Chapter 896: A Promise from Within Time
The only thing to be seen in the god’s eyes was apathy. It was as if to īt, all experiences in life were devoid of both joy and sorrow. Life was fine. Death was also fine. Everything was just part of the simple cycle of reincarnation. When to awaken. When to return. īt could ‘see’ everything.
Fate itself was like a host of particles that formed a river, and every single wave and ripple on its surface was something īt was aware of. Therefore, to the eyes of a god, calmness was the most unchangeable factor of time. It was as if from the moment īt gained consciousness, īts gaze never faltered. It was that way when īt fought the human antemage, and it was also that way when īt was suppressed by the three gods.
And it was the same today, when īt used the corpse of the emperor to awaken within the god domain and get a chance to change the situation in the Mountain and Sea Region. It didn’t matter that īt was extremely weak right now. Whether the result was success or failure, it would all bring valuable experience.
And thus, īt looked around at the area in which īt had awoken. The canopy of heaven was shattered. The planets had become dust and joined the tempest. Time in this place had stopped moving. All of the natural and magical laws had lost their essence.
Even the air seemed still and unmoving. There was little need to mention... the ants charging toward īt.
Xu Qing. The Captain. Sir Firedark.
When īt gazed at them, it was as if they weren’t even moving. It was like they were paper cutouts standing motionless in time. Both flesh and soul withered. Fate and karma dimmed. The gaze of a god could wipe out all such things.
But to īts omniscient gaze, it was the same whether any of those things happened or not. Therefore, īts gaze did not focus on the three pieces of paper. Instead, īt looked outside of the mausoleum to something that īts omniscience revealed to be a different fate. It was īts only option. In īts omniscience, it understood that there actually was no true and absolute omniscience in the universe. Some of it was relative, and some of it only covered certain areas or levels.
Thus, īt had long since come to be engaged in a fight with those three gods from a later generation. And it was a godly fight that spanned time. That fight could be considered god karma. And that was īts enemy.
Now, as īt woke up here, īt could give up on the godsource of īts true self in the Mountain and Sea Region. If īt could recapture its status as the lord of this god domain, then īt could achieve victory in the battle. īt could crush the three gods and devour the god karma they turned into.[1]
That experience could be used to develop a god altar, which īt could ascend to reach a higher level as a god. As īt recreated everything, and as time changed because of it all, īt returned to the time īt fought the antemage years ago, in order to sever the unfavorable fate from the past. The only fate left behind after that would be the god altar.
This was īts path of godhood. Cross time. Sever contrary fate. In that manner, īt could go from the Godfire level to the Altar God level! In īts omniscience, īt understood that to gods, the god altar was a necessary obstacle.[2]
When īt ‘looked’ at fate, it was only natural that it saw the obstacle formed by the three mysterious gods. That was why īt had long decided to pick this god domain as the battleground. That way, īt could inextricably link ītself to thēm, and thus... form god karma together.
Except... as īt knew, the omniscience of gods wasn’t absolute. It was relative. Therefore, īt looked out of the mausoleum at something that existed outside of the fate and time that īts omniscience could see. It was something unexpected hidden within the fate and time that īt could see.[3]
It came when īts gaze passed through the ants. It came from the Captain’s and Xu Qing’s time. Perhaps the most accurate way to put it is that it came from another area or level of time that existed outside of īts omniscience.
Long ago in the Moonrite Region, Xu Qing had asked the Captain a question.
“Eldest Brother, during the battle with the godchild, you were responsible for a time period in which Li Zihua was alive. So... did you actually run into him there?”
As the Captain had explained, he made a deal with the Li Zihua of the past. [4]
Back then, Xu Qing had assumed it was all related to Crimson Mother. But now he realized that since the deal was made in the past, it had to occur in the past.
And now, Li Zihua was coming. This coming was the deal hē had made with the Captain. It was a finger that emerged from Xu Qing and the Captain’s time. It was a finger that had seemingly always been there. When first looking at the seemingly indescribable finger, īt looked to be formed from fate, or the stars, or the will convergence of the universe. īt contained all light, all power, and all knowledge.
The entire mausoleum became irrelevant and dispensable. The entire planet became an insignificant decoration. The entire god domain transformed into a forgettable backdrop.
Nothing could match up to this glory. Upon second glance, īt looked ordinary, like any other finger. īt was neither too refined nor too rough. īt had prints on īt, and seemed simplistic in nature. īt appeared within the gaze of the god, and then... īt touched the spider on the face.
It was a light touch, but the spider shivered violently, and the eternally apathetic look in īts eyes collapsed. The never-ending calm there shattered. This god actually did have emotions!
Apathy transformed into stupefaction. Calmness became confusion.
As of this moment, īt understood that the obstacle to becoming an Altar God wasn’t the three gods. Rather, it came from... this finger, which came completely unexpectedly.
“So, it’s a springboard.”
Unsurprisingly, the spider shattered into pieces that collapsed into dust. Unsurprisingly, the emperor’s corpse didn’t fight back at all. The altar turned into an abyss, and the corpse fell down into the depths!
The remaining soul couldn’t do anything, and was crushed! īts world became black.
It wasn’t just here that everything went dark. It was also in the Mountain and Sea Region....
īts world went dark, but in the mausoleum, Xu Qing and the Captain saw bright colors. The paper vanished, and they became flesh and blood again. For once, the Captain hadn’t disappointed Xu Qing.
“The sound wave destroyed the barrier. The dawning light destroyed the seal. A finger from time crushed the god. Little Junior Brother... our time has arrived!”
Laughing heartily, the Captain became a streak of light that shot toward the corpse of the emperor that Li Zihua’s finger had crushed.
