OUTSIDE OF TIME

Chapter 1494: Candle in the Recording

Translator: Atlas Studios | Editor: Atlas Studios

The World Source Secret Realm was famous in the East Demon Feather because it was of huge help to the Soul Accumulation in shaping their new world.

Its location was located in the World Source Wilderness, 3,500 kilometers north of the Lan Family’s territory.

From the outside, this wilderness appeared as a desolate and treacherous land, filled with fierce beasts and rising poisonous miasma. Moreover, there were powerful seals in place, preventing any cultivators from attempting to enter.

Even if a powerful expert forcefully broke through the seal and entered, it would be useless.

This was because without the tokens that the Lan family’s Great Emperor Nether Flame had personally forged back then, cultivators below the Great Emperor Realm couldn’t see through the essence of this place. They would only be trapped in the nefarious environment and gain nothing.

However, if they held the Lan family’s token, then the moment they entered this World Source Wilderness, a completely different scene would appear before them.

What they would see would no longer be desolate mountains and rivers, no longer filled with fierce beasts and rising poisonous miasma, but rather a vast basin.

At the center of the basin stood a massive object!

This object was astonishingly large, nearly a hundred thousand feet tall, and shaped like a long strip, with numerous runes carved on its surface.

Anyone who saw this object for the first time would undoubtedly feel their mind reverberate with a thunderous roar, experiencing endless waves of shock. This was because this was a jade slip!

To be precise, this was an ancient recording jade slip.

It was unknown who its owner was but looking at the size of the jade slip, they must be extraordinary.

As for its origin, in the records of the Demon Feather Holy Land, during the era of the Ancient Sovereign Mystic Nether, it came from beyond the heavens and fell into the hands of the Demon Feather Race at that time before being borrowed by the Ancient Sovereign Mystic Nether.

Many years later, under the struggle of the Demon Feather Race’s Great Emperor at that time, they finally regained this jade slip from the Ancient Sovereign Mystic Nether with countless battle merits.

After that, this jade slip became a holy item of the Demon Feather Race.

Before the fragmented-face arrived, the Demon Feather Race left with the Ancient Sovereign Mystic Nether and built their holy land in outer space. After a few twists and turns, this item was monopolized by the Great Emperor Nether Flame.

In the end, it became an item of the Lan family.

What was strange about it was the image imprinted on it.

Holding the Lan family token and stepping into this jade slip would allow a person to transition from reality into illusion, from the present world into that recorded scene.

As for the details of the recording…

Some called it the creation of the world.

Over the years, this secret realm had always been controlled by the Lan family. Outsiders wishing to enter had to pay a considerable price, and whether they could ultimately succeed depended on the Lan family’s mood.

If the Lan family wasn’t willing, no matter how great the price was, it was useless.

At that moment, outside this World Source Wilderness, Xu Qing’s figure approached amidst the howling wind. He paused in mid-air and lowered his head to take a look.

There were few people here and no one was guarding it.

After all, not many people could obtain the qualifications to enter this secret realm, and there was no need to guard it with its peculiar characteristics.

A few breaths later, a dark glint appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. He raised his hand and took out the token given by the Empress. Without any hesitation, he walked toward the ground.

It was like walking through a water curtain, filtering out the mountains, rivers, ferocious beasts, and miasma.

At the next instant, the huge basin and the vast and astonishing jade slip inside appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes.

“Walk into the recording…”

Xu Qing stared at the majestic jade slip and sensed the ancient aura on it. Finally, his gaze landed below.

“Nearly 30% of this jade slip is buried underground… The exposed part is only about 70%.”

“What kind of existence requires such a large jade slip?”

“What kind of existence can leave a recording of the creation of the world?”

A hint of anticipation appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. He roughly knew about this secret realm from Xue Chenzi’s memories, but he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes after all.

Although he had experienced many secret realms in his life, this was the first time he had encountered a secret realm like the one in front of him.

Hence, after confirming that there was nothing wrong in the surroundings and that the huge jade slip in front of him was operating normally, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate. He held the token and headed straight for the jade slip.

The moment he came into contact with the huge jade slip, his figure suddenly disappeared.

He didn’t fuse into the jade slip but seemed to have been erased.

He disappeared from the main world in a bizarre way!

When he appeared… he was already in the recording!

When he saw the scene in front of him clearly, the waves in Xu Qing’s heart couldn’t calm down anymore and rose explosively.

“This is…”

Xu Qing’s breathing paused.

To the knowledgeable Xu Qing, this shouldn’t be the case. It was just that the scene he saw at this moment was too astonishing.

It was a scene of void!

In the depths of the void, Xu Qing saw a huge candle.

The candle was red and burning.

As it burned, its flame illuminated all directions, making the entire void flicker. In the ebb and flow of the light, countless stars and worlds were forming from the gathering dust.

The number was countless.

He could only see at the periphery of the glow that those stars and worlds were instantly completing the process of forming from the dust, and in the next moment, they seemed to reach their limit and collapsed, turning back into dust and scattering in all directions.

In this process, as the worlds and stars formed, countless rules and laws were also born within, only to be destroyed along with them, merging back into the dust.

The cycle repeated endlessly.

