OUTSIDE OF TIME

455 Zi Xuan’s Letter

As the voice echoed through the entire city, countless humans looked at the sky.

A figure walked out of the clouds at the end of the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar.

This person was a middle-aged man. He wore an official’s uniform and a blue hat inlaid with silver. He wore purple scale gloves on his hands and carried a large sword wrapped in black cloth on his back that only revealed the hilt.

As he walked out, three huge abysses that were like vortexes appeared behind him.

Any one of these three abysses was like a natural phenomenon. At the same time, each of them seemed to contain a secret repository.

Vaguely, mournful roars and cries rang out from the three secret repositories. It was as though vicious terrors were suppressed there, emitting waves of terrifying fluctuations.

This person raised his right hand and punched out at the distant sky.

As he attacked, the three secret repositories behind him erupted, spewing out multicolored light that filled the sky, forming countless flying swords that densely spread out between the heavens and the earth, and formed a torrent.

Every sword inside emitted a soul-stirring force, as though it could tear through the sky and shatter the void. At this moment, they all charged into the distance.

At the same time, a furious roar rang out from the distant sky. A blurry figure appeared in the sky, as though it had been hiding previously. But under the energy of the sword torrent, it couldn’t continue hiding.

This was an extremely ugly ferocious beast.

To be precise, it was more like a huge maggot. Its body, which was ten thousand feet long, was covered in mucus and emitted an unpleasant stench.

It also had two tentacles on its head.

Each of the tentacles had a head on them, a man’s and a woman’s. Their skin was green and their eyes were red. The furious roar earlier came from them shouting at the same time.

Its tail area was curled up and there was a head on it as well.

It was of an old man. At that moment, his expression changed and he quickly spat out black fog.

The fog spread out and enveloped the surroundings of the maggot, increasing its retreating speed.

However, it was still too late. At the next instant, countless flying swords pierced through the ugly ferocious beast.

No matter how it blocked, it was useless. In an instant, its body collapsed under the killing power of the swords and cut into pieces.

Only the three heads stirred up more black fog and fled into the distance.

However, it was obvious that this was wishful thinking. The moment the ferocious beast’s body collapsed, the Sword Holder in the official uniform took a step forward. His speed was so fast that he instantly got close to the heads. As he lifted his right hand, countless flying swords gathered, forming a longsword that shone with green light.

As the sword landed, the woman’s head collapsed.

With the second strike, the man’s head exploded.

The third sword was swung by the Sword Holder. Immediately, this sword flew out and transformed into a large green flood dragon. With a roar, it swallowed the old man’s head.

The world fell silent. All the cultivators on the ground were shocked.

“Recently, my Sword Holding Court was ordered to suppress the Three Spirits Mountain and capture Nether Fairy. Therefore, some demons and ghosts came here to probe.”

The middle-aged man calmly continued.

“Then, I’ll say the rules of my Sword Holding Court again. Only humans can step into this land!”

The middle-aged man raised his right hand and performed a series of hand seals, pointing at the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar. In an instant, the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar trembled and a monstrous battle intent erupted.

It carried the intent to exterminate and domineering baleful aura as it rumbled in all directions.

The sky in a radius of 5,000 kilometers stirred up intense fluctuations, and it was the same for the ground. This battle intent carried divine sense and rapidly swept past all the cultivators.

It was as though it was screening and shocking all the cultivators who were paying attention to this place. At the same time, popping sounds echoed in the city and outside the city. Hundreds of people in the city suddenly exploded and died instantly.

There were also seven to eight places in the sky that let out mournful cries.

After everything was over, the world was clear.

The middle-aged man didn’t even turn his head as he walked toward the sky. He stepped into the clouds and disappeared without a trace.

The ground was silent. It was only after a long time that gasps and exclamations rang out. Xu Qing also took a deep breath. The captain at the side was the same.

Earlier, the divine sense had also swept past them. Even though he knew that he was a human and there wouldn’t be a problem, Xu Qing’s heart still skipped a beat under the cover of the divine sense. What shocked him even more was the domineeringness of the Sword Holding Court.

The middle-aged man in the official uniform was clearly at the Spirit Repository Realm and not the Nihility Realm. However, the instant he walked out and attacked, the auras of the leading ancestors of the various sects who had arrived in the city seemed to be suppressed.

“What suppressed the ancestors wasn’t this person’s cultivation base but his identity.”

The orthodox of the human race, one of the Upper Mystic Five Ministries, the Sword Holding Court!

It was only after around fifteen minutes that the cultivators in the city recovered. Their eyes revealed an intense glint. Many people couldn’t help but look at the end of the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar.

That was the base of the Yinghuang Province’s Sword Holding Court.

This demonstration by the Sword Holding Court caused most of the disciples from the various sects and forces to have a strong yearning for the Sword Holding Court, especially the captain. He even began to fantasize about becoming a Sword Holder.

Although Xu Qing was also tempted to become a Sword Holder, what he valued more was the tremor from the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar earlier.

The moment the pillar trembled earlier, Xu Qing clearly felt that the Ghost Emperor Mountain in his sea of consciousness was also trembling. At the same time, dozens of runes actually floated on the Ghost Emperor Mountain.

