Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1294: I Was Just Lying In My Coffin When Disaster Struck From Outside

Erniu was going crazy.

Xu Qing’s words from moments ago had been just too much of a provocation. In fact, the only temptation greater than what he had just mentioned was the time they stole some of Eminent Desolation’s flesh and blood. That job had come down to destined opportunity and pure chance. By taking advantage of the power that came from a god domain upgrade, they managed to get a few scraps. But right now… there was half of an entire God Lord available!

And considering the provocation of Xu Qing having developed such an incredible cultivation base, Erniu’s greatest hope right now was in that half of a god corpse.

The power in Eminent Desolation’ flesh and blood can only be chipped away at slowly. I can lick it up in bits and pieces. And if I lick too much, I’ll explode. But a God Lord… though I can’t just digest something like that, it will at least be easier to work with than Eminent Desolation’s flesh.

If I add in the True God corpses little Ah Qing gave me, then I could almost piece together a full god! Good times are just around the corner!

Erniu’s eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze made him seem like a wild dog barreling through the misty interior of the rift. At the moment, he wasn’t paying attention to anything. Nothing in heaven or earth could be more important right now than eating!

“I’m coming, my big treasure!!”

As soon as Erniu burst into motion, the countless god chains connected to the bronze coffin began to sway. As they swayed, the god talismans on them glittered, causing them to release indescribable mightiness. And yet, for some unknown reason, the power was all directed inwardly. It was as if it was a message to outsiders that, as long as they didn’t touch the chains… they wouldn’t be harmed.

Erniu, whether in past lives or this one, was very adept at accomplishing big jobs. Though he didn’t know much about the Fourth Star Ring, he had more than enough experience at this type of thing. After all, in many of his past lives, his failures had resulted in him dying…. It was only natural that all of that built up into a plentiful reservoir of experience. Because of that, the moment Erniu entered the rift, he instinctively realized which things he could touch safely and which things would kill him.

Erniu couldn’t see everything in the mist, but he had shocking instincts, and was able to speed along without touching any of the chains. He was like a big rat, scurrying along, going in and out of the chains… and heading right toward the corpse of God Lord Death Departure.

Seeing that, Xu Qing realized he didn’t need to worry about Erniu. So he stepped forward into the rift. The chains glittered again, and Xu Qing could clearly sense the danger posed, both by the chains, and by the entity in the coffin.

He stopped in place. His hair was currently standing on end. The mutagen levels were very high thanks to the coffin, the chains, and the corpse of God Lord Death Departure. The combined mutagens created a terrifying godly aura in the rift, and as a result, Xu Qing’s skin almost instantly started showing signs of mutation.

Pressure weighed down on him with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force. It sought to rip all outsiders to shreds!

Xu Qing quickly released the destiny aura of the Fifth Star Ring, which bolstered him and relieved some of the pressure. At the same time, his true name glittered within his soul. Back on the primeval motherworld, Young Lord Aurora had given him a destined opportunity for his true name, and now it was coming in handy.

The glittering of the true name dispelled the invading mutagen, and Xu Qing could breathe a sigh of relief. But now he was even more curious about his Eldest Brother’s background. After all, despite the pressure in the area, Erniu was speeding along quite quickly through the mist.

Despite being only an Imperial Sovereign, the glittering light that covered him kept him safe from the mutagen.

Eldest Brother’s background is definitely full of a lot of mysteries. Could he really be a sourcefiend? Based on my experience, only sourcefiends can completely ignore the aura and mutagen of the gods…. Because of being born from gods, the sourcefiends have a deep connection to them.

The strange thing was that, based on what Xu Qing understood about sourcefiends, they couldn’t leave the motherworld.

Could it be that the Revered Ancient mainland… is the primeval motherworld of the Ninth Star Ring?

It was an astonishing possibility. However, it didn’t seem possible that it could be true.

There’s something else strange. If he’s really a sourcefiend from the Ninth Star Ring’s primeval motherworld, then how could Eldest Brother leave…?

Now wasn’t the time to sit around pondering his Eldest Brother’s background. As he looked on, the crazed Erniu zipped through the gaps in the chains and closed in on the corpse of God Lord Death Departure.

Only a moment later, something strange happened. Although it seemed Erniu had picked the correct path, as soon as he neared the corpse… a deep rumbling sound echoed out, and then Erniu exploded into a host of endless blue worms that all had Erniu’s face.

Xu Qing’s gaze hardened, and he was about to rush over.

Except, in the blink of an eye, the worms crazily continued on their way to the corpse. As they neared, the worms started exploding, resulting in a cloud of dust. Erniu’s craziness continued. Blue light shone as the dust turned into a horde of smaller blue worms that kept racing toward the corpse.

It was like a cycle. They would explode and collapse, causing even smaller worms to appear. In that manner, he got closer and closer to the corpse!

