Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 928: Green Ox Return (Qing Niu Return)

The Captain and Xu Qing soon appeared in a teleportation portal in the inner ring of the Imperial Region…. Similar to the portal Princess Anhai had used when leading Xu Qing and the others from Sea-Sealing County, this particular portal didn’t lead directly into the imperial capital. Before the guard staff at the portal outside the capital could even clearly see who had come through, Xu Qing and the Captain had flown off into the sky.

Some distance away, they hovered in the air, looking in the direction of the capital. The first thing that they noticed were all the statues lining the capital.

Xu Qing’s mental state was very different compared to the first time he had laid eyes on those statues. Sighing inwardly, he looked at the rainbow bridge leading to the imperial palace, and far beyond all that, at Planet Ancient Emperor.

“Finally here,” Xu Qing murmured as he thought back to all the familiar faces he would soon see. He smiled.

When the Captain noticed Xu Qing’s expression, he shivered with excitement and said, “Say, little Junior Brother, back in that cave, remember what’s-her-face... Yue Dong? Her words made it very clear that she deeply values her sisterly relationships. Given that we set that Feng fellow free, we’re going to have to be very careful going forward.”[1]

The Captain blinked a few times at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked back at him. “You don’t seem very sorry about it.”

The Captain chuckled darkly. “I get the feeling that shrew was just putting on a show for the other shrew, Lan Yao. Lan Yao looked pretty angry. And the whole cave seemed full of the sensation of revenge. HOWEVER! Given my very perceptive eyes, I could tell from the get-go that the shrew Yue Dong is a bad person. Of course, there’s a reason I could sense that.”

The Captain lifted his chin arrogantly. “It’s because of my special constitution. You listen to me, little Ah Qing. From the time I was young until I grew up, and from ancient times until modern, I have been the person to hoodwink others. Cultivators. Gods. It doesn’t matter! I can hoodwink anyone!

“After you hoodwink people so many times you lose track, you’ll automatically gain some enlightenment of that type of great dao. And thus, I unconsciously developed an immunity to the hoodwinking of others. Anyone who dares to try to pull a fast one on me will be found out instantly! What about you? What clued you in to the fact that something suspicious was going on?”

The Captain was actually extremely curious about this point, and had thought it over quite a bit during their travels. The entire time, he had never been able to come up with a good way to ask about it.

Xu Qing looked his Eldest Brother straight in the eyes and said, “Thanks to spending so much time with you, Eldest Brother, I’ve also developed a bit of an immunity.”

“Hey, I’ve never tried to hoodwink you!” the Captain said. Clearing his throat, he decided to change the topic. He smacked his forehead, and a green vine emerged, barely more than a meter long. He opened his mouth, then snapped his teeth shut, chomping the vine in half. He gave one half to Xu Qing. “Take it. Consider it a gift from your Eldest Brother. As bros, we should always split the loot 50/50!”

He looked anxiously at Xu Qing with an expression that indicated he was expecting Xu Qing to act similarly in return.

Xu Qing chuckled. In reality, he didn’t care if the Captain split the vine with him. There hadn’t been time to discuss it on the way, and now that they were back in human territory, he’d been planning to split up the loot he’d acquired, regardless of what the Captain said or did. For all intents and purposes, there wasn’t any sort of loot whatsoever that the two of them couldn’t split.

Xu Qing waved his hand, and the air in front of them rippled. Little Shadow appeared, then dutifully spat up a large amount of holy fardark nectar. There was so much that it could definitely have filled a huge cistern.

The Captain’s eyes went wide. “Little Ah Qing, although I predicted from the beginning that you were the one who secretly drained the pool, I never could have guessed... that you took so much!!!”

Xu Qing was pleased with the results. Taking out two bottles, he split the holy fardark nectar into two parts, one of which he gave to the Captain. Then he looked at Little Shadow, who was obediently emanating some very cute fluctuations.

“Eldest Brother, do you have any more of Crimson Mother’s flesh?”

