OUTSIDE OF TIME

293 Bird in the Cage

No more screams rang out in the abandoned house. It was completely silent.

Xu Qing closed his eyes and sensed the special wisp of origin source that the Golden Crow had absorbed. It was just that it was too small and couldn’t be used properly. However, it was enough for tracking purposes.

“Then… if he revives again, he will definitely be even more terrified. However, this much isn’t enough. I need to kill him dozens of times before I can get enough origin.” Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked at his shadow.

His shadow was spread on the blood on the ground. After it covered the dried corpse, it permeated it and returned after a few breaths of time. The emotions it transmitted pointed in another direction as well as a pleading request.

“Capture… I’m good… capturing…”

The torture earlier was partly because of the viciousness in Xu Qing’s heart, partly because he wanted the Golden Crow to devour the bizarre fiend, and partly because he wanted to give the shadow enough time to devour the other party’s shadow and determine its direction more accurately.

This way, coupled with the trace of origin energy he had obtained, he could accurately find the other party no matter where he was hiding.

At that moment, sensing the shadow’s earnest request, Xu Qing thought about it and nodded.

The shadow instantly emitted cheerful emotions, as though it felt that this was very fun and exciting.

Xu Qing’s expression was calm. He turned and disappeared from the house, hiding all the way. He had a faint feeling that someone had been observing him during these two days.

This feeling was becoming increasingly clear. Xu Qing didn’t want to be noticed by Purple Earth, so he concealed himself even more.

An hour later, outside the eastern gate of the Purple Earth’s capital, a large number of people were queuing up and leaving the city one after another. Most of them were carriages and there were also cultivators.

Among them was a youth. This youth was wearing expensive clothes and didn’t look to be from an ordinary family. However, he didn’t have the privilege to leave the city quickly and needed to queue here. This also showed that his bloodline wasn’t noble.

At that moment, the youth’s face was a little pale and his breathing was hurried. From time to time, he would check his surroundings. He… was none other than the cultivator from the Bizarre Fiend Race.

In the end, he didn’t choose to use the body outside the city. This was because once he used it and was chased far away, he wouldn’t be able to return to the capital after he died.

His innate ability had a range limit.

To him, the place with the most lives was the place where his ability could be displayed to the greatest extent. Hence, he didn’t want to leave easily. Moreover, if that body died, the damage to him would be much more serious than the other bodies.

He was going to use his current body to fake his departure from the city and lure the mysterious pursuer away before returning immediately. After all, it didn’t affect him much even if this body died.

He had been found three times in a row. This made him aware that the other party must have a way to pursue him. He didn’t know what this method was and couldn’t guard against it.

This caused the uneasiness in his heart to be extremely intense, especially when he witnessed the other party’s cruelty and heard his last sentence. It was as though a cold wind had blown into his mind and stayed there without dissipating.

Most importantly, after he revived this time, he had an indescribable feeling. It was as though he had lost some of the most important things on him.

This feeling caused him to feel a life-and-death crisis for the first time.

“Too strange, but I don’t believe it. With my methods, how could I be locked onto?!”

While the youth’s heart was fluctuating, he didn’t notice that an eye had appeared in the shadow of the guard at the city gate not far away and glanced at him.

At the next instant, just as the youth was about to reach the city gate, a mosquito flew over and silently landed on the youth’s neck. Before the youth could notice, it stabbed fiercely at the blood vessel on his neck.

It transmitted its divine sense softly.

“My master greets you.”

After that, its body exploded, sending the little black bugs contained in its body into the youth’s body.

In that instant, the youth’s entire body trembled and he let out a mournful cry. As the crowd dispersed in panic, he fell to the ground and rolled continuously. Finally, his body turned into a blood pool.

The body of a guard at the city gate suddenly trembled. When his eyelids closed and opened again, he had already turned to someone else.

He took advantage of the chaos and turned to leave the city without saying a word. However, his body suddenly paused and stiffened.

Shock appeared in his eyes. He wanted to lower his head but couldn’t do so. His body seemed to be out of his control and a weak laughter that caused his hair to stand on end came out from his mouth.

“Aha, I’ve made a contribution. I caught you.”

As he spoke, the guard slowly turned around. The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile. After greeting the other guards beside him, he walked forward happily.

As he walked, numerous eyes rapidly disappeared from the shadows of all the guards in the vicinity and the people queuing up, merging into his feet.

Everyone here… had eyes planted on their shadows. Clearly, it was indeed good at playing hide-and-seek. After finding the cultivator of the Bizarre Fiend Race, it parasitized everyone in its vicinity and waited for the other party to arrive.

As for the bizarre fiend cultivator, he had miscalculated and fallen into the shadow’s trap.

At that moment, his eyes were filled with intense fear. He had never encountered such a thing in his life. His heart trembled and his mind was about to collapse.

For the first time, he was terrified.

This was because he realized that he had encountered a bizarre existence that was even more terrifying than himself!

