Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 488: The Finger Didn’t Want To Possess Him....

The depths of the Abyssal Sea were very quiet. This part of Daybreak Prefecture was remote to begin with, and few travelers ever went there. Couple that with the fact that the god’s finger had already scoured the area to capture living cultivators, and the result was that right now, the place was completely desolate. Whether because of the sun’s remains or the god’s finger, this area now abounded with mutagen, to the point where it was showing signs of becoming a forbidden region.

The head and the stone lion were both affected by the fluctuations coming off the god’s finger, and were taking longer than usual to recover. At the moment, they were mangled masses of gore. Sir Inkwell’s painting still had some of his family members in it, but only about five. And the survivors were still being devoured.

As a result of that, no one was aware that something extremely bizarre was happening beneath the mountainous mass of flesh at the bottom of the lake.

That was what remained of the god’s finger, and at the moment, īt was wriggling like mad. As for Xu Qing, he was underneath īt, completely surrounded by the shredded flesh of the finger, which was now burrowing into him, causing intense pain to sweep through him.

It felt like he was being stabbed repeatedly while also being slashed to ribbons. Xu Qing trembled violently. However, no matter how he fought back, it didn’t seem to do any good. He couldn’t stop the invading flesh and blood. Thus, time passed, and the massive mountain of flesh slowly shrank down.

After enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, the mountain of flesh was reduced by half, and an outline of Xu Qing was visible. He was twitching and jerking around, making it obvious how much pain he was in. The flesh wasn’t done burrowing into him. īt continued to squirm as īt madly entered him through every pore in his body.

Another incense stick’s worth of time passed, after which Xu Qing became more visible. There was now only one big strip of flesh left, which turned into a host of tiny tendrils that started digging into Xu Qing’s forehead.

Then īt was gone.

Xu Qing lay there unmoving, his expression one of frozen pain. He could not sense anything around him. All of the flesh that made up the god’s finger was now inside of him, turning into a host of extremely fine tendrils that filled him from head to toe.

His meridians. His flesh. His bones. Every part of him was filled with those tendrils. And they were slowly linking together, causing a terrifying mutagen to spread out and change Xu Qing, to transform him into something suitable for the god’s habitation.

The violet crystal in his chest was still glowing with violet light. But that light could repair damage to him, and wasn’t able to fight back against a transformation that came from the flesh of a god. In fact, in some ways, that recovery power was actually making the transformation process proceed more smoothly. Any damage that was inflicted was quickly healed.

As a result, the flesh of the god’s finger didn’t pay any attention to the violet crystal, and just slowly continued transforming Xu Qing.

Fleshy growths sprang out from him, like tentacles, spreading out, growing longer, and swaying back and forth. It was a very bizarre scene, but what was most bizarre was how those flesh tentacles were rapidly intertwining around Xu Qing. Close observation would reveal that meridians and blood vessels were being formed by the flesh tentacles, and it was actually being done in exactly the same way that Sir Inkwell had painted the body earlier.

Apparently, the god’s finger had observed that painting process and learned from it. Each of the fleshy tentacles was like a paint brush, and the body itself was the paint. In that manner, a new body began to take shape, which was several hundred meters from head to toe. The god’s finger was using Xu Qing as the core, while building another body like an outer shell.

Time passed. The outer shell grew more and more complete. It was possible to see bones, with muscles slowly taking shape over them. Then the flesh tentacles began making limbs, and also, they spread up like a blooming flower to create a neck. Next was the head. The outer shell made a general framework, while flesh tentacles proliferated and filled in the gaps. Eventually, the wriggling tentacles from the neck completed the head. Facial features appeared, and astonishingly, they were those of Xu Qing.

About an hour later, the outer shell was complete. The body was unclothed, and the muscles wriggled as skin formed and filled in any empty spots. When the last gap was removed, a perfect body was visible, over 900 meters tall, right there in the depths of the lake.

It was perfectly proportioned, being tall and lean, with broad shoulders and a sturdy chest. It had terrifyingly powerful musculature, and bewitching good looks.

One unusual aspect was the body’s hair, which wasn’t black, but violet. As the violet hair swayed in the surrounding water, it created an image that seemed both vile and charming at the same time. Godly might spread out, and something holy pulsed from the body. It was a combination that was extremely disturbing to say the least.

This was the body of a god!

However, other than the swaying violet hair, the body wasn’t moving at all. The eyes had not opened.

That was because īt lacked a soul.

