Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 489: Out of Consideration for a God, We Continue the Traditions of the Corrections Division

It’s only sealed īt by half.

Now that the god’s finger was no longer muddled in the head, īt was struggling violently. The finger could sense the violet crystal in Xu Qing, and could also sense that the sealing power had reached a limit, and wasn’t getting any stronger. Upon sensing that, īt reacted immediately.

“You’re not strong enough to sustain the use of that treasure!”

The will of the god’s finger pulsed with fluctuations of delight, then struggled even more violently, going all out to try to break free. After all, īt could sense that, thanks to the repeated injuries īt had sustained, this moment of clarity wouldn’t last for very long. Therefore, īt hoped to get free of this bizarre, terrifying body and flee as far away as possible.

That said, though Xu Qing was too weak to release the true might of the violet crystal, the violet sea of light was still completely terrifying. Thus, no amount of struggle on the part of the god’s finger was enough to break free. In fact, the god’s finger was slowly being dragged backward. The will of the god started to get very anxious, and was pulsing with a wild sense of frustrated anger.

Just like the situation with the heavenly palaces, this was like a little girl facing an evil tyrant. The difference was that the god’s finger was fighting back with more intensity, and was not willing to surrender.

Seeing that, Xu Qing frowned. He could sense that his soul was starting to wither up thanks to this struggle. If things continued in this manner, and he didn’t give up, then the violet crystal would be fine, but he would end up destroyed in body and soul.

He sighed inwardly at the realization that the violet crystal actually wasn’t helping. That said, he also realized that the true reason for that was himself.... After all, this was no shadow being sealed. It was a god. The difference in the difficulty between those two things was like the difference between heaven and earth.

That said, he wasn’t ready to just let this god’s finger make a getaway.

From the depths of his soul, he said, “You’re right, I’m not strong enough to control my heavenfate god crystal for much longer. But that’s not important. What’s important is that if I really go all out, I might die, but you end up sealed in the end! So, don’t force my hand!”

“Heavenfate god crystal?” The will of the god’s finger hesitated. īt could sense that Xu Qing wasn’t bluffing. He really could perform the sealing, though it would cost him his life.

“That’s right. When I was born, the destiny aura of the Revered Ancient mainland converged on me, and thus, I was born with a heavenfate item inside of me!” Xu Qing offered the explanation in the most serious of tones.

The god’s finger was dumbstruck. In any other situation, īt wouldn’t believe a story like that, but right now... īt was having trouble deciding what was true and what wasn’t.

The god’s finger didn’t want to sit around trying to figure out what was true and what wasn’t. īt could tell that it was starting to lose its thinking faculties again. And therefore, it screamed, “Let me go! I don’t want to possess you. And even if you do manage to seal me, you’ll be killed in body and soul. Maybe I’ll lose my freedom, but you’ll lose your life!”

Xu Qing frowned. It was true that he could let the god’s finger go. All it would take would be a thought on his part, and the violet crystal would retract, leaving the path free to escape. But he didn’t want to do that. For one thing, he was the type of person who would seek revenge over the smallest grievance. He couldn’t just let an enemy like this go free. Beyond that, he could tell... that this god’s finger was actually a mixture of deadly threat and destined opportunity!

What was more, he didn’t dare to let the god’s finger go free. If he did, the thing could turn around and crush him to death. If the finger really didn’t want to possess him, then he would be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt. And even if he somehow wasn’t crushed to death instantly, and the finger fled, īt would surely look for another opportunity in the future to kill him. With such thoughts on his mind, he decided that he definitely couldn’t free īt. Besides, he also couldn’t risk publicly revealing his biggest secret, which was the violet crystal. In addition, Xu Qing could tell that though the god’s finger was fighting back, as long as īt was in the half-sealed state thanks to the violet crystal, īt actually couldn’t hurt him.

After considering the situation for a few breaths of time, he calmly said, “As I said, I can’t sustain the use of the heavenfate god crystal. But I also said something else. Before you tried to possess me, I said I have a bunch of random stuff. I didn’t want you coming inside because I can’t control them all, and—

“Let me out of here!!” the god’s will interrupted furiously. Then īt struggled mightily, which caused Xu Qing’s soul to wither even more.

Seeing the situation turning more critical caused Xu Qing’s ferocity to erupt.

“Shut up! If I had a way to let you free, I’d already have thrown you the hell out!”

As Xu Qing’s shout echoed within his sea of consciousness, the god’s finger suddenly hesitated.

“If you don’t let me go, I’ll make sure you die! If you die, and all that happens to me is I get sealed, then eventually I’ll get free, one day!” The will of the god’s finger again struggled, but īt seemed like īt was willing to accept a mutual loss as the outcome of the conflict.

“You’ll get free one day?” Xu Qing laughed coldly. “You must have sensed it in the past. Did you forget, or are you intentionally not mentioning it? It doesn’t matter. Tell me, what is... this?”

The godsource of the violet moon suddenly erupted from within its heavenly palace, filling his sea of consciousness and turning into a signal. By now, Xu Qing was very familiar with the process. It wasn’t his first time using the violet moon as a threat. He was basically doing the exact same thing he had done to deal with Emperor Ancient Spirit.

That said, because he was in the Revered Ancient mainland, he didn’t release the godsource to the full extent. He kept it inside of himself. But if he died and lost control, then the godsource power would connect to its origin, and the red moon would sense it.

The will of the god’s finger trembled and spoke as if through gritted teeth.

“That’s the essence of High God Crimson Mother!”

