Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 955: Looking to Die? If So, Come Here!

The scene developing in front of Xu Qing confirmed his previous theory. Back when the three gods achieved their breakthrough, a mysterious cultivator arrived to block a sudden attack in the form of a giant hand. That mysterious cultivator was the empress.[1]

No wonder things went so smoothly when the Firemoons called for a ceasefire. I felt all along like I was just serving to provide an excuse for them to do what they already planned to do. And now it makes sense why High God Starfire was around in the imperial capital.... Even back then, shē and the empress were working out a deal.... [6]

The entire situation just made him feel increasing admiration for the empress.

I hope... that she succeeds. Xu Qing couldn’t think of any reason not to wish her well, especially after what he had experienced in striking the drum.

The empress was supremely confident and a model ruler. No matter what happened, she could deal with it. She could overcome any problem, and look calm the entire time.

Back before joining Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing’s understanding of the world, and his experiences, were very limited. Perhaps back then, he would have understood her calmness in a different way.

But given everything he had been through, he knew that, because of her status and position, she couldn’t afford to reveal any emotions. In everything she did, she kept humankind as a whole in mind. She was the ultimate source of inner strength for all humans in Revered Ancient. If she became afraid, humankind would be afraid. If she got alarmed, humankind would be alarmed.

What was more, it was impossible to determine how many experts from the top species were watching this spectacle play out among humans. The same went for gods. It was easy to imagine how every facial expression, word, and action would be noticed and analyzed by such people.

And if omniscience were applied to that, it could lead to extreme danger. It would truly be walking on thin ice. That was why she had to remain calm.

As Xu Qing contemplated those things, deafening booms rocked the dome of heaven, and the sensation of cracking grew more intense. The world seemed like a furious sea, with humankind as a lone rowboat, struggling against the wind and waves to stay afloat.

Intense rumbling could be heard from the sea of flames above. Within it, moonlight spread, becoming pulses of godly authority. At the same time, High God Moonfire’s domineering aura and extreme coldness crushed everything around it.

A battle of gods, especially gods the likes of Moonfire and Blazeflame, was something that ordinary people couldn’t observe with the naked eye. And other senses would be distorted as well. In the canopy of heaven, the sea of flames and the moonlight mixed together to make an abstract painting. Within that painting, it was possible to see the moon spreading and the flames retreating. The difference between ‘flawless’ and ‘tribulation fire’ was clearly evident. Truth be told, if Moonfire wished, shē could crush a tribulation fire god with ease. Obviously, shē didn’t wish that.

It was the same with the clay fox. As shē strode through the darkness of night, clay and mud flowed above and below hēr, as if turning everything into a statue. In front of hēr, Nightcorpse fell back repeatedly.

Apparently, these two gods had come to act as dao protectors. They would obstruct and launch a few blows. That was enough. It wasn’t that they weren’t capable of killing two tribulation fire gods. Rather, humankind wasn’t in the place to pay for a service like that. That would surpass the deal that was in place.

The empress watched it all happening. Apparently, she had predicted in advance that she would have to face Blazeflame from the Redland Nobleplexuses, as well as Nightcorpse from the Netherworld Chasmcorpses. And her action in helping the three gods during their breakthrough had been like a dry run for the difficulties she knew she would face later.

Today, the three gods were paying her back for the help she had provided in dealing with that huge hand. Though the three gods weren’t going all out, their attitude was clear. The empress knew full well that they were just fulfilling their end of a bargain.

Historically speaking, the Firemoon Darkheaven people had always been enemies of humankind. But as far as humans were concerned, enemies... could be turned into allies. In that regard, the background of the three Firemoon gods made them even more suitable than other Revered Ancient gods.

The empress looked away from the canopy of heaven and toward the five vortexes orbiting Planet Ancient Emperor. Specifically, she focused on Emperor Eastglory. Years ago, he was the emperor who had followed the orders of the holy lands to wage war on the Firemoon people, all in the hopes of learning about their three gods. Although he had reported the results to the holy lands, he had also passed on the information to his successors. The empress looked toward the horizon. Her godfire was reaching a very critical point.

“There’s one more element to this deal,” a resonant voice said from off in the distance.

The sound of the voice shook everyone to the core. The sky dimmed, and the ground seemed like it might vanish. The entire world shook. It was as if some terrifying entity were coming. The air shattered as a rift opened so large it seemed endless.

