Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1264: Slipping Through the Net

The species of ruling gods on this planet were called the True Radiants. According to the rules in the Fourth Star Ring, only species that had produced a True God could be honored by adding “True” to their name.

The memories of the butterfly god indicated that the True Radiants didn’t just rule this one planet. Thēy actually controlled the entire nebula, as well as a few nearby universes. Originally speaking, that should have lasted forever. After all, a True God that died could come back. So unless another True God came along to disrupt the balance, nothing would change.

But something unexpected ended up happening to the species. Thēir True God had perished some years earlier and had never returned…. The consequences of that situation slowly manifested as the True Radiants lacked the power to control all the species in the area thēy controlled. Gradually, thēir territory shrank, until only a dozen or so planets would heed thēir recruitment calls.

It wasn’t very common for True Gods to fail to return, but it also wasn’t unheard of. Normally speaking, it meant that thēy had suffered from some sort of targeted attack during thēir return.

Xu Qing himself had participated in things like that. The first time it happened, he had been the bait…. That was the time that Yu Liuchen wanted to hook a returning True God.[1]

So, the secret of how True Gods return isn’t some ironclad situation. Over the ages, both gods and cultivators have studied it…. Some glories only exist in the past.

Xu Qing in butterfly form got closer and closer to the 360 emerald-green halos. He could already sense that there were a lot of gods gathered there. This was enlistment headquarters for the now-shrunken territories controlled by the True Radiants. And it was the crowded location that Xu Qing felt was most suitable to use Starfire’s secret technique.

Hopefully it works!

Of course, he already had contingency plans ready in case it failed. So with a final burst of speed, he appeared right in front of the 360 halos. Emerald light spread out, along with godly might. Without pausing for a moment, Xu Qing flapped his wings and entered.

Everything was emerald-colored as far as the eye could see. Even the air itself seemed to be that color. It was like a giant painting unfurled in front of him. It was a painting full of exquisite detail, with countless lines forming a larger outline of something. The larger outline was somewhat abstract, making it difficult to identify it at first glance. It looked mostly like a conglomeration of random shapes.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he studied it. It didn’t take long for him to realize that there was something very strange going on.

That image….

The image wasn’t really abstract. That was just the word someone would use to describe it if they didn’t understand it. In truth, because of Xu Qing’s mental acuity and cultivation base, what he saw was an image of heaven and earth. It was a world.

It was just… the three-dimensional world of living beings and inanimate objects, painted with a brush onto a canvas. Given that, a single look revealed something bizarre, distorted, and abstract.

There’s no way an Altar God could make something like this. It’s definitely on the level of a True God. Don’t tell me that what’s visible on the inside… is what causes the surroundings to be distorted by godly might?

More curious than ever, Xu Qing approached the painting. However, that was when numerous streams of divine will emerged from the world in the painting. At the same time, numerous gods could be seen in the fragmented painting, who were the source of the divine will. There were well over a hundred, ranging from gods with true flame to Flawless Gods. There were even some Altar Gods.

A few were very eye-catching to Xu Qing.

One bore the form of an evil bronze eye covered with rust. Astonishingly, the pupil of the eye was a bronze bell. Outside of the pupil was flowing stardust, as well as a host of tentacles with suction pads on the ends. As this god breathed, the pupil expanded and contracted, and the bell would chime in a godly voice.

Another god was even more bizarre. That god looked like a wizened old woman, completely naked, with hēr skin covered with strange bumps. The bumps were actually a total of 36,000 planets with human faces, flowing beneath hēr skin. The dried-up hair that flowed behind hēr was connected to 10,000,000 ancient corpses that floated along, each of them reciting funeral sutras from different past epochs.

Another of the gods embodied the polar opposites of withering and growth. Half of hīs body was covered in flowering crab-apples that offered glimpses of past lives, while the other half looked like a charred tree with chunks of it falling off. Floating within hīs chest cavity were nine bronze soul lamps, within the flames of which were drowning god souls. Hīs legs were rooted in chaotic space-time, with hīs left foot stepping on an ice age, and hīs right foot stepping on a scorching planetary core. [2]

That last god was the most eye-catching to Xu Qing, as he could sense upon hīm a godly authority similar to his own canon.

What was more, Xu Qing could tell that most of these gods were not local to his planet. That was why thēy appeared in their godly forms. It was also their method of establishing thēir standing among each other, similar to how cultivators would use a dao will to do the same.

This is a great opportunity….

Starfire could tell what Xu Qing was thinking. Working together, the two of them could use the butterfly’s godly form and the secret magic to blend into the outside world.

