Beyond the Timescape
Chapter 1144: A Treasure in South Heaven

Chapter 1144: A Treasure in South Heaven

Upon realizing the imp had gone back to its insolent way of talking, Xu Qing clenched his hand into a fist. A loud crunching sound rang out. The jade slip shattered.

Xu Qing sat down cross-legged in the dao sermon area and waited patiently. Eventually, he felt a familiar sensation in the palm of his hand as the jade slip yet again formed anew.

Xu Qing paid close attention to the process. It started out as a dot in the middle of his hand. Then more dots appeared until they formed a thread. The thread rippled and distorted, grew larger, and eventually created a flat surface that resembled the jade slip as it had looked in the second world. It seemed to be absorbing something marvelous from the world around it, as it eventually gained true height. And then... it became a real jade slip.

Xu Qing paid very close attention the entire time. Truth be told, this wasn’t the first time he had studied it as it formed. He had done the same thing on the previous occasions. After multiple inspections, he felt that he had a basic understanding of what was going on.

The jade slip is an object that starts out as nothing but turns into something. For it to come from the second world into this place, it obviously needs space-time canon. But this use of space-time canon differs from how I use it. It almost seems like... the power of imagination?

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment. His space-time state relied on the five elements as the foundation. By making the five elements part of space and time, I can form space-time on a macroscopic level. But Immortal Lord Aurora is taking the substructure of something from a lower-level world on a microscopic level.

Even as he pondered such things, the imp spoke from the newly-reformed jade slip, sounding flustered and exasperated.

“That was going too far! Can’t you even let me finish talking?? It’s not like I said ‘I’m definitely not telling you!’ Can’t you at least give me some face here, huh? I mean, aren’t you ashamed to act like this? I did help you get out of the second world, didn’t I?? You heartless thug!”

Xu Qing listened carefully to everything the imp said, and had to admit it made sense. Therefore, he put the jade slip down, took a few steps back, straightened his robe, and then clasped hands with great respect and bowed deeply.

The imp was once again stunned.

After bowing, Xu Qing picked up the jade slip firmly in his hand and said, “Please tell me!”

The imp seemed to be at a loss for words. He could sense that Xu Qing was holding the jade slip with enough force that it wouldn’t take much for him to crush it.

Why does it seem like he’s even calmer than before he bowed to me...?

The imp was starting to realize that it was very, very difficult to figure out what this person was thinking or what he would do.

This guy doesn’t care at all about face! He’ll beg left and right. He’ll even give me face by bowing.... He’s obviously got his own way of thinking.... He can bow in respect, then kill with complete calmness. And all the while he’s thinking very clearly. How do you even deal with a person like this, especially when he seems to be taking things so seriously? Agggghhhhhh! This is so annoying!

The imp was feeling a bit angry, but was scared of being crushed again, so he snapped, “You can just die, die, DIE!”

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m not talking about you!” the imp hastily explained. “I’m talking about those whoresons who broke into my house. Check it out: for years those whoresons have greedily burglarized me! They’ve stolen almost all of my stuff.... They even take away the flowers and plants! Even the floor tiles! And they break everything else down into pieces....

“Luckily, one of my toys from when I was a kid is still around. How about you help me get that toy back, and I’ll tell you how to get that identity. In fact, I’ll even help you get a really good identity. What do you say?”

The face of the imp appeared on the jade slip, looking at Xu Qing with great anticipation.

“The little thing is on Mount South Heaven. It’s not around here, but I have a way to get you there. Hurry up and decide! I can sense a few burglars getting very close to it, even as we speak!”[1]

***

“We’re getting very close, Fellow Daoists.”

Four people were getting very close to the summit of Mount South Heaven. Three people were walking up ahead, while one person followed them.

The person who had just spoken was the one in the back. He was a middle-aged man with a silver geomantic compass in his hands and an unkind face. He wore a black garment embroidered with silver, and had a gold crown on his head. As he hopped from boulder to boulder behind the other three, he kept a close watch on them.

At the same time, he would occasionally tap the geomantic compass, causing crisp sounds to roll out and creating distortions in the air. He was clearly reminding them of who was in charge. The other three cultivators would shiver in response.

Of those three, two were men, and one was a woman. One of the men was of average height but somewhat pudgy, with thinning hair and a haggard face. Next to him was a middle-aged woman with a nice figure and a pretty face. However, she had sallow skin and jaundiced eyes. Her hair was coiled into a neat bun, and her daoist robe was well-maintained. However, the color in her eyes made her seem a bit gruish.

The last person was a very skinny old man with a slightly hunched back and a full head of white hair. He had been in good spirits earlier, but now he looked exhausted, and he looked older than ever.

If Xu Qing were here, he would recognize the old man immediately. He was... Patriarch Diling.

