The Captain instinctively looked left and right, then grabbed Xu Qing and directed the severed hand to leave the area.

Xu Qing already had a lot of questions, but given the Captain’s behavior, he held his tongue. Eventually, when they were far away in a safe location, the two of them squatted across from each other in the severed hand. The Captain was breathing heavily, and his eyes shone with brilliant light.

“Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing asked, “what exactly is a timescape bottle?”

The Captain exhaled slowly, then once again looked around. Upon confirming they were alone, he performed an incantation gesture to seal the surroundings.

Seemingly overwhelmed with excitement, he said, “This is a major windfall, little Ah Qing!! A timescape bottle! I’ve seen them described in certain ancient records. Back in the era of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, only the imperial clan had these things. Even then, they were very rare. If a new one popped up, it would become the sole focus of the imperial clan. And any group outside of the imperial clan who got one and hid it would eventually be exterminated. Doing so was considered a major crime.

“Supposedly, when Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity took the imperial clan and various other humans out of this world, they took all the timescape bottles with them. Yet right here we have one. An actual timescape bottle!”

Lowering his voice, the Captain continued, “Nobody really knows where timescape bottles come from. From ancient times until now, not one person has been able to identify their true history. However, one known fact is that whenever Ancient Emperors conquered Revered Ancient in the past, they always collected them. According to one legend, and it’s just a legend, mind you, the timescape bottles contain the biggest secret of the Revered Ancient mainland. Other people say that they contain the method that lets Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns break their inner shackles. Yet others say that timescape bottles contain the most supreme and paramount legacy imaginable.

“There’s just about every sort of rumor imaginable regarding them. But in the end, only one timescape bottle can come to exist in a given epoch. They’re mysteries that belonged only to the imperial clans. Although no one has ever unraveled the secrets of the timescape bottles, not even after all these years, they aren’t useless by any stretch of the imagination. They have the power to preserve time itself. You see, they’re receptacles, and anything you put inside them is spared the ravaging effects of time.

“Little Junior Brother, now it makes sense why that area was so strange. There was a section of time that was preserved in the timescape bottle, and it was slowly spreading out in the area, creating an endless cycle.”

This was Xu Qing’s first time hearing about timescape bottles, and the information was quite surprising. However, it also made him think about wish boxes and recording bottles. Therefore, he asked the Captain if they were connected. 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜

“Wish boxes and recording bottles? Both of those things are basically imitations of timescape bottles. One of them copies the timescape bottles’ preserving powers, the other imitates their powers of time preservation!”

The Captain lifted the timescape bottle and shook it back and forth gently. “There’s something inside. It sounds like a liquid!” Eyes shining, he sniffed the bottle, causing an intoxicated expression to fill his face. “Smells lovely! I wonder what it is. Seems consumable. Little Junior Brother, do you think we should drink it?” Licking his lips, the Captain passed the bottle to Xu Qing. “You smell it.”

Xu Qing accepted the bottle, put it under his nose, and inhaled. A strange aroma entered him, becoming an energy flow that swept through him. It didn’t provoke any reaction from his god body, but it did cause the four life lamps in his sea of consciousness to flicker. They seemed to surge with boundless longing, as if the contents of the bottle would be an extraordinary boon to life lamps. And then there was his incomplete twelfth heavenly palace, which rocked back and forth. Apparently, the contents of the bottle would be a big help in the process of materializing a heavenly palace.

Xu Qing was visibly moved, but was also hesitant. After all, he had no idea what that liquid was, and it was a relic of ancient time. That said, as for whether or not it could be consumed, Xu Qing decided to trust the Captain.

He nodded decisively. “Let’s drink it!”

The Captain chuckled, took the bottle, shook it, then lifted it to his mouth and let a single drop of the viscous fluid flow out. There was another drop left in the bottle. The Captain handed the bottle to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing opened his mouth and poured the second drop inside. Then he closed his eyes to focus on absorbing the liquid. He immediately felt like his insides were about to explode. A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering aura erupted in his mouth, shot down his throat, spread through his body, and converged in his sea of consciousness.

The four life lamp heavenly palaces trembled violently, much as the taboo poison core had reacted to god vitality, except that the longing was even more intense. It was as if their long existence had resulted in them being incredibly withered, and only now did they encounter true nourishment. After all, though they existed inside Xu Qing, and were thus bolstered by him, they hadn’t been created using his blood.

