Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 95: The Creditor Comes Knocking

It was high noon. The midday sun blazed with an intensity that forced mortals to avert their eyes.

Standing in that brilliant light, Gu Muqing seemed to outshine the sun itself, radiant beyond any celestial maiden.

Her light orange Daoist robe failed to mask her flawless figure; the elegant curves hinted at the lithe, graceful physique hidden beneath the fabric. With lotus-white arms exposed past her sleeves, a swan-like neck, and a waterfall of silken black hair complementing her jade-smooth, icy skin, she was truly the embodiment of Ting Yu.

Zhang San stared, utterly captivated, a heavy flush creeping up his weathered face. Yet, Xu Qing, standing half-concealed in the shadows, remained entirely unmoved. His glacial gaze methodically traced the exposed lines of the woman’s neck, searching for the fastest artery to sever.

Her beauty was irrelevant. He recognized her instantly. He had seen very few core disciples in the main city; she was the woman he had brushed past outside the medicine shop months ago.

They had only shared a passing glance that day, yet she had just called out his name without hesitation. Xu Qing’s paranoia spiked. His mind instantly pivoted to assessing her threat level.

A quick sweep gave him the answer. If it came to blows, he could butcher her in seconds. Her cultivation was decent, but her stance was full of openings and her situational awareness was practically nonexistent. She couldn’t even compare to the lowest Rogue Cultivator on Sea Lizard Island.

However, she was a core disciple of the Second Peak, the Sect’s epicenter for the Dao of Alchemy. Acting on pure instinct, Xu Qing subtly scanned the ambient air and soil for any odorless toxins.

“Junior Brother Xu Qing, you needn’t look so surprised. Senior Brother Zhang San didn’t tell me your name; I discovered it by chance,” Gu Muqing smiled, her voice a clear, ethereal chime that was undeniably pleasant to the ear.

Zhang San’s heart skipped a beat. She really is the Second Peak’s proud daughter of heaven, he thought, absolutely melting at the sound of her calling him ‘Senior Brother’.

He let out a hearty laugh, ready to strike up a conversation, but Xu Qing’s deadpan voice cut through the air.

“I’m not surprised.”

“Uh…” Zhang San glanced at the boy and sighed inwardly. Xu Qing, oh Xu Qing. A gorgeous maiden throws herself at you, and you give her a brick wall? If that were me, I’d already be setting up a date.

Gu Muqing just chuckled. She retrieved a Pill from her robes, resting it softly on her palm as she offered it to him.

“Junior Brother Xu Qing, my shop purchased all of your White Pills. I’ve been analyzing them for quite some time, and I am incredibly curious… how exactly do you achieve such an absurdly high level of purification?”

Xu Qing spared it a single glance. It was indeed his work. He considered his options, flatly ignoring her question, and instead pulled out several sea lizard pelts.

“Eighth-level Qi Condensation sea lizard skin: five hundred and thirty Spirit Stones. Ninth-level: nine hundred and sixty. Grand Perfection: one thousand four hundred and thirty. How many do you want?”

Those were retail market prices. No shop would ever buy them from him at that rate, but since Gu Muqing was desperate, bleeding her dry was the most logical financial move.

Gu Muqing’s eyes lit up at the sight of the pelts, but she didn’t reach for her purse. Instead, she pressed her previous inquiry. Upon realizing who he was, her interest had clearly pivoted from the materials to his alchemical secrets.

Xu Qing frowned. Still, her shop was a major buyer of his White Pills, and she was currently his best prospective customer for the pelts. He forced himself to be patient.

“During the blending phase, integrating a measured amount of Night Corpse Morning Glory can marginally increase the purity.”

The young woman nodded thoughtfully. A moment later, she politely posed another highly technical question. Xu Qing’s irritation flared. In his world, information was currency. Knowledge was never free.

She was overstepping. Even Senior Sister Ding understood the basic rules of transactional exchange, always offering something of equivalent value for his insights.

Therefore, Xu Qing refused to answer. Instead, he pivoted the conversation, probing her knowledge of the Dao of Medicine.

“How do you amplify the toxicity of the Ghost Desire Horseshoe Crab’s blue blood while simultaneously extending its shelf life?”

Gu Muqing tapped her chin, her expression turning serious. “I’ve never considered that. My Master strictly teaches orthodox yang remedies. Let me think… If it were up to me, I would introduce In-World Tea. The dense properties of the tea should effectively compound the crab’s natural venom.”

