Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1151: Three Incenses, Three Karmas

Peak Imperial Sovereign! Xu Qing’s expression did not change. It remained completely and utterly as normal. That was how the young lord would act. He might be a lecher who numerous cultivators despised, but there was one thing that everyone had to admit.

He had a superior cultivation base, superior battle prowess, superior talent, and had not failed to perform the way everyone expected Aurora’s son to perform. His cultivation base was only half a step away from Quasi-Immortal, and as for his battle prowess… it was astonishing. In fact, some years ago he had actually fought with a Quasi-Immortal.

The only negative was that he had faltered a bit in staying focused, and thus his cultivation advancement had stalled.

But Xu Qing knew that his insights into the young lord surpassed what most observers knew.

Although other people believed the young lord to be lazy, the reality was that he had been working very hard in secret. The blood, sweat, and tears he had shed surpassed what most cultivators were aware of.

For some unknown reason, however, he had failed to make any cultivation advancement recently. It was only after some time that the image he presented to people became the reality.

But regardless of anything, he was still Young Lord Aurora. Therefore, though his progress had stalled, his battle prowess was not something to look down on. And as he walked forward in the arena, the sky trembled and the ground quaked. The thumping of the war drums in the arena went silent. Terrifying fluctuations rolled out from Xu Qing, becoming mountain-toppling, sea-draining waves of black fire that could consume anything and everything.

That fire was substructurally different from ordinary fire. In fact, it was similarly different even from immortal fire. To be most precise, this fire fundamentally wasn’t even fire. It just borrowed the concept of fire so that people could perceive it.

It had a name: karma fire!

Karma fire spread, filling the area around Li the Chosen, and it looked like it was just about to engulf and incinerate him. All eyes were locked onto the spot.

As everyone stared, Li the Chosen’s eyes glittered, and he lifted his hand and pointed to the sky. That movement caused the dome of heaven to dim. Heaven and earth turned pitch black. Within that utter darkness appeared an enormous rising sun. With it came the power of the morning, sending fiery, heavenly light exploding out in all directions.

Especially noteworthy was the fact that the huge rising sun was so majestic that it crushed down on the karma fire. It was a very astonishing sight.

Young Lord Aurora’s karma fire and Li the Chosen’s huge sun were both shocking to the extreme. If it weren’t for the fact that everyone knew what cultivation base these two had, they would assume… that they were Quasi-Immortals.

Then, a deafening rumbling sound spread, like heavenly thunder. The karma fire and the huge sun connected, creating an interchange of the power of karma with the light of heaven. As dazzling light turned into an endless tempest, Li the Chosen laughed, and as a result, all sound in the area was suppressed.

“Very interesting. I guess all the drinking and womanizing hasn’t fully drained you yet. Look, there’s no need for us to waste time testing each other out. Why not… just end this fight right away!”

Li the Chosen strode forward, crossing through the karma flame and rising into the air. Looking down, he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, then touched his forehead. Instantly, his forehead became the surface of a rippling lake, the fluctuations of which affected the air behind him.

A huge lake formed behind him, which rapidly turned into a sea. Waves crashed on the surface of the sea as thirteen altars rose up from its depths. Each altar bore the ravages of time, and exuded an ancient aura and shone with golden light. Their design had a primitive simplicity; clearly they had been constructed in a cultivation era when things were very different from modern times.

It hardly took a moment for people to recognize where they were from. Even Xu Qing was familiar with the style and aura of the altars. They were… altars from gods.

The thirteen altars began to vibrate, sending golden light shining out accompanied by the aura of the gods. Mutagen spread everywhere, distorting the sky and causing the land to ripple. Gods stepped out of the altars, and images filled the dome of heaven. Everyone was terrified.

were Flawless Gods! It defied description!

After arriving, the gods turned to face Li the Chosen and… bowed to him! Thirteen gods were bowing to him! These were gods that Li the Chosen had slaughtered over the years, all of whom had major karmic connections to him.

Gods existed to be worshiped by the world, but here the gods were worshiping a person. Whoever worshiped would then have a foundation to rise to a higher level and become someone worshiped by gods. If gods worshiped a person, then that person obviously surpassed the gods.

