Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1217: Nine-Colored Ice Coffin

Xu Qing had a hard time believing that the pretext he had thrown out was actually true, and that the Helioterra Universe actually had the nine-colored ice that Immortal Lord Nineshores sought! If things turned out to be that simple, then the mission from Immortal Lord Nineshores was going to turn out to be little more than child’s play. What was more, he would need to completely rethink his judgment of Poison Monarch.

But no matter how he considered the situation, it seemed extremely unlikely that the nine-colored ice he sought was really here. With such thoughts on his mind, he put away the heaven’s principle clay he had been toying with. However, he didn’t immediately enter the Helioterran ancestral land. Instead, he turned to look at the Helioterran emperor prostrating to him.

The emperor’s eyes were wide with disbelief, and he was trembling. He was fully aware that if he didn’t provide a very clear explanation, then his entire species would likely be damned by myriad tribulations. This was something related to an Immortal Lord…. Not even his patron would utter a peep considering these circumstances.

Noticing Xu Qing looking at him, he immediately called, “Exalted one, this is a misunderstanding!! I know what this fellow daoist is talking about, and it’s definitely not the nine-colored ice referred to by Immortal Lord Nineshores. It’s a remnant of the Aurora Immortal Palace. In our species’ efforts to memorialize the Aurora Immortal Palace, we paid a huge price to fish a coffin out of the void!!

“It’s true that the coffin is made of ice, and it also has nine colors. But it’s not the thing you’re looking for!”

In his anxiety, the emperor wasn’t hiding anything. He explained everything openly.

Xu Qing’s face remained expressionless as he said, “I’ll find out one way or another by checking in person. Right now, all members of the Helioterran species, from the emperor on high to the lowliest member, will produce a drop of soul blood! Any who resist will be killed on the spot!”

Sir Star Ring bristled aggressively, as did the kelp plant and Starfire.

The Helioterran emperor hesitated only briefly. He was a decisive individual, and he knew that he couldn’t afford any more misunderstandings. It didn’t seem like this request was an attempt to wipe out his species more easily. It was more like… collateral. This person was worried about unexpected things happening in the ancestral land.

The emperor gritted his teeth, then reached up to his forehead and extracted some soul blood. He then indicated orders to be sent to the rest of his species. His heart was full of bitterness. The other Helioterrans quietly extracted their own soul blood.

The soul blood converged in front of Xu Qing. Waving his hand, he sent it to Starfire.

“You stay out here,” he said. “If anything happens to us inside, wipe out all of the Helioterrans.”

Starfire nodded gravely, collected up the soul blood, and then sent godly might out to cover the Helioterrans.

Xu Qing still didn’t feel completely confident that he had enough collateral, so he looked at the kelp plant…. He still didn’t completely trust the kelp. Eyes narrowing, he sent it a message via divine will, telling it to seal the Helioterran emperor and then go with him into the ancestral land.

The kelp seemed to be muttering to itself, but it did choose to send out a leaf, which became a sealing mark on the emperor. The emperor didn’t dare to resist.

Having done all that, Xu Qing took the kelp plant and the sealed emperor with him as he followed Sir Star Ring into the entrance.

The Helioterrans’ ancestral land was in a hidden galaxy. A bird’s eye view of the place revealed countless heavenly bodies and flickering natural laws.

One point of light stuck out to Xu Qing. He sent out his divine will, which caused the galaxy to expand rapidly in front of him. Larger and larger it grew from his perspective, and the process didn’t slow down. It grew immense, until ultimately, his view passed numerous planets and heavenly bodies. Then his gaze hardened.

In the very middle of the galaxy, in the spot he had noticed earlier, there were five enormous figures seated cross-legged. They were all Helioterrans. They were enormous and multicolored, with many faces, but they were all withered up. They were corpses. And they were the corpses of gods! Put precisely, these were god corpses belonging to the Helioterran species.

In the middle of the five corpses was a planet. It was completely frozen in ice. There was no life on the planet, only a coffin! And that coffin was made of ice that radiated a nine-colored glow.

A number of ascendees had gathered in that area, and their eyes gleamed as they observed the situation. None were making any moves.

“That setup is unusual,” Sir Star Ring said.

Xu Qing looked at it thoughtfully.

The Helioterran emperor quickly offered an explanation. “Exalted one, those corpses are gods that were members of our species long ago. After we surrendered to the immortals, we were assigned the mission of keeping thēir bloodline suppressed. Countless years have passed since then, and we’ve stuck to the mission the entire time. We’ve never wavered.

“The coffin is there to keep thēm more firmly suppressed. After all… if thēy were somehow resurrected, thēy obviously wouldn’t approve of our species. In fact, the first thing thēy would do would be to devour all of us.”

