Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 560: Senior, I Don’t Taste Good. Really! (part 2)

The moment she was inside the abyss, Xu Qing saw a pair of huge blue eyes and a massive, gaping mouth. Next, he used what scant power was left in the sundials to once again reverse time!

Xu Qing faded as if he didn’t exist inside the abyss. It was as if time had been shattered into countless pieces, then went back for seven breaths of time before piecing back together. He appeared suddenly outside of the abyss. His soul was not collapsing, although he still felt immense pain. All of his injuries were back to the state they had been in seven breaths of time previous.

The woman would never leave the abyss. Delighted and forceful chewing sounds drifted out.

That said, the crisis wasn’t over, and the reason for that wasn’t anything in the abyss, but rather, above the surface of the lava.

Xu Qing had no idea if the fight, or her death, might have attracted notice. And he didn't want to bet on the details. Despite the injuries to his soul, he gritted his teeth and flew toward the location of the warding spells. There, he used the violet moon within him to hide inside one of the protruding magical symbols on the red moon warding spells.

His injuries were so bad he was about to lose control of them. As his vision grew dark, he bit down hard on his tongue in the hopes that it would keep him awake. Keeping the power of the violet moon circulating, he took out the concealment mask his Master had given him. He put it on his face. He wouldn’t ever use that mask unless it was absolutely necessary. After all, you could only use it so many times before needing to discard it. Right now... he needed to use it.

Meanwhile, the coffin shivered, and a gentle force emerged from it that covered Xu Qing and provided him with a blessing.

Then, Xu Qing’s heart raced as he sensed astonishing fluctuations coming from above. Bowing his head, he went absolutely still.

Rumbling sounds filled the lava as a red-robed figure appeared with red wings. It was the Wingflyer. His expression was grim as he hurried down and stopped above the coffin. His Void Returning fluctuations made him seem even more full of madness. As the Wingflyer godherald looked around, the content sounds of chewing continued to echo out from the coffin.

“Crimson Mother’s servants really do taste wonderful.”

The Wingflyer godherald looked into the abyss, his eyes glowing red, making it seem like he could see everything within. A moment later, he frowned. He could sense the aura of that godservant, and could tell that she had been devoured. Although he wasn’t sure of exactly how it had happened, after thinking about who was actually inside of that coffin, he felt it made sense.

I have to report this to my superiors. Perhaps we should perform sealings here a bit more often.

After glancing at the surrounding warding spells, he waved his right hand to produce some blood crystals. He crushed them and added them to the warding spells. The warding spell fluctuations instantly grew stronger. Having done that, he looked coldly at the crack in the coffin leading to the abyss. Then he turned and left.

Although the death of a godservant might be a big deal on the outside, to him, it actually didn’t matter, as long as he knew why it happened.

Xu Qing didn’t immediately come out of his hiding spot. He waited for about half a day to make sure the godherald was really gone. Only then did he relax a bit. However, the injuries to his soul made him feel weak and listless. He checked on his sundials, and was glad to see that, though they had been damaged, the gnomons were still functioning like normal.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he struggled to fly out of his hiding spot. Then he turned in the direction of the city-sized coffin. He clasped hands.

“Many thanks, Senior.”

Blue eyes appeared in the abyss, staring at Xu Qing. They gave Xu Qing a similar sensation as the eyes of a god. However, they weren’t quite that strong.

“You have the power of Crimson Mother on you!” a rumbling voice said.

Xu Qing bowed his head and respectfully said, “My father stole it and gave it to me. It doesn’t belong to the red moon anymore. It’s mine.”

The eyes in the coffin narrowed slightly. No more words were spoken.

Xu Qing waved his hand to release the power of his taboo poison. “It's the same with this.” Next, the aura of the Ghost Emperor mountain appeared. “And this too. Also, my body was something my Master stole for me.” Then Xu Qing took out the Spike of Misfortune. “It’s a whole set.”

After a moment passed, the rumbling voice asked, “Your Master? And who is he?”

Xu Qing shook his head. Looking very sincere, he said, “Senior, my Master forbade me from telling anyone his name before finishing the mission he assigned me.”

The eyes narrowed. “Mission?”

“My mission is to get information about Crimson Mother for my Master. Senior, you might not be aware of it, but my Master actually arranged for Crimson Mother to be asleep right now. I've come here to travel to the Penitence Steppes and calculate when the red moon will come. By the way, Senior, who exactly are you?”

The coffin was silent for a long moment. Then, the ancient voice said, “I don’t believe any of what you just said, boy. But I guess it won’t hurt to tell you a few things. I can tell that the power of Crimson Mother you have was stolen. And unlike those godheralds, you’re actually human. As for who I am... well, let’s just say this region used to belong to my father.”

