Beyond the Timescape-Chapter 1112: Yunmen Clan

A few days later....

The western region really is different from the south.

A thoughtful look could be seen on Xu Qing’s face as he flew along in the sky. He had spent the past few days looking for a good place to hole up and recover. Along the way, he had encountered two cultivators who had activated their permission medallions.

The first had been more than 4,500,000 kilometers away, to the point where Xu Qing almost failed to notice the person. It had been easy to avoid them.

On the second occasion, the other person noticed him at almost the same time that he noticed them. For their medallion to have such a range indicated that they had to be a powerful expert. Even as Xu Qing’s guard went up, the other person chose to avoid him. That was not how things had gone in the south. It was as if... people in the west preferred to avoid trouble, or at least, avoid causing trouble to the best of their ability.

Another week passed, and the same thing happened again. In the end, he felt like his theory had been confirmed.

The west... is a lot weaker than the south. Everybody prefers to avoid pointless conflicts. That doesn’t mean that people here can’t unleash slaughter, though.

Up ahead of him was a ring-shaped barrier of glittering light, the results of a defensive spell formation. A group of cultivators sat there cross-legged inside the formation.

Xu Qing wasn’t the only person in the vicinity. There were a few dozen standing around, staggered at random distances. Some were in the same situation as Xu Qing. They had been trying to pass through, but their path had been obstructed by the spell formation. Others had previously been inside the formation, but had since been ejected. There was a lot of talk in the area.

“The Yunmen Clan and the Diling Dynasty are on the verge of starting a war of extermination against each other.”[1]

“Both clans have become extremely powerful lately. And they both occupy the Spiritdust Mountains. It’s to be expected for things like this to happen.”

“Yeah, but both clans also have other lands outside of the mountains. Considering how the front lines are arranged, and the time involved, I doubt either one will really wipe out the other.”

Xu Qing had changed into a hemp robe and was wearing a wide hat similar to the ferry pilot. As a result, his features were mostly hidden. Hovering in midair, he listened to the conversations in the area and sent his divine will ahead to see for himself what was going on.

Some time back, he had used the map to identify this place as a possible location to go into secluded meditation. There were sprawling mountains full of a lot of spirit energy. It had seemed like a good place to recover. But now... he sensed the fluctuations of magical combat. There were a lot of people fighting in the mountains.

Given the nature of the conversations he was hearing, he could tell that this was a case of one clan invading another clan’s territory. Both parties were fighting fiercely.

There were powerful experts on both sides of the conflict; Xu Qing could clearly sense the presence of Imperial Sovereigns. He could also sense permission medallions among both groups. That said, it was obvious that the permission medallions weren’t their focus. This was a case of gobbling up the enemy.

There were brutal and vicious tactics being used, and there was no doubt that each side wanted to wipe the other out of existence.

After assessing the situation, Xu Qing felt he had an even better understanding of the west.

Cultivators here don’t go into battle unless they feel they have to. You could even say that most of them are lazy. However, they have very strong feelings of clan affiliation. Most of the time, the fighting revolves around conflicts between clan groups.

That dovetails with the information in the map. The Dao Immortal Sect doesn’t care much about what goes on, doesn’t take control in the west, and basically lets everyone do what they want. Because of that, the cultivator clans in the west are very tight-knit, but somewhat uncivilized. And they’re far more numerous than those in the other three regions.

Xu Qing slowly started backing away. When he was several million kilometers away, he found an area full of mud pits. After looking around thoughtfully, he sank down into one of the mud pits. At the bottom of the mud pit, he set up a little cave. He bolstered the walls, set up spell formations to prevent his aura from seeping out, then sat down cross-legged to focus on recovery.

Perhaps because of the war that had broken out between the two big clans, most cultivators in the area had left. Those who had been traveling through the area found different paths to reach their destinations.

Because of that, the following half month was peaceful and quiet for Xu Qing.

Eventually, the mud in the quagmire sank down, and Xu Qing emerged and flew up into the air. As he hovered there, he felt a tightness in his chest that made him want to cough. He frowned. Although he didn’t have any visible injuries, his aura was nearly as weak as it had been before.

“Dao injury...” he murmured.

Once your cultivation base reached a certain point, you could be injured in ways that couldn’t be helped by the use of medicinal pills. The attacks of truly powerful experts could lead to dao injuries. Xu Qing had never experienced a dao injury in Revered Ancient. It was only here in the Fifth Star Ring that he was coming to realize how difficult it was to recover from them.

I thought it would be better in a month, but I was obviously wrong. Injuries like this would normally take years to recover from. I do have the violet crystal, so it won’t take that long. And if I had access to stronger spirit energy, I could shorten the time even further.

Xu Qing looked down at the mud pit with a somber expression. Then he turned to look in the direction of the Spiritdust Mountains. In his mind, he was reviewing the map of the west. The spirit energy here surpassed that of the Revered Ancient mainland. But in the west, it wasn’t very strong, with the exception of a few special places....

Right now, I should be fine as long as I don’t run into any Imperial Sovereigns. I could kill some Smoldering Gods without affecting my injuries.

After a final consultation of the map, he made his decision. Eyes flashing coldly, he took a step toward the mountains and vanished.

***

As the aurora in the sky rippled, more and more little vortexes appeared. Just like that, an entire year passed.

During that time, the war dragged out between the Yunmen Clan and the Diling Dynasty. Early on in the war, the patriarch of the Yunmen Clan ended up seriously injured, but so did the patriarch of the Diling Dynasty. After that, the scale of the war declined slightly, although they were still trying to wipe each other out.

