Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 567: An Agreement Reached Beneath the Heavenfire Sea (part 2)

High above the valley atop the beating heart, a woman in red walked out of the church temple. This person was actually the entity from the coffin at the bottom of the Heavenfire Sea, and was actually a man, not a woman. His expression was reserved as he looked down at the lands below. A faint, mysterious smile appeared on his face. [1]

“This boy has a very strong baleful aura.” Behind him in the church temple, the godherald sat as unmoving as a statue.

No one in the valley could sense what was happening above. In fact, even if people below had looked up, they wouldn’t have seen a woman in red. Everyone’s senses had been secretly altered.

In D-132, inside of Xu Qing, the god’s finger, who had been so deeply affected by the curse, was in the middle of retching. Suddenly īt shivered. Then īt pretended nothing had happened and continued retching.

Xu Qing didn’t detect anything abnormal. After talking with the Doorite and finding that it couldn’t teleport him to the south, he moved on and patiently tried to find another Doorite. He talked to a few dozen until he found an unusually short door. It was barely more than a meter tall, and was in very bad condition. As Xu Qing neared, the door frame suddenly twisted like a wriggling snake. A face appeared on the door itself, which looked at Xu Qing.

“Hello, Fellow Daoist,” Xu Qing said calmly. “Can you perform teleportations to the south?”

The face in the door looked Xu Qing up and down, then smiled. “100,000 spirit stones!”

Xu Qing looked at the face. The stated price was excessively high. Xu Qing had given most of his spirit stones to Duanmu Zang, and didn’t have many left.

“Don’t even think of complaining that the price is too high,” the face said coolly. “We’re in the busy season right now. Species from all over are bringing offerings here. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was already planning to head south myself, I wouldn’t take you there even if you did give me 100,000.”

After mulling the matter over, Xu Qing nodded. “Can I pay in heavenfire crystals?”

The face’s eyes lit up. Clearly, it really liked heavenfire crystals. “No problem. Either a thousand white crystals or a single red one.”

Xu Qing nodded. However, after they started discussing the deal in more detail, he found that the Doorite couldn’t take him south immediately; it had a few groups of customers that hadn’t teleported in yet, and thus needed to wait until later that night.

Xu Qing frowned. He wanted to leave immediately if he could. Therefore, he made inquiries of other Doorites, only to find that none of them could send him south any sooner than three days. In the end, Xu Qing chose to seal the deal with the small wooden door.

It was about six hours until evening. Rather than wandering around aimlessly, Xu Qing found a quiet corner where he could sit down cross-legged to meditate.

Time passed. A few hours later, he happened to see Duanmu Zang walking through the crowd.

Duanmu Zang noticed him and approached.

“You didn’t find a Doorite that could help you?” he asked.

“I did. I’ll leave in a little bit.” Xu Qing noted that there was no sign of the caravan.

Noticing his gaze, Duanmu Zang sat down next to him. “I already handed the caravan over to the cathedral. Everything is settled, so you don’t need to worry. You can leave with a clear head.”

Although Duanmu Zang’s facial expression looked no different than normal, the truth was that he was feeling very anxious. The reason wasn’t because of how he’d wiped out the Twofold Alliance. The Red Moon Cathedral really didn’t care about that kind of thing. Rather, he was anxious because of the demands the cathedral had made. They told him to go back and prepare another 500,000 offerings. That wasn’t going to be easy, but Duanmu Zang didn’t intend to tell Xu Qing about the situation. As far as he was concerned, Xu Qing had already done enough. Duanmu Zang needed to handle his own issues.

Xu Qing looked at Duanmu Zang.

Duanmu Zang smiled. Given everything he had experienced, and of course his age, he was a shrewd person, and not the type Xu Qing could easily read. That was especially true when he was intentionally hiding things.

“What, don’t believe me?” Duanmu Zang said with a chuckle. “Oh, you! You’re too suspicious. I just figured I would wait until you’d teleported away before I headed back.”

Xu Qing really hadn’t picked up on any clues that something else was going on. He nodded. When evening fell, he stood and said farewell to Duanmu Zang.

“If you have free time, remember to come back and visit us,” Duanmu Zang said, looking a bit sad.

“Definitely!” Xu Qing whispered.

“Most definitely!” Ling’er said from within his sleeve.

Duanmu Zang gave a nod in response.

Xu Qing turned and headed toward the short wooden door. Once he arrived, he took out the heavenfire crystals.

The face inhaled, sucking the crystals in. Then the door glittered with the light of teleportation as a vortex appeared. Xu Qing took a deep breath and prepared to step in.

Just before he did, someone spoke from behind him in a low voice, almost a growl.

“Shut the door.”

Xu Qing’s face fell. He wanted to simply jump into the vortex, but before he could, the door closed, and the teleportation fluctuations ceased. Scowling, he looked over his shoulder to see who was approaching from behind. His pupils constricted.

It was a woman wearing red, emanating Spirit Trove fluctuations. No one in the area seemed to register her presence, as if they didn’t notice her. Not even Duanmu Zang reacted. It was as if their perceptions had been altered. But Xu Qing’s had not.

Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed. “Well met, Senior.”

He recognized this person as the godservant he had thrown into that coffin at the bottom of the Heavenfire Sea. When a dead person suddenly showed up like this, it made it easy to theorize about who they really were. That was especially true considering that no one in the area seemed to notice what was happening. That lent even more certainty as to their identity.

It was easy to explain why the people in the church temple above, even the godherald, hadn’t noticed anything unusual happening.

