Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1263: True Gods Close the Net

By the time Xu Qing got back, everything in the chamber was back to normal. The gentle aura was gone, and a very strange scene met his eyes.

Goddess Starryeyes was sitting there, eyes closed, motionless. Starfire stood behind hēr, combing hēr hair with a wooden comb.

A strange expression could be seen on Xu Qing’s face as he studied the scene. However, he quickly realized that the goddess’ ringsource was no longer overdrawn and locked down. It was thrumming vibrantly. A lot had already built up.

He couldn’t help but look at Starfire. Shē chuckled.

“Young Lord, in the future, don’t treat lil’ sis Starryeyes so crudely. Shē’s agreed to cooperate going forward. Isn’t that right, lil’ sis Starryeyes?” Starfire leaned down and exhaled softly into Starryeyes’ ear.

Starryeyes shivered, then opened hēr eyes and looked at Xu Qing. Somehow, the hatred in those eyes had significantly diminished. No longer did shē think of Xu Qing as being a nightmare. He had been extracting hēr ringsource to use in cultivation. That was all. The standing between the two of them had long since been established.

The real nightmare was the god behind hēr. Starfire was fiendish, even abyssal. Shē was a vile devil that would forever lurk in Starryeyes’ heart.

Considering Starryeyes had the blood of a God Lord in hēr, it meant hēr ringsource was unusually pure. Being a noble, no one had ever treated hēr badly growing up. Therefore, when shē was flooded with emotions and had a mental breakdown… shē realized that she was no longer pure. Hēr mind was filled with the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures. Countless unfamiliar emotions had assailed her. Shē had descended from being a god.

Thus, after looking at Xu Qing, shē lifted hēr hand. Ringsource pulsed into hēr palm, which she sent directly to Xu Qing. It entered his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, flowing through him so that his cultivation base stirred.

Xu Qing’s expression became even more shocked. The ringsource was very different when she gave it to him as opposed to him taking it. For example, he didn’t need to remove hēr will from it. It was far more pure.

“How’d you do it?” he asked Starfire. He wasn’t asking about what shē had done after pulling out that candle. Instead, he wanted to know the logic and reasoning involved.

Chuckling, Starfire continued to comb Starryeyes’ hair. “Normally speaking, it would have been very difficult for me to tug at lil’ sis Starryeyes’ heartstrings. That’s especially true considering that shē was once a True God. But the sealing mark on hēr cut off all of that and made it impossible for hēr to fight back. Of course, you provided a lot of assistance, Young Lord. The way you extracted all of hēr ringsource really put hēr on the brink of collapse.

“All I did was apply a little bit of a push at the right time…. And thus, lil’ sis Starryeyes came to the human world. And the lock became unlocked, all on its own.” Starfire blinked a few times and then looked at Xu Qing. “By the way, Young Lord, did things go well just now?”

Xu Qing looked at Starfire, then Starryeyes, and then decided not to ask for any more details.

“We can leave now. I’ve identified a better place to hide out. As for hēr… I’ll have you look after hēr from now on. You’re confident you can avoid any slip ups?”

Starfire’s eyes lit up. “Don’t worry, Young Lord. I never make mistakes.”

Starfire flicked hēr sleeve to collect up Starryeyes, and then turned into a stream of light that shot into Xu Qing’s palm. There, shē turned into a special symbol.

Xu Qing walked outside and erased all traces of the mansion grotto’s existence. Then he flew up into the sky over the amethyst mountains, where he turned back into the multicolored butterfly. He flapped his wings, and seven-colored light swirled as he flew away.

The location he had mentioned to Starfire was the temple in the kingdom of the scaled oxen. The scaled oxen were all prostrated as Xu Qing returned in butterfly form. Flying back into the temple, he transformed back into a statue. Godly might pulsed from the statue, spreading from the temple to fill the entire kingdom.

Upon sensing it, the scaled oxen folded up their wings and prostrated piously. The priests among them emitted excited hooting sounds, which was their language, in which they described the miracles of the gods.

Xu Qing looked out at the scene calmly. In the following days, he was the turtledove occupying the magpie’s nest. He wore the butterfly god like a second skin, and essentially became that god! It kept him even better concealed than before.

He had made a new decision about leaving this planet. He hadn’t just used the butterfly’s memories to check how far away he was from the war. He had also identified a nearby teleportation portal. It belonged to the Godfolk who had once produced a True God on this planet.

According to the butterfly god’s memories, there was no True God among them anymore. It was a peak Altar God. That said, even if an Altar God did show up, he had a plan. If he tried to force his way to the portal, and everything went smoothly, then of course that would be great. But if the slightest thing went wrong, he would be exposed. And if he was exposed, resulting in a True God showing up, then it could endanger his chances of teleporting away. After considering the situation, he decided to avoid doing anything rash.

