Chapter 192: In a blink, a thousand years, breaking free!

His figure went from Splendid Yang Mountain to the Central State Imperial City, and then to the Northern Wasteland Desert.

Here, he saw a huge underground palace beneath the Sea of Death Sand!

Countless desert sandworm corpses over ten zhang in length lay haphazardly inside the underground palace, and large amounts of green viscous bloodstains had dried.

Besides the desert sandworms, Fang Xu also discovered two human corpses lying there.

That……Ghost Face Army!?

Seeing the shattered armor on the two men, Fang Xu hurried over.

The divine servant poison worms inside the two Ghost Face Army soldiers had been shattered, and not a single intact piece of their armor could be found.

Why did these two Ghost Face Army soldiers die here?

With curiosity, Fang Xu looked around, wanting to see if there were any other Ghost Face Army soldiers.

In another direction of the underground palace, he again discovered the corpses of over ten Ghost Face Army soldiers……

After searching the entire underground palace, he finally discovered over a thousand Ghost Face Army soldiers tragically dead here.

Initially, Fang Xu thought the enemy of these Ghost Face Army soldiers should be these desert sandworms.

But when he saw a giant desert sandworm corpse lying together with several Ghost Face Army soldiers, Fang Xu understood that these desert sandworms were protecting the Ghost Face Army.

There is a third party involved in this battle!

Who exactly are the desert sandworms and Ghost Face Army joining forces to face?

Why are there no corpses of the opposing side here?

Fang Xu looked around; besides the corpses of the Ghost Face Army and desert sandworms, there wasn't even a single outsider's corpse.

Judging by the surrounding scene, the battle was undoubtedly extremely fierce.

With such a fierce slaughter, the Ghost Face Army and desert sandworms joining forces surely couldn't fail to kill even a single opponent, right?

Unless the opponent cleaned up the battlefield, taking away the corpses of their own comrades.

Leaving the Sea of Death Sand, Fang Xu pressed on, crossing the vast sea, and arrived at the Central Continent.

The situation here seems even more brutal!

The entire South Border Hundred Thousand Mountains had been turned into a barren wasteland; moreover, Fang Xu discovered that the Central Continent had been split apart!

The boundless Central Continent split into three, endless sea water poured through its middle, and scattered bones lay everywhere.

Not a single survivor!

The entire Heavenly Mystery Realm, not a single survivor!

Flying tirelessly through the Heavenly Mystery Realm for a long time, Fang Xu found no living person anywhere.

Why is this so?

Who exactly are the two warring sides?

Standing on a collapsed mountain peak, Fang Xu fell into despair.

He wanted to leave this world and go back to see what was really happening.

But only now did he realize he could not find the way he had come……

Returning from the Central Continent to Maple Forest Town, Fang Xu searched everywhere for an exit, yet found not a trace.

No one knows how much time has passed; inside the small courtyard of Maple Forest Town.

Fang Xu repaired the small courtyard that had been smashed into ruins, and personally planted the sapling he had encountered while searching for an exit during that time into the courtyard.

The tender leaves of the sapling also brought some vitality to this lifeless, ruined world.

Fang Xu spent each day sitting in meditation and cultivating in the small courtyard.

After the great battle, the free-floating energy between heaven and earth in the Heavenly Mystery Realm had become pitifully scarce.

Moreover, the heavenly will that seemed to be directed against him everywhere had also disappeared.

This instead gave him an opportunity to absorb heavenly and earthly energy.

One day, after awakening from his cultivation, Fang Xu stared at the sapling before him, which had grown considerably, and suddenly a thought he had never noticed before popped into his mind!

Aperture World!

All this time, he had been solely focused on finding an exit, completely forgetting about the aperture space.

His consciousness quickly sank into the aperture space, and Fang Xu directly passed through the vortex to arrive at the world where the strange tree took root.

Passing through the faint white mist, when he cleared his vision of the scene before him, a hint of shock appeared on his face.

Behind the Stone Gate World, the once lush and verdant forest had vanished!

Those ancient trees that resembled mountain ranges were nowhere to be seen, not a single one.

All that remained were some shrubs and weeds.

As for the strange sapling, Fang Xu also found no trace of it.

Where did it go?

After searching his form in this world, there was still no sign of the sapling.

Fang Xu, feeling somewhat disappointed, returned to the aperture space.

His consciousness returned to his true body, and he continued to sit in meditation in the courtyard.

Faced with this strange situation, he had no recourse.

……

The outside world.

In the depths of the Vast Sea, on an inconspicuous fragment of continent.

Xuanji and several figures clad in black robes, exuding a terrifying aura, silently gazed into the distance.

"Xuanji, that little brat of the Yuan Shan family surely isn't dead already, is he?"

"It's been over a month; if he doesn't come again, the selection of the Divine Son will begin."

One of the black-robed elders spoke.

