OUTSIDE OF TIME

Chapter 1359: Taking the Lantern From the Fire

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

On the Ancient Sovereign Planet, the gazes of thousands of people gathered on the altar where the Human Emperor had prepared his god ascension.

At this moment, this altar became the core of this drastic change in the ancestral worship!

This pentagonal altar was completely greenish-black, giving off an ancient and heavy feeling.

Looking at it as a whole, it was as though it had been scooped out of time and rose from the depths of the netherworld.

Other than the countless complicated totem marks on it, the most eye-catching things were the five coffins and the shrines!

The ancient coffins exuded endless imperial aura, containing the remains of the past emperors, representing the imperial bloodline that traced back to the Ancient Sovereign Mystic Nether, recognized by the Heavenly Dao of the Wanggu.

Their bloodline was so powerful that it was already the limit of the Wanggu.

The shrines were even more luxuriously built, and were made from god’s bones!

They were naturally the foundation of the human race, and the Human Emperor had taken them out to forge these five shrines. Moreover, because of this extraordinary material, the gods’ aura emitted by these five shrines was especially obvious.

At that moment, this aura gathered on the black tablets in the shrine and the void, causing the color of the world to change.

Everything could be said to be extremely luxurious. Other than the imperial family, it was almost impossible for other cultivators to obtain them.

To become a god, one had to ignite the divine fire. This process required a ritual!

However, the ritual wasn’t fixed, as each entity aspiring to become a god was different.

For example, the five-element skeletons that Xu Qing had seen under the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar in the Yinghuang Province were one of them. Another ritual was the arrangement in time made by the Divine Son of the Crimson Goddess Temple.

The Great Magistrate of the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race used the method of replacing the spider god.

As for the extraordinary altar on the Human Race’s Ancient Sovereign Planet, it was the god-ascension ritual that the Human Emperor had chosen for himself.

However, whether it be the coffins or the shrines, they were clearly not the main focus of this ritual. The purple lantern in the center of the ritual was the core.

The aura it emitted was earth-shattering.

That was the aura of an immortal!

This was using the fortune of a race as the wind, the bones of gods as the furnace, the immortal aura of the ancient lantern as the fire, and the past human emperors as the materials to burn immortals and gods!

Its vastness surpassed everything Xu Qing had seen.

This was the complete ritual for the Human Emperor to become a god.

Hence, in the scattered sea of fire, the figures formed by the almost complete divine fire were also in a mysterious state.

They weren’t immortal cultivators.

But they weren’t gods either.

They were between immortal cultivators and gods.

Even though it was only an illusion and they didn’t have absolute combat strength or a specific cultivation, they had the astonishing status that could suppress cultivators. Under the suppression of the status and the burning of the divine fire…

As long as a cultivator stepped in, the anomalous substances in their bodies would instantly reach the peak during the battle with these figures.

They would either perish or become a part of these figures.

However, Xu Qing was different.

He couldn’t be considered a cultivator anymore, nor was he a god.

No one had walked the path he was on before. As the founder of this path, he had the cultivation of a cultivator, the authority of gods, and the soul threads of a Variant Immortal.

His body was also that of a god.

Not to mention that he had devoured the fragmented-face’s blood and there were over a hundred illusory divine authorities in the nihility land in his body.

Hence, his status was about the same as a true god.

In addition, these figures in the sea of fire were suppressed by the Clear Purple Mystic Lantern that resonated with him.

Hence… Xu Qing, who had killed his way into the sea of fire, swept through everything like a storm amidst a series of deafening explosions.

Regardless of whether it was the Emperor Sword in his hand, Little Shadow, or the heavenly vine, everything was a part of this storm.

Wherever they passed, everything would be suppressed.

The heavenly vine whistled, eagerly devouring flames while swirling towards one figure after another. In its perception, they seemed to be nothing more than food.

The flames were delicious and the figures were like candy.

Little Shadow wasn’t willing to fall behind either. As he swayed and jumped, the flames formed countless afterimages.

If one pieced these afterimages together, they would discover that it was a large tree. Under the tree hung a coffin that was filled with strange eyes.

Xu Qing was equally incisive. He brandished the Emperor Sword and shook the surroundings.

As he sped forward, the hunger that had once appeared in his body in the Divine Realm and was suppressed after devouring the fragmented-face’s blood seemed to be attracted by the aura of this divine fire and rose again.

Hungry…

The moment this feeling appeared, Xu Qing’s eyes turned slightly red. He lifted the Emperor Sword in his hand and allowed a figure to approach. The instant it pounced over, he suddenly opened his mouth.

He inhaled fiercely.

Immediately, that figure’s body shook and was directly sucked into Xu Qing’s mouth.

The nihility land in Xu Qing’s body trembled. The divine fire figure he swallowed transformed into a rain of fire that scattered down. It changed into nourishment and also evoked Xu Qing’s hunger to an even greater extent.

“The taste is not bad.”

Xu Qing licked his lips. With a step, he arrived in front of a divine fire figure enveloped by Little Shadow and inhaled again.

That figure instantly disappeared and Little Shadow was stunned.

Xu Qing had already left and continued devouring.

Seeing this, Little Shadow became competitive. In the blink of an eye, all shadows that were jumping on the sea of fire opened their mouths and devoured all the divine fire figures crazily.

The heavenly vine was clearly anxious and devoured even faster.

Just like that, in the sea of fire outside the altar, a shocking scene appeared.

