Outside Of Time

Chapter 1778  Desolate Opens Its Eyes! 

A ripple that made the Fourth Star Ring—no, the entire upper thirty-six star rings—tremble faintly spread out at this moment.

Within the rift, the crimson light in Lord God Chiuzʼs skeletal eyes that had just flared up suddenly flickered like candlelight in the wind.

Then… It rapidly retreated, pulling back frantically as if fleeing for Its life.

But it was already too late.

In this instant, all the upper star rings fell into absolute silence!

Gods, cultivators, all living beings, countless stars—everything in existence—experienced a blankness of mind at this moment.

It was as if a pair of eyes transcending dimensions had shifted their gaze from their original focus to look upon… the starry sky itself!

This was a gaze that surpassed time and space.

This was the colossal fragmented-face hovering above Wanggu in the Ninth Star Ring… now lifting Its head.

And fully opening its eyes!

Thus, within the Fourth Star Ring, outside the rift, in the folds of spacetime, a gilded iris silently appeared.

Within it was reflected the complete image of the rift.

The moment it looked—

Inside the rift, Lord God Chiuzʼs skeleton froze mid-movement. An unprecedented trembling seized It as the gaze fell upon It. Piercing shrieks erupted from Its body as Its remaining divine halos exploded one after another.

The old Venerable Godʼs concealment of Its consciousness also shattered at this moment, restoring Lord God Chiuzʼs divine intellect.

Yet the instant He regained awareness, His mind was enveloped by death.

Along with His body, He rapidly dissipated—as if being erased, as if devoured by nothingness.

Simultaneously, everything within this rift began undergoing drastic changes!

A grinding, screeching roar rose sharply as web-like cracks spread across the rift space, each fracture emitting glass-shattering tremors.

The entire space resembled an eggshell being nibbled by a colossal beast, its layers peeling away moment by moment before collapsing completely.

The divine chains within also trembled violently at this moment. The divine runes on their surfaces exploded one after another before disintegrating entirely.

Even spacetime itself rippled, distorted by an invisible force.

Collapsing black holes became vortices, manifesting wildly within this distortion.

They madly tore at all spacetime fragments present here, forcibly merging them together without any logic.

Forming illusory shadows of worlds that should not exist.

This scene caused Xu Qing—who hadnʼt yet completely exited the rift—to experience tsunami-like shockwaves in his heart.

He clearly saw his own figure within one of these illusory worlds, raising cups in cheerful drinking with Erniu… yet their expressions were filled with terror.

Before Xu Qing could observe further, the spacetime within the rift became like crumpled parchment, fragments from different timelines overlapping chaotically.

Erniu, nestled in Xu Qingʼs hair, felt his mind churning violently. He seemed to see his childhood from this life floating in the void, while in another fragment, his adult self was simultaneously experiencing soul-rending agony.

All these sensations converged upon and erupted within him.

The resulting disorder defied all logic.

Xu Qingʼs heart also pounded wildly. His Ordinance shared some resonance with this chaotic spacetime. Amid these turbulent temporal vortices, he saw his past, present, and future—

Countless versions of himself making different choices, each subtly altering the universe.

These visions caused his Ordinance to fluctuate wildly.

Then an even more bizarre scene unfolded.

In certain fragments, the divine bones composing the altar suddenly sprouted crystalline branches that rapidly grew into fruit trees.

Except the fruits they bore were miniature versions of Xu Qing and Erniu.

One miniature Erniu on a branch suddenly turned its head, grinning eerily at its true self.

The moment Xu Qing saw this smile, a wound opened on his left ear. Blood spilled out, mixing with nearby spacetime dust and instantly freezing—and from the sound of that freezing, he faintly heard his own screams from three breaths into the future.

These were residual echoes from future sounds.

Spacetime was in chaos.

Even the distant bronze coffin trembled violently amidst these drastic changes, as if resisting.

The patterns on its outer layer crumbled away, revealing flowing liquid divine sources in its middle layer.

Yet these divine sources were also dissipating. Countless pale, withered hands exuding ancient aura reached out from within, struggling desperately…

Only to wither into ashes under the gaze from beyond the rift.

Then, in the next instant—The trembling coffin suddenly erupted with blazing white light before—

BOOM!!!

The bronze coffin exploded apart!

Its fragments transformed into a million bronze falcons that scattered in all directions.

A decaying figure shot out from within!

Its exact form was indiscernible, but one could perceive its rotting state while seeing golden river-like bands of light swirling around it—each strand shimmering with supreme divine aspect.

The moment It appeared, It didnʼt pause or utter any divine sounds—instead fleeing at maximum speed, shattering space in Its desperate escape!

At this instant, all supreme beings across the thirty-six star rings experienced upheavals in their hearts as they focused their attention here. Meanwhile, within the rift, spacetime remained chaotic as the void continued collapsing.

Everything was dissipating.

Even though Xu Qing shared karma with Desolate and had survived Its gaze multiple times before, this space-time chaos posed extreme danger to him.

There was simply no way to escape.

Moreover, the vortex black holes appearing here were all sources of spacetime turbulence.

Xu Qing knew if he got swept into them, escape would become impossible—heʼd be trapped forever.

Fortunately, his Ordinance contained concepts of space-time and the power of overlapping universes, allowing him to barely struggle through this distorted chaos.

Yet both his body and soul were losing control, being pulled apart in this twisted spacetime. Erniuʼs screams in his ears grew distant and ethereal.

Parts of Xu Qingʼs body had already turned into particles of light, as if beginning to merge with the surrounding disorder.

Erniu was also in crisis, his body dissipating—only his teeth remained firmly clenched on Xu Qingʼs hair, though this didnʼt stop his screaming.

Earlier, one of the countless coffin fragments sent flying by the explosion had been caught in the turbulence and embedded itself in Xu Qingʼs body, blood spraying wildly.

Xu Qing had no attention to spare for this. He understood this place had become completely lawless, collapsing continuously, about to turn into pure nothingness—equally perilous.

At this critical moment, Xu Qing suddenly experienced a strange sense of déjà vu.

”This scene… Iʼve seen it before!”

His mind shook as he suddenly recalled the illusion within the God of Painʼs domain—being hunted by a Lord God, forced to flee into spacetime turbulence where he eventually found the Summer Immortalʼs legacy.

Though the circumstances differed now, the similarities were striking.

”Illusions containing truth… Could it be…”

With this thought, Xu Qing fell silent for a breath before determination flashed in his eyes. Manipulating his Ordinance, he wove it into countless threads that enveloped his body, forming a cocoon—

Then plunged straight into one of the vortex black holes!

Entering the space-time turbulence!