Chapter 1037: A Candle in a Snapshot
Among the eastern Devilbirds, the World Origin Pocket Realm was immensely beneficial to Smoldering Gods in the making of new worlds. As a result, it was very famous. It was located in the north of the Lan Clan’s ancestral lands, about 3,500 kilometers away in the World Origin Wilds.
From the outside, the wilds was a place of barren hills and wild rivers. It contained dangerous animals and toxic miasmas, and was surrounded by a powerful sealing magic that prevented cultivators from entering it casually.
Even an extremely powerful expert who tried to enter by force would find such efforts useless. Without an entry medallion created by Grand Emperor Netherflame of the Lan Clan, any cultivator who wasn’t at the Grand Emperor level wouldn’t be able to see through to the true nature of the place. They would only see the barren hills and wild rivers.
However, with one of those special entry medallions, someone who entered the wilds would suddenly see something very different. Instead of the rugged terrain, dangerous animals, and toxic miasmas, they would see an enormous geographical basin. In the middle of that basin was a shockingly enormous object. It was some 30,000 meters tall, long and thin, and covered with massive amounts of magical symbols. Upon first glancing at this object, anyone who saw it would be shaken to the core. The reason was that it was a jade slip! Put most precisely, it was an ancient jade slip with a snapshot in it.[1][2]
No one knew who originally created it, but given how big it was, it was obviously someone terrifyingly powerful. Based on the records kept by the Devilbird holy land, the jade slip came from beyond the heavens during the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. It originally came to Devilbird lands, but was later borrowed by Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity.
Some years after that, the Grand Emperors of the Devilbirds earned enough battle credit to get the jade slip back from Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. From that point on, it became a holy relic of the Devilbirds.
When the broken face came and the Devilbirds left with Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, they built their holy land beyond the heavens. After various twists and turns, the jade slip became the sole property of Grand Emperor Netherflame. That was how it eventually came to belong to the Lan Clan.
The unique and unusual thing about it was the snapshot stored inside. With an entry medallion from the Lan Clan, one could enter the jade slip, passing from reality into illusory as they stepped into the world of the snapshot.
As for the details of the snapshot.... Some people said it depicted the creation of worlds.
For years, the Lan Clan controlled the pocket realm, and thus, any outsider who wanted to gain entrance would have to pay a considerable price. And ultimately, it came down to whether the Lan Clan felt like letting them in. If the Lan Clan wasn’t willing, then you couldn’t get inside no matter how much you offered to pay.
At the moment, Xu Qing was flying through the air to the border of the barren hills and wild rivers. As he neared, he slowed to a stop and hovered in midair. There were virtually no signs of life; there definitely wasn’t anyone guarding the border. After all, few people could gain entrance, and given the odd nature of the area, there wasn’t really a need for anyone to stand guard.
A few breaths of time passed, whereupon Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed. Taking out the entrance medallion the empress had given him, he unhesitatingly walked into the wilds. It was like walking through a sheet of water. The hills, rivers, animals, and miasmas all vanished. Then Xu Qing saw the enormous basin and the shocking jade slip.
So, I need to enter the snapshot....
Even just looking at the jade slip, Xu Qing could sense an ancient aura coming off it. His gaze drifted to the base of the jade slip.
About thirty percent of it is under the ground... the portion visible above accounts for seventy percent. Just what kind of entity could create a jade slip this big? And what sort of being would be able to leave a snapshot of the creation of worlds?
Xu Qing knew some of the details of the pocket realm from Sir Blood Dust’s memories. Although he had a bit of experience going into places like this, it was obviously his first time coming to this specific location.
After confirming that the area was generally safe, including everything around the jade slip, he hefted the entry medallion and proceeded inside. He didn’t slow down at all, and the moment he made contact with the huge thing, he vanished. It wasn’t that he entered the jade slip. Rather, it was more like he had simply been erased. By some gruish means, he had disappeared from the world!
