Outside Of Time

Qiu Quezi noticed the coldness in Xu Qing's eyes and thought of his old enemy who had died earlier. Hence, he took a deep breath and immediately nodded, leading the way.

Xu Qing followed behind with a cold expression. The captain also put away his amused expression.

Although his feelings for the human race were faint, there were still some waves in his heart when he heard about such a thing.

"Human race…"

The captain sighed softly.

Just like that, the three of them moved deeper and deeper into the forbidden zone.

In the golden palace in the air, the corners of the Flame Moon dignitary's mouth curled up in joy.

"Now, this is interesting. Without blood and death, how can it be called the Grand Hunt?"

Time slowly passed. Two days later…

In the depths of the forbidden zone, on a towering tree, Xu Qing, the captain, and Qiu Quezi stood there and looked into the distance.

In the distance, a thin black mist pervaded between heaven and earth, rendering the world dim. On the barren land lay withered forests, shrouded in darkness, evoking a sense of eerie and malevolent presence.

Beyond these desolate forests lay a series of undulating peaks, resembling dormant dragons, altogether forming a majestic mountain range composed of twenty-seven peaks.

They passed through almost half of the forbidden zone.

Several peaks harbored black flames, sporadically erupting and spewing black mist that enveloped the surroundings. Meanwhile, streams of black magma flowed out from the peaks.

"Those are the forbidden mountains of this forbidden zone."

Qiu Quezi spoke in a low voice.

Xu Qing felt the heat mixed in the wind and narrowed his eyes.

He had seen many forbidden zones. Generally speaking, they were mainly cold. This was the first time he had encountered volcanic mountains in a forbidden zone.

"The ten mountains at the rear can be fought over by all the participants. As for the 17 mountains in front, they were decided internally as I said earlier."

"As for the one assigned to the Eldest Prince of the human race, it's… the ninth mountain."

Qiu Quezi lifted his hand and pointed ahead.

Xu Qing's gaze followed. From these mountains, he could sense a large number of auras coming from the participants who had gathered there.

The participants were on every mountain peak, especially on the ten at the rear which seemed even more diverse and complex.

The mountain peak Qiu Quezi was pointing to was the same.

Besides, these auras also gave off a tense atmosphere, as if on the brink of conflict, yet somehow restrained, not immediately erupting.

"There's still a day before the forbidden mountains here can be lifted. That's when the chaos will erupt."

A hint of battle intent appeared in Qiu Quezi's eyes. His mountain peak had already been snatched away and was now with Xu Qing.

He didn't dare to snatch it from Xu Qing. Hence, his target was the forbidden mountain here.

On the way, he also politely requested if he could fight for one, and hoped that Xu Qing wouldn't make things difficult for him.

Regarding this, Xu Qing agreed. Although he also needed the forbidden mountains, Qiu Quezi's information was valuable.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, we only need to wait patiently for a day."

Qiu Quezi circulated his cultivation base and his eyes gleamed. In his plan, there was no need to fight now because he felt that it was meaningless. It was useless even if they won. They needed to stay there for a day and it would attract the attention and siege of other cultivators.

In that case, the risk and difficulty would increase much more.

"When the last day is over and all the mountains can be taken away, we can rush out and leave immediately after snatching the target mountains."

"This way, the success rate will be higher. After all, the other mountains can also be taken away at that time, so they will naturally disperse everyone's targets."

Xu Qing looked at the ninth mountain and shifted his gaze to the other mountains. The coldness in his eyes was intense as he calmly spoke.

"There's no need to go through so much trouble."

As he spoke, he leaped into the sky and headed straight for the mountain range.

Behind him, Qiu Quezi's expression changed. He knew Xu Qing was very strong and had witnessed it with his own eyes. However, he didn't think that the other party could face everyone at the same time.

If they waited, with Xu Qing's strength, Qiu Quezi was almost fully confident Xu Qing could obtain one forbidden mountain or even two. However, if he rashly rushed over and became the target of everyone, there would be many variables.

"Wha…"

Qiu Quezi panicked. Just as he was about to speak, the captain beside him chuckled, and flew past him, leaving behind a sentence.

"Your target is one or two, but my Junior Brother's target is all of them."

"All of them?" Qiu Quezi's heart trembled violently. Before he could fully process it, Xu Qing had already arrived in the air. He lifted his right hand and pressed it on his left shoulder, pulling outward.

The totemic tattoo on his body flickered and black flames erupted from his body, forming a sea of fire that spread into the sky.

At the same time, as the totem appeared, the Golden Crow rushed out and danced in the sea of fire, emitting an impassioned cry toward the world.

Its black body, phoenix appearance, and long tails of fire spread out, attracting the attention of the cultivators on the twenty-seven mountain peaks.

The instant they looked at the Golden Crow in the air, Xu Qing's right hand grabbed at it.

Immediately, the Golden Crow's cries became even more sharp. With a dash, it rapidly rushed toward Xu Qing's right hand. During the process, its body rapidly disintegrated and when it appeared in Xu Qing's right hand, it had turned into a black spear.

As soon as this spear appeared, bolts of lightning streaked in all directions, as though they wanted to tear through the sky. There was also a low roar emanating from the void, seemingly warning against its appearance in the world.

