Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 515: Broken Sword Life Lamp

Xu Qing finally gave some antidote pills to the Captain, which successfully purged the poison.

Afterward, the Captain happily produced a peach, took a bite, and patted Xu Qing on the shoulder. “We don’t have a thing to worry about now that Master’s here. The old man is a lot more experienced and knowledgeable than the two of us. And he’s even better at knowing the ins and outs of society in general. All we have to do now is just wait until he figures everything out for us. Oh, by the way, little Ah Qing, do you mind asking Ol’ Kong to do me a favor? I’m bringing a good friend to see him later today.”

Xu Qing looked pensively at the peach in the Captain’s hand. “If you’re going to see him, what do you need me to message him for? And who are you taking to see him?”

The Captain cleared his throat, looked left and right, and then lowered his voice. “I went yesterday... and boy is Ol’ Kong stingy. Thankfully, I helped him save Sir Mountain-River. Hmmmphh! He’s obviously just jealous that I’m your Eldest Brother; that’s why he doesn’t like me. Ai. I really have the short end of the stick here. If he’s such hot stuff, why doesn’t he go see if Master will accept him as an apprentice, huh?

“As for who I’m taking to see him, who else do you think it could possibly be other than my most beloved and amazing Lady Peachy?” The Captain was trying to look very casual and relaxed, but was obviously very pleased with himself. [1]

“You two know each other?” Xu Qing looked at the Captain.

“Of course! I just happened to notice Lady Peachy outside Yao Mansion the other day. When I saw her big boo... ahem, I mean, her depressed and despondent facial expression, I realized there wasn’t even an ounce of happiness in that little face of hers. My heart literally hurt, little Ah Qing! So I went over to comfort her a bit. And I ended up promising to take her to see the Yao Clan people.” Looking anxiously at Xu Qing, the Captain took a big bite out of the peach. “Big talk isn’t going to help me at this point, little Junior Brother.... Look, this is really important. It relates to what could well be the biggest day of your Eldest Brother’s life!”

Xu Qing took out his command sword and sent a voice message to Kong Xianglong. Upon getting a reply, he gave the Captain an expressionless nod.

The Captain laughed heartily, then hurried away looking very excited.

Xu Qing watched him until he’d vanished. The weight he’d been feeling in his heart thanks to the war was finally starting to lessen.

Eldest Brother was right. Getting stronger is the foundation for everything.

He closed his eyes, then opened them a moment later. This time, they looked just as calm and peaceful as they had in the past. Walking out of his sword pavilion, he headed in the direction of the Swordsage Palace.

His plan: buy a new life lamp.

As far as he was concerned, the fastest way to improve his cultivation base and battle prowess was by using a life lamp.

I currently have ten heavenly palaces. I got seven of them through raw cultivation. Three of them were made from life lamps. For cultivators concerned about heavenly palaces, life flames form the foundation for life lamps. Before, I had five life flames, which means I can actually have a maximum of five life lamps.

With such thoughts on his mind, he reached the Treasure Hall of the Swordsage Palace. This was the location where you could exchange military credits for rewards. A lot of military credits had been passed out as rewards for war efforts, and thus, many of the surviving swordsages had come to buy new things at the Treasure Hall. When Xu Qing arrived, he spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd.

There were even some officers and soldiers from the Imperial Region. Though they weren’t swordsages, they qualified to purchase items from the three palaces, although there was a limit to how much they were allowed to take away. That was the result of a petition sent to Seventh Prince by the deputy palace lord.

The Swordsage Palace’s Treasure Hall didn’t just sell goods. They also bought goods. In other words, swordsages could trade in spoils of war to get military credits.

As a result, the Treasure Hall was in some ways a self-propagating market. Going there, you could find everything from fragments of ancient scrolls to high-tier magical devices and cultivation techniques. They also had... life lamps! Previously, there had been two life lamps for sale.

There was no such thing as high-level and low-level life lamps. That said, they differed in their functions. Upon arriving, Xu Qing found that one of the life lamps had already been purchased, meaning there was only one for sale now. The price listed wasn’t in military credits. Instead, it required grade-two battle credits. Xu Qing had enough battle credits to buy one lamp, so he did.

Then he cautiously made his way back to his sword pavilion without incident. It made Xu Qing recall what Kong Xianglong had said about Seventh Prince enforcing military law. It was the same across the board, whether Xu Qing and the Captain handing in the dao fruits, or other people handing over spoils of war. Neither Xu Qing nor Kong Xianglong nor any other swordsage was being treated badly. And no one dared to try to rob them.

