, the cautious Master Stillwinter didn’t dare to get too close to him. He gritted his teeth. He had paid a massive price to take the fight to this level, and therefore, he wasn’t going to give up until Xu Qing was dead, regardless of how negatively it affected him. He only had one life, and he didn’t want to risk losing it. However, life force and heavenly daos could always be replaced, as long as you survived.

Therefore, his eyes flashed with determination as he yet again said, “Sacrifice!”

This time he was sacrificing his cultivation base!

His Void Returning cultivation base burst out of him. All of the daos he had assimilated and all of the natural laws he had gained enlightenment of became like shooting stars that raced toward the ancient heavenly dao. After they were absorbed, a third chain appeared.

“Die!” screamed Master Stillwinter as the chain lashed toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing had been injured and was in retreat. It truly looked like a third chain blow would kill him.

Master Stillwinter trembled in rage. He wasn’t sure how Xu Qing had survived up to this point... but he had some suspicions. As he pulled his clones back and used them to restore the lost portions of his body, he forced himself to get composed and then shot after the fleeing figure off in the distance.

The moment he did, the completely bedraggled Xu Qing looked up and frowned. Thanks to Master Stillwinter, he had now fused halfway with the Ninedawns state. If he could complete it, then he could truly enter the mage state. Yet his opponent had still not chosen to back down.

“Useless piece of trash.” Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly as his injuries healed up. Having fused halfway with the Ninedawns skulls, he was even more terrifying than before. He stepped toward Master Stillwinter. “Crushing you should be enough to finish the fusion process.”

Off in the distance, a host of emotions exploded within Master Stillwinter, and he suddenly coughed up a massive mouthful of blood.

1. This kunpeng heavenly dao appeared previously in chapter 819. ☜

Deathblade's Thoughts

Hey everyone, a quick heads up. Somewhere roughly around this part of the story (not in one specific chapter, just a general area), the author slowly starts switching from 'the Captain' to 'Erniu.' He never gives an explanation for this in the story, and it happened so randomly that I hardly noticed it. At first, Erniu starts popping up here and there, and eventually, Erniu overtakes the Captain. At a certain point, the author phases out 'the Captain' and exclusively uses Erniu.

As of putting this note here, there are something like 100 chapters that I haven't read. Theoretically, it's possible that the author could provide an explanation in those chapters, but based on what I've been able to see, there is no explanation, and he just gradually changes. I personally find this weird from a narrative level. It makes sense that the author would want to switch, but without an explanation in the story, it sort of doesn't make sense. The way he does it slowly does ease the jarring nature of it. But again, without an explanation, it's somewhat odd. I think some of it has to do with the author's erratic release schedule and health problems. From the perspective of an author, I can say that when you take breaks from writing like that, be they days, weeks, or months, it makes it a lot easier to fail to notice continuity oddities. Or even if you do notice them or even plan for them, you have a very different perspective that someone just reading the story from beginning to end.

In any case, I've made an executive decision to fix it editorially by offering a very off-hand explanation in a single line of dialogue later in the story. From that point on, I will just switch from the Captain to Erniu, and with that casual bit of text, it will make sense.

There is the off chance that there will be an explanation later, but the way I've done it should account for that. I'm putting this explanation here so that everyone is aware of the decision and won't be surprised when it happens later.

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