However, it was useless. The coldness in Xu Qing's eyes intensified. He threw the taboo spear toward the ninth mountain under the gaze of the golden palace and Qiu Quezi's shock.

The black spear was like a dragon, carrying an irresistible force as it drew a long black trail in the sky.

The lightning that spread out in the surroundings also chased over rapidly from all directions. They gathered around the spear and continued to circle it, augmenting it.

It stirred up a storm and a sharp sound tore through the air.

It headed straight for the ninth mountain.

Its aura was filled with an imposing dignity.

The next moment, the spear descended with unparalleled dominance and directly pierced the peak of the ninth mountain. As it pierced into the forbidden mountain, the heavens and earth roared with thunderous fury.

The deafening roar shook the surroundings as the entire mountain trembled violently. The earth churned, and circular shockwaves along with arcs of lightning spread out from the point where the spear struck, sweeping across the ninth mountain in an instant.

The hundred or so cultivators occupying the mountain had varying expressions. Some staggered backward, others showed expressions of shock and anger, while some furrowed their brows, unperturbed.

The cultivators from the other mountain peaks also focused their gazes. Many of them had unfriendly gazes.

At the same time, Xu Qing's voice came from the sky.

"Leave."

"After three breaths, all living people on this mountain will be killed."

The domineering spear strike and cold words might intimidate the weak. However, as participants of the Grand Hunt, these cultivators from the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race instead became stimulated, their killing intent rising.

This was especially so when they saw that the person in the air was a human.

Hence, in an instant, half of the hundred cultivators from the ninth mountain rose into the air.

"It's been a long time since I've seen such an arrogant human."

"You overestimate yourself."

"I want to see how you'll kill all the cultivators on this mountain."

Just as those cultivators from the mountain rushed out, Xu Qing lifted his right hand and pressed down on these cultivators.

The sky seemed to explode like lightning and three vast inverted mountains appeared in the sky.

One mountain was crimson like blood, another was icy like frost, and the third was ablaze with flames.

Any of these mountains surpassed the forbidden mountains on the ground. Their inverted appearance was like the edge of a sword, giving off an extreme sharpness.

There was also a dense pressure that erupted from these three mountains. It was none other than the Withering Flame Demon Magic True Self Dao.

After they appeared, the three inverted mountains suppressed the cultivators who flew out with the ninth mountain as the center.

This suppression formed a seal-like effect, causing some of the weaker cultivators in the crowd to cough up blood.

However, there were still experts, and there were quite a lot of them.

More than 20 of them were able to resist the pressure by using divine abilities and spells.

However… the Withering Flame Demon Magic True Self Dao wasn't Xu Qing's main attack this time. Its effect was only to create a certain level of sealing. At the next instant, Xu Qing's eyes became pitch-black.

The anomalous substances in the forbidden zone surged suddenly, drawn by him.

On the ninth mountain, the Poison Restriction erupted. Some with bad luck directly touched it and let out a gasp of horror before screaming miserably.

Their bodies turned into blood in the blink of an eye.

If it was in the outside world, Xu Qing's Poison Restriction power could only be considered normal. However, in the forbidden zone, the anomalous substances here could augment it!

Hence, as the poison mist churned, it became into a thick fog that rapidly spread in all directions. Due to the sealing effect formed by the descent of the three mountains, this poison fog directly surged up and enveloped the surroundings.

All the cultivators who hadn't left the mountain were enveloped.

From afar, the fog looked like a huge pillar, connecting to the inverted mountains and forming a storm. Heart-rending wails rang out continuously.

As for Xu Qing's seal, it wasn't just that. He waved his right hand; immediately, countless red soul threads rushed out and surrounded the fog storm, spinning rapidly, stopping anyone who wanted to escape.

He was going to kill these cultivators.

The poison grew denser and denser. The anomalous substances in the forbidden zone were drawn over by a large amount, and the poison fog became increasingly powerful.

The heart-rending sounds became more ear-piercing and the rumbling echoed.

One could imagine that the cultivators trapped in the fog must be in extreme despair at this moment. As their bodies rapidly rotted, they erupted with all their might.

However, Xu Qing's poison belonged to the power of gods. If the conditions were sufficient, even gods would be invaded.

Even though Xu Qing couldn't display enough at this moment, with the enhancement of the anomalous substances in the forbidden zone, unless someone's cultivation had reached the Soul Accumulation realm, he could still kill them with his current strength.

Hence, this process didn't last long. In the end, the three inverted mountains collapsed and shattered into pieces, and three to five cultivators rushed out.

However, as the poison fog spread out, the vast majority of cultivators had already turned into blood.

From afar, it was raining blood on the ninth mountain. The mountain gradually became from black to purple.

As for the few who escaped, they were screaming and shouting. Their bodies rotted at a speed visible to the naked eye until they became into blood and landed in other places.

Xu Qing didn't bother with them. At that moment, he was walking in the air. Amidst the huge waves in the hearts of the cultivators on the other mountains, he walked step by step to the empty ninth mountain that was drenched in blood. He then walked to his spear and sat down cross-legged.

The wind blew over, bringing with it the smell of blood.

Xu Qing lifted his head and took a profound breath.

The familiar smell reminded him of the massacres in the past.

He observed around.

All around, there was silence.