Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 21: The Thirst for Knowledge

That night, Xu Qing dreamed.

It was his first time in over six years sleeping in a room this luxurious, shielded entirely from the biting cold outside. Dreams were a rare luxury for him.

In the dream, the world wasn’t a cruel wasteland. The Fragmented Face of God did not loom in the sky. His parents were by his side, and he even had an older brother.

He went to school with a group of carefree playmates, returning to a warm home to eat a hot dinner with his family before falling into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Yet, the faces of his family remained blurred.

He strained to see them, but a thick haze always shrouded their features. The fog lingered until morning broke, and Xu Qing opened his eyes.

He stared at the ceiling, his breathing steadying as he pulled himself from the lingering warmth of the dream. His cold gaze swept the room.

The gray-brick room contained a table, chairs, a bed, and even an attached washroom. The floorboards still radiated a faint warmth from the previous night’s stove.

A woven straw meditation mat sat on the floor beside an empty bookshelf. To anyone else, it was spartan. To Xu Qing, it was a palace.

He rose and walked to the washroom, carefully dipping his hand into the basin. The water immediately clouded with grime. He yanked his hand back.

He stared at his wet fingers for a moment, wiped them on his coat, and deliberately rubbed them in the dirt again. Only then did he look up at his reflection in the mirror.

An oversized, filthy leather coat. Messy black hair. A small face caked in grime. And a pair of strikingly clear eyes.

But as he turned away from the mirror to look out the window, that innocent clarity vanished, replaced by the cold, detached stare of a predator.

Outside the window, the wind and snow had stopped. The early sun crested the horizon, its pale light melting the last of winter’s frost. On the distant, gnarled trees, tiny green buds pushed through the melting snow. Spring had finally arrived in the wasteland.

Xu Qing stepped out of his room, his eyes habitually sweeping over Captain Lei’s hut. The dozen stray dogs in the yard didn’t bother lifting their heads, merely thumping their tails against the dirt in a lazy greeting.

“I need to be useful,” Xu Qing thought, his eyes hardening with resolve.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and headed straight for his target: the tent of the caravan’s physician.

The Scavenger Camp was quiet in the early morning. As Xu Qing approached the caravan’s perimeter, the guards’ eyes tracked his movements. Ignoring them, he focused on the faint sound of recitation drifting from the physician’s tent.

He stopped just outside the tent flap, standing perfectly still.

The caravan guards scrutinized him, hands resting on their weapons. After a few tense moments, most deemed the scrawny boy a non-threat and looked away, though a few kept him in their peripheral vision.

Xu Qing paid them no mind. His entire focus was locked onto the voices inside the tent. He quickly realized it wasn’t just a reading—it was a test.

“Golden Button Weed, also known as Three-Leaf Pearl or Cold-Dispersing Grass,” a young girl’s voice recited. “It is a perennial spirit herb of the sedge family, thriving in the damp, shaded slopes of the southern Lingyou and Guangling prefectures of the South Phoenix Continent. Its properties disperse stagnant lung qi, purge heat, and neutralize toxins. It possesses miraculous efficacy against venomous snake bites and blunt-force trauma. When catalyzed with…”

The girl’s confident recitation faltered.

“Catalyzed with what?” Master Bai’s authoritative voice cut through the silence, sharp and demanding.

“Catalyzed with the Rhinoceros Spark Flower during alchemical refinement!” the girl blurted out, her tone laced with fear. “Using its yang properties to invert the yin, it condenses into a single drop of Panacea Nectar, a foundational catalyst for the Great Transformation Pill.” She exhaled a long, shaky breath.

Outside, Xu Qing absorbed every syllable, his mind working furiously to commit the formulas to memory.

“White-Backed Root, also known as… uh, it is the root of the spurge family plant White Ailanthus,” a boy’s voice began, but it quickly grew hesitant. “Slightly astringent and bitter… native to… its properties treat the five viscera…” His voice trailed off into silence, clearly having forgotten the rest.

Inside the tent, the boy sat beside the girl, his face flushed with panic. He shot a desperate, pleading look at his companion.

The girl, who obviously knew the answer, simply ignored him, a faint smirk playing on her lips. The boy’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

Master Bai, seated before them, glanced toward the tent entrance. One of the guards looked to him for instruction. After a moment’s consideration, Master Bai gave a slight shake of his head. He turned back to the stammering boy and let out a cold snort.

“You will copy the Herbal Compendium ten times tonight!”

The boy looked as if he might burst into tears, but he dared not protest. He hung his head, silently bemoaning his fate.

After testing his two disciples, Master Bai’s voice returned to its usual calm cadence as he began the day’s lesson. His tone was slightly louder and more enunciated than usual.

The boy didn’t notice, but the sharp-eyed girl did. She blinked, her gaze drifting toward the tent flap. In the morning sunlight, she could see the faint, slender shadow of a figure cast against the canvas.

Outside, Xu Qing listened with even greater intensity. He committed every word Master Bai uttered to memory, terrified of forgetting a single detail. To him, knowledge was a precious, desperately coveted treasure.

Time passed slowly. Master Bai’s lecture that day lasted nearly twice as long as usual. It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky and a small crowd of scavengers began to gather outside for medical treatment that he finally concluded his teaching. His voice, now slightly hoarse, called out.

“Young man outside, come in.”

