Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 41: Heaven’s Net, Earth’s Snare

The desolate wilderness blurred past as Xu Qing sprinted forward.

He had been running for two days straight. Thanks to his anomalous recovery rate, the bone-deep exhaustion that would have crippled an ordinary cultivator never set in. Instead, his muscles felt thoroughly limber, thrumming with restless energy.

Along the way, he had spotted several figures clad in the same robes as the late camp leader—Vajra Sect cultivators. Relying on his blistering speed and paranoid caution, he had bypassed them all like a ghost.

Now, only a day’s journey separated him from Lujiao City. However, the dirt trail ahead split into a fork.

To the left lay the ruins of the city he had called home for six years. It was now a forbidden zone, a sprawling patch of pitch-black rot festering beneath the twilight sky. The right path led to Lujiao City.

Xu Qing paused, his gaze lingering on the dark silhouette of the forbidden zone. After a few breaths of silence, he shifted his weight, preparing to dash toward Lujiao City. Suddenly, his expression tightened. He dropped instantly, melting into the dense brush.

Eyes narrowed to slits, he peered through the foliage at the distant sky.

A streak of blinding golden light was tearing through the clouds. Though it was too far to make out the figure within, the spiritual energy radiating from it was identical to the camp leader’s—only vastly more oppressive.

This Pressure… it surpasses the camp leader’s.

Xu Qing held his breath until the golden streak vanished over the horizon. Over the past two days, he had evaded three separate waves of Vajra Sect search parties, but this golden light triggered every survival instinct he possessed.

If I keep going, I can reach Lujiao City in a day. His mind raced, calculating the odds. His greatest advantage was absolute secrecy; no one knew he carried the token for the Seven Blood Eyes. Therefore, his destination remained a mystery to his hunters.

But he possessed a second, equally potent advantage: his immunity to the dense Mutagen within the forbidden zone. If he was careful, he could survive in that hellscape indefinitely.

The first option demanded blitzkrieg speed—striking before the Vajra Sect could tighten their net, allowing him to use Lujiao City’s teleportation array to escape. The fatal flaw, however, was discovery. If he were spotted on the road to Lujiao City, his destination would be exposed, and the Seven Blood Eyes token would become a beacon for his own death.

The second option was a war of attrition. By retreating into the forbidden zone, he could wait until the Vajra Sect’s manhunt exhausted itself. If he encountered danger, the lethal environment of the forbidden zone would serve as his shield and maneuvering ground.

Two paths. Two choices.

Before he could finalize his decision, the golden streak reappeared in the sky, tearing back along its previous trajectory at an even greater speed.

Xu Qing’s brow furrowed. He remained perfectly still, his breathing shallow, watching as the golden light slowed to a crawl overhead.

The deceleration revealed the figure within the glare—a middle-aged cultivator.

A glowing talisman was slapped onto the man’s right leg, pulsing with spiritual energy to sustain his flight. Hovering directly in front of him was a second talisman, the source of the blinding golden light.

As the second talisman flickered, a faint, blurry apparition materialized within its glow. Xu Qing’s pupils shrank. The apparition was the exact likeness of the guard he had slaughtered at the camp leader’s estate. The spectral figure sniffed the air like a spectral hound, sweeping the area for his scent.

The middle-aged cultivator drifted lazily, scanning the terrain. After a long moment, he adjusted his course and continued his search, gradually moving further away.

Xu Qing’s heart turned to ice.

A Talisman Treasure!

He didn’t know the exact mechanics of the talismans, but their purpose was glaringly obvious. He’s using the residual aura of the man I killed to track me. But the range must be limited, and the connection weak.

Xu Qing inhaled sharply, a grim realization of the sheer versatility of cultivation spells settling over him. The scales in his mind instantly tipped.

I can’t go to Lujiao City. A full day’s journey in the open is suicide. If I’m caught, I don’t just die—I lead them right to my escape route.

His decision made, Xu Qing waited for the cultivator to vanish before bursting from the underbrush, sprinting directly toward the pitch-black borders of the forbidden zone.

He tore across the wasteland. Just as he closed within an incense stick’s worth of time from the forbidden zone’s perimeter, the sky behind him ignited with golden light once more.

Xu Qing dove for cover, glancing over his shoulder. His pupils constricted to pinpricks.

The golden light had locked onto him. It accelerated violently, plummeting straight toward his position. A split-second later, a streak of sword qi shrieked through the air, outpacing the golden light.

Xu Qing abandoned stealth. He kicked off the ground just as a deafening boom shattered the silence. The sword qi obliterated his previous hiding spot, sending a shockwave of shrapnel and dirt tearing through the brush.

The golden light arrived overhead, accompanied by a booming sneer.

“Found you, you little rat! So this is where you were scurrying off to!”

The golden glare faded, revealing the middle-aged cultivator. He had a square face, ordinary features, and wore a lavish golden robe. His most prominent feature was a pair of incredibly thick, dark eyebrows. Beneath those brows, his eyes burned with cold, sadistic killing intent as he glared down at Xu Qing.

The instant their eyes met, Xu Qing’s right foot cratered the earth. With an explosive boom, he launched himself into the sky like a fired cannonball, hurtling directly toward the hovering cultivator.

The middle-aged cultivator merely sneered. His tracking talisman had spiked when he first passed this area, prompting his meticulous search. Now that he had his prey dead to rights, he wasn’t about to take unnecessary risks. Seeing Xu Qing rocket toward him, he immediately commanded his flight talisman to ascend.

He climbed to an altitude just beyond Xu Qing’s reach. The moment Xu Qing’s upward momentum died and gravity began to drag him back down to earth, the cultivator raised his right hand.

