Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 806: Summer Immortal Palace

Not a sound could be heard in heaven and earth. A few clouds floated past the bright moon in the sky, creating an ethereal atmosphere. The color of the moonlight on one particular street grew increasingly violet, thanks to Xu Qing. At the moment, he had stopped walking and was looking at the butterfly.

The Summer Immortal Palace. It wasn’t Xu Qing’s first time hearing about the place. Back when he came to the imperial capital, Princess Anhai had mentioned it. [1]

He remembered her saying that humans weren’t the only ones who had a Summer Immortal Palace. There were other species in the Revered Ancient mainland who also had the same organization. The palace was an ancient place with a history that stretched back to the very beginning of Revered Ancient.

In fact, the 99 ancient heavenly daos of Revered Ancient were actually creations of the Summer Immortal Palace. They were the ones who gave natural laws to the world, and who maintained a boundary against gods. They originated in a place called Deep Earth, which was also sometimes referred to as the lower worlds.

Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed with profound light. “Every thousand years, the human Summer Immortal Palace sends out a disciple to wander the lands. Are you that disciple for this generation?”

The butterfly’s wings flapped, causing dusty starlight to drift down from it, then fade into nothing.

“I can’t tell you,” came the crisp, clear reply. “If you want to know, you’ll have to—”

Without the slightest change to his facial expression, Xu Qing sent soul threads stabbing into the butterfly. The butterfly collapsed with a thump, but reappeared only a moment later. Xu Qing repeated the process a few dozen times. When the butterfly reformed after the final time, the designs on its wings looked like eyes. And they looked angry.

“Still not calmed down? You’re out of control! Stop! Fine, I’ll answer your question. I do want to wander the lands, but... the palace lord said that I’m not strong enough yet. Ai. I guess that makes sense. Even you can beat me....” The butterfly sighed. “So are you coming or not? If not, then I’ll just keep following you around. I really have no choice. The palace lord told me to invite you, and failing the mission isn’t an option.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. Haven’t you noticed yet that, despite our fighting, the spell formations didn’t activate and nobody showed up...? Want to know why?

“It’s because I represent the Summer Immortal Palace, and the Summer Immortal Palace... doesn’t participate in the mundane affairs of any species. We record history, that’s all. We don’t have any enemies.

“That being said, I don’t really know why the palace lord wants to see you. So, are you going, or not?”

Xu Qing was actually feeling a bit annoyed. After the mysterious young woman turned into a butterfly, she became something of a chatterbox. Every sentence she spoke seemed to be followed by another sentence.

That said, he was very curious about the Summer Immortal Palace. Considering how many prying eyes there were in the imperial capital, he wasn’t really worried about the place posing some sort of lethal threat. After mulling the matter over, he looked at the ancient sun hanging at his waist. That made him feel even better.

“Lead the way!” he said calmly.

The butterfly squealed excitedly and started flying, leaving behind a beautiful, multicolored stream of light that served as a path through the starry sky. Xu Qing followed. After proceeding for a short time, they reached the north section of the imperial capital.

The capital took up the entire inner ring of Planet Ancient Emperor, which meant it was a very large place. There were a variety of terrain features scattered about, from mountains to plains. The north had more open space than average. There weren’t a lot of buildings, and considering it was nighttime, it felt empty and desolate.

Eventually, the butterfly stopped over a vast plain that was illuminated only by glittering moonlight.

Within that faint light it was just possible to see a temple. There were no other buildings present, just the temple. It was somewhat run-down, and imparted the sensation of countless years of time. What was more, it was constructed in an unusual way that made it seem like it existed in the space between reality and illusion.

Xu Qing remembered having passed through this spot once, and there hadn’t been any sign of this temple.

Is it like the Immortal Questioning Bell?

“There’s no need for you to speculate,” the butterfly said. “The Summer Immortal Palaces all look like this, regardless of the species. They exist, but at the same time, they don’t exist. And if you come looking for this place, you’ll never find it. The only way you’ll ever see it is if the palace lord invites you.”

The butterfly then shot toward the temple and disappeared inside. A moment later, the temple’s main door slowly opened. The door was mottled with age, and seemed ancient. The interior of the temple seemed to emanate a sense of antiquity. Just looking at it made Xu Qing feel like he was glimpsing history.

He closed his eyes and slowly tapped into his sundials. When he opened his eyes again, he could see a river of time flowing within the temple. That made the temple seem even more mysterious.

After a time, he took a deep breath, straightened his clothing, and then bowed to the temple. Then, not pausing for even a moment, he walked inside.

Looking around, he found that the temple seemed just as run-down on the inside as it did on the outside. It looked like nothing more than a run-of-the-mill temple. It was mostly empty, and very quiet, with the only sound coming from the dancing flames on the candles.

Specifically, there was an altar up front with nine candles on it. Three of them were extinguished, while six of them were lit. When the door opened, the candles flickered slightly. In front of the altar were three prayer mats of woven rush. They were quite worn, seemingly indicating that they were frequently used for meditation and worship. There were no divine likenesses enshrined in the temple. Instead, there were nine ancient paintings, one behind each candle. The paintings were blurry, making it impossible to see clearly who they depicted. Other than that, the walls of the temple featured frescoes illuminated by the dim, flickering candle light.

As Xu Qing’s gaze shifted from the altar to the walls, his heart started pounding.

The frescoes contained historical images!

In one of them, Xu Qing saw Emperor Dark War ascending the throne! The image was very detailed, and did a great job of imparting the majesty and grandeur of the occasion. It was easy to get sucked into it and feel like you were actually there.

Eventually, Xu Qing looked at some of the other frescoes. One of them depicted another of the human emperors ascending the throne. That emperor’s facial features were unfamiliar to Xu Qing, but there was a text inscription explaining who it was. Dao Life.