Unfortunately, Xu Qing didn’t have any left, which meant that he was going to have a hard time settling accounts with Little Shadow.

The Captain was at first stunned, but then he looked at the shadow, smiled, and gave three pieces of flesh to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing waved his hand. The shadow swelled excitedly as the three chunks of flesh tumbled into its mouth. It swallowed them, then swirled on the ground beneath Xu Qing’s feet looking very happy. A moment later, it opened its mouth and spat out an egg. It was golden and pulsed with a godly resonance.

The Captain’s eyes went wide. “There’s another one? That rat must have been an amazing thing to have things like that. I never laid eyes on it personally, but I can sense how extraordinary it is.... That’s especially true considering what we felt after we made our escape.” He reached out to grab the egg. “Sadly, I’m not very good at incubating eggs....”

The Captain sighed begrudgingly. That was when Xu Qing suddenly thought of a certain person who he had seen furtively incubating some mutant beasts.

“Wu Jianwu is good at it,” he said.

The Captain’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! He is good at it. I think we should loan these two eggs to Wu Jianwu and let him handle the incubating!”

“Good idea, Captain.”

“Captain?” the Captain said. He thought for a moment, then took a deep breath. “I think I’m ready to retire ‘the Captain.’ Going forward, it’s Erniu. What do you think?”

Xu Qing looked at him. He nodded. [2]

Erniu also nodded. Then he put away the two eggs and was just about to say something further when glittering light rose up from the distant imperial capital. Pulses of light shot up into the sky, forming auspicious clouds that filled half of the canopy of heaven. Bells tolled from within the capital, deafening and majestic.

They tolled twelve times! The sound resounded in the ears of everyone in the capital. It was a ceremony that surpassed anything for heavenly kings. Only when humans achieved a great victory, or were performing ancestral sacrifices, would the bells ring in that way. Today, though humankind hadn’t necessarily achieved a great victory, it had at least resolved a big crisis. Furthermore, Xu Qing had amassed great glory. Though he was only one person, he was human, and therefore, that glory spread out to shine on the lands of humans as a whole. The bells tolled twelve times for a single person!

Xu Qing took a deep breath. Erniu’s chest swelled as if he were a dragon or tiger, as if he were the one responsible for everything.

He quickly projected a message to Xu Qing. “Little Junior Brother, release Ninedawns! Put on the Grand Darkheaven Armor! My dream is going to be fulfilled today with your help!”

Xu Qing didn’t really have many options. He knew what his Eldest Brother’s dream was, and that was to return triumphantly to humankind as a darkheaven general. Normally speaking, it wasn’t something Xu Qing would ever do. But since his Eldest Brother had asked....

The Grand Darkheaven Armor formed around him. The Ninedawns skulls howled as nine lamps appeared, which began to orbit around him. At the same time, his energy surged, causing wild colors to flash in the sky, and winds to scream.

Planet Ancient Emperor in the imperial capital was affected by the bells. The planet trembled, and then destiny aura surged within it, causing auspicious beasts to proliferate within the clouds. The dragon formed of human destiny appeared, swirling around, accompanied by the projections of various illustrious figures from human history. The dragon of destiny roared, and a host of figures flew out of the imperial capital, several thousand in number.

Among them were the important government officials of all rankings. There were nobles and other powerful experts, most of whom Xu Qing had seen before. Leading them was a dignified and imposing middle-aged man. He wore a long blue robe embroidered with white clouds, and was tall and burly, making him visually impressive to anyone who could see him. He had stalwart facial features, with eyes like torches that could see through everything, and would elicit feelings of respect in anyone. His prominent nose and thin lips made him seem full of unswerving determination. There was something very domineering about him, almost as if he was someone who had been born a leader.

This person led the way, flying forward like the wind, but not imparting a sense of calmness. His cultivation base? He was an eight-world Smoldering God! He was the number one heavenly king of humankind, King Firecrusher. He was a legend among humans, even a myth!

As the number one heavenly king, he was the strongest human expert that there was other than the emperor. He was like a needle in the ocean compared to humankind as a whole, and was like a god to the armed forces.

