OUTSIDE OF TIME

Chapter 1496: The Ninth Star Ring

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Xu Qing’s heart stirred.

This scene naturally didn’t exist in Xue Chenzi’s memories.

At this moment, he stared at the face on the star and completely understood…

This was definitely the reason why the white dust appeared in Xue Chenzi’s soul!

Although he didn’t know what the white dust was, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate at all. He suddenly raised his right hand. At the next instant, a vast hand materialized in front of Xu Qing.

It grabbed at the face that appeared on the star.

It got closer and closer, growing larger and larger. Finally, when it got close to the collapsing star, this large hand that Xu Qing had manifested had already enlarged to the point where it could cover the star.

However, just as the hand enveloped the face, the instant it landed… a strange change occurred!

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the collapsing star, at that moment, reached its critical point and suddenly collapsed, breaking apart into countless pieces.

It shattered with a thunderous roar, fragments scattering in all directions.

At the same time, the face also shattered.

The mountain range that had turned into a nose was instantly erased.

The lakes that formed the eyes were instantly leveled.

The canyon that formed the mouth… directly collapsed.

The giant face was gone!

As the star collapsed, a destructive force also erupted from the star, erupting with a terrifying aura.

The large hand that Xu Qing materialized bore the brunt of the attack and was touched by the destructive storm.

At the next moment, a heaven-shattering explosion rang out. The rumbling sound was deafening and the aura of destruction swept through everything. The large hand couldn’t stop it and directly collapsed.

He also instantly retreated until he was a million feet away. Only then did he barely avoid the destructive power of the star.

He looked into the distance again…

That star had turned into dust…

This dust was white.

It was exactly the same as the one in Xue Chenzi’s fate threads.

Xu Qing’s heart trembled. He immediately tried to collect them.

However, after appearing, the white dust started to rapidly dissipate.

Moreover, most methods weren’t effective in collecting this dust. After all, back then, Xu Qing had tried many times to collect the white dust in Xue Chenzi’s fate threads but he had failed without exception.

However, he wasn’t willing to let it go just like this.

Perhaps it was because this white dust hadn’t fused into the threads of fate yet, there were differences in its state. Hence, after Xu Qing changed many methods, he finally relied on a jade bottle with double augmentation of divine source and authorities to collect a little.

At that moment, he stared at the jade bottle in his hand as thoughts rose in his mind.

He knew the origin of the white dust in Xue Chenzi’s fate.

Previously, he had seen the collapse of the other stars and worlds here but this white dust didn’t appear. However, this substance appeared when this star was destroyed.

The difference was obvious.

“Only when the star or world where that face appeared collapses will white dust appear!”

“It’s a pity that even though I did my best to collect it earlier, this mysterious substance dissipated too quickly. The amount I collected is too little…”

Xu Qing checked the jade bottle and noticed that although it had the enhancement of his authorities and divine source, the white dust in the jade bottle was disappearing irreversibly.

Although the speed was a little slow, they would all disappear in a day at most.

“One day…”

Xu Qing frowned.

There wasn’t enough time.

His cautiousness also prevented him from absorbing these mysterious dust into his fate threads before he studied them.

“So, the main point isn’t actually this white dust but that face…”

Xu Qing looked in all directions.

“Is there a second face?”

Xu Qing fell into deep thought for a while before transmitting his divine sense to Little Shadow. Very soon, Little Shadow quickly fused with Xu Qing, causing Xu Qing’s eyes to turn pitch-black again.

He was going to use the shadow eyes to carefully explore this secret realm to see if there was a second face.

After the fusion, Xu Qing didn’t waste any time. He sped forward in this secret realm that had turned into a painting again and relied on his shadow eyes to search carefully.

Time flowed by.

Although this World Source Secret Realm had turned into a series of paintings, it was not static. Instead, it was dynamic and numerous in quantity.

Most importantly, because the red candle was still burning, regardless of whether it was light or heat, or the risk of assimilation, it increased as Xu Qing continued to explore.

Two days later, Xu Qing had no choice but to retreat some distance away from the area illuminated by the red candle-glow. After looking at it from afar, his heart sank.

“In two days, I’ve only searched 30% of the area, and most of them are in the periphery.”

“If I want to explore them all, I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it in less than ten days. Moreover, the closer I get to the red candle, the greater the risk of assimilation.”

“This won’t do.”

Xu Qing fell silent. A long time later, a decisive thought rose in his heart. He still had a trump card he could use.

“Then…”

Xu Qing closed his eyes and the divine source in his body rumbled. As it churned continuously, a seed of divine authority shone with resplendent golden light on his nihility land.

This light grew increasingly intense and finally illuminated the entire nihility land. It spread out from Xu Qing’s body and finally gathered together, forming a golden thread that coiled around Xu Qing’s finger.

Xu Qing’s eyes revealed anticipation as he stared at the golden thread.

This was because the divine authority of this golden thread belonged to the luck divine authority he had obtained from the cultivator surnamed Long of the Northern Fate Royal Family!

With a squeeze, the golden lucky thread began to burn.

However, everything in the surroundings was normal.

