Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 431: A Bamboo Skewer for Qing Qiu

Ghost Hand flicked his sleeve, causing numerous bolts of heavenly lightning to form. As they smashed down, he snorted coldly and left.

Xu Qing looked down at the Wood Spirit with his ravaged body. Then he turned away to leave.

Down below, the huge tree trembled and looked up with a bitter expression. Then his gaze locked onto Xu Qing. His right wrist has a spirit aura thread on it....

A few hours later, at the far end of the minor world, Ghost Hand finished the tour.

Before they left the world, Xu Qing begged Ghost Hand to let him experience what it was like to directly sustain the natural and magical laws. After all, he would need to do that eventually or else he would never be able to do patrol work, in which case, being a Unit C jailer would be meaningless.

“Are you sure?” Ghost Hand asked, eying him. “Sustaining the weight of a world’s laws is something only Nascent Soul cultivators can do. Though a Gold Core cultivator might last for a while, perhaps four or five breaths of time, they’ll ultimately collapse under the weight.”

After some thinking, Xu Qing clasped hands and nodded in the affirmative.

“Okay.” Without another word, Ghost Hand ceased to bear the weight for Xu Qing.

Instantly, rumbling sounds filled Xu Qing, and he felt like countless mountains were crushing down on him. Cracking sounds rang out, and his soul trembled. He felt like he might soon be ripped to shreds.

Ghost Hand shook his head and was about to retract the power when Xu Qing unleashed Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits. His fleshly body power skyrocketed, and he began to fight back. It was obviously very hard, as he was trembling from head to toe. Yet as each breath of time passed, Ghost Hand’s expression grew more and more surprised.

After a hundred breaths of time passed, Xu Qing looked up at Ghost Hand. “Senior, I can sustain the natural laws for this long.”

Ghost Hand’s eyes slowly began to shine. “Not bad, boy. You’ve got an impressive fleshly body as well as an amazing soul. Most cultivators with a similar cultivation base aren’t able to do that.”

Ghost Hand flicked his sleeve, and the pressure on Xu Qing faded as Ghost Hand once again assumed the burden.

Xu Qing shivered. He could sense that in that short one hundred breaths of time, his fleshly body power had improved slightly. It felt like a re-tempering. His spirits lifted.

“Don’t get cocky, though. Although not a lot of Gold Core cultivators can do that, you aren’t the only one.” Ghost Hand grinned, and without another word performed an incantation gesture to pull himself and Xu Qing out of the minor world.

Soon they were outside in the void.

On the return trip, Xu Qing didn’t feel any cockiness because of the hundred breaths of time. At the same time, he found himself wondering about the Ancient Spirit species, so he asked Ghost Hand for more details.

“The Ancient Spirits?” Ghost Hand thought for a moment. “They were a fantastic species. Historically speaking, I think it makes a lot of sense that they used to be called the Heavenfates.

“Supposedly, they had innate abilities that were absolutely shocking. I guess they’re related to destiny auras. They could use them to bless themselves, but could also use them to bless outsiders. I’m not really sure of all the details.

“According to the stories, Emperor Ancient Spirit tried to use the destiny aura of Revered Ancient to break past the Ancient Emperor level and into a higher realm. He failed, thus wasting the destiny aura. In a single night, ninety percent of his bloodline was wiped out of existence, and that ended the era of the Ancient Spirits.”

Around that time, the two of them emerged from the mural back onto Level 90.

“We’ll stop here for today. Since you can sustain the laws for a time, then going forward you should be able to slowly acclimate. We’ll have to see how far you can take it before we can determine if you have what it takes to go on patrol.”

After offering a few more words of encouragement, Ghost Hand turned and left, sipping alcohol along the way.

Xu Qing clasped hands respectfully. Feeling mentally drained, he left the Corrections Division and went back to his sword pavilion. Along the way, he thought back to everything he had seen and learned in the minor world. The methods employed by the Swordsage Palace were nothing short of astonishing. He also found himself thinking about those Demi-Immortals he’d seen.

Demi-Immortals.... If I want to investigate the immortal puppet situation, I’m going to have to get close to some Demi-Immortals or Holytides. Otherwise, I’ll never get any information.

He really wanted to run a thorough investigation, no matter how many difficult obstacles he had to overcome. After all, there were 500,000 military credits on the line, as well as a chance at a grade-two battle credit. Going to Mount Daybreak wasn’t going to just require military credits, he also needed battle credits. After analyzing the situation, his heart started pounding.

There’s another option. If I can get my hands on an actual immortal puppet, then maybe I could figure out how the Demi-Immortals make them.

Then he thought about what Ghost Hand mentioned, that the lieutenant governor had done research into immortal puppets. Taking out his swordsage command sword, he paid the military credits to get a consultation with the lieutenant governor.

Everyone in the county capital talked about how knowledgeable the lieutenant governor was. Because of that, he was usually someone people sought for advice. Normally speaking, though, the lieutenant governor had plenty of administrative work to do to help the governor. Therefore, you had to submit an application if you hoped to spend any time asking him questions.

As it turned out, Xu Qing got lucky. About an hour after he got back to his sword pavilion, the lieutenant governor responded to his application.

“Xu Qing?”

Taking out his jade slip, he respectfully replied, “Exalted Lieutenant Governor.”

“How can I help you?” The lieutenant governor sounded tired, like he had just finished a heap of official business.

Xu Qing didn’t want to disturb him unnecessarily, so he sent a very succinct message asking for information about immortal puppets.