Xuan Ji didn't speak either, just kept staring into the distance, waiting.

His intuition told him that Fang Xu would not die easily, even if he faced an enemy of the Dharma Appearance Realm.

But so much time had passed, and Fang Xu still hadn't arrived at the trial grounds, which made Xuan Ji very worried.

"Xuan Ji, if necessary, send someone to look for him."

"If the trial fails, it fails; as long as he's alive, that's fine."

"After all, he's Yuan Shan's grandson; we can't just watch him come to harm."

Another black-robed figure also spoke.

Xuan Ji hesitated.

Once they take action to search for him, according to the rules, Fang Xu's trial this time would be considered a failure.

Losing this trial opportunity would very likely mean that Fang Xu has no chance at the Divine Son position.

"Xuan Ji, don't fall into a misunderstanding."

"There are only four months left until the Divine Son selection; even if Fang Xu passes the trial and enters the Godfall Land, he'd have only one year."

"One year is insignificant to him."

"If he were to get trapped and miss the Divine Son selection, that would be an even greater loss."

Under everyone's persuasion, Xuan Ji finally wavered.

There are many dangerous places in the Vast Sea, and he also worried that if Fang Xu met with misfortune, even if he himself had seen Fang Yuan Shan underground, he couldn't explain it.

"Then let's do as you say and send people to look for him."

"Fang Xu has a Star Disk on him; if we get close, we can use it to locate him."

Star Disks are linked to each other, but this connection only works within a hundred miles; beyond that, there is no sensation.

Several black-robed figures nodded, each leaving this continental fragment, preparing to send people to search for Fang Xu's traces.

At this moment, Fang Xu inside the coffin was already old and feeble.

He didn't know how long he had stayed in the coffin world.

One hundred years, two hundred years, one thousand years or two thousand years…

With his hair turned white, Fang Xu sat on the recliner in the courtyard, and the whole Maple Forest Town regained its former appearance.

Buildings, trees, and flowers were all restored by Fang Xu according to his memory, exactly as they were.

Coincidentally, the sapling he had originally planted was also a maple tree.

He cut down the withered ancient tree in the middle of the town and transplanted the small maple from his courtyard there.

Now, the small maple tree grows more vigorously than the thousand-year-old maple before.

On the distant Lift Blue Mountain, which had originally been collapsed and ruined, now there is also lush shade of green trees.

The Heaven Mystic World had undergone who knows how many years, and finally it regained its vibrant vitality.

Only there was no one…

Now, in the Heaven Mystic World, it seems only Fang Xu is a living person.

With his cloudy gaze lifted to the sky, Fang Xu's heart had become like a pool of dead water.

Time wore away all his fantasies.

Before, he would constantly sit in meditation, cultivating, imagining that once his strength grew great enough, he should be able to find a way out.

But in the endless ages that followed, he discovered that even after breaking through to the Elemental Martial Realm and even touching the threshold of the Dharma Appearance Realm,

everything around remained the same.

he seemed utterly unable to leave this world.

So he simply stopped cultivating; each day he just sat there blankly staring at the sky.

To keep from going mad in this world, he spent all day every day repairing the buildings of Maple Forest Town.

He restored them according to his memory.

After finishing Maple Forest Town, he would also go to the neighboring villages.

Being idle is still being idle; he felt he ought to find something to do.

Sitting quietly in the courtyard, he watched the sun set, the moon rise, and then the east showed a fish‑white hue…

Wind rose, rain fell, snow drifted…

Day by day time passed, and Fang Xu, lying on the recliner, suddenly noticed something strange.

The sun and moon cycled, the seasons changed, and the flow of time seemed perfectly normal!

Time…

Suddenly, a gleam shot from his cloudy eyes, and behind him a mysterious, ancient star chart light wheel gradually appeared!

After the light wheel appeared, the bronze‑glowing scale slowly lit up.

Then, a cluster of mysterious‑scented energy appeared in Fang Xu's hand.

Power of Time…

This was a strand of Power of Time he had unintentionally obtained when he comprehended the Azure Dragon Bloodline Inheritance.

This world had trapped him, leaving him with no way out.

Perhaps this strand of Power of Time could be an opportunity!

With hope, Fang Xu slowly sat up and began to contemplate the mysteries of this strand of Power of Time.

Spring came and went, autumn arrived, and time flowed on.

Fang Xu in the courtyard gradually comprehended and mastered the power of time.

A strange barrier permeated his surroundings.

The purple orchid beside him had not changed in nearly ten years.

That day, Fang Xu, who had been contemplating the power of time, slowly opened his eyes.

He looked up at the sky and finally showed a hint of a smile.

"I see."

Having comprehended this strand of temporal power, Fang Xu finally understood what, on the way to Immortal Island, had occupied his consciousness.

It was himself.

To be precise, it was his future self.