Xu Qing’s gaze swept over but he didn’t see anything strange. However, this was his first time unleashing this divine authority after all. Hence, he was still exploring it.

A long time later, he took a deep breath and rushed into the area where the red candle was burning. He then started searching again.

This time around… after fifteen minutes, Xu Qing felt something different.

He saw traces of rules and laws.

One had to know that the benefits of this World Source Secret Realm to Soul Accumulation cultivators were mainly the rules and nomological laws.

There were too many worlds and stars here. They would collapse at any time and gather again. This would help Soul Accumulation cultivators shape their new world and provide sufficient reference and comprehension.

However, other than the most basic rules, the rules and laws were different in every star and world.

Some were suitable and some weren’t. Moreover, according to the different cultivators’ Soul Accumulation Realm, the requirements were different. In addition, there was a particular timing to pay attention to.

It was best to be able to see the complete changes from the appearance of a rule to its destruction.

If they only saw part of the changes, they would have to search for similar rules many times to comprehend them.

Also, because they couldn’t stay for too long, there was an element of luck.

On Xu Qing’s previous journey, although the focus was on searching for that face, he would occasionally observe the power of the nomological laws that appeared during the destruction and creation of the worlds.

However, on one hand, it was a quick glance. On the other hand, everything he saw was incomplete while few were already complete.

But now… a bizarre scene appeared.

A complete nomological thread unexpectedly appeared in front of him, taking the initiative to display its evolution process.

Moreover, it wasn’t just once…

As Xu Qing moved forward, similar things happened frequently. The moment Xu Qing got close, a large number of rules were displayed endlessly like a peacock spreading its tail.

It was as though they were fighting to be the first!

If an outsider saw this scene, they would definitely be extremely shocked and in disbelief.

What was even more astonishing, to the point of shocking Xu Qing himself, was that some of the stars that were clearly in the midst of collapsing would, after being looked at by him, either slow down their collapse or have their rules and laws exposed in an extraordinary manner due to some inexplicable coincidence.

Everything was to let him see more comprehensively and carefully.

As for the shadows in the secret realm, they were also affected. They would often discover Xu Qing immediately and instinctively rush over. However, every time they got close, they would be suddenly attracted by something else and leave.

What was even more astonishing was that regardless of whether it was the collapse of the stars or the departure of the shadows, they were indirectly shielding Xu Qing from the flames of the red candle…

This made Xu Qing’s journey incomparably smooth.

The second face he wanted to find also appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes several hours later.

Xu Qing’s heart stirred as he suppressed his heart that was shaken by the divine authority of luck. His body paused and he looked into the distance.

There was a collapsed star there.

On the star, there was a continent that retained more than half of its original size after the star shattered into pieces.

The mountains and lakes on it formed a face.

Originally, under the shattering of the star, it would be impossible for this continent to be intact. Even if it was intact, it would be covered up, making it difficult for passersby to see.

However, Xu Qing saw it.

However, almost at the instant he looked over, the face actually blurred. In an instant, the mountain range and lakes above collapsed and the face disappeared.

As for the storm from the collapse of the star, it spread in all directions at this moment. The outline of a human face was vaguely revealed and was fleeing into the distance.

Xu Qing’s gaze froze as he sped over at full speed, chasing after it.

The speed of the human face’s outline was astonishing. Although Xu Qing was moving forward at full speed, he was still a little slow. After over ten minutes, the human face’s outline suddenly disappeared.

Three breaths later, Xu Qing appeared at the place where the face had disappeared. After quickly checking his surroundings, his gaze locked onto a fine spatial crack.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. Compared to searching aimlessly in all directions, his choice was to explore this crack that was most likely where the human face had hidden. Hence, with a dash, he directly flew into the crack.

The moment he entered, a scene that caused Xu Qing’s heart to tremble intensely was reflected in his eyes.

Inside this rift was a world of nothingness. There was no red candle inside but… it was also a recording!

The jade slip where the World Source Secret Realm was located contained not one level but two!

Under the first level where the red candle was located, the second level of recording that entered Xu Qing’s eyes was a shocking star chart!

It was a magnificent diagram composed of thirty-six star rings of varying sizes!

Each star ring contained multiple star regions and countless stars, shining brilliantly and defying description in their vastness.

The first star ring was blurry, but the others were incredibly clear. In the middle of the fifth star ring sat the silhouette of an elderly figure in meditation.

It was a mark.

Xu Qing recognized at a glance that this old man… was the old man he and his eldest senior brother had met in the outer sea!

What caused Xu Qing’s heart to fluctuate the most was the ninth star ring.

This was because he saw the mark of a fragmented-face in the center of the ninth star ring!

The instant he looked over, a sense of comprehension appeared in his mind.

This was… the Divine God Desolate! In that case, the place It was at was naturally the Wanggu!

In the ninth star ring and around the Wanggu… there were other terrifying marks!

To the east of the star ring, there was a sleeping behemoth.

To the north of the star ring, there was a golden river.

To the south of the star ring stood a black pagoda.

To the west of the star ring, a paper effigy sat cross-legged..