These runes emitted intense battle intent. After Xu Qing sensed them, he fell into deep thought.

“Could this be the battle spirit mark that the captain mentioned? From the looks of it, it’s indeed very easy to obtain.”

Xu Qing thought about it but he wasn’t too sure if these runes were the spiritual marks the captain had mentioned.

He felt that he could take them out.

He lifted his hand and with a thought, one of the dozens of marks instantly disappeared from his sea of consciousness and appeared in his palm.

The light shone and the battle intent spread out even more intensely, giving Xu Qing the feeling that this rune could be used as a spell and possessed a certain level of lethality.

“Eldest Senior Brother, is this the battle spirit…” Xu Qing turned his head and looked at the captain. Before he could finish asking, the captain who was dreaming suddenly looked with wide eyes.

“Battle spirit mark? When did you comprehend it? This thing is very… simple. Not bad, not bad. It can add points.” The captain was stunned but he quickly reacted and pretended to be relaxed.

“When the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar trembled earlier, they appeared in my sea of consciousness.” Xu Qing nodded as some doubts rose in his mind. The captain’s reaction made him feel that something was amiss.

And at times like this, something was really fishy.

The captain coughed and suppressed the envy in his heart as he laughed.

“Little Qing, your comprehension ability isn’t bad but it’s still a little inferior to mine. Actually, I also succeeded in comprehending this thing just now, so you have to remember not to be arrogant. One spiritual mark is nothing. Did I say anything when I comprehended five? Because we need to comprehend nine spiritual marks to add points!”

Xu Qing sensed the dozens of battle spirit marks in his sea of consciousness but didn’t speak. He guessed that the difficulty of comprehending these spirit marks shouldn’t be what the captain had said earlier.

“Alright, you can continue comprehending. I’m going to look for the ancestor.” The captain wanted to get away from Xu Qing and find a place to comprehend the spirit marks. Xu Qing had succeeded in comprehending one so easily. This made him feel a lot of pressure.

This was especially so when he thought of how he had said earlier that this comprehension was easy. If he didn’t succeed in the short term, he would really be shooting himself in the foot.

Seeing that the captain had left, Xu Qing also planned to study these spirit marks. Hence, he walked toward his residence.

However, the two of them had just taken a few steps when the captain suddenly started. He recalled Xu Qing’s words and noticed the use of the plural term.

This caused his eyes to widen as he abruptly turned his head.

“Wait, Xu Qing, you said ‘they’ earlier?”

Xu Qing stopped in his tracks.

“You… How many did you comprehend?” The captain asked carefully.

Xu Qing glanced at the captain and waved his hand. Immediately, more than 30 spirit marks flew out and rapidly circled in his hand, continuously emitting waves of battle intent.

The captain was stunned.

“These all appeared just now?”

“Yes, captain, you were right. It’s very simple.” Xu Qing blinked.

The captain didn’t want to speak anymore. He felt so tired.

He silently retracted his gaze and quickly left without turning his head. He made a decision. He was going to head to the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar and start comprehending until he comprehended 40 spirit marks.

“40 isn’t safe. I need to comprehend 60!”

Looking at the captain’s figure, Xu Qing was in a good mood. He then turned and walked toward his residence.

Very soon, he arrived and made arrangements in the surroundings. Only then did he sit down cross-legged and study the spirit marks.

He knew why so many spirit marks had appeared at once. This matter was directly related to the existence of the Ghost Emperor Mountain. After all, to a certain extent, the two sides came from the same source.

Just like that, during Xu Qing’s research, time flowed by and three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the third night, Huang Yikun arrived.

After he arrived, he unwillingly handed Xu Qing a jade slip and left after leaving a sentence.

“The ancestor asked me to give it to you!”

Huang Yikun’s ancestor was naturally Purple Mystic Fairy.

Xu Qing hesitantly picked up the jade slip and fell silent for a long time. His divine sense fused into it and instantly, Purple Mystic Fairy’s lazy and enchanting voice appeared in his mind.

“Kid, do you miss Big Sister?”

Xu Qing sat silently.

“I like the gift you gave me before you left very much.”

Xu Qing looked in the direction of the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar. He felt that the captain should have gone there.

“I also read the letter you wrote to me. It is not obvious normally but your words are so bold when you write… saying that you want to be strong and don’t want me to listen to groundless rumors? It’s not easy for us to see each other frequently, so you wanted me to reply to you by letter? I got Huang Yikun to send it to you.”

Xu Qing’s eyes abruptly widened.

“Also, seeing that you pleaded for mercy for Chen Erniu in your letter and even promised me so many things, let’s forget about Chen Erniu. I won’t bicker with him for the time being, but don’t forget what you promised.”

Xu Qing’s breathing was hurried.

“I’ll listen to you this time and not go to the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar. In that case, help me take care of the people from the Mystic Nether Sect.”

“Then, come back as soon as possible… As for the way you asked me to address you in the letter, little kid, you’re quite good. However, this still can’t be done. It will depend on your performance in the future.”

The veins on Xu Qing’s forehead bulged. He was silent for a long time. After calming his emotions, he took out the bamboo slip and found the captain’s name on it. He then ruthlessly crossed out the question mark behind it.