Beyond the Timescape [Wuxiaworld]

“Say what now?” Erniu said, looking completely taken aback. He really could never have guessed that Xu Qing would yell out to him and then say something like that. However, Erniu was someone who had definitely been around the block, so he recovered quickly. Eyes gleaming, he hurried over to Xu Qing’s side. “I need details, little Ah Qing. Are you planning something big? Aiyaaaa. How come I feel like I’m more excited about this than you?”

Apparently Erniu had already forgotten all about their Master.

Xu Qing didn’t like Erniu staring at him that way, but he maintained the same facial expression as before. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Erniu chuckled darkly, then quickly pulled out a collection of roughly a dozen boxes. He offered them all to Xu Qing. “These are very high-quality hairpins. For the most part, they’re all unused. To this day I’m not sure why Big Spritey was so obsessed with things like this. All of them are crafted from exquisite materials, and I’d originally been planning to give them away as gifts. But you can take them. Take them all!”

Erniu’s face glowed with excitement as he looked over Xu Qing’s shoulder at the entrance of his mansion.

Xu Qing felt a headache coming on as he took the hairpins. “Eldest Brother, do you think it’s possible Master will just leave after hearing we’re back? Maybe he’s going to abscond with all of that Father God flesh.”

Erniu smiled enigmatically. “That won’t work on me, little Ah Qing. Come on, you can’t be so obvious! Talking like that won’t do a thing to me. After all, our Master has true vision!”

Despite his words, Erniu actually felt his stomach rumbling.

Xu Qing blinked a couple times, then added, “Well, the Creation Mansion has a lot of nice things that they can use to make that Grand Zodiacist Armor. I’m sure many of the materials will be priceless, although I doubt you’ll be able to tell that just by looking at the final product. And even if you can tell, it’ll be hard to reproduce. After all, I doubt the emperor will be giving out any more rewards.

“If I were you, Eldest Brother, I would keep a close eye on the whole process. This is the first time you’re getting a custom-made suit of armor. Obviously the materials are going to be very important.”

Xu Qing rarely spoke so much at one time.

In fact, it was a shock to Erniu. He actually hadn’t thought of things in that way, and now that it had been proposed, he started to get a bit nervous.

Suddenly, light flickered around Xu Qing as his Grand Darkheaven Armor appeared. “You can take this armor with you, Eldest Brother. Use it as a point of comparison. And make sure that the Creation Mansion doesn’t slack off in any way.”

Erniu looked at the amazing Grand Darkheaven Armor, and then thought about his dream. Finally, he looked back at Xu Qing.

“You little punk,” he said. “Ah, whatever.”

Erniu could tell that Xu Qing wasn’t inclined to go with him. At the same time, he had to admit that what Xu Qing said made sense. So he took the Grand Darkheaven Armor, suppressed his doubts, and sped off.[1]

After confirming that Erniu was really leaving, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Looking away, he turned to his mansion. After a moment passed, he pushed the large red door open. Spirit energy billowed out, causing his hair to stir. He could immediately sense how strong the spirit energy was. He stepped inside.

The moment he was inside, he activated the spell formation from the inside, cutting himself off from anyone on the outside.

***

As the spell formation fluctuations rolled out, a wriggling blue worm appeared in midair.

Little Ah Qing is being such a stickler!

The worm wriggled helplessly. It could sense a faint connection to its clone in Xu Qing’s bag of holding, but the spell formation barrier was too strong for anything else. Sighing, the worm had no choice but to leave.

***

Outside of Ningyan’s official residence, a figure in a plum-colored garment carried a white oilskin umbrella out onto the street, then began walking slowly in the direction of Xu Qing’s greater spirit mansion. She was graceful and attractive, and had clearly spent a lot of time on her makeup.... That said, her cheeks were flush, and her expression was a strange mix between nervousness and anticipation.

The rain fell harder. An incense stick of time passed.

***

As was his custom, Xu Qing inspected the entire greater spirit mansion to make sure it was safe. After the place was secure he went to the spirit pool and began to think back to everything that happened in Firemoon territory.

It started with moving mountains. Then there was the Mountain and Sea Region, and after that the god domain. Finally, on the way back, he ran into three cultivators from the holy lands. The resulting dog-eat-dog twists and turns had left him feeling exhausted to the core. Now that things had calmed down, he could take advantage of the quiet in his mansion to sit next to the water, enjoy the spirit energy, and allow the warmth emanating from the pool to sink into him.

“I really need to get some rest,” he murmured. “But I also need to visit the Xeno-Immortal School. It’s time to study the legacy jade slips there again.”

After confirming the path he was to follow, he realized that the Xeno-Immortal School had become the foundational element of his cultivation. Therefore he needed to spend some more time seeking enlightenment about it.

Only by completely and thoroughly absorbing the legacy of the Xeno-Immortal School could he use that information to push out the old and bring in the new.

The Xeno-Immortal School is just the beginning of the path. No one has walked that path to completion, so there are no techniques there to master. There are only concepts.... After coming to a complete understanding of everything, I’ll have to create something new.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered brightly. Truth be told, that was how the path of cultivation usually worked. To a certain extent, the techniques created by people in the past couldn’t be too heaven-defying, otherwise they wouldn’t have survived through time.

