Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 96: The Eerie Inn

The night was pitch black. The wind howled, and the moonlight offered no warmth, only a bone-deep chill.

The impenetrable darkness felt like the hand of a reaper wielding the brush of the Book of Life and Death, slathering the world in an ink-black haze. It painted a suffocating, macabre portrait of mortality.

A canvas composed entirely of ash and shadow.

The only vibrant color in this desolate world was the bright crimson blood dripping from the severed artery of the wanted criminal nailed to the wall.

Step. Step. Step.

A steady, rhythmic footfall echoed through the gloom. A gray silhouette slowly stepped into the frame, eclipsing the violent red of the blood. He became the absolute epicenter of the freezing terror outside the Banquan Road inn.

The sheer chill rolling off him seemed to freeze the falling blood in mid-air. The old man standing at the inn’s entrance felt his pupils shrink to pinpricks as he stared at the approaching figure.

Raven hair cascading over his shoulders, a tall, ramrod-straight posture, and eyes as dead and cold as the void. Paired with his sharp, angular features, he looked exactly like a blade slowly sliding from its sheath.

It was Xu Qing.

His expression was an absolute void. Completely ignoring the old man’s terrified stare, he walked calmly to the pinned corpse. He unhooked the dead man’s leather pouch, drew his dagger with an emotionless flick of his wrist, and casually severed the head. Catching the skull by its hair as it fell, he nudged the headless torso with his boot.

The corpse tumbled, landing with a wet thud right at the old man’s feet.

The old man’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. Suddenly, the rushing of wind sounded from behind him. The massive serpent shot out from the shadows, its serpentine eyes instantly lighting up the moment they locked onto Xu Qing.

Gurgle, gurgle!

“Dinner’s on me,” Xu Qing said flatly, tossing the severed head.

Overjoyed, the serpent snapped it out of the air, swallowing it whole before bobbing its head in gratitude to Xu Qing.

“Xu Qing! Don’t push your luck!” the old man spat, his voice dropping to a venomous hiss.

Xu Qing slowly turned his dead eyes toward the old man. Without warning, his right arm snapped forward in a violent blur.

The dagger tore through the air, breaking the sound barrier with a shrieking whistle. The sonic boom drowned out the scream of a second wanted criminal charging out of the darkness. The blade buried itself hilt-deep directly between the man’s eyes.

The kinetic payload was catastrophic. The man’s skull detonated, spraying red blood and white brain matter as the sheer force launched his body twenty feet backward. He slammed into the dirt with a sickening crunch.

The old man’s eyelid twitched violently. Every instinct screamed that the Xu Qing standing before him was exponentially more lethal than the boy he had encountered on Sea Lizard Island. Cold dread began to pool in his gut.

“What the hell do you want?!” the old man roared, veins bulging against his temples. A highly dangerous, erratic aura began to bleed from his body. Dozens of spectral nooses materialized out of thin air, dropping from the darkness above them.

The instant the nooses manifested, a violent, incinerating heat erupted from Xu Qing’s core. A shockwave of pure thermal energy blasted outward, instantly causing the spectral ropes to wither and recoil, terrified of the heat.

Just then, a horrific scream tore through the night.

A third wanted criminal had just rushed into the perimeter. Simply by breathing the air near Xu Qing, his entire body turned a sickly blue-black, and he collapsed, dead from hyper-lethal poisoning.

Xu Qing didn’t even blink at the dying man. His cold gaze remained locked squarely on the old man’s throat. He was silently running the combat calculus, calculating the exact angle and speed required to decapitate him. The freezing aura radiating from Xu Qing plunged further into absolute zero.

The old man stared back, his heart hammering against his ribs. He obviously knew exactly why the boy was here. But parting with several thousand Spirit Stones felt like ripping off his own flesh. His initial plan had been to talk the kid in circles and use his ‘generous’ gift of the storage bag as an excuse to wipe the slate clean.

But Xu Qing hadn’t said a single word. He was simply preparing to kill him. The suffocating weight of the boy’s killing intent triggered every survival instinct the old man possessed.

“Xu Qing, don’t do something stupid! I have a trump card! It’s the inn! This place isn’t a building, it’s an Eerie! An anomaly! It’s dormant right now, but if it wakes up, the First Peak of Seven Blood Eyes will instantly deploy to suppress it, and you’ll be obliterated in the crossfire!”

The old man babbled the warning at breakneck speed. The second the words left his mouth, the entire inn violently convulsed. A horrifying, incomprehensible pulse of energy radiated from every table, every chair, every brick, and every floorboard. The very structure of the building seemed to warp, breathing with a sinister, awakening consciousness.

Xu Qing’s pupils shrank. Every single alarm bell in his nervous system began shrieking. He instantly blurred backward, putting distance between himself and the anomaly.

