Outside Of Time

Xu Qing took a deep breath and a strange glint appeared in his eyes. He then sat cross-legged in the center and immediately sank into his Golden Crow.

This time, he didn't pursue the transformations of the Golden Crow, nor did he think about the Golden Crow's origins or the sun in his memories. All of this was stripped from his thoughts.

In his perception, at that moment, everything in the surroundings and his body no longer existed. Only the blazing Golden Crow shone in his eyes.

The black body and splendid flames became his sole focus.

"If it's at the microscopic level, this flame is also an illusion. It's meaningless!"

As Xu Qing's thoughts rose, the flames on the Golden Crow instantly dimmed and were extinguished, no longer existing.

As the flames dissipated, Xu Qing's body trembled. Extinguishing the Golden Crow's flames was something he had never done before. At this moment, his entire body experienced a hidden pain—a manifestation of the Golden Crow being harmed, affecting the nascent soul.

If it was in the past, Xu Qing wouldn't have continued to try after this because he perceived the danger of his actions.

However, now that he had the heir's guidance, Xu Qing suppressed the discomfort in his body after pondering. He stared at the Golden Crow in front of him.

The Golden Crow trembled unsteadily and also looked at Xu Qing.

As Xu Qing looked on, he furrowed his brow. He felt that the Golden Crow in this form was somewhat redundant.

With a thought, the Golden Crow's body shook and all its feathers disappeared, leaving only the bare body.

The backlash from this action was clearly greater.

Xu Qing's breathing was hurried but he forcefully endured it. His intuition told him that he was heading in the right direction this time. He gritted his teeth fiercely and made up his mind.

At the next instant, the Golden Crow rumbled and exploded in front of Xu Qing, transforming into countless illusory pieces of flesh that scattered in all directions. Xu Qing spat out a mouthful of blood but his divine consciousness focused like never before and enveloped those lumps of flesh.

In his perception, this flesh was formed by various colored threads intertwining, resembling a tangled mess that wrapped around each other, creating all the appearances.

Every thread contained some spiritual fluctuations. Xu Qing could sense his nascent soul, the fire of the Heavenly Fire Sea, and the souls of hundreds and thousands of living beings.

This was all devoured and accumulated by the Golden Crow from its birth till now.

"This is tea!"

Xu Qing mumbled.

"Next, I have to separate all the substances inside!"

Xu Qing's will moved and the flesh rapidly decreased. Threads were peeled off and thrown to the side. The Golden Crow's wails also echoed.

Xu Qing spat out several mouthfuls of blood but his gaze was persistent. He gritted his teeth and continued.

As time passed, it was as though he had become possessed and forgot everything in the external world. There was only the shrinking Golden Crow in his eyes. Several days later, the threads that formed the Golden Crow had decreased by more than 90%.

There were only three of them left.

One was black, one was red, and one was purple!

"The tea is about to completely separate!"

Xu Qing's heart stirred. He could sense that purple was his nascent soul and red represented fire. As for black, it was the Golden Crow's life essence, which was also the essence of the emperor-level cultivation art.

"The heir guided me that even though the leaf has separated, its origin is the same and it's still one. So, no matter how I peel it off, it can actually be recovered."

While the heir had provided guidance, Xu Qing also perceived it clearly in the process of separation. He felt that the threads he had stripped didn't disappear; they were still there.

Due to the inextricable connection with him, he could restore them with a thought.

This further proved the authenticity of the heir's guidance.

"Then, I'll peel off the fire first!"

Xu Qing gritted his teeth and gathered his divine consciousness, extracting the red thread bit by bit. The pain this process brought Xu Qing was extremely great, and he was shivering in pain.

However, Xu Qing didn't give up and continued.

Several days passed. He, who was still immersed in his cultivation, didn't know that during these seven to eight days, the apothecary had already changed quite a bit as he cultivated.

The back room he was in was filled with extremely violent energy fluctuations that transformed into invisible threads that kept waving in all directions. Wherever they passed, a series of explosions would ring out.

His body was covered in blood!

His clothes were already burnt, and the Golden Crow tattoo on his body was howling. Every stroke of the tattoo was bleeding.

This wasn't much. In the past few days, his aura had become even more exaggerated. Sometimes, it would suddenly erupt with terrifying energy, and sometimes, it would instantly lose its vitality.

Vaguely, there seemed to be an astonishing power awakening in his body.

This power seemed to be disallowed by the Heavenly Dao and not tolerated by the Wanggu Continent.

Hence, outside the apothecary, in the sky above the Bitter Life Mountain Range, in the past seven to eight days, the sky turned dim with clouds everywhere and thunder rumbling throughout the world.

All the cultivators in the entire Bitter Life Mountain Range were shocked, not knowing what had happened. As for the lightning in the sky, it sounded like it was saying something that outsiders didn't understand.

There were almost no people who could understand.

However, the heir could understand it. It was also this understanding that caused him to be even more surprised by Xu Qing.

In the apothecary, Ling'er was nervous and apprehensive.

The captain was shocked.

Ning Yan was terrified and his heart palpitated.

Wu Jianwu was at a loss.

