Chapter 1131: Time and Space Qing Lin

## Chapter 1136: Temporal Azure Arrival

The aurora in the Western Regions’ sky flowed like a river, evoking a sense of undulating vastness. Its crimson color, like fresh blood, dyed the heavens and earth, while also creating a dazzling beauty.

“That is also a Constitution,” Xu Qing looked up at the aurora. Before this, the aurora had merely been an astronomical phenomenon of the Fifth Star Ring in his eyes, but now… it was different.

Within that aurora, countless imprints and runes were clearly contained. They intertwined, appearing and disappearing, forming layer upon layer of rules and laws, transforming into countless traces of origin and Dao Source. They further interwove to form countless traces of authority and Dao, nourishing all beings and guiding their path of cultivation.

“That is an existence within the Fifth Star Ring, similar to the Heavenly Dao yet transcending it,” Xu Qing mused. “It is the concretization of the Constitution. And it is the guardian of the Fifth Star Ring’s cultivator system. One can imagine that if the Fifth Star Ring were to choose expansion, to conquer other star rings, then wherever the battlefield spread, this aurora would surely flow. Because it has become the emblem of the Fifth Star Ring.”

Xu Qing’s eyes were clear. He couldn't perceive these intrinsic qualities before, but now, they were exceptionally clear. At the same time, within this aurora, he also saw twelve stars! Those were twelve vast figures. They were indescribable and their precise forms were unclear.

“Twelve Patrolling Heavenly Envoys.” Xu Qing knew their identities and even more, their cultivation levels. These were twelve Lower Immortals, who had transformed into stars, moving within the aurora, guarding all directions and patrolling the heavens and earth.

Across the entire Fifth Star Ring, outside the Immortal Capital, there were sixteen Immortals openly known. One resided in each of the orthodox directions – east, south, west, and north – while the remaining twelve were all within the aurora.

However, this did not mean that the Fifth Star Ring only had these sixteen Lower Immortals. Whether it was the ferrymen or other beings stationed in various regions of the Fifth Star Ring, Lower Immortals existed. The place with the most, however… was clearly the Immortal Capital, the place in the Fifth Star Ring that everyone yearned for and wished to enter.

After a long while, Xu Qing retracted his gaze, looking down at the distant land. His steps were unhurried, and his mind was calm.

He walked across a plain. On the plain, the flow of time rippled; plants instantly shot up and then withered in a flash. All things were thus, and the birds and beasts on the plain also experienced different sensations in that brief moment. Some felt sudden fright, others a momentary confusion. As Xu Qing departed, everything returned to normal.

He walked through mountain ranges. The mountains blurred, as if erased and then reappearing; cracks on the rocks behaved similarly. Time and space became disordered due to Xu Qing's passage. The sects, families, and all cultivators within them felt a throbbing in their hearts at that moment. Xu Qing was clearly not walking fast, and seemingly flew past in their sight. Yet, they could not see Xu Qing. No matter how they looked up, no matter how they investigated, they could not perceive his presence. They could only see a vast, sky-obscuring dark shadow swiftly passing over their families' mountain ranges. It was as if they lived within a painting, and Xu Qing walked outside of it, so only a shadow briefly swept across the canvas. And it transcended their perception and comprehension.

“My state of being integrated with time and space, and the elevated status it granted me, made it impossible for them to perceive… just as when I didn’t possess a temporal state or my own Constitution, gazing at the aurora, I couldn’t see its intrinsic qualities or the stars within it,” Xu Qing pondered. “Because at that time, like them, I was unable to comprehend a higher status. It is the temporal state, it is the Constitution, that granted me the qualification to ‘see’.”

Xu Qing pondered, continuing his journey. He passed through one region after another, causing shock and awe in each. But Xu Qing did not intervene, and precisely because of this, after he left, the places he passed through returned to normal.

These scenes allowed Xu Qing's thoughts to expand, gradually familiarizing him with his current state. Gradually, he felt that in his current temporal state, his soul and consciousness had a relative sense of freedom. Although constrained by a higher Constitution, compared to before, he was still incomparably freer.

But at the same time, he also felt that he could not maintain this state for too long. It wasn't due to insufficient ability in his temporal state, but because of his physical body. He could feel that without a physical body, his current self could forever remain immersed in the temporal state of the Eighth Extreme. But because of his physical body, he could not stay in the temporal state for too long. His physical body seemed to have become a burden. Moreover, if his consciousness and soul remained in the temporal state for too long, his physical body would gradually wither, its vitality would dissipate, and its connection with himself would diminish.

This phenomenon caught Xu Qing's attention. So he thought for a moment, and simply used his temporal state consciousness to observe his own physical body. After a while, Xu Qing withdrew his thoughts. He saw many futures for his physical body. For the most part, these futures showed his physical body gradually ceasing to belong to him, withered away within the heavens and earth.

“But I observe that all Immortals possess a physical body, not merely abandoning it to retain only consciousness,” Xu Qing thought. “Furthermore… to advance to the Sovereign stage, a physical body is also required. To advance to Quasi-Immortal, one must even forge an immortal embryo to achieve immortality. So… what is the reason for my current state? I should have an answer now. It is my Eighth Extreme, which, after accumulating deeply, has almost transcended, reaching an extremely high status. My physical body cannot keep up, which is why this is happening.”

