<h4>Chapter 778: I’m Standing in Front of You</h4>


    “The Star Emperor branch sect got robbed!”


    “I heard they lost a bunch of stuff, including a stone book that was in a restricted area. The book is ordinary in nature most of the time. But during nighttime thunderstorms, it produces a blurry projection.”


    “The Star Emperor Preeminence Sect has been studying that thing for a long time. Eventually, they determined that it was carved off an ordinary photosensitive rock. The blurry projection inside is that of an ancient Core Formation cultivator. Other than a bit of archaeological value, it’s worthless.”


    “Honestly, who cares if the stone book went missing? The other things that were stolen are what really seem outrageous.... I heard that one area had thirty percent of the trees, floor tiles, and buildings all cleared out. In some areas, everything was scraped clean down three inches, almost as if a storm of locusts passed through....”


    “What’s even more unbelievable is that among the stolen items was some clothing!”


    “What’s the deal...? Why steal things like that?”


    This branch sect of the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect wasn’t very big. But in the end, it was part of one of the top ten superpower sects of humankind. Therefore, it was under constant scrutiny, so there was little wonder a robbery incident rted to them would be such a hot topic.


    And of course, the things that had been stolen were strange to say the least. Rumors swirled the next morning about the robbery. More and more people were talking about the situation, and every single one of them was bewildered.


    Gradually, back-channel information eventually made it out to the public. And when that news hit, it was as explosive as a drop of cold water hitting some boiling oil.


    “One of the thieves used a highly-developed technique from the Xeno-Immortal School!”


    “Based on the analysis of the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect, this person had hundreds of thousands of soul threads! That’spletely unprecedented! That’s more than either of the past two patriarchs of the Xeno-Immortal School!”


    “That’s not possible. I did my research into the Xeno-Immortal School, and their cultivation methods are extremely slow. If you wanted to get hundreds of thousands of soul threads... forget about the question of whether or not the soul could handle that. Just the process alone could take something like 10,000 years!!”


    “That’s preposterous!”


    Byte morning, the news had be a tempest spreading through the entire imperial capital. And of course, word began to spread in the Imperial University.


    Since the Xeno-Immortal School was at the heart of all the rumors, by noontime, there were entire crowds of students looking dubiously at the school and whispering to each other about it. And that was because a representative from the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect had already gone inside, and had been there for a while. After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, the representative walked out with a scowl on his face. He hurried off without a word to anyone.


    He had been escorted out by the Xeno-Immortal School’s schoolmaster and three students. The masks also concealed their emotional fluctuations. But when the four of them exchanged nces, they could see that all of them were shaken, but still calm. Inside, they hadplicated emotions including astonishment, stupefaction, excitement, and zeal.


    They had heard about the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect situation earlier, but hadn’t paid much attention to it. But when the news broke about the enigmatic Xeno-Immortal School master, they were shocked.


    Then the representative came from the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect. He gave more details about the situation, and asked for details about everyone who practiced Xeno-Immortal School techniques. That was when they realized that the situation was very serious. They couldn’t have been more shaken up at the moment.


    The Star Emperor Preeminence Sect’s investigation didn’t lead anywhere. For many years, there had never been more than four conve students of the Xeno-Immortal School. That said, the Xeno-Immortal School’s techniques were public knowledge.


    After all, the entire point of the Imperial University was tobat sectarianism and make it easier for people to gain knowledge. Therefore, even though the Xeno-Immortal School had a rule limiting their techniques to conve students, the reality was that they ignored that rule a lot of the time. From ancient times until modern, there had been a lot of people who learned about Xeno-Immortal School techniques. In fact, identifying one of them in particr would be as difficult as <i>fishing a needle from the sea</i>.


    Analyzing the situation critically would lead just about anyone to the conclusion that it was highly likely the person who had mastered the school’s techniques was the schoolmaster. However, the enigmatic cultivator in question... could also be someone who had been in hiding for thousands of years and was only now appearing publicly.


