Beyond the Timescape [Wuxiaworld]

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. As far as Feng Lintao and Lan Yao were concerned, the oriole was none other than the young woman named Yue Dong.[1]

In the massive ravine in Fardark County, mists swirled, and rumbling sounds echoed out constantly. Howls pierced through the mist, some of them shrill and anguished, some of them cruel and fierce.

Shortly thereafter, a number of loud thumping sounds could be heard, like objects landing on the ground. Then a storm wind swept through the ravine. As the wind blew, the mists in the ravine were dispersed, almost as if a huge hand were waving them away. As a result, the bottom of the ravine was revealed! Sprawling ruins were visible.

The ruins were all that remained of once ancient and utilitarian buildings. There were towers, streets, houses, and all sorts of other buildings visible everywhere. Put precisely, this place had once been a small city. It was easy to imagine how many people had once lived here. Now the buildings had mostly crumbled into rubble. Few were intact. What was more, the effects of mutagen were clear to see everywhere.

That said, there wasn’t a single ancient corpse visible. Instead, there were the blood-soaked bodies of strange, two-headed birds laying around here and there. A few of them weren’t dead yet, and were howling in anguish as they struggled weakly to rise. A figure dropped down from the mists above, landing right on top of one of the struggling birds. As a result, the bird exploded into a cloud of gore.

That person was none other than Feng Lintao.

Two additional figures dropped down after him. They were Lan Yao and Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked around at the ruins, his expression the same as ever, but his heart full of vigilance. After taking in his surroundings, he focused on the Captain, who was still in Feng Lintao’s grip. The Captain was still unconscious.

Xu Qing looked away at the bird corpses.

At first, their descent had gone smoothly, at least until they were ambushed by strange beings that seemed to be part of the surrounding mists. It was as if they were able to slip back and forth between illusory and corporeal.

It was a given that Xu Qing didn’t make an all-out effort to fight them. But Feng Lintao seemed to be anxious, and immediately took out his five-colored fan. A single swipe of that fan forced the majority of the ambushers into the open, and killed many of them. Then Lan Yao took action. With Xu Qing assisting, they killed over a hundred. Of course, the ambushers were the strange birds.

Looking around somberly, Feng Lintao said, “This world really is a dirty and dangerous place. Even ordinary sparrows ended up infected by the aura of the gods, and mutating into this form. Fellow Daoist Lan, going forward, we’ll encounter more creatures like this. If you keep holding back like you did just now, I’m afraid this journey is going to take far too long. And eventually... something very unfortunate could happen.”

Feng Lintao looked at Xu Qing. “What’s more, Fellow Daoist Firedark, if I take point and end up running into anything really difficult to deal with, it will be hard to avoid using your Eldest Brother as a shield.”

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly as he looked back at Feng Lintao and said, “I’m more than willing to continue our previous fight to the death, even here!”

Feng Lintao’s eyes narrowed as a frigid will pulsed on him, spreading out in all directions. His grip on the Captain’s neck tightened. The Captain’s legs twitched, and an expression of pain appeared on his face.

Xu Qing’s expression turned grimmer.

Noting the hostility, Lan Yao laughed softly and stepped between them. “Alright, alright. Fellow Daoist Firedark, it’s true that you didn’t expend much effort earlier. You can’t blame Fellow Daoist Feng for being a bit displeased about that.

“That said, Fellow Daoist Feng, considering we’re working together, there’s no reason to be so overbearing. How about this: if we run into any tricky situations going forward, we can all act in unison. But if something less challenging occurs, we can take turns handling matters.”

Feng Lintao snorted coldly, then started moving forward at top speed. As he did, he eased his grip on the Captain, causing the Captain’s legs to stop twitching.

Xu Qing watched him go, not saying a word.

Lan Yao looked over at him. “Let’s go, Fellow Daoist Firedark.”

Xu Qing knew full well that the two of them would never allow him to bring up the rear. Maintaining silence, he started moving. And thus, the three of them sped through the ruined city, with Feng Lintao taking the lead. They kept a good distance between each other, with Lan Yao staying a few hundred meters behind Xu Qing, and Feng Lintao staying a few thousand meters ahead of him.

As they went along, Xu Qing got a much clearer picture of the ruins. For instance, he soon realized that there were masses of tree roots in the spots between most of the buildings. There were many, many roots, although most of them were broken. On the edges of the city, many of the roots had grown into the rocks that made up the ravine’s walls. Apparently, this city had been built within the tree roots.

In his mind’s eye, Xu Qing could visualize the mighty tree that must have grown out of this ravine. It had surely been something that could prop up the sky, or perhaps, had spread out to make a sky of its own. The roots filled the ground below.

As for the city, long ago, it must have existed in what was then a huge cave. Then one day a very powerful person came along who hewed out a huge channel, creating the ravine and revealing the cave.