Xu Qing’s heart was pounding. It was the first time it happened since he came to the god domain. He and the Captain had done so many big jobs together that to a certain degree, Xu Qing was inoculated to surprise. But right now, he was deeply shaken. And without any hesitation, he burst into motion along with the captain.
One went to the dantian region. The other went to the forehead!
Of course, there was a third party closing in at top speed. It was none other than Sir Firedark.
From beginning to end, she had been hit with shock after shock. All she’d been able to do was staunchly stick to her convictions. And it didn’t matter whether she ended up stopping the Captain or robbing him, she wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass by. She was just on the verge of entering the corpse along with Xu Qing and the Captain.
That was when the Captain performed an incantation gesture and pointed off into the distance. Outside of the mausoleum, in the crumbled labyrinth, a pearl appeared. Dazzling light flowed on its surface, light that could solidify yin and yang. There was an ancient aura within it, and a life source origin that made it clear it was a precious treasure. But at the same time, it looked like a fish that had been taken far from water, and was starting to dry out.... It started to crack, to crumble, and to die. In fact, if that fish wasn’t returned to the water soon, it would cease to exist.
Instantly, Sir Firedark, who had been just about to enter the emperor’s corpse, shivered from head to toe. She could sense the aura of that pearl, and knew that it was her life essence pearl. That was why she hated the Captain so much. There was nothing more important to her than that pearl. From that it could be seen why she hated him so dearly.
And thus, she had to make a snap decision. Would she... continue into the corpse, or give up and try to retrieve her pearl?
That was exactly the position the Captain had intended to put her in.
Sir Firedark really had no options. Eyes turning crimson, she turned and raced off in the direction of her life essence pearl.
As she left, Xu Qing and the Captain and dropped down and entered the corpse.
Then the corpse disappeared into the abyss below. Above, the emperor’s mausoleum collapsed into rubble. It wasn’t just limited to the mausoleum. The entire planet that had contained the tomb collapsed.
As for Sir Heavenink, Tuo Shishan, and Fan Shishuang, they teleported away in their fear.
After everyone was gone, the spot in the center of the god domain that had once held a planet now became home to a black hole. As it spun noiselessly, it exerted a tug on the entire god domain. Beyond the borders of the black hole, the three chosen looked back wordlessly.
Three gods also appeared above the black hole in the god domain. Thēir auras spread out, and thēir godlight shone brightly in all directions.
“The opportunity has arrived,” Sunfire said coolly.
Sir Heavenink, Tuo Shishan, and Fan Shishuang bowed their heads. All were conflicted inwardly. Earlier, they had all been wondering why... the three gods hadn’t shown up. Now there didn’t seem to be any question about that.
Sir Firedark appeared, having retrieved her pearl. She looked on silently. As of now, she understood that both she and the other Firemoon chosen had been nothing more than game pieces in this god domain.
So who’s going to play the next game piece?
She looked down into the black hole. Its reflection slowly filled her eyes as it grew larger, and it contained nothing but darkness.
***
In the depths of the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands in the Mountain and Sea Region, a pair of eyes opened up in the darkness. They quickly began to suck all of the darkness into them, as if they were whirlpools.
“Has the opportunity arrived?” he said in a raspy voice. It was like a voice that blew out of an ancient abyss, waking to fulfill a promise of godly ascension from within time. He slowly stood up. Then he made his way toward the god shrine above him, which suppressed Ninedawns.
Inside the shrine was the withered spider god, which was starting to rot into nothing.... The connections of fate ensured that he grew clearer and clearer as he neared. He was absorbing everything about the spider god.
1. There are several plays on words that go into what I’m rendering as ‘god karma.’ Sadly, there is no way to maintain all of these different word elements in the translation, thus this footnote. The first relates to the ordinary word for karma. As I’ve mentioned before, and presumably many of you know, the word commonly translated as ‘karma’ in xianxia consists of two characters that could be rendered ‘cause and effect’ or ‘because and result’ or other similar things. In this case, the term I’m rendering ‘god karma’ takes the ‘effect/result’ character and combines it with ‘god.’ So while normal karma could be ‘cause and effect’ or ‘because and result’ in this case, the invented term is ‘god and effect’ or ‘god and result.’ But the reality is that the literal breakdown is actually not how this term should be understood. However, the explanation doesn’t come until later, so I’ll leave off on that note for now. One other thing: the character for effect/result could also be rendered ‘fruit.’ So when it talks about him ‘eating’ the god karma, it involves that element of wordplay as well, and could even be interpreted as ‘god fruit.’ ☜
2. In Chinese, the cultivation level of Altar God is actually in the reverse order. In other words, the level is simply ‘God Altar.’ However, as is common with cultivation levels, the author often uses the name of the level to describe the people in that level. To make the English work properly, it would be necessary to say things like “the God Altar god clenched his fist,” which (imho) is clunky. This sort of thing works when you add ‘cultivator’ to the end of a cultivation level, but when the level itself contains the word for ‘god’ and its used to describe a god... it’s just weird. A simple fix is to switch the order, as I’m doing. For ease of reading, I’m going to use Altar God to refer to the individual, and use ‘god altar’ to refer to the thing. ☜
3. In Chinese, this paragraph includes an extra line that starts with “it was just like” and then offers an explanation based on ancient divination techniques from theBook of Changes . Essentially, there is a concept that there is a certain number of fixed outcomes with one variable that’s secret. The idea with this saying is sort of like “there is always a slight ray of hope.” I’m leaving that sentence out because it doesn’t make sense on its own when translated directly, and if you convert it to its intended meaning, it basically just means the same thing as what’s stated in the previous sentence. ☜
4. I’ve changed this section a bit. The author made a slight mistake here. Not only did he get the quote wrong, but also, he forgot when exactly the Captain told Xu Qing this information. I’ve edited it to match what actually happened, which was inchapter 709 . ☜