In just that one glance, Xu Qing saw at least hundreds of thousands of worlds appear and then be destroyed.

However, this phenomenon was limited to the periphery of the glow.

The closer one got to the red candle, the slower the formation of stars and worlds became. As their formation slowed, so did their eventual destruction.

Hence, Xu Qing could see many almost complete stars near the red candle.

“This scene…”

Xu Qing took a deep breath. He didn’t know if this was the true creation of the world but at that moment, he could clearly sense that this scene was filled with an extremely dense aura of the world.

Rules, laws, origins, everything could be seen everywhere here.

“But it’s an illusion…”

Xu Qing’s gaze swept past everything as he mumbled.

However, he was aware that even though these were all illusions and he had also entered this illusory scene, to Soul Accumulation cultivators, this place would be an incomparable place of comprehension.

“However, there are also dangers.”

Xu Qing’s divine sense spread out, enveloping the surroundings. His body swayed as he carefully moved forward.

According to Xue Chenzi’s memories, the canyon where his fate had changed was located on a star in the middle of the candlelight’s glow.

Xu Qing wasn’t sure if that star had finished its life and collapsed into dust after these few months.

Hence, he didn’t waste any time and sped inside the recorded scene.

As he got closer to the glow, Xu Qing felt a burning sensation. That was the heat wave formed by the burning of the red candle in the distance. He could also sense countless rudimentary changes in rules and laws.

He carefully avoided the collapsing worlds and continued to approach his destination.

An hour later, Xu Qing finally saw the star in Xue Chenzi’s memories from afar.

This star was currently in the midst of collapse.

However, because the flow of time in the area it was in was relatively slow, it had only collapsed by half.

Although there was danger in getting close, at least there was hope.

Seeing this, Xu Qing heaved a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to head over, his expression darkened at the next instant. He grabbed fiercely at the side.

A cold feeling swept past his palm.

There was nothing there.

The dao mark of authority in Xu Qing’s eyes flickered as he stared in all directions. Information about a dangerous item that existed in Xue Chenzi’s memories appeared in his mind.

That was a strange existence.

Their exact form and number were unknown to Xue Chenzi.

He only knew that although such an existence couldn’t be seen, after getting close, because of the heat contained in this place, he could form a sense of that cold intent.

From this, he could sense them.

Although he didn’t know their true forms, Xue Chenzi knew their origins.

These peculiar cold intent were once cultivators.

This concerned another type of danger in this secret realm.

That was assimilation.

If one stayed in this place for too long or was too close to the red candle in the center, there was a certain chance that they would be assimilated by this place. After assimilation, the cultivator seemed to be erased and transformed into an unknown form. Moreover, they would forever be trapped in this illusory scene and unable to enter the main world.

Although most of the cultivators who came here knew about this risk, as time passed, there were still people who eventually got assimilated and were trapped here for various reasons.

As for their form after they were erased, was it the state of their souls or other aspects? The Great Emperor might know this but it was obvious that Xue Chenzi didn’t understand.

Hence, after Xu Qing’s cold gaze swept through the surroundings, his body rumbled and his qi and blood spread out. The uniqueness of his body made him confident that he wasn’t someone these strange existences could touch.

Hence, after looking at his surroundings, Xu Qing continued to speed forward, getting closer and closer to the collapsing star.

The instant he got close, Xu Qing took a step forward and directly stepped on this star.

The instant he landed, the heat instantly disappeared and endless coldness spread in all directions.

Although he could see nothing but emptiness, Xu Qing could faintly sense countless strange things in the surroundings!

This was a star that was filled with that strange existence!

At the same time, outside the World Source Secret Realm, in the west of the Demon Feather…

In the Western Demon Feather Territory, the wing-like divine Dao altar shone with resplendent light.

On the Dao altar, at the highest point, a figure sat cross-legged on an octagonal altar.

Their body was blurry and the details couldn’t be seen. One could only see their outline.

Although it was just an outline, the fluctuations from this person and the indescribably terrifying aura caused everyone who came to pay their respects to tremble in their hearts, not daring to look straight at them.

For example, a Western Demon Feather Ruler kneeling beside the altar was like this.

His heart trembled uncontrollably as he spoke in a low voice.

“Great Emperor, during this period, we’ve searched all the areas in the entire holy land. Other than the place where the Great Emperor Nether Flame is in seclusion, we haven’t found the item you mentioned.”

The Demon Feather Great Emperor fell silent.

The kneeling Ruler waited for a long time before standing up and respectfully taking his leave.

A long time later, the deep voice of the Demon Feather Great Emperor rang out from the silent altar.

“Does this item really exist?”

As his voice echoed, the sound of iron chains rang out above the altar and a black-robed figure hung down from the void.

His entire body was bound by iron chains and was corroding his body. However, this black-robed man didn’t seem to care at all and calmly spoke.

“I told you long ago that the wish mask possesses its own wisdom; it never lets others find it but rather seeks out the suitable ones itself.”

“If it doesn’t want you to find it, with your cultivation, you won’t be able to see it even if it appears in front of you.”

“And you’ve been searching for so long but you still haven’t found it. This is enough to show that… you, the Demon Feather Great Emperor, aren’t fated with it.”