Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 918: Don’t Worry About Me, Little Junior Brother, Just Get Out Of Here!

The jade bottle was so white and sleek it almost looked like the fat of a lamb. It was even surrounded by a glowing white halo, making it seem completely extraordinary. Feng Lintao reached out, caught it, scanned it with divine will, and then nodded.

Voice cool, Lan Yao said, “The Nobleplexus Holy Hex is a secret magic that only direct bloodline clan members of my species can learn. Rumor has it that if you unleash its full potential, you can even assimilate a god. Those two humans are anything but simple, and we don’t have time to waste, so this is all I can do.

“The truth is that it’s not a rumor. You’re only a half-blooded Devilbird, so you have no way of knowing all the details. Truth be told, back when the holy ancestor led my people away from the Revered Ancient mainland, it was technically before Eminent Desolation arrived, yet other gods had already appeared. Back then, the holy ancestors used the hex to assimilate a number of High Gods.”

Feng Lintao’s expression flickered as he nodded. “Many thanks for the information, Fellow Daoist Lan. Given that the two humans now have a bit of a lead, I need to unleash the magic right away.”

With that, Feng Lintao took a deep breath. Without the slightest hesitation, he opened the jade bottle, whereupon a drop of milky white liquid flew out. It didn’t emanate any spirit energy fluctuations. However, the entire area immediately became extremely dry, as if all the water had vanished. It was almost as if no other liquids could exist in the presence of this serum.

Both Feng Lintao and Lan Yao released the light of the holy lands around them, causing them to be covered in silver. Apparently, that protected them from the serum.

A serious look could be seen on Feng Lintao’s face as he looked at the white serum in front of him and performed a double-handed incantation gesture. As a result, a host of sealing marks flew out toward the serum. A gruish scene resulted. Each sealing mark that reached the serum would pass through, then grow larger, reaching a size of 300 meters as it flew up into the sky. There, it would disappear. By the end, a total of 108 sealing marks did this.

Apparently, that was Feng Lintao’s limit. By the time the final magical symbol vanished into the air, it had become translucent. Also, the dryness in the area disappeared.

Feng Lintao looked at Lan Yao and said, “Alright, those two can’t get away now. Let’s go see how it plays out.”

Lan Yao smiled gladly as the two of them strode off through the air.

***

A few thousand kilometers away, Xu Qing and the Captain were speeding through midair. They had not said a single word to each other so far, and were focusing completely on their escape.

A moment later, a 300-meter magical symbol appeared in the sky overhead, then screamed down to intercept them. An instant later, its shocking speed brought it right down in front of them. The air shattered, turning into innumerable fragments that, from a distance, looked like a blooming flower.

Actually, it really was a flower! It was as white as a lotus, and was slowly rotating in place.

Both Xu Qing and the Captain suddenly looked very grim. Without any hesitation, they changed directions. Just as they did, a second magical symbol appeared in the dome of heaven. Then a third and a fourth....

Eventually, more than thirty were falling toward them. Rumbling sounds echoed out nonstop as the air shattered, with fragments whipping about wildly into the form of a storm.

It was a storm of numerous white lotuses, which were surrounding and hemming in Xu Qing and the Captain.

At the same time, even more 300-meter magical symbols appeared in the sky. In the blink of an eye, a total of 108 white lotuses had surrounded the 50-kilometer area, and they spun madly as they created a terrifying sealing power. Even more shocking, each rotation caused green threads to appear.

They contained scorching power and might to eradicate the world as they swept noiselessly toward Xu Qing and the Captain. Before long, Xu Qing and the Captain were surrounded by countless green threads. And as the precious lotuses rotated, more threads appeared.

From a distance, it was possible to discern that the green threads were actually creating a gigantic, 50-kilometer green lotus!

All of the water vapor in the area had vanished, to be replaced by scorching heat that baked the lands. A sensation of assimilation rocked heaven and earth. This sealing magic was like a massive furnace!

Inside, Xu Qing and the Captain both had serious looks on their faces. An intense sensation of crisis filled both of them. They exchanged a glance, and then both resorted to different methods of escape.

The Captain shivered as a host of blue worms appeared, which spat out frigid energy. The spine and the skeletal hand flickered within that energy as they launched a vicious attack straight ahead. A rumbling boom echoed out like heavenly thunder, and the gigantic lotus furnace shivered. However, it didn’t crumble.

As for Xu Qing, his Spirit-Devouring Dagger could slice through natural laws, but it couldn’t cut through this wall of assimilation, only shake it slightly.

Seeing that, Xu Qing looked silently at the Captain. Their eyes met, and they didn’t need to exchange any words. Both knew what the other was thinking.

“Are you sure?” Xu Qing asked in a low voice.

“I’m sure!” the Captain replied, licking his lips and blinking a few times.

A blue worm appeared in Xu Qing’s hand, which he absorbed. Then, without another word, Xu Qing lifted his right hand and smacked it toward the top of his head. That blow caused rumbling to sweep through his body. His god soul flew out from his fleshly body, which then opened its mouth and devoured his fleshly body.

The Captain did the same thing. His god soul flew out, which he used to contain countless worms.

Xu Qing, in his god soul body, shoved his hand out in front of him. That caused ripples to surround him, and despite the lack of any water vapor in the area, it suddenly looked like a surface of water. The ripples spread out. Unfortunately, the Nobleplexus Holy Hex was truly terrifying. Though Fishing the Moon in the Well could be used anywhere, it was being gravely affected in this circumstance. The moment the water ripples appeared, they almost instantly began to dry up.

