Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 783: The Xeno-Immortal School is Infected with True Evil

A cold winter wind blew through the capital, picking up scattered bits of snow from the ground and sending it dancing into the air. The wind blew on the three conclave students who had absorbed the schoolmaster’s green snowflakes as they raced toward the university. All of them had started a new life recently.

Previously, they all had hundreds of soul threads, but now those numbers were increasing. As the original conclave students in the Xeno-Immortal School, they didn’t have any special techniques, but their years of cultivation had made their souls a lot tougher than normal. As the morning sun rose, driving away the darkness and sending light out to illuminate everything, the three of them already looked a lot different than before. Their cultivation bases rose, and their gazes sharpened.

The soul fluctuations of the Xeno-Immortal School rolled off them. Even the student who made the slowest progress now had 3,000 soul threads, while the one who made the best progress... had 6,000.

When the three students reached the Xeno-Immortal School, the other nine conclave students, including the mysterious young woman, all looked at them in surprise.

The schoolmaster sat in his chair, his eyes overflowing with praise as he examined them.

The three students exchanged glances, and then, hearts overflowing with gratitude, they said, “Many thanks, Teacher!”

Despite the potential for hidden calamities, the fact that their soul threads had experienced such a dramatic increase left all of them feeling excited and determined.

“You did well in absorbing those Xeno-Immortal dao seeds,” the schoolmaster said with a nod. “Next, you need to improve the durability of your souls. They need to be stronger! Remember, the tougher your souls, the more soul threads you’ll be able to accumulate.

“My Xeno-Immortal dao seed is an important part of Xeno-Immortal School techniques. Our school’s techniques are similar to imperial-class techniques, which as you know require a dao seed to cultivate!”

When the conclave students heard that, their hearts swelled with excitement. The young woman struggled to control her breathing, and was about to ask some questions.

But then, Xu Qing appeared outside the tower. As he walked in, all eyes and all senses focused on him. The other three students who had received dao seeds were visibly taken aback. The schoolmaster’s eyes glittered brightly as he rose to his feet. The other nine conclave students were even more shaken.

Xu Qing pulsed with even stronger soul thread fluctuations. Based on what everyone could sense, he clearly had at least 10,000.

“Excellent. Excellent! Sir Dark-Thunder, the first time I laid eyes on you, I could sense you had an extraordinary future. Now it’s obvious that you’re truly suited to being in our Xeno-Immortal School.”

The schoolmaster threw his head back and laughed heartily. Based on what he could sense, the soul seed he had given to Xu Qing had been fully absorbed. And by means of that soul seed, he could sense that Xu Qing’s soul was very strong. Given how smoothly the absorption process had gone, it was clear that this Sir Dark-Thunder was a natural talent when it came to soul strengthening.

People like that weren’t exactly common. That said, they weren’t incredibly rare either, especially considering that people who qualified to come to the Imperial University were all inherently unique in some way.

Xu Qing bowed at the waist, all while feeling a bit helpless. This wasn’t how he had intended things to go. That said, he wasn’t ready to reveal his true identity, and thus, he had to make at least some soul threads lest he cast suspicion on himself. He had attempted to make a few ordinary soul threads to obfuscate the truth. But his godsource soul threads were so amazing that even just releasing a bit of their energy resulted in fluctuations equivalent to over 10,000 ordinary soul threads. And he couldn’t take back that energy now.

The result was the scene playing out right now. Despite the annoying turn of events, Xu Qing was very pleased with what he had accomplished the previous night.

After the three conclave students began cultivating their soul seeds, it resulted in more godsource appearing in the vortex in Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness.

However annoyed Xu Qing was at the moment, the schoolmaster was even more excited. Feeling very proud of Xu Qing and the other three students, he turned his attention to the remaining nine members of the conclave.

“Are you people watching? I know that all of you come from different organizations, but that’s fine. You’re all very lucky to be part of the Xeno-Immortal School’s rise to prominence.

“The Imperial University is a tolerant place. And despite what our Xeno-Immortal School says about conclave students, we’re also tolerant. Therefore, going forward, if you behave well, then whichever of you is the first to recruit an additional 100 conclave students will be the first to get one of these Xeno-Immortal dao seeds!”

The nine students, including the mysterious young woman, all bowed in response. Although some of them had some suspicions, the fact remained that Xu Qing and the other three had clearly succeeded. And that was a big impetus.

Just like that, a big recruitment drive began in the Xeno-Immortal School. In the following days, news of the success experienced by Xu Qing and the other three spread through the Imperial University. More people than ever showed up to make inquiries. And as more students personally confirmed the truth of the rumors... a tempest began to fill the university.

Many people related personal accounts and experiences proving that the Xeno-Immortal School’s private techniques were real. And thus... a fourteenth conclave student joined. Then a fifteenth. In seven short days, the number of conclave students in the Xeno-Immortal School broke past the watershed point of 100. The school really was experiencing a revival.

During that week, Xu Qing and the other three students continued to progress, with the least progress being 5,000. Xu Qing and one other student both reached the level of about 13,000.

The other conclave students saw that, and their eyes became bloodshot as they worked even harder on their task. Regardless of anything, the enticement of the dao seeds was gripping the entire Imperial University.

Eventually, on the evening of the twelfth day, one of the conclave students succeeded in personally enticing a 100th person to join.