The serpent had remained glued to the ground throughout the entire standoff, happily spectating. It had clearly assumed they wouldn’t actually try to murder each other. When the inn began to warp, the snake didn’t look afraid; rather, it looked almost affectionate, rubbing its scaled head against the dirt as if greeting an old friend.

However, noticing Xu Qing’s calculating stare, the serpent frantically gurgled and began nodding its massive head vigorously, confirming that the old man wasn’t bluffing.

“Xu Qing, I’m not human,” the old man wheezed. “And this inn isn’t an inn. It’s a dormant Eerie. My race possesses a unique genetic trait that can force anomalies into stasis.”

“Years ago, I dragged this dormant nightmare all the way to Seven Blood Eyes to sell it to the First Peak. But those bastards refused to pay up front. They chained me here, forcing me to act as its warden for ten years before they’ll release the funds. I had no choice; the payout was too massive to refuse. But I’m flat broke! I need resources to cultivate!”

“Look, Huang Yan and I go way back! I’ve saved Zhang San’s life! The Captain of the Homicide Department’s Sixth Team is a sworn brother of mine! Don’t do something we’ll both regret, Xu Qing! We can be friends! The intel I gave you on those bounties was one hundred percent accurate! I never intended to harm you!”

Xu Qing’s expression was dark. He stared at the rapidly babbling old man, then shifted his gaze back to the inn. In the shadows of the night, the building literally looked like a jagged, gaping maw, waiting to swallow the world whole.

He had always known the old bastard was hiding something lethal, which was why he hadn’t attacked him immediately. But utilizing a dormant anomaly as a personal panic room was far beyond his expectations.

As for the old man’s sob story about the First Peak and his ‘powerful friends,’ Xu Qing didn’t believe a single word of it.

However, the sheer apocalyptic terror radiating from the inn was undeniably real. Risking his life against an anomaly just to claim a debt was fundamentally illogical.

His hyper-cautious nature made the decision instantly. He would back down and observe the situation from a safe distance. He locked eyes with the old man, forcefully retracting his killing intent, and spoke in a flat, dead tone.

“Give me my Spirit Stones.”

The second the lethal pressure vanished, the old man practically ripped three high-denomination Spirit Notes from his robes. Three thousand in total. With a flick of his wrist, he sent them sailing toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing snatched them from the air, verified the seals, and then walked over to the headless corpse. He casually severed the third bounty’s head, grabbed it by the hair, and walked away without another word.

From the moment he arrived to the moment he left, he had spoken exactly two sentences.

Watching Xu Qing vanish into the darkness, the serpent eagerly popped its head up, issuing a series of highly joyful gurgles.

Xu Qing didn’t look back. He melted into the night.

“Shut up, you ungrateful reptile! We just lost our entire fortune, and instead of mourning with me, you’re cheering him on! The kid was seriously going to butcher me! The inn almost woke up!” The old man ranted, practically shaking with indignation as he hurriedly popped a high-grade detoxification Pill into his mouth.

Gurgle!

“I did not deserve it!” The old man huffed, violently flicking his sleeves. He plopped down onto the porch and began furiously puffing on his pipe, though his hands still trembled slightly from the residual terror of Xu Qing’s killing intent.

That kid’s murderous aura has evolved into something monstrous. What the hell happened out there on Sea Lizard Island? I need to tap my sources, the old man thought, his eyes narrowing in the dark.

Xu Qing walked silently through the slums. His mind replayed the terrifying encounter with the inn. The sheer absurdity of this world made it impossible to verify the old man’s claims, but the apocalyptic dread radiating from the building had been very, very real.

Only after putting a massive distance between himself and Banquan Road did he finally stop looking over his shoulder. He fully suppressed his killing intent.

Since his Dharma Boat was currently a pile of raw materials in Zhang San’s shop, Xu Qing decided to head to the Homicide Department. He needed to officially clock back in from his leave, and he figured he could crash in the barracks for the night.

As he entered the courtyard, he spotted the Captain. He had clearly just finished a shift and was on his way out, casually munching on an apple. Spotting Xu Qing—and the three freshly severed heads dangling from his fist—the Captain’s eyes crinkled into a wide smile. He casually tossed an apple over.

“Look at you, Employee of the Month. Catching bounties the second you step off the boat. Didn’t score a big enough haul out at sea?”

Xu Qing caught the apple with one hand. With the other, he produced a Spirit Note worth a hundred Spirit Stones and handed it over.

“The gains were acceptable.”

“I heard a rumor,” the Captain said, happily pocketing the note as he hopped up to squat on a nearby stone bench. His eyes gleamed with intense curiosity. “They say a massacre happened on an island out near the Western Coral Archipelago. Bodies piled high. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Xu Qing stared at him for a second, then shook his head.