The entity from that coffin could alter one’s perceptions. With that ability, it was no wonder the godherald was fooled. And then that entity had used some unknown method to create a clone. Everything made sense. This was not the woman he had fought. It was the entity from the coffin.

With those thoughts on his mind, Xu Qing made sure to keep a very respectful expression on his face.

The entity smiled enigmatically. Then, as Xu Qing felt pressure mounting, he approached and stopped right in front of him. Seeing Xu Qing’s attitude caused the entity to smile. It was no surprise at all that Xu Qing had recognized this form he was wearing.

“You’re always so polite, boy. It makes it hard to have any malicious thoughts.”

“Senior,” Xu Qing replied solemnly, “you’re clearly majestic and noble. I’m only behaving in kind. That’s how my Master taught me to act.”

“You’re bringing up your Master again?” the entity asked, smiling profoundly.

Xu Qing’s expression flickered, and he bowed again. “Since you don’t like me bringing it up, Senior, I won’t bring it up again.”

The entity looked Xu Qing up and down before shaking his head and smiling. “I know you have an extraordinary background. Your Master is probably some almighty individual. However, we’re in the Moonrite Region right now.”

He looked up into the sky.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything.

A moment later, the entity spoke again. “Boy, do you remember the agreement we made at the bottom of the Heavenfire Sea?”

“I remember!” Xu Qing said, nodding seriously.

“In that case, I want you to come with me to the frozen north of the Moonrite Region. My older sister is being suppressed there. And I have a little brother who’s interred beneath a glacier.”

The entity’s voice seemed to contain reminiscence and melancholy.

Xu Qing hesitated. For one thing, he had no way to tell if what this person was saying was true. And regardless, if he went north, he knew without a doubt that things would get even more dangerous than they already were. Given his level of strength, getting involved in things like this could be very risky. And if the reward was just heavenfate, then it didn’t seem worth it.

Xu Qing didn’t hide his hesitancy. Instead he let it show on his face. He was confident that whatever almighty entity he was dealing with, they would surely understand what that expression meant. It was one of the ways the weak could make demands of the strong. Although he wasn’t sure what would result, he needed to try.

“Did your Master teach you that too?” the entity asked coolly, his voice calm but imposing, and his facial expression similar. In his memories, he remembered that speaking in this way, and using this facial expression, would usually leave people trembling and ready to agree to anything he demanded.

Xu Qing looked embarrassed, which actually served to relax the atmosphere.

Seeing that, the entity’s eyes glittered with a strange light. After some thought, he said, “This is a business transaction, and I want you to do exactly as I ask. You can benefit in three ways.

“One. You can get some heavenfate.

“Two. The humans by Heavenfire Sea will receive an official decree from the cathedral exempting them from the need to provide further offerings. What’s more, the decree will keep them safe all the way until the next call for offerings.

“Three. After you’ve followed all of my instructions, you’ll receive a mysterious gift.

“Now, what’s your decision?”

Xu Qing turned to look at Duanmu Zang.

Duanmu Zang was actually walking off into the distance. As far as he knew, Xu Qing was already gone. He looked bleak and lonely. Clearly, the anxiety he had been hiding from Xu Qing was growing.

“I agree,” Xu Qing said quietly, looking back at the entity in red. Saying no would have been dangerous. Besides, the possible risks and rewards seemed balanced.

The entity smiled. He liked polite, intelligent people, and therefore, was very pleased with Xu Qing. When people cooperated, it made it possible for him to avoid killing.

“I’ve always kept my word, boy. So don’t worry. Now, come with me.” With that, the entity floated up into the air, going in the direction of the heart.

Xu Qing took a deep breath and followed.

The entity stopped in front of the church temple. When Xu Qing landed in the same spot, he looked at the statue of Crimson Mother. The statue struck fear into his heart.

“Your Master has some skills. After all, he managed to find a High God for Crimson Mother to devour, thus putting her in a deep sleep.” The entity looked at him with a mysterious and knowing smile.

Xu Qing blinked a few times and chose not to respond. He looked at the church temple, and could see through the open door that all the people inside were as unmoving as statues.

“They tasted good,” the entity said, licking his lips. “Rest up. The act needs to be fully played out. In three days, when the sacrificial offerings are over, we’ll leave.”

Hearing that, Xu Qing sat down and looked at the bleak Duanmu Zang off in the distance.

The entity waved a hand, and a streak of red light shot out of the cathedral. It turned into a command medallion that headed toward Duanmu Zang.

***

Down below, the increasingly anxious Duanmu Zang looked surprised as he reached up and caught the command medallion. He could sense the aura of protection in it, and when he realized it negated the orders to bring more offerings, he spun to look in the direction of the church temple. He saw nothing. Eventually, he looked back and continued on his way.

Was it him? Just who exactly is he?

***

Xu Qing looked at Duanmu Zang leaving the area, and wished him well. “Please... stay safe.”

1. The author goes back and forth between male and female pronouns for this being, and continues to call her ‘woman’ even after it’s evident she’s actually a man. As was made clear in the title of chapter 561, the entity in the coffin was male. To avoid confusion, I’m going to standardize the pronoun to male and call him an ‘entity’ for a short time until we learn more about who he is. The author only uses the female pronoun a few times, and like I said, switches back and forth for a time. If this was a case of the author intentionally hiding the gender of the character, I would shape the translation to mimic that. However, we knew literally from the beginning that the character is male, so in order to avoid confusion, I’m going to make the translation clear and understandable. ?