Beyond the Timescape-Chapter 1104: Source of Authority

Xu Qing and the city magistrate faced off, one of them inside the city, the other outside of it. The rainwater floated in midair, pulsing with aggressive killing intent.

The two figures standing in that rain formed a very strong contrast. One of them was extremely good-looking. Floating in the rain, his hair drifted around him, and his eyes shone with a strange light. One of them had gray hair and had dignified facial features, though they were marred by a grimace. The city gate was in between them.

The raindrops had become sharp blades, and with the flick of his wrist, Xu Qing had turned them all to point at the city magistrate on the other side of the city gate.

As of this moment, both of them were pulsing with killing intent. However, neither of them chose to launch an attack.

Xu Qing was merely observing the situation. This was his first time trying to control an opponent’s dao lineaments of authority. He needed to see things play out more in order to confirm his theories.

The city magistrate was also observing the situation. He was observing Xu Qing, and he was observing the rain. The authority of rain was a manifestation of his dao lineaments. As a native of the Fifth Star Ring, it was a given that he had been a brave warrior long before becoming an Imperial Sovereign.

He had fought many duels and had killed many opponents. It had been very difficult to break through into the Imperial Sovereign level. And before he could stabilize himself, he ended up facing a powerful enemy. During that fight, he was seriously injured and had to flee for his life. Because of that injury, he had been unable to make any further cultivation progress.

Feeling completely disheartened, he had ended up settling down in this remote location. It had taken a long time for him to make the decision to go all out.

Unfortunately, how could he ever have guessed that his first fight... would involve something like this?

After becoming an Imperial Sovereign, he hadn’t been involved in many fights. Therefore, it was little surprise that he had never been in such a situation, in which he lost control of his own authority. That said, he had at least heard of things like this. Normally speaking, if someone lost control of their authority in a fight, it was because they were dealing with someone who had the same type of authority. If the opponent had a deeper understanding of the authority, they might be able to take control of it.

Authority comes from the immortal dao that accompanies an immortal embryo.

Immortal daos are similar to heavenly daos. But they aren’t corporeal. They’re illusory and imperceptible. And they’re the manifestation of the star ring power that normally belongs to the gods, but that cultivators can seize.

In any given star ring, there are special lineaments that belong to the gods. Those lineaments are what the gods can sense. They’re godly authority. Cultivators have no way to control them. But in the process of forming an immortal embryo, they can naturally absorb them and make them part of one’s essence. That’s why it’s not very likely that two people will have the same authority.

As the city magistrate considered these things, he kept calm, and his eyes shone with a fierce light.

Although I don’t have experience dealing with this kind of thing... it doesn’t mean I can’t come out on top! After all, this guy is a mere Smoldering God, not an Imperial Sovereign! He might be a chosen, but even he has limits!

After a long moment in which the two of them just looked at each other, the city magistrate was the first to make a move.

He lifted his right hand and hit himself hard on the chest. A thunderous thump rang out, and a tremor passed through him. Then blood exploded out of all the pores on his body. The blood immediately merged into the rain, causing the sheets of rain to turn into a rain of blood.

At the same time, his will became part of the blood rain, which bolstered his dao lineaments. That allowed him to seize control of the rain and try to drive out Xu Qing. Unfortunately, there was no way this would succeed.

Xu Qing’s water of the five elements was far more special. It didn’t matter that the city magistrate was bolstering the water with his own will. That was only enough to take back a bit of control over the authority.

An instant later, the city gate became the delineation between the rain controlled by Xu Qing and that controlled by the other cultivator. Inside the city gate, the blood rain spread, bringing with it the odor of gore. Outside the city gate, the rain was sparkling and translucent; it was incomparably pure.

The two types of rain then exploded, each of them becoming sharp blades, rain puppets, and magical techniques. From a distance, it was like two magnificent armies full of thousands of men and horses, slamming into each other. Rumbling booms shook heaven and earth. Wild colors flashed in the dome of heaven. The lands shook. In the city, countless cultivators reeled. As for the city gate, the two astonishing forces slamming together there caused the gate to explode into ashes.

Xu Qing and his opponent were both struck by massive force. They both staggered backward.

However, the two of them had very different facial expressions. The city magistrate was scowling. Xu Qing, in contrast, seemed to be in good spirits.

