Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1201: Acquisitioners

This iron skewer was different compared to the skewer Xu Qing had left behind on the Revered Ancient mainland.

First of all, it looked different. His Revered Ancient iron skewer looked like a golden vajra scepter. It didn’t look very much at all like it had looked when Xu Qing originally started using it.[1]

This one looked exactly like his original iron skewer. It was long and thin, with an extremely sharp tip.

That said, you couldn’t necessarily say that this new one was stronger than the other. After all, his original iron skewer had been refined many times. Master Seventh himself had personally worked on it, and it also had a spirit automaton. It had the capacity to do all sorts of things. The main limitation had been Xu Qing’s cultivation base, which held him back from unleashing its true potential.

But in terms of suitability… this new skewer perfectly conformed to Xu Qing’s canon. Right now, canon was the most important part of Xu Qing’s battle prowess. And an iron skewer with his own canon in it was obviously the perfect canon treasure for him.

By means of his canon, it could enter overlapping universes, traverse multiple space-times, and form a perfect resonance with him! Most importantly, it was true and real, and thanks to the resonance, wasn’t just stronger than expected, but could transpose with Xu Qing, so that when he used his canon, he could act much more effectively.

What was more, it had the mote of heaven’s principle in it, which meant that the skewer had immensely high personhood, and was also extremely heavy! It was so heavy that even Quasi-Immortals would have to respect it!

In the final analysis, this iron skewer definitely deserved to be called the most powerful canon treasure Xu Qing could possibly have! No one else would even be able to wield it! If someone else even touched it, they would be sucked into space-time and encounter Infinite Timelessness. Only someone as strong as a Lower Immortal could possibly deal with it.

The old man in red had added a few extra ingredients to the iron skewer, and was clearly very pleased with the results. “Not a bad treasure. At the very least, it will boost your battle prowess a few times over.”

He waved his hand, and the iron skewer thrummed as it flew out of the fire pit and toward Xu Qing. It stopped in front of Xu Qing, where it hovered motionless.

Filled with excitement, Xu Qing reached out and grabbed the skewer. Given how familiar he was with wielding an iron skewer, as soon as it landed on his palm, he connected to it mentally. The skewer and its kaleidoscopic space-time projections disappeared. It immediately formed a resonance with his space-time canon, and it immediately started to power up.

Xu Qing was very pleased with what he could sense from it. Clasping hands, he bowed deeply to the old man in the red robe.

“Many thanks, Senior. Might I ask to know your most honored name and surname, so that I can engrave this kindness on my heart for all time?”

Xu Qing was thanking this Lower Immortal from the depths of his heart, in all sincerity. Not only had he fixed his Sageheaven Pagoda, but also, he had forged a truly precious treasure. He had even added some of his own, personal ingredients into the mix. Xu Qing knew that he had been treated with immense grace.

“There’s no need for that. It was all well-deserved. You can just call me True Monarch Jiusi.” The old man smiled. “I’m Linshan’s Second Elder Brother.” [2]

Xu Qing was stunned as he realized what that meant. Lower Immortals were addressed as monarchs. But ‘true monarch’ was a special title that only the apprentices of an Immortal Lord would be given. Xu Qing now knew who this person was. Zhou Linshan was the actual name of Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix!

“My Junior Sister sent word to us, her Elder Brothers, and asked us to take good care of you. Going forward, if you need any help from me, just come here to the Daoforge Universe. Now, be off with you.”

True Monarch Jiusi waved his hand, and the surroundings blurred.

When Xu Qing could see clearly again, he was no longer in the forge, but rather, out on one of the bands of light. There were a lot of cultivators in the area, but it was a different band of light than he had left from. This one contained people who were leaving the forge with their completed equipment.

Xu Qing turned and looked at the forge. He bowed again. In his heart, he felt true gratitude. His journey to the Aurora Immortal Palace had involved helping Young Lord Aurora and Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix to complete the marriage that had been interrupted by fate. Those scenes remained in his mind like lingering incense. And then, here in the Nineshores Heaven, they once again stirred.

I wonder where they are now…?

As he thought back to how everything had played out, he wished them well. Then he turned to leave. He had previously assumed this errand would take a long time. But things had gone very smoothly, leaving him a lot of extra time.

I might as well take a trip to the Heroic Immortal Tombs as well!

Having made his decision, he took out the immortal slip and prepared to teleport to the Heroic Immortal Tombs. However, that was when he suddenly heard some familiar voices, causing his eyebrows to shoot up. Instead of teleporting away, he chose to fly in the direction of the voices. The voices were getting louder.

“This is bullying! Outrageous bullying! Who do you think we two brothers are? Dirt beneath your feet??”

“That’s right! Insulting us two brothers is equivalent to insulting all of the ascendees! It’s equivalent to insulting our Master, who is none other than Sword Immortal Blue Mallard! And it’s equivalent to insulting everyone from the Sword Immortal School!”

The speakers were none other than the sword cultivators Hordeslayer and Rampart.

“Well, here we are and here are our swords!”

The two brothers were calling on all of their influence as they shouted in rage at three people blocking their path.

The three people were dressed alike in a garment called a ‘hundred-pocket robe.’ The ‘hundred-pocket’ part of the name was literal. Each gray robe had a total of one hundred pockets, and just a glance at them was enough to determine that those pockets were dimensional holding spaces that could be filled with entire cosmoses.

