Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1172: Sixteen Words from the Marriage Contract!

On that occasion days earlier, Nineshores had accepted the other betrothal gifts, but had not taken the jade slip that allowed the user to take any treasure from the immortal palace. He had given that to Xu Qing. All in all, he was giving away his daughter’s hand in marriage, and given his personality, was not the type of person to covet the belongings of a family friend.[1]

That jade slip was now a trump card for Xu Qing to play in a key moment. Originally… Xu Qing had been ambivalent about the use of the jade slip.

And when he picked the sword furnace as the location to fight Sir Star Ring, he didn’t do it with the intention of forcing the two swords to be bonded to him. His original goal had been to ensure that the clash between order and chaos would put pressure on to the two swords in the furnace, and thus give Hordeslayer and Rampart no choice about what to do. They would be forced to take advantage of the moment to complete the swords ahead of schedule. They would be in a very passive position.

If Sir Star Ring won, then their future success would all be contingent on his approval. After all, suppression itself was an act of maintaining order. If the young lord won… then all he would have to do was order them to be bonded to him. That also gave Hordeslayer and Rampart a spectacular motivating force.

In the end, they really had no choice but to speed up. Only by putting everything on the line could they catalyze their sword bodies and come out into the world early. That was the only way to come out on top. It was their only chance at success. And that was what Xu Qing wanted. It was an overt plot.

According to his plan, as long as the two swords came out into the world early, it would result in space-time waves that would help him going forward. But… the words spoken by the two swords before their departure were overly excited.

Therefore, Xu Qing decided that forcing a bond would be a significant departure from history. And that would be great for him. Even as the excited words echoed out, and the consciousnesses within them stirred in preparation to leave the fourth world….

Xu Qing took out the blank jade slip and threw it up into the air. It rose above him. Dazzling, endless light shone out.

Xu Qing sent out his divine will at the exact moment that the consciousnesses of Hordeslayer and Rampart were about to leave… and he branded them into the jade slip.

“A pair of immortal swords have come into the world today. I hereby assign them names. One is Hordeslayer. The other is Rampart… and they will be my personal swords!”

As his divine will spread out, rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth. It was like the resonance of a great dao as magical law stirred, and a binding order formed.

It could be called a fatal blow. Not only did it determine who the swords belonged to, but it also gave them names…. Those names, Hordeslayer and Rampart, instantly created an extremely strong bond of karma! Because of that karma, the pair of black-and-white immortal swords vibrated as countless immortal symbols appeared on their surface.

They had been created in the immortal palace, and had been born out of the immortal palace’s sword furnace. In every respect imaginable, the pair of swords were utterly and thoroughly objects of the immortal palace.

Then, the immortal symbols from the jade slip responded to Xu Qing and formed an extremely tight bond. It could not be resisted, could not be blocked, and could not be rejected! Inside of them, Hordeslayer and Rampart, who were just like spirit automatons now, had no time to react. They had been overwhelmed with excitement, and hadn’t even considered that Xu Qing would do something like he did.

The moment Xu Qing branded the swords with the immortal symbols, the two swords shivered, and Hordeslayer and Rampart were struck numb with shock. An instant later, an incredibly majestic force surged out of the immortal palace, pouring into the immortal swords and into their consciousnesses….

Massive waves rose up within their divine will. They were undergoing a righteous bestowal that was turning them into spirit automatons and bonding them to an owner.

As of this moment… they were truly spirit automatons. The sealing marks which would force spirit automatons to acknowledge their master… had appeared on them.

And because Xu Qing had given them names… the karma in the sealing marks wouldn’t just affect this specific instance of space-time. It was highly likely… that they would apply in the outside world as well!

The astonishment within Hordeslayer and Rampart surpassed all imagination. They felt like their minds were being ravaged by countless bolts of heavenly lightning. It was just like the saying great joy begets sorrow.

“Th-this… this….”

“But this… I…”

Their effort to leave the fourth world had been interrupted. Karma bound them. They had to acknowledge they were owned by someone else. And they had been officially named…. It became a binding force that they couldn’t fight against. Their consciousness absolutely could not leave now!

As they reeled to the core, Xu Qing lifted his left hand. He beckoned at them.

“Come here.”

The two black-and-white immortal swords vibrated and issued a thrumming call…. And then, as Hordeslayer and Rampart felt madness overwhelming them, the swords they had possessed, turned around and soared gracefully toward Xu Qing!

They had no choice but to obey. Their consciousnesses wished to weep and rave. But they couldn’t. Deep inside, they realized that, as the swords’ excitement built, so did their own. It was beyond their control.

Meanwhile, because the immortal swords came into the world early, and because Xu Qing had bound them and forced them to acknowledge him, the space-time waves grew even more intense!

Combined with everything that happened up to this point, the waves surged like heaven-shaking, earth-shattering tsunamis! In fact, it was totally correct to say that the space-time waves had reached tsunami level!

Waves came because of Li the Chosen, Gongsun Qingmu, the fox maiden, Zhong Chi, and then the two swords…. A raging tsunami hit the viscous surface of the space-time lake, causing the water to spin and seethe.

Xu Qing’s consciousness was already back inside his host’s body, and he was standing atop the tsunami! He could clearly sense that order had been crushed!

He waved his hand, and the two swords shot toward him and then started orbiting around him. It didn’t matter how Hordeslayer and Rampart struggled. Their madness did nothing to change the situation. They had to respond to Xu Qing’s divine will, unleashing the power of the swords to form a fierce and consummate sword energy that slashed at the reincarnation and the world square!