And when he reappeared... he was inside the snapshot. What he saw in front of him caused waves of shock that shattered any sense of calm within him.
“Is that...?” he murmured in a choked voice.
Xu Qing was a person who had experienced many things in life, and seen quite a bit, so normally he wouldn’t react like this. But the scene in front of him was just stupefying.
It was a massive void! And in the depths of that void was a gargantuan candle. It was bright red, and it was currently burning. As it burned, the candle’s flame illuminated the surroundings, creating something like a glowing halo that filled the void and flickered with unstable, glimmering light. Astonishingly, there were countless planets and innumerable worlds visible, forming out of the dust that surrounded them.[3]
It was literally impossible to count them. In the area toward the edge of the halo of light, the planets and worlds formed out of the dust, but then collapsed and turned back into dust. As the process went on, infinite natural and magical laws were born, only to be destroyed and sent back into the dust. The same thing happened over and over again.
Even just at first glance, Xu Qing saw what had to be hundreds of thousands of worlds to come to existence, and then be destroyed. But that was only what was happening at the periphery. Closer toward the red candle, the planets and worlds formed more slowly, and it also took longer for them to be destroyed.
In fact, Xu Qing was even able to see some planets and worlds that were very close to the candle and seemed almost totally complete.
What am I looking at...? Xu Qing wasn’t sure if he was actually looking at worlds being created. But he was certain that this snapshot contained a very strong world aura.
Natural laws. Magical laws. Essence. Such things were visible everywhere.
But it’s all illusory....
Though it was definitely an illusion, and though he was inside that illusion, he knew that this was clearly a place where Smoldering God cultivators could seek unprecedented levels of enlightenment.
This place must also house immense danger.
Xu Qing sent out his god perception before carefully proceeding. Based on Sir Blood Dust’s memories, the valley where he had experienced those transformations to his fate was located somewhere here, in one of the planets located in the halo cast by the candle.
For all Xu Qing knew, that specific planet might have already ended its life cycle in the months that had passed. It might have collapsed and turned back into dust.
Not wanting to waste any time, he shot forward. As he neared the halo, he sensed heat. It came from the burning red candle, and within it were the embryonic forms of innumerable natural and magical laws. As he moved forward, he carefully avoided the collapsing worlds and focused on his destination.
About an hour passed, at which point he caught sight of the same planet from Sir Blood Dust’s memories. It was in the process of collapsing. However, in that specific area, time moved slowly, and thus, it was only about half-collapsed. Although it was clearly a dangerous place, there was reason for hope.
Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to proceed when his expression turned grim. Then his right hand shot out to his side and clenched down. A cold sensation passed through his palm. His hand clamped down onto absolutely nothing.
The two dao lineaments in his eyes flickered as he looked around. Based on Sir Blood Dust’s memories, he knew that there was a dangerous type of entity that lurked in the World Origin Pocket Realm called a grieve.[4]
Unfortunately, Sir Blood Dust didn’t know what they looked like or how many there were. All he knew was that, though you couldn’t see them, if you got close to them, you would sense some coldness within the heat of this place. That was what Xu Qing had just sensed.
Though Sir Blood Dust didn’t know what they looked like, he did know where they came from. In short, grieves were the shades of cultivators of the past. They were a representation of another of the dangers of this pocket realm. You could easily get absorbed. If you stayed too long in the snapshot, or if you got too close to the red candle, there was a strong chance you would be absorbed.
After that happened to a cultivator, it was as if they were erased and turned into something else impossible to see, and would remain stuck in the snapshot, unable to escape. Though most cultivators knew about that risk before coming in, over time, there were people who, for various reasons, ended up being absorbed and stuck inside. After they were erased, a Grand Emperor would be able to tell if they had become a soul or something else. But Sir Blood Dust had no way of understanding.
Xu Qing looked around coldly. Then, rumbling sounds echoed out as a blood aura spread around him. Thanks to the unique nature of his body, he was confident that he wouldn’t be tainted by the grieves. With that, he continued on his way, getting closer and closer to the collapsing planet.
