Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 956: I Am At the Peak of the World, and I Question the Immortals

Yu Liuchen once had a god altar. Years ago, when hē followed the broken face to the Revered Ancient mainland, the world had been a very different place. Being an Altar God, countless other gods would tremble and prostrate to hīm. If hē felt like it, hē could easily cause a Flawless God to be full of flaws, and experience profound tribulation. And that tribulation was hīm. It was even truer with other living beings besides gods. From the earliest times, hīs godly name shook Revered Ancient and prompted countless gods to bow their heads reverently. What was more, hē had actually reached the peak of Altar God, qualifying hīm to break through to becoming a True God.

But then a middle-aged man with a seven-foot-long bronze sword strode over the horizon and entered hīs god domain. If hē hadn’t detonated hīs god domain at a key moment in the battle, hē likely would have perished. Though hē escaped that battle with hīs life, hē ended up severely injured, with hīs god altar shattered into pieces.

Afterward, hē had no other choice than to go into hiding and spend hīs time in a deep sleep. Hē never dared to show hīs face in the world again. And despite being someone who didn’t feel any emotions, hē did feel fear when thinking about that figure with the sword. It was an instinct. Over the countless years that had passed, that fear became so deeply rooted that hīs cultivation base couldn’t recover. It was... a mental tribulation.

Therefore, when hīs omniscience detected Grand Emperor Swordsage facing his own deadly tribulation, hē came. Hē wanted to see him on his way. But when the Grand Emperor spoke just now, his words became a final obstacle to overcome....

In the end, hē was deeply afraid of the only Grand Emperor who chose to stay behind when all of the other powerful experts left Revered Ancient.

Hē knew that, though this Grand Emperor was never a Summer Immortal, he definitely qualified to carve out a holy land for himself beyond the heavens. To a certain extent, he was unfettered, and didn’t need to trouble himself with the red dust of the mortal world. But unexpectedly, he chose to stay behind to safeguard humankind.

In a world full of gods, he had remained, for tens of thousands of years. And humans had managed to survive through all that time. In fact, were it not for this Grand Emperor, it was entirely likely that humans wouldn’t even exist. And even if they did exist, they would have been scattered and weak. They would have been a minor species subsidiary to other species, and they definitely would not have any of their own regions. During that time, the Grand Emperor slaughtered many gods. Sadly, the price to pay was immense.

His true form had long since perished, and the only thing left behind was a clone.

“Grand Emperor Swordsage, you are the cultivator I admire the most in the Revered Ancient mainland. There is no other.” Yu Liuchen’s gaze followed the road of sword energy all the way to the Swordsage Division. Passing through all barriers, it eventually reached a figure seated cross-legged in a private chamber. “But are you strong enough for one more sword move?”

Yu Liuchen’s red robe spread through heaven and earth, casting bright red light everywhere, and making hīm seem like the lord of all the cosmos. As the words left hīs mouth, hīs energy began to build dramatically. As the wind blew, the entire canopy of heaven turned the color of blood. As of that moment, everything paled in comparison to hīs aura, from the sea of flames to the darkness of night, to the three gods of sun, moon, and star.

Yu Liuchen lifted hīs foot to begin walking. A sea of blood raged in hīs eyes, and hīs robe spread. Then hē stepped forward. Hīs robe now covered the entire imperial capital.

But then the grand spell formation of humankind rumbled to life, sending out powerful fluctuations to resist Yu Liuchen. The spell formation was designed to fight back against any invader with power commensurate to the invader’s level. At the moment, the threat level was about as high as it could possibly be, so the spell formation erupted with greater force than ever in the past.

Blinding light shot out, filled with innumerable magical symbols. As a result, a barrier of light sprang up to block Yu Liuchen’s path. What was more, planets appeared within the spell formation, a total of forty-nine of them.

They were all Dawning Suns! It was the entire stockpile of Dawning Suns that humankind had on hand. After all of the catastrophes humankind had experienced, they essentially had no reserve powers left, other than Grand Emperor Swordsage and the Dawning Suns.

The fluctuations coming from the Dawning Suns caused wild colors to flash everywhere. And yet, Yu Liuchen just laughed.

“Apparently you aren’t strong enough for a final sword move.”

Without any hesitation, hē lifted hīs other foot and prepared to step onto the path of sword energy. But then, a roaring sound filled the blood-colored canopy of heaven. A ripping sound echoed out as the color of blood was shredded apart. A roar echoed out from humankind’s heavenly dao, the seven-clawed dragon, and it shone with dazzling light that made it seem like a golden sun.

Then the heavenly dao shot into motion... toward the imperial palace! Its target seemed to be the shadow cast by the statue of the Grand Emperor there.

Purple smoke was currently rising up from that shadow. Amidst the thick, swirling smoke, a bell floated up to hover in midair over the plaza.

It was the Immortal Questioning Bell.

