Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 936: Hidden Currents Flow Again

Erniu had said that when you reach a certain level of success, the people you meet all treat you with kindness. Unfortunately... it wasn’t true kindness. In reality, those people were suppressing their true feelings, and not daring to reveal the truth.

From beginning to end, humankind had never been scintillating and perfect. Whether it was everything Seventh Prince did, or the arrogant King Heaventide, or the various human factions that had somehow managed to survive over the tens of thousands of years.... All had their own way of thinking, and all were out for their own interest. Under normal circumstances it wasn’t uncommon for humans to cheat each other, fight each other, and struggle for power.[1]

Only when the emperor stepped in and forced everyone to cooperate did people get along and act united. But the reality was that such unity was only visible when the species was in mortal danger. Either that or... someone like Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity appeared who could put all the factions in line, suppress wickedness and replace it with virtue, and smooth out all the complications. It would also require crushing any who didn’t cooperate!

But without such special circumstances, the brightness of day would turn into the darkness of night. Distractions, evil intentions, and personal profit would always exist.

Xu Qing understood that truth, and the scene which had played out today only deepened that understanding. It wasn’t really important why King Wildmist had done what she did. Keeping his expression calm, Xu Qing turned to King Firecrusher.

King Firecrusher looked at him and quietly said, “Revered Ancient is cloaked in the darkness of night. You. Me. All living beings. We’re all stuck in that darkness.... Some become mired in it. Others struggle to be free.... And that is because their hearts lead them in the direction of the light.”

Sighing, King Firecrusher turned and walked toward Xu Qing.

As Xu Qing contemplated the words that had just been spoken, King Firecrusher continued speaking.

“Of course, there’s another possibility. It could also be that King Wildmist chose this moment to assess my attitude....”

Around then, Grand Prince and the others reached Xu Qing. They looked alarmed and angry, especially Grand Prince, who was clearly furious with King Wildmist.

“Tutor...” he began.

Xu Qing interrupted with the shake of his head. “It has nothing to do with you.”

Xu Qing turned and then vanished into thin air. When he reappeared, he was on the street not too far from the Foreign Affairs Pavilion. As he walked along, he thought back to what had just played out, and also what King Firecrusher had said.

Before long, he was back at his greater spirit mansion. For the time being, he wasn’t going to worry about the events that just played out. Instead, he thought back to when he had first arrived in the imperial capital, and some of the things he had unwittingly been dragged into.

For example, there was the time he was ambushed on the street in the rain. There was the theft of the Dawning Sun. And then there was the case of the God-Merging School in the Imperial University. And of course, who could forget the strange figure he had seen in that room. Xu Qing found himself thinking about all those things.[2]

The emperor and the imperial preceptor are working on a deal. And at the same time, they’re playing Go.... But there’s a third party in the mix....

In the past, he himself had been a mere game piece on the board. Even though he had The Emperor’s Sword, as long as he was in the Imperial Region, it would be impossible to escape that game board. Right now, his status and battle prowess only seemed to make him more desirable as a game piece.

Soon, he was standing outside of his greater spirit mansion. From there, he looked in the direction of the imperial palace. And he could see Planet Ancient Emperor hovering in the night. His eyes glittered.

I have the feeling all of the hidden currents will come to the surface when the emperor offers the ancestral sacrifices.

Lightning crashed, sending thunder rumbling out over the city, and stirring the clouds. The sky was changing. [3]

The clouds seethed as rain started to fall. The rain quickly grew heavy and monotonous.

Xu Qing pushed the door open, and as he stepped in, a figure rushed toward him through the rain.

“What’s going on, little Junior Brother? I was just trailing a fellow that looked a lot like Master. I was just about to leave the city when I sensed the fluctuations of your sageheaven god vine. Did something happen?”

Erniu’s arrival caused a smile to appear on Xu Qing’s grim face. After witnessing firsthand the complicated elements of the world, as well as the malice that existed everywhere, it led to a very strange feeling on Xu Qing’s part. To follow that up with a simple and sincere expression of concern from Erniu was really something precious. It didn’t matter that that simplicity and sincerity would only be directed toward a few people. To Xu Qing, it was a blessing to just be one of those people.

Xu Qing’s smile was one of joy. “It was a small, unimportant matter.”

Erniu gaped at Xu Qing for a moment, then smiled. “Well in that case, I guess there’s nothing to worry about. That said, little Ah Qing, normally speaking I’m the one that takes you on big jobs. And that means that if you’re planning something big, you need to let me know. Otherwise your Eldest Brother is going to get pissed off!”

If nothing else, Erniu had a very, very sharp sense of smell.

Looking Erniu in the eyes, Xu Qing nodded. Then, he led Erniu into the spirit mansion. Once in the main hall, Erniu started brooding about the person he’d been following.

“I’m telling you, little Ah Qing, that person resembled the old codger by about seventy percent!”

Erniu had changed the way he referred to Master Seventh. He’d started with Master, then went to old man, then old brat, and finally old codger.

Xu Qing hesitated briefly, then said, “I’m sure Master has his own things to worry about, Eldest Brother. It’s really not necessary for you to spend all your time looking for him....”

“No way!” Erniu said sharply. “If I don’t track down that shifty geezer fast enough, we’re going to start losing out on the flesh and blood of the broken face!”

Xu Qing could tell that Erniu had made his mind up. There wasn’t much to be said. That said, he felt deep down that there was no way their Master would hog all the loot. There had to be some other reason from him to be acting this way.

After grumbling and cursing for a bit, Erniu finally waved his hand to produce a puppet. It was... extremely ugly. The various pieces had obviously been forced together, and there were many parts that didn’t line up properly. As a result, the puppet just barely resembled a recognizable form.

