Beyond the Timescape-Chapter 1113: Yunmen Qianfan

Three days passed in a flash.

In the spell formation on the ninth peak in the Yunmen Clan, Xu Qing had finally benefited from the mountains’ strong spirit energy and the violet crystal enough to fully recover from his dao injury. When he opened his eyes, his previously wan face now had a healthy flush to it. He no longer felt sick and weak. The cough that had been plaguing him for a year was now gone. He could breathe deeply without any trouble. As for his eyes, they were now sharp and clear like they had been before.

During the process of healing, his cultivation base had grown stronger, and he had gained even deeper enlightenment of his various daoist magics.

He had changed a lot in the last year. A year before, he had been like a sharp dagger. After the year of recovery and cultivation, he was now like a sharp sword. And that sword was sheathed! Its sharp tip was hidden.

It’s time to leave.

Xu Qing looked off at the horizon. Everything was as normal at the moment. The three cultivators were outside the formation, seated in meditation. Over the past three days, there had been two unexpected battles, but no top experts had appeared in either of them.

Xu Qing was still convinced that Patriarch Yunmen was on death’s door.

Up to this point, he had not yet revealed his true battle prowess, nor the fact that he had a permission medallion.

The violet crystal has turned out to be extremely useful.

When submerged in the mud pit, he had done some experiments with the violet crystal, in the hopes that it could conceal the presence of the Immortal Capital permission medallion. He had done the same thing early on, only to fail every time. It was as if the two objects repelled each other.

The permission medallion was made from some special substance that seemed inexplicably connected to the Fifth Star Ring itself. But in that mud pit, Xu Qing had come up with an idea.

It all came down to how Little Shadow could work with the violet crystal. First he used Little Shadow as a sort of membrane to cover his own skin, and then he used the suppressive powers of the violet crystal. He suppressed Little Shadow, and thus suppressed himself. By doing that continuously, he was able to create a sort of masking shield.

There were downsides. Specifically, Little Shadow was constantly sending out fluctuations that sounded like weeping. Another downside was that it was very draining. Keeping up the effect longterm was a big drain on his soul.

When dealing with people whose permission medallion range was smaller than his own, it wasn’t difficult to deal with. But when dealing with someone whose range exceeded his own, it became a lot harder. It was very draining to Xu Qing himself, and it was extremely difficult for Little Shadow to endure. He was still just too weak.

Thankfully, the range of Xu Qing’s medallion was fairly wide. Although there were people who surpassed him, in this lazy western region, most people weren’t interested in getting near him if possible. After all, the second round still hadn’t reached a crescendo point.

As for the Yunmen and Diling people, there were medallion-holders among both clans. But none of them had range comparable to Xu Qing, and therefore, he was able to mask his presence. None of them ever realized that there was another medallion-holder among them.

That was the reason why Xu Qing had ultimately decided to answer the recruitment call from the Yunmen Clan. What was more, most outsiders steered clear of the area. As a result, things had been quiet for Xu Qing for a while now. But as of today, he had completely recovered from his dao injury.

Not much has happened in the last three days. But there was that mission from the Yunmen Clan....

Xu Qing’s eyes remained narrowed as he looked away from the horizon to the jade slip in front of him.

The jade slip had arrived the previous day. Within it was a mission assigned to Xu Qing. The task was to escort a Yunmen clan member to Darkcloud City. The faster the better.

Just as the Yunmen Clan is heading into the final battle, they assign this mission...?

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment.

Sounds like they’re sending out bait. But it comes with a very tempting reward.

The jade slip explained that the reward for successfully accomplishing the mission was the very same spatial clay that he had been looking for over the last year. There was no way it could be a coincidence.

Most likely, the clan caravan had actually found that clay a long time ago, but had refrained from giving it to Xu Qing or letting him know about it. Back before he had recovered, he wouldn’t have accepted this mission, even with such a tempting reward. But now....

After some thought, he pushed down on the jade slip with his finger.

The jade slip glowed brightly. About an hour later, a prismatic beam of light shot from the Yunmen Clan’s mountain peak headquarters, and it headed right toward the ninth peak. It moved quickly, and pulsed with the cultivation base fluctuations of third-stage Void Returning. It soon arrived.

The three cultivators seated outside the spell formation looked over with curious expressions.

The new arrival was a young woman. She was dressed in a simplistic white garment that was embroidered with a gray design. The gray design pulsed with the power of taboo formations. She was pretty and pure, like a flower petal at dawn. She seemed sweet-tempered and gentle, but at the same time, seemed like she could bubble with conversation at any moment.

After landing on the ninth peak, she swayed gracefully over to the formation, where she bowed respectfully to Xu Qing.