Soon, he stepped onto its surface. The moment he did, all sensations of heat disappeared. Instead, endless cold surrounded him. Although he didn’t see anything in the vicinity, he could sense that there were countless grieves surrounding him!
Astonishingly, this planet was chock full of grieves!
***
Outside of the World Origin Pocket Realm, beyond the area controlled by the eastern Devilbirds, were the lands of the western Devilbirds. There, the enormous dao altar shaped like a wing was glowing with dazzling light.
High atop the dao altar was an octagonal platform where a figure was seated cross-legged. This person was mostly a blur, like an outline, with no facial features visible. However, despite just being an outline, they pulsed with fluctuations that contained something indescribably terrible. Anyone who came into the presence of this person would tremble and not dare to look at them.
At the moment, one of the western Devilbird’s Imperial Sovereigns was kneeling in front of the platform in just that manner.
Unable to stop his heart from pounding, he quietly said, “Grand Emperor, we’ve searched the holy land from east to west. We’ve looked just about everywhere, with the only exception being the secluded meditation facilities of Grand Emperor Netherflame. Unfortunately, we were not able to find that which you seek.”
Grand Emperor Devilbird said nothing in response.
The kneeling Imperial Sovereign waited for a moment, then slowly got to his feet and respectfully withdrew.
Sometime later the silence of the platform was broken as Grand Emperor Devilbird murmured, “Does it actually exist?”
As his words echoed out, the sound of clinking chains could be heard on the platform. Then, a black-cloaked figure appeared out of nowhere. He was bound with chains, and his fleshly body was in a state of decay. And yet the figure didn’t seem to be in any discomfort at all.
“As I previously said, the Mask of Wishes is intelligent. And it’s never been found when looked for. It can only be encountered randomly. If it doesn’t want to be found by you, then given the level of your cultivation base, you wouldn’t be able to see it even if it was right in front of you. Considering how long you’ve looked for it unsuccessfully, Grand Emperor Devilbird, I think that indicates... you are not meant to find it.” [5]
1. Jade slips are so ubiquitous in xianxia that I’m sure most of you know what they look like. That said, who doesn’t love some cool pictures? And I don’t think I’ve shared any pictures of jade slips so far in this translation. Jade slips are fancier versions of the more common bamboo slips. Whether jade or bamboo, they are long, thin slips that would be bound together to form a scroll. Here is animage collection of actual jade slips and jade scrolls. As you can see, there is actually quite a variety in the possible sizes and shapes. ☜
2. The reason I’m using the seemingly anachronistic term ‘snapshot’ is because the author used a seemingly anachronistic word in Chinese that means... snapshot. If the author does anachronistic things in Chinese, I will do the same in the translation. ☜
3. In reality, instead of the more common word for planet, the author uses the very nebulous term that I usually translate as ‘heavenly body.’ This term can cover everything from stars and moons to planets and asteroids. Given how this scene plays out, I’m going with the ‘planet’ interpretation for ease of translation and reading. What’s more, generally speaking, the term I’m rendering as ‘planet’ tends to be applied (at least by Er Gen) to huge spherical objects, whereas ‘world’ could refer to things like land masses (i.e. Flat Earth type worlds). ☜
4. There is more to come about what exactly the “grieves” are. The Chinese is a word that basically just means “fantastic/bizarre.” However, similar to both the grues and ghasts, the author has turned this word into the name of a specific entity. What’s more, it contains a character that is shared with grues and ghasts. Because of that, I wanted to have a word that starts with G and has a similar feel to the grues and ghasts. ☜
5. There are different words/characters in Chinese that can mean mask or face depending on the context. In this paragraph, it uses the same character that I render as ‘face’ when translating ‘broken face.’ In other words, without context, you could also render this Face of Wishes. However, context makes it clear that the object referred to in this paragraph is a mask. There is a bit more to this situation linguistically that I will explain in a footnote in chapter 1038. ☜