In the presence of all the conclave students, the schoolmaster held a solemn ceremony that emphasized the precious nature of the Xeno-Immortal dao seeds. Not giving any chance for hesitation, the schoolmaster handed over the dao seed and had him absorb it. It wasn’t just the new conclave students who were paying close attention to the event. Schools of thought from throughout the Imperial University were watching.

As everyone looked on, the new conclave student shivered. Then soul threads erupted from inside of him. After about two hours passed, the soul thread count had surpassed 1,000.

As the soul thread aura spread, the tempest caused by the Xeno-Immortal School grew more intense in the Imperial University. The Xeno-Immortal School was now the hottest conversation topic around. New conclave students were joining on a daily basis, and they immediately began to recruit more students to join them. Thus, as time passed, more and more conclave students got dao seeds and officially started Xeno-Immortal cultivation.

The repeated successes created a vortex that sucked in more and more students. That said, not every conclave student was so devoted. There were some who had just come to watch from the sidelines. Those people simply wanted to see what was happening, and were obviously hesitant and curious about the dao seeds. The mysterious young woman was one of them. Such people got the sense that the Xeno-Immortal dao seeds probably contained some sort of deadly side-effects.

That said, the way the schoolmaster had compared Xeno-Immortal dao seeds with imperial-class techniques was enough of an explanation for most people. After all, cultivating imperial-class techniques really did result in the appearance of a seed.[1]

As a result, though people suspected that there could be side-effects, they were nothing more than that: suspicions that couldn’t be proven.

When Xu Qing looked around at the Xeno-Immortal School’s tower, and thought about how it had once been deserted, he had to admire the schoolmaster. Xu Qing knew full well that his soul seed was just a turning point. The schoolmaster’s perseverance and hard work were also integral to the school’s rise to prominence.

In terms of the reality of how soul seeds worked, Xu Qing wasn’t worried. He had studied the green snowflake and could tell that, though it was somewhat strange, it was very high quality. In fact, it was perfect. What was more, it contained shades of a heavenly dao, as if it had actually been blessed by a heavenly dao.

As more conclave students came along and absorbed the green soul seeds, the schoolmaster received the benefits. After giving out over 90 soul seeds, his soul thread count reached the level of 80,000.

As the ultimate source, Xu Qing benefited even more. Godsource proliferated in the vortex in his sea of consciousness, turning into soul threads on a daily basis. As of now, he had gone from 1,000,000 soul threads to a total of over 1,100,000. When someone absorbed a soul seed, it would send something like roots throughout them, the point of which was to nourish the seed.

If one of these students eventually cultivates 50,000 soul threads, will it result in a branch appearing?

Xu Qing felt a lot of anticipation about that.

Thus it was that the Xeno-Immortal School, which had fallen into decline in the Imperial University, experienced a revival. Organizations throughout the imperial capital were now paying very close attention to it.

Of course, the other schools of thought in the university were paying even closer attention. That was especially true of the God-Merging School.

The Xeno-Immortal and God-Merging Schools were essentially two diverging concepts that were nearly as incompatible as fire and water. If one rose to prominence, it would obviously have a negative effect on the other.

Therefore, as the Xeno-Immortal School’s revival picked up speed, a meeting was held in the God-Merging School’s tower. The goal was to plan action against the Xeno-Immortal School.

The attendees included the schoolmaster of the God-Merging School, as well as other high-ranking members. In total, there were a hundred people present, all seated in an orderly fashion.

Seventh Prince was there, seated at the right hand of the schoolmaster and facing the other students. His eyes were now red, which indicated that he was now a chief student of the God-Merging School.

The discussion didn’t begin with talk about the Xeno-Immortal School. Instead, it began with a summary of recent situations in their own school of thought, plus updates on personal cultivation. Since Seventh Prince was now the spokesperson for their school, he explained some about his own cultivation progress.

After the introductory elements were finished, the schoolmaster nodded. Casting an encouraging look at the crowd, he turned to Seventh Prince. “You are truly endowed with impressive talent, Seventh Prince. It’s perfect for the dao of god-merging. If you keep up your cultivation in this way, then after a sixty-year-cycle, you’ll have incredible results.”

Seventh Prince waved his hand dismissively but said nothing. He didn’t seem impressed or moved.

The schoolmaster smiled faintly, then turned to look at the chief student on his other side. “Sir Spiritsoul, take out the dao seed you got from the Xeno-Immortal School. I’d like to inspect it.”

The other chief student with the red eyes waved his hand, causing a green snowflake to appear in front of him. Voice calm, he said, “One of the conclave students from the Xeno-Immortal School dug this out of himself and gave it to me. Please, take a look, Schoolmaster.”

He flicked his sleeve, sending the snowflake flying to the schoolmaster.

The schoolmaster reached out with his finger, stopping the snowflake in midair. Eyes glittering, he looked at it closely. He bent over the snowflake, and then red threads emerged from his eyes. Well over a hundred of them appeared and stabbed into the snowflake. The snowflake vibrated, then collapsed into nothing. The schoolmaster seemed to be taking the situation very seriously. Shortly after, the red threads retracted. The schoolmaster closed his eyes.

The tower was completely silent as everyone looked at him.

Finally, he spoke in a hoarse voice. “That thing is fiendish, evil, and domineering. It can consume the souls of all living beings. The Xeno-Immortal School is infected with true evil!” He slowly stood. “Come with me. We’re going to personally see what’s going on over there!”

1. The connection between imperial-class techniques and seeds was delved into in chapters 177-180. There may be other references out there as well, those were the ones that came to mind first. ☜