Chapter 964: Beyond Time
Zi Qing, the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, spoke in a soft tone. He wore a violet robe and had long, violet hair that swayed gently behind him. His pale, violet eyes were focused on Xu Qing, who was bound tightly in his hand of fate. His facial expression was tender and caring. He looked exactly like the perfect older brother that Xu Qing remembered from Peerless City.
“Isn’t it possible that’s what really happened?” he said softly. His voice seemed to merge with the wind and dissipated into the ancient past. It was almost like it was supposed to be buried in time, back in Peerless City. “I mean no harm, lil’ bro. This hand of fate is a gift from me to you. It’s formed from the last bit of destiny aura from the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan.”
As the words left the crown prince’s mouth, the huge hand of fate rumbled and turned into a violet dragon that pulsed with destiny aura.
“And the reason I came here today is to take you home. I already pulled the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan out of the netherworld. It’s settled in place in the Heaveneater Region, along with countless citizens and government officials. They’re waiting for me. Once I’m back, I’ll ascend the imperial throne and become the Emperor of Violet and Cyan.
“You, as my younger brother in this life, are bound deeply to me by karma. That’s why I want to take you back with me. The moment I become the Emperor of Violet and Cyan, then you can inherit Revered Ancient’s ancient title of Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan. That title was once the ultimate expression of glory, and I’m prepared to pass it on to you.
“Once you take it, I can command the destiny aura of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan, blessing you with it so that you can ignite your godfire. You can then surpass your current cultivation base and become a god. Can you accept that, lil’ bro?”
Zi Qing’s voice filled heaven and earth like thunder, shaking the surroundings. His words pulsed with a sensation of fate, confirming that what he was saying was true, and corroborating the determination in his heart. Everything he had just said was true and real. Heaven and earth had borne witness to that.
In fact, as Zi Qing spoke, he reached up and touched his forehead as if to extract something, although nothing appeared. However, when he extracted that invisible thing, he suddenly seemed to have lost something very important. It was his title. His name. He had extracted the name of Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan and added it into his words. Now he waited to hear Xu Qing’s decision.
At the moment, Xu Qing had a violet dragon of destiny aura coiled around him, roaring with heaven-shaking, earth-shattering might. All he had to do was nod his head, and it would merge into him. With its help, he could ignite godfire and become a god.
The cultivators who could see what was happening were reeling.
Down in the residence, Erniu looked stunned. Then he gritted his teeth and shouted, “You can’t trust him, Ah Qing. He’s lying!”
Xu Qing looked at Zi Qing in front of him. The crown prince looked back at him with a tender expression. They were the only two people in the air above the imperial palace. The surroundings rippled and distorted.
The rumbling from the abyssal gate was still audible, and the two beams of light were still sending out powerful mutagen everywhere. However, the rumbling wasn’t getting any louder. In fact, it was starting to diminish. Clearly, the empress and the five zombie gods were succeeding.
The incense stick’s worth of time was almost up.
Yet the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan didn’t seem anxious at all, either in his expression or his tone of voice. It was as if this decision of Xu Qing’s was the most important thing in the world to him. Within time, he had seen countless images, most of which concluded with Xu Qing accepting the name and becoming the new Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan. In a few of them, Xu Qing refused, but those were in the minority.
The conclusion was foreordained, and that was him offering the gift and Xu Qing accepting it. Zi Qing’s gaze was soft as he looked at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing said nothing for a long moment. Truth be told, Zi Qing’s offer had caught him by surprise. As he looked him in the eyes, his mind filled with memories of childhood. After that long moment passed, Xu Qing didn’t state his choice.
“I don’t believe you,” he said grimly. “In fact, I have a little speculation that I’d like to confirm. Back during that brutal section of time in which I was ripped to shreds, isn’t it true that, afterward, something very, very unusual happened?
“If my speculation is correct, then whatever happened after I was ripped apart, it led to you cutting that section of time away so that it wasn't visible to the world. Then you replaced that bit of time with some nice memories. That way, I wouldn’t realize what happened. Afterward, I believed those nice memories to be true.”
This was an alternate explanation of what happened. And as the words entered Zi Qing’s ears, his kind and gentle expression faded away.
Xu Qing looked at his older brother and continued, “I’m thinking that you had a very specific reason for giving me that patchwork doll. And as my speculations grew more clear, I realized that, in all likelihood, that doll is actually a key.”
Normally speaking, Xu Qing didn’t talk this much. But today was unique, and so was the person he was talking to. “It’s a key to open fate. Just like the providence you ripped away from Shopkeeper Zhao.” Xu Qing took a deep breath and looked at the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, who no longer looked kind and gentle, and who was now pulsing with a very unusual aura. “Isn’t it true that, back when I was ripped to shreds, you saw something? Or maybe you needed something. Or maybe you feared something. And therefore, you had no choice but to cut away the truth and replace it with something nice. It was like a sealing, wasn’t it?
