Outside Of Time

"Divine fire?"

Xu Qing's gaze froze as he looked at the shadow. Under his gaze, the shadow trembled a few times and carefully transmitted emotions.

"Fire… Boom boom boom…"

Xu Qing fell silent. He somewhat missed the Diamond Sect's ancestor.

Sometimes, the emotional ripples of the shadow could be understood, but most of the time, it was very difficult to accurately understand the meaning.

The term 'divine fire' was too sensitive. According to Xu Qing's understanding in the Moon Offering Region, that was a necessary path to become a god. Only by igniting the divine fire could one be considered a god.

For example, Crimson Goddess and the Divine Son both walked this path.

However, the former succeeded, while the latter didn't succeed in igniting the divine fire and it burned him instead.

Hence, after hearing the term 'divine fire' from the shadow, Xu Qing's heart fluctuated.

"You can form divine fire?"

Xu Qing asked.

The shadow first nodded and then shook its head. In the end, it became anxious, so it simply…

"Boom boom boom…"

Xu Qing frowned. After pondering for a moment, he lifted his hand and made arrangements in the surroundings. After that, he took out a piece of Crimson Goddess' fleshy feather.

Looking at the feather, the shadow was excited and churned on the ground, as though turning the tiles of the pavilion into a black quagmire.

After sensing the shadow's emotions, Xu Qing waved his hand and threw the feather out. Before it landed on the ground, the shadow impatiently rose from the ground and opened its mouth to devour the feather.

Its body was like a black hole that could devour everything. In the blink of an eye, the feather disappeared and the shadow trembled violently as it continued to expand.

Xu Qing paid attention the entire time. An hour later, the shadow's energy fluctuations slowly decreased and finally stabilized. When it shrank and returned to Xu Qing's feet, the shadow emitted an incomparable desire.

"Delicious… devour… want…"

A look of contemplation appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. After checking the remaining quantity of the flesh of Crimson Goddess, he endured his heartache and took out a fist-sized flesh.

Such a large piece immediately made the shadow extremely excited. Spikes formed on it, rising and falling as its eyes revealed excitement. There were even sounds of it opening its mouths and gulping.

In fact, in order to eat this piece of meat, the shadow even formed a shadow tail that swayed on the ground like a puppy.

It was unknown which human consciousness it had possessed before…

It still had some effect.

Xu Qing glanced at the swaying shadow tail on the ground and threw the flesh in his hand to the shadow.

In an instant, all the shadow spikes headed straight for the flesh, instantly enveloping it. Immediately after, the sound of swallowing echoed. The energy ripples of the shadow even exceeded before and were erupting like they were boiling.

However, it was obvious that such a large piece was a little difficult for it to withstand. Hence, very soon, its body became unstable. With a boom, the shadow's body directly collapsed. It was like an ink bottle that had fallen to the ground, shattering into hundreds of pieces.

The flesh of Crimson Goddess that was swallowed also fell out of its body.

However, in the blink of an eye, it shattered into hundreds of shadows like hungry wild dogs. They rapidly enveloped the flesh again, continuing to devour and collapse.

The shadow's persistence was vividly displayed at this moment.

This lasted until the sky in the distance lit up slightly. After a night, the shadow had shattered countless times before it finally swallowed the lump of flesh bit by bit. Its body barely maintained itself and stopped shattering.

As for its heart, it wasn't satisfied. At that moment, while maintaining its body from cracking, it tried its best to emit fawning emotions toward Xu Qing.

"Master… good… I… want…"

"There's no change even after devouring an entire piece. What's the use of having you?" Xu Qing said coldly.

He felt that there was a certain possibility that the shadow could change but it was deliberately suppressing the change, and this guess made him unhappy.

He wanted to activate the purple crystal and see if he could smash out the item the shadow had swallowed. At the same time, he wanted to intimidate it.

Sensing the purple light appearing on Xu Qing's body, the shadow instantly trembled and quickly emitted an emotion of begging for mercy.

"No need… no eat… forbidden zone… okay."

Xu Qing ignored it and directly suppressed it. In an instant, a purple light spread out from Xu Qing's body and landed on the shadow. Wails rang out as the shadow collapsed and the piece of flesh that had been half eaten fell out.

Xu Qing lifted his hand and grabbed it from afar.

The shadow trembled as it watched Xu Qing take away its food. It was clearly anxious and quickly circled around Xu Qing, forming a black vortex.

"Eat… eat…"

"Boom boom boom!"

"I… strong… useful!"

The shadow hurriedly expressed. Xu Qing coldly looked over.

"There's no need for additional flesh?"

"No… forbidden zone… can…"

The shadow carefully transmitted its emotions.

Xu Qing didn't continue speaking. He recalled that the few times the shadow advanced previously were all related to anomalous substances.

As for anomalous substances, other than in the flesh, there were quite a lot of them in any forbidden zone.   

Hence, due to the need for the shadow to advance and his guess about the word 'divine fire', Xu Qing's body instantly disappeared from the pavilion. When he reappeared, he was already outside the capital city.

