Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 64: Gulu Gulu

Murderous intent glinted in the innkeeper’s eyes as he tracked Xu Qing’s receding silhouette. Yet, even as the boy vanished into the shadows at the end of the street, the old man made no move to strike.

Instead, he stood in silence, letting the killing intent slowly bleed from his gaze.

A massive python lowered its head from the rafters, its thick scales scraping against the wood as it settled beside the old man. A low, rhythmic *gulu gulu* rumbled from its throat, mimicking speech.

“Why didn’t I kill him?” The old man rolled his eyes. “That kid is unnatural. He reeks of danger. Unless I used my trump card…”

*Gulu gulu.*

“You’re the useless one! Your whole family is useless! Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you know how to do. Fine, eat then,” the old man grumbled.

The python lunged. Its jaws unhinged, snapping over Daoist Mouse’s corpse and swallowing it whole before leisurely slithering back into the rafters.

Under the cover of night, Xu Qing navigated straight to the Homicide Department. The transaction was routine; he submitted his bounty and collected fifteen Spirit Stones. By dawn, he was seated at a small, commoner-run breakfast stall.

He downed a bowl of steaming soy milk and ate a few flatbreads. Prompted by the shopkeeper’s enthusiastic hawking, he hesitated, then splurged on three eggs. Once his bowl was scraped clean, he slipped back to his berth on the Dharma Boat.

His profit extended beyond the initial fifteen Spirit Stones. Daoist Mouse’s leather pouch yielded an additional Spirit Stone and a handful of miscellaneous items. Cross-referencing the port’s current market rates, Xu Qing calculated they would fetch another two or three Spirit Stones.

“This is still the most efficient way to generate capital,” Xu Qing murmured, closing his eyes to cultivate.

A day bled away. When night fell, Xu Qing opened his eyes. He was off-duty, but he still stepped out of the Dharma Boat and melted into the moonlit streets, charting a course for Banquan Road.

If camping for bounties yielded such high returns, he intended to exploit the strategy.

By midnight, Xu Qing was back on Banquan Road. He scouted the perimeter, bypassing yesterday’s vantage point for a new, superior angle. He crouched in the shadows, his gaze locked onto the inn.

This time, however, no wanted criminals appeared. Instead, the innkeeper emerged.

The old man marched out, halting exactly ten feet from Xu Qing. His face was a mask of gloom.

“Kid, you keep provoking me. Do you really think I won’t strike?”

“No,” Xu Qing replied, his tone perfectly flat.

“You…” The old man faltered, derailed by Xu Qing’s absolute lack of inflection. He ground his teeth. “What exactly do you want? Squatting here every damn day?”

Xu Qing remained silent. His eyes flicked to the old man’s neck, assessing the distance. “I want to earn money.”

“I want to earn money too!” Wet, writhing tentacles began to extrude from the old man’s tear ducts. A vertical fissure split his forehead, leaking a frigid, sinister aura into the alley. “If you keep this up, no one will dare approach my inn. You are cutting into my profits.”

The old man glared through the spreading miasma, enunciating every syllable. “Leave. Now.”

Xu Qing considered this. The logic was sound; his presence was a deterrent to potential targets. He nodded, vacating his spot and crossing to the opposite side of the street. He slipped into an even deeper shadow.

The innkeeper’s veins bulged. He had expected the boy to leave, not simply relocate to a better ambush point. A bark of furious laughter escaped him. Foregoing words, he waved his hand. The fissure on his forehead tore open completely. His skull bifurcated, the two halves peeling apart and slumping to either shoulder.

From the bloody stump of his neck, a crimson glow erupted, pulsing with raw malice. A writhing mass of tentacled flesh pushed its way up from his esophagus. The appendages lashed out, extending wildly as the grotesque figure advanced on Xu Qing.

Dangerous spiritual fluctuations rippled through the air. Inside the inn, the giant python reared its head. Spectral ropes materialized from the void, dropping from the eaves and streetlamps, weaving a cage around Xu Qing.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, tracking the old man’s mutated form.

“This is the street, not your inn,” he stated. “I respect your boundaries. I do not hunt inside your establishment. But demanding immunity for them after they leave your property is an overreach.”

“Does your room rate include off-site protection?” Xu Qing asked. He stared at the old man, genuinely expecting a logical answer.

The old man’s advance faltered. “What if it does!”

Xu Qing calculated the cost. He reached into his leather pouch, extracted a bag of roughly two hundred spirit coins, and tossed it over.

The old man caught it reflexively, stunned.

“Since it includes off-site protection, I am paying for two days,” Xu Qing said with absolute sincerity. “You can protect me now.”

The old man stood frozen, staring dumbly at the heavy pouch of coins. He looked at the money, then up at Xu Qing. A long, suffocating silence stretched between them before the old man let out a deeply aggrieved sigh. The two halves of his skull snapped back together, sealing the tentacled mass away. His face re-formed, twisted into an expression of utter defeat.

*Gulu gulu…* The python watching from the inn rumbled.

“Shut up! I know he makes sense!” the old man snapped, glaring at the beast.

