Outside Of Time

Chapter 1613: I Am Aurora
Editor: Atlas Studios

Xu Qing smiled.

Despite the many questions he had, despite the multitude of doubts lingering in his heart.

For example, why had Grandmaster Bai appeared in the Fifth Star Ring?

What kind of mystery surrounded Grandmaster Bai’s death?

How did he become the medicine jar in Immortal Master Aurora’s thought world?

Also… why, in the world created upon the death of the Aurora Immortal Lord, did the Grandmaster Bai conjured by this illusion possess memories of Wanggu and an independent will?

There was no answer to all of this.

But it wasn’t important anymore.

What mattered most was… what the elderly figure in Xu Qing’s life had once said: “As long as we don’t die, we will meet again.”

Now, they met again in this realm.

Hence, Xu Qing was very happy.

It had been a long time since he was so happy. Unknowingly, this joy seemed to have been magnified by a lot…

Hence, he instinctively stretched his body and laughed as he ‘looked’ in all directions.

Following that, he discovered that the concept of left and right was allowed here.

This allowed Xu Qing to sense his surroundings in his current low-level state.

It was just that… his ‘vision’ was distorted and still chaotic.

This was because in this world, although there were concepts of right and left, everything was still flat.

Viewing flatness from within flatness, all that could be seen was vast emptiness.

The concept of height had not yet emerged.

Despite that, an uncontrollable surge of happiness grew stronger and stronger, filling all of Xu Qing’s awareness until it seemed like it would become the only sensation.

“This state isn’t right…”

As the overwhelming happiness spread throughout his body, Xu Qing sensed something was wrong. He tried to suppress this emotion, but it seemed that in this strange world, such an action was not permitted.

Hence, he could only immerse himself in joy while trying his best to control himself. In the end… Xu Qing chose to activate the Space-Time Ordinance.

He wanted to see the appearance of this world clearly.

Only then could he gain a comprehensive understanding and find a way to leave.

At the next instant, the eighth extremity activated.

This newfound clarity elevated his consciousness to a higher realm, causing his thoughts to ascend.

This world was truly reflected in Xu Qing’s thoughts.

It became extremely clear.

…

This was a white world.

It existed in the mirror.

All the black dots that entered the mirror rapidly grew in the world of the mirror.

They were no longer a dot, no longer forming a line, but returning to an individual entity. Moreover… they had a body, four limbs, and a head…

They became shadows.

These shadows were not solely black.

In Xu Qing’s field of vision, the world before him, though still predominantly white, was filled with a myriad of colors.

The shadows, painted in every hue imaginable, wove together to create a vibrant and brilliant world.

In this world, every shadow was brimming with joy. There seemed to be no troubles, no sorrows—only carefree freedom, as they moved about, uninhibited and full of life.

Some were singing, some were jubilant, some were sleeping, and some were running.

However, there was no orange shadow.

However, no shadow seemed to care about this. They were all immersed in their own joy.

Other than that, there were no mountains, rivers, or anything else in this world…

There were only countless shadows of various colors in all directions.

Xu Qing fell into deep thought as he looked at all of this. He checked his body and saw that his color was blue.

“The first layer realm is a line formed by countless black dots. There’s no concept of left, right, up, and down.”

“In this second layer realm, there are left and right as if a portion of the restrictions have been undone but… there’s still no concept of up and down.”

“Because this is the world in the mirror, and the mirror itself… is flat.”

“It’s like a painting.”

“I’m in the painting.”

“So, from the perspective of the me inside the painting, everything I see in all directions is desolate and vast. But for those outside the painting, this place is an entire world.”

“The reason why there is only joy here is because it is the theme of this painting, so all living beings in the painting can’t be unhappy.”

“Then… what’s the way to leave this place?”

Xu Qing fell silent.

After a long time, he made a judgment.

He dispersed his Space-Time Ordinance to a certain extent and lowered his thoughts, becoming a blue shadow again. In this simple world, he was immersed in joy.

He was waiting for the orange color to appear.

Time flowed by and it was unknown how much time had passed. When the joy grew increasingly intense and the number of shadows in the entire world seemed to have reached a certain critical point…

Xu Qing saw orange.

“The great demon king is here.”

At this moment, a sharp voice rumbled through the entire world. It was deafening and earth-shattering, spreading to all areas and falling into the perception of every shadow.

In an instant, it was as though the theme of this painting had been tampered with, turning from joy to fear.

Orange descended.

It continued to spread and get closer.

The emotions in Xu Qing’s heart were also reversed, and endless fear rose. He didn’t hesitate to activate the Space-Time Ordinance again, allowing him to have the ability to ‘see’ it.

He saw… in this white world filled with all kinds of shadows, a huge figure appeared. This figure wore an orange robe and a sinister mask on its face. His entire body emitted endless evil.

He held a bucket in one hand and a brush in the other.

The bucket was orange in color and contained orange paint, but the brush was colorless.

He rapidly arrived and pounced at the other shadows.

His speed was so fast that the shadows in this world couldn’t dodge or resist. The instant he caught them, the demon king waved the brush and took away the colors of the shadows.