The god’s finger had created a very suitable body, but the last step had not yet been carried out. And that was... possession. īt needed to devour Xu Qing’s soul, and then use godliness to make īts own soul for the body, a god’s soul. Only then would īt be well and truly independent! When all was said and done, īt would have changed from being a god’s finger into being a brand new god in full form, filled with limitless potential.

This was īt’s dream. And of course, that dream was what Sir Inkwell had hoped to commandeer. As of now, īt’s dream was almost complete. All that remained was to simply devour the soul. After all, īt was a god on a substructural level, and little effort was required for a god to devour the soul of a mortal.

Thus, the will of the god’s finger erupted inside the body, converging into one spot that then shot toward Xu Qing’s soul in his sea of consciousness.

Xu Qing’s befuddled soul sensed the vile, icy will rushing toward it. It didn’t struggle. However, the desire to fight back had not left it. Though the soul did not have control of the body, or even consciousness, or even the ability to sense the outside world, there was still a crazy notion that existed within Xu Qing.

Years ago, the shadow seemed immeasurably mighty to me. And there was no way I could have fought back when it tried to possess me. Just like now. To me, this god’s finger is something I simply can’t defend against.

Except, the violet crystal made all ten of the heavenly palaces in my sea of consciousness tremble uncontrollably. The crystal was what fought back against the possession attempt by the shadow. So today... why don’t I do the same thing to defend against the possession attempt by this god’s finger?

The crazy notion that drifted out from Xu Qing’s soul was the exact reason he hadn’t struggled earlier. He had simply watched the power of the gods and spirits craft a new body as an outer shell. He had observed everything. And he had waited.... magic

He had waited for his opponent to try to devour his soul.

That moment had arrived.

As that vile, icy will assaulted him, and the sensation of impending doom grew more intense, the violet crystal in Xu Qing’s chest seemed offended. And it erupted!

A boundless, majestic force swept out from the violet crystal, becoming a paragonic, unstoppable, ancient sea of violet light that rushed toward the will of the god’s finger with domineering force. Rumbling echoed out, and Xu Qing’s mind felt like it was filled with infinite bolts of lightning. A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering explosion ripped out as the god’s finger, which had previously been a bit muddled, could suddenly think very clearly. And īt screamed.

“W-what... what is that?? How could something like that be in a body like this?? This power... th-this power....”

The god’s will was filled with astonishment, and at the same time, indescribable terror of the violet crystal. As the screams echoed about, the god’s will retreated. īt... wasn’t interested in possessing Xu Qing anymore.

Xu Qing had made the right gamble!

He had remembered how the violet crystal had been passive from the moment he acquired it. Even in the most deadly situations, the crystal never did anything, leaving him with the feeling that if he died in such a situation... he would truly die. The only time the crystal had ever reacted explosively was when the shadow tried to possess him. [1]

That seemed to indicate that the violet crystal had no interest in things relating to the fleshly body. Nor did it care if Xu Qing himself faced any sort of deadly crisis. But if something tried to possess him, then it perked up.

That was what happened with the shadow all those years ago. And it was happening now with this god’s will.

The god’s will pulsed with intense terror. īts mental faculties had recovered, and because of that, īt could think and reason. As a result, īt abandoned all possession attempts and tried to retreat.

It was too slow. The shadow had tried to do the same thing, and it had also failed.

Next, Xu Qing’s violet crystal released terrifying fluctuations, causing the violet sea to surge in the direction of the god’s will.

The god’s will screamed as a sealing power slammed into īt.

“NO!!”

The god’s finger struggled violently as īt screamed into Xu Qing’s mind. To īt, this moment was more of a deadly crisis than what Xu Qing had experienced earlier. As this fight played out, the 900-meter-tall body in the depths of the massive lake started twitching. Then a vicious ghost face appeared on its chest, bulging outward as if trying to break free into the open. But then a huge violet hand wrapped around the face, grabbing it and pulling it back. The ghost face screamed.

Unprecedented despair filled the will of the god’s finger.

“Just who exactly are you?! What exactly is this thing??”

The howls were filled with grief and indignation, as well as wild madness. Xu Qing’s massive body trembled as the god’s will repeatedly tried to struggle free. Such efforts were to no avail.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing had come to notice something unusual.... The power of the violet crystal didn’t seem even close to its true limit. Yet it wasn’t actually able to seal the god’s will in the same way it had sealed the shadow. The god’s will was fighting back. As for his own soul, it was filled with intense pain, and seemed like it might start withering into nothing.

It’s not that the violet crystal isn’t strong enough. Rather, I’m not capable of unleashing its full power....

As Xu Qing realized that, cold light flickered in his eyes.

1. The shadow tried to possess Xu Qing in chapter 13. ?