“Greetings, Senior Firedark. I am Yunmen Qianfan.”

“You’re the person I’m supposed to escort?” Xu Qing asked, his eyes flashing like lightning.

The young woman immediately got a bit nervous. “I’m sorry to trouble you, Senior.” frёewebηovel.cѳm

Xu Qing’s face was completely expressionless, and he was about to look away from her. But then he glanced at her chest, and his gaze hardened slightly. “Interesting. Alright, come in.”

He waved his hand, and an opening appeared in the spell formation.

She seemed even more nervous now. However, she knew that her life was on the line in this situation, so she took a deep breath and entered the spell formation and stood in front of Xu Qing. As she looked at the ‘middle-aged man’ in front of her, she thought about the information she had been given about him. Inside, she sighed, wondering if she had made the right decision.

The clan had given her three options to pick from to be her escort. Ultimately, she had ruled out the other two and picked Sir Firedark. The reason was that because of her special constitution, she had been practicing a special type of cultivation since she was young. It was a trigram divination magic. She would always use trigram divination to try to deduce information about situations she would face, in the hopes of identifying the safest options. And her divination told her that her best chances of surviving lay with Sir Firedark. Unfortunately, that slim chance of survival seemed to come and go.

But she was a decisive person. Since she had made her decision... her eyes shone with determination. Gritting her teeth, she bowed, and before Xu Qing could say anything, she blurted, “Senior, there’s something I need to tell you. The mission the clan assigned wasn’t just given to you. The truth is that they assigned it to fourteen people!

“Every mission was assigned to a clan vassal, and the job is to escort a clan member to a different city. The reason is that one of those clan members has a secret key magically hidden on them. And that key is related to the clan’s future rise to prominence.

“No one knows which clan member has the key, not even the person who actually has the key. It’s possible I might have it. Or it could be someone else. It’s even possible none of us have the key. It doesn’t matter. All of the clan members who don’t have the key are just supposed to serve as bait for the Diling Dynasty.”

After she finished talking, Yunmen Qianfan took a very deep breath. She knew she was gambling here. And since she was gambling, she couldn’t afford to hold anything back. Therefore, she extended her hands to present a box to Xu Qing. She opened it. Inside the box was a fist-sized clump of clay! It pulsed with spatial power, causing the surroundings to ripple and distort.

This was the object Xu Qing had been seeking. According to the mission description in the jade slip, it was supposed to be a reward given after the mission was completed successfully.

But Yunmen Qianfan was giving it to him up front. Xu Qing studied it to see if it had sealing marks on it. It did. However, the sealing mark had recently been released by the means of some sort of blood magic.

“Senior, I know that you’ve been searching for this kind of spatial clay for the past year. I managed to get it from the clan. It was sealed, and the seal was linked to my life. As long as I’m willing, I can sacrifice some blood to unseal it. After thinking about it, I decided I didn’t want to try to force you to help me. So I unsealed it already.”

With that, Yunmen Qianfan respectfully gave the box to Xu Qing, then got onto her knees and prostrated to him. She had revealed everything she wasn’t supposed to reveal, and had completely subverted all the plans put in place by her clan to ensure her survival. She hid nothing and did nothing to benefit herself. She was bowing, not just in body, but in heart and mind. She was completely sincere, and was opening herself up for Xu Qing to inspect.

Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever as he quickly studied the clay. After confirming that it was the exact thing he had been looking for, he put it away. Then he looked at the young woman prostrated in front of him. “Ordinarily, people who think clearly don’t do things like this.”

Yunmen Qianfan took a deep breath and quietly replied, “I have a special constitution, and cultivate the dao of divination. Don’t worry, I didn’t use it to spy on you. I wouldn’t dare. But I did try to divine the direction my salvation would come from. And it pointed to the ninth peak.”

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. “What do you want me to do?”

Looking up at him, she softly said, “Senior... I want to live. I want to make it to Darkcloud City alive.”

Xu Qing didn’t provide his response right away. After thinking for a bit, he rose and made to leave the formation. His every step caused the formation to ripple.

Yunmen Qianfan was more nervous than ever, and was trying to decide what to do as Xu Qing walked past her.

“Come with me,” he said.

When those words reached Yunmen Qianfan’s ears, she filled with excitement from head to toe. Jumping to her feet, she followed Xu Qing.

The entire ninth peak was trembling. As the three cultivators outside looked on respectfully, Xu Qing emerged from the formation. The first step he took caused him to rise up into the air, fluctuations rolling out in all directions. The second step took him high into the sky.

Yunmen Qianfan followed, looking almost like a handmaiden. She was now a lot more confident about the journey. She had put everything on the table. Now, all she could do was trust the object of her divination, Sir Firedark.