The innkeeper prided himself on being a businessman of principle. The problem was… Xu Qing’s logic was airtight. There was nothing to refute. The boy hadn’t violated the inn’s sanctuary and had just paid the required fee. If the innkeeper stood by his previous claim, he was now contractually obligated to act as the boy’s bodyguard.

A profound sense of helplessness washed over the old man. He stood in the street, staring at Xu Qing. Xu Qing stared back, unblinking.

They remained locked in a bizarre standoff until the old man finally sighed.

“Fine. I will give you leads on two wanted criminals. Hunt them down and leave my perimeter alone.”

The old man produced a jade slip, imprinted a set of coordinates into it, and tossed it to Xu Qing. He did not return the spirit coins, turning on his heel and striding back to the inn without another word.

As he departed, the spectral ropes dissolved into mist. The python inside the inn lifted its head, giving Xu Qing a slow, deliberate nod—a gesture that seemed almost like a greeting—before it too vanished.

Xu Qing glanced at the jade slip. It contained two locations and the names of the wanted individuals. He stored it away, then bent down. With meticulous care, he collected a fine, nearly invisible powder from the surrounding walls. He sprinkled a neutralizing agent on the ground, rendering it harmless.

He crossed the street, retracing his steps to his previous hiding spot. As he walked, his right hand flickered in subtle, precise motions, dispersing neutralizing agents into the air and along the ground. Every trace of poison he had laid along his path was neutralized. He repeated the process at his original ambush point.

Finally, he dug up seven or eight green plants nearby. They were beyond saving, saturated with five different toxins.

His relocation had been part of a premeditated plan. Both his initial position and the more concealed spot across the street had been laced with poison beforehand.

“Thirty-seven different poisons, and he still didn’t collapse immediately…” After ensuring all toxins were neutralized, Xu Qing glanced back at the inn, his eyes narrowing. He turned and sped away.

Once he was gone, the innkeeper’s calm facade shattered. His breathing grew ragged as he frantically rummaged through his Pills, swallowing over ten different antidotes in quick succession. He then formed a series of hand seals, incinerating the leather pouch Xu Qing had given him. The spirit coins inside were consumed by the flames.

“That kid is too vicious. Poison everywhere—even the coins he gave me were coated!” the old man gritted his teeth. His earlier compromise had been driven by two factors: Xu Qing’s logical arguments and, more significantly, the fact that he had been on the verge of losing control over the toxins raging inside him. The latter had been the primary reason.

“At such a young age, he acts like this… When he grows up, he’ll be a full-blown human calamity.” The old man panted, muttering to himself. From the rafters came the familiar *gulu gulu*.

“Do you like him?”

“He likes you too. Didn’t you notice? The first time you appeared, he was staring right at where your gallbladder is located.” The old man sneered.

The gulu sounds ceased abruptly.

Outside, the night was still deep. Xu Qing raced through the streets at full speed. He did not fully trust the locations provided by the old man. After a moment’s thought, he took out his identity token and sent a transmission. He then put the token away, pondered briefly, and continued on his way.

The first location was remote. Xu Qing staked it out for a long time, observing with intense scrutiny. He eventually concluded that while someone had once lived there, it appeared to have been abandoned for quite some time. He abandoned the spot and headed for the second location.

The second site was a gambling den. The place was crowded, filled with the cacophony of various voices. Xu Qing perched on the roof of a nearby building, watching coldly.

According to the old man’s jade slip, a wanted criminal named Sun Dewang had recently come ashore and was gambling here daily.

This individual was not human but a foreign race, with a cultivation base at the ninth level of Qi Condensation. He was active on the Forbidden Sea, engaging in piracy and had a considerable reputation. The bounty slip specified that he belonged to an organization called Sea Ghost.

This organization was one of the several active pirate factions on the Forbidden Sea.

As for Sun Dewang, his bounty was exceptionally high—forty Spirit Stones—with the reward sourced from over ten merchant ships that had pooled their contributions. This spoke volumes about his brutality at sea.

Therefore, Xu Qing did not act rashly. He observed for over half an hour, watching the diverse stream of gamblers entering and leaving, listening to their discussions filled with desperation, bravado, triumph, and bitter resignation.

After confirming there were no unusually high spiritual energy fluctuations in the vicinity, Xu Qing decided against entering the den. He remained outside, waiting.

Time passed slowly. Two hours later, as dawn approached, Xu Qing finally spotted his target.

It was a large, rotund man dressed in brocade robes, resembling a wealthy landlord. He emerged from the gambling den but had taken only a few steps when he suddenly looked up, his gaze locking precisely onto Xu Qing’s hiding place. His eyes narrowed instantly, flashing with dangerous intent.

“What an unlucky day. Lost all the loot from my last job, and now I come out to find someone hunting me. A mere seventh-level Qi Condensation cultivator dares to try his hand at hunting? Tired of living? Perfect timing to recoup some losses!” With that, the fat man charged straight toward Xu Qing’s position.

Dawn was not far off. A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes as he surged forward to meet him.