Outside Of Time

Chapter 1752  Briefs of the Home Planet 

Within the crack in time and space, atop the black glacier, after hearing the goddessʼ exclamation, Xu Qingʼs expression darkened. He raised his right hand and made a grasping motion in the air.

Instantly, the goddessʼ figure appeared, lifted by the neck and placed before Xu Qing. He loosened his grip slightly, allowing Her to speak normally, and then calmly said, ”Tell me everything you know.”

Faced with Xu Qingʼs cold gaze, the experiences She had endured since being captured, and the methods of the clay fox, the goddessʼ mental defenses had long been utterly destroyed.

She understood that hiding anything would bring Her no benefit. After a brief silence, She conversed in a low voice, ”Everything here matches a mysterious place I know of… the Primordial Home Planet of the Fourth Star Ring.”

”Continue,” Xu Qing said indifferently.

The goddessʼ voice echoed softly.

”The so-called Primordial Home Planet is said to be the birthplace of the first god in the Fourth Star Ring, in ancient times.”

”Legend has it that before this Primordial God, there were no gods in the Fourth Star Ring. It was through Its emergence that gods came into existence.”

A dark glint flashed in Xu Qingʼs eyes.

The goddess trembled under his gaze. After a moment of hesitation, She continued, ”This tale is too distant from the present. I only heard fragments of it from my father, and even among the gods of the Fourth Star Ring, it is not universally accepted.”

”It concerns the origin of gods. One could say that the Primordial Home Planet is one theory of their origin.”

The goddess hurriedly explained.

”Tell me something you can confirm!” Xu Qingʼs voice turned cold.

The goddess nodded quickly.

”One thing is certain: gods in the throes of divine decay, when their divine bodies are on the verge of withering, will sense the call of the Home Planet. They will then drift through the cosmos along a specific trajectory, like leaves returning to Their roots, to reach the Home Planet.”

”However, this process of return is untraceable and unknowable. Thus, over countless years, very few gods have known the location of the Home Planet.”

”Only in death do They arrive here.”

Xu Qing suddenly interjected, ”Divine decay?”

The goddess hesitated but then revealed a secret of the gods.

”Below the level of True Gods, gods do not possess the concept of immortality. Only after becoming a True God and obtaining a True Name can They achieve immortality.”

”But this immortality refers only to the True Name, not the divine body. The bodies of gods, whether True Gods or not, will naturally decay over time.”

”Eventually, They wither…”

”When They are summoned back to the Home Planet, gods without True Names become nourishment, while those with True Names… for Them, the Home Planet acts like a womb, nurturing new divine bodies.”

”Thus, the True Name is summoned, and the god is reborn.”

”This process is slow and is one of the rules of True God resurrection.”

Xu Qing frowned upon hearing this.

”This contradicts what I know about resurrection!”

The goddess quickly explained, ”Thatʼs because there are two other methods of god resurrection. One is returning within the body of Their death, and the other is through the summoning of a Lord God. However, both of these methods can only resurrect gods who did not die of divine decay, such as those who fell in battle…”

”Those who die of divine decay can only be drawn to the Home Planet.”

The goddess conversed softly.

Xu Qing fell into thought. This was the first time he had heard such a description from the goddess. Recalling the True God resurrections he had witnessed, they had indeed all been gods who died in battle.

However, he remained skeptical and silently consulted the clay fox in his mind.

But the clay fox, being a postnatal god and not having reached the level of a True God, nor possessing the noble status of the goddess, was equally ignorant of such matters.

Unable to provide a definitive answer.

After some thought, Xu Qing pointed to the black glacier below with his left hand.

”What are those bizarre entities beneath the glacier?”

”They are Origin Sin…” the goddess immediately replied.

”Origin Sins are unique life forms of the Home Planet. They feed on divine corpses and are part of the Home Planet. They are born here, die here, and ultimately form new divine bodies.”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, pondering for a moment, then questioned in a low voice, ”Can Origin Sins depart the Home Planet?”

The goddess shook Her head.

”In my knowledge of the Home Planet, I have never heard of Origin Sins leaving, nor have I ever seen one outside.”

Xu Qing fell silent. After a while, he suddenly asked,

 ”Is the Primordial Home Planet unique to the Fourth Star Ring, or does every one of the upper thirty-six star rings have one?”

”Each has one,” the goddess uttered softly.

She had nothing left to hide. Although this information was a secret of the gods, known only to True Gods and above, who could sense it through Their bloodline, She, being the daughter of a Lord God, knew more comprehensively.

”Then how do we leave this place?” Xu Qingʼs eyes gleamed with a cold light as he stared into the goddessʼ eyes.

The goddess trembled and quickly shook Her head.