In that case, was the tree... taken away by the Fardark species? Or did it just disappear into time? There are still roots here, which seems to indicate the tree didn’t just disappear. There aren’t any traces of the tree on the outside, though. I guess the most likely possibility is that they did take it away. And those responsible... were either the Fardarks or some other species that came along later.

It was only natural that Xu Qing didn’t immediately believe Feng Lintao’s story about what happened in the past. When dealing with the unknown, Xu Qing preferred to believe in his own powers of observation and judgment. The only exception would be if the person giving the information was someone he truly trusted.

Xu Qing kept his thoughts to himself as he studied the surrounding ruins. The style of the buildings was reminiscent of human architecture, although there were some differences in the details. That was understandable. Back in the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, humans were the top species in Revered Ancient, and nonhuman species tended to imitate their aesthetics.

Xu Qing kept studying his surroundings as they got closer and closer to the city center. At one point, a loud boom echoed out up ahead from Feng Lintao’s position. At the same time, a shockwave rippled through the ravine.

Xu Qing’s gaze hardened as he flew up to a higher position in the hopes of seeing what was happening. Lan Yao did the same. From that height, everything ahead was clearly visible. Xu Qing could see that, in the very center of the ruins, a vicious face had appeared on the ground. Being on the ground, the face had been concealed, which was why they hadn’t noticed it. But after Feng Lintao flew over it, the face appeared. Now, a huge, rotten tongue stretched out of its mouth and was attacking Feng Lintao.

Feng Lintao had already grabbed the tongue. As his Smoldering God cultivation base power surged, he blurred, turning into a five-colored peacock that snorted coldly and attacked the face.

The peacock smashed into the face, which was obviously some extraordinary and freakish beast. However, the beast was weak, and collapsed into pieces as soon as Feng Lintao attacked it. After it was destroyed in body and soul, the only thing left behind was a huge pit.

Feng Lintao reverted from the five-colored peacock form into his ordinary self. Standing at the edge of the pit, he looked back at Xu Qing and Lan Yao.

“Now it’s your turn,” he said coolly.

Lan Yao smiled and flew into the pit.

Feng Lintao didn’t move a muscle. He looked coldly at Xu Qing. Xu Qing said nothing as he flew into the pit. Seeing that, Feng Lintao also stepped forward and entered.

The pit was extremely cold inside. There were crystals embedded in the walls, and the deeper they got, the colder and darker it became. Of course, the three of them were all extraordinary cultivators, so they could see clearly despite the dark surroundings.

Things went much more smoothly than before. Enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, and they didn’t encounter any dangerous situations. However, the pit was truly deep. Despite moving down at a high rate of speed, they didn’t reach the bottom.

Unfortunately, things only went smoothly for a short time. Before the second incense stick’s worth of time had passed by half, the area in front of Lan Yao suddenly erupted with flower petals. The flower petals seemed weak, but they contained terrifying might. As they spread, rumbling sounds echoed out, and a snake-like creature whizzed out into the open near Lan Yao.

It had been hiding in the hopes of ambushing her, but she somehow detected it and used her flower petals to force it out into the open. Its appearance was shocking and ghastly. It wasn’t actually a snake. Instead, it was something that resembled a long, wriggling intestine. It immediately tried to flee, but before it could, Lan Yao snorted coldly. The flower petals then converged, turning into a seven-colored peacock!

The peacock had a horn, and it was pure white! If you added the color white, then this peacock was actually made of eight colors! Whether its aura or the purity of its bloodline, it was superior to Feng Lintao’s peacock by many times over.

After forming, it shot toward the intestine.

Xu Qing didn’t offer any help. Instead, he felt the urge to look at Feng Lintao. As he did, he noticed a look of avarice flickering in Feng Lintao’s eyes as he gazed upon the peacock.

When Xu Qing looked at him, Feng Lintao looked back at him and his expression darkened.

Xu Qing didn’t react, and ultimately looked away. Meanwhile, the eight-colored peacock shone with bright light as it closed in on the strange intestine, ripped it to shreds, then returned to Lan Yao.

Lan Yao turned and looked at Xu Qing and Feng Lintao with an enigmatic smile. Eventually, her gaze focused solely on Xu Qing.

“And now, it’s your turn.”

1. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the mantis/cicada/oriole idiom. But do you know its origin? It comes from the Zhuangzi, one of the most important classic texts of Daoism. Wikipedia link here with more information about the Zhuangzi. ☜

Deathblade's Thoughts

We are getting close to the point when ‘the Captain’ will change to ‘Erniu.’ As I mentioned, the author created a more of a gradual transition that never comes with an explanation. I’m going to make more of a quick transition that comes with an (edited) in-narrative reason for the change. It will come soon(ish).