Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 560: Senior, I Don’t Taste Good. Really! (part 1)

The Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple hovered above the Heavenfire Sea, emanating a boundless red glow like that of fresh blood. The thumping of the heart echoed out far and wide. Any cultivator who laid eyes on it would feel mentally shaken, and wouldn’t even dare gaze upon it. They would just drop to their knees and kowtow from a distance until it passed.

The Red Moon Cathedral didn't care one way or another. To the cathedral, they were livestock. Free-range animals. In fact, the more active they were, the better, as it meant their energy and blood would be full of life.

The cathedral cultivators on the asteroids still had their eyes closed. Meanwhile, inside the cathedral itself were seven figures in red robes, all seated cross-legged. Each one was a different species, with one of them in the seat of honor, and the other six seated in the lower-ranking positions.

In the seat of honor was a Wingflyer whose feathered face didn't reveal any distinct facial expression. The fluctuations of Void Returning could just barely be detected in him. As for the other six people present, they were all similar to the woman in red, as they had Spirit Trove cultivation bases. All of them were waiting for their compatriot to return.

The job of doling out food and augmenting the warding spells would result in a marking, which was tricky to deal with. That was why, normally speaking, less important people were sent to handle it. The lava made it impossible to check the situation with divine sense. And though the process seemed to be taking a bit longer than usual, considering their status and mental capacities, none of them were very worried that anything would happen. That was why they just sat there meditating and waiting. Little did they know that, 3,000 meters beneath the surface of the lava, their compatriot, the woman in red, was visibly astonished.

Xu Qing, driven by the killing intent in his heart, used all of the power of his violet moon nascent soul, allowing him to take control of the Red Moon Cathedral's warding spells and transforming their power into eight massive red hands that shot toward the woman in red.

In that critical moment, the woman shivered down to her core. She could tell that her level of authority didn’t surpass this enemy. If she didn’t have the command medallion from her patriarch, she wouldn’t even qualify to defend herself. Her only advantage at the moment was her cultivation base. Though she was only in dao begetting and dawnstar raising, she was just on the verge of forming her heavenly dao. With battle prowess that strong, she was strong enough to crush any Nascent Soul cultivator she encountered.

Dammit! If we were in any other location, I could kill him as easily as turning over my hand!

Eyes bloodshot, she quickly performed a double-handed incantation gesture and shoved her hands out in either direction. Instantly, an illusory secret trove formed behind her, which belched out fire and lightning toward her enemy.

Then the eight blood-red hands slammed into their target. A muffled boom spread out beneath the lava. Blood sprayed out of the woman’s mouth as the force delivered by the blood-red hands was dispersed by her command medallion and her various defensive powers.

Blood dribbling down her chin, she said, “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, or how you have that godly authority. In the end, your cultivation base is too weak!”

Eyes flashing, she ceased her retreat and prepared to lunge out and catch this enemy alive. It seemed a given that taking this person a prisoner would cause a big stir in the Red Moon Cathedral. It would count as a meritorious service that would earn her some big rewards.

With that thought on her mind, her eyes flashed with determination, and she waved her hand, causing her secret trove projection to howl as if it were a gigantic beast. Terrifying strength swept right toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing frowned and sighed inwardly. The red moon warding spells here were incomparably strong. It was only because of the godly authority Xu Qing could wield that he was able to do anything with them. And if someone came along with a slightly more authoritative command medallion, then he wouldn’t be able to do even that. And even then, he could only unleash so much of its potential.

As his opponent’s secret trove closed in, bringing along astonishing pressure, he felt fine in terms of his physical body. But his soul was trembling and letting off an intense sensation of deadly crisis. Eyes gleaming with unwavering determination, he swept both hands out in front of him, causing his entire person to glow with violet light. His violet moon nascent soul manifested above his head, turning into a visible violet moon.

As soon as that moon was out in the open, the surrounding lava also turned violet. The power of more warding spells swept toward him, creating a defensive barrier that blocked the path of the woman’s secret trove.

A boom rang out and shock waves swept in every direction. The woman staggered backward. Veins bulged all over her, like wriggling earthworms beneath her skin. She was now even more shocked than she had been before.

“Just who exactly are you?!” she blurted hoarsely. That violet moon gave her the same sensation as the cathedral itself, and she felt the strong instinct to drop to her knees and kowtow. If it weren’t for the fact that her cultivation base provided an anchor that stabilized her willpower, she would have already been kowtowing. The feeling caused her scalp to tingle as if her mind were being struck by 100,000 lightning bolts.

Xu Qing wasn’t in much better of a situation. He’d managed to use the red moon warding spells to block the attack, but his cultivation base was so much lower than hers that he was having a hard time staying conscious. The difficulty was particularly pronounced with his soul. It felt like it was about to be ripped to shreds, and as his mind trembled, he felt his vision turning dark. It was like a blade had been stabbed into his brain and was being swished back and forth.