The Captain took a loud bite of his apple, grinning around the mouthful. He didn’t press the issue. Instead, he leaned in, lowering his voice conspiratorially.

“Well, let me tell you some earth-shattering news. While you were out playing pirate, a massive case dropped right in our laps. The entire city is buzzing about it. It’s brutal. A truly tragic, messy end.”

The Captain paused, staring expectantly at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing stared back, completely silent.

After a long, awkward standoff, the Captain sighed heavily.

“Xu Qing. When someone uses this specific tone of voice, societal norms dictate that you feign curiosity. It prevents the interaction from becoming painfully awkward and allows the speaker to dramatically reveal the information. It’s called basic etiquette.”

Xu Qing processed the logic. He forcefully contorted his facial muscles into a look of mild intrigue.

Mollified, the Captain scanned the empty courtyard before leaning in closer.

“The Captain of the Earth Division’s Third Team—that arrogant fish—got himself butchered.”

“Technically, the Homicide Department has to run an investigation. But since he’s an outsider, we’re just going to go through the motions and rubber-stamp it. The real problem is his personal retinue. Specifically, his two older sisters. They’ve gone completely feral, tearing the port apart looking for the killer.”

“Man, this world is just too chaotic. How does the young master of a highly valued allied race just drop dead? It’s a massive diplomatic headache. Anyway, enough gossiping, Junior Brother Xu. I’ve got a night patrol to run.”

The Captain hopped off the bench, dusting off his robes. But as he brushed past Xu Qing, his voice dropped to a barely audible whisper.

“The Mermaid Clan is officially allied with Seven Blood Eyes, so the higher-ups are letting them run wild. I heard… the mermaids possess a specific bloodline art that allows the sisters to track the residual aura of the killer. They’ve been hunting for over a month, violently interrogating every single person who ever had friction with that fish. It’s only a matter of time before they lock onto the scent.”

“Everyone is watching this play out. It’s going to be highly entertaining.” The Captain shot Xu Qing a deeply meaningful, half-smiling glance before vanishing into the night.

Xu Qing stood perfectly still, rapidly analyzing the variables.

A moment later, a glacial light flashed through his eyes. He turned, deposited the three bounty heads, collected his reward, and retreated to the barracks to meditate through the night.

The next morning, Xu Qing left the Homicide Department and blended into the bustling morning crowds. He bought a stick of candied hawthorns from a street vendor, took a few bites, and stepped into a secluded, shadowed alleyway, stopping completely still.

Moments later, a woman rushed into the alley, immediately dropping to her knees behind him.

“Master.”

The woman possessed a highly alluring, seductive figure. It was the informant he had acquired months ago. He hadn’t summoned her recently because he hadn’t required any specific intel.

“Give me a summary of recent major events,” Xu Qing said calmly, keeping his back to her as he casually ate a hawthorn.

Staring at the candied fruit, a tremor of primal fear ran through the woman, but it was quickly violently suppressed by the fanaticism burning in her eyes.

“Two topics dominate the current chatter, Master. First, the Seventh Peak’s thirty-year Grand Competition is rapidly approaching. Historically, every Seventh Peak competition devolves into a localized bloodbath. Rumor has it that the last competition was hosted by the Mermaid Clan; the slaughter was so extreme it permanently altered their political stance, forcing them to ally with Seven Blood Eyes.”

“The second topic also involves the Mermaid Clan. Their young master was assassinated. His two older sisters have been actively hunting the killer within the port for over a month…”

The underbelly of the city was always the fastest network for information. Since becoming Xu Qing’s asset, the woman had clearly refined her intelligence-gathering protocols. Xu Qing was highly satisfied with the briefing. He thought for a second before asking a follow-up.

“Anything else?”

The informant frowned in concentration. “Nothing of major geopolitical significance. Oh, actually, a minor Sect recently packed up and completely migrated out of Seven Blood Eyes’ territory. It’s a highly unusual move. I believe they were called… the Jin-something Sect?”

“The Vajra Sect?” Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed to lethal slits.

“Yes! Exactly, the Vajra Sect,” the informant nodded eagerly.

Xu Qing went dead silent. After a long moment, he tossed five Spirit Stones onto the dirt, turned, and walked out of the alley.

To a slum-dweller, five Spirit Stones was a small fortune. The woman’s breathing hitched, her eyes burning with sheer fanaticism as she watched her master depart.

Merging back into the street traffic, Xu Qing’s mind was racing, analyzing the tactical implications of the Vajra Sect’s retreat.

They ran? He then cross-referenced the intel regarding the Mermaid Clan. The Captain and the informant had corroborated the core facts.

A slow, freezing killing intent began to bleed into his heart.

Both of these variables are critical hidden threats.

