Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 119: Above Forbidden Grounds

High overhead, the violet sea of light and the black spell formation clashed. Neither of those forces were intelligent, but their inherent qualities were such that they couldn’t tolerate each other’s existence. It was similar to the six cultivators fighting atop the fish skull.

Ding Xiaohai gracefully wielded a long sword in the manner of the Seaforming Scripture; it produced numerous sword flowers, each of which contained stupefying killing intent. He also used talisman treasures which, when combined with his magical techniques, created something like a sea around him. As a result, the Seazombie that was fighting him was temporarily unable to equal him. The Seazombies, with their mutagen and zombie poison, plus their inherent brutality, were generally beyond Ding Xiaohai’s ability to defeat. Thankfully, he had trump cards to rely on.

The Captain’s spear swished about like a dragon, moving with incredible speed as he engaged the Seazombie. His moves contained numerous variations, sometimes being domineering, other times incisive. Occasionally, he would stab his spear like an embroidery needle, other times he would slash it down like an ax. He was clearly very skilled with the weapon. In fact, he didn’t use his offhand to perform incantation gestures, but rather, held an apple from which he munched. He even took moments to cheer on Ding Xiaohai.

“That was amazing Elder Brother Ding! You’re awesome, Elder Brother Ding! Go, go, go!”

Then he turned to cheer on Xu Qing. “Xu....”

His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped in amazement, and he nearly dropped his apple.

***

Moments ago….

Xu Qing moved in a blur, using his dagger to slash wounds into his Seazombie opponent, into which he threw handfuls of his poison powder. It looked almost like he was carrying out experiments to improve his dao of poison. He made so many slashes with his dagger that the Seazombie’s flesh looked like mincemeat.

In fact, much of the flesh had fallen off, revealing the bones beneath. Scattered about on the ground were... masses of blue skin and blood. Xu Qing’s face remained completely expressionless despite the ghastly sight of the blue gore around him. He seemed completely focused on poison research.

Truth be told, Xu Qing was not doing experimentation. The Seazombie cultivator he was fighting didn’t seem to feel pain, and none of Xu Qing’s poisons were working on him. Despite having his throat slashed, he fought viciously, as if he didn’t care about his own life. Even after suffering the most grievous of wounds, he would keep attacking. He kept glaring at Xu Qing with red eyes, as if he wished to rip him to pieces. He pulsed with the fluctuations of magical techniques. However, they didn’t contain spirit power, but rather mutagen. And they caused a black cloud of ghost faces to rage toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing didn’t fear mutagen. However, he didn’t want to publicize that fact. Frowning, he backed away and used a talisman treasure to defend himself. Seeing that this opponent was as ferocious as ever even after being wounded, Xu Qing’s killing intent grew stronger. Dancing away from the Seazombie’s attacks, he plunged his dagger toward his opponent’s head.

Red eyes burning, the Seazombie cultivator reached out with his hand to meet the dagger.

A crunching sound rang out as he used his own bones to block the dagger, and then he opened his mouth wide and lunged forward to bite Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s eyes flashed as, instead of dodging, he head-butted the enemy. A boom rang out as the Seazombie’s mouth exploded, his teeth shattering, and half of his head being bashed in. Then Xu Qing attacked again, slashing out viciously with his dagger. One of the Seazombie’s arms fell off. The dagger flashed again, and the Seazombie’s belly was slashed open.

Putrefying viscera and organs spilled out. It was such a grievous wound that, finally, a look of terror appeared on the Seazombie’s face. It was that specific sight that caused the Captain to drop his apple.

Seazombies weren’t emotionless. It was just that they had much more simple emotions than other beings. And it didn’t matter how simple their emotions were, when they were about to die, they would feel the urge to flee. This Seazombie cultivator had reached the point where he didn’t want to fight any more, and instead wanted to escape. But Xu Qing wasn’t going to let that happen. He jumped forward again, his dagger flying. At the same time, he sent out a host of water droplets to create a barrier blocking the path of the Seazombie.

As rumbling sounds echoed out, the Seazombie’s terror grew more obvious. This disciple from Seven Blood Eyes was incomparably bizarre. For one thing, he seemed unaffected by mutagen, which seemed like a complete impossibility to the Seazombie.

Even chosen disciples who had no mutagen in them wouldn’t be unafraid of mutagen. Such a person who went into a forbidden region would still have to deal with the encroachment of mutagen. But when the Seazombie’s mutagen entered this opponent, it just seemed to disappear.

What was more, the zombie poison that Seazombies were so proud of didn’t seem to have any effect at all. It was like this disciple wasn’t even afraid of it. And the disciple’s poison was causing the Seazombie’s mind to spin, and filled his body with pain. Seazombies didn’t fear pain, and had powerful fleshly bodies, but this disciple... seemed even more powerful than him.

And then there were his powers of regeneration. Seazombies had unique characteristics that gave them powers of regeneration that non-zombie cultivators couldn’t match. But this opponent... seemed to surpass him in that regard as well. Was he some sort of grue?

The Seazombie’s red eyes glittered as he tried to back up, but then Xu Qing’s dagger flashed, and more blue blood splashed out onto the ground.

Eventually, it was thanks to the mutagen and the corroding effects of the zombie poison that Xu Qing’s dagger collapsed. Thankfully, he had spares.

