The Xeno-Immortal School’s white tower was completely silent. However, after only a moment passed, the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster laughed coldly from the top level.

“What a disgrace for the schoolmaster of the God-Merging School to utter such ridiculous nonsense!” The Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster appeared, walking slowly down into the main hall. Looking coldly at the God-Merging schoolmaster, he said, “You were reading ancient records? Confirming historical truths? You claim that the Xeno-Immortal School never produced dao seeds before? In that case, take a look at this and tell me what it is?”

The Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster pointed toward the top level of the tower. Instantly, terrifying soul thread fluctuations spread out, surpassing anything before. It seemed like the level of about 300,000.

As the fluctuations rolled out, a shimmering field of light appeared, upon which was visible an enormous figure. Shockingly, it was a godly earthchild.

However, it was different from the one the schoolmaster had weaved before. This earthchild seemed far more ancient, with a profound aura that surpassed any other earthchild. It seemed like Void Returning, and not ordinary Void Returning. The fluctuations were completely terrifying. What was more, within the earthchild was a green snowflake, glittering brightly as it connected to all the soul threads. It was a dao seed.

The God-Merging schoolmaster looked at it silently. All the other cultivators from the God-Merging School, including Seventh Prince, had slight frowns on their faces.

Meanwhile, the Xeno-Immortal students were astonished. It only took a moment for someone to guess where this earthchild came from, and it was mind-blowing to say the least.

“That is Patriarch Chen Daoze of our Xeno-Immortal School!” the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster said, his voice echoing throughout the tower. “Most people on the outside believed that the patriarch achieved a major level of success by weaving an earthchild, only to die afterward of nirvanic extermination. They believed that he became a desiccated corpse that we kept stored here in the Xeno-Immortal School. But do you really think that our patriarch could die so easily?

“The reality is that Patriarch Chen Daoze chose to enter a deep state of sleep to study his dao seed! The patriarch always had a dao seed inside of him. So where exactly did you get information claiming we never had dao seeds before?

“Furthermore, since our patriarch himself fused with a dao seed, then who is the ‘leader’ you mentioned whose mere thought could lead to disaster? Please, tell me who the ‘leader’ of our patriarch is?” The Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster flicked his sleeve proudly and turned to his own students. “Look closely at the sleeping patriarch and tell me, are you looking at an illusory projection? You should be able to tell. And is the dao seed inside of him the same as the one inside all of you?”

The Xeno-Immortal students were shaken to the core. They had all noticed the green snowflake inside the patriarch’s head, and the fact that it looked exactly like their own snowflakes. As the saying goes, facts speak louder than words, and what was more, they could topple all sorts of rumors.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. Now he realized where the strange feeling from before came from. It was actually a bit of a surprise to him to find out that Chen Daoze wasn’t actually dead.

Chen Daoze… must have a far stronger soul than the schoolmaster. Probably by many times over. Sadly, the blessing of the green snowflake would be very limited for him. If he had a violet snowflake, then he should definitely be able to break past the 500,000 soul thread level.

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment.

The God-Merging schoolmaster had no way to rebut the words of the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster. Everyone from the God-Merging School was currently just standing there with serious looks on their faces. Seeing that, the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster laughed coldly. frёeωebɳovel.com

“When I mentioned someone being in seclusion, I was talking about our patriarch! In a month, he’s going to be coming out of seclusion. If you have suspicions, just wait a month. If you dare, we can have a dao debate then!”

His words immediately caused a stir, not just in the students in the tower, but in the other schools of thought that were paying attention to the situation.

In the Imperial University, dao debates were the highest form of intellectual interchange. In fact, they were the foundation of the university. Schools of thought were actually encouraged to have dao debates as a way to improve their level of persuasion and influence, and also to attract new recruits. In the early days of the Imperial University, dao debates happened all the time. There were even occasions in which dao debate between major schools of thought attracted the attention of the imperial clan. There were even times when the emperor himself attended. Over the years that had passed, and especially since the God-Merging School became popular, dao debates became less frequent. But now, the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster had openly proposed a dao debate. 1

His words came across like a general drawing his sword. The Xeno-Immortal students immediately got very excited. In contrast, the people from the God-Merging School stood there grimly.