After absorbing the liquid, the life flames that burned on the lamps became unprecedentedly brighter. The fire burned incredibly brightly, such that it pierced the mist that hung over the sea of consciousness. As that fire climbed higher and higher, it was possible to see that atop each of the four life lamps sat a small, illusory figure, right in the middle of the flame.

When Xu Qing saw that, he was rocked with astonishment. He knew exactly what those small figures were.

They were nascent souls!

Though they were currently illusory, they were already getting very close to a state of full materialization.

Thanks to the incitement of the liquid from the timescape bottle, the life flames burning on Xu Qing’s four life lamps grew vastly brighter. What was more, the small figures sitting in the fire all bore the exact same face as Xu Qing.

After ten breaths of time passed, the first of Xu Qing’s life lamps, the black umbrella, started burning so brightly that the figure atop it materialized! It became completely clear to see. Then its eyes opened, and it seemed to be looking right at Xu Qing via divine sense, through the life flame. Xu Qing’s mind spun as his cultivation base fluctuations grew even more intense.

At the same time, an umbrella appeared over Xu Qing’s head. It looked different than before. It was more lustrous, and seemed even more real. What was more, as it hovered above the cross-legged Xu Qing, he seemed like a young Ancient Emperor. He abounded with majesty.

Things weren’t over yet. Next, as the seven-colored wind-chanting lamp emanated deafening sounds, the figure in its flame opened its eyes.

A second umbrella appeared!

Next, a nascent soul formed in the hellspirit bloodwing lamp, and then in the immortal-shredding god-devouring lamp.

Xu Qing sat cross-legged underneath four umbrellas, all of which flowed with dazzling light. There was the black umbrella, the seven-colored umbrella, then the blood wing. After that, his aura became fiendish and deadly. All of that combined with his spectacularly beautiful good looks would ensure that, if anyone was able to see him right now, and didn’t know who he was, would assume that he was an imperial prince of humankind.

Four nascent souls appeared, one after another, causing Xu Qing’s cultivation base to rise dramatically. His fluctuations reached an astonishing level, and terrifying power flowed through him. Next, his golden crow nascent soul erupted.

At the same time, a sensation of impending heavenly tribulation filled Xu Qing’s mind. However, it hadn’t reached the point of becoming a reality; the sensation needed to intensify before he could summon the tribulation.

There was still a bit of power left from the liquid in the timescape bottle. Therefore, Xu Qing directed it toward his twelfth heavenly palace. It was close to being materialized, but not all the way. As it absorbed the power, it rapidly materialized, reaching an eighty percent level of completion. Then ninety percent. Then ninety-nine percent!

His twelfth heavenly palace glittered brightly as it rocked back and forth.

All it needed was an item to fill it, and it would be complete!

Xu Qing opened his eyes to see the Captain looking regretfully at the umbrellas.

The Captain’s aura was obviously dramatically higher than before. Similar to Xu Qing, he emanated the fluctuations of the Nascent Soul level. However, it was hard to tell exactly how many nascent souls he had.

Upon seeing Xu Qing awaken, the Captain inhaled sharply, his face a mask of regret. “Little Ah Qing, the nascent souls your life lamps have formed are almost on the verge of summoning the first tribulation!

“Life lamps really are precious treasures. What a pity I don’t have the blood of any Ancient Emperors or Imperial Sovereigns, so I can’t make my own life lamp. And external life lamps can’t be integrated into my blood. Nor can I do as the descendants of the Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns, and use a life lamp as one of the Spirit Trove ovens, in other words, as the foundation for one of the five secret troves.

“That’s why a lot of almighty cultivators don’t care much about life lamps when they reach Spirit Trove. It’s not that life lamps aren’t good, but rather, we eventually just can’t use them. Ai.”

Xu Qing hadn’t heard about life lamps being converted into ovens in Spirit Trove. But he had sensed that, as his cultivation base climbed, the life lamps were reaching the point of being obsolete.

“There’s no way you can integrate them with your blood?” Xu Qing asked.

The Captain shook his head. “From ancient times until now there have been plenty of people who tried. But sadly, it’s not possible. The only people who can do that are descendants of Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns who used their own blood to make the life lamp.”

Xu Qing nodded. That said, he wasn’t going to cry about the situation. His life lamps were still helping out when it came to the Nascent Soul level, and he got the sense that they would enable him to reach a peak level of strength.

