Beyond the Timescape [Wuxiaworld]

The imperial edict had to do with the emissaries from the Whitemarshes and Saias. Simply put, things weren’t going smoothly with the peace treaty. In fact, on a few occasions, it seemed like war might break out again. Although that couldn’t actually happen, the two species were being surly and unreasonable, and were making a lot of ridiculous demands. If the deadlock continued, it would overlap with the ancestral sacrifices, and that would mar the event.

Therefore... someone at court suggested that Xu Qing be sent to resolve the situation. A consensus was reached among the officials, and the result was an imperial edict.

Although Xu Qing was in seclusion doing research, he couldn’t refuse to comply with an imperial edict. That was especially true considering that he was uniquely qualified to resolve the situation. After considering the matter, he left the Xeno-Immortal School, emerged from the Imperial University, and headed in the direction of the Foreign Affairs Pavilion, which was where the negotiations were taking place.

He set a comfortable pace, and as he walked, took time to consider the gains he had made in the last month. He had already thoroughly studied all of the legacies and ancient records of the Xeno-Immortal School. He had found some diagrams that depicted godly transformations. He had also come across plenty of information about his predecessors’ experiences and aspirations regarding the school of thought. All those things were like nutrients that he had soaked up.

Gradually, a vague idea had begun to form in his mind, little more than an outline. That outline related to a way to create the perfect technique for himself while using Xeno-Immortal methods in Void Returning. That act of creation was going to be very difficult, especially considering that it would contain so many thoughts and concepts from the Xeno-Immortal School. In fact, all of those things would make the level of difficulty even higher.

That said, Xu Qing wasn’t in a hurry. At least he had a direction to pursue.

It needs to be perfect. I have to do more tests before I can make a final decision....

As he considered the matter and walked along, he occasionally lifted his hands and made calculations based on his thought process. As he did, something gruish began to happen.

His entire person would occasionally blur, occasionally become clear, and occasionally superimpose over itself. Sometimes he would disappear altogether, only to reappear shortly after.

What was more, the extremely profound and mysterious aspect of him that the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster had noticed started growing more prominent. In addition, threads of magical laws would form in the air around him and circle around him.

That said, he didn’t try to take hold of any of them. He just sensed them and observed them. Time passed as he slowly proceeded on his way.

***

Intense negotiations had been going on in the Foreign Affairs Pavilion for more than a month.

Inside the pavilion, the humans sat on the left side, with Grand Prince in the lead position. He was ultimately responsible for signing the agreements and negotiating the terms. He was being assisted by personnel from the Foreign Affairs Division. There was even a heavenly king present to supervise.

That heavenly king happened to be a woman. She was the very same King Wildmist that was rumored to have an intimate relationship with Sixth Prince. King Wildmist sat there with her eyes closed, looking very calm. But everyone else had grim expressions on their faces, and some even looked angry as they stared at the nonhuman cultivators across from them.

On the right side of the pavilion were the Whitemarshes and the Saias. There were a few dozen of them in total. All had cold, arrogant expressions on their faces. Though none of them said anything antagonistic, they pulsed with killing intent and desolate auras.

Each species had one representative who emanated a particularly amazing aura. Those two were the heavenly kings who had come with their respective species. They were Smoldering Gods, but none had a large collection of worlds. More along the lines of one or two. Both of them were looking derisively at King Wildmist. The representatives who had been chosen to speak for their species were all sharp-tongued. Thanks to them, there hadn’t been any progress with the treaty, and in fact, they just kept making increasingly aggressive demands.

“There’s no need to even discuss that. We Whitemarshes are never going to return the territories we captured!”

“Captives? We Saias will only return one of your captives for each that you return to us. However many are left over, we’ll sell them back to you at a price we deem fit. How could you high and mighty humans be so stingy when it comes to buying your own people back?”

“You know, we’re entering into this thousand-year treaty all to deepen the friendship between our species. Therefore, when it comes to the interchange of secret magics, it’s only natural that we demand to exchange them one-for-one!”

All of the demands caused the humans to look very grim. Grand Prince took a few breaths, then responded to them as if he were a Firemoon. Eyes flashing like lightning, he said, “If your two species do not return every square meter of the territories you captured, we humans will be happy to deliver a Dawning Sun to your doorstep. Want to test us out? We’re happy to play things out all the way to the end!

“As for buying back the captives, you have ridiculous prices, and yet... we can agree to that!

“However, when it comes to the exchange of secret magics, we humans have a very long history. We once ruled all of Revered Ancient! Do you really think that we would just exchange our secret magics one-for-one with some random subsidiary species of the Firemoon Darkheavens? Don’t make me laugh! The exchange rate will be thirty-for-one!”

When the Whitemarsh and Saia emissaries heard Grand Prince’s response, they bristled with anger, and their eyes shone with cold light. As far as they were concerned, it was already a big favor for them to simply stop the war. And in the end, they weren’t really happy about that. It was only because of their respect for the Firemoons that they had agreed.