The bell had a history going back to the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. It normally existed in a spot between yin and yang, and would only appear when the sun rose. It couldn’t be moved to another location, as it was part of the imperial capital. Put more precisely, it was part of the imperial palace, with a history as long as the capital itself. Its purpose was to confirm the condition of the heart.

From the very beginning, whenever a government official was called into question, they could ring the Immortal Questioning Bell to certify the state of their heart. Ningyan had used the bell for that purpose in the past.[1]

Over all the countless years it had existed, the bell had never been used for any reason other than that. Gradually, most humans forgot about its existence, and those who did remember it just considered it a mysterious old artifact.

But today, it was being awoken by humankind’s heavenly dao. In fact, the heavenly dao was merging with the Immortal Questioning Bell....

The bell shivered, as if it were waking up from a very deep sleep! The carvings on the bell, which depicted mountains, rivers, and countless living beings, all seemed to come to life. They flowed across the surface of the bell, which glittered with dazzling light that illuminated everything around it. A wild and ancient aura also spread from the bell. The dome of heaven shook. The blood energy cracked. The cosmos shifted.

That aura, accompanied by the shocking imperial aura, made the most unsurpassable will in heaven and earth. It could crush even the most ancient and domineering will, and formed a resonance with the dao of Revered Ancient itself.

It was... the aura of an Ancient Emperor!

However, it was not the aura of the person that everyone had heard of, Dark Serenity! This aura was even more ancient than that. Dark Serenity was not the first Ancient Emperor in Revered Ancient. Before him, Revered Ancient had countless other Ancient Emperors. For instance, there was Emperor Ancient Spirit. And there were Ancient Emperors from other species that had ultimately conquered Revered Ancient.

According to the oldest legends, before the Summer Immortals left, they personally appointed the very first Ancient Emperor in Revered Ancient. And that Ancient Emperor was human. The bell came from him! The aura spread out, shaking heaven and earth, rocking all of Revered Ancient.

Yu Liuchen’s expression flickered, and hē held back from lowering hīs foot.

As the Immortal Questioning Bell hovered in midair, it tolled, sending out an ancient sound like something from the distant past, floating right out of the river of time and into the world. The sound of the bell seemed simplistic, but mournful, as if it were calling out to question the immortals that had departed....

When will you come back? Alone in heaven and earth, abandoned in the world of mortals, I question you. When is the hour of your return?

Yu Liuchen’s face fell, and a tremor passed through hīm. As the bell tolled, cracking sounds rang out, and hīs blood-red robe began to crumble. It looked extremely ghastly. Hē pulled back hīs foot and simultaneously shot backward by about 30 meters.

“What is that thing??”

Not even the omniscience of an Altar God could reveal anything about the Immortal Questioning Bell. It seemed like it was hidden within time itself, concealed from the perceptions of others. That made sense considering it would only appear when the sun and moon switched positions.

Yu Liuchen wasn’t the only one to let loose an exclamation of shock. The god Blazeflame, the god Nightcorpse, and the three gods Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire were similarly astonished.

Humankind really didn’t have any more reserve powers. That was because Grand Emperor Swordsage had hidden his true reserve power even before the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. Today, at the most critical of junctures, the bell regained consciousness.

The empress’ facial expression didn’t change. The Grand Emperor didn’t react.

As Yu Liuchen’s heart raced, the Immortal Questioning Bell tolled a second time. The majestic sound echoed throughout heaven and earth.

Time passes. The living move on. Here in my homeland, I question you. Why the bleak desolation?

Yu Liuchen started shivering dramatically, and hīs face fell even more. Then the wound in hīs chest opened up, having been stimulated by the toll of the bell. Hē involuntarily staggered backward 300 meters.

Then the Immortal Questioning Bell emitted a dazzling 30,000-meter pillar of light, then once again tolled, a third time, a sound full of sorrow. It was the final question asked of the immortals....

The immortal path is slow, fate seems distant. I am at the peak of the world, and I question the immortals... where is the dao?

Yu Liuchen’s mind spun as the toll of the bell caused hīs body to shatter. Hē recovered a moment later, and kept retreating. After falling back 3,000 meters, hē was still unstable as hē stared at the bell.

The bell contained an extremely terrifying will convergence, a will of dao-searching and a will of immortal-seeking. It was almost as if, at some point in the past, some peak entity of Revered Ancient had used a boundless cultivation base to strike the bell and question the immortals!

Yu Liuchen was fully aware that if only three tolls of the bell had forced hīm to retreat in this manner, then a fourth toll of the bell might reverse the scant bit of recovery hē had experienced of the years, and actually make hīs injury worse.

That said, hē refused to believe that striking an object as terrifying as this could be done without paying a price. And the price had to be completely enormous. The likelihood that it would be struck again... seemed small.

Yet hē didn’t dare to bet on it. Even if hē bet and won, hē wasn’t completely confident that hē could face Grand Emperor Swordsage. And if hē bet and lost, hē would be even less confident. Therefore, hē said nothing.

