Outside of Time

"Our family’s wealth is vast." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The Crown Prince Purple Green smiled faintly and raised his right hand, lightly flicking it toward the palace exterior.

With this motion, the rumbling across the Sky Devouring Region intensified to deafening levels.

Then—an unimaginable scene unfolded!

The earth... instantly transformed!

Mountains, rivers, structures—even the imperial palace—all morphed in that instant into...

A book!

The land had become a book!

Across the Sky Devouring Region, the Mirror of Wanggu in the sky was plundering the nation’s fortune, having already taken most of it, causing all things to grow increasingly indistinct.

Yet paradoxically, as the earth-turned-book turned a page—

Mountains and rivers reappeared, all things were restored, the capital returned, and the citizens revived.

That single page contained an entirely intact Purple Green Kingdom!

Even as the Mirror of Wanggu continued its plundering and Xu Qing’s reversed vortex kept absorbing, the page replicated everything perfectly.

Stranger still—even when the contents of that page eventually blurred from the mirror’s theft...

The book turned another page.

The second page was identical—still the Purple Green Kingdom, unchanged.

"Little Brother, take as much as you desire."

The Crown Prince’s smile deepened.

"For I’ve recorded every breath of the Purple Green Kingdom’s existence as individual pages of fate. Eventually, they gained life and began propagating endlessly..."

"Even I no longer know how many exist."

This was the divine authority he’d once demonstrated—

Fate!

Only now, the Crown Prince’s manipulation of fate was far more sinister and boundless than before!

As he spoke, the book’s pages began turning faster—no longer waiting for the mirror to drain them before flipping, but accelerating autonomously.

Each page was the Purple Green Kingdom.

Thus the mirror’s plundering was forcibly accelerated.

Yet the kingdom’s fortune, through this rapid page-turning, became infinite.

A sense of futility grew inescapable.

The Mirror of Wanggu reflected this despair—it ouldn’t plunder endlessly, just as the reversed vortex couldn’t spin perpetually.

With a resounding crack, a fissure appeared on the mirror’s surface.

More fractures spread, a series of shattering sounds echoing as the mirror shattered completely!

Countless fragments rained down across the land.

Simultaneously, on Wanggu—

The human Empress vomited blood, Her body withering as She weakly gazed toward the Sky Devouring.

All the human experts who’d participated in the ritual suffered similarly.

The scene repeated across all races—cultivators coughing blood, the entire Wanggu falling into stunned silence.

Only the Sky Devouring Region’s book continued turning its pages, replaying scenes endlessly

as if time itself cycled.

Xu Qing sighed inwardly.

The Crown Prince had failed to seize his divine form earlier.

Now, Xu Qing’s attempt to plunder the Purple Green Kingdom’s fortune had likewise failed.

Yet the moment the mirror shattered, Xu Qing—standing in the palace plaza—flashed forward toward the main hall!

If plundering wouldn’t work, then battle would decide everything!

Inside the hall, the Crown Prince lightly tapped the air.

Ripples of fate spread from his fingertip, forming a barrier against Xu Qing’s approach.

"Your opponent is another possible version of me—from fate."

As these words echoed, the turning pages abruptly stopped—

Revealing a branching tributary of fate!

This branch didn’t replace reality but coexisted with it—

Inside the hall, the Crown Prince still sat upon the throne.

Outside, the world transformed!

A second Crown Prince appeared—

Standing atop the fragmented-face’s statue, arms outstretched, his expression chillingly detached as his earlier words reverberated through this fate-branch:

"...Sacrifice!"

With this utterance, fanatical cries erupted across this alternate Purple Green Kingdom:

"We gladly die for the Crown Prince!"

"We gladly die for the Crown Prince!"

The voices came from everyone—cultivators, mortals, men, women, old, young—all burning with fanaticism.

At their prince’s single word, they began immolating themselves!

Sacrificing everything to their Crown Prince!

This fate-branch’s prince was offering his entire kingdom to empower himself!

Countless lives became streams of light converging upon the statue, merging into his body—

An endless tide.

Xu Qing didn’t interfere.

His Ordinance Law perceived the truth—this was already an event that had occurred.

Changing this moment wouldn’t alter the outcome.

Only by changing the final result could causality be reversed.

So he watched intently, analyzing every detail.

Upon the statue, the Crown Prince’s body melted into blood under the sacrificial deluge—

Dripping onto the effigy below.

Within breaths, this fate-branch’s kingdom stood emptied—

No citizens remained, not even the Crown Prince—

Only his blood coating the statue.

Then—

A terrifying aura erupted from the effigy!

Divine might surged skyward, shaking heaven and earth, reversing wind and clouds as anomalous substances flooded the world.

Rules dissolved. Laws vanished.

Only divine authority remained—supreme and absolute.

The unmistakable pressure of a Lord God!

Amid this overwhelming pressure, the statue of Desolate began to transform. Its stone body awakened into flesh, writhing and reshaping Into a humanoid form.

Its face rapidly took shape, and in the blink of an eye... It bore the likeness of Purple Green!

Then, with a single step, It vanished—shattering the void—only to reappear right before Xu Qing.

Amid the eruption of anomalous substances and Lord God-level suppression, It raised Its right hand and pressed toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing unleashed his Ordinance Law, colliding with the Crown Prince Purple Green.

BOOM—!

The heavens and earth quaked. The world itself trembled under the colossal impact.

Xu Qing allowed the force to propel him back, stopping a thousand feet away. Calmly, he observed Crown Prince Purple Green standing outside the palace hall.

At the same time, Crown Prince Purple Green outside the hall gazed back at him.

And inside the hall—the other Crown Prince Purple Green did the same.

Both spoke in unison,

"Little Brother, this time... if you’re not prepared, you will die."

their voices weaving together across the intertwined threads of fate, resonating through the present moment:

Crown Prince Purple Green’s divine authority was Fate!

This method of plucking a branch from destiny and materializing another possibility—coexisting with reality—was something Xu Qing had experienced before.

Back in the Fourth Star Ring, within the turbulence of spacetime...

At the final point of convergence, Xu Qing had appeared beside that old painter.

The old painter was another version of Xu Qing—a possibility from a different timeline.

But the means by which they achieved this differed.

Crown Prince Purple Green relied on Fate.

Xu Qing relied on his Ordinance—transforming into dimensions, piercing through all timelines.

Yet both... had reached the same apex.

For gods, it was the level of a Lord God.

For immortals, it was the realm of an Immortal Lord.