Beyond the Timescape-Chapter 1111: The Original Living God

Waves surged forth on the God Blood River. The river was so wide that when you looked at it, there seemed no end to it. It stretched from horizon to horizon, filling one with awe and reverence. It was difficult to imagine how many gods must have been killed, and their blood drained, to form this river. It was nothing short of terrifying.

The light cast by the aurora in the dome of heaven caused darkness and brightness to flicker back and forth. As a result, the river almost seemed alive. It seemed to be vying with the aurora for glory. It was a most beautiful and moving image, like a scroll painting.

That painting actually contained evidence of history, bearing testament to the vicissitudes of heaven and earth. It told the story of the war between immortals and gods, and showed how the Fifth Star Ring had ultimately changed. It was deeply significant.

Within that blood-colored scroll-painting, a lone ferry boat braved the wind and waves. The voice of the ferry pilot echoed out into the world. His every word resonated like a thunderclap in Xu Qing’s mind, shaking him deeply.

“There is only one Immortal Paragon. The Fifth Forefather of Humanity.”

The words filled Xu Qing’s thoughts, and resulted in the image of an old man to appear in his mind’s eye. It was the same old man Xu Qing had seen in the star chart in the Devilbird holy land. He was seated cross-legged in the Fifth Star Ring. And he was also the old man Xu Qing had met in the outer sea of Revered Ancient.[1]

After a long moment passed, Xu Qing took a deep breath and asked, “Senior, why is that Immortal Paragon... called the Fifth Forefather of Humanity?”

The ferry pilot put his pipe in his mouth, inhaled, then blew out some smoke. “The thirty-six higher star rings are the higher worlds. They each correspond to a different and larger number of lower star rings, which are the lower worlds. Some of the lower star rings have names. Some of them don’t.”

The ferry pilot looked at Xu Qing in a very meaningful way. “The lower world connected to the Fifth Star Ring is one of the ones that didn’t originally have a name. A long time ago, back when the gods ran rampant in the Fifth Star Ring, that lower star ring eventually came to be called the Fifth Lower World.

“All sorts of living beings called it home, but they were slaves to the gods, and were even required to worship them. Eventually there was fighting, rebellion, suppression, emancipation, and apocalypse. They waged war on the gods. The people of the lower world always failed, whereupon the Fifth Lower World would be wiped clean. Then it would all start over again, and the gods would bring about a new crop to harvest.”

As the ferry pilot spoke, his voice rose and fell, becoming like the River of Time itself, flowing through Xu Qing’s perceptions. “Eventually, a human emperor rose up in the Fifth Lower World. His leadership led to an unprecedented golden age in which the immortals fought the gods. The lower waged war against the higher.

“During the war, the emperor of the Fifth Lower World reached the Immortal Paragon level. And then something unexpected happened to the Fifth Star Ring’s God Paragon. The Fifth Star Ring was overthrown, and a new system was established. That’s why he’s called the Fifth Forefather of Humanity.”

With that, the ferry pilot looked up into the canopy of heaven, his face tinged with sorrow.

Xu Qing listened to the story quietly. History often played out like this. As it turned out, the story of the Fifth Star Ring was actually very similar to the story of Revered Ancient. That said, things here had gone more smoothly than back home.

“In that case,” Xu Qing said, “what about the other higher star rings...?”

“None of the wars and rebellions there succeeded,” the ferry pilot continued. “Success was never out of the question, but things always happened that led to failure.”

The ferry pilot shook his head as if thinking of the past. “The thirty-six higher star rings don’t belong to cultivators or immortals. All of them... are the domains of the gods. God and immortal. They are two different paths. And immortals... have limitations that place them one step behind the gods.”

The ferry pilot was speaking in a near growl by this point. “To be precise, once immortals reach the Immortal Paragon level, there’s no path to follow. In all the years that have passed, the Fifth Star Ring’s Immortal Paragon has not made any progress forward. But the gods are different. After the God Paragon level... is the level of Living God!

“Living Gods are not myths. They’re real. However, from ancient times until now, there has only been one. That one god is known as the original Living God. Reportedly, hīs arrival is what led to the creation of the higher and lower worlds. When it comes to that creation story, it’s hard to tell how much is real and how much is false. The history goes back too far for there to be definitive evidence of anything.”

Xu Qing was more shaken by this than by anything else he had heard.

Struggling to control his breathing, Xu Qing began to ask a question, but ended up being interrupted by the ferry pilot, who clearly knew what he had been about to ask.

“Where,” Xu Qing asked, “did that original Living God—”

“Hē left for parts unknown and never returned. As epochs came and went, the thirty-six higher star rings never saw a second Living God, until eventually Desolation showed up in the Ninth Star Ring. Hē was the first god after the original Living God who had any hope of reaching the Living God level. Luckily, hē ended up failing. Otherwise....”

The ferry pilot didn’t go into further detail, but Xu Qing could imagine what he had been about to say.

If Eminent Desolation had succeeded, then all of the thirty-six higher star rings would have been hit by a tempest of godly might. The immortals... would probably not have been able to survive.

Xu Qing sat there digesting everything the ferry pilot had explained.

The ferry pilot had told him many things. He now knew about the breakdown of the Imperial Sovereign level. He understood how strong Quasi-Immortals were. And now he had a clear view of the makeup of the world. It seemed like the ferry pilot had not held one thing back. He had explained everything.

Clearly, the ferry pilot had gone far beyond what his job description entailed. There was actually no reason for him to have gone into all of those explanations. When you coupled that with how the ferry pilot had acted when Xu Qing had been chased to his boat....