That said, Xu Qing knew how critical of a moment this was, and that he couldn’t afford to be lax in any way. Fighting back against the crippling pain, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture.

The violet moon nascent soul also performed an incantation gesture. Then, violet moon power swept out, becoming a large violet net that activated the blood-red net and sent it rumbling toward the woman.

Enraged, she gritted her teeth and caused her blood vessels to ignite. She held her command medallion high. It was also in flames.

“God Summoning!” she howled shrilly.

Blood oozed out of her eyes, and her expression was vicious. Cracks spread out over her, causing more blood to run down her. Except for the fact that she wasn’t covering her eyes with her hands, she looked exactly like a statue of Crimson Mother. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes exploded. Xu Qing had seen something like that before. The same thing happened with Zhang Siyun. [1]

Even as her words continued to echo about, a surging power rose within the woman. Crimson Mother was asleep, and couldn’t actually be summoned. But with the power of the command medallion, and by igniting herself, the woman was able to unleash an aura that caused the red moon warding spells to suddenly lurch.

Xu Qing immediately lost some of his control.

The woman took advantage of that moment to burst into motion, shooting toward the surface of the lava. She had finally chosen to flee; Xu Qing’s violet moon was simply too fear-inspiring.

All she had to do was get to the surface, and her compatriots would notice what was happening. They would definitely make a move. Though that meant the meritorious service would have to be split up between all of them, the woman had no other options now. She was too worried that if she kept the fight going, that gruish violet moon might drive her crazy.

When Xu Qing saw that she was about to escape, a crazy look appeared in his eyes. There was no way he could let her get away. He burst into motion after her. As he did, the golden threads within him proliferated until he was nine meters tall. In that form, he raced toward the woman.

Meanwhile, her eyes flashed with freakish light as she waved both of her hands, causing black flames to erupt from her secret trove and form into a vicious ghost face. The ghost face lunged toward Xu Qing, jaws snapping. A tremor passed through him as his body collapsed from its height of nine meters down to that of an ordinary person. All of his nascent souls were trembling, and his ordinary soul looked like it might collapse at any moment. Thankfully, he had the blessing and protection of his life lamps, and thus managed to hold on. Xu Qing could tell that one more blow like that would be too much for his soul to take.

That said, there was a good reason why he had chosen to meet the blow head on. It stopped the woman’s momentum. Before, she had been fleeing at top speed, but now she had slowed down for a moment. Meanwhile, her God Summoning technique was being affected by the warding spells, and was weakening. Simultaneously, Xu Qing’s level of control was increasing again.

Once again, the warding spells formed a huge blood-colored hand that moved rapidly toward the woman. It moved at top speed, but before it could reach her, she accelerated rapidly. It seemed likely she would completely avoid the incoming hand.

However, at exactly the right moment, Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he looked right at her. Right then, he removed the gnomons from all five of his sundial life lamps!

Time Lag!

Without any warning whatsoever, the woman sensed time around her forcibly being paused. She stopped moving, and couldn’t react or even sense anything. That cessation of movement was going to be deadly! The woman recovered only a moment later, but not before the gigantic warding spell hand slammed into her and gripped her tight.

More hands appeared, wrapping around her and dragging her back. To stop time for a Spirit Trove expert was something that Xu Qing had to pay a heavy price for. His sundial life lamps instantly started corroding, and deep cracks spread out over their surfaces.

However, they didn't collapse. And Xu Qing could already feel them repairing themselves. Of course, he didn’t have time to study the details. He still felt ripping pain in his soul, so he quickly performed a double-handed incantation gesture to tap into the surrounding warding spells. They erupted with power, dragging the woman in red down toward the abyssal opening of the coffin below!

Ever since Xu Qing showed his face, any sounds from within the coffin had ceased. But now, the sounds of swallowing could be heard from within. It was a sound full of longing and madness.

As the numerous hands latched onto the woman and started dragging her down, her face fell, and her heart pounded with a sensation of deadly crisis. She was shaking from head to toe, and her eyes gleamed with madness. She knew what her fate would be if she got thrown into that coffin. So she fought back wildly. Unfortunately for her, that just slowed things down slightly; she kept getting closer and closer to the coffin.

Despair lit up in her eyes, and she screamed shrilly for help. Flames sprang up on her as she burned her cultivation base and life force with abandon. Because of all that, her voice became a sound wave that could pierce through rock. The lava in the area collapsed.

The sound wave caused blood to spray from Xu Qing’s mouth. Seeing that the woman had a chance at breaking free, he did a quick time calculation, then lunged forward. Two breaths of time later, he was closing in on the woman. Throwing both of his hands out in front of him, he became the weapon that slammed into the woman. He used his own momentum to shove her toward the abyss.

Getting that close caused his soul to start crumbling into pieces. But by sheer force of will power, he held on for a total of six breaths of time. That was how much time it took to use the warding spell hand to shove her into the abyss!

1. Zhang Siyun’s eye exploded in chapter 524.1. ?