For the God-Merging School, having Seventh Prince publicly join was definitely like adding flowers to the brocade. The students of the school felt especially proud. Imperial princes were very special, so having one as a public member was like free advertising. The God-Merging School, which was already the most popular school of thought in the Imperial University, got even more applicants. After all, the fact that an imperial prince was willing to join that school was like a signal to everyone else.

Of course, Seventh Prince immediately became like a spokesperson for the God-Merging School, someone that everyone would be paying attention to.

That was exactly what Seventh Prince wanted. After King Heaventide was killed and Seventh Prince returned to the imperial capital like a bedraggled stray dog, he had lost a lot of his former glory. He had been left with no choice but to stay out of sight and avoid Xu Qing. However, the venom in his heart only grew more and more intense as time passed. freewebnoveℓ.com

For this entire time, he had been waiting for his fifth brother to return. He and Fifth Prince had the same mother, and as a result, they were a lot closer to each other than most imperial princes were to the others.

What was more, Fifth Prince had battle prowess that was second only to Grand Prince. He was brave, a good fighter, and was favored by the emperor. He was the one who was apprenticed to the number one heavenly king, whom he had joined on a military campaign on the border of Firemoon territory. He rarely made the trip back to the capital.

Seventh Prince had recently received a secret intelligence report indicating that his fifth brother would be back soon. It was an exciting development. Therefore, Seventh Prince had followed along with Fifth Prince’s arrangement for him. He had joined the God-Merging School, and even started cultivating different techniques that aligned with the dao of god-merging.

The God-Merging School was quick to take advantage of the situation. They provided a lot of help to Seventh Prince, to the point where the schoolmaster himself assisted him in changing his dao and replacing his flesh and blood.

In the month that passed after Seventh Prince joined up, he advanced by leaps and bounds. He had already replaced about thirty percent of himself with godly flesh, pushing him from Spirit Trove into the first stage of Void Returning. On the day he achieved the breakthrough, all eyes were on him. The students in the Imperial University who hadn’t joined the God-Merging School all looked on with excitement.

Virtually overnight, the God-Merging School’s position in the university became set in stone. Their numbers swelled, and their reputation as the number one school of thought spread into the outside world, such that lots of cultivators in the capital started getting interested in the dao of god-merging. The Xeno-Immortal School had only experienced things like that back when they were at their height of popularity. A storm of ‘god-merging’ was building in humankind.

Thanks to events in the God-Merging School, things in the Xeno-Immortal School started to quiet down significantly.

Of the various students who had joined recently, five had suddenly stopped showing up. Only the mysterious young woman and the four people who had joined after her continued to appear daily. Unfortunately, there was no momentum keeping things going. The three conclave students who had joined before Xu Qing had originally believed everything the schoolmaster said. But gradually, that belief started to devolve into suspicion. What they were mostly interested in was publishing the Xeno-Immortal Enquirer, and they dragged Xu Qing along with them as they did.

The schoolmaster… spent all day sighing. He was still determined to somehow restore the glory of the school, but seeing how quiet things were getting, it was hard to say how long he would hold on to his convictions.

Unless something dramatic happened, the Xeno-Immortal School was destined to return to its previous state. Unexpectedly, just such a thing happened, and… the fuse was the Xeno-Immortal Enquirer.

The goal of the tabloid as set by the three students wasn’t to be practical and realistic. They wanted to have sensational news, funny anecdotes, and the like. Appealing to human nature was the best way to get sales. Normally speaking, because the Xeno-Immortal School ranked so low among the different schools of thought, they were never worried about repercussions of publishing sensational stories. As the saying went, those who have nothing to lose do not fear those in power.1

There had been instances before in which people came in person to complain. But the Xeno-Immortal School was as stubborn and difficult to deal with as a rock stuck in a latrine. In the end, such complainers would storm off without accomplishing anything. After all, the Xeno-Immortal School was known to be poor and culturally void, so there was little that could be done about them. 2

In fact, the bigger the scene you created, the more you would amuse the staff of the Xeno-Immortal School. And then, the next day, there would likely be even more sensational stories about you making the rounds. Eventually, most people stopped paying attention to such things.

