Outside Of Time

On the second day after the night when the red moonlight first appeared, the wind returned to the green sand desert.

At first, it was faint, but now, after three days, the green wind whirled with the green sand and howled through the sky, pushing the sand dunes to continuously shift, transforming the desert into a sea of sand.

The whimpering and howling sound seemed to gather the cries of all living beings and continued to spread throughout the world.

In this desert, most of Xu Qing's body was drowned. Only a small portion of his body was revealed and he was motionless, like a corpse.

He had been thinking about what humanity and divinity were.

This question was profound and it was very difficult for Xu Qing to understand it thoroughly, especially the latter…

He wasn't a god, so he couldn't use his identity as a human to comprehend the divinity of gods.

However, Xu Qing also had his own advantage. In his short 20 years of experience, he had seen too much evil and suffering. He had seen the endless ugliness of human nature.

Hence, he had an understanding of human nature.

And during these three days, he had been reflecting about his past, recalling scenes from his memory since he could remember.

There was greed, madness, cannibalism, and malevolence.

There was also beauty in it, but it ultimately shattered like a spark.

However, no matter what, he remembered his feeling the instant the spark appeared.

Just like the peace in Peerless City when he was young, the impression his parents gave him, the warmth Captain Lei gave him, and the sentiments Duanmu Zang had.

There was also… the figure of the Sword Holding Palace's Palace Master, Kong Liangxiu.

Many more.

"Human nature has virtuous and evil."

Xu Qing mumbled inwardly.

"Human nature also has emotions for things, and the resulting attachments."

Xu Qing thought of his master, the captain, Zi Xuan, Ling'er, and the many figures he had known on his way here.

Some he hated, some he was grateful for, some he disliked, and some he liked.

"From the beginning, when I was alone, until now… unknowingly, the concerns in my heart have multiplied, and attachments as well. All of these are like strands of thread, woven into a vast web."

"And human nature is the source of this web, leading to my joys and sorrows."

Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked at the sky. He felt the whimpering sound of the wind as though it carried the cries of all living beings.

"Human nature includes the desire for life and the fear of death."

"My wish since I was young was to survive."

"In fact, all the emotions and the style of doing things are actually a manifestation of human nature."

"When I was in Peerless City, I had no thoughts of killing, I wouldn't think about the future or consider what it would be like to grow up. But after going through a series of events, I changed."

Xu Qing mumbled, this kind of reminiscence made him deeply reflect on himself. The emergence of past events also deepened his understanding of human nature.

"One of the differences between human nature and bestial nature is restraint."

Xu Qing lowered his head, looking at his bare left arm. Remembering his previous madness, he felt that the source of control came from self-control, so what did self-control come from?

Xu Qing fell into deep thought.

"From the moral constraints within my cognition, this part is the attribute that makes humans human."

"So, human nature is orderly, while bestial nature, on the contrary, is disorderly and relies on instincts. This is the state of those beasts in the Wanggu Continent that have been invaded by god's aura."

Xu Qing understood.

"What about divinity?"

Xu Qing fell silent. He still didn't comprehend but he knew that this body of his was the body of a god. He also knew that his Poison Restriction came from a Divine Realm and his Purple Moon was also a divine source.

"So, spreading my Purple Moon power throughout my body, in a sense, means that divinity already exists. It's just that I didn't realize it, or perhaps, it didn't reveal because I am human, not a god."

"The heir's request for me is to feel hungry, like Crimson Goddess."

"So hunger is the key to opening divinity?"

"How did god's hunger come about?"

Xu Qing was confused. At that moment, he no longer felt hungry. His body was used to it and he had adapted to the feeling of weakness. Death was approaching.

A long time later, Xu Qing sighed softly.

He still couldn't find an answer, but he didn't want to continue lying here. He struggled to sit up from the sand.

Because, in the distance, some fierce beasts had emerged in the desert, and even further away, he saw a giant mushroom emitting malice moving towards him.

A terrifying energy fluctuation emitted from the mushroom, giving Xu Qing the feeling that it wasn't a Nascent Soul but a Dao Nurturing being.

In the green sand desert, these mushrooms were bizarre existences. They were not numerous, and their roots could outline giant figures. Few people would dare to provoke them.

This was something Xu Qing had sensed the first time he came to this desert back then.

But now, the simple act of sitting up consumed the little strength he had left. As he sat up, the pit formed in the sand behind him quickly filled with sand from the surroundings, gradually leveling out.

Xu Qing was stunned, turning to look at the filled pit. In that moment, his mind began to roar, as if lightning bolts were flashing across it, causing him to forget the dangers around him, ignoring everything; his eyes focused only on the filled sand pit.

"It's filled…"

"When I was lying there, I was a part of the sand pit, and when I got up, there was a missing piece, so… the sand rushed in, restoring it to its original state."