Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1161: Your Slave Girl Needs a Reward

It was a momentous night in the immortal palace. A member of the Scourgebolt Palace tried to betray the immortal palace but failed. Fourth True Monarch killed him at the teleportation portal, arousing the suspicions of that person’s Master, Gongsun Qingmu. Then, when it was revealed that there really was a classified jade slip on the victim, the matter was settled.[1]

That said, some people found it very suspicious that Fourth True Monarch proclaimed that the matter was resolved.

Young Lord Aurora’s wedding was quickly approaching, and the Immortal Lord would soon be inaugurated. As a result, some important things became unimportant, while certain unimportant things became extremely important. Everyone understood how that worked. At the moment, there was nothing that could compare to those two approaching events.

Even if there were some suspicious things going on, they would have to wait until later to be resolved. They couldn’t be allowed to interfere with what was slated to happen in half a month.

***

An hour passed. Dawn had not yet come, and yet the immortal palace had already calmed back down.

However, the events that had just played out were like a tempest in the minds of the outsiders. All were complicated and intelligent people who were adept at analyzing situations and hatching schemes. What was more, they had the memories of their hosts, and thus, it was easy for them to figure out what was going on.

There’s no definitive proof that the honor guard from the Scourgebolt Palace is Sir Vilespirit. But that’s highly likely to be the case. If it really is Sir Vilespirit, then the other guy was probably Sir Star Ring! And the third person is probably the one who started those rumors. All three were fighting! Obviously, Sir Star Ring made out very badly! Not only did he not kill Sir Vilespirit, but he was forced to confirm that the palace was betrayed. Sir Vilespirit is a genius! And so is that mysterious person who started the rumors! Now it begs the question of what Sir Star Ring is going to do going forward….[2]

As undercurrents bubbled, Fourth True Monarch appeared in True Monarch Hall, face expressionless as he strode up to the top of the highest tower in the complex. There, the night air blew strongly as he looked at the distant Young Aurora Hall. A thin moon cast its glow down, but the dark clouds seem to swallow up the light. Everything was gloomy and visibility was almost nonexistent.

Just like Sir Star Ring’s mood. He had suffered a big defeat this night, and he wasn’t used to losing. In fact, as far as he could remember, he had never lost this badly before. As he stood looking at Young Aurora Hall, his eyes glittered mysteriously.

Time passed. Perhaps because of the heavy clouds, dawn seemed to arrive a bit later than usual. That was when Zhou Zhengli arrived behind Sir Star Ring. He bowed deeply.

“For the first half of the night,” Zhou Zhengli said quietly, “Zhong Chi was in Young Aurora Hall. When he left, he went straight to his residence and didn’t come out again. Young Lord Aurora was inside Young Aurora Hall the entire time. He never came out. The music in the Hundred Flowers Palace never stopped. Unless there were others there who I had no means to detect, it seems… that nobody left Young Aurora Hall at all.”

He was obviously aware of Sir Star Ring’s big loss, as well as the fact that his own nemesis had been part of the clash. Originally, he had been planning to take action along with Sir Star Ring. However, Sir Star Ring had been so confident that he could resolve the situation that he forbade him from coming along. Instead, he sent Zhou Zhengli to Young Aurora Hall to stake it out.

Inside, Zhou Zhengli was laughing coldly. Was it self-confidence? Or was it arrogance? Does he really look down on the other Shining Stars that much…?[3]

The people who ended up among the Shining Stars weren’t nobodies.

“I clearly underestimated them,” Sir Star Ring said.

His words caused Zhou Zhengli’s pupils to constrict. He was fully aware of how proud and conceited Sir Star Ring was. It wasn’t an easy thing for arrogant people to admit when they were wrong. Because of that, he suddenly realized that these hidden enemies must be a lot more complicated than he had assumed.

“That said,” Sir Star Ring continued, “I already know who one of them is.”

Up in the dome of heaven, the clouds clashed, causing lighting to flash and thunder to rumble. All of a sudden, Sir Star Ring’s eyes were clearly visible.