Out of that rift blew what seemed to be a north wind. It was so freezing cold it could exterminate life force. It grew in intensity, whimpering loudly, like a storm that could crush time itself. It looked extremely ghastly.

Both Blazeflame and Nightcorpse trembled as thēy looked at the tempest. Thēy both watched as two figures emerged.

One of them was large, the other small.

The large one was fully 3,000 meters tall and clad in a golden suit of bone armor that seemed to be a part of hīs body. Hē pulsed with a very clear sense of holiness. Hē wore a helmet, but there was no face covering. However, that only made hīm seem more gruish, as... hē had no facial features at all! There was only a black hole! Behind hīm were innumerable golden lightning bolts that spread out to form a pair of wings! A terrifying pressure pulsed off hīm as hē arrived.

Hē was followed by a smaller figure who appeared to be a servant clad in a gray robe. The servant pulsed with gray fog filled with howling sounds. Astonishingly, hē was actually a High God! Although he hadn’t reached the level of tribulation fire, he was clearly at the top of the karma fire level. The fact that someone like that was a mere servant only served to highlight the astounding level of personhood of the figure in the golden bone armor.

“Tempest of the Northfate Kings!” the empress said calmly.[2]

In the Revered Ancient mainland, the Northfate Kings were the number-two species. Though they weren’t quite as strong as the number-one species, they had long been far superior to the Firemoon Darkheavens. Considering Revered Ancient as a whole, they were one of the most powerful species in existence.

As for this god, hē was one of the leaders among all the gods of all the species. Hē was at the peak of the Flawless God level! When hē arrived, Blazeflame bowed hīs head, Nightcorpse backed down, and Starfire and Moonfire looked at hīm with serious expressions. Though the latter two were also Flawless Gods, Tempest was obviously a lot closer to being an Altar God than thēy were.

“It is not impossible for a Revered Ancient cultivator to convert to being a god,” Tempest said. “However, Northfate has other important matters to handle at the moment. Empress of humankind, you will delay your godly ascension ceremony for 3,000 years. After that period of time has passed, you may resume the process.”

Hīs voice echoed through Revered Ancient, becoming a directive that sealed heaven and locked down earth. With that, hē looked at the empress in a way that made it seem like hīs every word was an order that wasn’t even possible to ignore.

The empress didn’t say anything. But her godfire on Planet Ancient Emperor didn’t diminish. In fact, the fluctuations pulsing out of her grew more intense. The rumbling sounds were only getting louder.

Seeing that, the leader god from the Northfate Kings lifted hīs hand. The tempest around hīm screamed even louder as it accelerated toward the empress and Planet Ancient Emperor.

But at that exact moment, a sun appeared between the empress and the leader god. As it cast dazzling light into heaven and earth, the tempest stopped moving. Then a figure emerged from the sun. Its body seemed to be that of a woman, but it had the face of a man. It had the sun behind its back, and the ghosts of countless species beneath its feet.

This was High God Sunfire, the strongest of the three Firemoon gods. Not only did Sunfire block the attack of the Northfate King leader god, shē also waved her hand to send a seven-colored god talisman flying toward the empress.

“We three gods of the Firemoons value promises more than anything else. Though we won’t do anything we didn’t agree to do, when it comes to things we agreed upon, we never back down. We did everything we could to help the grand steward, but he still failed. Therefore, that talisman belongs to you now. Our deal for the future remains the same, empress of humankind!” With that, Sunfire started walking right toward Tempest. “Northfate Kings, this is the east of Revered Ancient, not the north, where you hold sway. You... have stretched your hand too far.”

The sun behind Sunfire flared, sending blinding light out to cover the frowning Tempest.

As the seven-colored god talisman neared, the empress grabbed it. None of the humans present recognized that god talisman. Except for Xu Qing, who recognized it immediately. He and the Captain had used a talisman exactly like it in the past. It was... the very same talisman that had been formed by the grand steward when he died.[3]

It was made from the authority of a god domain, and contained the converged power of a god domain upgrade. After the god domain vanished, the talisman remained behind. It was useful... because it contained astonishing power, and could be very useful during godly ascension.

The empress’ eyes gleamed brightly after she took the talisman. After looking at it closely to confirm it was safe to use, her eyes flashed with determination. She waved her hand, and the talisman disappeared, to reappear a moment later in the depths of Planet Ancient Emperor.

