Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1145: Fourth World Identity

The thick mist made it impossible to see clearly. It was easy to get lost, difficult to determine one’s position, and hard to follow any set route. This was a world inside of a fresco.

But Xu Qing’s facial expression remained the same as ever. Upon entering the fresco, the feeling he experienced thanks to the mist and fog wasn’t something new to him.

This is like a combination of the characteristics of the second and third worlds. Put precisely… it’s like something in between the second and third worlds, a unique place with a sky inside of a sky. A world inside of a world.

Xu Qing looked down and activated his space-time canon. His thoughts rose to a higher level, and dropped down into the mist, taking his fleshly body with him. He pierced through the mist for a while. The mist thinned, and eventually, it didn’t block his line of sight anymore.

An enormous mountain appeared in front of him. It was pitch black and had no man-made stairs on it. There was no vegetation growing on it, leaving it bare and stark. It was almost like… the spine of this world.

However, there were many warding spell fluctuations pulsing in the mountain. In fact, there were so many that when he tried to put a number on them it wasn’t possible. The warding spells made a terrifying force that would make it impossible to get onto the mountain and climb to its summit unless you had canon.

“This is the place,” the imp said excitedly. “This is the place! Hurry up and get moving, son. My little treasure is on the summit.”

Xu Qing knew that it wouldn’t be easy to change the imp’s speech patterns. After all, he had crushed the jade slip over a hundred times, and no matter how polite the imp got afterward, he would eventually revert to his previous ways.

Xu Qing could only frown and refuse to be bothered by the imp’s annoying and confusing manner of speech. After studying the area below, he took a step forward, and that step propelled him to the foot of the mountain.

“Hmm?” Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he landed at the foot of the mountain. He had been stepping toward the summit, but some force prevented him, and now here he was at the bottom. What an interesting mountain.

The imp laughed derisively. “This place was my secret hideout. The defenses I left behind have weakened over the years. But if you think you can just go right to the top of the mountain, you’re sadly mistaken. Now hurry up and start climbing. You have space-time canon, so even though you can’t get to the top instantly, you shouldn’t have much trouble going up.”

Ignoring the imp, Xu Qing first studied his surroundings. He even took time to analyze some of the hidden warding spells using his space-time canon way of thinking. Only after he had a clear idea of what he was dealing with did he start moving.

He stepped onto the mountain. The moment he made contact, ripples spread out from beneath his feet. The mountain shivered, and a warding spell sent a blast of heavenfire right toward him. However, when it reached him, it went right through him, as if he didn’t exist.

After sensing that, Xu Qing proceeded on his way. Each step forward caused the mountain to tremble more violently. However, he clearly existed at a higher level; no matter how the warding spells reacted, they couldn’t touch him. He started walking faster and faster as he headed toward the summit.

The mountain trembled and warding spells erupted, sending out furious shockwaves, angry winds, seas of fire, and invisible swords. Space shattered. Chaos even appeared in time. The power of the warding spells created a mountain-toppling, sea-draining force.

But Xu Qing walked through it all as calmly as if he was strolling through his backyard.

The black-robed cultivator near the top of the mountain quickly noticed what was happening. He looked over his shoulder, and then his face fell. He couldn’t see Xu Qing, but he could see the warding spells further down the mountain being thrown into chaos. And that caused his pupils to constrict and his heart to race.

Someone else is in here with me. That’s why this is happening…. Which one of the Shining Stars is it?

The man struggled to breathe steadily, all while anxiety built up within him. Using his canon treasure, he could see that a terrifying aura was approaching through the erupting warding spells. There was no time to analyze the situation. The black-robed cultivator immediately used his geomantic compass to urge Patriarch Diling and the others onward at a faster rate.

At the same time, he used his canon treasure to send a black thread into the shockwaves from the warding spells below.

Meanwhile, Patriarch Diling and the others also sensed the disturbances caused by the warding spells. Unfortunately, they did not have canon treasures, so they had no way to ‘see’ what was happening, and no way to sense the incoming aura. That said, they didn’t really need any of that to guess at what was going on.

“Someone’s coming!”

“From Master Daonull’s expression and actions, you can tell that someone strong is coming through the warding spells!”

“We have a chance to survive this after all!”

Despite being under the control of another, all three were starting to get excited. They didn’t care who was coming or what exactly happened. At the very least, a variable had been thrown into the equation. And in life-or-death situations, variables meant opportunities.

Even as hope rose up in the hearts of Patriarch Diling and the others, the black-robed cultivator sent the black threads flying from the geomantic compass and into the terrifying warding spell shockwaves.