“Unfortunately, although many signs point to the identity of the hidden conspirator, I’m not going to make the same mistake again. I’m not going to look down on them like before. Therefore… I have to assume it’s possible that the enemy is using multiple identities, and the one I dealt with earlier is only the first layer of many. The true mastermind is likely still hiding out there in the night.”

More lightning flashed, illuminating the darkness.

Zhou Zhengli didn’t offer a response. He could tell that Sir Star Ring was really just thinking out loud. After some thought, he decided to go into more detail about what he had learned earlier that night.

“Exalted one, based on my observations of Zhong Chi tonight, combined with your earlier analysis of his goals, I’d say that your previous speculation about him is correct. He’s definitely Li Mengtu. And he’s most likely trying to place his poison canon into the space-time here.

“That said, he’s not attempting to immediately change history. He wants to take advantage of the time here to add the depth of time into his poison. Ultimately, he’s probably planning to poison his host body to death right before the historical calamity. In doing so, his poison canon will gain both karma and a more complex function.

“Regardless of whether waves in this version of history will affect reality, he’ll have a foundation for his canon. And that foundation… will be clearly visible to his Master in history.”

“All that matters is that we stop him at the right time,” Sir Star Ring said calmly.

Zhou Zhengli nodded and said nothing further. As dawn broke, he left quietly, all in line with his usual strategy of feigning weakness.

Finally, dawn light seeped through the dark clouds, spreading through the lands. It was daytime.

As the light spread, Sir Star Ring murmured, “There aren’t many game pieces left on the side of order….”

***

In Young Aurora Hall, Xu Qing had long since picked up all the fallen game pieces and was now putting them back on the board. He was carefully recreating the same game layout from before. In fact, he was just now placing the last piece down on the board. As he did, he heard soft laughter from behind him.

“Brilliantly played, Young Lord!”

A very charming and seductive voice reached Xu Qing’s ears. Starfire strolled in, clad in a sheer garment that perfectly accentuated curves. sat down opposite Xu Qing.

Skin as fair as snow formed a perfect contrast to garment, making seem even more attractive. reached down with her fair hand, picked up a game piece with two fingers, and put it down on the board. looked up seductively and licked lips.

“Fourth True Monarch tricked me. Your humble slave girl got hurt. In fact, I almost didn’t make it back here. What’s more, someone was staking out Young Aurora Hall. It wasn’t easy to come and go without being noticed. And that means… your humble slave girl needs a reward!”

Placing one hand on the game board, leaned forward, placing astoundingly beautiful face much closer to Xu Qing. She exhaled softly.

“Oh, Young Lord, please reward your humble slave girl. Pretty please?”

Xu Qing looked up from the game board and into eyes. “You’ve taken a liking to my host? If you’re not worried about the possibility of being killed by the Immortal Lord, I can take my consciousness out for a day and give you a chance.”

Starfire was temporarily struck speechless. had assumed that Xu Qing would respond the way he usually did. Never could have guessed that he would offer such a crafty retort. was so surprised jaw nearly dropped. Cursing him silently for being such a blockhead, leaned back and tucked a stray hair behind ear.

“You blew your cover tonight,” Xu Qing said calmly. “Are you ready to deal with the ramifications?”

“No, I’m not!” snapped in irritation. snorted coldly.

Xu Qing began picking up the pieces from the board one by one. “I know full well you’ve already thought things through,” he said coolly. “The task I want you to accomplish tonight falls in line with your own plan. I don’t care how you do it. But let me remind you that Sir Star Ring will be targeting you for the next step of his plan!”

Starfire blinked beautiful eyes a few times. “Ooh, are you worried about your humble slave girl, Young Lord? Have any advice for me?”

Xu Qing put the game board away. “Today isn’t the appropriate time to go see Sir Vilespirit. Go tomorrow. As for whether or not you get that identity you want, well, that’ll be up to you.”