Not only were the figures in the sea of fire rapidly decreasing, but even the sea of fire itself was decreasing.

The entire process took less than fifteen minutes.

The figures that formed in the sea of fire disappeared completely!

The last one was directly torn into pieces by the heavenly vine and Little Shadow.

Moreover, it seemed that they had gotten a little angry with each other because of the competition. As Little Shadow’s emotions fluctuated, all the shadows gathered, revealing the strange tree in the sea of fire.

All the eyes opened and looked at the heavenly vine coldly.

As a rare seed of the starry sky, Holy Heavenly Vine was an existence that could devour gods when it matured. Naturally, it wouldn’t be afraid. Although it was still in its infancy, when the vine danced, it emitted a terrifying aura that charged toward Little Shadow.

Moreover, mysterious patterns appeared on all the vine leaves. As they continued to flicker, an illusory starry sky appeared above them.

The feeling of cruelty was incomparably intense.

This scene caused varying degrees of fluctuations in the minds of everyone who was watching.

Little Shadow and the heavenly vine were both bizarre.

However… after Xu Qing walked to the center, this savage strangeness instantly became obedient.

Little Shadow swayed and all its eyes were wide open. If one looked at them individually, they looked somewhat adorable and obedient.

The heavenly vine curled up and moved around Xu Qing, clearly showing the intent to curry favor.

The impact of this scene was intense.

In the scene, the purple-haired Xu Qing’s long hair fluttered in the wind. His face was peerlessly handsome, as though nothing in the world could compare to him. The shadow tree beside him was adorable and the heavenly vine was obedient.

Many human cultivators instinctively gasped when they saw this scene.

As Wanggu cultivators, they naturally couldn’t avoid life-and-death battles in their lives. Hence, they were very clear that what was needed to make savage people become obedient and adorable…

One needed to be even more ferocious than them!

This was a little different from what Xu Qing had shown in the human race.

One had to know that after Xu Qing arrived at the Imperial City, although he was high-profile, like how he had killed the Seventh Prince, his cruelty wasn’t revealed too much. However, now, everyone could sense this indirectly.

Hence, the gazes they used to look at Xu Qing became even more respectful and their expressions became increasingly solemn.

At that moment, Xu Qing didn’t care about the thoughts of others. After walking between Little Shadow and the heavenly vine, he looked at the altar in front of him.

Outside the altar, golden flames burned intensely. Compared to the entire sea of fire, this was where the internal flames resided.

The temperature was shockingly high.

Moreover, what nourished it were the corpses in the five coffins.

This golden fire was like a barrier, blocking the path ahead.

Through the flames, Xu Qing could see that there were more cracks on the Clear Purple Mystic Lantern than before.

It was as though it couldn’t hold on for long.

A sharp glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. With a sway of his body, he headed straight for the golden flames on the altar. However, at the next instant, as the golden flames rumbled, Xu Qing’s approaching figure suddenly retreated.

His entire body was burning, revealing that his skin had clearly withered a little and was badly mangled.

Even with his ability and his divine body, he couldn’t enter the flames.

However, Xu Qing didn’t give up. He suppressed the intense burning pain that spread in his entire body and with a raise of his hand, divine arts rumbled. Divine authorities descended and suppressed the golden fire in front of him. However, after more than ten breaths, everything was back to normal.

This fire couldn’t be shaken.

Xu Qing’s expression was gloomy. The aura of the Emperor Sword in his hand spread out and he slashed down.

The world rumbled as a huge sword shadow appeared in the sky and slashed at the golden sea of fire on the altar.

This fire paused. Although a gap appeared, at the next instant, the flames soared again, causing the sword qi to dissipate.

“Is it impossible to breakthrough?”

Xu Qing mumbled. After seeing that there were a few more cracks on the lantern, he started becoming more anxious.

After seeing the god-ascension ritual several times, Xu Qing understood that generally speaking, only those with vast power that far surpassed the ritual itself could directly destroy it.

Otherwise, if he wanted to interrupt the operation of the ascension ritual, he could only use some tricks.

Hence, a hint of madness appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes as he sent a thought to Little Shadow and the heavenly vine.

Little Shadow hesitated slightly, but the heavenly vine didn’t hesitate at all. It rushed out and headed straight for the golden flames. It arrived behind it and devoured them with all its might.

The huge devouring force formed a pull, causing the flames to tilt in the direction of the heavenly vine like flowing water.

Hence, the flames in front of Xu Qing clearly thinned a little.

However, the price was that the heavenly vine itself also began to burn and showed signs of withering. Clearly, it couldn’t hold on for long.

Seeing this, Little Shadow threw caution to the wind, and in the next instant, it pounced forward. It ignored the golden flames and transformed into a black curtain, sticking to the thin area of the flames facing Xu Qing.

The moment it landed, Little Shadow wailed and let out blood-curdling screams. As the flames burned it, the intense pain caused the curtain formed by the shadow to distort.

However, it didn’t dare to leave and could only endure it forcefully. It made an even more ruthless decision and suddenly tore itself apart in the middle.

It formed a gap and separated the flames!

Xu Qing immediately charged ahead. His speed was extremely fast, seemingly passing through the void. The instant Little Shadow was about to collapse, he approached the gap.

His right hand turned translucent, penetrating the gaps in the shadow and reaching into the flames!

He grabbed at the Clear Purple Mystic Lantern with all his might!