The reason Xu Qing had not been the first to launch an attack was that he needed to get more information to confirm his theories. Just now, he had picked up on some important clues. He could now sense that his seven extreme daos did seem like they could lead to authority. That was what it seemed like from his perspective. Furthermore, during the clash of rain just now, he had sensed that his five elements water had emanated an instinctive longing.

I can devour this guy’s authority of rain to make my five elements water stronger!

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered brightly. He was also able to ascertain that this city magistrate was a lot weaker than the Imperial Sovereign he had fought in the spirit mine.

The spirit mine guardian he had fought had been very close to the mid Imperial Sovereign level. You could say he was a peak early Imperial Sovereign. As for this current opponent, he had an old injury that resulted in his battle prowess being sub-par.

Either this guy just stepped into the Imperial Sovereign level not long ago, or this is the result of that old injury. In other words... I can kill him without using Grandpa Ninth’s sword energy!

Having reached this point in his train of thought, Xu Qing’s killing intent surged, and he burst into motion toward the city magistrate.

Within him, his dao of the five elements erupted. Astonishingly, a host of supernatural phenomena appeared around him.

The ground churned as the power of earth went wild. It was almost as if some being were waking up under the surface of the ground, causing even mountains to shake as a result. Plants and trees everywhere swayed wildly, looking like demonic monsters. All vegetation was stimulated wildly as the power of wood surged. The city rumbled as the power of metal was influenced. Magical devices, magical treasures, and all other metal objects vibrated and shot up into the air.

From a distance, the scene that was playing out was unsurpassably shocking. The sky rippled as majestic heavenly fire appeared. Everything turned crimson as the aurora was obscured, and a seething sea of flames overtook everything.

Meanwhile, the air rippled and distorted as all cultivators, and all other living things for that matter... found the water emerging from their bodies, as if a huge ocean were being summoned into the world.

This was all very different from Xu Qing’s fight with Ling Feng, in which he had used heavenly daos to do everything. This time, Xu Qing’s thoughts and his dao lineaments of authority were being unleashed.

The city magistrate was struck with even more astonishment than when he had lost control of his authority earlier.

“Five types of authority?? That’s impossible!” The city magistrate’s mind was being battered by waves of shock, and he felt like he was being struck by millions upon millions of bolts of lightning. Based on what he knew, the only people who had five types of authority were those listed among the eight Shining Stars. Of even greater significance was the fact that he had never heard of any Smoldering God who had five types of authority. “Just who exactly are you?!”

Even as the words left the mouth of the city magistrate, Xu Qing closed in on him. Next, the sound of a massive explosion filled the area where the city gate had once stood.

Within the resulting chaos, it was hard to see anything clearly. Anyone without a sufficient cultivation base would lose their mind. And even those who could see what was happening, unless they surpassed a certain level, would only perceive an abstract picture. It was because they couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

When one’s perceptions couldn’t comprehend something, the mind would be thrown into chaos, and it wouldn’t be possible to form an actual image of what was happening. Because they couldn’t see what was happening, the blurry distortions would form something abstract. After all, in addition to the five elements, there were also transformations to space, as well as time being manipulated.

It lasted for a very long moment. Then a beam of sword light flickered, and the shimmering abstract image returned to normal.

The city magistrate was there, blood oozing out of his mouth, his hair disheveled. A sword had been stabbed into the top of his head, and had pierced through his entire body. Blood dripped onto the ground.

Xu Qing hovered in midair looking at his opponent.

The city magistrate managed to look back up at him. From the look of it, he wanted to say something. But when he opened his mouth, it filled with blood, making it impossible for him to speak.

Xu Qing didn’t really care what he wanted to say anyway. With the wave of his hand, he pulled out The Emperor’s Sword.

A tremor passed through the city magistrate. The light in his eyes went out; his soul had been wiped out.

Then Xu Qing made a grasping gesture, causing his opponent’s authority of rain to transform into crystalline water droplets that flew out and became part of Xu Qing’s five elements. His five elements water swelled.

Xu Qing’s aura now surpassed what it had been before the fight. Beyond all of that, he also acquired the city magistrate’s ring of holding. In addition, Xu Qing realized that the range in which he could sense other permission medallions had increased by tenfold!

