OUTSIDE OF TIME

531 A Mysterious Clue

Xu Qing was also returning to his Sword Pavilion. He, who had been vigilant the entire way, naturally noticed Qing Qiu.

He guessed the reason. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he continued on his way toward the ground without stopping.

At this moment, Qing Qiu also guessed the reason for Xu Qing being there. However, the evil ghost kept screaming in her mind which made her even more frustrated, and she shouted at the evil ghost.

“If you continue to nag, I’ll perish together with you!”

The evil ghost instantly fell silent.

Just like that, Qing Qiu and Xu Qing landed at the outermost layer of the Sword Pavilions. They were separated by ten thousand feet and their gazes met again. After that, they frowned and stepped into their respective Sword Pavilions.

They were neighbors.

This matter couldn’t be said to be too coincidental. After all, there were a total of 51 new Sword Holders this time. Moreover, they were all building the Sword Pavilions at the same time. It was natural for them to be close to each other.

Of course, the main point was that Xu Qing didn’t like crowds. Hence, he didn’t build the Sword Pavilion in the first few days. Instead, he only built it yesterday.

Qing Qiu was also a loner, so the possibility of them becoming neighbors naturally increased.

However, Xu Qing didn’t care about this. After returning to his Sword Pavilion, he first checked his surroundings, making sure there was nothing wrong. Only then did he sit down cross-legged and begin to study the Emperor Sword he had comprehended.

The Emperor Sword in his sea of consciousness was a little different from when he had just succeeded in comprehending it. Its light was no longer bright and dazzling. Instead, after having a root, it emitted a profound and heavy aura.

It also emitted traces of sword qi.

The sword qi didn’t scatter in disorder; instead, they surrounded the Emperor Sword like threads, forming ring after ring.

There were a total of 11 rings.

Xu Qing noticed that the twelfth ring also existed but there was only half of it.

Clearly, it wouldn’t be long before it was complete.

“This is the nurturing of the Emperor Sword.”

Xu Qing calculated the time and estimated that he should be able to form more than a hundred rings of sword qi every day based on the progress he had made since successfully comprehending the Emperor Sword.

The more sword qi there was, the greater the might of this strike.

“In a year, it can form 30,000 to 40,000 rings. In ten years, it will be 300,000 to 400,000 rings. In a hundred years…” Xu Qing estimated inwardly and felt that it was too far away.

“However, even if it hasn’t been nurtured for so long, it should still possess considerable power when used normally.”

Xu Qing sensed the sharpness of the Emperor Sword in his sea of consciousness and suddenly thought of Kong Xianglong’s emperor-level cultivation art that had transformed into a golden dragon.

At that time, the golden dragon had the Emperor Sword in its mouth.

Xu Qing fell into deep thought and the tattoo on his back was immediately activated. Under the heat, the Sword Pavilion shone brightly. The Golden Crow’s figure appeared behind him and danced in the surroundings.

Waves of burning phoenix feathers fluttered down, creating a peerlessly beautiful scene. Xu Qing guided the Emperor Sword in his sea of consciousness, causing it to gradually rise from the top of his head.

After it completely appeared, the Golden Crow let out a joyous cry and flew over. It opened its beak and held the Emperor Sword. After that, its entire body trembled and it seemed to have changed, revealing sword qi intent.

Its tails were the same. As they danced, it felt like they contained sword qi.

Its might had increased by a lot.

“So emperor-level cultivation arts can fuse together in such a way…” Xu Qing fell into deep thought. However, he felt that it was more likely that it was because of some characteristics of the Emperor Sword.

Xu Qing observed the Emperor Sword in his sea of consciousness with interest, but he couldn’t be certain about his previous guess. Nonetheless, he was able to sense that the Golden Crow had become even more powerful, and the Emperor Sword’s nurturing wasn’t impacted as well. He put aside his thoughts and took out the plain pills to study.

As time passed, heavy rain poured down outside. Amidst the pitter-patter of the rain, Xu Qing delved deeper into his research on the pill.

He analyzed several plain pills before he finally discerned their refinement method.

“The technique is exquisite, but it isn’t the key. The reason why this pill can greatly dissipate anomalous substances is because there are some extremely unique medicinal herbs inside.”

Xu Qing couldn’t tell what they were. This made him think of what the Deputy Governor had said about everything following the environment. Clearly, these unknown medicinal herbs inside were transformed by the Deputy Governor using this method.

Xu Qing took one out and placed it in his mouth before swallowing it. After sensing it carefully again, he confirmed that the effect of this pill was extraordinary and was full of praise for it. However, he vaguely felt that there were some flaws in this plain pill and it wasn’t perfect.

But he was powerless to change it. To some extent, this pill has already opened up a new path in the Dao of medicine.

As he sighed with emotion, the sky outside began to brighten. With the clouds and the rain, the sky looked a little dim. Although it was still early in the morning, it looked a little like twilight.

Xu Qing lifted his head and glanced over before closing his eyes and resting for a while. After that, he walked out of the Sword Pavilion and made his way to the Prison Department in the rain.

As he got closer to the Prison Department, Xu Qing recalled his two accidents and a sharp glint appeared in his eyes.

“Today, I have to find out the secret of D132. Otherwise… I’ll kill all the criminals in D132!”

Xu Qing strode through the rain-drenched ground, splashing through puddles of water. He entered the invisible barrier of the Prison Department and walked through it.

Although it was raining heavily outside, it couldn’t penetrate the barrier and enter the Prison Department. However, the air inside still felt humid.

Despite the humid atmosphere, Xu Qing’s calm expression remained unchanged as he descended the spiral staircase.

