Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 887: A Very Tough Adversary

The figure next to the vortex had beautiful hair and a daoist robe that couldn’t cover her voluptuous curves. Her face was extremely beautiful, but was laced with a baleful aura that added a bit of manliness to it. When she attacked, the entire cave trembled as though it might collapse. Sir Firedark’s hatred had really pushed her cultivation base power to something like that of a Smoldering God. The fist caused space to distort and interfered with time itself, piercing forward with the power of extermination.

Before Xu Qing could even interfere, the Captain screamed as Sir Firedark’s fist hit his body and caused it to explode. Chunks of flesh and gore intermingled with a spray of blood that spread out for dozens of meters.

Sir Firedark’s killing intent still burned, and thus, after delivering the blow, she didn’t stop. Taking a step forward, she released another destructive blow onto the Captain’s gory remains.

Xu Qing’s gaze hardened, and even as Sir Firedark’s second blow was being delivered, he burst into motion. He instantly went to his fourth-level god state. The Ninedawns skulls appeared, turning into mage armor that covered him from head to toe. His battle prowess instantly shot to a level comparable to the great circle of Void Returning.

He rapidly performed some incantation gestures, causing taboo poison to surge and the violet moon to appear. His Violet Lord god magic was unleashed, slicing apart the air. A heavenly saber also appeared. An ancient temple appeared in midair, its main entrance opened, and a divine likeness strode out and slashed down with the saber.

Prismatic saber light spread out as the canopy of heaven seemed to tilt on its side. The light bolstered the battle prowess of Xu Qing’s god state, and with the blessing of Ninedawns, his fluctuations surpassed what they were when the trove gate of his third trove opened. With that, he shot toward Sir Firedark.

Sir Firedark stopped in place, then spun, shifting the target of her attack from the Captain’s remains to the incoming heavenly saber. A deafening boom rang out as fist met saber. The fist wasn’t harmed at all, but the saber shattered!

Sir Firedark’s battle prowess was completely and utterly terrifying. To Xu Qing, it didn’t feel like fighting a Void Returning enemy, but rather, a Smoldering God!

When it came to the Void Returning level, Sir Firedark ranked first in the echelon of the Firemoon Darkheaven people. Though she hadn’t pushed her cultivation base to its limit, her spectacular talent and boundless reserve powers ensured that her battle prowess had reached the ultimate height!

The fist didn’t just destroy the saber. It caused a domineering will to sweep over Xu Qing, which felt like countless mountains slamming into him. His mage armor cracked, and his god state began to collapse into millions of soul threads. Blood sprayed out of Xu Qing’s mouth as he fell back by several dozen meters. That said, he had managed to buy some time for the Captain.

Up in midair, the Captain’s gory remains clumped together, and in the shortest of moments, he was back. From some distance away, he looked at Xu Qing fighting Sir Firedark. His expression was grave, and his eyes were filling with killing intent.

“Let’s crush this pansy, little Junior Brother!”

Within the Captain’s crazy eyes could be seen two faces. And the pupils of the two faces had faces in them, and that pattern continued endlessly. At the same time, a very gruish aura spread out from the Captain. Boundless frigid energy erupted as he waved his right hand. Instantly, the flesh on his hand transformed into a blue ice blade.

The slightest movement of that blade could slice the air open. Striding toward Sir Firedark, he raised his blade and then chopped it down. As he delivered the blow, he also performed an incantation gesture with his left hand. Blinding blue light erupted into a huge sea filled with never-ending cold. It froze everything it passed, causing loud cracking sounds to ring out as it neared Sir Firedark.

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Xu Qing’s expression was similarly serious. This was his first time fighting Sir Firedark, and though he’d only managed to unleash one saber strike, the domineering aura he had sensed from the enemy’s fist strike reminded him of someone.

Master Shengyun!

They didn’t look alike at all. Nor could they really compare to each other. The reason Xu Qing found himself thinking about Master Shengyun was that this whole situation with Sir Firedark reminded him of his clash with Master Shengyun in Forbidden by the Phoenix. [1]

Both opponents were powerful, mighty, and seemingly invincible! And yet, back then, Xu Qing still defeated Master Shengyun, preventing him from eventually becoming invincible. Today, facing Sir Firedark caused battle spirit to rise within Xu Qing.