Xu Qing seemed to vibrate as the butterfly began to transform.

The wings spread out, and they looked like millstones of reincarnation. Each wing was woven from the skin of unknown living beings, and were filled with glowing crimson light that could absorb the void. Astonishingly, the front wings each had 9,600 compound eyes that wept blood, with pupils full of lightning. And each flap of the wings would cause a sound to echo out like souls wailing in the underworld. They seemed to be responding to the divine will of the host of gods.

Even more gruish was that the butterfly’s antennae encircled a crimson river. The antennae had bifurcated ends, upon which hung rust-colored netherworld lamps. The flapping of the butterfly’s wings seemed to conform to a specific cadence. Within the left wing was a tide of nirvanic extermination, while the right wing contained the sweet dew of extreme beginnings. And the dust scattered by the flapping of the wings contained millions upon millions of scaled oxen, all prostrated in worship. This was the godly form of the butterfly Xu Qing had possessed.

The gods that had sent the divine will over seemed respectful now. Those that had stood out to Xu Qing seemed to rein in their auras a bit. They allowed Xu Qing to enter the painting, and take an empty spot there.

At the same time, a godly voice echoed out.

“Everdoom Netherfly! I haven’t seen you for a hundred years! Looks like you’re not far from a breakthrough.”

As the words were spoken, a huge black lotus rose up within the painting. Inside the black lotus was a dwarf seated cross-legged. The dwarf was pitch black and surrounded by 360 ancient corpses, each of which pulsed with extraordinary power.

Visible on the dwarf’s forehead was a golden stud that was an accumulation of the blood of a True God. Emerald halos flickered in hīs pupils, and hē was fiddling with a scale that emitted a sound that shook the entire painting, and caused all the gods therein to bow thēir heads.

This was the True Radiant god who was in charge of the planet. From the memories of the butterfly god, Xu Qing knew that this god was the one who had issued the recruitment message.

Xu Qing bowed his head in a show of respect.

The dwarf nodded and said nothing further. Closing hīs eyes, hē went back to meditating atop the black lotus.

Everything went quiet. The gods were all waiting.

Xu Qing went from the godly form back to the normal form. However, with the help of Starfire’s secret magic, he made sure that his aura was mixed in with all the other auras present. He stayed in that state as time passed.

Three days went by fairly quickly. The appointed day was approaching. During the three days that passed, a few dozen additional gods arrived. Most were from other planets, but a few were like the butterfly god and came from this planet. They included the lightning worshiped by the humanoids and the god of the mushroom people.

The divine will of True Gods scanned the area a number of times. On one occasion, it was the combined divine will of three True Gods. Xu Qing kept his guard up, but Starfire’s technique worked well. Thēy never noticed Xu Qing. The other gods had become used to the inspections, and didn’t resist in any way.

As long as there isn’t an inspection by five True Gods, then this secret magic should keep me hidden. Only two more days… and then when these gods leave, I can make my escape!

Those last two days seemed to crawl by. Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and the True Gods never noticed Xu Qing.

At long last, the day came. All of the gods released thēir auras, and the dwarf on the black lotus opened hīs eyes and waved hīs hand. A host of black stones flew out and came to hover in front of each of the gods. When Xu Qing took the stone in front of him, he realized that it was a seal made by the godhood of a True God. The stone wouldn’t be of much use to him, but it could be very helpful to a god seeking to achieve a breakthrough.

“Ladies and gentlemen, these are the true god stones mentioned in the agreement. True god stones have also been prepared for after we explore the pocket realm. And now… let’s be off!”

The drop of golden blood on the dwarf’s forehead became a beam of golden light. The beam turned into an emerald-colored halo, within which, the outside world was visible. Teleportation ripples began to spread out. Gods were already moving toward the halos and disappearing.

As the gods began to depart, Xu Qing prepared to implement the escape method he had prepared. Unfortunately, just before he did, an extremely dangerous development occurred.

The majestic will of some True Gods appeared in the starry sky. The combined divine will swept through all the planets in the nebula. And this time, there were ten True Gods!

Xu Qing’s pupils constricted, and his heart started pounding. He knew that if the divine will swept over him, he would be exposed. As the crisis mounted, he unhesitatingly abandoned his plan and shot toward the halo and jumped inside.

He vanished.

1. Xu Qing and Erniu being bait for Yu Liuchen to catch a returning True God started in chapter 998. ☜

2. The plant mentioned here is Malus spectabilis, also known as the Chinese flowering crab-apple. As far as I know, it doesn’t have any sort of religious or mythological significance, although it does appear a lot in art and poetry. ☜