Any exchange of military or battle credits, and any sale or purchase, was a personal matter. Just like before, the Swordsage Palace didn’t try to take advantage of anyone. The people who came to exchange their credits had all earned them through blood, sweat, and tears on the field of battle. There was no way that the Swordsage Palace, whether the old version or the new, would allow such people to be treated poorly. That was what Seventh Prince had said.

“It’s the old balance of kindness and severity. This Seventh Prince is quite formidable. He’s obviously not interested in piddling financial profit. He has bigger ambitions.” That’s what Kong Xianglong said on the subject. Clearly he had mixed feelings about the situation.

When Xu Qing thought about everything that had played out since Seventh Prince arrived, he sighed inwardly. On a personal level, he didn’t like the imperial prince. But when you considered the bigger picture, it was true that everything he was doing was for the public interest. As for whether he was ultimately doing the right thing, opinions differed.

Xu Qing shook his head. Stowing such thoughts for now, he took out his new life lamp.

It looked like a black, broken sword. The aggressive energy it emanated contained an astonishing baleful aura. Clearly, whoever had originally created this life lamp had been a prolific killer. When they made the life lamp from their own blood, it contained raw killing intent that made it different from all of Xu Qing’s other life lamps.

One difference between getting a life lamp in the Swordsage Palace and taking one by force on the outside was that the former came with a record of the lamp’s history. When purchasing the lamp, Xu Qing had also acquired a jade slip with all the details of the lamp.

“This is an immortal-shredding god-devouring lamp. The bloodline of the lamp traces back to the ninth heavenly marshal of the Epoch of Profound Serenity. However, it wasn’t the lamp of the heavenly marshal. Instead, it belonged to one of his descendants, a general who lived during the Dark Serenity Epoch and died in battle. It focuses on killing, destroying magics, and drinking blood. Because of the evil will that has converged in it, those who use it risk being gradually turned into psychopathic killers. Anyone not accustomed to killing should be very cautious with it.

Xu Qing reviewed the information, then looked at the black, broken sword. After some thought, he decided to do an experiment, and used the violet crystal to try to suppress the sword just like he had the shadow. After suppressing it well over a hundred times, he felt a bit less worried. The shadow looked on, trembling. Xu Qing ignored it.

Taking the black, broken sword, he spent a bit more time to think before turning his hand semitransparent, grabbing the sword, and inserting it into his sea of consciousness, very close to his D-132 heavenly palace.

He hesitated briefly, then put it into D-132.

The god’s finger was asleep, but Xu Qing put the sword next to īt anyway. He poked the finger gently a few times, and īt didn’t react, which made him feel a bit less nervous. Though he had already attempted to purge the sword, he figured that just in case it wasn’t as clean as he thought it was, placing it next to the god’s finger could serve as a warning. Whatever evil will existed in the sword should know to behave, otherwise it would be in trouble.

Having accomplished that, Xu Qing next tapped into his heavenly dao bluegreen dragon. After it appeared, it gobbled up the broken sword. Then the bluegreen dragon used its heavenly dao nature to assimilate the sword. After that, Xu Qing placed it next to the violet crystal as if it were a food offering. After all of that, Xu Qing was fairly certain he heard something like a very faint and distant shriek of agony.

He blinked a few times and ignored it. Now he felt a lot better. Taking the broken sword, he absorbed it. An instant later, the life mist above his sea of consciousness vibrated and rumbled as a sword-shaped heavenly palace took shape.

It materialized rapidly, taking no longer than the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

As of that point, Xu Qing had eleven heavenly palaces.

The moment it appeared, powerful fluctuations rolled out in all directions, filling his sword pavilion. His aura became even fiercer, like that of a sharp, unsheathed sword, full of baleful intent that could slaughter heaven and eradicate earth.

If a Nascent Soul cultivator were present to feel the fluctuations coming off Xu Qing, they would be absolutely shocked. Xu Qing’s eleven heavenly palaces were completely and utterly stupefying.

The objects people would use for their heavenly palaces were all different, and worked together in different ways. Because of that, there could be vast differences in Gold Core cultivators, even those with the same number of palaces.