The talisman crumbled, turning into fuel. At the same time, Planet Ancient Emperor rumbled loudly, and the godfire there experienced a tenfold increase in intensity and heat.

The godly ascension process was immediately accelerated dramatically. Shocking fluctuations rolled out from the corpses of Dark War and the other past emperors. There was now nothing stopping the process from completing.

But then, as Sunfire’s sun shone brightly, a gray figure shot out. It was Tempest’s karma fire godservant.

Sunfire could have easily stopped the godservant. But as shē said, shē would only operate within the parameters of the deal. And the deal had already been completed. As for how humankind would deal with developments going forward, that was up to them. The three gods were also interested in seeing what reserve powers humans had, and whether they truly qualified to work with thēm going forward.

Of course, if the empress asked for help, they could theoretically strike a new deal.

But the empress said nothing. Her face remained calm as the gray god closed in on her. That was when an ancient figure suddenly shot forth from next to the empress. It was the old court eunuch who had been protecting her from the very beginning. As he flew forth, he transformed, as his entire body turned semitransparent. He actually wasn’t human. He was a Gruegloom![4]

His species was a very rare one, and each individual member was an independent entity. Early in his life, he had taken advantage of the special characteristics of his species to live as an assassin. On many occasions, he had nearly died. On the worst of those occasions, he made it out alive, only to pass out later. The empress, who was a young girl at the time, came across him and saved his life. From that point on, he became her follower.

In the years that followed, he watched as she grew up and reached incredible heights. Without even realizing it, he came to deeply care about her. When she eventually became empress, she gave him boundless good fortune. By allowing him to make use of the destiny aura of humankind, as well as certain reserve powers and priceless secret magics, he was able to break through his personal barriers and eventually reach the nine-world level.

Unfortunately, because of that process, he was much weaker than people who reached the nine-world level on their own. And he couldn’t progress any higher than that. Though his bloodline wouldn’t let him reach the Imperial Sovereign level, being a nine-world Smoldering God was essentially the peak of the modern cultivation system. As a result, he felt no regrets.

And now, as he saw that little girl he had followed for a lifetime just about to reach the ultimate peak, he decided to use his own life to defend her one last time. All of a sudden, he burst into flames, all while pulling out a violet skull.

The skull emanated a perverse energy, and contained boundless resentment and rancor. It even seemed to cause noiseless howling to fill the world, like the final expression of someone’s anguish before they died. Thunderous rumbling echoed out as a host of countless heavenly daos appeared. All of them also seemed to be wallowing in grief as they looked at the skull.

They looked at... the spectacular and peerless skull of someone who had once been the last hope of Revered Ancient. It was the skull of the past life body of the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan! It contained shocking power that ordinary cultivators could never use. Only a nine-world Smoldering God could possibly qualify to do so. The court eunuch was burning his own life force, and the innate ability of his species, plus all of his cultivation base, to tap into a bit of the skull’s power.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished. His spiritual souls were gone, and his physical souls had dissipated. He had been destroyed in body and soul.

Meanwhile, the skull shone with boundless and shocking violet light. It contained an endlessly insane howl that seemed to come from the depths of time itself, from tens of thousands of years in the past! That howl contained resentment, defiance, grief, madness, and unending hatred, all of which turned into a destructive tempest that shot toward the gray godservant.

The godservant suddenly sensed a deadly crisis, and backed away in retreat. However, he wasn’t fast enough. The tempest swept over him.

Instantly, the godservant began trembling, and then he unleashed a desperate scream of anguish. It was as if he were experiencing the exact same death that had been experienced by the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan.

Then he exploded. A god had been killed.

The empress looked up at the spot where the court eunuch had disappeared, and her face, which had remained expressionless for so long, suddenly looked sad. She sighed as she thought back to the time she had asked a question of Xu Qing.

“You also encountered their grand steward. What was your impression of him?”

Xu Qing had answered, “If you can’t control your own life, how can you guide the fate of a species? In the end, such thinking is as unrealistic as flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water. One moment you’re on top of everything, the next, you’re dead.”

The sorrow on her face disappeared, and in its place was determination.

The godfire grew more intense!

The corpses of the past emperors in the five vortexes seemed livelier than before. In fact, as they sat cross-legged, their hands were moving in incantation gestures. However, those incantation gestures were not those used by cultivators, but rather, those used by gods.