”I donʼt know… I only know that this is not a place for the living…”

She left unsaid the immense confusion in Her heart about how Xu Qing had managed to come here.

Xu Qing frowned and was about to press further.

But at that moment, something happened that shook him to his core.

The goddess before him, perhaps due to having been in this place for a bit too long, began to show signs of aging. Her skin gradually decayed, and a sense of rot emanated from Her.

At the same time, the clay foxʼs exclamation echoed in Xu Qingʼs mind.

”Young Master, I feel my body weakening, and my divine source is disappearing!”

The goddess also sensed the change in Herself and trembled in fear.

”Itʼs the Primordial Home Planet, absorbing and decomposing all life that comes here!”

Xu Qing immediately checked himself but found no abnormalities. He glanced at the terrified goddess and asked again, ”Are you sure thereʼs no way to leave?”

The goddess trembled even more, desperately recalling everything She knew, but in the end, She had no answer.

Seeing this, Xu Qing waved his hand and put the goddess away. He then gazed into the distance, monitoring his own divine source while analyzing the information he had obtained.

”The Primordial Home Planet!!”

”Allegedly the birthplace of the first god in the Fourth Star Ring.”

”The place where all gods in divine decay return…”

”The living cannot come here… So, what was the Venerable Immortalʼs purpose in sending me here?”

”And… those so-called Origin Sins bear a striking resemblance to whatʼs inside Senior Brother. If whatʼs inside Senior Brother truly is an Origin Sin…”

Xu Qing fell silent. He had long suspected that Senior Brother harbored secrets, but even now, he knew little about them.

This was not the time to dwell on such matters. Xu Qing looked up at the sky.

”Regardless of why the Venerable Immortal sent me here, finding a way to leave is my top priority!”

”Iʼve already tried the bronze door in the temple, but it doesnʼt lead out.”

”Perhaps thereʼs a way to leave through the sky above.”

With this thought, Xu Qingʼs body shot into the sky.

His speed was astonishing, tearing through the void as he ascended higher and higher.

Time flowed by.

But the sky here seemed infinite. No matter how high Xu Qing flew, he remained in mid-air, unable to reach the end.

As for the ground, even as he ascended, all he could see was the black glacier, as if it truly stretched on forever.

This sight made Xu Qingʼs heart sink.

”At my speed, under normal circumstances, I would have already flown out of a universe by now.”

”But here, Iʼm still only in the air!”

Xu Qing murmured inwardly, simultaneously noticing that the weakening of the clay fox and the goddess had intensified.

He ignored the goddess, but for the clay fox, Xu Qing transferred some of his own source energy to alleviate Her condition.

After a moment of contemplation, he concluded, ”Itʼs not about height. The longer one stays here, the more intense the weakening becomes.”

Having made this judgment, Xu Qing increased his speed and continued his ascent.

But this time, before long, Xu Qingʼs body suddenly halted, and his pupils contracted.

A bone-chilling sensation surged through him, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of danger.

It was as if every inch of his flesh and every strand of his divine sense were screaming warnings.

This feeling came from the infinite sky above, which had no visible end.

It was as if continuing to ascend would lead him to encounter an unimaginable horror.

”I canʼt go any further!”

Xu Qingʼs thoughts raced. His body abruptly descended, and only when he reached a certain altitude did the terrifying sensation begin to fade.

But his mind remained tense, for a new crisis had emerged.

Following the goddess and the clay fox, Xu Qingʼs own origin essence had begun to disappear!

Upon discovering this, Xu Qingʼs expression darkened.

Although the rate of disappearance was slow, and Xu Qingʼs origin essence was abundant after absorbing the black tumor from the secret realm, this loss was unstoppable, no matter how he tried to seal it.

The clay fox, sensing that Xu Qing was also losing origin essence, grew anxious.

”Young Master, the loss is accelerating. If this continues…”

”I know,” Xu Qing replied. His body shot downward, heading for the glacier below at breakneck speed, creating sonic booms that echoed in all directions.

His destination was the place where the True Godʼs corpse had fallen from the sky.

Before long, a massive divine corpse, half-sunken into the glacier, came into view.

This was the corpse Xu Qing had seen earlier. Half of It was submerged in the glacier, while the other half was slowly sinking further.

This sinking did not cause the glacier to break but seemed to merge with it, seeping in eerily.

Beneath the glacier, countless Origin Sins could be seen devouring the corpse.

As Xu Qing approached, he acted without hesitation. Raising his hand, silver light flashed in his eyes.

In the next moment, a faint stream of origin essence was extracted from the True Godʼs corpse and flowed toward Xu Qing, replenishing the loss in both him and the clay fox.

This method of refining origin essence was none other than the Mystic Nether Soul Refinement Art!

”Indeed…”

Xu Qing murmured, a glint of silver light in his eyes.