A violent vortex of wind materialized around his fingers. He pointed downward.

Instantly, the roaring gale crashed down, swallowing Xu Qing whole.

Amidst the roar, Xu Qing slammed into the dirt, rolling to disperse the kinetic force. Battered but unbroken, he immediately scrambled to his feet and bolted toward the forbidden zone.

The cultivator moved to pursue, but a cold glint suddenly flashed from Xu Qing’s hand. A dagger tore through the air, shrieking toward the airborne cultivator at a terrifying velocity.

The man’s eyes narrowed. He simply willed himself higher, letting the blade sail harmlessly beneath his feet.

“Petty tricks!”

On the ground, Xu Qing shot the man a dark, calculating look. He didn’t waste breath on words. Instead, he pushed his speed to its absolute limit, blurring across the wasteland.

The brutal reality of the situation was clear: he was outmatched.

If the man couldn’t fly, Xu Qing would have gladly traded flesh for flesh, dragging him down into a bloody, grinding death. But against an airborne opponent, his ruthless pragmatism was useless. One ruled the sky, the other was bound to the earth. It was a slaughter, not a fight.

As Xu Qing sprinted, the golden-robed Elder sneered from his untouchable vantage point. He casually retrieved a jade slip, transmitting a message to the Patriarch. Then, he gave chase, his hands blurring through incantations.

As a Grand Elder at the ninth level of Qi Condensation, his spiritual energy reserves were vast, and his arsenal of spells was deadly.

A relentless barrage of wind blades and fireballs rained from the heavens, carpet-bombing the earth. Xu Qing was forced into a desperate, exhausting dance of evasion. Even with his agility, the splash damage caught him. Blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth.

“The Patriarch is far too cautious,” the Elder mocked from above. “There’s no need for him to dirty his hands. I can butcher you myself.”

Despite his arrogance, the Elder refused to descend. Even as Xu Qing stumbled and bled, the man maintained his altitude, weaving another set of hand seals to summon a fresh storm of wind blades.

Murderous intent boiled in Xu Qing’s eyes. Being treated like target practice stoked the cold fury in his chest, but his mind remained hyper-logical.

The Elder might be alone now, but he had undoubtedly contacted the Sect. If Xu Qing didn’t end this quickly and vanish into the forbidden zone, the rest of the Vajra Sect would descend upon him. The mention of the ‘Patriarch’ alone was enough to send a chill down his spine.

Yet, the Elder’s absolute refusal to lower his altitude left Xu Qing with no openings. He had deliberately feigned weakness multiple times, stumbling and leaving his vitals exposed, but the paranoid Elder refused to take the bait.

He’s too cautious. I can’t afford to wait.

A vicious purple light flared in Xu Qing’s eyes. As the Elder’s next storm crashed down, swallowing him in a vortex of tearing winds, a phantom purple blade materialized within the maelstrom.

Inside the tempest, Xu Qing coughed up a mouthful of blood, forcibly enduring the shredding winds. His right hand slashed downward.

The Heavenly Knife manifested, cleaving through the air with apocalyptic force.

High above, every alarm bell in the Elder’s soul screamed in terror. An overwhelming aura of death locked onto him. His face contorted in horror as he burned his spiritual energy, pushing his flight talisman to its absolute limits to rocket higher into the sky.

The very void beneath him seemed to tear open with a deafening roar. The purple knife shadow swept past, a hairsbreadth beneath his boots. If he had been a fraction slower, or if he had lowered his altitude earlier, the blade would have bisected him in a single, thunderous strike.

He narrowly escaped death, but the knife’s edge grazed his left foot. The limb instantly disintegrated into a bloody pulp.

Gritting his teeth against the agony, the Elder gasped for air. Rage blazed in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by a bone-deep wariness and lingering terror. He knew with absolute certainty: without the flight talisman, that monstrous blade would have cleaved him in two. Even if he survived, he would have been crippled beyond recovery.

The Patriarch was right. This brat is unnatural!

On the ground, Xu Qing wiped the blood from his lips. He shot a cold, regretful glance at the Elder hovering in the sky, his left foot a mangled ruin. Suppressing his disappointment, Xu Qing spun around and resumed his desperate sprint toward the forbidden zone.

In the sky, the Elder was wracked with pain. After hastily sealing his wound, he glared down at Xu Qing. Though his killing intent remained fierce, a sliver of hesitation crept in. He didn’t dare close the distance again. Instead, he increased his altitude, content to harass Xu Qing with long-range spells from a safe distance.

He had no intention of risking his life to complete a Sect mission. Compared to his own survival, the task was meaningless. He decided to stall. Even if Xu Qing reached the forbidden zone, so be it.

Once the Patriarch arrives, this brat is dead!

With the Elder unwilling to engage directly, his spells, while damaging, were manageable. Xu Qing’s monstrous recovery rate mitigated the worst of the injuries, and his speed only increased.

Finally, Xu Qing saw the jagged, corrupted edge of the forbidden zone. Without hesitation, he lunged forward, crossing the threshold and vanishing into the oppressive darkness.

Outside the forbidden zone, the Elder hovering in the sky came to an abrupt halt. He hesitated, debating whether to pursue. At that moment, thunder cracked across the horizon behind him. Two figures tore through the sky, approaching at terrifying speeds.

The one in the lead wore crimson robes, his white hair streaming behind him. An aura of absolute authority radiated from him, and a colossal Vajra shadow loomed at his back, stirring a tempest that shook the heavens. It was the Vajra Sect Patriarch.

Following closely behind was another Elder of the Vajra Sect. The two of them closed in, one after the other.