He didn't stop at all. After he appeared, he took a step forward. The ground seemed to have shrunk under his feet. Every step he took covered a large area.

The rules and nomological laws could already be manifested on Spirit Repository cultivators.

Just like that, two hours later, Xu Qing had already left the county capital and appeared in the nearby province.

This province was called the Spirit Land and was the smallest province in Fenghai County. It got its name because there were many forbidden zones in it.

The spirit in its name didn't mean spiritual energy but undead spirits.

The forbidden zones in it were a paradise for the undead and bizarre. It was fine for ordinary cultivators to walk around the edge, but if they entered the depths, they would only have a slim chance of survival. Only after their cultivation reached the Nascent Soul realm and coupled with a certain amount of luck would they have a chance of survival.

It was also the path that the Ghost Lane's ship had to pass through.

When Xu Qing arrived, he saw the Ghost Lane's ship.

Although it was still daytime, black clouds filled the distance and the sky gradually turned pitch-black. Fog churned and enveloped the sky, causing the light to dim and a cold intent to spread in all directions.

A huge dilapidated ghost ship was faintly discernible in the fog, moving forward in the sky.

Xu Qing's expression was calm as he stared at the ghost ship.

He was no longer the cultivator he was back then, let alone his identity. As the County Governor, he could mobilize the county's fortune. He wasn't too curious about this ghost ship he had rode before.

The ghost ship also showed respect to Xu Qing. After sensing Xu Qing's figure, the fog on the ghost ship solidified. A large number of ghosts rose from the boat and floated outside, bowing to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing nodded and passed by it, heading toward a Spirit Land forbidden zone.

After he left, the fog in the sky churned again. The ghost ship continued forward and quickly disappeared. The sky also lit up again.

After about fifteen minutes, as Xu Qing moved forward, he saw a Spirit Land forbidden zone in the distance.

There were a total of 13 forbidden zones in the entire Spirit Land province.

Every one of them was ancient, having endured countless years. According to the records, they originated in the era of the Human Sovereign Eastern Triumph.

Originally, it was a forbidden region, but changes occurred in later generations. Overnight, the forbidden region collapsed and turned into 13 forbidden zones.

As for the reason, it wasn't recorded in any books. However, according to the clues, someone analyzed that there might have been a divine battle here.

However, the truth was already buried in history.

At that moment, the forbidden zone that appeared in front of Xu Qing was a black jungle that had a range similar to the forbidden zone in the Nanhuang Continent's scavenger campsite.

The vegetation inside was all black and released a withering feeling. There were also dense anomalous substances spreading inside, forming a black fog that enveloped the forbidden zone. At the same time, waves of roars that could be sensed by the soul echoed from the depths of the forbidden zone at all times.

In fact, when one got close, one could see the figures of some skeletons moving in the jungle, as well as all kinds of strange entities.

For instance, Xu Qing was standing outside the forbidden zone, and saw an old woman standing in the forbidden zone.

This old woman was wearing burial clothes, her face pallid, and she was smiling at Xu Qing.

The smile was wide, revealing black teeth, and a strong stench of decay emanated from her, spreading to the surroundings.

Xu Qing was calm. He had seen too many strange entities in his life. There was nothing strange about them. They were just food for the shadow.

"I'll only give you one chance. If you still can't advance, then I don't need you anymore."

Xu Qing calmly spoke. The shadow under his feet trembled. After emitting determined emotions, it immediately spread toward the forbidden zone.

The instant the shadow appeared, the expression of the old woman who had been staring at Xu Qing and smiling changed drastically. It was as though she had seen her natural enemy and swiftly turned around to escape.

However, it was still too slow. The shadow spread even faster and rushed into the forbidden zone, catching up in the blink of an eye. After its figure touched the old woman, she immediately melted and disappeared into the shadow.

The shadow didn't stop. As it chewed, it spread out in all directions with all its might.

Xu Qing didn't follow. He stood outside the forbidden zone and borrowed the connection with the shadow to sense every step the shadow took. Gradually, a strange expression appeared on his face and it slowly turned into surprise. Finally, his heart shook a little.

"What is it doing?"

In Xu Qing's perception, the range of the shadow this time completely surpassed the past and reached an unbelievable level.

It actually spread throughout the entire forbidden zone!

The instant the forbidden zone was covered, it gradually blurred in front of Xu Qing, as though it was being devoured!

Xu Qing swiftly confirmed that this forbidden zone wasn't seemingly being devoured but… it was really being devoured.

It grew increasingly faint and blurry. The location at the edge had completely disappeared. A day later, Xu Qing glanced ahead in shock.

That place… was empty.

The forbidden zone had disappeared!

From now on, the Spirit Land province would have one less forbidden zone!

It was devoured by the shadow!

On the empty land, the soil was gray. There was no sign of life or the aura of death. That gray color was like the background color of the world.

Above this background color was a squirming black shadow.

Waves of godly murmurs rang out from the black shadow, echoing through the world.

"Three elements nurture, nine Qi circulate, five elements transform, organs form, and seven stars create orifices. The souls of all beings rise to the top, three feet above me, Dark Abyss, illuminated by the brilliance of three feet of starlight."