But after a true master appeared in the Xeno-Immortal School, they couldn’t be described as ‘having nothing to lose.’ Quite the opposite; they now had a lot of power. Therefore… after a few sensational reports were published about the God-Merging School, that school finally came to make a scene.

The person who led the charge was no ordinary member. It was a very famous student who was second only to the chief student, and along with him came a group of several hundred ordinary students. As they walked through the streets, they garnered a lot of attention. They looked very angry, and as soon as they stepped into the Xeno-Immortal School’s tower, the atmosphere became very tense. The students in the Xeno-Immortal School all stopped what they were doing and looked at the angry students from the God-Merging School.

“You’ve gone too far this time, Xeno-Immortal School!”

“You might have been a famous school of thought in the past, but now you’ve fallen into disgrace. How could you be so shameless? You make up vulgar stories for a laugh, just to sell your little tabloid!”

“And that’s especially true of your late night edition!”

“We demand an explanation from the Xeno-Immortal School immediately!”

These students were yelling angrily, and they had bloodshot eyes.

In response to their words, the students who had recently joined the Xeno-Immortal School turned to look at Xu Qing and the other disciples in charge of the tabloid.

Xu Qing just stood there calmly. In contrast, the other three conclave students edged backward looking somewhat guilty.

The late night edition of the Xeno-Immortal Enquirer was relatively new. A month ago when the school was spiking in popularity, they added it as a way to bring in some more income. The contents were even more outrageous and explicit than the normal version. And the reaction to its publication had been very positive….

The schoolmaster looked very irritated as he glared at Xu Qing and the other three students. Then he turned to look at the angry crowd of students from the God-Merging School. He snorted coldly.

“Pipe down!”

The students from the God-Merging School bowed their heads. After all, according to the rules, the position of schoolmaster was to be respected. However, one student who had been the subject of the sensational stories wasn’t going to keep his mouth shut.

“For years now, the Xeno-Immortal School has been publishing all kinds of ridiculous stories about the God-Merging School. In fact, any popular school of thought or student in the Imperial University eventually gets targeted by your rumor-mongering! fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

“Shameless behavior like that is going to harm the dignity of the Xeno-Immortal School. In fact, once that enigmatic master hears about this, he’ll probably call your school of thought filthy and despicable! Or maybe the reason that enigmatic master hasn’t shown his face is because of your little tabloid. If I were that Senior, and I saw the Xeno-Immortal School acting like this, I would be too humiliated to be associated with you!

“The Xeno-Immortal School hasn’t just lost its former glory. It’s also lost any respect it has from the students in the Imperial University. It’s become the scum of the university! A complete disgrace!

“Therefore, we hereby demand that the Xeno-Immortal School make amends!”

The student spoke in a very loud voice. Once he was finished, the other students behind him started saying similar things. Already, a crowd was gathering outside the tower.

The members of the Xeno-Immortal School were wrapped up in different thoughts. Based on what Xu Qing was seeing, he got the feeling there was more to this situation than met the eye. It seemed like someone was using this as an opportunity to feel out the Xeno-Immortal School, and possibly crush them into the dust in their moment of declining fame.

The young woman was secretly getting excited. This seemed like a perfect situation to get new information, and she was keeping her eyes on the schoolmaster.

The schoolmaster’s eyes narrowed. Naturally, he had also picked up on what was going on. Leaning forward slightly, he looked at the students from the God-Merging School.

“What do you mean by ‘make amends’?”

The student looked back at the schoolmaster and slowly said, “Close the Xeno-Immortal School and carry out a complete investigation into the matter!”