    As for who that person could be, opinions differed. That included the four longtime members of the Xeno-Immortal School and outsiders as well.


    As the schoolmaster stood outside of the white tower, his heart pounding, he tried to remain calm as he looked over the three students present. Inside, he was sighing endlessly.


    <i>For years, the Xeno-Immortal School has been ignored. There have never been so many people watching us....</i>


    He was very excited about the prospect of some enigmatic person having mastered the Xeno-Immortal School techniques. He also felt proud. Raising his voice, he called, “I have no idea why the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect provoked some Senior member of our school of thought, and thus forced that Senior to mete out a bit of punishment. Regardless, the Xeno-Immortal School will take responsibility!


    “From ancient times until now, there have been a lot of people who studied Xeno-Immortal School techniques. They’ve been passed down from generation to generation. As a result, it’s fair to say that humankind has a lot of Xeno-Immortal School experts.


    “Previously, I didn’t want to make this fact known publicly, as our school likes to keep a low profile. We prefer to stay out of mundane conflicts, and hold back from dealing with the outside world as representatives of our school of thought. But today... a Senior member of our school had no choice but to take action. Therefore, we won’t hide the truth any longer.


    “The rumors are true! The person in question is a top expert of our school of thought!”


    The schoolmaster’s words provoked an immediate buzz of conversation among the surrounding students. Amidst the mor, the schoolmaster sped his hands behind his back and strode back into the white tower with his head raised high. The three students excitedly followed him. After they were inside, the door shut behind them, whereupon they couldn’t suppress their excitement any longer, and started talking to the schoolmaster in trembling voices.


    “Teacher, what’s going on here?”


    “Teacher, does our Xeno-Immortal School really have a bunch of top experts as members?”


    “Hundreds of thousands of soul threads...? How is that even possible?”


    The schoolmaster looked up and coolly said, “Imbecile!”


    Normally speaking, the three students would talk back. After all, the schoolmaster never dared to talk to them in this way for fear of them leaving and nevering back. But today, the three of them were acting very obediently. One of them hurried forward to massage the schoolmaster’s shoulders. Another fanned him, while the third went over to start organizing the jade slips. All were looking at the schoolmaster with fawning expressions.


    The schoolmaster was feeling wonderful, as he had actually never been treated in this way before.


    “Ah, whatever,” he said. “The three of you have made a few mistakes here and there over the years, but you’ve never truly screwed up. In that respect, you pass muster. Therefore, I don’t mind telling you a few things.”


    The three students’ ears perked up, and their hearts started pounding. Seeing that caused the schoolmaster to feel even more pleased. From that point on, he started bragging even more.


    “I’m naturally aware of the identity of this Senior member of our school. Everything I said out there just now was true. Our school of thought used to be very glorious. The center of attention. And that wasn’t very conducive to cultivation. So our patriarch left secret instructions forter generations of students to keep a low profile, and act like normal people when outside the school. In other words, our school of thought <i>intentionally</i> fell into decline.


    “The reality is... that the Xeno-Immortal School went from bright to dark on purpose. We actually have many members with hundreds of thousands of soul threads. In fact, there’s even one with 1,000,000! Remember, this is top secret. You can’t tell anyone! Now, hurry up and sort those ancient records! Organize them by category and put them all together neatly!”


    The schoolmaster gave a cold snort.


    The three students all sighed and nodded. Inside, they were very incredulous. However, their attitudes were already changing, and therefore, they were quick to do whatever the schoolmaster asked them to do....


    And thus, as the Xeno-Immortal School took responsibility for the incident, the storm of rumors about them continued to spread in the Imperial University and the capital itself.


    An entire day passed.


    The next morning, Xu Qing opened his eyes in his private chamber. During the night that had passed, he had been experimenting with using Xeno-Immortal School techniques to absorb the flesh of Crimson Mother. Most of his efforts had failed, but in the end, he did achieve a small measure of sess.