Over the months of fighting, the Yunmen Clan had gradually lost more and more territory. Previously, they controlled thirty-seven peaks. But then came setback after setback until they only had eleven. Their people were now quite on edge.

At the moment, three cultivators were seated outside of a spell formation at the Yunmen Clan’s ninth peak. All three were Smoldering Gods with three or four worlds. As they sat there, they would occasionally open their eyes and look at the figure inside the spell formation. Their expressions were that of reverence and awe.

Sometime later, one of them took out a transmission jade slip to check a message. Afterwards, he stood and bowed to the person in the spell formation. Sounding very respectful, he said, “Formation Liege, we just received a message from Spiritdust City. Sir, the object you’re seeking isn’t in the latest shipment.... However, we got some new clues and have a caravan on the way to investigate. In all likelihood, the item will come with the next shipment.”

The person he was addressing sat inside the spell formation, seated cross-legged and flipping through some ancient records. He looked middle-aged, with gray hair and a grizzled face. He was skinny to the point of looking unhealthy, and would even cough occasionally. Despite that, the three Smoldering Gods outside the formation didn’t dare to make eye contact with him.

He was one of the Yunmen Clan’s foreign vassals named Sir Firedark. Because he had the same cultivation base as them, they hadn’t thought much of him originally. But over the past year, there had been several battles with the Diling Dynasty in which Sir Firedark hit the enemy like a bolt of lightning. He would attack enemy Smoldering Gods and kill them in one blow. He used brutal tactics, usually attacking the enemy in the throat.

Over the past year, he had killed a total of twelve enemy Smoldering Gods. Two of them had been at the six-world level, yet all it meant was that Sir Firedark had to spend a bit more time slicing them apart.

Because of that, though the Yunmen Clan was losing ground in the war, Sir Firedark was gaining a lot of attention. Eventually, he was appointed as the formation guardian of their ninth peak. People eventually started calling him the Formation Liege.

As he sat in the formation, Xu Qing looked up and coolly said, “I know.”

Then he looked off into the distance, lost in thought. I’ve pretty much recovered from my injuries, and was planning to leave soon....

A year ago, he had come to realize that the most ideal place to recover from his injuries was the Spiritdust Mountains. After that, he made a decision. The next most suitable place would take a long time to get to.

Therefore, he decided to take advantage of the Yunmen Clan’s wartime situation. They had been offering big money to anyone willing to join their army. Such people were little more than foreign vassals who couldn’t be trusted. They weren’t allowed to be part of the clan’s conclave forces, and most of them ended up as cannon fodder. But as far as Xu Qing was concerned, it was the easiest way to get into the Spiritdust Mountains and use the spirit energy there to aid in his recovery.

Eventually, he started fighting in earnest. One reason was that the enemies he killed were trying to kill him. Another was that the spirit energy in the formation was very strong. And there was a third reason. He had come to find out that clan vassals were allowed to send clan caravans out to purchase special items. The determining factor in that arrangement was one’s rank in the clan.

Therefore, Xu Qing chose to increase his kill count, though he limited his targets to enemies under the seven-world Smoldering God level. Killing someone in the seven-world level would be too eye-catching.

Therefore, he used his power in the Yunmen Clan to start looking for the very same type of clay that had been used by the young man with the birthmark. That type of clay had spatial properties. During the fight, that young man had used that item to glue down heaven and earth in a type of sealing magic. Unfortunately, his ring of holding didn’t contain any more of that clay.

A month is a long time to wait, though.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. The fact that he was a foreign vassal meant that the Yunmen Clan didn’t trust him very much, and as such, even in the year that had passed, he never had much contact with their conclave members. But given his cultivation base and perception, he had been able to learn quite a few important things about the clan, things that they couldn’t really hide even though they tried to.

I’d say there’s an eighty to ninety percent chance that Patriarch Yunmen is going to perish. Probably within half a month. And that means the Diling Dynasty is going to begin their final offensive in about half a month.

Xu Qing looked around at the Spiritdust Mountains. Despite the light shining from the aurora above, the mountains seemed dark and oppressive, as they were full of death energy. There were even grues lurking in the mountains nowadays, although no one underneath the level of an Imperial Sovereign would be able to see them.

Over the past year, Xu Qing hadn’t just worked on recovering from his injuries. He had also been cultivating his various techniques. He had made a lot of progress, including with the five elements, space, and time. He had also improved his battle prowess. His most significant progress had been with space and time.

He now felt that he had a path to follow to reach the eighth extreme. After some consideration, Xu Qing’s eyes shone with determination.

Whatever. I’m sure I’ll be able to find other objects with spatial functions. It’ll just take time, wherever I end up.

He closed his eyes.

Three days. After that, I’ll be completely recovered and I’ll leave this place!

1. Yunmen and Diling. Both of these are compound surnames that the author invented. The compound surname thing seems to be a theme of sorts in the Fifth Star Ring. I feel like it creates a more old-timey feel. These two surnames are very fantastic, to the point where I considered translating them instead of transliterating them. But in the end, they are treated as ordinary surnames, so I’m going with transliterated versions. We previously learned of a cultivator from the Yunmen Clan. Yunmen literally means “cloud gate” or “cloud door.” Yun is pronounced sort of like yoon, and men rhymes with the English one or ton. As for Diling, it translates as “earth spirit.” Incidentally, on the Diling side, the specific characters and the context indicates that they are a clan. However, they have a slightly different set of characters attached to the surname than the Yunmen people, so I’m going to describe them as a “dynasty” to maintain that differentiation. In reality, though, their clan name doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with dynasties, kingdoms, etc. Di is pronounced “dee” and ling rhymes with the English words sing and bring. ☜