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed, and his heart started pounding.

“The steppes you plan to travel to is where my father is buried.” The voice from the coffin sounded deeply bitter. “A long, long time has passed since those days. I don’t even know how many years have passed.

“Forgetting all the people from the Red Moon Cathedral, you’re only the second person to stand before me after all those years. Before you, there was someone else who came some years ago and promised to free me. But he never came back. Do you mind telling me how humans are doing out there nowadays?”

Xu Qing pondered the situation. He wasn’t sure how much he could trust what he had just been told. However, given the injuries to his soul, he knew he was extremely weak at the moment. And there was another reason why he didn’t dare to be impulsive. Therefore, he sat down cross-legged to focus on recovery. At the same time, he spread his taboo poison out around himself.

Then he quietly started telling some of what he knew about the history of the world. Occasionally his injuries would flare up, and he would have to stop talking to deal with them. But he would always keep going. Throughout the process, he felt very nervous, and tried to stay completely vigilant.

In that manner, time passed. About a day later, he finished speaking.

The blue eyes in the coffin glittered with reminiscence. “Humans are really in dire straits....”

Xu Qing stood there in silence.

A sigh echoed out from the coffin, and then the blue eyes focused on Xu Qing. “You’re hurt pretty badly, boy.”

Xu Qing nodded. The violet crystal could quickly heal his body, but injuries to his soul took a lot longer to get better. That was more the case considering he had no idea who was really inside this coffin, and he didn’t dare to let down his guard.

“Considering you provided me with some delicious food,” the ancient voice in the coffin said, “and that you told me about the history of humankind, I'm going to give you some help.”

Xu Qing shook his head. “Many thanks for your good will, Senior. But I was simply living up to my responsibilities.”

A few dozen breaths of time passed quietly. Then a white mist swept out of the abyss in the coffin, and it was full of heavenfate fluctuations.

“You don’t need to be so jumpy,” the voice said. “I got this from that servant of Crimson Mother. You can have it.”

After sensing the mist, Xu Qing’s expression remained exactly the same as before. “Senior, I hope you won't take offense at my rudeness, but I just need to mention to you, sir, that I don’t taste very good.” With that, Xu Qing let his taboo poison spread out even more. After it had completely surrounded him, he looked at the eyes. “Senior, maybe this misunderstanding is my fault. However, I want to make it clear that I really am an enemy of the red moon. And though my soul was injured, I can still use warding spells around here.” Xu Qing respectfully clasped his hands, whereupon the red net appeared, glittering in the lava. “Therefore, I’d like to ask your permission to leave.”

“I never said you couldn’t leave,” the voice said calmly from within the coffin. “You’re free to go any time you want.”

“Senior,” Xu Qing said, slowly and deliberately, “I know that I'm not outside of the coffin. I'm actually inside it. And if I take one more step forward, I’ll be inside your mouth. I'm fully aware that you altered my perceptions. And let me repeat, I really don’t taste good.”

***

Back near the shores of the Heavenfire Sea, the Mirrolings and Skyfaces had one city, which happened to look somewhat like a bird’s nest. It was called Holy City. It was oval, and covered about 50 kilometers of land. Right now, a shockingly large heart hovered in the air above Holy City, and atop it, the Red Moon Cathedral church temple pulsed with bizarre, red light. The dozens of magenta asteroids orbiting it let off immense pressure.

Down below, the leaders of the Twofold Alliance were all gathered. Both the patriarch and the royal preceptor were on their knees, kowtowing. It wasn’t just them. All of the members of those two species in the city were on their knees.

A moment later, a voice echoed out from the Red Moon Cathedral temple.

“You will provide your offerings in forty-nine days. This time, you must provide heavenfire crystals plus 500,000 live food items.”

After the words were spoken, the heart floated off in a different direction. It would go to the middle of the Moonrite Region’s eastern section, where they would wait for all the eastern species to bring offerings on the appointed day. The requirement placed on each species was different.

As for the patriarchs and royal preceptors of the Twofold Alliance, they waited until the Red Moon Cathedral was gone, then stood and exchanged glances.

“That's fifty percent more live food items than before....”

“If we don’t meet the quota, the leftovers will come from our species.”

After a moment of silence, the patriarch of the Skyfaces looked over with glittering eyes. “For years now we've pretended that we didn’t know about that human refugee camp. There's probably a lot of living food there.... They've been growing steadily for a long time now. I'd say it's their time to experience a harvest.”