Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 559: A Bronze Coffin Under the Heavenfire Sea! (part 2)

Not too far away, in the sky above the Heavenfire Sea, the Red Moon Cathedral’s massive heart floated along.

The figures on the dozens of asteroids that rotated around it remained completely unmoving. The only movement visible was when someone walked out of the temple atop the heart. It was a human woman wearing a long red robe. Her facial expression was icy cold, and she had impatient eyes. Walking out of the temple and to the edge of the heart, she looked down at the sea of flames below. Her brow was furrowed.

She knew what she had to do next, but didn’t really want to. It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle the brutality of it. Rather, it would mark her, and that would affect her future. However, as a godservant, she didn’t qualify to refuse.

All I can do is try to use a dispersal magic later on to get rid of the mark.

The woman sighed. Stepping forward, she dropped toward the lava below. As she fell, she waved her hand to produce a red pearl. She put the pearl into her mouth and entered the lava. The pearl was obviously a unique treasure of the Red Moon Cathedral. After swallowing it, it allowed her to move about freely in the lava without being harmed.

Thus, she sank down at top speed, releasing the power of her cultivation base, which was in the Spirit Trove level. However, she didn’t have a heavenly dao or magical laws. She was not a cultivator with a true secret trove, but instead, was in the dao begetting and dawnstar raising phase. That said, as a godservant who had the blessing of Crimson Mother, she was the kind of person no one in the Moonrite Region would dare to provoke, assuming she was outside of the cathedral. There was no species in the Moonrite Region who could afford to harm a godservant.

In fact, her godservant authority gave her the right to sentence minor species to death. Having grown up in the Red Moon Cathedral as part of a clan that had produced godenvoys, she was almost like royalty in the Moonrite Region. Right now, she was speeding down through the lava toward a specific destination.

***

Xu Qing was at around 3,000 meters down, relying on his instincts to proceed. He was much closer to that specific area than the woman in red.

However, she was moving far, far faster than him, so she actually arrived first. Because of the limitations imposed by the lava, neither of them were able to detect each other with divine sense. Furthermore, because of the different environments in which the two of them had been raised, the woman wasn’t as vigilant as Xu Qing. The result was that, in his overabundance of caution, and his senses being augmented by the violet moon, he actually noticed her before she noticed him.

He instantly shrank in on himself, hoping to make himself smaller and less noticeable.

Meanwhile, further down at a depth of 3,000 meters, there was what initially looked like a strange, enormous mountain. In reality, it wasn’t a mountain at all. Instead, it was a gigantic coffin. It seemed as big as a city to Xu Qing. Made entirely of bronze, it was covered with corrosion, making it a mixture of black, green, and blue. As a result, the coffin abounded with a sensation of ancientness. It was as if it had been laying there for countless years of time.

The exact size of the coffin was difficult to determine, but Xu Qing could see that it had four chains attached to its four corners, which stretched down into the depths below. The coffin’s lid wasn’t sealed. It was slightly open. That said, the coffin was so enormous that even the slight crack was actually massive, like a huge abyss.

The woman in red neared that door, eventually floating to a stop about 300 meters above it. There, she performed a double-handed incantation gesture, causing pulses of red moon god power to flow out. The power of the hand sign entered the nearby warding spells, causing a glowing red net to appear. That red net was the manifestation of the warding spell. Close examination revealed that the net was full of magical symbols, and it pulsed with godly might.

As Xu Qing continued to observe, he came to realize that the woman was apparently bolstering the warding spell. That said, the paltry level of god power involved was miniscule at best.

Next, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as the woman in red pulled out a head-sized crimson crystal. The crystal caused the surrounding lava to roil, and it emitted an aura that left Xu Qing feeling shaken. Others might not recognize that aura, but given the sense he had thanks to the violet moon, he could tell that the crystal was actually a drop of blood that had been diluted countless times.

Is that Crimson Mother’s blood?

His heart was already racing. Even if the blood was diluted, the aura of the red moon it had was very strong. And to Xu Qing, it could be considered incredibly nourishing.

As Xu Qing secretly looked on, the woman in red gazed at the crystal with longing. However, she kept her feelings in check. She knew that this object was not meant for her benefit.

When the High God comes and finishes harvesting the region, all members of my clan will get a drop of god blood like this. And then I’ll have a chance to do some absorbing.

With that, she threw the crystal down into the crack in the coffin. As it drifted down, it crumbled, causing terrifying fluctuations to sweep into the huge red net created by the warding spells. This was a true reinforcement of that huge net. The net glowed with blinding light, and its godly might surged. Meanwhile, the aura from the coffin grew more incisive. The ground quaked, and a bitter howl of rage echoed out.

“Crimson Mother!!”

As the voice rang out, the coffin trembled violently. Xu Qing’s mind spun, and he kept his guard up more than ever. At the same time, the woman in red looked down into the abyss of the coffin and spoke with divine will.

“Shut up!”

Labored breathing could be heard in the coffin. Clearly, whatever entity was in that coffin felt completely humiliated at being insulted by a low-level cultivator like this woman, yet was powerless to do anything in response.