It was at this time that the Seazombie thought he would be able to make his escape. Until a black flash of light stabbed through his chest. It was the black iron skewer. The moment it pierced into his chest, the weapon erupted with the power of its spirit automaton. Foundation Establishment fluctuations poured out into the Seazombie’s ravaged body. With a boom, the Seazombie exploded. The iron skewer flew around and returned to Xu Qing’s hand. Meanwhile, the blood on the ground vanished, as if it had been sucked into the soil.

Off to the side, the Captain looked at the destroyed zombie, and then at Xu Qing’s iron skewer. Then he noticed Xu Qing looking at him, and suddenly felt a bit foolish. Waving his spear, he caused it to ripple and distort as it turned into a stream of water that rushed toward his Seazombie opponent.

The water emanated frigid coldness as it rapidly wrapped around the Seazombie. Then, in the blink of an eye, it froze the Seazombie into a solid piece of ice.

Astonishingly, that coldness was something that could harm the soul.

Xu Qing’s pupils constricted. Seeing that lump of ice filled him with a sense of danger; it was obviously not ordinary ice, but something filled with a mysterious power he couldn’t identify. Clearing his throat, the Captain said, “See that, Xu Qing? When you kill an enemy, you need finesse. Artistry! Not just brute force.”

Sticking his chin out, he took a bite of his apple, walked over, and tapped on the ice with his knuckle. Cracks spread out through it, and a moment later it collapsed, along with the Seazombie cultivator inside of it.

Seeing this, Xu Qing’s guard went up even further. That Seazombie cultivator had been in the great circle of Qi Condensation, and considering the Seazombies were superior to human cultivators in the same level, he should have been very difficult to kill. That just went to show... that the Captain was incredibly strong.

“By the way,” the Captain continued, “I suggest you improve your magical techniques a bit. Why not try putting poison into your water droplets? That would make them a lot more difficult to deal with.”

Xu Qing thought about it and realized what the Captain said made sense. He nodded.

The Captain seemed very pleased that his little speech had improved Xu Qing’s impression of him. “Let’s keep moving. If we get down there too late, Zhang San won’t be around anymore.”

With that, he sped toward the fish eye, not paying any further attention to Ding Xiaohai.

Xu Qing followed, similarly ignoring Ding Xiaohai. His thoughts were currently focused on the suggestion just put forth by the Captain. As they neared the eye, Xu Qing suddenly asked, “Captain, are the Seazombies… corpses?”

It wasn’t common for Xu Qing to ask questions, so upon hearing this, the Captain’s eyes lit up. Clearing his throat, he looked over at Xu Qing and said, “A question like that is worth—”

Xu Qing tossed him a large apple that was at least double the size of the small one he’d been eating.

The Captain paused to take a big bite, then continued, “Alright, since you’re a member of my unit, I guess I might as well tell you. The Seazombies are basically reanimated corpses. They’re fantastic, really. Their ancestral land is located on the border of the ninth forbidden ground. You know about the forbidden grounds, right?” [1]

“Forbidden grounds?” Xu Qing asked.

“When the eyes of the god above open, the location those eyes look upon becomes a forbidden region. But... what happens if those eyes look upon a place that’s already a forbidden region?” The Captain looked at Xu Qing with a very profound expression on his face.

Xu Qing had never thought about this question before. After pondering it for a moment, his eyes glittered.

Taking another bite of apple, the Captain continued, “If the god looks at a forbidden region, then the mutagen there gets even stronger. And after the mutagen passes a certain point... the place becomes a forbidden ground. There are some huge differences between forbidden regions and forbidden grounds.

“Forbidden regions usually have mutant beasts and grues in them. But forbidden grounds... can give birth to new intelligent species!

“According to the records in Seven Blood Eyes, there are at least fifteen forbidden grounds in the world, and maybe more. In some cases, we know what new species have come to exist in the forbidden grounds, but in other cases, we don’t. There’s one forbidden ground in the Sea of Endlessness, and it’s called Forbidden by the Zombie. The Seazombies came to be on the edge of that forbidden ground. Here on the continent of South Phoenix, we also have a forbidden ground. And that’s Forbidden by the Phoenix, which I’m sure you’ve heard of. Within Forbidden by the Phoenix is an emperor named Flame Phoenix, an apex godly entity. Although Flame Phoenix isn’t exactly on the same level as a real god, it’s close enough to count as one. Flame Phoenix came to be within the forbidden ground known as Forbidden by the Phoenix.”

Hearing this, Xu Qing’s heart started to race. Thanks to the Captain’s word, some of the veil of mystery that obscured the world around him was being lifted.

“In that case,” Xu Qing asked, “what happens if the god’s eyes open and look at a forbidden ground?”

The Captain didn’t respond, as they had just reached the fish eye, and were looking down at a deep pit. He jumped in, and then started to talk, his words echoing up behind him. “From ancient times until now, that’s only happened four times. I’m not sure exactly what happens when he looks at a forbidden ground. However, I do know that afterwards, they aren’t called forbidden grounds anymore. They’re called... god domains.”

1. I know it’s not the most important bit of foreshadowing, but Xu Qing bought the large apples in chapter 110. I saw at least one comment speculating that Xu Qing bought the apples to give them to the Captain so... nice speculation there! ☜historical