Chapter 788: Cleaning House
For countless years, the border regions of human territory were rife with war. After all, humans had once been the top species in Revered Ancient, and as a result, just about every region had major human populations. Later, when humans fell into decline, one border region after another was seized. Almost overnight, the humans there became outsiders and foreigners. As a result, ceremonies that involved sacrificing humans weren’t uncommon.
However... though war was common in the human border regions, large-scale atrocities weren’t very common. What was more, it wasn’t just one sacrificial ceremony that had been carried out in the Heavenbright County. It was three!
As a result, the human lives taken weren’t limited to hundreds of thousands. Instead, the death toll went into the millions. Most of the deaths were in mortal kingdoms, where their souls were extracted while they were alive, leading to brutal deaths. The vile nature of the atrocity shook humankind to the core.
When news reached the emperor, he was furious. After all, the three events in Heavenbright County were most likely just the tip of the iceberg, and it seemed very likely that similar things would happen in other locations. Whether it was an outright sacrifice or a part of some cultivation technique, a few million souls wouldn’t be enough. Perhaps the instances in other locations had been kept secret. Or perhaps the people in charge in those locations weren’t paying attention, and thus hadn’t noticed what was going on.
The emperor immediately issued a dharmic decree calling for a thorough investigation of the border regions. What was more, the Five Greater Celestial Divisions were all mobilized to aid in the investigation.
Next, another dharmic decree was issued regarding the Xeno-Immortal School.
The Xeno-Immortal School’s white tower was to be temporarily locked down, and the schoolmaster and patriarch were to remain there in confinement.
The decrees caused an immediate stir in the capital and the university. There were some people who started repeating what the God-Merging schoolmaster had said recently. In no time at all, lots of people were saying that there was something ‘evil’ about the Xeno-Immortal School. And all of the criticism was directed at the dao seeds.
The Xeno-Immortal School’s revival was encountering a major obstacle. Whether it was the emperor’s dharmic decree or the souring of public opinion, the school of thought was now under a lot of pressure. That was especially true... of those people who had already absorbed dao seeds. They were basically incapable of defending themselves. They knew more about the characteristics of dao seeds than any outsider. The dao seeds really could devour all types of souls.
Devouring souls with dao seeds would strengthen the person doing the devouring, and it would also result in more soul threads.
In the final analysis, it was at least theoretically possible for the souls of living beings to be absorbed into the dao seed to accelerate cultivation. It was relevant to note that the souls needed by the dao seeds weren’t limited to those of humans. The souls of all living species in Revered Ancient could be devoured. Unfortunately, that detail didn’t count as evidence of anything.
As time passed, and the situation developed, the Xeno-Immortal School went from being busy and bustling to being deserted again. The school went from a state of revival into a state of emptiness, like death. Some people even paid ridiculous prices to have their dao seeds extracted or transferred to others.
When Xu Qing saw that all the work he had put into reviving the Xeno-Immortal School was now in danger of being negated, it provoked, not a sensation of crisis, but rather, killing intent. Because the entire situation was essentially instigated by him, he felt the need to investigate on his own.
If the atrocities had really been committed by people with his own soul seeds, then it meant it was time to clean house, to take back the soul seeds of anyone who had left the capital, and make amends as best he could. But if the deed hadn’t been done by the Xeno-Immortal School, and was instead a slanderous attack, then he didn’t care who was behind it. He would find them and wipe them out. Too many people had died.
Xu Qing left the Imperial University and without any hesitation went to the teleportation portal to leave the imperial capital.
Once outside, he no longer suppressed the fluctuations of his soul seed. He unleashed them, which provided a big blessing to his senses. It almost felt like his mind was being struck by lightning as, in an instant, hundreds of threads appeared in his mind, each one linking to someone with a dao seed. He could sense all of them, whether they were violet, green, or even white.
The majority of the threads led to the imperial capital. But there were some leading to other places... specifically, there were eleven of them.
Some were nearby, some were far away. If the schoolmaster had been the one doing this, his limited range would have made it difficult to identify their specific locations. But Xu Qing was the ultimate source, so with work, he was able to trace the threads to their current locations.
There are ten of these soul seeds that have been fully absorbed. But one of them isn’t.
It seemed logical to conclude that the soul seed which wasn’t absorbed by anyone probably was the same one that the governor of Heavenbright County had extracted and was sending back to the capital.
Xu Qing closed his eyes and used the thread to determine the exact location of the soul seed. At the same time, he thought back to when he noticed this soul seed leaving the capital.
Shortly after, he opened his eyes.
More than half a month ago, this one left as part of a group of three. Now, the other two.... Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with an unusual light as he took a moment to lock onto the other two threads.
One of them was located in the 97th ring of the Imperial Region. Another was even farther away, in one of the seven major counties controlled by humans, Ninestate County. Xu Qing’s killing intent surged as he flew up into the air. Taking out his ancient sun, he shot with shocking speed toward the 97th ring.