The woman’s eyes gleamed with derision. To her, it was an absolute delight to be able to humiliate an ancient, terrifying entity such as this. With the wave of a hand, she produced numerous chunks of meat from her bag of holding. There were over a hundred of them, each about thirty meters in size. Extending her finger, she sent one of the chunks of meat flying into the abyss.

“Eat. It’s food from the High God to you. It’s made from the people of Moonrite Region. Your brothers and sisters all think it’s delicious. And to aid in your digestion, we made sure to remove all the bones. Now, enjoy!”

As the meat fell into the abyss, a bitter howl emerged. It was as if the entity in the abyss wanted to reject that meat, yet for some unknown reason was being forced to swallow it.

As it bitterly whimpered on the verge of weeping, chewing sounds emerged, creating a mixed sound that couldn’t have been more miserable. At the same time, bitter resentment floated out of the coffin, turning into a mark that settled onto the woman in red, branding itself into her. The woman seemed to enjoy the sounds she was hearing. Ignoring the mark that had settled on her, she started throwing down the rest of the meat.

Xu Qing noted the way the woman held herself, and listened to the painful sounds coming from inside the coffin. He already had an idea what kind of person this woman was.

After a moment passed, he began slowly backing up with the intention of leaving. He had no desire to get into friction with the Red Moon Cathedral right here and now.

Yet before he could get very far, the woman suddenly laughed.

“Considering how long you’ve been watching, why leave now?”

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing sped up. At the same time, the woman in red raised her right hand and pointed in Xu Qing’s direction. Calling on her powers as a godservant, she tapped into the warding spells.

“Come here!” she said. The manifestation of the warding spells, which contained the power of the red moon, immediately rippled, turning into a huge crimson hand that shot toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing knew that, relying only on his own power, he couldn’t possibly deal with this giant hand formed by the red moon warding spells. The only other option was to reveal the authority he carried. But if he did that, he would blow his cover.

It only took a moment for him to make his decision. Eyes flickering with cold light, he said, “What nerve you have!”

The moment the words left his mouth, the huge red hand stopped, turned around, and shot toward the woman in red.

The woman in red was visibly shocked. She quickly performed an incantation gesture, yet couldn’t avoid the hand, and was sent tumbling backward, blood spraying out of her mouth. It was only by pulling out a blood-red command medallion that she managed to dispel the attack power.

Expression flickering dramatically, she gasped, “Godherald?”

She immediately locked her fingers into a very peculiar configuration, bowed respectfully at the waist, then looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing frowned. This was obviously a ceremonial way of offering greetings to a superior. But he wasn’t sure of the proper way to return the greetings. All he could do was calmly nod. When that happened, the woman’s pupils constricted. Again, she locked her fingers together, bowed, and looked at him. After that, her expression flickered.

“You’re no godherald! Who are you? And how can you command the power of a High God?”

The woman was suspicious but not exactly sure of what was happening. And her heart was racing. It was the first time anything like this had happened to her before. Truth be told, it wasn’t just her. No one in the entire Red Moon Cathedral had ever experienced anything like this. She almost couldn’t believe it was happening.

Xu Qing showed no reaction via facial expression. However, inside, he had come to the conclusion that the woman realized the truth about him, not because of him flubbing the etiquette, but rather, some other reason. Given the level of her cultivation base, she obviously wasn’t an idiot; she must have picked up on other clues. He had been planning to just leave, but since she attacked him, it didn’t matter how much he feared her cultivation base. He would just have to figure out a way to kill her.

Killing intent swirling, he coolly said, “You’re overstepping your authority.”

He waved his finger, and the surrounding red moon warding spells rumbled with unprecedented loudness. Ripples spread out in all directions. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing took control of them and sent crushing power right toward the woman.

The woman’s countenance fell, and shock ran rampant through her.

He’s not from the cathedral! I’m certain of that. So how does he have god power? He also commands authority. And with such strength! What’s going on here??

Trembling, the woman launched an attack. Her secret trove appeared behind her, and though she had no heavenly dao, her battle prowess was still beyond compare. Combined with the blood-red command medallion she had, it was virtually unstoppable.

This level of control, and the fact the warding spells are cooperating... it means his level of authority surpasses that of a godherald!

The woman couldn’t have been more shocked. For years she had attended her clan’s patriarch, and she had witnessed godheralds utilizing the warding spells. What she was seeing now definitely surpassed that.

“Impossible!” As her mind spun, a new thought suddenly occurred to her. This is big! If I report this to the cathedral, I’ll definitely get rewarded!

With such thoughts in mind, the woman held nothing back. Her spirit trove ignited, and she unleashed all the power of the command medallion... not to attack Xu Qing, but rather, to flee! 3,000 meters up above was the cathedral’s church temple atop the heart. If she could just fly out of the lava and send a message, then she could notify the cathedral’s leadership.

Of course, how could Xu Qing let her do something like that? He waved his hand, causing more fluctuations to sweep out from the warding spells. Instantly, eight blood-colored hands appeared, which smacked viciously toward the woman.

Xu Qing knew that if she left the vicinity of the red moon warding spells, then he wouldn’t be a match for her. It didn’t matter that she was only in the dao begetting and dawnstar raising phase, she was still a Spirit Trove expert. And if she escaped, he would be in incredible danger.

She’s got to die!