“Immortal puppets, huh? I actually have time right now. If you don’t mind coming over here, I can show you personally.”

The lieutenant governor’s response enlivened Xu Qing, and he immediately left his sword pavilion for the city.

It was late at night, but the county capital was well lit. Most shops were still open, and even a lot of mortals were out and about. Street food carts were on every street corner, and swordsages were on patrol.

Xu Qing went to the east part of the city where the Lieutenant Governor’s Mansion was located. When he explained himself to the guards there, one of them led him inside to the study.

Expression somber, Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed. “Swordsage Xu Qing here to request a meeting with the exalted Lieutenant Governor.”

“Come in,” the lieutenant governor said from inside. He still sounded tired.

Xu Qing respectfully pushed the door open and entered. The first thing he saw was the lieutenant governor flanked by a handful of assistants. All of them were working on various medicinal liquid mixtures. Among the assistants was at least one of the swordsages who had joined at the same time as him. That swordsage made eye contact and nodded, then continued to work on the medicinal liquid.

Xu Qing didn’t interrupt. He stood off to the side, taking everything in. Further inside, he noticed an array of potted medicinal plants, many of which had unusual and fantastic flowers.

The lieutenant governor looked exhausted, but his eyes glittered brightly. Clearly, he was at a critical moment in the mixing process. Keeping his attention focused, he added one bottle of medicinal liquid after another into the mix. After finishing, he took the mixture to a pot with a climbing osmanthus plant in it. Very carefully, he poured the mixture into the pot. There was something wrong with the mixture, though, as the plant quickly withered and died.

“Ai.” The lieutenant governor sighed. Massaging the bridge of his nose, he turned to Xu Qing and was about to say something when his transmission jade slip vibrated. Taking it out, he looked at it for a moment, whereupon his expression turned serious. “Xu Qing, the governor just requested my presence. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk with you about immortal puppets after all. But I can give you this.” He took out a jade slip. “This contains some of my research notes. Take some time to study it, then later on you can ask me about any parts you don’t understand.”

After handing the jade slip to Xu Qing, he straightened up his robe. Then he gave some more instructions to his assistants regarding the medicinal mixtures. Finally, he gave another apology to Xu Qing before hurrying away.

Xu Qing clasped hands gratefully and watched him go.

The assistants were already hard at work on a new medicinal mixture. Knowing it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to stand around watching, Xu Qing said farewell and left the Lieutenant Governor’s Mansion.

On the way back through the bustling city, the shops were all open, but many of the street food carts were starting to pack up for the night. As Xu Qing walked along, he noticed one vendor selling candied fruit on a stick that was about to close. The colorful candied fruit caught his eye, so after a moment of consideration, he bought a skewer.

When he took a bite, his eyebrows shot up, and he looked more closely at the candied fruit. The flavor was amazing, and was definitely superior to the candied fruit back in Seven Blood Eyes. The sweetness and tartness was perfectly balanced. Coupled with the icy cold of the fruit, it made Xu Qing think back to his youth in Peerless City. He turned back to look at the vendor, but he had already packed up and left. [1]

“I should have bought a few more,” he murmured, taking another bite.

The flavor really was good.

And thus, Xu Qing walked along enjoying the candied fruit beneath the moonlight, and scanning the information about immortal puppets from the lieutenant governor’s jade slip. The information was very detailed, and included images. Clearly, the lieutenant governor had done very deep research. Xu Qing couldn’t help but admire the lieutenant governor’s breadth of knowledge. As he walked along the street, his expression suddenly flickered.

Turning, he saw a middle-aged cultivator in a black robe barreling around the corner of a nearby building. As he ran, he scattered poison powder around him.

The poison was so strong it caused the surrounding plants to wilt. It also filled the area with a noxious odor.

Someone was chasing the black-robed cultivator.

It was a young woman in a swordsage uniform. She wore a mask on her face, and had a massive evil ghost scythe slung over her shoulders. It was none other than Qing Qiu. Her eyes burned with killing intent, and a baleful aura surrounded her as she chased the black-robed cultivator.

However, this man was just like her in that he had five-palace battle prowess. That, coupled with his poison, made it impossible for Qing Qiu to close the distance.

Considering how much work Xu Qing had done on missions recently, it only took a glance for him to identify the black-garbed man as someone from the wanted list. In fact, Xu Qing even knew his nickname. This man was called the Kid.

Because Qing Qiu was already chasing him, Xu Qing had no intention of interfering. Instead, he prepared to turn and leave.

However, that was when a gust of wind sent some poison floating toward him.

That poison couldn’t possibly bother Xu Qing himself. However, when it landed on his candied fruit, the fruit turned black and started emanating a noxious stench.

Xu Qing’s expression turned dark, and he looked up coldly at the fleeing black-garbed man. Then his right hand flashed, and the bamboo skewer from the candied fruit flew forth.

It whistled loudly through the air toward the man in black. Then a thump rang out as the skewer stabbed into the man’s head and came out the other side. As the black, stinking candied fruits popped off the skewer, the black-garbed man’s eyes went wide, and then he flopped to his face, dead.

1. Most commonly, these candied fruit vendors will have the skewers stuck into a pole that they carry around. That said, they might sell from a cart, or even a bike. I created a gallery of some images of different types of vendors. You might have noticed that he mentioned them being cold. The name of this thing in Chinese sometimes includes the character for “ice.” They’re usually served cold because otherwise the sugary coating melts. They’re particularly common in the winter, at least in terms of being sold on the street. ☜

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