And then, to the astonishment of all, the worship of the thirteen gods caused a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering power to build within Li the Chosen.

This was Li the Chosen’s canon! The worship of gods would push him to a higher level. After all, these gods had effectively become believers in him, and were offering him own joss flame.

Li the Chosen’s canon was about making gods into believers, and thus gathering the joss flame of gods! Theoretically speaking, the more gods he killed, the more gods would worship him. And as a result, his canon would become increasingly powerful. Having gained enlightenment of this canon… was enough for him to truly be called the top ‘chosen’ in this generation.

What was more, everything so far was simply the foundation of this canon. Li the Chosen had much more he could do, and he wasn’t about to stop now. He had already created a personal… canon technique!

“Canon presents the chart of twenty-four incenses, used to distinguish good and bad luck!

“First incense: incense of compelling death! He whose life is at an end stands just ahead!”

Li the Chosen’s voice sounded like a dao resonance, echoing out with the power of canon. As it did, the joss flame around him converged into three sticks of joss incense! Two were long, one was short! They ignited to compel death![1]

Everything in the area seemed to spin as a gruish curse suddenly built up on Xu Qing. His physical features began to decay. His face became old, which was the sign in all living things that a full life was reaching an end. His sense of smell decayed. All the lures of life, and all its joy, faded away. His sense of taste decayed. All of the sundry experiences of life became meaningless. Next, his sense of touch decayed. His ability to perceive the world weakened, just as the fingertips in wintertime find it hard to experience the warmth of a spring breeze. Finally, his sense of hearing decayed. It wasn’t just the sound he could hear with his ears, but also the sound of his soul. Both became silent.

The five signs of decay arrived, and death was being compelled. His life hung on a thread.[2]

Everyone in the arena was shaken to the core. That was especially true of Li Mengtu, who stood there in the guise of Zhong Chi.

That canon is extraordinary. What a pity that… historically speaking, this guy perishes when catastrophe strikes the immortal palace in a month. After that, the joss flame canon that he created was lost forever. I wonder… if I could create a chance to study that canon while I’m here.

Li Mengtu was starting to get a bit excited.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing was also getting excited. The number of canons you possessed wouldn’t affect your cultivation level. But Li the Chosen’s canon seemed unusually suitable for the environment of the Revered Ancient mainland.

However, now was not the time to study it closely. The moment he sensed death being compelled on him, Xu Qing reached up and wiped his fingers on his lips.

That motion… activated his canon! The external manifestation was rumbling in the sky as countless lightning bolts formed into a hand.

It looked like the hand of an old man. And it was performing an incantation gesture. The hand caused heaven and earth to rumble in unison. Innumerable magics trembled, and the natural and magical laws of the world all reacted. The incantation provoked shocked reactions from all cultivators, and stunned all the immortals. All living beings reeled.

Li the Chosen’s canon was extraordinary, but Xu Qing’s host was Aurora’s son, and his was even more spectacular.

Three-Karmas Ten-Evils Seal!

Karma fire was only the foundation. There were other fantastic uses for the canon that had yet to be unleashed. The so-called three karmas were that of the mouth, body, and thought.[3]

Upon facing the incense of compelling death, Xu Qing first chose… to seal the karma of the mouth!

When the mouth could not speak, the karma of the mouth was pure! When the karma of the mouth was pure, the body could be at peace. When the body was at peace, one could be fully without concern! When one was fully without concern, ten thousand thoughts could flourish! Sealing one’s own mouth would seal one away from death!

The incense of compelling death was gruish, and actually couldn’t be dealt with directly. But when the act of compelling death failed… it inevitably led to a huge backlash. Li the Chosen’s face fell. Shivering, he coughed up a huge mouthful of black blood, and his aura decayed significantly. However, the fight wasn’t over.

The next instant, his eyes flashed with cold light, and he pointed his finger up into the sky again.

Instantly, the joss flame returned, forming a second type of incense!