The desire to do battle surged in his sea of consciousness, causing his trove gates to tremble and his cultivation base to churn. His god state formed again, and the mage armor returned. The Nine skulls became nine lanterns of flesh, and the heads of the dragons roared. Three inverted mountains appeared. The black flames of the golden crow spread out, becoming a black spear that Xu Qing grabbed. Then, he joined the Captain to attack Sir Firedark.

An instant later, the three of them slammed into each other. A deafening boom filled the cave.

It was instantly clear how formidable Sir Firedark was. Instead of meeting the combined attack of Xu Qing and the Captain with a divine ability or magical treasure, she used only her fist!

One fist blasted the Captain’s blade into pieces. One fist sent the black spear tumbling backward. One fist shattered the Captain’s ice, rendering it useless. One fist caused the three mountains to crumble!

It was as if her fist could crush anything in its path. Then she took a step forward, and she pulsed with such terrifying and unyielding momentum that she really did seem invincible. Clenching her hand into a fist, she launched another blow at the Captain.

All of a sudden, D-132 appeared to lock her in place.

Surging with a domineering aura, Sir Firedark launched a blow that shattered D-132. Then she turned and attacked Xu Qing.

One step. One punch. That was all it took to shatter the Ninedawns skulls and ravage Xu Qing’s god state. He staggered backward, coughing up blood. Sir Firedark was obviously crushing them with ease. Meanwhile, the countless faces in the Captain’s eyes opened their mouths and issued a piercing cry that could shake the mind and soul.

Sir Firedark stopped in place.

The Captain’s eyes filled with a crazy look as he suddenly let loose a loud shout. Astonishingly, an ancient and illusory staircase appeared as a result. There were a total of nine stairs that made it up, and they seemed like they came from the most ancient of times. The Captain lifted his foot, stretched it out, and stepped down. Every step he took caused him to tremble, especially his chest, which wriggled visibly. After the ninth step, a skeletal hand made of blue ice burst out of his chest. Pulsing with terrifying and ancient energy, it grabbed toward Sir Firedark, carrying a wind of death with it!

Xu Qing, meanwhile, hadn’t slowed down a bit. He extended his right hand, and his heavenly dao became the body of the blade, the taboo poison became the razor-sharp edge, daybreak light became the blade glow, the Ghost Emperor mountain became the altar, and the destiny aura of D-132 became the trough! The golden crow, violet moon, and timescape bottle became the container, while the sundial life lamp urged everything into action.

The God Decapitation Altar descended. The blade slashed, glittering, right toward Sir Firedark.

As the two consummate attacks closed in with deadly force, something serious flashed through Sir Firedark’s eyes. It was only a flash!

Lifting her hand, she tightened her fingers, causing the air to shatter.

Golden light flared all around her, covering her from head to toe, filling her bones, and forming an undying sensation that gathered in her hands to become... the Undying Emperor’s Fist![2]

One blow hit the Captain. The skeletal hand shattered, and the Captain exploded into a cloud of gore. The other blow hit Xu Qing, and the God Decapitation Altar, which had always been unstoppable, emitted loud rumbling sounds. No head flew through the air. Instead, the altar collapsed, leaving Xu Qing tumbling backward, soaked in blood.

That said, it wasn’t as though the attacks launched by Xu Qing and the Captain were completely ineffective. Though the Undying Emperor’s Fist shook heaven and earth, Sir Firedark was also left pale in the face, with blood oozing down her chin.

Unfortunately, her killing intent and domineering aura were stronger than ever as she took a step toward the Captain.

Her main target had always been the Captain. She was not going to give up on that.

As her foot landed, she clenched her hand into a fist. But then a hoarse voice spoke behind her.

“This world of heaven and earth can be considered a well.... Everything is inside the well....”

As the voice echoed out, ripples filled the air in the cave, covering Sir Firedark as well.

Sir Firedark stopped in place. Beneath her feet was a surface of water with reflections on it.

Xu Qing had no time to wipe the blood from his mouth. Eyes shining with the desire to do battle, he extended his right hand and fished out one of the reflections beneath Sir Firedark’s feet.

A tremor passed through Sir Firedark, and for the first time, she felt a deathly sensation. And yet, hardly a moment passed before she sent golden light into the reflections. The golden light transformed into a sun, which then rose out of the water! Terrifying heat emanated from the sun in all directions, causing air and water alike to evaporate into nothing.