Xu Qing formalized the thought, though his face remained a mask of polite indifference. He finished his mundane daily patrol without incident, stopping briefly at the Sea Chronicles Pavilion to file a formal report regarding the Giant Dragon Chariot anomaly he had witnessed deep underwater.

According to Pavilion protocols, undocumented anomalies yielded a massive Reward, but the verification process was lengthy. After filing the paperwork, he left.

As dusk fell, he arrived at Zhang San’s Transportation Department.

He was greeted by Zhang San, whose face was pale with exhaustion but whose eyes burned with sheer, unadulterated madness.

“Junior Brother Xu! This vessel… this is my magnum opus! I have never built anything like this!” Zhang San grabbed Xu Qing by the arm, dragging him toward the main warehouse. He violently threw open the heavy iron doors.

The instant the doors parted, an apocalyptic Dharma Boat loomed out of the shadows, slamming into Xu Qing’s vision.

It was a hundred-zhang leviathan. The entire hull was seamlessly clad in high-tier sea lizard skin, radiating an inky, abyssal glow. It passively projected the crushing pressure of Grand Perfection Qi Condensation; its sheer defensive density was visible to the naked eye.

The core structural geometry remained, but two massive, jagged horns now swept aggressively from the bow. They looked violently demonic, exuding a piercing sharpness that made even Xu Qing’s eyes narrow in primal apprehension.

Even more shocking were the sails. The original eight canvas sails had been scrapped. They were replaced by massive constructs that had more than doubled in size, forged from pitch-black materials that resembled the leathery wings of a primordial beast.

Furthermore, Zhang San had completely lined the interior skeletal structure with Foundation Establishment sea lizard skin. The vessel’s true structural integrity wildly exceeded its outward appearance, creating a lethal tactical deception that could easily dictate life or death in a naval engagement.

“The divine nature you provided… I managed to extract the core essence and weave it directly into the eight sails. The moment you channel energy into them, this Dharma Boat will achieve full atmospheric flight and deep-sea submersion capabilities.”

“More importantly, I successfully grafted the residual divine vitality into the central nervous system of the ship. This vessel now possesses a baseline regenerative healing factor! In the entire Seven Blood Eyes armada, a self-repairing hull is an astronomically rare and priceless attribute!”

“Additionally, you can weaponize the divine nature. You can vent the energy to unleash an apocalyptic strike. I can’t guarantee it will outright kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but it will absolutely cripple them. However, I strongly advise against using it as a weapon. It’s a massive waste. After a handful of detonations, the divine nature will burn out completely. Once it’s gone, the ship’s baseline performance will permanently degrade.”

“In short, while this Dharma Boat hasn’t technically crossed the threshold into a true Foundation Establishment vessel, its combat specs are virtually identical. The only thing missing is a Foundation Establishment power core. Slot one in, and this ship officially ascends—and it will drastically outperform standard models!”

“So, do not just slot any random garbage core into it! You need a premium ferocious beast heart. If you can hunt down the heart of a divine creature… well, then this Dharma Boat will functionally become a Foundation Establishment divine entity!”

“But I know you hate drawing attention. So, I integrated a localized holographic array. You can project the visual data of your old, beat-up Dharma Boat over the hull. When the time comes, you can drop the cloaking and unleash this monster!” Zhang San was practically vibrating with manic pride as he laid out the specs.

Xu Qing sucked in a sharp breath. Staring at the mechanical leviathan before him, his mind was reeling with sheer shock.

It took a very long time for the adrenaline to fade. Even as he left the Transportation Department and walked back to Port Seventy-Nine, his heart was still hammering against his ribs.

Meanwhile, deep within the neon-lit sprawl of the Seven Blood Eyes main city, five figures sprinted across the rooftops under the cover of night.

Three masked attendants flanked two women in the lead. Both women possessed eyes that burned with lethal, unyielding ferocity. They were the older sisters of the slain mermaid youth—and the favored concubines of the Second Senior Brother.

The younger sister’s face was twisted in a mask of pure, rabid killing intent. The older sister’s eyes held a strange, calculating light. Their internal motivations were different, but their immediate objective was identical.

“We’ve hunted for over a month! We’ve violently interrogated every single gutter rat who ever had the slightest friction with our brother! We’ve eliminated all of them! There is only one target left—the one who was out at sea!”

“It doesn’t matter. The second we get eyes on him, our bloodline resonance will trigger if he’s the killer!”

“If it is him, I will flay the skin from his bones! I will make him regret drawing his first breath! I will carve off his flesh and force him to eat it until he dies screaming! And when he finally expires, I will rip his soul from his corpse and burn it in a mermaid lamp for the rest of eternity!” The younger sister ground her teeth, her eyes practically bleeding with sheer, venomous hatred.

The night wind howled through the city, carrying the scent of a Shura descending to reap lives.