At this moment he finally understood why, in the Tailan Mountain Ruins, the Evolved God, though clearly dead, could still remain properly intact in the divine hall.

Saying that was his past self.

Having comprehended these things, Fang Xu's withered appearance began to reverse.

His stooped body straightened, the wrinkles on his face vanished, and his white hair turned black at a visible speed.

It was at this moment that he noticed the crack above his head.

That was the crack in the White Jade Coffin.

He had entered through it himself back then!

Turning to look around, Fang Xu felt a tinge of regret.

Having lived alone in this small courtyard for countless years, he had thought he would die of old age here.

Moreover, he had already dug a pit where he once planted vegetables, and personally prepared a coffin for himself, intending to be buried there after his death.

Now it seemed he would not need it.

After glancing at the coffin, Fang Xu immediately shot upward toward the crack above.

But just then, a terrifying force pressed down from the sky!

As soon as Fang Xu's body lifted off, that force struck him unawares!

His body plummeted directly from ten thousand meters high.

This force…

After landing, Fang Xu wiped the blood from his mouth, endured the pain of his organs shifting, and looked up at the sky.

"You're not dead?"

The sky gave no response.

Yet that familiar aura of heaven and earth let Fang Xu know who had struck.

The Will of Heaven and Earth.

He was somewhat puzzled; his current position was inside the stone coffin behind the funeral attendant.

How could the Will of Heaven and Earth of the Heavenly Profound Realm have come in here to attack him?

Moreover, why had that Will of Heaven and Earth never appeared before over countless years?

No, this is not the Will of Heaven and Earth of the Heavenly Profound Realm!

Fang Xu keenly sensed that the Will of Heaven and Earth now attacking him was not the one outside the stone coffin of the Heavenly Profound Realm.

Could it be that this world itself had given birth to its own will?

Fang Xu felt doubtful, pondering how to meet the enemy, when suddenly he sensed another crack appearing in the sky behind him.

How could there be two cracks?

He looked at the crack behind him, then at the one before him, and carefully sensed them.

It seemed the crack behind him was the one he had originally entered through.

Where did the crack in front of him lead?

Did the world's will blocking his entry into that crack signify that it hid some secret?

After long thought, Fang Xu felt the urgent priority was to get out; having stayed so long inside, let alone talk of the Divine Son Selection.

The entire Heavenly Profound Realm now was unknown what it had become.

After all, having not paid attention to time, Fang Xu estimated he had dwelled in the small courtyard for at least a thousand years.

He now urgently wanted to go out and see.

As for where the other crack led, he currently had little interest.

Turning, he flew toward the other crack, this time Fang Xu exercised extra caution, laying defenses around himself.

After his body rose to midair and he felt no appearance of the Will of Heaven and Earth, he finally succeeded in flying out of the White Jade Coffin's world.

In the instant he passed through that unknown barrier, Fang Xu sensed a strange change.

This change concerned the power of time.

Having comprehended temporal power within the White Jade Coffin's world, his perception of time's flow was now especially keen.

Thus, as his body pierced the barrier in that instant, a smile appeared on Fang Xu's face.

The time flow inside the coffin's world and outside were clearly different.

To be exact, they differed enormously!

He could clearly feel that the time flow outside was tens of thousands of times faster than inside!

He seemed to have spent over a thousand years inside the coffin's world, but outside less than a year had passed.

With this discovery he was already quite happy.

Although he might have missed the trial and the Divine Son Selection, at least the outside world had not yet reached the point of things changed and people gone.

His friends and relatives were still there.

After taking a deep look at the White Jade Coffin before him, Fang Xu departed directly through the crack above.

Jade Outer Coffin, Bronze Outer Coffin, Stone Outer Coffin… passing through layer after layer of outer coffins, Fang Xu finally arrived outside the Stone Coffin.

At this time, the funeral bearer was still walking aimlessly, and Fang Xu didn't know where he had been taken.

Moreover, at this time the funeral bearer either wasn't interested in him or simply hadn't noticed, allowing Fang Xu to stand on the coffin without eliciting any reaction.

Seeing this, Fang Xu immediately deepened his Flowing Light, jumped down from the funeral bearer, and then fled toward the distance.

In the Vast Sea, Xuanji and the others had already left this place.

Because less than a month remained until the Divine Son's selection, they had already concluded that Fang Xu would miss this selection.

Fang Xu himself was wandering in the Vast Sea, fortunately Xuanji had previously told him some salient landmarks of the Vast Sea.

Based on these, Fang Xu finally found the exit and successfully escaped from the Vast Sea.

Leaving the Vast Sea, looking at everything around him, Fang Xu felt a sense of familiarity.

Because in the coffin world, he had, over a thousand years, nearly traversed the entire Heavenly Mystic Realm.

"I need to hurry to the Northern Region; the Divine Son's selection is about to begin."

After determining his direction, Fang Xu immediately headed toward the Northern Region. (End of chapter)