At the same time, a new ranking number appeared in his head. He was now #1145 in the southern region!

Silence reigned.

Xu Qing looked at the corpse below. He waved his hand, and the corpse crumbled into nothing. He also removed any signs that a battle had taken place.

If I’d come up with this idea earlier, I might not have needed to use one of Grandpa Ninth’s streams of sword energy to defeat that spirit mine guardian.

After some thought, he decided that even with this enlightenment, he still might have been forced to use some of the sword energy. When fighting in unfamiliar territory and circumstances, if you had the chance to launch a fatal blow, you should always take it. Having decided that that was the best way to look at it, Xu Qing looked off into the distance.

There’s no point in sticking around here. freewebnσvel.cøm

He blurred into motion and disappeared.

***

Up in the dome of heaven, the crimson aurora flowed.

Xu Qing was a streak of prismatic light that shot through the sky at top speed. He made sure to keep a close eye on his surroundings as he mentally reviewed how the fight had played out.

When all was said and done, the most important thing he had learned was that his five elements as authority could take control of the authority of his opponents. That was going to be a big help going forward. It not only confirmed his previous theorizing, but also gave him food for thought about the Imperial Sovereign level.

Previously, Xu Qing had been aware that in the cultivator system, the Void Returning level involved the process of gaining enlightenment of the natural and magical laws of heaven and earth.

The four sub-levels were all like that. It was in that manner that Void Returning cultivators could use the heavenly daos of the world they lived in to create and control the natural laws of their own major worlds. Xu Qing now understood that such control didn’t provide an origin. It was only the ability to use authority.

Perhaps it was correct to say that by gaining enlightenment from the larger world, a cultivator could then create their own major world. Overall, it was like the process of working with a thread and needle.

The fact that Xu Qing had stepped from Void Returning right into Smoldering God put him in that category. One reason was that he had built up a sufficient stockpile beforehand. Another was that the essence of Netherflame’s fleshly body was incomparably pure.

In combination with his success at gaining enlightenment of Deep Earth’s Ten Extreme Daos, Xu Qing’s stockpile and his original essence allowed him to break through into Smoldering God. That was how he had formed his seven worlds.

The term ‘Smoldering God’ was coined in Revered Ancient. In other locations, that level was actually called ‘Smoldering Immortal.’ The name was different, but the significance was the same. The ‘god’ referred to in ‘Smoldering God’ wasn’t an actual god. Rather, it was a nascent divinity.[1]

Before leaving Revered Ancient, Xu Qing had already begun to explore the substructure of the Smoldering God level. He knew that the level was fundamentally about gaining sufficient enlightenment of natural and magical laws, then use that to form one’s own major world.

Ultimately, one would form nine major worlds. Those nine worlds might be consistent with each other, or they might not. It depended on the cultivator’s way of thinking, background, and decisions. Regardless, those worlds ultimately became nutrients that one could use to propel themselves into the Imperial Sovereign level.

Unfortunately, the path of the Imperial Sovereign had been severed on the Revered Ancient mainland. Only people with very special bloodlines could force their way through. Most of the time... it wasn’t possible. One reason for the situation was that something had gone wrong with the heavenly daos created by the Summer Immortals years in the past. But in the final analysis, the biggest problem was the influence of the broken face of Eminent Desolation. The godly aura was too strong, making it very difficult for immortals to rise up.

After all... the Imperial Sovereign level was very special. It involved fusing one’s nine major worlds to make an immortal embryo. Transforming from a cultivator into an immortal was a major watershed point. Once you formed an immortal embryo, you were a Quasi-Immortal, in other words, a Grand Emperor.

For example, Empress Summer Departure had the help of Swordsage, the bloodline of Dark War, and the blessing of humankind’s destiny aura. Despite that, she could go no further than the Imperial Sovereign level. She had no way to become a Grand Emperor.

That was also why no Grand Emperors ever appeared in Revered Ancient after the broken face came.

As a result of that situation, the empress had been forced to switch her cultivation to the path of the gods. By means of a special ceremony, she ignited godfire, using the immortal embryo she had never fully formed as the fuel. Then, as the fire raged hotter and hotter, shē eventually reached the Altar God level. After that, shē could never become an immortal.