The bell hung in midair, vibrating as though it was preparing for another toll.

Seeing that, Yu Liuchen quickly said, “Today I will do nothing more than observe the ceremony!”

The Immortal Questioning Bell seemed to pause. Then a cold voice echoed from within the Swordsage Division.

“Screw off!”

The words surged out with heaven-rending, earth-crushing force.

The words didn’t just target Yu Liuchen. They spread out in all directions like thunder that could shake the cosmos, like a massive wave sweeping through the dome of heaven. In an instant, numerous streams of divine will that had converged to observe the godly ascension ceremony were revealed.

They all fled.

Whether or not humankind’s Grand Emperor Swordsage was strong enough for another sword move, no one knew. However... none of them dared to bet on it. The astonishing bell was simply too fear-inspiring.

Yu Liuchen looked down at the Swordsage Division. A few breaths of time passed, and then hē blurred and disappeared. Hē had also chosen to flee.

The godfire on Planet Ancient Emperor burned with more intensity than ever.

***

A great distance away from the Imperial Region was the Holytide Region, in which was Sea-Sealing County.

In the north of that county, there was a sprawling plain filled with snow and wind. Amidst the snowflakes that drifted like goose feathers was a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering pillar rising above the ice plains. It was surrounded by a host of countless tents that formed a city.

It was none other than the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar. A small portion of the pillar was buried in the ground. And beneath it was a mysterious ghast hollow.

At the very bottom of that subterranean cave was a gigantic eye. The eye was currently closed and unmoving.

Above the eye was a pentagonal log cabin, hanging in the air and secured to the walls by means of five chains. At each of the five corners of the log cabin was a five elements zombie.

Inside the cabin was a brightly-shining lamp. It was a life lamp.

Through the gauzy curtains in the window it was possible to see a young woman wearing a red wedding dress, seated cross-legged. She looked almost like a mortal. She released no cultivation base fluctuations, and did not have even the scrap of an aura of a god. It wasn’t possible to see her facial features clearly. But by looking at the shadow cast on the curtain, it was possible to determine that she had just coughed up three mouthfuls of blood.

In a very gruish fashion, her blood turned into paper money, which floated out of the cabin and spread through the ghast hollow, where the countless ghasts would fight amongst each other to devour them.

The timing of her three mouthfuls of blood coincided with the three times the Immortal Questioning Bell tolled in the imperial palace!

The woman wiped the blood from her lips and murmured, “The deal is complete. And yet it’s still not time for me to leave.”

Then, eternal singing began to drift about.

“In past lives forlorn, always reborn, sever lovesickness and endlessly mourn....”

“In a life of hesitation, in a future of frustration, who is it that waits for me in reincarnation....” [2]

The five elements zombies at the corners of the cabin swayed in time with the singing.

***

Meanwhile, another chanting song echoed out in the Heaveneater Region.

It didn’t take long for the Torchlight invasion to end. With the Torchlight god domain having taken over the dome of heaven, almost all living beings in the Heaveneater Region had become a sacrifice of blood. It didn’t matter if they were cultivators or mortals. And it didn’t matter what species they were.

This was a full-scale attack by Torchlight, and it was also the first time the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan revealed how truly strong he was.

Death struck the region like an unavoidable lightning bolt. Countless corpses and innumerable amounts of blood were gathered in the lands around the Heaveneater imperial palace. Fresh blood mingled with the mud. Deceased soul swirled everywhere. And the slaughter continued.

However, the slaughter itself wasn’t the point. As the blood and corpses gathered around the Heaveneater imperial palace, a grand ceremony was taking place. It was being carried out by the god domain’s huge ball of flesh that hovered in midair.

There were five vortexes surrounding it, within which sat five cross-legged corpses. They were the past emperors of the Heaveneaters!

Taking it all in, it looked... almost exactly the same as the ceremony being carried out in the human’s imperial capital! There was an imperial capital. There was an imperial palace. The ball of flesh was like Planet Ancient Emperor. And there were five past emperors as corpses.

A shadowy projection filled heaven and earth. Within it was visible the empress and her godly ascension. Everything within the image was being duplicated below!

Countless Torchlight cultivators were present, along with a host of black-robed figures, all of them prostrating with zeal in their eyes.

A chant drifted out.

“The energy of the ultimate yang of the two polarities merges into the ancient eyes of the gods, becoming the glittering light of the starry sky over Revered Ancient....

“The netherworld souls in all parts will drink of the water of time, creating a tide to awaken from the dream of ancient times....” [3]

1. Ningyan used the bell in chapter 771. ☜

2. This song first appeared in chapter 364. It was repeated in a few subsequent chapters, notably 676. ☜

3. The words in the first line are a repetition of what we heard in chapters 800, 801, and 952. The second line is new. ☜