It caused those shadows to lose their color and become blank.

After that, they fused with this world, turning into countless dots that dissipated.

It was as though… they had returned to the first level!

From the understanding of this world, he was indeed a great demon king.

His arrival took away the color and life, returning everything to square one.

However, not all shadows would be like this.

There were a few shadows that seemed to possess some characteristics, so the devil king didn’t take away their colors. Instead, he dipped his brush into the orange bucket and smeared the shadows…

He painted the shadows orange.

These orange shadows then landed in the bucket.

Xu Qing was one of them.

His Space-Time Ordinance was instantly suppressed the moment he was smeared!

There was no way to resist, no way to struggle, but he was allowed to exist.

This scene caused Xu Qing’s heart to tremble intensely.

And in the bucket was a city.

An orange-colored city.

There were also shadows inside. They were all orange like Xu Qing.

The moment he landed in the city, Xu Qing seemed to have become a resident of this city. At the same time, he felt drowsy.

This feeling exceeded his Ordinance, causing him, who had basically maintained the Space-Time Ordinance all the time, to find it difficult to resist the drowsiness.

This was because… in this orange-colored city, all the shadows who were sent here were only allowed to do one thing.

That was to sleep and create dreams.

The various dreams were like fairy tales that eventually gathered together to form a complete fairytale world.

Xu Qing was no exception.

In this orange-colored city, he had no choice but to close his eyes and immerse himself in the dream.

One dream after another was formed in his mind and then greedily absorbed.

It became a cycle with no end.

He couldn’t wake up.

Only occasionally in his dreams would Xu Qing try his best to think about the reason for all of this.

Gradually, he imagined himself as the Aurora Immortal Lord. From the perspective of the Aurora Immortal Lord, he experienced what the world formed by the other party’s thoughts upon his death wanted to express.

Hence, Xu Qing had a guess.

There was a high chance that this orange city was a metaphor for the Immortal Capital.

Then who was the great demon king referring to…

It should be referring to someone.

Just like that, time passed.

It was unknown how much time had passed or which year it was. In Xu Qing’s dream that had no beginning or end, a little white person appeared.

This little figure was outlined by simple lines. It had a disproportionately large head, taking up half of its body, and on its forehead were written four characters.

Besides that, its entire form appeared incredibly simple, carrying a bundle of multicolored dyes on its back. Cautiously and sneakily, it entered Xu Qing’s dream.

It said nothing, but right in front of Xu Qing, it snapped its fingers.

Snap!

This sound was like thunder, landing in Xu Qing’s mind and rumbling endlessly.

This caused Xu Qing’s consciousness to suddenly surge and he regained consciousness for a short time.

Seeing Xu Qing wake up, the little figure grinned, pointed at the characters on its face, then pointed toward the distance, and finally gestured toward the multicolored dyes on its back. It looked at Xu Qing with anticipation.

Xu Qing remained silent, but in this brief moment of clarity, he quickly organized the scattered thoughts from his dream and tried to connect them with the figure’s expressions and actions.

An answer was reflected in his understanding.

“There’s a high chance that this little person is really the last wisp of consciousness of the Aurora Immortal Lord before he died.”

Xu Qing glanced at the little person and the four characters on its head.

‘I am Aurora1.’

Xu Qing didn’t know what to say. The words on the little figure’s face ultimately left him feeling a bit unsettled.

“Maybe it’s because I have the Space-Time Ordinance that it appeared. Or maybe it will appear in front of every outsider who enters the second layer.”

“However, no matter what, the method to leave this second realm created by Aurora Immortal Lord has been given.”

“It lies in smearing myself with the multicolored dyes, choosing a path different from the colors here, as if… rebelling.”

As though he could see through Xu Qing’s thoughts, the anticipation on the little guy’s face became even more intense.

Xu Qing shook his head secretly.

“If this person is really the Aurora Immortal Lord, then… his resentment for Venerable Immortal has reached the extreme. So much so that the method of leaving this world he created has to be the same as his choice back then…”

“However, from the looks of it, there’s indeed no other way.”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and no longer hesitated. He raised his right hand and grabbed forward, immediately grabbing the dyes on the little person’s back and smearing them on his body.

At the next instant, his entire body trembled. The color of his body instantly changed from orange to multicolored.

The entire city also rumbled at this moment, as though the earth was quaking and the mountains were shaking. A deep roar also rang out from the void, causing the world to lose color.

Immediately after, the endless orange color transformed into a large hand that descended from the sky, heading straight for Xu Qing!

“The great demon king is here. Son, run quickly.”

The little guy was excited and spoke for the first time with its sharp voice.

As it spoke, it raised its hand and drew a circle in front of it, quickly entering it.

Xu Qing immediately entered as well.

This circle also disappeared instantly.

Almost at the instant they left, the large orange hand arrived. It grabbed the place Xu Qing was at earlier, but missed.

A furious roar rang out.

All the sleeping orange figures in the entire city were awakened.

At the next moment, they soared into the sky one after another and flew out of the orange buckets, appearing outside and spreading in all directions.

Pursuit!

They wanted to dye this world orange.