Before leaving Revered Ancient, Xu Qing went to the Summer Immortal Palace, where he had learned these things about Imperial Sovereigns, and the way of Quasi-Immortal Grand Emperors.

According to the records of the Summer Immortal Palace, authority had never appeared in Deep Earth before. It was only after cultivators went to Revered Ancient that it was seen.

The Summer Immortal Palace originally assumed it was the same as essence. But in reality, essence had appeared within Deep Earth cultivators long before that.

There were differences between the two, the most obvious being dao lineaments. What was more, the manner in which it first appeared was in the process of an Imperial Sovereign forming an immortal embryo by means of their immortal dao.

The so-called immortal dao existed in the void, above the level of the heavenly daos. It appeared as authority, and as dao lineaments.

The Summer Immortal Palace actually didn’t understand why it appeared. That said, normally speaking, dao lineaments of authority only showed up in the Imperial Sovereign level. There were exceptions. For example, there were some chosen who could produce it in the Smoldering God level. That became the standard to define chosen cultivators before the arrival of the broken face.

As for Summer Immortals, in other words, the Lower Immortals... they were cultivators who formed an immortal embryo, nurtured it to the proper level, then broke through, causing the embryo to transform, and giving birth to a full-fledged immortal.

According to the records of the Summer Immortal Palace, the level of Summer Immortal was the limit for the Deep Earth star ring. In Deep Earth, that was known as the ninth step.

That said, there was a difference between Summer Immortal battle prowess in Deep Earth compared to Revered Ancient. In the Deep Earth star ring, Summer Immortals could encompass the entire star ring with a thought. Other than actually destroying the star ring, they could do anything they wished.

That wasn’t the case in Revered Ancient. After a certain level of analysis, the Summer Immortal Palace came to understand why that was. They understood that Revered Ancient was located in the Ninth Star Ring. And they eventually realized that the Ninth Star Ring was part of a larger heavenly system that had a total of thirty-six star rings.

The Ninth Star Ring, which was also known as the Brilliant Heaven star ring, was only one of them. Based on what the Summer Immortal Palace understood, those thirty-six star rings existed on a high level. To some extent, they could be considered higher worlds.

As for Deep Earth, it was a lower-level star ring. In other words, it was a lower world. According to the Summer Immortal Palace, it wasn’t possible that Deep Earth was the only lower world. Most likely there was a correspondence. In other words, there were also thirty-six lower star rings. In fact, maybe there were more. One thing was certain: above Deep Earth was Brilliant Heaven.

This was just a theory of the Summer Immortal Palace, and there was no way to confirm if it was true or not. That said, though it was just a theory, it did explain the situation with Summer Immortal battle prowess.

There would be a pressure difference between lower and higher worlds, which was why there would be a difference in battle prowess. It was like the difference between a major world and a minor world.

In minor worlds without much pressure, it would be easy for someone to call the wind and summon the rain. But they might not be able to do the same thing in a major world.

Fundamentally speaking, the Summer Immortal Palace’s research indicated that the thirty-six higher star rings were the lands of the gods. The source of godly authority, the mysterious lineaments, created a massive pressure that weighed down on all of the thirty-six higher star rings.

It was the same for gods and cultivators alike.

That point didn’t mean very much to Xu Qing. After all, he had never been to Deep Earth. Therefore, he had no idea what terrifying level his cultivation base would be like there. His entire life had been lived in a higher star ring.

My five elements turned into authority, their uniqueness....

His eyes narrowed as he rubbed his chest. At the moment, a violet crystal was there, glittering.

What exactly is it...? Back when I gained enlightenment of the Ten Extreme Daos, I saw a design that included a crystal, broken into ten parts. But my crystal isn’t broken at all. It’s whole.

1. As I’ve mentioned in previous contexts, the character I rendered as “god” both in Smoldering God and in the god cultivation system, can be rendered in other ways. For instance, it’s the character from divine will, divine sense, nascent divinity, etc. I’ve been trying to render it ‘god’ when related to the god ‘species’ but in other ways depending on the context when it relates to non-god stuff. As is clear in this passage, even within the context of the world, its logical to assume that the ‘Smoldering God’ level is named after the ‘god’ species. It’s only much, much later that we’re finding out it’s not actually related the gods at all. ☜