    <i>The conversion rate is pretty low....</i>


    Xu Qing frowned. Based on what he could sense, he had about 500,000 soul threads in his sea of consciousness now. The additional several hundred thousand came from absorbing about fifty pieces of Crimson Mother’s flesh. Truth be told, one chunk of Crimson Mother’s flesh was enough for him to activate his second-level god state. Because of that, Xu Qing could tell that the conversion rate of flesh to soul threads was far too low.


    Thankfully, when he absorbed a piece of flesh, the flesh itself didn’t disappear. It shriveled up. However, some of the godsource remained behind even when that happened. Crimson Mother’s flesh was simply too densely structured for the Xeno-Immortal School’s techniques to fully drain them.


    <i>It’s worth it!</i> he thought, his eyes shining. At this point, he could control the soul threads to form the second-level god state without using any of the power of Crimson Mother’s flesh.


    <i>I still have about a hundred chunks of flesh.... I need a higher level of Xeno-Immortal School technique to fully utilize them. After all, the third-level god state requires a lot of godsource soul threads.... A million probably won’t be enough.</i>


    After some thought, Xu Qing got to his feet and walked out of the mansion into the dawn light as he headed toward the Imperial University.


    The Captain still hadn’t returned. Xu Qing wasn’t worried about that. He hurried on his way, and before long, had teleported into the Imperial University. Once inside, he was d in the unique robe and mask that all students wore.


    Things inside were a lot more lively than usual.


    After getting his bearings, he started walking in the direction of the Xeno-Immortal School. Along the way, he heard a lot of chatter, most of it people debating the identity of the enigmatic cultivator from the Xeno-Immortal School. Xu Qing wasn’t surprised.


    He slipped through the crowds until he saw the Xeno-Immortal School some distance ahead. The area looked very different than before. There were now dozens of students making polite inquiries about the school’s techniques.


    The schoolmaster stood in the front, looking very much like the center of attention. The other three students proudly answered questions. When the schoolmaster saw Xu Qing approaching, he gave him a slight nod. The other three students quickly called him over.


    “Why didn’t youe yesterday? Did you hear about the huge thing that happened in our Xeno-Immortal School?”


    “Let me tell you, our Xeno-Immortal School has been hiding its strength this entire time. We’re actually incredibly powerful! And that Senior member with the hundreds of thousands of soul threads is indeed one of our patriarchs!”


    The students were about to keep gushing when the schoolmaster cleared his throat.


    “Sir Dark-Thunder, it looks like we have a new group of inquiring students. You go receive them.”


    Xu Qing sped hands respectfully. The student who had been talking moments ago closed his mouth briefly, then said, “There are going to be questions you can’t answer considering you’re so new. Just do your best. Remember, we... are truly awesome!”


    Xu Qing blinked a few times. Truth be told, he had been expecting something like this to happen. Trying to look excited, he nodded and looked over to the entrance, where a group of about eight students had just entered.


    Xu Qing walked over to them. “How can I help you? If you want to know about the Xeno-Immortal School, I’d be happy to give you some information.”


    Because of how things worked in the Imperial University, all of these students looked exactly the same. However, Xu Qing noticed that one of them looked a bit more cautious. While Xu Qing was talking, that student was sizing up everyone else, including Xu Qing. Eventually, that student’s gaze came to focus on the schoolmaster.


    <i>People are saying that the enigmatic Xeno-Immortal School cultivator in question is an old fellow that’s thousands of years old. But when I shed with him on that day, he didn’t seem like an old person at all. What’s more, he didn’t talk much, which hints that he’s somewhat introverted. I wonder if that Ergou... is actually the schoolmaster!</i>


    Having reached this point in his train of thought, the student casually looked at Xu Qing and said, “I’m interested in joining the Xeno-Immortal School, and would like to know more about it. For example, your schoolmaster seems like something of an introvert. At the same time, he doesn’t seem very old....”


    Hearing that, Xu Qing looked over, a sense of caution rising up within him.