Xu Qing jolted, pulled from his state of rapt attention. He took a deep breath, his heart pounding with guilt as he carefully pushed aside the tent flap and entered. He stood silently to one side, feeling awkward and out of place.

Normally, he wouldn’t feel this way, but he had come seeking information and had been eavesdropping for hours. In the slums, such behavior was deeply frowned upon.

Sensing the boy’s nervousness, Master Bai’s tone softened slightly.

“What is it?”

As he spoke, the girl beside him studied Xu Qing with open curiosity.

She vaguely remembered this scrawny child from a few days prior, when he had carried an old man to the tent for treatment.

“Greetings, Master Bai,” Xu Qing said, bowing deeply in imitation of Captain Lei’s earlier gesture.

Hesitating for a moment, he explained that he wished to inquire about the Destiny Flower.

After speaking, Xu Qing reached into his leather pouch and placed five White Pills on the table before Master Bai.

The standard consultation fee was one White Pill, but Xu Qing felt that having listened to the master’s lecture, one was insufficient. Even five seemed too little.

So he added ten spirit coins to the pile.

Only after doing this did he feel a sense of relief.

Master Bai studied Xu Qing for a long moment, then turned to the girl beside him.

“Ting Yu, you answer.”

The girl straightened her posture, her expression turning serious.

“The Destiny Flower, also known as Life-Continuing Flame or Divine Herb, is a variant mutation of the Divine-nature family plant Complexwood. Records indicate seventy-three possible mutations, but only the first type is suitable for alchemy. It can grow in any region within the Restricted Zone, with no discernible pattern, and is exceedingly rare.”

“Its properties can regenerate severed limbs and rekindle a fading life force. It can cure any ailment except those affecting the soul.” As she spoke, she quickly picked up a book from the table, flipping through several pages before stopping at one with an illustration.

“This is what it looks like.”

The drawing depicted a rather unremarkable-looking plant. The only distinctive features were the pronounced serrations along the edges of its leaves and a strange, thread-like symbol in the center.

Xu Qing studied the image intently, committing every detail to memory. He then bowed deeply once more to Master Bai and Ting Yu before turning to leave.

Just as he was about to exit, Master Bai’s calm voice sounded behind him.

“That herb is a matter of chance, not pursuit. It is often guarded by powerful mutated beasts. Tread carefully.”

Xu Qing bowed again in acknowledgment before leaving the tent. Once outside, he sprinted through the camp.

He returned to his quarters at top speed and immediately retrieved a bamboo slip from his pouch. Using an iron spike, he carefully carved the description and symbol of the Destiny Flower as described by Ting Yu.

After a moment’s thought, he also carved down everything he had heard during that day’s lecture.

Finally, he looked at the bamboo slip, now covered in dense, tiny characters. A profound sense of satisfaction washed over him. He treated it like a priceless treasure, carefully storing it away.

“If only I could go listen again,” Xu Qing murmured to himself. He began to ponder how he might continue to attend the lectures. After a while, he shook off these thoughts and settled into his cultivation practice.

That evening, Xu Qing waited for Captain Lei to return from his outing. He informed the old man of his plan to venture into the Restricted Zone. Captain Lei opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it.

In the end, he simply nodded and shared his own hard-earned experience with the boy.

It was like an elder seeing a young family member off on a journey. Captain Lei’s instructions were exhaustive in their detail.

He spoke until dawn was nearly breaking. After Xu Qing had memorized everything, Captain Lei handed him a leather pouch containing various medicinal powders left behind by Luan Ya.

Once Xu Qing understood their specific uses, he bid farewell to the camp as the first light of morning touched the sky. He raced across the wilderness, and before long, he stood once more at the border of the Restricted Zone.

The moment he crossed the threshold, the gentle warmth of the sun vanished, replaced by a pervasive, bone-chilling cold. Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, his body tensing with alertness. He transformed into a blur of motion, darting straight into the dense jungle.

After a few leaps, he vanished without a trace.

This was his second time entering the jungle of the Restricted Zone. His familiarity with the terrain was far greater than before.

Yet, this very familiarity made him even more cautious. As he moved in bounding leaps, he also kept a sharp eye on the surrounding flora. He soon reached the location of the previous mud pit. Mimicking Luan Ya’s earlier actions, he scooped up the foul-smelling sludge and smeared it over his body before continuing onward.

Time passed, and a full day slipped by.

On this journey, Xu Qing encountered no strange mists. Though there were powerful mutated beasts in the area, his extreme caution allowed him to avoid them.

As he traveled, he also scanned the undergrowth, searching for any sign of the Destiny Flower.

Eventually, he arrived at the place where he had once battled the Black-Scaled Wolves. Looking around, he could still faintly make out the remnants of his previous traps. The wolf corpses that had littered the ground were now mostly decomposed skeletons.

He examined the rotting remains carefully, noting the absence of bite marks or signs of scavenging. The decay appeared natural. Xu Qing let out a quiet sigh of relief.

This suggested that no significant predators had been drawn to the area.

He found a suitable spot nearby to spend the night, planning to continue his search at first light.

Soon, darkness engulfed the jungle. Huddled within a crevice in a large tree, Xu Qing gazed in the direction of the Seven-Leaf Grass Valley. Beyond that valley lay the cluster of ancient temples.

His purpose for entering the Restricted Zone this time was twofold: to search for the Destiny Flower and to find a special scar-removing stone for the little girl.

“I’ll go take a look,” Xu Qing whispered to himself.