It was often said that fortune and misfortune are brought on oneself, and that there was always the cause and effect of karma to explain it.[4]

The cause of karma was on the left, the effect of karma was on the right. And the left was higher than the right. In the middle was calamity, which was lower than either, and suffered the most. In this way, the incense of evil deeds could focus on slaughter![5]

It was also known as the three incenses of left, right, and middle, which can exterminate a billion kalpas![6]

The burning of the incense influenced the evil of heaven, the evil of earth, and the evil of man, as well as the evil of all thought, and sent that evil toward Xu Qing. Dense evil became a nightmare that raged in all directions. Wild colors flashed in heaven and earth. Winds screamed. And the power of countless evils converged… and descended. A sensation of death proliferated.

Without any hesitation, Xu Qing tapped into his own canon. The hand of lightning switched to a different gesture.

The second of the three karmas swept over him. It was sealing the karma of the body! The body could not tread a vile path, could not harm life, could not kill, steal, or be obscene. The karma of the body was absolutely pure. When the body was pure, nothing in existence could defile it. No wickedness could stain it.

It was as if it did not exist in the cause and effect of karma, and thus, the evil incense had nothing to lock onto. It had no place in the world, giving the evil incense nothing to grip. Since the evil had nothing to lock onto and nothing to grip, after it arrived, it could only… backfire!

Li the Chosen’s face fell dramatically. His face twitched. His heart lurched. A sensation of death swept toward him, and thus, he didn’t hesitate to unleash a third type of incense.

In this case, all three sticks of incense were level with each other. This type of incense didn’t compel death, it was not about evil deeds. Instead, it protected peace and security![7]

The three types of incense he had used were the limit of what he could reveal publicly. Thus, he was already backing up at top speed. And that was because he could sense terrifying fluctuations coming from Young Lord Aurora.

Those fluctuations came from the last of the three karmas.

It was the karma of thought! The hand of lightning transformed again, as the will of karma descended.

Thoughts and actions can be righteous or evil. Good karma could include refraining from greed, anger, or unorthodox opinions. It could bless the body, become boundless benevolence, and illuminate anything and everything with great auspiciousness. Bad karma could include embracing greed, anger, or unorthodox opinion. It could lead one to worshiping false deities, make one as dark as a wretched devil, take away light, and bring misfortune.

This seal did not lock down the body or bind the mouth. It put fetters on canon! An instant later, Li the Chosen’s incense of peace and security crumbled into ashes. Peace and security had failed!

Blood sprayed. Life hung on a thread.

As the moment of crisis built, Li the Chosen desperately called out, “Young Lord, your humble servant admits defeat! Please accept the fox maiden. I’m willing to submit to you and become your study partner for a hundred years!”

1. The chart of twenty-four incenses is a real thing from ancient Chinese divination. What’s more, the “incense of compelling death” is on that chart, and just as described in the narrative here, it features two long sticks of incense and one short one. To see for yourself, check this picture. The “compelling death” incense is on the very bottom left. Just to be clear, I’m not an expert about these things in any sense. I hadn’t heard about this chart of 24 incenses until I read this chapter. I did some searching in the hopes of finding information in English, or perhaps a version of the chart translated into English, but didn’t find anything. ☜

2. The ‘five signs of decay’ are a real thing from Buddhism, and they’re supposedly an indication of approaching death. The descriptions of the five signs that I could find do not match those described by the author here. However, the definitions I found tend to mention that the signs vary. ☜

3. As I mentioned previously, the three karmas are a real thing from Buddhism. There can be different groups of three. But in this case, the karmas of mouth, body, and thought are actually the most common versions, at least in the definitions I found when I looked this stuff up. ☜

4. Now we have the karma from the three karmas being used side-by-side with the term I ordinarily render as karma. For the duration of this scene, I will make the difference obvious by using “cause and effect” to identify the more common version of karma. ☜

5. The description of left, right, and center describes the three incense sticks from the ‘incense of evil deeds’ from the twenty-four incenses. If you look at the picture, you can find that depiction in the right-most column, in picture number 4 (counting down from the top). ☜

6. I really hate the character for ‘kalpa,’ the reason being that in xianxia, or at least in the works of Er Gen, it more often means ‘tribulation.’ In this context, I believe kalpa is the correct interpretation. A kalpa is a long period of time, generally between the creation and recreation of a world or universe. I believe this passage is intended to be hyperbole and cool-sounding. It’s not supposed to literally be talking about kalpas. ☜

7. On the chart of twenty-four incenses, this is the very first one on the top left. ☜

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