Xu Qing’s eyes sharpened. Her hypothesis opened up an entirely new avenue of theoretical application. He immediately pressed further.

“In-World Tea is primarily a neutralizing agent, but it contains trace neurotoxins. How do you isolate those toxins to act as a catalyst?”

“Ah? More toxins? Let’s see… perhaps Golden Button Grass could be used to forcefully extract it?” Gu Muqing answered uncertainly, but the raw theory was enough to spark Xu Qing’s inspiration.

Fully engaged, Xu Qing began a rapid-fire exchange of alchemical theory with Gu Muqing. It was a bizarre conversation. Xu Qing exclusively mined her for lethal poison applications, while Gu Muqing relentlessly probed him for restorative and purifying medicinal techniques.

Yet, their opposing focuses miraculously complemented one another. They actively validated each other’s blind spots. The deeper the discussion went, the more enlightened they both became. Eventually, Gu Muqing stepped entirely out of the sunlight, joining Xu Qing in the shadows as they traded theories back and forth.

Time slipped away. To an outside observer, the strikingly handsome youth and the exquisite maiden huddled together in the shadows looked like a picturesque scene of blossoming romance. Only Zhang San, squatting nearby like a dirty peasant, ruined the aesthetic.

Zhang San was utterly dumbfounded. After a long while, he sighed internally, lamenting the sheer, unfair advantage of being ridiculously attractive.

Panic gripped him for a second—what if this kid sweet-talked her into hiring him for the sea voyage instead? He quickly rationalized that Xu Qing had just returned from a brutal deployment and wouldn’t be heading back out anytime soon. Relieved, he finally decided to interrupt.

“Uh… Junior Brother Xu Qing, how about you hand over the Dharma Boat now? I’ll get started on the repairs. It looks like you two are going to be at this for a while.”

Xu Qing paused, cupped his fists to Zhang San, and retrieved the escape pod, tossing the containment bottle over.

Zhang San caught the small bottle on reflex. His eyes widened as he stared blankly at the shredded, mangled remains of the tiny flying skiff sealed inside.

“Where’s the Dharma Boat? Isn’t this the emergency skiff I installed inside your Dharma Boat?”

“Shattered,” Xu Qing replied flatly, immediately turning back to interrogate Gu Muqing about a neurotoxin array.

Zhang San sucked in a sharp breath. Staring at the battered bottle, he realized that Xu Qing’s recent excursion had been a harrowing ordeal of Nine deaths and one life.

Two more hours vanished. As the setting sun cast long, bleeding shadows across the courtyard, the fading light finally merged with the darkness where they stood. Despite Gu Muqing’s reluctance to end the academic debate, Xu Qing officially concluded the exchange and finalized the sale of the lizard pelts.

“Junior Brother Xu Qing, thank you for your insights,” Gu Muqing said, a troubled crease forming on her brow. “It’s getting late, so I’ll take my leave. I will test your method, though I highly doubt I can replicate your results. I’ve attempted similar refinements countless times and only occasionally brushed that level of purity.”

Xu Qing considered her words. Logically, his success was a two-part equation: the foundation laid by Master Bai’s proprietary blending techniques, and his own complete immunity to Mutagen.

Without Mutagen corrupting his spiritual energy, he never bled impurities into the Pills during refinement. Naturally, he kept this absolute secret to himself.

Shaking her head in deep thought, Gu Muqing bid him farewell and departed.

Xu Qing watched her leave, offering a polite, shallow bow. The theoretical exchange had been highly lucrative. His comprehension of the Dao of Poison had fundamentally deepened, and several lethal new refinement formulas were already taking shape in his mind.

The moment she was out of earshot, Zhang San scurried over, his face a mask of anxiety.

“Xu Qing… your boat… it’s a total write-off. I can’t spot you the Spirit Stones for this. We’re talking about building a brand-new vessel from scratch. It’s way too expensive.”

Xu Qing didn’t say a word. He briefly checked his perimeter, then reached into his pouch and withdrew one of the three divine lizard molts.

The instant the molt breached the pouch, Zhang San violently shuddered. Every ounce of his anxiety evaporated. Catching the faint, iridescent golden glint reflecting off the scales, his eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. He sucked in a massive breath.

“Is that—” Before he could finish, Zhang San grabbed Xu Qing by the arm and practically dragged him into the depths of his heavily warded warehouse. Only after locking the reinforced doors did he reach out with trembling hands to accept the pelt.