Starfire covered mouth as laughed softly. “You know what I like most about you, Xu Qing? Your intelligence.”

Xu Qing closed his eyes and said nothing further.

Smiling just as before, Starfire stretched, revealing more of beautiful curves. Then turned and left.

The day passed uneventfully.

Xu Qing never left Young Aurora Hall. He spent all his time studying the sand of time. It was marvelous. The only downside was that he didn’t have much of it. He currently had two options. One was to absorb all of it immediately. The other option….

I could use this sand to create even bigger waves in space-time. And then I could ultimately get a lot more of it!

It didn’t take long for him to make a decision.

By the time night fell, nothing noteworthy had played out. It was almost as if nothing had happened the previous night. People went about their business. Apparently, that event was a much more sensitive topic than the rumors from before. Hardly anyone was even talking about it. There was an unspoken agreement among everyone to simply not mention it.

Night came and went.

***

Around dawn, a knock could be heard on the door of the residence of the honor guard Gongsun Qingmu, who had just lost his dear apprentice.

The door quietly opened, whereupon a black-garbed and masked figure entered.

Gongsun Qingmu looked coldly at the visitor. He said nothing.

The figure in black looked around, then laughed softly. “You weren’t pleased with my gift from last night, Sir Vilespirit?”

Sir Vilespirit’s expression remained the same as ever. Voice raspy, he said, “What do you want?”

“You lost an apprentice. But you gained one too.” The figure in black laughed.

Sir Vilespirit’s heart started pounding. How could he have ever guessed that this person wanted this? An identity?

A moment passed, whereupon Sir Vilespirit said, “Just who exactly are you?”

The figure in black didn’t answer the question. “It’s not important who I am. What’s important is that, going forward, you have an ally. And we… can work together. By doing so, you can betray the palace even more dramatically than before.”

Sir Vilespirit said nothing for a long moment. When he finally spoke, he said, “I need to think about it.”

The figure in black laughed, then departed.

***

A similar scene was playing out in a guest hall in the south of the immortal palace.

“I need to think a bit about your offer, True Monarch,” Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix said softly.

Sir Star Ring in the guise of Fourth True Monarch nodded expressionlessly. “It wasn’t easy for you to get that identity, was it? You paid a high price. And you want to use it to see history play out as intended. You want to marry the Young Lord, whereupon the karma created with the immortal palace will put you halfway to becoming its owner. Of course you have more complicated plans than that. But it doesn’t matter. That doesn’t conflict with me.”

He turned and walked to the entrance, where he stopped and looked back at her. “Your host is the only one who can really drive all the courtesans out of the Hundred Flowers Palace. Including that fox maiden. Once you do, I’ll make sure you reach your goal!”

1. Gongsun Qingmu: Gongsun is a compound surname. Compound surnames are not very common nowadays. They were more common in ancient times. That said, among compound surnames, Gongsun is pretty common, at least in the works of Er Gen. It gives a person’s name an old-timey feel, and in the case of this one, it sounds like someone associated with the government. Qingmu is made of Qing which means “blue/green/cyan” and is the same character from Xu Qing’s name. Mu means “wood/tree.” This is the same set of characters that I translated as Greenwood earlier in the novel. It first came up in chapter 888, where I also mentioned that the term came up in ISSTH. There is no indication that Gongsun Qingmu is connected to any of those things. ☜

2. This bit of thought dialogue has no attribution. Based on the context, it’s obviously one contiguous thought, not a conversation. But it’s never attributed to a specific person. I think it’s supposed to represent the general thoughts of the various outsiders. ☜

3. Linguistic note here that has no relevance but is cool. In Chinese, the terms for self-confidence and arrogance are very similar, so it makes for a much better contrast. Self-confidence is a fairly direct correlation to the English term, as it combines the characters for “self” and “belief/faith/confidence.” Meanwhile, arrogance also starts with the “self” character, to be followed by the “big” character. Because both of them start with “self,” it makes for a little bit of wordplay that doesn’t come across in English. ☜

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