Xu Qing had some speculations, but there was no way to confirm them. But he was still inclined to believe... that this ferry pilot had a history with Revered Ancient. In fact, maybe he had even been there. Maybe he was friends with some of the cultivators from Revered Ancient. Xu Qing had no way to figure out the details on his own, but he had noticed how the ferry pilot’s eyes had lingered on The Emperor’s Sword.

After a long moment of silence, Xu Qing blurted, “Senior, have you ever heard of a place called Revered Ancient...?”

The ferry pilot’s eyes narrowed. He said nothing.

Xu Qing hesitated briefly, then sighed in his heart.

Though the ferry pilot had not said anything in response, that reaction in itself provided an answer to the question.

“Senior, some big things have happened in Revered Ancient....”

The ferry pilot continued to smoke his pipe silently.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything. He chose not to continue the conversation.

Time passed, and soon... the six-day voyage was nearing an end. The fare for the voyage was six days of life force, the reason being that the journey took six days. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

As the sixth day arrived, Xu Qing spotted the other shore of the majestic God Blood River. He was looking at the western planetary system of the Fifth Star Ring. The water had become calm, with few waves. The boat continued on for a few hours, until the sixth day was almost over.

At that point it reached the shore. The soil was different from the swampy southern region. There was no swamp here. There was only the color red, as if everything contained fire.

“You can debark now,” the ferry pilot said coolly. “If you want to cross the river a second time, the fare won’t be six days of longevity. It’ll be a sixty-year-cycle.”

Xu Qing bowed without a word, then jumped off the boat and onto the shore. He turned back to the boat.

The ferry pilot, clad in his woven rush raincoat and conical hat, was smoking his pipe, and the smoke had gathered around him, yet again obscuring his face.

Thinking back to the six-day journey, Xu Qing ducked his head, clasped hands, and bowed at the waist. “Many thanks, Senior.”

Although the ferry pilot hadn’t said much in the final days of the journey, the information he had imparted early on had been monumental. He had completely opened up the world to Xu Qing. As far as Xu Qing was concerned, that was an immense show of kindness.

His bow was completely and utterly sincere. Straightening from his bow, he turned and flew off into the distance.

***

After Xu Qing was gone, the ferry pilot looked up in the direction he had disappeared.

“So, that stubborn fellow Swordsage finally perished, huh...?”

His voice contained a bit of reminiscence. A moment passed, and he sighed. Revered Ancient.... It’s been a long time since I heard that name. I have the feeling nobody in Revered Ancient remembers who I am at this point.... I’ve surely been erased from the histories there....

The ferry pilot lifted his hand and looked at his palm. There in his palm was a magical symbol that looked like a human face. It emanated a very gruish aura. If Xu Qing had been there, he would have recognized it.... Astonishingly, that face-shaped symbol was... an immortal skill![2]

***

As Xu Qing flew through the sky in the western region of the Fifth Star Ring, Starfire spoke into his ear.

“That guy... was really scary! The moment he looked at you I was convinced he was going to grab me and stomp me to death! Xu Qing, you brought me to a really, really horrible place!” Starfire was feeling very jumpy. That was especially true when crossing the God Blood River, during which time shē had been shaking in terror. “Ah, whatever. I’ll just go back to sleep I guess....”

Shē once again retracted hēr aura.

Xu Qing wasn’t really sure what to say to Starfire. He had explained from the beginning that he was going to a place that didn’t welcome gods. Apparently Starfire hadn’t really believed him.

After a bit of hesitation, he decided to offer another warning. “Things are only going to get more dangerous....”

Starfire’s aura shrank down even more on itself. Starfire would never behave like this in Revered Ancient, which seemed to indicate that the ferry pilot really had frightened hēr.

Xu Qing couldn’t help but think back to what the ferry pilot looked like.

Who exactly was he...?

Unfortunately, there was no answer to his question. After a while, he put the matter aside and checked his map for information about the western planetary system.

The west was much weaker than the other three regions. And the orthodox organization here, the Dao Immortal Sect, was in dire straits. The heavenly inspector in the west didn’t care much about mortal affairs, nor the development of the sect. In fact, the heavenly inspector didn’t care about much at all. As a result, the cultivators in the sect had developed a very lackadaisical attitude.

However, because of that, there were more clans and other organizations here than the other three regions, and they were always fighting each other in the hopes of gaining supremacy. After looking over the information, Xu Qing reviewed the details of the Shining Star from this area.

Of the eight Shining Stars, the weakest was the apprentice of the Dao Immortal Sect’s heavenly inspector.

Li Mengtu.... One unique thing about this clan is that all direct bloodline clan members have the character “tu” in their name. His cultivation base is in the early Imperial Sovereign level, and he has four types of authority. However, because he has the legacy of his clan’s gruish magical technique, as well as training from his Master, he was able to kill a mid Imperial Sovereign.

Xu Qing looked around at the western lands.

This place seems a lot quieter than the south. I should be able to recover here. But it’s not a good place to temper myself via battle. Right now, I need to find a good place to hole up and get better. As for what happens after that... I’ll have to play it by ear.

Eyes filling with determination, he sped off.

1. Xu Qing saw an old man in the Fifth Star Ring in chapter 1040. He met that old man in chapter 1001. ☜

2. From the comments in this section in Chinese, it seems many readers believe the ferry pilot to be Grand Emperor Immortal Skill who has been mentioned a number of times in past chapters. Besides the direct mention of immortal skills, it’s also noteworthy that he says, “I’ve surely been erased from the histories there.” That conforms perfectly to what was said about him in chapter 1057. ☜