He inspected every millimeter of the scale pattern as if cradling a holy relic. His breathing grew jagged. Finally, he snapped his head up to stare at Xu Qing.

“A divine lizard molt!”

“And it’s from a Foundation Establishment sea lizard! By the gods, there’s a residual trace of a Golden Core aura on this! This thing is priceless! If word got out you had this, it would trigger a localized bloodbath! How the hell did you get it?!”

“I took it from its previous owners. Is it enough to forge a new Dharma Boat?” Xu Qing asked flatly.

Zhang San’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. The casual delivery was drenched in invisible blood. He finally understood exactly why Xu Qing had sailed out in a heavily armed Dharma Boat and limped back in a shattered emergency skiff.

“More than enough! A Dharma Boat forged around this core material will shatter all previous specs. I need time to draw up the blueprints. Come back tomorrow!”

Zhang San practically drooled over the divine molt, a manic light burning in his eyes. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that integrating this material would result in his magnum opus.

Xu Qing nodded. He produced a stack of spirit notes—roughly five thousand Spirit Stones’ worth—and slapped them on the workbench. After a brief calculation, he upended his Storage Bag, pouring out a massive pile of hard Spirit Stones. In total, over ten thousand units of pure currency hit the table.

A disturbing percentage of the physical stones were heavily stained with dried blood.

Zhang San stared at the bloody fortune, his mind reeling as a deeply unsettled expression warped his features. He couldn’t stop himself.

“Exactly how many people did you butcher out there?”

“Not many,” Xu Qing replied, shaking his head.

“You’re dumping your entire liquid fortune into this Dharma Boat. What about your cultivation expenses? And… do you really trust me this much?” Zhang San asked, eyeing the lethal youth.

“Someone owes me a few thousand Spirit Stones. I am going to collect them tonight. As for trust, the combined net worth of the inventory in this warehouse far exceeds my current investment, Senior Brother Zhang San.”

Xu Qing delivered the cold, logical calculation with absolute seriousness. He offered a crisp salute, turned on his heel, and walked out without another word.

The sun was dipping below the horizon, pulling the world into twilight. Zhang San stared at Xu Qing’s retreating back, his chest tight with a mix of awe and terror.

Who in their right mind would dare owe this monster money? And… since he placed this much faith in me, I’d be a dead man if I skimmed off the top. I’ve tied my boat to his; might as well ride out the storm!

Meanwhile, under the same descending dusk, inside the weathered inn on Banquan Road, the eccentric old man puffed merrily on his pipe, his face split into a greedy, triumphant grin.

“Struck gold this time! A mid-stage Foundation Establishment lizard molt… that’s an easy five grand in Spirit Stones! Such a shame I missed out on the divine ones, though.”

“Still, that venomous little brat couldn’t have had it easy. Probably dragged his half-dead carcass back entirely empty-handed!”

“Just the thought of him losing out puts a spring in my step. Haha! I’ve had the doors closed for days. I’m bound to get a flood of guests tonight. Double the fortune!”

Just as he was reveling in his perceived victory, a heavy mass slammed into his side. The massive snake rammed into him, issuing a series of indignant, angry gurgles.

The old man scowled, raising a hand to smack the beast, but upon seeing the genuine sorrow in its reptilian eyes, his heart softened. He lowered his hand with a heavy sigh.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. That brat is a cunning little demon. Once the tides turned against him, you really think he wouldn’t just bolt? He’s not dead. Trust me, he’s far too spiteful to die.”

Hearing this, the snake visibly relaxed, though a lingering melancholy kept it coiled tightly in the corner of the room.

The old man offered a few more placating pats until the last rays of sunlight bled from the sky. Outside, the shadowy silhouettes of approaching patrons broke through the gloom.

“I’ll fetch you a treat later. Quit sulking. It’s time to open for business.”

The old man hurriedly stepped out to the front porch. A welcoming, greedy smile plastered itself across his face as he eyed the approaching customer.

But a fraction of a second later, his smile shattered.

As true night fell, a frigid streak of silver lightning tore out of the surrounding darkness. A black iron dagger violently impaled the neck of the wanted criminal stepping onto the porch, carrying enough kinetic force to literally nail the man to the inn’s wooden exterior.

The impact struck with the force of a thunderclap. Arterial blood exploded across the timber.

A horrific, gurgling scream tore through the night, only to be abruptly choked out on a mouthful of blood!

The night fell deathly silent. The only sound remaining was the slow, methodical crunch of footsteps approaching from the shadows.