“Preposterous!” the schoolmaster said with a cold laugh. Standing, he looked at the God-Merging students, and then outside. “You people obviously came here hoping to get information about our Senior member. You could have just asked directly, instead of coming up with flimsy excuses.

“The enigmatic master from our Xeno-Immortal School hasn’t made an appearance because he’s in secluded meditation, trying to break through to the level of 1,000,000 soul threads!

“Before going into seclusion, the venerable Senior told me that he would come out within three months. On that day, 1,000,000 soul threads would swirl in the dome of heaven over the imperial capital. It would form a Xeno-Immortal sign, causing millions of beams of dawn light to illuminate the Xeno-Immortal School and return it to glory! As of this point, there are only two months left. If you want to confirm whether I’m speaking the truth or not, come back in two months to see with your own eyes.

“But as for now, you can kindly leave the Xeno-Immortal School!”

The schoolmaster’s voice thrummed with determination and pride. Then he flicked his sleeve, causing the Xeno-Immortal School’s tower to rumble. A force of expulsion quickly locked onto all of the students from the God-Merging School and forced them out. Having accomplished that, the schoolmaster tilted his chin arrogantly and sat back down. Although he looked calm, inside he was feeling extremely helpless. He had the opportunity to bring the Xeno-Immortal School back to the heights of prominence, but until that Senior member showed up, there wasn’t much he could do.

In the end, he had to grit his teeth and resort to bragging to try to keep morale up. As far as the consequences for the bragging, he couldn’t worry about that now. The situation in the Xeno-Immortal School couldn’t be changed, and if it ended up being destroyed, then so be it.

Meanwhile, his words provoked quite a reaction from the students in the Xeno-Immortal School. The young woman’s eyes glittered. As for the God-Merging School students who had been ejected from the tower, their eyes glittered brightly. It was the same with the students who had gathered as bystanders.

Xu Qing glanced at the schoolmaster, then checked the 1,000,000 soul threads in his sea of consciousness…. From what he could tell, the schoolmaster still had no idea who he actually was. That said, his words had been very convincing.

In the end, the students from the God-Merging School exchanged glances and left. Their attempt at probing for information had yielded some results.

The enigmatic master from the Xeno-Immortal School would reveal his face in two months. The news spread rapidly through the Imperial University, ensuring that the short-lived enthusiasm for the Xeno-Immortal School once again began to rise.

Around evening, when Xu Qing was leaving, he bowed to the schoolmaster. That was when he noticed the anxiety in the schoolmaster’s eyes. And the way the schoolmaster shooed him away seemed to confirm that the man had no idea of Xu Qing’s true identity.

I suppose… I can do some experiments with my soul seeds now.

Seven days later, when the other conclave students were getting ready to leave, an anonymous courier student arrived with a sealed bag that he presented to the schoolmaster.

The schoolmaster didn’t ask any questions about it. In fact, it almost seemed like he had been waiting for this. Without the slightest hesitation, he opened the bag. Inside was a jade slip and a bottle with a violet snowflake inside.

When the schoolmaster saw those two things, he inhaled sharply. He wasn’t sure what the snowflake was, but he could sense the fluctuations of the Xeno-Immortal School. Excitedly picking up the jade slip, he scanned the contents. Sometime later, his expression flickered as he put the jade slip down and looked at the bottle. Then… determination filled his eyes. He crushed the bottle, and the violet snowflake floated into his palm, where it sank into his flesh.

Soul threads began to proliferate explosively inside of him.

1. The original Chinese idiom here is kind of cool, but it’s a bit too clunky to render directly, and without explanation, it wouldn’t really make sense. The direct translation is those with bare feet are not afraid of those who wear shoes. ☜

2. My dictionaries are telling me that this idiom poor and culturally void was invented by Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi to characterize China as a nation that was economically poor and culturally blank, thus ripe for change. That said, I’m not sure Chairman Mao actually created the idiom or just popularized it. In any case, this has nothing to do with the story, I just thought it was interesting. ☜