Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 660: Little Ah Qing, I’m Missing a Kidney!

The gray wind blew innumerable particles of sand onto the flying ships. Their ships had defensive shields, but it was still possible to hear the pitter-patter of the sand hitting the hulls of the ships. Meanwhile, Xu Qing heard the words spoken by Fourth Vice-Bishop and Grandmaster Saintlowe.

Fourth Vice-Bishop’s subordinates on the ship, who were mostly focused on healing and recovery, opened their eyes and looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked at Fourth Vice-Bishop. Earlier, when he had laid eyes on Fourth Vice-Bishop for the first time, something about the man had seemed familiar. It had nothing to do with meeting him before in statue form in the Moonrebel Congregation. Every person was represented by a different statue. In fact, the statue might not even be the same gender as the person using it. Only someone with the highest level of authority in the Moonrebel Congregation would be able to see through the disguises. Therefore, Xu Qing stood there for a moment trying to figure out the source of the familiar sensation. As of this moment, he realized why.

The most obvious characteristic of Fourth Vice-Bishop was that he was old-school and very serious. He was the kind of person who didn’t smile a lot, and the wrinkles on his forehead that resembled the character 川 only served to enhance that effect.

Xu Qing now realized that Fourth Vice-Bishop reminded him of someone from Sea-Sealing County: Palace Lord Kong Liangxiu.

Despite the years that had passed, when Xu Qing thought about Palace Lord Kong, his heart surged with emotions. He thought about the palace lord standing tall on the other side of the taboo treasure net, stopping the advance of the Holytide army. The image of him perishing amidst ice and fire was something Xu Qing would never forget.

“The situation in the Land of God Decapitation was orchestrated by my Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing said quietly. It was no lie. That entire episode had come about thanks to the Captain’s effort and planning, although things didn’t end up going as expected. As for the truth of exactly what happened, Xu Qing didn’t feel obligated to explain. “And, yes, I did start the Green Spirit Pharmacy. I know a bit about how to concoct pills, but that’s all.”

Having said that, he glanced at Grandmaster Saintlowe, then closed his eyes and started meditating. Because of the feelings of familiarity that had just arisen in him, he found himself immersing himself in memories of Sea-Sealing County.

Fourth Vice-Bishop looked at him deeply but didn’t ask any further questions. Grandmaster Saintlowe sighed inwardly. He had no reason to think that Xu Qing’s skill in the dao of alchemy was very high, and thus it didn’t occur to him that he might actually be connected to Pill Nine.

After their alchemy showdown, Saintlowe had come to believe that the person who had given voice to his own ambitions in alchemy, which were the same ideals shared by alchemists throughout the Moonrite Region, had to be the same type of person as himself, in other words, someone who had pursued the dao of alchemy for many, many years. There was no way Pill Nine could be a young person.

And thus, Xu Qing immersed himself in thought as the flying ships pierced through the wind and sand. A day later, they arrived at the Bitter Life Mountains.

Patriarch Inkrule made arrangements to give a dozen or so mountain peaks to Fourth Vice-Bishop to serve as the new home for him and his cultivators.

Xu Qing, having accomplished his task, returned to the Green Spirit Pharmacy. After taking the chickens into the backyard, he sat down in front of the Heir Apparent. Taking out the jade slip he hadn’t used, he put it off to the side.

Princess Brightblossom hardly looked at it.

The Heir Apparent took a sip of tea, glanced at the jade slip, then coolly said, “Keep it. Consider it a gift in the form of a life-saving item.”

Hearing that caused Xu Qing’s eyes to flicker. “Are you going away, Senior?”

“Third Sister and I are taking a trip. Our plan is to free Ninth Sib. We don’t need your help this time. We can definitely handle it ourselves; we just need to wait for exactly the right time.”

Xu Qing nodded and put the jade slip away.

“You can’t afford to slack off with your cultivation base. And now I can answer that question you asked about D-132.” The Heir Apparent looked deeply at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing felt a brief twinge of excitement as he focused completely on whatever the Heir Apparent was going to say.

The Heir Apparent was pleased with his attitude. He had spent a lot of time and effort mulling over D-132. Putting down his cup of tea, he said, “Your D-132 is a prison, but also, is destiny aura. And it even contains the finger of a god. That finger isn’t exactly very impressive, despite being the finger of a natural-born god, as far as I can tell.

“However, that's also what muddles up your D-132. The finger actually has authority. Specifically, the power of misfortune! Unfortunately, that misfortune doesn’t belong to you. What belongs to you is the mishmash of destiny aura and misfortune that turns into the prison’s power of amnesia.

“That combination of destiny aura and misfortune is marvelous to say the least. Within it, I can see elements of a human taboo treasure, combined with the work of the Swordsage Division. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, it was modeled after the Swordsage Division’s original Corrections Division! Later generations took inspiration from the historical records, added some new innovations, and then created their own version.”

The Heir Apparent’s words caused Xu Qing to shiver slightly, and suddenly feel even more reverential than before.

He had never said very much about D-132 to the Heir Apparent, yet the man had seen the truth immediately. Xu Qing stood and bowed.

“Thank you for your advice, Senior.”

The Heir Apparent chuckled. “I can sense the power of amnesia within it. It’s a new type of authority... and is also a branch of research that the Swordsage Division focused on in the days of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. During that time, they had a specific name for that branch of study. The will domain.”