He and the other two cultivators all had grim expressions on their faces, and even grimmer hearts. Obviously, they were here against their will. They wanted to fight back, but were powerless to do so. The reason was that there were three threads connecting their souls to the geomantic compass. As a result, they had lost their freedom, and were now little more than tools under the control of the man in black.

Patriarch Diling thought back to everything that had occurred and ground his teeth. After getting into the third world, everything went smoothly at first. He quickly parted ways with Li Mengtu, as he had his own plans and arrangements ready to go. Moving very cautiously, he got close to his target destination.

Thanks to some information from the Yunmen Clan, he had identified the location of a special medicinal plant that had a high likelihood of pushing his cultivation base through several breakthroughs. The medicinal plant was located in a secret spot that the patriarch of the Yunmen Clan had discovered many years ago. Unfortunately, he had been ill-prepared to take it, so the information was recorded and passed on to later generations. Ultimately, it ended up in the hands of Patriarch Diling.

Right before he was about to succeed, an Imperial Sovereign came along with a canon treasure. Not only did that Imperial Sovereign take the medicinal plant, but he also captured Patriarch Diling and suppressed his soul. On the way from the east to this mountain, the Imperial Sovereign ended up capturing a total of seven cultivators using his special method.

As they went up the mountain, the Imperial Sovereign forced his captives to explore the path ahead. Up to this point, four had died in the process. Now, the only ones left were Patriarch Diling and the other man and woman. And all of them had sustained serious injuries.

Patriarch Diling was getting very anxious, but couldn’t think of anything to do. We’ll reach the summit soon. That’s where I’m headed. Of course... once we’re at the top, he’ll kill the three of us to keep us quiet!

The other two were thinking the same thing. All they could do was intentionally go forward as slowly as possible in the hopes of buying time. Unfortunately... buying time wasn’t going to help. All three knew full well that the black-robed man with the geomantic compass had no reason to fear them.

Of all the people who had come into the immortal palace, the only people he needed to worry about were the Shining Stars or other cultivators with canon treasures similar to his own. Everyone else... was on a lower level. Therefore, no amount of struggle by the three cultivators amounted to anything.

“Hurry up! We’re almost there!” The black-robed man struggled to suppress his excitement as he looked up through the heat toward the summit of the mountain.

This was not his first time coming into the immortal palace. It was his second. The first time had been years ago when the south part of the palace had opened up. Back then he had been a mere early Imperial Sovereign. He had been ignorant and cautious, but had unexpectedly come across a destined opportunity. He had found the world that this mountain existed in.

The moment he did, he saw a lake at the top of the mountain, floating atop which was a paper boat. Unfortunately, when he landed at the bottom of the mountain, he found that the place was covered with too many dangerous warding spells, making it impossible to reach the top. In the end, he’d had no choice but to leave.

Over the years, he couldn’t stop thinking about the paper boat in that lake on that mountain. After doing some research into the history of Immortal Lord Aurora, he found out more information about it. And he had confirmed one important detail. That paper boat was a canon treasure! And it was very powerful!

From that moment on, he had started making preparations to come back and get the paper boat. He had paid a huge price to borrow a canon treasure from another powerful cultivator, and had used it to capture some other cultivators and force them to scout the path up the mountain. Now he was very close to reaching his goal. The thought of his imminent success caused him to laugh.

“I have to thank the three of you for your assistance,” he said jovially. “I just need you to keep working hard. By the way, don’t overthink things. Once I get what I want from the top of the mountain, I’ll set you all free.”

Patriarch Diling and the other two captives said nothing. None of them believed what the black-robed cultivator had just said. In fact, even as the black-robed cultivator spoke, he tapped the geomantic compass, causing their souls to shiver. All three of them rushed forward with greater speed.

And thus, time slipped by.

If you could slowly shift your field of vision from that scene to a higher elevation, you would find mist and clouds swirling in front of you, obscuring your vision. The people on the mountain, and even the mountain itself, would get much smaller. Soon, you would see the whole world surrounding the mountain. The reality was that the entire world was that one single mountain. And it was surrounded by mist.

As you kept going up, you would reach a certain height that formed the upper boundary of the world. And if you went past that, you would eventually see a colorful fresco. It was located on a wall in a palace hall in the south part of the immortal palace.

The hall was relatively intact, and the walls were all covered by an amazing fresco. The fresco depicted a cloud-covered mountain. That mountain was named South Heaven.

Xu Qing appeared in the hall and stood in front of the fresco.

“See that paper boat?” the imp said excitedly. “That’s the toy I was talking about.”

Xu Qing nodded and stepped into the fresco.

1. In I Shall Seal the Heavens, ‘South Heaven’ was an important location. The same characters are used here. As I’ve said in other contexts with other words, that doesn’t necessarily imply a connection. The characters are fairly generic. ☜

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