Xu Qing in god soul form didn’t take time to sit around and contemplate things. Taking advantage of the time bought by using Fishing the Moon in the Well, he waved his hand toward the surface of water. What he fished up wasn’t a lotus, but rather, the Captain’s soul.

Next, a huge hand appeared outside of the massive lotus. It contained immeasurable power, as it was made from a river of stars. It reached down and made contact with the lotus, whereupon the hand shivered, and the lotus shone with bright light.

Sadly for the lotus, the illusory power of Fishing the Moon in the Well was very unusual. That was especially true since Xu Qing had become one of the essence sources of Fishing the Moon in the Well, providing it with very powerful personhood.

As a result, the huge illusory hand rumbled loudly as it pierced deeply into the massive lotus. It dropped down to fish out the god souls of Xu Qing and the Captain. Grasping them in its palm, it forcefully pulled them up.

It looked like Xu Qing was going to succeed at using an unimaginable tactic to break free. But right then, a cold snort echoed out. Countless flower petals swept through the air to land on Xu Qing’s Fishing the Moon in the Well hand.

The cold snort came from Feng Lintao. The flower petals came from Lan Yao. Both of them looked surprised, and were clearly taking the situation seriously. Obviously, neither of them could have ever guessed that Xu Qing could do something so outrageous.

An instant later, Feng Lintao waved his hand, and a rumbling storm wind turned into a five-colored peacock with a black horn, which lunged toward Xu Qing’s hand. Lan Yao’s flower petals converged, turning into a sword of flowers that could sever heaven. It chopped down!

Instantly, Xu Qing’s massive hand trembled on the verge of collapse. It seemed incapable of lasting much longer. In that moment of crisis, a desperate howl erupted from the palm of the hand.

The Captain’s god soul burst out into the open, spat up his fleshly body, and then fused with it.

“Don’t worry about me, Little Junior Brother, just get out of here! Go tell the sect what’s happening!”

The Captain, looking like he was ready to die, threw all caution to the wind. He spread his arms out wide, and dazzling blue light became a host of worms that erupted wildly. Combining with the spine and the skeletal hand, they turned into a humanoid obstacle that blocked the path of the five-colored peacock and the heaven-severing sword of flowers.

“Eldest Brother!!” Xu Qing cried, his eyes flashing with fury. But in the end, there was nothing he could do. Taking advantage of the time the Captain had bought, he allowed the massive hand to pull his god soul free.

Outside of the massive green lotus, the huge hand vanished, and Xu Qing’s god soul appeared. There, he spat out his fleshly body and combined with it, then turned to flee.

That was when a cold voice echoed out from the massive lotus. “If you leave, your Eldest Brother’s god soul will be destroyed! It’s your fault he’s in this position!”

As the voice echoed out, the lotus became transparent, revealing Lan Yao and Feng Lintao inside.

Feng Lintao currently held the Captain by the neck. The Captain’s eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving. It looked like he was unconscious. He was limp and covered with blood, as if he had been seriously injured.

Xu Qing looked down, his expression one of grief and indignation, but also, decisiveness. All of a sudden, godly authority flared around him. The violet moon rose, Hellfei appeared, and the power of misfortune surged. There was more. The Emperor’s Sword within him thrummed as the emperor’s soul seized it. What resulted wasn’t a terrifying sword projection as occurred in the fight with Sir Firedark. Instead, it looked like signs of putting everything on the line. The Grand Darkheaven Armor shone dazzlingly. Everything Xu Qing was doing was indicating that he was ready to die fighting. In fact, a host of ghost-face centipedes appeared, all of them pulsing with the power of self-detonation.

When Feng Lintao and Lan Yao saw that he seemed ready to throw caution to the wind, their hearts sank. Although they still had things they could do to continue this fight, the reality was that they both had their own agendas, and they had to be on guard against each other.

As a result, neither wanted to take action casually. Although these humans were only in Void Returning, they had already unleashed some astonishing techniques. For example, the huge hand just now had contained dao reverberations, and was clearly nothing to take lightly. Getting free from it wasn’t going to be an easy thing. What was more, this person had just revealed a godly aura that was so terrifying they could hardly imagine what trump card it represented. And then there was that sword will.... Feng Lintao and Lan Yao could both sense the faint aura of an emperor within it.

He has an Emperor’s Sword!

That was what both of them were thinking as they struggled to control their breathing. Based on their past experiences, they could only come to the conclusion that if Xu Qing unleashed all of his battle prowess, it would be risky to try to contain him. And it was hard to say which of the two of them might get injured by the sword. They were now actually starting to get scared, and were starting to realize this situation wasn’t going to be resolved easily.

They couldn’t let Xu Qing go free, and it wasn’t going to be easy to capture him. And killing him would be even less easy. Unfortunately, if you ride a tiger, it’s hard to get off.

The only upside was that they had his Elder Brother captive in the Nobleplexus Holy Hex. But in the end, it was still something of an impasse.

Feng Lintao’s heart continued to sink, and his gaze flickered unstably.

As for Lan Yao, she looked at Xu Qing then suddenly said, “Fellow Daoist, you must have an idea of how strong we are after all this fighting. And we can see how strong you are. We have your Eldest Brother captive, and at the same time, we can’t let you go free. Since we’re in a deadlock, why don’t you consider... joining us on our task?”