Those black threads came from a canon treasure. Though they didn’t look very special, their power was real. Only canon could be used against canon. Obviously, the level of the canon treasures was very important.

What happened next… caused the black-robed cultivator’s expression to change dramatically.

A cracking sound emerged from the warding spell fluctuations and filled the entire world. The sound caused Patriarch Diling and the others to shiver from head to toe. At that moment, when the control over them lapsed, they all instantly took advantage of the moment to use self-detonations to free themselves.

Blood sprayed out of the mouth of the black-robed cultivator, and an expression of shock covered his face as he sensed the terrifying aura emerging from the warding spell fluctuations.

Unfortunately, he had nowhere to run. He could surrender. But surrendering wouldn’t necessarily ensure his survival. Besides, he was reluctant to let all of his years of preparation be for nothing. So his other option… was to go for broke!

Eyes filling with madness, he ignored the fact that Patriarch Diling and the others had broken free. Turning, he shot toward the summit of the mountain as fast as he could move.

If I get a second canon treasure, I can turn this whole situation around! With two canon treasures I could probably have a chance of getting away alive from one of the Shining Stars!

With such thoughts in mind, he became a blur of afterimages that shot toward the summit.

Unfortunately… Xu Qing could move through space-time, and was much faster. All it took was an instant for a massive amount of warding spells to erupt. But Xu Qing just went through them as if they were nothing. He passed by Patriarch Diling and the others to quickly appear… in front of the black-robed cultivator. He stepped onto the summit.

The bystanders couldn’t see what was happening.

But the black-robed cultivator had a canon treasure, so he could ‘see.’ He was gasping for breath, and his eyes were bloodshot. He had prepared for a long time for this. He had gone through countless trials and tribulations. But now, just when his goal was in sight, someone else beat him to the top of the mountain. It was time to throw caution to the wind.

Gripping his geomantic compass in one hand, he performed an incantation gesture and pointed at Xu Qing with the other. Instantly, five black threads shot out from the compass, each of them about as thick as a finger. They were like five black serpents.

The moment they appeared, they were surrounded by distortions, as if they didn’t even belong in this world. They shot toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked coldly over his shoulder. Space-time erupted. Ripples spread through time, cutting the five black threads in half.

Time stirred, creating distance.

If you thought of the black threads as streams of water, then Xu Qing’s space-time canon was a massive river. The two forces slammed into each other. And then… space-time raged and the streams were wiped out. The five black threads disappeared without a trace.

A loud cracking sound rang out as the geomantic compass began to crumble. The black-robed cultivator trembled from head to toe, blood oozing out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as he staggered backward.

It seemed like he wanted to keep on fighting, except… the severed black threads from the geomantic compass turned into a face. The face looked at Xu Qing briefly, then turned around and devoured the black-robed cultivator in a single bite. A shriek of agony rang out.

After that, the face of black light vanished. The cracks on the surface of the geomantic compass disappeared, and the compass dropped onto the ground. Everything went still. All that was left behind was a single sentence echoing within Xu Qing’s space-time.

Deliver that thing to me here in the fourth world. I’ll take it personally.

The words contained terrifying mightiness that others couldn’t hear, but which echoed loudly in Xu Qing’s mind and heart. He quickly took the geomantic compass. Then, shivering, he emerged from within space-time and looked up at the canopy of heaven above the mountain.

Meanwhile, someone rushed up toward Xu Qing from below.

“Exalted one!” Patriarch Diling was obviously very excited to see Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked away from the sky. After scanning Patriarch Diling, he sent a gentle force out to heal him. Turning, he looked at the lake, and the paper boat floating atop it. It was white and very peaceful. It wasn’t moving.

“How do I get it?” Xu Qing asked calmly.

“Heh heh. You’re really dang cautious, aren’t you? And here I thought you would just reach out to take it.” The imp cleared his throat, and then the jade slip floated up into the air. It vanished, then reappeared on the paper boat. The jade slip shone brightly. The boat shivered, then blurred, then turned into a handful of threads that shot into the jade slip. An instant later, the jade slip was back in Xu Qing’s hand.

“Not bad,” the imp said from inside, sounding very pleased. “Not bad at all. After all these years, my toy still isn’t broken. It still works!

“You got what you want,” Xu Qing said quietly. “Now you can explain about the identity I need to get from the third world and into the fourth.”

The paper boat canon treasure was impressive, but Xu Qing didn’t want it. His space-time canon was where his dao lay.

The imp cleared his throat. A projected image of him appeared above the jade slip. Stretching, he looked complacently at Xu Qing and insolently said, “Didn’t I tell you when we first met? Your identity is that of… my son!”

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