The Captain patted Xu Qing’s shoulder. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll keep thinking about it, and who knows, maybe I’ll come up with a way to make it happen. Let’s not worry about that now. I doubt Master had any clue that we would benefit from the good fortune of a timescape bottle. Therefore, he didn’t bother giving us much detailed information about nascent souls. I guess I’ll have to pick up the slack.

“The Nascent Soul level is called different things by different species. For instance the Heavenfate level, or the Dao Soul level. And of course, the Heavenfate Nascent Soul level. All of the different names trace back to times when various conquering Ancient Emperors decreed that the name be changed. 𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮

“When Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity conquered Revered Ancient, he stipulated that it be called the Heavenfate Dao Soul level. But the reality is that they all mean the same thing. The ‘dao’ was added to unify the understandings of all of the various species. As for ‘heavenfate,’ it refers to a specific type of heavenly tribulation.”

Xu Qing took things he had already heard about the Heavenfate Dao Soul level and combined it with what the Captain had just told him to get an even clearer understanding.

The way humans understood it was that the level required a ‘dao soul’ that had experienced the baptism of heavenly tribulation. After that, it was called a heavenfate dao soul. Truly stepping into that level required experiencing heavenly tribulation. Before you did, it didn’t matter how many dao souls you had, you were still considered to be in the pseudo-Nascent Soul level.

That was how it was in the era of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. Though humans no longer controlled the entire mainland, their understanding of the level hadn’t changed. Of course, different species had different beliefs and customs. There were even many species who didn’t believe that heavenly tribulation was important, so as soon as someone had a dao soul, they were considered to be in a higher cultivation realm.

Humans considered the heavenly tribulation to be a way to deal with the shackles limiting nascent souls. With every new nascent soul that appeared, they would have it face heavenly tribulation, the baptism of which would break that shackle.

The world of Revered Ancient was huge and filled with countless species that had varying beliefs. For instance there were the Demi-Immortals, who looked at things very differently than humans. And there were plenty others like them. As a result, there was no way there would be one unified understanding.

What was more, there were different ways of achieving breakthroughs, depending on the species. As a result, there were plenty of variations within the level, and also some that were stronger than others.

In the final analysis, though, there were basically two main types. In one type, the baptism of heavenly tribulation came starting with the second nascent soul. In the second, which was the rarer type, the cultivator would form nascent souls in all of their heavenly palaces, and then experience all of the tribulations at one time. The latter was the more difficult version, but those who succeeded would have stronger heavenfate, which would be of great assistance in the Spirit Trove level.

Once in the Heavenfate Dao Soul level, rising higher was a different process than in the Gold Core level with its heavenly palaces. It required passing the heaven-fate tribulations. With each nascent soul that experienced that baptism, one rose to a higher level.

Doing so five times was considered the great circle.

There were dangers involved, and thus, it was required to strengthen the nascent souls as much as possible before attempting the tribulation. Otherwise, a failure would involve the permanent destruction of the nascent soul.

That was where life lamps showed their true advantage in this level. That was because if a life lamp failed a tribulation, the lamp wouldn’t be destroyed. In turn, that meant that multiple attempts were possible with them.

As he contemplated those things, Xu Qing examined his twelfth heavenly palace and tried to decide what to do with it. That was when the Captain unexpectedly tossed him the timescape bottle.

“Put this thing into your twelfth heavenly palace!”

Xu Qing looked up at the Captain.

“It’s a real treasure, and I can’t use it. My cultivation involves undoing seals.” The Captain chuckled and winked.

“Thank you, Eldest Brother.” Xu Qing felt warmth in his heart. Over the years that had passed, the Captain and Master Seventh had become like a family he couldn’t do without.

His experiences as a youth had resulted in him developing a cold personality, but deep inside, he had always longed to have family. He and the Captain had gone through a lot together. They had risked their lives together. And unconsciously, Xu Qing had started to think of him as a big brother.

Without any hesitation, Xu Qing put the timescape bottle into his twelfth heavenly palace.

The palace rumbled as it became complete. It was very different from his other heavenly palaces; the twelfth palace pulsed with the power of time. As it did, Xu Qing could just barely make out something like a sigh coming from the ancient past. That sigh caused his eyes to widen.

It was… Arch-Immortal Plumdark’s voice.

He was just about to try to figure out what was going on when, all of a sudden, a deafening rumbling sound filled the dome of heaven. Cracking sounds rang out, and rifts opened up overhead, filling the sky. The canopy of heaven suddenly resembled a spider web. Bright red light began to spread out everywhere.

Both Xu Qing and the Captain looked visibly surprised.

Updated from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