Xu Qing walked a bit closer to the wall, and as he looked around, he saw the emperor who had come before Dao Life. It was Emperor Mirrorcloud!

Xu Qing stopped in front of the Mirrorcloud fresco, and suddenly found himself thinking of the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan. As he knew, Emperor Mirrorcloud and the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan were from the same generation. That time period was considered the golden age of humankind.

Xu Qing walked around some more and found Emperor Sageheaven, as well as Emperor Eastglory, who, in his thirst to accomplish extraordinary things, ended up losing almost half of all human territory.

The various images of the human emperors ascending the throne depicted different levels of majesty and grandeur. Most astonishing of all was the fresco of Emperor Eastglory. He had a whole host of heavenly kings with him, as well as numerous Imperial Sovereigns. The prestige on display, and the destiny aura, seemed impossible to top. At that time, humankind had terrifying reserve powers, as well as the might of the Ancient Emperors.

But when it came to Dark War’s ascension... humans were clearly in decline.

The images created something like a river of history flowing in front of Xu Qing. Thanks to the frescoes, he got a clear view of what happened to humankind after Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity left.

Speaking of which, what about Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity? He was before Emperor Eastglory, right...?

Xu Qing continued following the frescoes until he encountered an image that surpassed anything from the later emperors.

He saw... Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity ascending the throne. Planet Ancient Emperor shone with dazzling, auspicious light. Heaven and earth were dim in comparison. The 99 ancient heavenly daos were clearly prominent, and were bowing their heads to the imperial palace. A lone person stood in that palace, mightier than heaven. Beneath him were all the species of Revered Ancient, including their emperors, and they were prostrating respectfully. One person had conquered Revered Ancient. One person had campaigned across all heaven and earth.

Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity!

Xu Qing examined the fresco for a long time. Eventually, he settled his thoughts and decided to keep looking back. He wanted to see what humans were like before Dark Serenity.

Humans had emperors before Dark Serenity. Some of them ruled for long periods of time. Others didn’t reign for very long. The same went for the levels of glory they achieved. Eventually, after passing thirty-one emperors, Xu Qing found a fresco that depicted a ceremony that seemed to equal that of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity.

It was... another Ancient Emperor.

Dark Serenity was not the first Ancient Emperor among humankind to conquer Revered Ancient. The name of that Ancient Emperor was ‘Banished Immortal.’

She was actually an empress. She had a magnificent style that was unmatched in later generations, and was an object of veneration among all people.

Xu Qing’s heart was racing. This was history he had never learned about, and was careful to look closely at all the images. He moved on, and saw frescoes depicting an additional fifty emperors.

Eventually, he found a fresco depicting... the very first Ancient Emperor of humankind.

He was a young man standing in front of a very ancient imperial palace. Instead of wearing imperial garments, he actually wore a daoist robe. He was not looking down as countless species bowed to him. Instead, he was looking up into a starry sky. His expression was melancholy, conflicted, and thoughtful.

There was an inscription naming him. Ancient Emperor Heavenly Peace.

“Ancient Emperor Heavenly Peace was the first human emperor. He was also the first Ancient Emperor.”

The words were eloquently spoken from behind Xu Qing.

He looked over his shoulder and saw that there was a woman on one of the prayer mats, facing away from him.

She wore a white, homespun garment and had long black hair. Because of the dim candlelight, Xu Qing felt like he was looking at an old painting. The person depicted in that painting seemed to exist within time itself. As Xu Qing looked at her, he wasn’t sure if she was in the past or the present. Her aura was like that of a god, yet wasn’t. It was like that of a cultivator, yet wasn’t.

“Immortal...!” said the trembling voice of the god’s finger from within Xu Qing. “I was only asleep for a bit! Why did you... bring me to see an immortal...?”

The god’s finger was trembling, and instinctively shut īts eyes and tried to go back asleep. If īt was asleep, īt couldn’t be afraid.

Xu Qing ignored the finger and instead focused on the woman in the homespun garment.

An ancient temple. A homespun garment. Underworld fire.

The butterfly appeared next to her, fluttering around her before landing on her shoulder. The patterns on the butterfly’s wings formed an eye that looked at Xu Qing.

“Xu Qing, this is my Master, who is also the palace lord.”

Xu Qing solemnly bowed. “Well met, Palace Lord.”

The ancient temple was quiet for a very long moment....

Then the figure in the homespun garment spoke in a voice like water droplets falling onto limestone tiles. “You have the aura of a Summer Immortal on you.”

Her voice lingered in the ancient temple.[2]

1. Princess Anhai mentioned the Summer Immortal Palace in chapter 749. Incidentally, Summer Immortals were also mentioned in chapter 747. ☜

2. If you compare the line “An ancient temple. A homespun garment. Underworld fire” as well as this scene in general to the final part of chapter 1313 of A Will Eternal, it’s little wonder that some Chinese readers speculated that this woman could be Du Lingfei. The specific word ‘ancient temple’ used in this chapter appears only five times in AWE, and all are in chapter 1313. What’s more, there is a level of uniqueness in the Chinese characters that make the similarities very obvious. However, other readers speculated that, considering certain events which happened in A World Worth Protecting, plus the words about ‘aura of a Summer Immortal’ and how that could theoretically connect to the violet crystal, this woman could be Wang Yiyi from that novel. I never read AWWP so I'm not really sure what they're talking about, but the comments were pretty clear. Right now, all of this is pure speculation. For all we know, this woman might be a brand new character, and all the theorizing about her connecting to other novels is tin-hattery. Now, off to the store to replace my diminishing stockpile of tin foil.... ☜