Xu Qing suddenly thought back to the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society in Sea-Sealing County. Li Zimei had explained to him that their techniques culminated in the will domain. What was more, the Seazombie king had also walked down that same path. And there was also that Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society cultivator he fought with at the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar, Li Ziliang, who had also attacked with a type of will domain. Then there was Qing Qiu, whose trump card in battle was another type of will domain. After thinking about all of those things, Xu Qing realized it made sense that D-132 had a similar power. [1]

Seeing the expression on Xu Qing’s face gave the Heir Apparent a new level of understanding. “It seems you’ve met cultivators with will domains before. That’s normal. After all, back in the days of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, the Swordsage Division invited others to participate in their research in the hopes of getting better results.

“That said, a will domain of amnesia isn’t something commonly seen. After all, it comes from a convergence of destiny from countless living beings and a god’s misfortune. That’s definitely worth studying more closely. What’s more, the Swordsage Division’s goal in that research was to create a power that could force gods to bend the knee.”

The Heir Apparent picked up his cup of tea. He had recently come up with an ingenious way of giving instruction to Xu Qing. And that was to go into extreme detail with everything he understood, and not give Xu Qing leeway to go off track with his powers of understanding. But when it came to things he wasn’t very familiar with, he would be as vague and mysterious as possible, and ultimately just give a general direction to go in. That was the most suitable thing to do when dealing with Xu Qing’s powers of understanding. As for whether that path would end up leading to results, that would be made clear later on.

Xu Qing took a deep breath. The Heir Apparent’s explanation had made things a lot clearer regarding D-132, and had given him a new direction to pursue. Quickly clasping hands respectfully, he went to the back room, sat down cross-legged, and got to work.

At the same time, his D-132 nascent soul opened its eyes and looked at the god’s finger. The finger tossed and turned as īt slept, even shivering a bit. The other inmates behaved similarly. The head and the stone lion already felt profound respect and reverence for Xu Qing. After coming to the Moonrite Region, they had increasingly come to feel like Xu Qing wasn’t even human any more. He was just that terrifying.

Sir Inkwell similarly trembled. Even if he was a hundred times as brave as he was, he still wouldn’t dare to even speak out of turn to Xu Qing. [2]

Xu Qing wasn’t concerned about the inmates. Looking through the divine will of the D-132 nascent soul, he examined them briefly.

Pursuing the concepts mentioned by the Heir Apparent, Xu Qing realized that the finger was the source of the misfortune, while his nascent soul was the convergence of destiny aura. The mixture of the two created the power of amnesia, and that power was most fully manifest on the inmates.

After a time, his gaze came to rest on Sir Inkwell.

Sir Inkwe’ll’s face was ashen as a very bad feeling rose up within him. “Exalted one,” he said, “I feel like our D-132 just isn’t complete. We’re missing someone... we’re missing that water bucket and that scarecrow!” [3]

“Yeah, that’s right!” the head blurted. “Exalted one, those two are definitely out in the world causing a lot of harm. Since we value justice so much, we can’t just let them run amok!”

Face completely expressionless, Xu Qing made a grasping gesture, causing Sir Inkwell to fly over to him. The old Paintedfolk looked up at him fawningly and opened his mouth to speak.

“Shut up,” Xu Qing said.

Sir Inkwell immediately produced a brush which he used to paint his mouth closed.

Xu Qing nodded. Placing his hand onto Sir Inkwell’s forehead, he examined him with his senses. Then he did the same with the head and the stone lion. In order to make sure his research was as thorough as possible, he smashed all three of them into bloody pulps, then watched closely as they resurrected. After he did it a few times, the three inmates were begging loudly that he end his research. Off to the side, the god’s finger was still trembling.

Xu Qing opened his eyes in the back room of the medicine shop.

Many of the old D-132 guards died because of the misfortune. Even I suffered from a lot of amnesia.... The inmates are fundamentally a part of the misfortune, which makes them eternally indestructible.

The reason for me forgetting is that I was infected with the misfortune but also connected with destiny. That combined into the power of amnesia. Forgetting severed the karma, or put another way, was the core of D-132. In that case, the amnesia... requires a convergence and eruption of misfortune and destiny aura.

Inside D-132, his nascent soul flew over to the god’s finger, reached out, and touched īt. The finger didn’t want to cooperate, yet didn’t dare to fight back. The moment the D-132 nascent soul touched the finger, Xu Qing’s eyes went blank. The blankness lasted for a while until Xu Qing sensed some message fluctuations coming from the Moonrebel Congregation. Taking out the Heir Apparent’s mirror shard, he returned to Paramount Temple.

The moment he stepped in, he heard a howl of grief coming from the Captain’s little totem.

“Little Ah Qing! Something’s wrong here. Something’s very wrong. I’ve been using the Moonrebel Congregation to track down traces of my flesh and blood, and though I can’t get very specific, I’m only missing one piece! M-m-my... my past-life body is missing a kidney! How come I can’t sense it?

“I’ve tried over and over again, but can’t find it. This is impossible! Even if someone ate it, there would still be traces around that I could track. But now... it’s completely gone! My kidney! What happened....?”

1. Li Zimei explained will domains to Xu Qing in chapter 287. In chapter 184.1 we learned that the Seazombie king cultivated a will domain. In chapter 354, Xu Qing fought Li Ziliang, who used a will domain. And Qing Qiu used a will domain in chapter 442. ☜

2. Sir Inkwell, the head, and the stone lion were all put into the D-132 prison in chapter 491. They appeared very briefly in a subsequent chapter, but for the most part, 491 was the last time they were in the story in a meaningful way. ☜

3. When Xu Qing saw the “real” D-132 in chapter 412, one of the inmates’ true forms was a water bucket. And of course, another was a scarecrow. ☜

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