Rumbling echoed out in shocking fashion. The world square crumbled. The circle of reincarnation fell to pieces! Order shattered loudly.

Sir Star Ring shivered from head to toe, and two streams of blood seeped out of his eyes. The seas of millions upon millions of stars in his eyes collapsed. The compass and the carpenter’s square became nothing but dust. Most important of all was that his canon was shaken violently.

The two swords’ intense momentum continued. After destroying the world square and circle of reincarnation, they shot into the sky, becoming an intersection of black and white as they headed directly toward Sir Star Ring.

Killing intent raged.

Inside the swords, Hordeslayer and Rampart could do nothing but ignore their bitterness and madness, and throw caution to the wind as they pushed the swords to the limit of their strength. After all, they were also furious with Sir Star Ring.

Sir Star Ring’s face fell, and he fell back at top speed. Thousands and thousands of thoughts ran through his mind, and all of them were full of rage toward Xu Qing. As those thoughts combined, Sir Star Ring took a deep breath and suddenly lifted his right hand. Extending his index finger, he pushed down on his forehead.

When he pulled his finger away, a dazzling chain of gold emerged from his forehead. He swept it out in front of him. The chain wasn’t very long, as it was only made from 99 links. It was one short of 100. Every single link in the chain was covered with densely packed magical symbols, each of which represented order.

The moment it appeared, the power of order became incredibly clear, and it formed a strong resonance with Sir Star Ring’s consciousness. That was because the golden chain was not something that belonged to Fourth True Monarch. It… was the foundation of Sir Star Ring’s canon!

Once the chain acquired its 100th ring, he would break out of the Imperial Sovereign level and become a Quasi-Immortal Grand Emperor. That was why he was intent on maintaining order in the fourth world.

As of this moment, he was throwing caution to the wind. As he took out his own canon, thirteen coffins manifested around him. The coffins were different sizes and made of different materials, but all of them emanated a strong aura of order. The moment they appeared, brightly colored light flashed in heaven and earth. The coffins contained corpses of canon, which were all that remained of the rivals Fourth True Monarch had killed.

Originally, Sir Star Ring had only been strong enough to use three of the coffins. But he knew that three coffins wouldn’t be enough to do anything to the immortal swords, much less Xu Qing on his tsunami of space-time. Therefore, he catalyzed his canon, forcing it to a higher level in the hopes of turning everything around at this key moment! He quickly performed an incantation gesture, his face distorting as the golden chain glittered, wrapped around the thirteen coffins, and sent golden light flooding into them.

Instantly, the thirteen coffins started shaking. Their lids did not open, but thunderous banging sounds started echoing out from inside of them. Sounds of thumping and pounding filled the air. At the same time, thirteen voices echoed out, grimly crying out in voices that surpassed sounds of nature or dao reverberations!

“Order and judgment; bones of sycophants; dig down to the Yellow Springs; be executed immediately!”

It was a total of fifteen words, and they became a judgment of order, transforming into an ancient stone stele that rumbled toward Xu Qing atop the tsunami of space-time.

Xu Qing looked up, his expression calm, but his eyes gleaming with unprecedented ferocity.

“The space-time waves have become a tsunami,” he said calmly. “That should be enough to cover some of the words. And that… means this fight is about to end.”

All of a sudden, a golden plaque flew out from Xu Qing’s robe and hovered in front of him.

As soon as it appeared, heaven and earth went still. Space-time became calm. The waves stopped. Everything became peaceful. Auspicious signs and propitious blessings emerged from within.

The plaque was, of course, the marriage contract. Immortal Lord Aurora had personally created it, imbued it with his will, his consciousness, and his blessing. And it contained all of the well wishes he could give to his son. The words on the plaque had been penned directly by him. They represented his will!

Two families are now united in marriage by this covenant that never ends. From the moment this agreement is reached, the couple face a happy future of affinity. They are predestined to grow old together, and will be by each other’s side until the sea does wither up and stone rots. You will put your union above all else, and will have many prosperous and famous descendants.

Let this marriage agreement be for all eternity; it is beautiful like rosy leaves, forever inscribed here as the happy couple always abides by its romantic tidings.

And thus, the agreement is confirmed.

Xu Qing extended his hand, and the space-time power from the tsunami covered most of the words, causing them to blur away so that only sixteen words were left visible. Those sixteen words linked together to form a sentence.

This covenant ends, this predestined affinity. You wither up, like rotting leaves. Thus, it is confirmed.[2]

Xu Qing pointed at Sir Star Ring in the form of Fourth True Monarch! The sixteen words from the marriage contract shone with majestic light as the space-time tsunami surged. In the blink of an eye, the predestined affinity between Sir Star Ring and Fourth True Monarch was ended!

His consciousness suddenly withered up. It was like a rotting leaf!

Sir Star Ring’s face fell dramatically.

1. Nineshores gave the jade slip to Xu Qing in chapter 1154. ☜

2. In case you missed the previous footnote explaining the marriage contract, the wording was chock full of all sorts of wordplay and figurative speech. The “sixteen words” here tap into that wordplay to create even more wordplay. In order to properly convey both the original message and the shortened version, I really had to bend over backward and twist myself around a few times. In the end, I did manage to extract sixteen words (most of them congruent with the original versions), and make them conform to the proper meaning (in general). UPDATE: Literally as this chapter went live, I was looking at this and realized that there is a tense change (in English), that I somehow missed. In the sixteen words “rotting” is used, while in the original it’s “rots.” I can fix this fairly easily, but don’t have the time now. I’ll get to it later. ☜