Xu Qing walked and pondered along the way. “The solution is to raise my cultivation realm as quickly as possible. The moment I step into the Sovereign realm, this should be resolved; even if not completely, it should at least be alleviated. The Sovereign realm requires one's Spirit Containment to reach the nine realms. Then my Ninth Extreme…”

Xu Qing mused, taking one step at a time, walking towards Li Mengtu's location. He was not actually in a hurry to appear before Li Mengtu immediately. If he were in a hurry, he could have arrived in a single step. But he chose to slow down the process. On one hand, he needed to adapt to the Eighth Extreme and ponder his current path and future path. On the other hand, in the traces left by Li Mengtu, Xu Qing saw that the latter was currently engaged in a fierce hunt. To be precise, it was a battle between two families. Both sides were exerting their utmost, suffering significant casualties. The decisive battle, however, was where Li Mengtu was located. His opponent was an elder in the late stage of the Sovereign realm. The intensity of the conflict made it seem as though this hunt could be reversed at any moment, with the hunter potentially becoming the hunted in an instant.

Xu Qing chose not to participate in this battle. The Dao contention between Li Mengtu and him was considered honorable, compared to the various ignoble events Xu Qing had witnessed in the past. Therefore, Xu Qing also granted the other party honor. It wasn't until this battle was nearing its end that Xu Qing finally arrived. He walked into the valley where the two great families were fighting, in a manner incomprehensible to most cultivators.

His soul was integrated with time and space, obscuring his physical body; what descended here was his consciousness. And his temporal state consciousness, appearing in this valley, had no concrete form. It could not be seen, could not be perceived; what could be sensed… was only a shadow. This shadow did not merely cover the ground, but permeated all directions, regardless of space and time, regardless of the past, present, or future of all beings; the shadow was present everywhere, enveloping life itself.

The moment it swept past, the cultivators from both warring families trembled, feeling an inexplicable trepidation, and uncontrollable terror rose within their hearts. Meanwhile, Li Mengtu, mid-air, instantly changed his expression. The elder in the late Sovereign realm, who was fighting him, suddenly had his pupils constrict, his breathing became rapid, and while his heart pounded with fear, his body rapidly retreated. His speed was so immense that he didn't care about the cost. Although he, like everyone else, lacked the ability to specifically perceive this scene and could only feel the shadow, he was not an ordinary cultivator after all. Even if he didn’t understand, he knew about the Constitution. Just as a blind person cannot perceive or understand colors, yet they know colors exist. The difference was that colors posed no danger to a blind person, but the Constitution, to the elder, could determine life or death. Thus, at the very first moment, he unhesitatingly chose to flee. He knew very well that for a powerful being who possessed a Constitution, his own life and death were but a single thought away. Facing such an existence, all he could do was instinctively retreat.

And at this moment, Li Mengtu, whose expression was rapidly changing, gazed at the ubiquitous shadow and took a deep breath. He, naturally, also knew what kind of existence had arrived at this moment. Even when he didn't possess a Constitution, he couldn't perceive or understand it, but like the elder, he knew what it was. Furthermore, although the inheritance in his glabella was incomplete, preventing him from fully mastering it, it also granted him a certain degree of ‘sight’.

Thus, while other cultivators here perceived and sensed an omnipresent shadow, in his eyes, amidst the blur and distortion, he could vaguely discern an unclear outline. It was as if something from beyond the world was gazing intently at him. Suppressing his trepidation, he bowed deeply.

“I am Li Mengtu. May I ask which senior has graced us with their presence and for what purpose?”

“Fellow Daoist Li, our Dao contention is not over yet.” Xu Qing’s voice reverberated through this space-time, stirring up a storm and causing mountains to tremble, like a heavenly decree.

The moment it landed in Li Mengtu's heart, his mind was instantly struck by thunder, his expression momentarily filled with disbelief, followed by incomprehension and bewilderment, and finally, complexity. He managed to utter a hoarse voice with difficulty.

“Xu Qing?”

Almost the instant he called out Xu Qing's name, Xu Qing manipulated time and space. The power of time and space silently surged around Li Mengtu. In just a flash… Li Mengtu’s state reverted from the injuries he sustained in his fight with the elder back to his pre-battle condition. All his injuries were gone.

“You once said that in our Dao contention, there would be no regrets over life or death. And with the formation of my Constitution, you also bear a karmic connection. So, shall we continue now?” Xu Qing’s voice seemed to come from beyond the heavens.

Li Mengtu’s expression turned bitter, and he closed his eyes. After a few breaths, he suddenly opened them, revealing determination and even obsession. “Constitution… I know its supremacy, but I have never truly experienced it. My incomplete inheritance prevents me from truly feeling it. But in this life, I do not fear death; I only fear not comprehending the Dao! This Dao contention… even if it means death, I will still fight!”

Li Mengtu’s voice echoed, filled with ultimate resolve, and his figure shot forward, like a moth to a flame, charging towards the vague outline in the void that he ‘saw’!