Eventually, the blue worms started to cry out, “Help me, little Ah Qing!!”

By the time they cried out for help, Xu Qing had already taken action. Immortal embryo power erupted out. Canon filled with overlapping universes surged. The dao weapon in the form of a fingernail sent astonishing force out. All of it crushed down onto the corpse.

Next, the horde of blue worms that was Erniu bore down on the corpse. As they closed in, God Lord Death Departure’s corpse glittered with a faint golden light.

That glittering light unleashed a terrifying pressure. Xu Qing was there to counteract it with his immortal embryo and canon. But this was the corpse of a God Lord, and it was astonishing.

Thankfully, it was the power of the dao weapon that proved most effective, and caused the golden light to waver.

Despite all of that, Erniu’s cultivation base couldn’t stand up to the force. In the blink of an eye, the golden light shattered the blue worms, once again turning them into dust. And this time it seemed like the dust would even be wiped out. And yet… Erniu didn’t actually disappear.

Having been pushed to this point within his greed for the flesh and blood of a God Lord, Erniu… somehow used a technique that caused a sudden change! Thin blue threads shot out from the spot where the worms had been shattered. And the blue threads ultimately took the shape of a blue hand of ice. It was covered with spurs, and pulsed with a very primeval aura. It was something wild and ancient.

Then the palm of the hand split open like a mouth, and it lunged toward the corpse. When it hit the golden light, the hand of ice melted, turning into innumerable blue threads. Combined with the power of Xu Qing’s dao weapon, those threads burrowed into the golden light.

About ninety-nine percent of them were destroyed in the process, but a few got through. Bursting with greed and craziness, they swept out over the corpse, covering it. Although it looked like something difficult to do, that was only from Erniu’s perspective. Xu Qing was thinking something completely different.

A very strange feeling had risen up in his heart.

It’s just a corpse, but in life, it was a God Lord. What’s more, God Lord Death Departure had a very unique type of godhood. Normally speaking, it wouldn’t be easy… even despite Eldest Brother’s uniqueness.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he looked up at the void above the corpse. There was nothing there, but because Xu Qing was bolstered by the destiny aura of the Fifth Star Ring, he could see some clues about what was going on.

“Hurry up, Eldest Brother!” he said.

Within the golden light, the blue worms spreading over the corpse responded with a thrumming sound.

Xu Qing’s senses were not deceiving him. Just now when he had looked at the void above the corpse, Xu Qing had seen someone. It was someone very specific and unique, in illusory form.

Based on appearances, it was God Lord Death Departure! Hē was already on hīs way back. After being severely injured, hē had relied on hīs karma with the entity in the coffin to come to this place and use it as a hiding spot. Hē had also planned to recover here.

It was a very unique recovery process. Hē used death as an attractant to unleash the recovery magic. That would make it possible to fully recover and return to hīs peak. That was hīs innate ability, and the might of hīs godhood!

The corpse was the anchor, and was also the body hē had prepared for his return. If that corpse were to be taken away, it could interfere with the anchor and affect hīs return.

Hīs plan had been a good one, and this place was the perfect location to carry it out. But then unforeseen variables had popped up. Hīs omniscience did not cover Xu Qing, who could use the godhood of fate. Nor did it cover the extremely gruish Erniu. And now, someone was about to snatch that corpse…. As the critical moment arrived, God Lord Death Departure’s consciousness landed on the coffin.

“God Paragon, please, lend me assistance!”

The coffin didn’t respond.

“God Paragon….”

“Silence!” snapped a voice from within the coffin. Xu Qing and Erniu did not have the personhood to hear it, but it struck God Lord Death Departure like a tempest.

“I don’t want to be contaminated by karma like that! Stop your jabbering! It’s half of a body, that’s all. Who cares?”

Death Departure said nothing.

The entity in the coffin thought furiously, all while maintaining maximum vigilance. One person with Eminent Desolation’s karma would be difficult enough. But now there are two here? Eminent Desolation has been hungry all the time, and could definitely make use of these two to spy on me here…. The schemes of the Immortal Paragon of the Fifth Star Ring are also involved. The best option to keep things stable would be to give Death Departure’s corpse to these two to get them out of here!

As the God Paragon considered the situation from inside the coffin, Erniu in the form of the blue threads was rapidly spreading out to cover God Lord Death Departure’s corpse. Xu Qing was backing him up. Finally, a blue sea of light filled the area.

“I did it!” Erniu shouted joyfully. “Let’s go, little Ah Qing!”

Xu Qing turned to leave. But then, he suddenly felt the urge to do something. Stopping in place, he looked at… the coffin at the end of all the countless chains.

The God Paragon had just been breathing a sigh of relief. But now his heart started pounding.

***

In the Ninth Star Ring, above the Revered Ancient mainland, there was a huge broken face that meant disaster for all living beings. That face’s eyes were closed. But now they were about to open!