Given their attitude, it was no wonder the negotiations were going poorly, and their arrogant attitude was really to be expected. In fact, as far as they could tell, if it hadn’t been for the Firemoons stopping them, the war would have continued, and though they might not have completely devoured humankind, all it would have taken was a few more subsidiary species to join as allies, and they would definitely have inflicted a brutal defeat on the humans. That was why the two nonhuman heavenly kings present had eyes full of killing intent.

At the same time, King Wildmist wasn’t backing down an inch. She was a woman, but she had a very violent personality. In fact, she was more bloodthirsty than most men. Especially noteworthy was the fact that when she led troops into battle against nonhumans, she never came back with prisoners. That was because whatever enemy troops she captured were summarily executed.

In order to achieve victory, she had massacred entire cities of nonhumans, and wouldn’t even hesitate to sacrifice her own troops. In fact, she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself if that was the price that needed to be paid. Because of that, when nonhumans heard the name of King Wildmist, they thought of madness and blood.

“Let’s cut the crap,” King Wildmist said. “We’ve been torturing ourselves for a month here. I don’t have that kind of time on my hands. Go ahead and send out the orders to start the war up again. I didn’t get my fill of slaughter during the fighting.”

Her hoarse voice seemed to fill the entire hall with blood and death. The heavenly kings from the Whitemarshes and Saias surged with battle spirit as they rose to their feet.

Seeing that things had devolved to this point yet again caused Grand Prince’s head to ache. It had already happened five times during the past month. Over and over again, things seemed like they would explode. Grand Prince knew that resuming the war wasn’t an option, but he was still worried about the remote possibility of it somehow happening. After all, no one could be 100% certain of how things would turn out.

That was especially true considering that the supervisor from the Firemoons hadn’t shown his face other than on the first day. If he came to the negotiations, things wouldn’t end up like this. He represented the Firemoon Darkheavens, and the ceasefire orders had come from all three of the Firemoon stewards.

Could it be that Fan Shishuang is actually hiding from Xu Qing? Grand Prince wasn’t sure of all the details, but he was starting to get suspicious about Fan Shishuang’s actions. As both sides seemed about to explode, Grand Prince could only steel himself and prepare to launch into the same conciliatory speech that he had used in the past.

But right then… a calm voice drifted in from outside the Foreign Affairs Pavilion.

“What’s this racket about?”

The voice caused the humans’ expressions to brighten. Grand Prince shot to his feet and hurried outside as quickly as if he had been going to receive the emperor.

The Whitemarsh and Saia cultivators reacted in the opposite manner. Their faces all fell. The two heavenly kings jumped up and hurried toward the door, their hearts pounding.

Everyone watched as a figure entered wearing a green jerkin, with long hair flowing down his back. He had extremely beautiful facial features, making him look like a wandering immortal. As the evening sun shone down, creating a halo around him, he looked calm and tranquil. He was none other than Xu Qing.

Grand Prince hurried up to him and bowed in the manner of a student offering respect to someone in the elder generation. “Greetings, Imperial Tutor.”

The other human cultivators all bowed.

“Greetings, King Skycrusher,” King Wildmist said, reigning in her killing intent. Keeping her face completely expressionless, she nodded in Xu Qing’s direction.

Xu Qing nodded in response, then looked around the hall. His gaze eventually reached the nonhumans on the right side.

The Whitemarsh and Saia cultivators said nothing for a few breaths of time. Then, as Xu Qing’s gaze turned colder and colder, they stepped out from behind their tables and knelt to bow. It didn’t matter the level of cultivation base involved. Even the heavenly kings bowed! Though they balked internally, there was no level of irritation or resistance that could prevent them from bowing. That was because this was the Grand Darkheaven!

“Greetings, Grand Darkheaven!”

Subsidiary species were required to bow in the presence of the Grand Darkheaven! Even the two heavenly kings had to comply. As long as they cared about their species, they had to respect the Firemoon Darkheavens, and follow their rules. Breaking the rules was grounds for execution.

When the humans saw this happening, they were struck to the core with shock. Although they knew how impressive the Grand Darkheaven was, to see it play out in person was completely different. As of this moment, how could they not be astonished by Xu Qing?

Even King Wildmist was moved, and looked at him with shining eyes.

Xu Qing looked over the cultivators from the Firemoon subsidiary species, and then focused on one in particular.

“Where’s Fan Shishuang?” he asked. Thanks to the imperial edict, he was well aware of who the Firemoons had sent to represent them.

“Grand Darkheaven, I believe King Fan is... in seclusion.” The Whitemarsh that Xu Qing had fixed his gaze on was currently trembling inwardly. He had personally witnessed the battle between Xu Qing and Sir Firedark, and thus knew exactly how terrifying Xu Qing was.

Declining to comment any further on the situation, Xu Qing walked over to the human side of the hall and sat down in the corner.

“Carry on,” he said.

With that, Xu Qing closed his eyes and focused on how to create something new with his understanding of Xeno-Immortal School methods. It almost looked as if he wasn’t interested at all in the negotiations. But of course, his mere presence made his true attitude very clear.

Deathblade's Thoughts

Many thanks to Franco2 and Alelix for the reviews.