And that was because… soon enough, an opportunity would present itself. According to the butterfly’s memories, it was only a few months before that the ruling gods on this planet had sent out a recruitment announcement. They were enlisting local gods to enter their special pocket realm.

And that pocket realm was located in the very depths of the planet! That, combined with what Xu Qing had noticed with his own divine will, led him to the conclusion that it was the same place where he had heard the sounds of breathing as if from subterranean meridians.

The best time for me to leave will be when they’re going into that pocket realm! That’s two months from now….

He already had an idea of how to make sure this butterfly form wasn’t forced to participate in the pocket realm event.

I’d rather not use the butterfly form to travel the long way through the sea of stars, all the while trying to avoid other gods. The teleportation portal is definitely the safest option. That will be the fastest way to make the journey to the edge of the Fourth Star Ring. Now, as for breaking through the star ring barriers….

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. He had the star ring hemp as well as his Sageheaven Pagoda. So he was fairly certain he could break through the star ring barriers to get back home. With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes. Remaining in the butterfly statue form, he absorbed the ringsource willingly given by Starryeyes, and worked on his cultivation.

Time passed.

Because gods were independent entities with personal territory, no one had any idea that he had possessed the butterfly god. Another reason was that many of the gods had already responded to the recruitment message by the ruling gods, and had traveled to the emerald halos to prepare for the coming event. It also helped that he was already familiar with how gods operated, and also had the help of Starfire.

Given all those factors, he had no trouble staying hidden. That said, he still had no way to truly avoid the divine will of True Gods.

A few days later, the divine will of True Gods once again appeared in the starry sky. By means of the Immortal Lord’s sealing mark in Starryeyes, he was able to avoid detection.

But… there were still several days left until the pocket realm event. Perhaps it was because the True Gods had not yet found what God Emperor Death Departure was looking for… that thēir search continued. This time, thēy were being very meticulous. And most importantly, thēy were not making the same mistake thēy had made before. The True Gods weren’t just looking for evidence of Starryeyes and immortal energy. They were also checking ordinary gods! They were closing the net, and were being very careful to fish out anything suspicious.

The experience left Xu Qing with a sinking feeling. The problem wasn’t just that Starfire could be detected. The fact that he had possessed another god was also a danger. Otherwise, he and Starfire could just hide inside Starryeyes. But despite how cooperative the goddess had been, Xu Qing still didn’t want to give hēr a chance to betray him. He was facing quite a quandary.

Just now the divine will of two True Gods very nearly noticed me…. Is it possible they got some new information? Do they know that I’m working with a god? Or do they possibly know that I have a way to possess gods?

Xu Qing frowned. Of course, when it rains, it pours. Not only were the True Gods being much more thorough in searching, but also, the Immortal Lord’s sealing mark in Starryeyes was on the verge of disappearing.

It’ll last for another seven days at the most…. Xu Qing was really starting to feel uneasy. I can’t keep gambling that only two True Gods will be looking for me at the same time!

He was just about to make a decision about what to do when Starfire suddenly spoke up.

“Young Lord, I have a secret magic…. Actually, it’s the first part of a special god magic that allows me to fuse my godly aura with the outside world, and then boost the range of other god magics. If the outside world has no other godly auras, then using the technique will attract attention. But if there are other godly auras present, then I can mix my aura with them… and become a part of the chaos.”

The truth was that Starfire was also starting to get anxious. Shē knew full well that if Xu Qing was captured, and it came to light what shē had done to Starryeyes, then hēr fate would be exponentially worse than Xu Qing’s. After all, the God Lord had ordered that Xu Qing be captured alive…. Therefore, shē was wracking hēr brains to try to come up with an idea.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered in response to hēr suggestion. “Are you saying that, since we can’t stay hidden for much longer, we might as well go somewhere crowded?”

“Exactly,” Starfire said. “Young Lord, it will achieve the same result of keeping us hidden. At the very least… we can buy some time and increase our chances of success!”

“How confident are you that it will work?” he asked.

“Fifty percent…” shē replied hesitantly.

He thought about it, then nodded. “Teach me the technique. We can use it together!”

Shē quickly used divine will to transmit the technique to him. It wasn’t difficult. After studying it briefly, he mastered it. After that, he showed no further hesitation.

“If we’re looking for a place with a lot of auras, there’s one obvious choice.”

With that, he disappeared from within the temple, and reappeared in the dome of heaven. From there, he shot… toward the 360 emerald-green halos.