A moment passed, whereupon the God-Merging schoolmaster looked away from the screen of light and directly at the Xeno-Immortal schoolmaster.

“That’s fine,” he said coolly. “In a month, when your patriarch comes out of seclusion, a dao debate will be held here in the Imperial University!”

The God-Merging schoolmaster turned and walked off. The high-level members of his school looked around grimly and then followed him.

The atmosphere in the Xeno-Immortal School was exuberant. Looking around proudly, the schoolmaster waved his hand to indicate that everyone should go back to what they were doing. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and went back upstairs.

Xu Qing looked long and hard at the departing cultivators from the God-Merging school, especially Seventh Prince and the schoolmaster. Then he looked up toward the top part of the Xeno-Immortal School tower.

Should I give out another soul seed?

He looked at the 99 violet snowflakes he had. After some thought, he left.

Later that night, a bag that looked exactly like the previous bag was delivered to the Xeno-Immortal School. The schoolmaster sensed it being delivered, but didn’t immediately rush out to get it. After waiting a short time, he went downstairs. He wasn’t concerned with who delivered it. He was fully aware that the enigmatic master he was dealing with didn’t want to be revealed. Therefore, there was no reason to pry. What he cared about was whether or not the bag contained a violet snowflake. With the bag in hand, he hurried back into his private chamber.

As predicted, the bag contained a violet snowflake. The schoolmaster’s heart leapt with excitement. A moment later, he took a deep breath and placed the bottle into the Xeno-Immortal School’s restricted chamber, right in front of the sleeping Chen Daoze.

***

That very night in the God-Merging School, something profoundly significant was taking place…. In the top level of their tower, in their Technique Library, Seventh Prince was looking through jade slip after jade slip.

Due to the unique characteristics of the Imperial University, the God-Merging School’s Technique Library was a special place. That was where each student would record information about their cultivation. That way, later generations could learn from their experiences, and avoid making any big mistakes.

Seventh Prince was combing through those very records. He could have left whenever he wanted. But after returning from the Xeno-Immortal School, he thought about what his own schoolmaster had mentioned to him about the sixty-year-cycle.

He said I’d have incredible results after a sixty-year-cycle…. Unfortunately, the crown prince incense is going to burn out in a year. I don’t have the option of waiting that long.

Though Seventh Prince had experienced a breakthrough recently, he still felt like he was advancing too slowly. He hated Xu Qing and wanted to get revenge, which fueled his desire to become the crown prince and gain control over humankind. In the past, everything had seemed possible thanks to having King Heaventide as an uncle. But now….

If I can have a shocking cultivation base… then all my problems will be easily solved!

Feeling somewhat fidgety, Seventh Prince kept thinking and reading. He wanted to find a shortcut! He had asked the schoolmaster for advice, but hadn’t received any response.

About two hours later, Seventh Prince’s eyes glittered as he looked at the jade slip in his hand. It contained insights into cultivation from a Senior member of the God-Merging School in the past. It talked about a theoretical method of taking the souls of fellow humans and using them to accelerate the godly entity transformation. It was a brutal technique that violated the moral norms of human nature, which was why it been abandoned. The person who came up with the idea ultimately used it on a small scale when dealing with personal enemies.

After some thought, Seventh Prince walked out of the Technique Library. He left the jade slip exactly where he found it.

Shortly after, in the peaceful Technique Library, the God-Merging schoolmaster appeared out of nowhere, standing in the exact spot where Seventh Prince had just stood. Looking down at the jade slip, he smiled faintly.

1. The term I’m rendering ‘dao debate’ is a real-life term that refers to some sort of serious debate or discussion about some philosophical or other deep matter. It does have the character ‘dao’ in it, but when used in real-life contexts it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Daosim. Obviously the use of the term in this context is unique compared to how it’s normally used. 1) because of this being xianxia, 2) for the sake of brevity, and 3) to differentiate it from the common word for ‘debate,’ I’m using ‘dao debate.’ ☜