Xu Qing looked at it and saw that it would only take a single blow of ordinary Spirit Trove strength to destroy it.

“It was too hard.” Erniu sighed bitterly. “This was the best I could do. If I had known something like this would happen, I would have spent more time in past lives learning puppet arts.

“However, doing the work made me realize how interesting this puppet is. Very useful too. Remember how well things went for Feng Lintao when he could control the puppets? Giving up just isn’t an option. I definitely have to figure out a way to fix the thingy. I guess I’ll just have to keep asking around about who in the capital is really good with puppet arts.”

Looking at the jury-rigged puppet, Xu Qing thought back to the events of the day. Then he said, “Eldest Brother, I might know someone who can help with puppet arts.”

Erniu immediately looked up.

“Fan Shishuang,” Xu Qing said.

Erniu’s eyes lit up. “I vaguely remember him. He was the one who rushed out very dramatically outside of God Mountain, right? The wave of his hand produced a host of puppets that he tried to use to crush you? That’s the crappy Fan Shishuang you’re talking about? He’s obviously skilled with puppets. But we can’t go all the way back to Firemoon Darkheaven territory just to talk to him!”[4]

Erniu’s time lately had been spent on researching puppets, keeping an eye on his Grand Zodiacist Armor, and trying to track down their Master. Considering how cautious Fan Shishuang had been since arriving, it was little wonder that Erniu had no idea he was around.

Xu Qing smiled. “He’s here in the capital!”

Erniu’s eyes lit up.

***

Elsewhere in the capital, a massive bolt of lightning slashed through the dark clouds, providing a brief moment of dramatic illumination. Then came the deafening boom of thunder. The thunder was so loud that it shook the ground and reached the ears of everyone in the capital.

That included Fan Shishuang. He felt a surge of shock within him, and the drinking vessel in his hand trembled. Given his level of cultivation base and will, it was impossible for him to be so shaken by some simple thunder.

All of a sudden, the music around him grew louder, and a gentle voice pierced through the buzz of the crowd.

“Fellow Daoist Fan, I heard that you’re leaving tomorrow. Therefore, I invited my Third Sister here to join our farewell banquet.”

Fan Shishuang looked up. He was currently in a large hall, on either side of which were seated dozens of people. All were human chosen, and based on the introductions from earlier, Fan Shishuang could only come to the conclusion that they all came from noble houses or important sects. As far as he was concerned, such people weren’t even important enough to talk to. They might as well have been a flock of sparrows.

Seated next to him was the Third Princess of the humans, whose name was Anhai, as well as Fourth Prince, who was the apprentice of the imperial preceptor. At the most, they were people Fan Shishuang might pay slightly closer attention to. And they also qualified to invite him to drink together.

Of course, there was another reason he had accepted the invitation. His mission had been accomplished and he was leaving the next day, so it didn’t seem likely that Xu Qing would come looking for him to cause trouble. After coming to human lands, he hadn’t seen anyone or even gone outside. Though he had announced he was going into seclusion to practice meditation, the reality was that he felt like he had lost face. And once word got back to the Firemoon Darkheaven people, he would surely be made fun of. Thus, he chose to make a public appearance on this day.

Looking at the kind and amiable Fourth Prince smiling at him caused Fan Shishuang to suppress the strange feeling of trepidation he had just experienced. Smiling, he grunted an acknowledgment of Fourth Prince.

Fourth Prince didn’t find anything unusual about that reaction. He knew full well that this was an echelon cultivator from the Firemoon Darkheavens who had stepped into the Smoldering God level with near-record speed. And of course, he would eventually become an apex expert in that level. In fact, he had recently been named one of the Firemoon Darkheavens’ heavenly kings. It made sense for someone like that to be proud and arrogant. Fourth Prince looked at Princess Anhai.

For some unknown reason, she had been spending a lot of time with Fourth Prince recently. Though she wasn’t very pleased with this Firemoon chosen, she kept a smile on her face as she lifted her drinking vessel in a toast.

Fan Shishuang’s gaze remained neutral as he tilted his drinking vessel in her direction as a response.

Everyone else present noted what had just happened, and though they didn’t react visibly, the interchange was very noteworthy to them.

The human chosen sat there, contemplating the developments. All of them felt a lot of pressure at that moment. Though they seemed like they were just enjoying the music and dancing, the reality was that everyone single one of them was paying close attention to Fan Shishuang. After all, he was the most important guest.

1. King Heaventide was mentioned a lot, but the important part featuring him was primarily from chapter 733-. ☜

2. Xu Qing was ambushed in the rain starting in chapter 755. The Dawning Sun theft was in . The God-Merging school situation obviously spanned many chapters, although the resolution started with the dao debate in . The strange figure in the room was actually in the chapter before that, . ☜

3. In this case the description is about the weather change in the sky. However, as you probably know, the character usually translated as sky can also be translated as heaven. To talk about heaven changing is a metaphorical way of saying that the government/ruler will change. That doesn’t necessarily mean the author is trying to hint at something here. Maybe he just literally means that the weather is changing. Or is it foreshadowing? There’s really no way to know. I checked the comments on this part in Chinese and noticed some readers making the connection to a change in rulership, but others did not seem to interpret it that way. ☜

4. Remember many chapters ago how Erniu switched some of the characters in Tuo Shishan’s name to make fun of him? He does the same thing here, and even inserts the same character for “poop” into it. The new characters create a name that sort of means “unparalleled poop.” Incidentally, Fan Shishuang and his puppets faced off against Xu Qing in chapter 851. ☜