The three people were also surrounded by a faint aura of death. They were not the source of it, but rather had been around so much death that it had stuck to them. They all had different facial features, but there was something about the temperament that seemed similar. It was… a feeling like that of a jackal. It was a sinister greed that seemed to come instinctively to them.

In terms of cultivation base, two of them were peak Imperial Sovereigns, while the one standing in the middle was a Quasi-Immortal. In response to Hordeslayer and Rampart yelling at them, they merely grinned nonchalantly.

As for the Quasi-Immortal, he dug into his ear with his pinky finger, blew the tip of his finger clean, and chuckled. “Of course I’m aware that you’re ascendees. Unfortunately… who around here isn’t an ascendee? Guess what? We also ascended, only a few times ago.

“Furthermore, while it’s true that the sects from the Immortal Capital have connections here… that counts for everybody. Besides, we just want to have a little talk with the two of you. We want to buy those swords. That’s all. If you don’t want to sell, that’s fine. We’re not going to force you.

“That said… we have a big responsibility. And we do have the right to conscript people into our forces. I’m just asking you two to cooperate. Unfortunately, you don’t have the option of refusing.”

Hordeslayer and Rampart scowled.

Quite a few cultivators in the area were looking on and discussing the scene playing out.

“Look at the clothes those three are wearing. They’re obviously a bunch of greedy Acquisitioners!”

“Hmph! The Department of Acquisitions is full of jackals. They run amok in universe after universe under the guise of collecting funds for the war. They’re hated wherever they go!”

“What’s worse is that the envoy squadrons usually have dozens or even hundreds of cultivators in them. They’re all corrupt scumbags, but they’re also very united. Ordinary folk like us don’t dare provoke them.”

“That’s exactly what’s happening right here. Those three jackals took a liking to those two brothers’ swords. Except, the brothers won’t sell. And since they’re new ascendees, the Acquisitioners are going to conscript them.”

“If they get conscripted, they probably won’t be killed outright. But they won’t be able to keep their immortal swords.”

It was obvious from the chatter that the Department of Acquisitions had a horrible reputation, and that no one was willing to step in.

Hordeslayer and Rampart were very nervous. They had just arrived here, and hadn’t had time to connect with any fellow disciples who were also ascendees. And they knew that if they left the Nineshores Heaven, it would be like going from the river out into the sea.

In the Fifth Star Ring, fighting was permitted according to the law. If they weren’t strong enough to defend their immortal swords, then it would be a simple case of the weak falling prey to the strong. At the moment, it would be hard for them to feel more anxious.

Xu Qing could see that the swords were drawn and the arrows were nocked, and that conflict would break out any moment…. As he stood unnoticed in the crowd, he considered the situation and tried to decide whether or not to interfere. After all, those two swords were, at least in some way, his.

Before he could make a decision, a domineering beam of light appeared from off in the distance. Within the beam of light was a young man wearing a black robe, with flowing black hair. He had a cold facial expression, and pulsed with the aura of a Quasi-Immortal. Surrounding him were numerous chains of order. He immediately attracted a lot of attention.

He was Sir Star Ring. His purpose in coming was not to provide assistance. He had come to get his magical treasure, and just happened to be passing by.

As he neared, his domineering aura, which he made no effort to conceal, caused the eyes of Hordeslayer and Rampart to shine. Without any hesitation, they started calling out to him.

“Greetings, Eldest Brother!”

“Eldest Brother, we need your help!”

The use of the address “Eldest Brother” was forced but appropriate.

As the anxious Hordeslayer and Rampart bowed formally, Sir Star Ring stopped in place. He frowned. This matter had nothing to do with him. At a glance, he could tell what was happening, and he had no intention of interfering. But before he could do anything, Hordeslayer and Rampart flew over and cowered behind him. If he left now, it would come across as him being scared.

Sir Star Ring felt a bit irritated, but his eyes remained cold as he looked at the three cultivators in hundred-pocket robes who were now rushing after Hordeslayer and Rampart. He suddenly surged with a Quasi-Immortal aura.

The three Acquisitioners stopped in place. The two who were Imperial Sovereign had serious looks on their faces, but the Quasi-Immortal’s eyes were narrowed. They didn’t advance any further.

Seeing that, Sir Star Ring looked away from them and flew off into the distance. Hordeslayer and Rampart breathed sighs of relief as they followed. The three of them soon disappeared in the distance.

Everyone else present looked on with glittering eyes.

As for the Quasi-Immortal Acquisitioner, he suddenly said, “He must be the 1st place ascendee! I guess we underestimated this group. They have some really impressive people. Let’s go figure out who that guy is!”

1. Quite a long time ago, I posted some pics of what the upgraded skewer looked like in the form of a golden vajra scepter. In case you’d like a refresher, here are the pics. ☜

2. This is a very unique name, and once I saw it, I felt like my mind was being struck by 10,000,000 lightning bolts. And sure enough, the Chinese readers in the comments section reacted the same way. There were a ton of comments on this paragraph. Everyone seemed to agree that this person is likely Ke Jiusi from I Shall Seal the Heavens. The name is just too unusual and specific to be randomly used by the author. Ke Jiusi was in too many chapters to list them out, but I can tell you he first appeared by name in chapter 567. That chapter also has the explanation of his name, which is very meaningful. If it’s true, and this old man really is Ke Jiusi, and he was also a true monarch and Linshan’s Second Elder Brother, well… I’m still trying to wrap my mind about all the implications. ☜