Sir Star Ring eyed the emperor of the Helioterrans. He had heard of similar situations before. The Fifth Star Ring was full of many species who were tasked with suppressing their ancestral gods.

“Interesting,” Xu Qing said calmly. “And you say you’ve never wavered?”

The emperor’s heart thumped in his chest. “Exalted one,” he said carefully, “what exactly do you mean by that…?”

Sir Star Ring looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he realized what was going on.

To the cultivators of the Fifth Star Ring, the suppression of gods was important. That was why the star ring lacked mutagen and abounded with immortal energy. That was also why the species here couldn’t cultivate the path of gods. Because of that, old-timers would probably understand what they were looking at here. But more modern generations of cultivators would never have seen anything like it, and would have no idea what they were looking at.

But Xu Qing was not ordinary. He came from the Ninth Star Ring. In the Revered Ancient mainland, the gods wreaked havoc, and there were many species who outright worshiped gods. What was more, Xu Qing had personally witnessed multiple instances of godly ascension.

Whether it was the godchild of Crimson Mother, Empress Summer Departure, or that situation in the ghast hollow…. They all gave him similar sensations. And that was why he instantly realized what he was looking at….

This was obviously a godly ascension ceremony! However, based on what he could tell, this ceremony was incomplete. It wasn’t very impressive.

It’s been hidden.

Eyes narrowing, he waved his hand, and a band of silver light emerged from his immortal embryo.

Silver was the color of immortals. Gods absorbed ringsource and emitted holy golden light. That was why Xu Qing always saw gods covered with golden light. But when cultivators absorbed ringsource, they emitted silver light.

A stream of silver immortal light swirled in Xu Qing’s palm, and then he flicked his hand. The light shot into the galaxy, where it merged with some starlight, turning it silver.

The silver spread. It didn’t fill the entire galaxy. It just filled the galaxy’s starlight. Gradually, one stream of starlight after another turned silver. From Xu Qing’s high vantage point, it looked like a silver web spreading throughout the galaxy.

Then Xu Qing waved his hand to adjust it, and the different bright and dark spots in the web shifted, until it revealed an astonishing spell formation. The spell formation was just as large as the galaxy itself, and it connected all of the planets. In the middle of all that were the five corpses and the ice coffin. They formed two forces, one on the inside and one on the outside. In that manner, a huge convergence of ringsource was created.

When the Helioterran emperor saw what was happening, his face went pale. Sir Star Ring also reacted with visible surprise.

Then Xu Qing spoke. “Originally, this was all designed for the suppression effort you mentioned. But you used that as the foundation to build something much bigger. You created a godly ascension ceremony. Unfortunately, it’s not complete. Because of that, the godly ascension won’t work. Do you have an explanation for this, emperor?”

Xu Qing turned to look at the ashen-faced emperor.

Trembling from head to toe, the emperor dropped to his knees. “Exalted one, I would never dare to allow my species to attempt godly ascension. All of this was set up… to purify the blood of our species.”

The emperor didn’t dare to hide anything further. How could he ever have guessed that this secret attempt at godly ascension in the Fifth Star Ring would be identified so easily?

“That’s not important,” Xu Qing said. He reached out and clenched his hand into a fist.

A cracking sound rang out through the starry sky. Silver light flared from the spell formation as several key sections were broken. The ceremony was thus crippled.

“Sir Star Ring,” said Xu Qing, “you can lead people onto the planet now. Take that coffin. And have everyone prepare to absorb the ringsource that will come as a result.”

Sir Star Ring nodded and flew toward the planet.

Xu Qing waited quietly. Before long, he watched as the planet of ice trembled. Then a huge eruption of ringsource swept through the galaxy. The ceremony had been destroyed.

Afterwards, Sir Star Ring and Zhou Zhengli returned, dragging with them the nine-colored ice coffin.

Xu Qing knew what it was as soon as he laid eyes on it. No one else would have any idea what it was, because it hadn’t been in the reflected history of the Aurora Immortal Palace. But Xu Qing had possessed Young Lord Aurora, so his memories contained information about it.

“After Young Lord Aurora was born, his parents put him to sleep until after the gods had been subjugated. And to do that, they created a coffin. It does look like it’s made from nine-colored ice, but this is probably not the item Immortal Lord Nineshores is looking for.”

Xu Qing put the coffin away and turned to leave. He didn’t care if the emperor’s explanation was the truth or not. Nor did he have any need to collect any of the ringsource from this place. With Zhou Zhengli around, Xu Qing was confident that the other ascendees would be able to collect it, all while keeping an appropriate amount for themselves. They would definitely benefit a lot.

This matter is concluded. We also have enough ringsource for our mission. So next… we’re going to the real feast that occurs after the banquet is over. The True God!

With that, he turned to leave the Helioterran ancestral land.