Outside Of Time

Chapter 1832: I Shall Remember, Never Again a FriendEditor: Atlas Studios

The crimson light reflected in my eyes.

Amidst countless corpses.

Corpses of the myriad races!

After regaining my cultivation, I unleashed slaughter in my madness.

But... my enemies were endless.

Now, I stood amidst the ruins of the Purple Green Kingdom, letting thick blood smear my face, the metallic stench of rust nearly clogging my nostrils.

Each labored breath tugged at the knife-sharp pain deep in my lungs, yet the long-extinguished fire in my chest now burned faintly but stubbornly once more.

”Your Highness... grieve not!”

”But we cannot stay. Fenghai County has Bai Xiaozhuo—it can be your refuge!” A hoarse shout tore through the thick scent of blood.

It was Old Luo, my personal guard captain.

His face, carved with the ravines of time, was now smeared with filth—blood that could be his or the enemy’s. His left arm hung limp, clearly broken.

His remaining right arm clung stubbornly to a notched war blade, its edge still dripping dark red droplets.

Behind him, a sparse few dozen figures followed, each wounded, stumbling as if crawling out of a pool of blood.

Their armor was shattered, robes soaked through and clinging to their exhausted frames, yet their eyes gleamed like tempered blades, locked onto the ominous horizon behind me where another storm of the myriad races rolled closer.

Watching the approaching storm, my gaze fell upon the ruins that buried all my kin, and finally... I looked at my guards.

”Follow me to Nanhuang Continent! Mirror Cloud will activate the grand teleportation array there, linking it to Fenghai County and other regions. He will come!”

”Emperor Mirror Cloud!”

The name struck like silent thunder, cleaving through the shroud of death.

Dozens of pairs of eyes suddenly blazed—not with joy, but the desperate survival instinct of drowning men clutching at their last straw.

The Nanhuang Continent was the fallback Mirror Cloud and I had agreed upon!

Mirror Cloud, the only true friend of my life, had once sworn with me to dedicate everything to the revival of the human race!

Even now, with the myriad races dominant and his armies unable to openly aid us without drawing fire, he had laid a hidden teleportation array in a secluded corner of Nanhuang, leading straight to the human territories!

I trusted him!

As I trusted my own heartbeat.

This trust, tempered through years and war, was harder than refined gold.

I understood his constraints, the burden he bore as emperor, responsible for the survival of millions.

We stood guard in the north and south like twin pillars holding up the vault of humanity, each burning brightly yet echoing one another across the distance.

That secret teleportation array was our covenant across mountains and rivers - the sole beacon of hope in the darkness, known only to us while remaining utterly hidden from the myriad races!

”Go!”

I drew a deep breath and spoke abruptly, my voice carrying an unshakable finality as I transformed into a dim streak of light streaking southward.

Old Luo and the few dozen surviving subordinates mustered their last reserves of strength to follow closely behind.

The shrieking sounds of our passage tore through the blood-and-scorched-iron tainted air like arrows shot toward salvation.

Behind us, the howls of our pursuers and their terrifying energy surges clung like maggots to bone. The earth trembled under their frenzied chase.

We raced onward, blood staining our path as we crossed forbidden seas and entered Nanhuang Territory.

Each brief pause meant another familiar figure falling in the rearguard’s bloody struggle, swallowed whole by the churning tide of death at our heels.

Yet when twilight fell and the hoped-for Peerless Plains finally appeared at the edge of vision in Nanhuang Territory, just as a spark of hope flickered to life in my chest—

An unprecedented, bone-chilling warning stabbed into my consciousness like a venomous ice spike!

”Halt!”

I wrenched to a midair stop just as the seemingly calm void ahead suddenly twisted and tore apart with earthshaking roars that shattered the twilight peace.

Space was brutally rent by invisible claws as hundreds of massive figures radiating monstrous auras descended!

At their forefront stood a nearly thirty-feet tall figure covered in glossy black chitin, with blade-like bone spurs protruding from its joints and elongated skull housing multifaceted eyes glowing with cruel crimson light—

The Emperor of the Void-Rending Insect Race, most savage and cunning among the myriad races!

Beside it, a giant of rough-hewn stone with molten lava coursing through its body took a heavy step that instantly cracked the earth and spilled magma—the Emperor of the Molten Rock Giants!

More figures shrouded in distorted halos emerged further back, surrounding us with soul-shaking pressure as their palpable auras locked down the space behind us like physical shackles.

The killing intent was colder than Nanhuang Continent’s autumn winds.

”Crown Prince Purple Green, your road ends here.”

The Void-Rending Insect Emperor’s piercing mental voice slammed into my mind, dripping with undisguised mockery and greed.

Retreat cut off, pursuers closing in—

Hopelessness!

”Form ranks!” Old Luo’s hoarse shout sprayed blood as he stepped forward, his sole remaining arm crossing his warblade before his chest.

The dozen-odd survivors formed an incomplete yet resolute formation around me without hesitation, their eyes holding not fear but the burning madness of warriors staking everything on one final blaze of glory.

My gaze pierced through the encircling foes to the plains beyond.

This was the place Mirror Cloud and I had agreed upon!

The hidden teleportation array should be here.

Then why... were these enemies lying in wait with such precision...?

”Mirror Cloud...” Bitterness filled my heart, mingled with denial, as I drew a warm jade pendant from my robes—a gift from Mirror Cloud himself, infused with his essence, the key to the array.

Activating it on the Wushuang Plains would open the array.

I channeled spiritual energy into it without hesitation!

Hum!

The pendant flared!

A thin blue thread of light—a lifeline—shot upward to connect with the hidden array below.

But then...

The light flickered wildly like a dying candle before fading entirely!

The familiar essence within the pendant—Mirror Cloud’s essence—vanished as if snuffed out.

Like my heart.

”Try again. See if your Mirror Cloud will activate the array.”

A voice rang from among our enemies.

”Crown Prince Purple Green... you’ve been abandoned. Or perhaps your dear friend wishes your death more than we do!”

The pendant’s glow died, cold and gray as common stone.

The thread connecting northward had been severed—not by interference, but deliberately cut off from the other side while control was handed to our enemies.

Time seemed to freeze.

The labored breathing behind me, the low cruel laughter of our foes, the deathly stillness of Wushuang Plains—all grew distant and blurred.

Only the agony of my heart being crushed by an invisible fist remained piercingly clear.

”...Hah... hahaha...”

A broken laugh escaped my throat, dry and hoarse with the iron tang of blood.

It grew louder, echoing across the twilight plains.

I looked north, as if my gaze could pierce the mountains and rivers to where Mirror Cloud ruled.

Mirror Cloud...

My only true friend in this life...

If there is a next life, I shall remember—never again a friend!

My laughter turned manic as the enemy activated the plains’ array with a dazzling light, teleporting in endless reinforcements!

A tsunami of destructive energy surged toward us!

Old Luo roared and charged to meet it, his blade raised in final defiance!

Those remaining subordinates, like moths drawn to flame, unleashed the final radiance of their lives, howling as they rushed toward the invincible foe.

And I—the madness in my laughter vanished in an instant, replaced by icy killing intent.

Ahead lay death; behind, death as well.

Then... let us fight!

The cultivation base surging within me erupted without restraint!

Dim violet flames shot skyward like a dying star unleashing its final brilliance!

Transforming into a streak of blazing purple lightning, I slammed into the heart of that annihilating tide!

Peerless Plains became a meat grinder!