It was a distant location, but thankfully there were plenty of convenient teleportation portals along the way. By means of numerous teleportations, as well as the speed of his ancient sun, Xu Qing only took a day to travel from the Imperial Region’s inner ring all the way to its distant 97th ring.
There were a total of 110 rings in the Imperial Region. As for the 97th, it had a large population of human mortals. When Xu Qing arrived, it was evening. The entire ring seemed peaceful and harmonious, with no hint that anything dramatic had played out there recently. Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, put away his ancient sun, and followed the soul thread fluctuations to the west. [1]
Red clouds covered the canopy of heaven, and as Xu Qing traveled through them, his killing intent built. Eventually, about an hour later, he reached the westernmost part of the ring lands.
These lands were expansive, featuring mostly plains and wide-open spaces. Within them were nine small human kingdoms. Although they were called kingdoms, the reality is that they were self-governing cities. Being part of the Imperial Region, which was the capital of humankind, things here were relatively peaceful.
Looking around, Xu Qing identified one particular kingdom that was named Everfavor. Smoke from kitchen chimneys curled up into the air, and even from a distance, it was possible to hear the noise from the bustling streets. There were all sorts of people visible, from servants to businessmen. There were some cultivators present, but not many. Of those, the highest cultivation base present was Nascent Soul, and that was in the kingdom’s royal palace.
Xu Qing scanned the place with divine will, then vanished from midair. When he materialized, he was on the streets of the city. As he walked around, neither mortals nor cultivators had any way to detect his presence. It was as if he didn’t exist.
That was one of the unique features of high-level cultivators. Because they had heavenly daos, they could form their own natural laws. And thus, if they didn’t want people to see them, they wouldn’t, unless they had a superior cultivation base.
Xu Qing wasn’t in the mood to experience mortal life at the moment, so he immediately entered one of the shops on the street. It was a general store, operated by an old man who was currently asleep behind the counter, his head resting on his arms. There was also a young clerk present.
Xu Qing’s arrival attracted the notice of the clerk. As for the sleeping shopkeeper he shivered, then suddenly disappeared into thin air.
Face expressionless, Xu Qing coolly said, “Get back here.”
As the words left his mouth, natural laws transformed, creating a teleportation effect. Instantly, the shopkeeper returned, starting out blurry, but quickly becoming clear.
Looking overwhelmed with shock and horror, he shot to his feet. However, he couldn’t possibly move quickly enough. Xu Qing flicked his sleeve and used an astral redirection technique to alter space. In the blink of an eye, he was outside of the city, some 5,000 kilometers up in the air.
The empyrean winds whistled loudly as the shopkeeper hovered in front of Xu Qing, his face a mask of suspicion and fear. He had been acting very cautiously ever since his compatriot failed at his mission and was killed. In fact, he had abandoned his mission immediately, created a host of clones that he sent out to throw anyone off his tracks, and then went into hiding.
His plan had been to see how things played out and wait for word from above before deciding what to do. And yet now, despite not one of his clones having been touched, this person had tracked down his true body.
That alone was enough to put him on guard. But what was truly astonishing to him was Xu Qing’s identity.
It was only natural that he had seen Xu Qing before. But what was really terrifying was that the dao seed inside of him vibrated as if it didn’t even belong to him. That was telling him that the true owner of the dao seed was this very person right in front of him, Region Lord Xu Qing, who was currently emanating a terrifying Xeno-Immortal aura.
He’s the one secretly backing the Xeno-Immortal School!
The shopkeeper felt despair deep in his heart. There was no need for him to ask questions to confirm his theory. It was the only explanation.
Death filled his eyes as, without any hesitation, he bit into a poison caplet hidden in his tooth. Instantly, his life force started decaying. A tremor passed through him as the poison he had prepared rapidly destroyed his fleshly body. At the same time, his soul also ignited into flames. All of these things were measures taken to ensure that he died and no incriminating evidence was left behind. After accomplishing those things, and just before he died, the despair in his eyes vanished to be replaced with derision.
It was as if he was telling Xu Qing: You found me? You’re the ultimate source in the Xeno-Immortal School? Those things... don’t matter at all!
Xu Qing looked calmly at the shopkeeper as he did those things. He didn’t stop him. After watching expressionlessly as the shopkeeper took numerous steps to kill himself, Xu Qing then raised his right hand.
The gnomons on his sundials moved, and a huge figure appeared behind him, out of which emerged 1,300,000 soul threads. From a distance, it almost looked like the arrival of a god.
Half a month ago, Xu Qing had done some experiments in his private chamber. By using soul threads to imitate his sundials, he could surpass his previous limitations and affect an enemy for seven breaths of time. This could be considered the fourth ability related to his sundials.
It was time reversal. As he pointed out with his right index finger, the shopkeeper with his dimming soul suddenly went right back to normal. He was understandably stunned.
“This....”
1. Please check my comment in the comments section about the 110 rings. ☜