As for Xu Qing, whether it was the number or the quality of his palaces, although it was possible there might be someone else in the Revered Ancient who was similar, they would only be outstanding figures with access to destiny aura, and who were the most famous in their species.

Right now I don’t need to worry about my last life lamp. For all intents and purposes I’m already in the great circle!

Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness now contained eleven complete heavenly palaces. However, he still had one that wasn’t yet fully materialized.

Hopefully this trip into Forbidden by the Immortal will be just what I need to finish my final non-life-lamp heavenly palace!

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered brightly before he closed them to focus on stabilizing and powering his new heavenly palace.

In that matter, time slipped by slowly but surely.

***

It was now the very day that Forbidden by the Immortal was to be opened.

When Xu Qing’s command sword vibrated, he opened his eyes. They glittered with an aggressive light, which he subsequently reined in. Face expressionless, he got to his feet and left his sword pavilion. Kong Xianglong was waiting for him outside.

Their eyes met, and then they looked in the direction of where the Corrections Division used to exist.

The entire area had been excavated. Mutagen pulsed out of it, along with what sounded like the wail of ghosts and howl of wolves. The sounds were very unsettling. Timid people who heard the screams coming from the depths of that pit would feel an eruption of cowardice within them, and wouldn’t dare to get very close.

However, the first wave of cultivators who would be entering Forbidden by the Immortal were Sea-Sealing County swordsages who had lived through hundreds of battles. Some had severe injuries that weren’t yet fully healed. However, all of them were extraordinary in terms of character. They had experienced the baptism of war, and had been tempered in the fires of hell....

Every single one had towering baleful auras, and had slaughtered countless foes. Every single one had faced death over and over again, yet weren’t afraid. Their temperaments had been refined to the ultimate level. This chapter made its debut appearance via n(0/vel(b)(/j)(n).

Other cultivators from the county capital had gathered to watch the proceedings, and compared to them, the group about to enter Forbidden by the Immortal was completely different. Although there weren’t very many of them, they were all people who would stand out in a crowd. Now, gathered together in a unified fighting force, they were even more impressive. The officers and soldiers from the Imperial Region, who had not gone through such intense wartime events, only served as foils to them.

As they stood there, they attracted the attention of everyone in the area.

Then Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong arrived.

Both were tall and somewhat thin, and their white swordsage uniforms rippled in the wind, making them seem cold and austere. One had crude facial features and the stubble of a beard on his face. The other had features as fine as jade, and eyes that were tranquil and calm.

When the other swordsages saw them, their eyes glittered. Offering a military salute, they parted to make a path for them. It was the first unified action those swordsages had taken since gathering.

Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong didn’t pause for a moment. They walked through the crowd to the front, where they stood alongside the dozens of Spirit Trove swordsages there. They didn’t match up to those swordsages in terms of cultivation base, but in terms of the services they had rendered, they definitely could stand shoulder to shoulder with them. Their auras combined perfectly with those of the other veterans.

The observers were all shaken, including the soldiers and officers from the imperial capital, as well as various nonhuman cultivators.

A moment later, Seventh Prince arrived. As he hovered in the air above, the people who stood out to him first were Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong.

“That’s the Xu Qing I’ve heard so much about?” Seventh Prince asked.

The lieutenant governor nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty. Xu Qing was previously serving as the palace lord’s secretary-general. During the Grand Emperor’s assessment of the heart, he earned a 30,000-meter pillar of light, making him the top figure in Sea-Sealing County. When we urgently needed supplies on the front lines, he got them to us. He was also the one who arranged for the forces of two prefectures to arrive at the western front to provide critical relief. He’s performed amazing services for our Sea-Sealing County. He was one of the few people to earn grade-two battle credits during the war.”

Seventh Prince didn’t seem to care about the other services Xu Qing had performed. Upon hearing the lieutenant governor’s introduction, he only said four words.

“A 30,000-meter heart assessment?”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant governor replied with a faint smile.

1. He’s obviously referring to Li Shitao, who was introduced in chapter 428. Remember that the “tao” in her name means “peach.” She was mentioned or appeared “on screen” a few other times, the most relevant to this chapter being in chapter 439. Previously, the Captain called her Taotao a few times. This nickname is a slight variation on that. I’m taking a bit of a liberty in translating the nickname, for one, to capture the feeling of cute intimacy it conveys, and also to hammer home the wordplay element with the peaches, which really pops visually in Chinese, and is what the author is trying to emphasize here. ?