As the only human Smoldering God with eight worlds, and during a time when it was not appropriate for the emperor to leave the capital, and considering Grand Emperor Swordsage only had one sword left to use, King Firecrusher was responsible for handling any wartime affairs outside of the capital.

Although King Firecrusher had also done a lot to maintain the border with the Firemoon Darkheavens, he had also participated in countless other military operations. Whenever humans achieved a great victory, he played a part in it. And when things got tough, he never shirked his duties. Over the countless years he had lived, he had faced injury and death on too many occasions to count. And he had killed enough nonhumans to form a sea of corpses.

He had essentially spent his entire life in military service! He was now back, and he was the one who personally came out to receive Xu Qing! It went to show how seriously humankind was taking Xu Qing’s return. And it was also a clear sign of how much the emperor and King Firecrusher valued Xu Qing.

Xu Qing was taken aback. Although he had never seen King Firecrusher, he had heard a lot about him in the capital. From the way everyone treated King Firecrusher, and from his terrifying cultivation base, which seemed to pulse with an aura of endless slaughter, it was possible to guess who he was. He was a heavenly king who had lived a life in military service. As such, Xu Qing respected him greatly.

Without any hesitation, and without paying any further attention to Erniu, Xu Qing put away the Grand Darkheaven Armor and Ninedawns skulls, then hurried forward solemnly. Clasping hands, he bowed.

“Well met, King Firecrusher. I am Xu Qing.”

King Firecrusher’s eyes glittered as he looked at Xu Qing. Then, his normally grim face broke out into a smile. “A 30,000-meter pillar of light in the assessment of the heart. Given a sword by the Grand Emperor. Lord of the Holytide Region. Respected by Firemoon Darkheavens. You’re the perfect example of what a human chosen should be like!”

King Firecrusher laughed heartily, his eyes overflowing with praise that came from the depths of his being. The nobles behind him might have been keeping their true thoughts hidden. But on the outside, they smiled as they respectfully bowed.

“You flatter me, Heavenly King,” Xu Qing replied in accordance with etiquette. “I don’t dare to claim credit for such things. In fact, without the help of my Eldest Brother here, I would never have succeeded.”

King Firecrusher’s gaze flitted to Erniu. “You schemed against three gods. You seized a god domain. You devoured the blood of the broken face. Just what I would expect of Chen Erniu! Maybe the Firemoon Darkheavens didn’t give you any Grand Darkheaven Armor, nor any glory. But on behalf of humankind, I offer you my full respect!”

Erniu’s eyes went wide and his heart started racing. Not only did this King Firecrusher understand him, but also seemed to know what he was truly thinking. This guy is no simpleton. All it took was a single glance for him to realize how amazing I am. That I’m a child of destiny! That I’m outstanding!! He understands how worthy of admiration I am!

Erniu rushed to bow in thanks.

King Firecrusher laughed again as he looked at Xu Qing and Erniu. Then he lifted his hand in a beckoning gesture.

“Come on. Let’s go home.”

1. The Captain uses the wrong character for one of the characters in Yue Dong’s name, although it’s pronounced the same. I’m honestly not sure if it’s intentional or a typo. There doesn’t seem to be any joke involved, so I’m not sure what to make of it. It seems likely it’s a typo. ☜

2. As I mentioned in a previous translator note, the author stealthily switched from using ‘the Captain’ to ‘Erniu’ without any explanation either within the narrative or in author notes. I’m going to make more of a hard transition. As a result, I added this brief section to create a narrative reason for the switch. It takes place roughly around this period, and this section seems like the perfect place for that change. ☜

Deathblade's Thoughts

In case you missed it, the tReading the Path of Heaven did a great podcast on Beyond the Timescape. You can find the podcast wherever you get your podcasts, above is the YouTube link. It's more geared toward people who understand xianxia and cultivation novels, so if you know people who are fans of the genre but are not reading the story yet, think about sharing it with them! The hosts' enthusiasm is contagious!