If you wanted to go past a certain point, you had to do it on your own. If your cultivation base was too low, such acts of creation would require the help of others. A good example was how Master Seventh helped Xu Qing create his techniques.

Now that Xu Qing had stepped into Void Returning, then at least on a theoretical level, he qualified to create his own techniques. That said, the difficulty level would be high. After all, creating techniques required both destined opportunities and enlightenment.

Thankfully, I have the holy fardark nectar!

Xu Qing made a grasping gesture, and a small white bottle came to appear over his palm. The holy fardark nectar was apparently an extremely rare and precious material. If it weren’t, there wouldn’t have been three holy lands cultivators vying over it. It was particularly helpful and effective when seeking enlightenment.

When Xu Qing thought back to the events in that cave, he remembered that the mere smell of the nectar had caused his more than 100 void lineaments to stir.

Might as well see how it works.

He opened the bottle, and a fragrant aroma wafted out, filling the mansion. The water in the pool in front of him began to bubble.

Moved, Xu Qing thought about it for a moment, then put a drop of it into the pool.

When the drop fell into the water, it seethed. A dense mist spread out, causing the spirit levels in the pool to rise dramatically. Although the aroma grew slightly less strong as a result, it still filled the entire area.

After some more thought, Xu Qing shed his clothing, revealing his muscular body. After stepping into the pool, he settled into a cross-legged position.

Boundless spirit energy poured from the pool into Xu Qing. Within it was the drop of holy fardark nectar. Though it was diluted, some became part of the spirit water, and some became part of the spirit energy. As a result, he was able to absorb it. A comfortable sensation spread through his body and soul. He relaxed, slowly, until eventually all of his sensations became blank.

Time passed. Two hours later, he slowly opened his eyes. He looked dazed at first, but his eyes quickly became clear. Checking his void soil, he saw that the void lineaments there seemed a bit clearer than before.

Although I didn’t gain anything specific, that feeling from just now....

Thinking about the sensation of emptiness, he cleared his mind and prepared to go back to seeking enlightenment. But then his expression flickered, and he sent his divine will into the mansion’s spell formation. In that manner, he caught sight of a beautiful woman approaching.

She had an oilskin umbrella in one hand, but that didn’t obscure her elegant good looks. Given the water on the ground, it was as if each step she took caused lotuses to bloom. In short, she was lithe and elegant as she reached the entrance of the mansion. Her graceful bearing and charm were enough to entrance anyone who saw her.

When Xu Qing scanned her with divine will, she lifted the umbrella slightly, revealing a scintillating smile.

“Why haven’t you opened the door yet?” she asked in a soft voice.

Xu Qing’s heart started to race. Getting out of the water, he quickly put some clothes on. Unsure of exactly what emotions he was experiencing, he finally waved his hand.

The door cracked open.

A graceful hand pushed it fully open. Then she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The spell formation activated again.

***

A blue worm appeared out of nowhere in midair. Erniu hadn’t left after all...

“This is completely outrageous!” Erniu grumbled begrudgingly.

***

Xu Qing couldn’t hear him. He was focused on the beautiful woman in the plum colored gown who had appeared in front of him. He was already so nervous he felt like he couldn’t move.

“Well met, Arch-Immortal Plumdark,” he said in a somewhat hoarse voice.

She stood in front of the spirit pool, looking almost like she existed in a painting. Her charming eyes and beautiful smile were things no one could forget once they saw them. She looked at Xu Qing, then at the spirit pool. Her phoenix-like eyes glittered strangely for a moment, then went back to normal.

Smiling, she asked, “How come laying eyes on me makes you act so unnatural? Don’t tell me that in the years Heavenly King Xu spent apart from me among the Firemoon Darkheavens, he encountered other, more beautiful and entrancing scenery on his path of life?”

As she spoke, she reached the edge of the water. After taking off her shoes, she sat down at the edge and slipped her feet into the spirit water. When she swished her feet back and forth gently, ripples spread out over the surface of the pond.

Xu Qing wasn’t sure what to say, so he said nothing. After all, he was normally quiet to begin with, let alone in a situation like this. Finally, he waved his right hand to produce a dozen boxes that he put down in front of her.

Plumdark smiled mysteriously. The wave of her hand caused all the boxes to open, revealing the hairpins within....

Xu Qing had given her the entire set of hairpins from Erniu.

Even Plumdark was surprised by the sight. “So many! And they’re all for me?”

Xu Qing nodded.

She blinked a few times, looking at him with soft, cherry-red lips that fluttered ever so slightly, making her seem even more flirtatious than before. “Who gives so many hairpins as a gift?”

Xu Qing wasn’t sure how to answer, so he didn’t.

She laughed softly as she collected up the hairpins. Leaving one out in the open, she looked back at Xu Qing. “Xu Qing, you dummy. Aren’t you going to ask why I came here?”

Xu Qing felt like he was shaking as he instinctively said, “Arch... Arch-Immortal Plumdark, why did you come here?”

“To take a bath,” she answered softly.

As the mist built up, it became harder and harder to see Plumdark, until only her flushed cheeks were visible.

1. This is what I was referring to earlier, although even in this chapter it's not totally clear. The two types of armor are supposed to be similar in that they are armor named after a specific person and their title. The Grand Darkheaven Armor is for the Grand Darkheaven, while the Grand Zodiacist Armor is for the Grand Zodiacist. ☜