This young woman that the Captain had called ‘mysterious,’ was currently breathing heavily as she looked at Xu Qing as if he were some sort of freak. The reality was that she had planned from the beginning to sell out ‘Chen Daqing’ and make him the scapegoat. She had been very careful to keep her own identity secret, so there was no way her accomplice could betray her or seek revenge later.

But right now, her heart was racing like mad. She was familiar with the Xeno-Immortal School. In fact, the truth was that she knew about all the schools in the Imperial University. That was partly because of her status as a student, and also because of her background. She knew about the schools in the university, and she was also more familiar with the superpower sects than most other people. And yet, it was that very understanding which left her deeply shaken right now.

Hundreds of thousands of soul threads…? Neither Li Xuanfeng nor Chen Daoze were able to do that! Supposedly, Li Xuanfeng reached a total of about 50,000 soul threads, and though Chen Daoze had slightly more, it couldn’t have been more than 70,000.

What if… the two of them didn’t actually die? If they were still alive, maybe one of them could pull this off….

But that’s impossible. Li Xuanfeng lived 8,000 years ago. Only Smoldering Gods with heavenly daos and natural laws might be able to live that long. Wait, could it be possible… that this person is Chen Daoze? Word on the street is that Chen Daoze turned into a godly entity and couldn’t transform back. Later, he passed away into meditation and became a specimen for study. But is that story true?

The woman was deeply shocked by what she had seen today. It subverted her understanding in a major way. Hundreds of thousands of souls threads really were frightening. Because of her shock, the expression on her average-looking face didn’t match her tone of voice. Her face seemed stiff and rigid, which seemed to provide further proof that she was wearing a mask to disguise herself. She was currently keeping a close eye on Xu Qing in the hopes of getting some more clues to lend weight to her speculations.

Xu Qing’s expression remained unchanging as he looked at the young woman.

He didn’t care that she was surprised. They were strangers who had met by chance, like patches of drifting duckweed. As such, he didn’t owe her any sort of explanation. In fact, he finally looked away from her and back at the branch sect off in the distance. He sent some divine sense out to lock onto the young woman; if she tried to do something underhanded, he would be ready.

At the same time, he began to analyze what he had accomplished using Xeno-Immortal School techniques. It was his first time using the techniques during a fight. The soul-weaving methods didn’t necessarily seem to make him a lot stronger, but they did a great job of transforming his aura.

And it was very easy to use it to summon his first-level god state. Most importantly, he could break through barriers if he had enough soul threads.

The upper limit was previously based on the state itself. The first-level god state would normally require millions of ordinary soul threads. After all, the Xeno-Immortal School’s soul threads are imitations of godsource. In contrast, my soul threads are made from godsource, so for me, 200,000 is enough.

But my second-level god state is far stronger than the first level. And that makes things more complicated. Based on what I can tell, I would probably need 500,000 soul threads to do the weaving. That’s why I usually have to use Crimson Mother’s flesh to reach the second-level god state.

Xu Qing was currently using the Xeno-Immortal School techniques and his own god states to comprehend new things, and deepen his current understanding.

I don’t have nearly enough soul threads…. After I get back tonight, I’m going to try absorbing some of Crimson Mother’s flesh and see if I can combine it with the Xeno-Immortal techniques to make more soul threads!

Meanwhile, the young woman was coming to the conclusion that Xu Qing was a lot more enigmatic than she’d realized. He was currently focused on his thoughts, and wasn’t saying a thing, which only added to the effect. That just made Xu Qing seem more mysterious to her.

Time passed quietly.

About an hour later, as the pre-dawn sky turned even darker, a frown slowly appeared on Xu Qing’s face as he looked at the branch sect. Based on what he knew about the Captain, he usually didn’t like delays. Most of the time, he acted quickly and decisively. But things were really taking a long time today.

Seeing that dawn was coming, the woman hesitated, then said, “I think something might have happened to your friend….”

But even as she said that, the dazzling mountain flared, and a figure shot out.

It was none other than the Captain. He was in bad shape, covered with huge wounds that gushed large amounts of blood. That said, he looked excited.

He gave Xu Qing a look that Xu Qing immediately understood. Without any hesitation, Xu Qing waved his hand, causing 310,000 soul threads to surge out into the form of the godly earthchild. He held nothing back.

The huge beetle emanated a terrifying pressure, along with godly fluctuations on the outside and cultivator power on the inside. With a loud roar, it sent immense pressure toward the mountain behind the Captain.

A moment later, intense rumbling sounds emanated from the dazzling mountain. Dozens of people shot out, their expressions full of rage and killing intent. However, the moment they appeared, Xu Qing’s earthchild of soul threads descended and slammed into them. A huge boom echoed out.