Just like that, amidst the joy of the shadow, the guard hopped away from the crowd and went to another abandoned house in an alley.

There were many abandoned houses in the Purple Earth’s capital due to frequent deaths here.

As he walked in, the bizarre fiend cultivator saw Xu Qing sitting inside with a calm expression, waiting for him.

After seeing Xu Qing, the guard who was controlled by the shadow and possessed by the Bizarre Fiend Race directly knelt down with a plop. His hands kept slapping his face again and again.

Xu Qing’s gaze swept over but he didn’t bother with it. He looked outside the door.

“Since you’re here, why didn’t you come in?” Xu Qing calmly spoke.

The guard controlled by the shadow paused for a moment before continuing to slap.

As Xu Qing spoke, very soon, a youth walked out of the distortion outside the door.

He wore a gorgeous robe and a jade pendant that emitted a gentle light. He was very handsome but his gaze was complicated as he looked at Xu Qing. It was… Chen Feiyuan.

Xu Qing looked at Chen Feiyuan. The aura on the other party’s body was weird. There were clearly no strong cultivation base fluctuations and his aura was extremely weak but it gave Xu Qing a dangerous feeling.

This was also the reason why even the shadow didn’t notice that it was being followed.

“You’ve become a treasure-nurturer?” Xu Qing suddenly asked.

He sensed the issue. Chen Feiyuan’s cultivation was only at the Qi Condensation Realm, but the energy fluctuations on his body seemed to be swimming in his bloodline. Moreover, it clearly emitted the feeling of time, as though there was an item stored in his body.

“Not a treasure-nurturer. The direct descendants of the eight great families of Purple Earth can form a symbiosis with their family’s only magic treasure. After I returned, I had already begun to come into contact with it and was in a symbiotic relation with a portion of it. In reality, this is also the reason why every generation of patriarchs of the Purple Earth’s eight families has astonishing combat strength.”

“When we cultivate, although cultivation is important, bloodline is more important.” Chen Feiyuan walked in and sat at the side, looking at the bizarre fiend cultivator who was slapping himself.

“What a strange cultivation method,” Xu Qing said softly.

“The royal family of the Purple Green Kingdom is the strange one. This is their bloodline talent. They can form symbiosis with all magic treasures. Later on, they were plundered by our eight races. After countless years of rearing and reproducing, we were finally able to fuse this bloodline talent into our bloodlines.”

Chen Feiyuan shrugged and looked at Xu Qing.

“I haven’t congratulated you on your rise in the Seven Blood Eyes.”

“You’ve changed a lot,” Xu Qing said seriously.

In his memory, Chen Feiyuan wasn’t like this. In reality, in the past few days, he had faintly sensed that someone was secretly observing him. However, he couldn’t find any traces until today when the other party appeared.

“I have grown up and also because of Teacher’s inheritance and the influence of the magic treasure.” Chen Feiyuan shook his head.

“Besides, your changes aren’t small either. I didn’t expect the brat back then to have become one of the Sequences of the Seven Blood Eyes.”

Chen Feiyuan swept his gaze across Xu Qing and landed on the bizarre fiend who was slapping himself. His eyes were filled with killing intent.

“That’s him?”

“One of the bodies.” Xu Qing nodded.

“I went to the place you were in last time and there was a stench of blood. This… let me play with it.” Chen Feiyuan’s eyes were filled with cruelty and madness, containing deep hatred as he stared fixedly at the bizarre fiend.

Xu Qing nodded and stood up to walk out of the house. The shadow also returned and gave up control. At the next instant, mournful cries and wails rang out from the room.

This sound lasted for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The degree of misery was almost the same as the last time Xu Qing attacked.

Finally, Chen Feiyuan walked out of the room. His body was still trembling slightly, as though the viciousness and madness in his heart still couldn’t dissipate. His eyes were even redder. When he arrived beside Xu Qing, he took a deep breath.

“Tingyu guessed that you were here but I told her that you didn’t come.”

“The families in Purple Earth haven’t sensed your arrival yet. The news has been sealed and hidden by me. However, my ability is limited and I can’t seal the information for long. However, I’ll do my best. You can take revenge for Teacher in peace and leave as soon as possible after it’s over. Otherwise, there will be a huge crisis.”

“The old geezers who aren’t willing to die just like that are very tempted by the bounty of the Sea Corpse Race. These people are no longer human. In order to survive, they are willing to do anything.”

“Take care of yourself,” Chen Feiyuan said in a low voice. After he finished speaking, he walked into the distance.

Xu Qing looked at Chen Feiyuan and suddenly spoke.

“Senior Brother, take care.”

Xu Qing saw a trace of Grandmaster Bai’s temperament on Chen Feiyuan. It was hatred for Purple Earth and determination to try to change it.

Chen Feiyuan stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn his head. He continued walking, becoming more and more determined until he disappeared into the void.