Fishing the Moon in the Well had been defeated!

Xu Qing’s mind spun. His eyes were crimson, and his soul ached painfully. But he could deal with pain like that. The moment Fishing the Moon in the Well was vanquished, his third trove gate trembled as a white sphere slammed into it.

The trove gate shuddered and opened a bit more, and the frigid energy of the netherglimmer erupted out. It was the power of the supreme yin. The power of the ancestor of all moons. And it could even freeze the power of time. It converged in front of Xu Qing in the shape of a finger, which he stabbed toward Sir Firedark.

Sir Firedark’s pupils constricted, and for the first time during the fight, she backed up.

However, as she did, the Captain’s gory remains transformed into a host of 100,000 blue worms, all with the Captain’s face on them. Bursting into motion, they appeared around Sir Firedark. The Captain’s faces opened their mouths and spat out blue frigid energy at Sir Firedark. The frigid energy grew more and more intense, combining with Xu Qing’s supreme yin finger attack. The air froze. Space-time froze!

Cracking sounds rang out as a huge block of ice appeared in the air. It was so large that the top touched the roof of the cave, and the bottom touched the floor below.

Inside of the block of ice was Sir Firedark. Astonishingly, she had been sealed tight and couldn’t even move.

All 100,000 of the worms then spoke at the same time as they began to form back into the Captain. “She won’t stay trapped in there for long. A very tough opponent, wouldn’t you say, little Junior Brother? Let’s scram. Follow me onto one of the automatic paths of life, and this shrew definitely won’t be able to follow us!”

The Captain was back, bedraggled but whole. Without any hesitation, he shot toward the third vortex.

Xu Qing didn’t hesitate to follow. However, just before stepping into the third portal, he looked over at the seventh portal. His eyes shone with determination.

“I’m going there instead, Eldest Brother!” he said, heading toward the seventh portal.

“No, don’t—” the Captain said, stunned. Yet before he could even finish speaking, Xu Qing was gone. The Captain looked over at the block of ice, which was already starting to twitch. Turning, he raced toward the third vortex. “You’re on your own, fool! I got my own business to take care of. Good luck, everybody!” [3]

As the two of them disappeared into the vortexes, something dramatic happened with the block of ice. Astonishingly, the projection of a major world appeared behind Sir Firedark. It contained heavenly bodies, a heaven and earth, and life.

Figures could be seen within it, over a hundred of them, and they were all Sir Firedark!

Over a hundred versions of Sir Firedark all clenched their hands into fists and launched blows at the ice. The ice exploded. At the same time, Sir Firedark suffered a major backlash, causing most of her clothes to be shredded to bits, and revealing the fair, tender skin beneath....

Yet it was without hesitation that she raced toward the vortex, her eyes full of killing intent.

1. His fight scene with Master Shengyun started in chapter 251. I’m sure most of you remember it, as it was the longest fight scene in the novel up to that point, lasting almost ten chapters. ☜

2. The “Undying Emperor’s Fist” is also the name of one of the signature moves of Bai Xiaochun from A Will Eternal. It was also associated with the color gold. Chinese readers picked up on this. It first came up in AWE in chapter 670, although he didn’t use it in a fight until chapter 696, the title of which shares the name of the technique. In AWE, the Undying Emperor’s Fist was part of a whole set of Undying techniques, so seeing it in isolation here (and also described slightly differently) doesn’t necessarily prove that it’s connected to AWE. Nor does it disprove it. You can read AWE here on Wuxiaworld or you can check out the edited version on Amazon. ☜

3. The Captain uses one half of an idiomatic expression that I'm rendering as ‘you’re on your own.’ The direct translation is incomprehensible, but interesting when you understand the meaning behind it. Literally it’s “the father died, so the mother got re-married.” It can mean a few different things. Primarily it’s about personal and family responsibility. The idea is that it would be a very challenging thing for a mother in ancient times to get remarried, especially if she had children. Used in that context, the saying is essentially a statement of fact about that mother’s situation. Beyond that meaning, it’s taken on the meaning of anyone “being on your own” in the sense that you have your own things to do that aren’t related to the person you’re speaking to. In the end, the basic concept is, as I have rendered, ‘you’re on your own now.’ ☜