The first to form godly authority was Emperor Eastglory. His eyes opened, and they were pitch black and pulsed with a sensation of destruction and power. It was a godly authority that was related to battle.

Next came Emperor Mirrorcloud. His eyes opened, and he looked confused. Then he became calm, and a sensation of protectiveness spread out from him to fill the world and cover all humans.

After that was Sageheaven. Soft, gentle light spread out from him. It didn’t contain any attack power, but rather, was something that could nourish the body and soul. It was a godly authority related to healing!

Next, godly authority erupted from Emperor Dao Life. It was a godly authority that was very different from all the others. As a result, the vortex he was in pulsed with curses, poison, and pestilence. It was a power of damnification! A corrupting and terrifying aura spread everywhere.

Next was Dark War! His godly authority was even more terrifying. It was boundless death, like the netherworld itself!

When the five emperors' embryonic godly authorities appeared, it indicated that the godly authority ceremony was nearing its conclusion.

Meanwhile, the empress was also starting to pulse with godly authority. And yet, before that could happen, another obstacle manifested! A cold voice suddenly filled the Imperial Region.

“Grand Emperor Swordsage, I’m very curious to see your final move!”

As the voice filled human lands, a red glow rose up. Countless mountains collapsed and turned into a red fog. Rivers reversed course as their waters turned crimson. Everything in the Imperial Region started turning red. From a distance, it almost looked like the hem of a garment.

A god was coming, with a red robe and a body so immense it could prop up heaven. The god covered the lands and terrain, filling the sky with red. A single step was all it took for the god to appear in the sky above the imperial capital. Hē looked like a handsome middle-aged man with long hair, every strand of which glowed with bright light. Hē pulsed with godly authority that could dim the sun and moon, striking fear into the hearts of other gods. Even more shocking was the fact that there was an illusory sword stabbed into hīs chest. It went completely through hīm, and was dripping with blood, which was why hīs robe was crimson.

At a single glance, Xu Qing could tell that the illusory sword was none other than The Emperor’s Sword!

Voice hoarse, the man in red said, “Time slips by. Things change. But sadly, Grand Emperor Swordsage, you are not the same as you were in years past.... Back when we fought, I fell from the Altar God level, and still have not recovered. Today, the day in which you perish, I have come to see things through and sever our karma!”

The next instant, another ancient voice spoke from within the imperial capital, filled with immense power that could surpass time itself. It surpassed the sounds of nature, and became the only thing in the world. It spanned time, and was immeasurably holy. As the voice spoke, the heavenly daos all bowed their heads. All living beings prostrated.

“Yu Liuchen. Looking to die? If so, come here!”[5]

The voice came from the Swordsage Division in the imperial capital, and was filled with a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering aura.

Even the Firemoon gods were shaken.

A huge beam of light appeared, made of countless streams of sword energy. Shooting out of the Swordsage Division, it headed right toward the man in red. It became a path.

All hē had to do was step onto it. But hē hesitated.

1. The mysterious cultivator showed up in chapter 903. ☜

2. Similar to Nightcorpse, it’s not clear in Chinese whether this god has a name or not. Even later context is vague in this regard. In other words, it could be a name, or it could just be a descriptor that he is ‘a god in a tempest.’ That said, he is listed beside the other three gods, and the sentence structure and context implies that it is his name. In addition, the author refers to Tempest with an invented title that essentially implies that he is a leader of some sort (presumably a leader amongst gods in Revered Ancient, but it could theoretically be referring to his leadership position in the species he represents or maybe in a faction). The title is never explained and is only used a couple times. Plus, it’s been clearly established how high-ranking and powerful he is. For ease of translating and reading, I’m going to just use his name. ☜

3. The talisman was formed by the grand steward in chapter 903. Xu Qing formed one in chapter 904. ☜

4. Grueglooms were introduced in chapter 206. Their species ability was also described in that chapter. ☜

5. Yu Liuchen. Yu is not on the list of 100 common surnames. It means “jade.” Liu means “precious stone, colored glaze.” Chen means “dust, dirt” and in xianxia often is related to “mortal” things. Madam Deathblade says, “It sounds like the name of a pure-hearted individual living in the dust of the mortal world.” ☜

6. The clay fox showed up in the imperial capital in chapter 753 but didn't have any screen time until 755 she was in a few other scenes after that. ☜