“And today you saw an opportunity, which is why you’re here. When you offered to let me become the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, it just further confirmed my speculation. If I agreed, then going forward, would the soul inside of me be my own? Or would it be yours?
“I’m honestly not sure what your true objective is. But it seems like you’re using that name as a gruish possession technique. And that has led me to a realization. My soul has something you want, but can’t get. So this is your only option. Am I right, big brother?”
Zi Qing’s pupils constricted.
Wind blew through heaven and earth, stirring both of their hair. As the scintillating sunlight shone down and cast mottled shadows, Xu Qing began to pulse with unstable and terrifying fluctuations. They were destructive fluctuations that influenced fate, causing bright colors to flash in heaven and earth, and stimulating the wind. It was an aura of self-detonation.
Xu Qing was unhesitatingly doing something completely and utterly shocking to everyone. He was choosing to self-detonate, thus ripping himself to shreds like what happened all those years ago. That was his answer to the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan. He wanted to know what was inside his soul.
Years ago, Master Shengyun’s father Chu Tianqun used a god magic on me. He wanted to erase all the karma in my soul. But in the end, he screamed in shock.... What did he see...? [1]
Although Xu Qing didn’t know what Zi Qing’s ultimate objective was, given everything that had played out, it seemed obvious that past karma was an element. That said, this information didn’t change his existing plan.
There was no way that, after laying eyes on Zi Qing in the imperial capital, he would hold back from crafting a plan. That wasn’t his personality. Back when he first realized the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan was in the capital, he had secretly communicated with Master Seventh, and the two of them had hatched a plan.
And the key to the plan was to surpass Zi Qing’s level of control over time. The idea was to do something that Zi Qing wouldn’t have any way of seeing within time. Self-detonation was the only thing Xu Qing could think of that would fit the bill. Master Seventh had approved.
Zi Qing’s face fell. Up to this point, his expression had been warm and gentle. But now, he was visibly taken aback. Not only had his pupils constricted, but also, his heart was pounding. This decision of Xu Qing’s was not something he had predicted could happen. This was not something he had seen within time.
***
A great distance away from the imperial capital of humankind, across the Forbidden Sea, was the continent of South Phoenix. The lord of that continent, Flame Phoenix, currently glided through the air, his sky-obscuring, sun-blocking wings stretched wide. Wherever he passed, the clouds churned and intense rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth. Cyclones sprung up beneath him to ravage the lands.
The area over which he circled was a ruined city overgrown with vegetation. It was the location where the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan had died years in the past. That location later came to be called Peerless City.
At the moment, there were hundreds of thousands of cultivators seated cross-legged there, forming a shocking spell formation. The formation covered a vast area, and was made of cultivators in Foundation Establishment, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Trove. There were also some Void Returning experts present. If Erniu were there, he would recognize most of them at a glance. The majority were disciples from Seven Blood Eyes, although there were also people from the Violet Lands. Actually, there were representatives from all of the major organizations in South Phoenix.
The inner ring of the formation was made of a terrifying collection of flesh that caused heaven and earth to shake, and created ripples and distortions in the area. That flesh was clearly extraordinary.
In the very middle of the formation was a 30,000-meter-tall giant made of mercury. The giant lay prone, and its face was an exact replica of Xu Qing’s face. Located on the forehead of the giant was a drop of Xu Qing’s blood.
Hovering in midair above the giant in a cross-legged posture was Master Seventh. The wind blew, stirring his white hair. He seemed particularly dignified, and his expression was one of unprecedented seriousness. Right at the time that Xu Qing chose to self-detonate, his eyes opened.
“Activate the formation,” he said. “Stimulate time!”
The hundreds of thousands of cultivators shouted their acknowledgement. In the dome of heaven, Flame Phoenix spat out dazzling light. And Master Seventh pulsed with a profoundly ancient aura. That ancient, boundless aura seemed like a measuring stick to use on time itself.
“The supreme star altar adapts unended.
“Expel the ancient, bind the modern, gods protected, spirits defended.
“Wisdom, sensibility, rationality and purity; the heart befriended.
“Three spiritual souls eternal, the physical soul distended.
“My apprentice is stable; reverse the Yellow Springs; hasten as if by laws amended!”
Having said that, Master Seventh pushed his left hand down toward the silver giant. At the same time, he put his hand in front of his chest, performed an incantation gesture, and continued speaking.
“The world is free, filthy energy out of sight.
“The deceitful darkness sways the distant light.
“The surrounding gods make me free of fright.
“Treasures and talismans speak to heaven so bright.
“In millennia past lived he named Zi Qing; he died on this spot and meditated before death; his last energy is now commanded by the Summer; Immortal guides the energy to this spot; hasten as if by laws amended!”
Master Seventh’s eyes seemed full of anger, and each word he spoke boomed like thunder.
As it turned out, he was attempting to extract the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan’s last bit of energy that he breathed out in the moment of his death! He would extract it from time and from all things!
1. The incident with Chu Tianqun seeing something inside of Xu Qing was inchapter 465 . ☜