The heir arrived at the back room. He sat cross-legged in front of Xu Qing and stared fixedly.

His expression changed several times. He raised his right hand several times, seemingly wanting to interrupt Xu Qing's comprehension, but in the end, he restrained himself.

"This kid is comprehending a taboo that can't be spoken of in Wanggu!"

"I… I didn't say anything." The prince was a little hesitant. After carefully recalling, he sighed. This was the first time he felt that this kid in front of him was a little strange!

At that moment, thunder rumbled outside. When it landed in the prince's ears, it turned into the deterrence and intense warning of the Wanggu Heavenly Dao.

"Every emperor-level cultivation art actually contains the seal of the Wanggu Heavenly Dao…"

"But back then, I was clearly pointing to coexistence and giving up…"

The heir sighed and waved his hand to seal all of Xu Qing's aura, personally protecting him.

At that moment, Xu Qing was still immersed in his comprehension. Under his efforts and persistence, the red thread was finally completely extracted bit by bit.

At that moment, the appearance of the Golden Crow in front of him had completely disappeared, leaving only two threads entangled together, one black and one purple.

"Next is the purple."

Xu Qing didn't hesitate and immediately pulled his purple thread. The pain brought about by this process was like pulling out his tendons. Xu Qing felt his soul trembling.

However, his intuition was very strong. The answer appeared in front of him after he extracted his purple thread.

"Come out!"

Xu Qing's heart stirred as he went all out. After an unknown period of time, he completely extracted the purple thread. The instant the purple thread left, only the black thread was left of the Golden Crow in front of him!

As this thread shook, it emitted energy that Xu Qing felt was extremely terrifying.

"This is…" Xu Qing's soul trembled and his perception gathered, continuously magnifying this black thread in his eyes!

In the end, this black line was magnified to infinity. It was as though a world was reflected in Xu Qing's perception. Xu Qing's heart instantly rumbled. He saw it!

The black thread wasn't connected!

It was formed by countless black fragments that gathered densely together. Between each fragment was an arc of lightning.

These lightning bolts were like ropes that pierced through the endless black fragments, causing them to look like a black line after shrinking countless times.

The shapes of these fragments were irregular. If they were pieced together…

It was a black spear!

He only sensed it and a realization emerged in his mind.

"Taboo Weapon!"

This weapon could shatter the sky, destroy the ground, exterminate the Dao, and slaughter gods!

This scene subverted Xu Qing's thoughts and shook his soul. He had never expected that in the Golden Crow's origin, there was actually… a terrifying weapon that had shattered countless times!

"Is this the essence of an emperor-level cultivation art?"

"This is the Golden Crow's origin?"

"Then, is it true that every emperor-level cultivation art is like this? They all seal such a terrifying weapon!"

"Who sealed it? The Heavenly Dao?"

"Why is it sealed? These Taboo weapons… Who is the master?"

"Since that's the case, why let people cultivate emperor-level cultivation arts? Could it be that… the essence of the emperor-level cultivation arts is to let people gradually repair the Taboo weapons, until they finally control it completely?"

"How many more secrets is the Wanggu Continent hiding?!"

Xu Qing's body trembled violently and his consciousness suddenly rolled back. As he retracted his perception, the purple thread instantly returned to the Golden Crow, followed by the red fire thread and the other threads that he had stripped off one after another.

In the blink of an eye, the chaos reappeared. After drowning all the secrets, the Golden Crow's flesh and blood formed and transformed into the outline of the Golden Crow. Its feathers revived and flames erupted.

As the heatwave assaulted his face, Xu Qing instinctively leaned back. His eyes suddenly opened and he spat out several mouthfuls of blood.

His breathing was unprecedentedly hurried. The instant he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the heir who had emerged in front of him at some point in time!

Before Xu Qing could speak, the heir suddenly spoke.

"Don't say it, don't ask!"

Xu Qing's heart palpitated and his eyes flickered. After a long time, he calmed down and looked at his surroundings. He could sense the fluctuations here and also the rumbling sounds from the outside world.

Finally, he looked at the heir and nodded. He took out the bead of Master Black Pupil and handed it over.

"Senior, I don't need this anymore. I can't defeat Black Pupil and I don't want the Golden Crow to be devoured. Most importantly, I've already discovered the Golden Crow's Dao!"

"You indeed don't need it…" The heir silently took it and looked at Xu Qing with a complicated expression.

At that moment, he could clearly sense that the Golden Crow in Xu Qing's body had an additional sharpness that had not been there before. Vaguely, its form seemed to be changing, as though it was transforming into a spear.

This was Xu Qing's Golden Crow Nascent Soul trump card!

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior, for allowing me to comprehend the microscopic details!" Xu Qing took a deep breath and stood up with difficulty, bowing to the heir.

He was very grateful. If it wasn't for the heir's words at that time, he wouldn't have comprehended it so deeply.

The heir suddenly spoke.

"Did your master guide you like this in the past?"

"Yes." Xu Qing was surprised. He didn't know why the other party inquired that, so he nodded.

The heir fell silent. After a long time, he sighed.

"It's not easy for your master."