On the way, he saw a few Pawns he had seen before. After exchanging greetings, Xu Qing didn’t head to Area D132 immediately.

He went to the cell on the 35th floor and found Old Li, who was handling a prisoner’s corpse.

Old Li was the middle-aged prison guard who had shown Xu Qing around the Prison Department on his first day.

“Senior, I have something to ask.” Upon seeing Old Li, Xu Qing cupped his fists and bowed.

Old Li was also willing to befriend a newbie like Xu Qing. Hence, he threw the corpse in his hand into the deep pit outside the stairs and turned toward Xu Qing.

“What is it?”

After a brief silence, Xu Qing asked about the guardians in Area D132 who hadn’t died. He also asked if there were any of them still in the Prison Department.

“There is!”

Old Li recalled and nodded.

“That D132 is strange. I remember Chen Boli was the last guardian a hundred years ago. After working for three years, he changed the cell and is now on the 77th floor.”

“However, even since Chen Boli became the guardian of D132, his personality has become strange. He’s usually unwilling to communicate with others. If you look for him, you have to bring something. Xu Qing, do you have anything hard that can be used to sharpen a blade?”

Xu Qing rummaged through his storage bag and saw the tables and chairs he had obtained in the Spirit Venerable Nether Fairy’s cave abode back then. He felt that they were hard enough, so he nodded.

“That makes things easier. I’ll bring you there.”

Old Li led Xu Qing to the 77th floor where they saw an old man with a pockmarked face.

This old man was crouching in a corner with walls behind him and on both sides, as if seeking a sense of security. In the dim light, he looked eerie and terrifying.

At that moment, he was forcefully sharpening his blade.

As the blade scraped against the whetstone, an ear-piercing sound reverberated in the surroundings.

After noticing Xu Qing and Old Li’s arrival, the old man lifted his head and cast a gloomy glance, looking like he didn’t want strangers to approach him.

“Brother Chen, this is Xu Qing, a newbie. He’s D132’s new guardian. He has some questions to ask you.” Old Li introduced before quickly bidding farewell, seemingly not wanting to linger here for long.

The old man didn’t say anything. His gaze moved away from Old Li’s back and landed on Xu Qing.

Xu Qing cupped his fists and bowed. After that, he took out the Nether Fairy’s table and chair from his storage bag and placed them at the side.

“Senior, these items are very hard.”

He could sense that this old man’s cultivation wasn’t simple.

The old man glanced at the table and chair and lifted his right hand to grab them. He scraped his blade on them and looked satisfied.

“What do you want to ask? How to avoid an accidental death?”

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. Through the other party’s words, he felt that his previous judgment wasn’t wrong. Hence, he cupped his fists and bowed.

“Senior, please enlighten me.”

“You can already sense the bad luck?” The old man carefully sized up Xu Qing and asked.

Xu Qing nodded.

The old man’s expression changed slightly as he placed the saber in his hand to the side.

“It seems that the ominousness accumulated in D132 is already extremely dense. It actually reacted to you so quickly.”

“Actually, it’s very simple to avoid an accidental death. As long as you don’t leave the Prison Department, you’ll be fine. Or you just need to have a strong fate which I don’t have, so when I was in charge of D132, I never left the Prison Department. This was also what the previous guardian told me.”

The old man looked at Xu Qing as though he was looking at a dead person.

“You have to be careful. Generally speaking, those with bad luck won’t be able to survive for more than a month.”

Xu Qing fell silent. After a long time, he slowly spoke.

“Senior, the ominousness you’re talking about, does it come from the prisoners in D132? Could there be something special about them? However, this is Area D of the Prison Department. If these prisoners really have such ability, they should be imprisoned in an even deeper cell.”

The old man nodded and then shook his head.

“The criminals of D132 aren’t special by themselves. It’s just that after they were locked up and survived in this cell, they became ominous. Of course, this is my judgment. I feel that they have become a part of the ominousness.”

“As for the true ominousness, it might be D132 itself, or it might be one of the prisoners there. However, Palace Master didn’t bother with it, so I think the former is more likely.”

“Did the head in cage 237 ask you to send it to the cloud beast’s room?”

“No need to listen to it, someone has tried. It’s useless.”

As the old man spoke, he began to comment on the prisoners in D132 for Xu Qing. Every one of them was very detailed.

“The thirteenth prisoner is that head. It does have some ability but not much. Don’t listen to it for too long, or you’ll be affected.”

“The last one is the Painting Race. The 22 figures in that painting are all a part of it. This one has been imprisoned for the longest time but it’s also the quietest. I’ve never seen it go out during my tenure.”

Just as the old man said this, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed.

“Senior, aren’t there 23 people from the four generations in the painting of the Painting Race?”

“Impossible. It’s 22.” When the old man heard this, his eyes narrowed as well.

Xu Qing fell silent for a long time before nodding. He then asked about some details. After that, he took out some spirit stones and placed them at the side before bidding farewell.

Looking at Xu Qing’s back view, the old man suddenly spoke.

“Xu Qing, all the guardians who were stationed in Area D132 are people the Palace Master values. It is his test. I heard that other than many secrets, there’s also a huge fortune hidden there. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it.”

“If you don’t want to die accidentally, go to the ninth floor and change to a new cell. Every newbie has the qualifications to change cells once.”

“After the change, you’ll be fine. However, the list of people who guarded D132 in the past will not contain your traces.”

“As for D132’s mysteriousness, I once heard a guardian say something. I’ll tell you.”

“When you think you’ve discovered everything, there’s actually more waiting for you.”