īt had entered Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness in a muddle state, and had vaguely sensed the essence, but had been more focused on possessing Xu Qing’s soul. Then the violet crystal erupted, forcing a state of clarity. After that, the terror of the situation made the god’s finger fully focused on escaping.

“You see, I can’t use the god crystal to seal you, but I also have other ways to kill you. If Crimson Mother comes, you’ll be devoured. I’ll die. But you won’t survive!”

As Xu Qing spoke word by word, the will of the god’s finger pulsed with extreme anxiety. At the same time, īt was starting to lose control of īts faculties, and was gradually losing the ability to think clearly.

When Xu Qing saw that he was making some progress, he growled, “I have something else!”

He activated the power of this sixth heavenly palace, and though the bluegreen dragon wasn’t there, the heavenly dao aura was still around.

“A heavenly dao!” The will of the god was even more shaken.

Xu Qing’s third heavenly palace shivered, and taboo poison seeped out.

“And the curse of a god!”

The will of the god’s finger wasn’t sure what to say. As īts faculties degraded, they were replaced by a sense of chaos.

Sounding very calm, Xu Qing said, “Therefore, don’t feel embarrassed. I don’t want you to stick around, but I have no way to make you leave. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to do so in the future.”

“I... don’t believe... you....”

Xu Qing could sense the god’s will getting muddled again, so he spoke in a softer tone.

“I can guarantee you that once my cultivation base is high enough, I’ll free you. In fact, if we get along, maybe I can even make a new body for you....

“As you know, the destiny aura of Revered Ancient converged on me when I was born. The heavenfate god crystal accompanies me for life. As such, staying with me is not a degradation of your status as a god. And in the future, I’ll definitely qualify to form a new body for you.”

“I... I... don’t....”

Xu Qing’s voice became even gentler.

“Don’t struggle. If you do, then I’ll die and you’ll still be devoured. You’re a god, but you can be easily devoured by a stronger god. You surely know what kind of pain that will involve. You’ll be ripped to shreds and swallowed! Do you want to become food?”

“No... I....”

“Exactly! I know you don’t want to become food. So stop struggling. Just rest. Later on, you’ll have endless possibilities.” Then Xu Qing concluded with a final question. “Do you want to live, or would you rather die?”

“Live... I....” The will of the god’s finger seemed dazed.

“I promise!” Xu Qing said resolutely. “Just rest and leave everything else to me. I’ll take care of everything.”

As Xu Qing spoke softly and gently, a rift opened in his sea of consciousness, which led right into his D-132 heavenly palace, his tenth.

“Go. You’ll feel right at home. And you can just rest. Rest....”

Acting on instinct, the will of the god’s finger slowly headed toward D-132. Xu Qing was right, īt did feel right at home. However, īt stopped right in front, and a sensation of irritation suddenly rose within īt.

Xu Qing quickly said, “Don’t overthink things! If you do that, you’ll just get frustrated. Trust me.... I’ll make you a new body and then set you free!”

The will of the god’s finger let loose a few more fluctuations. Then īt eased into D-132 and went to īts usual spot, which was made up of a few dozen cells. There, īt transformed into a huge, blood-colored finger, then settled down to sleep.

However, just when Xu Qing was about to breathe a sigh of relief, D-132 suddenly trembled. Divine will emerged from the god’s finger.

“Where’s... everyone else...?”

“I’ll bring them soon to join you,” Xu Qing said solemnly.

***

In the outside world it was evening, and red light filled the sky. Not very far away from Xu Qing and his 900-meter-tall body, was Mount Daybreak, which was currently in great danger.

Pressure weighed down on the interior of the mountain, while the spell formation that kept it safe was vibrating. There were about a dozen locations where the formation was close to breaking open thanks to the vicious black spikes being stabbed into it. Outside of the formation were a host of nonhuman cultivators, their vicious eyes gleaming with greed. Shockingly, quite a few of them were escaped prisoners from the Corrections Division. They had all recently answered the call to join forces and besiege Mount Daybreak.

“There’s definitely a lot of treasure in this Mount Daybreak. The swordsages are all at the front lines, so they don’t have attention to spare. Fellow Daoists, the time has come to get our revenge!”

“Break open the spell formation! Kill everyone in the Swordsage Court. Wipe out the swordsages. Clean this place out. And then there’s the mountain itself. Hey, everyone, let’s see if we can blow the entire place up!”

“Good idea! We can make sure that Daybreak Prefecture doesn’t even have a Mount Daybreak anymore! This is going to be incredible! Hahaha!”

“And we don’t even have to worry about repercussions! The humans of Sea-Sealing County... are doomed to be overthrown!”

“The Swordsage Courts everywhere else are also under siege. By the way, everyone, I have some good news. I have a confirmed report that the humans of Sea-Sealing County on the northern and western fronts are in really bad shape! Their defense could collapse at any moment!”

“Break open this spell formation! We’ll kill all the swordsages and tear down Mount Daybreak!”

As the demonic, animalistic howls filled the air, the spell formation rippled, and intense killing intent surged out from the nonhumans. Rumbling booms filled the air, and the light of magical techniques glowed. Huge magical devices were being used to assault Mount Daybreak’s spell formation.

Inside Mount Daybreak were a few dozen swordsages. All of them looked like they were ready to fight to the death as they faced the sole Nascent Soul swordsage present.

The Nascent Soul cultivator looked off toward the distant battlefields to the west and north, and quietly said, “We’ll stand our ground and die together if we must.”

His voice was soft, but full of conviction.