Even more shocking, Xu Qing sent out another thought, and the soul threads assumed a different shape. This was another godly entity, specifically, a shadefiend.

Shadefiends were a type of godly entity native to the western parts of the Revered Ancient mainland. They resembled spiders, except they had long, thin bodies similar to centipedes. To some extent, they were like a combination between a spider and a centipede. As soon as the shadefiend appeared, it opened its mouth and spat out numerous streams of black silk, which turned into a web that settled down on the dazzling mountain. As a result, the pursuers were blocked.

With that accomplished, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate to smash a teleportation jade slip, causing him to disappear. With the time Xu Qing had bought, the Captain made his escape. He also crushed a teleportation jade slip and vanished.

There weren’t any words spoken between the two of them. All it took was a single shared glance….

The young woman hadn’t planned things out, but she also reacted quickly, and faded away into invisibility. But then, only a moment later, blinding blue light erupted from her, making her plainly visible in the night.

Her expression flickered. There was no need for her to analyze the situation. She immediately came to the conclusion that it was the handiwork of either Chen Daqing or Ergou, with Chen Daqing being the most likely suspect.

“Dammit!” she blurted. She tried to go invisible again, but the blue light kept shining brightly. Starting to get nervous, she tapped into a secret magic, spitting out some blood that finally managed to suppress the light.

Meanwhile, the dazzling mountain flared with light as a powerful expert inside smashed through the sealing barriers, causing the soul threads to dissipate.

A white-haired old man emerged. He wore a robe depicting a starry sky. His face was ashen with fury. Looking at the spot where the woman and the blue light had disappeared, he spoke in a voice that thrummed with killing intent.

“Check the whole area. Find any and all clues. That’s especially true of that area with the blue light. Also, report the matter to headquarters. We have to find the thieves!”

The group of roughly a dozen disciples looked at each other awkwardly, then voiced their assent and started searching the area. The majority of them focused on the area where the young woman had disappeared.

The old man only seemed to be getting more angry. Looking back at the mountain, he noted the lingering traces of the magical techniques that had been used, and gradually started to look more and more suspicious. He was getting the vague sensation that he had seen traces of a magical technique like this before. Waving his hand, he pulled some of them toward him, causing a handful of Xu Qing’s soul threads to fly into his hand. After looking at them closely, his expression became one of incredulity. Now he knew where that familiar sensation came from.

“Xeno-Immortal School soul threads?” he murmured.

The Xeno-Immortal School had once been the number one school in the Imperial University. It was now in decline, but was still very well-known. What was more, from ancient times until now, many people had studied Xeno-Immortal techniques.

As a result, most top experts in the imperial capital were familiar with them. Though nobody special had come out of the Xeno-Immortal School in years, and few people did more than dabble in their techniques. That was why it took some time for the old man to realize what he was looking at. Now that he was thinking about the Xeno-Immortal School, the old man thought back to the earthchild and the shadefiend, as well as the godly entity fluctuations that they had released. All of a sudden, his heart started pounding.

Someone achieved major success in the Xeno-Immortal School!

He turned to look off into the distance, then took out a jade slip and sent a message to his headquarters, informing them about the involvement of the Xeno-Immortal School. When the response message came in, his confusion built. Then he thought back to the two godly entities he had seen, and then the information in the response, and his mind started spinning.

50,000 soul threads is the threshold of major success. 100,000 soul threads is the peak of major success…. But based on the fluctuations, the godly entities that appeared here weren’t limited to 100,000 soul threads. They were made of hundreds of thousands! This….

The old man burst into motion to head toward his sect headquarters.

***

The sun rose, and the darkness of night slowly disappeared from the sky.

Back at Ningyan’s mansion, Xu Qing was back, but the Captain was nowhere to be seen.

Xu Qing was used to that sort of thing, so it didn’t surprise him. The Captain had definitely teleported safely away.

As for what the Captain had stolen, Xu Qing wasn’t particularly curious. Right now, he was mainly focused on the Xeno-Immortal School techniques.

This was the first time I used the Xeno-Immortal School arts in combat, so it doesn’t seem likely I blew my cover. Right now, the most important thing to do is see if absorbing more of Crimson Mother’s flesh can make more soul threads.

Xu Qing went into his private chamber, sealed the area to conceal his aura, then took off the ancient sun and had it hover overhead to lock down the area further. At that point, he sat down cross-legged and took out a piece of Crimson Mother’s flesh. Fluctuations of godliness immediately rolled out.

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing started working.

Time passed.

It was dawn outside, and it was still snowing. The imperial capital looked very calm and quiet. However, as the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect continued with its investigation, word of the event started to spread.

And that meant that a big tempest was about to strike the Imperial University.