Chapter 746: No Secrets Before a God

That shopkeeper-like cultivator had monstrous waves surging in his heart at this moment. The scene that happened to him made his mind roar.

He had heard of the method of time reversal, but it was mostly used as a flashback; one could only see it, not truly change it, and it must be a Great Cultivator of the Void Return stage to do it.

But now... he had clearly used all his means to commit suicide, was poisoned, the physical body restriction had exploded, and the soul fire had burned. According to normal logic, he was already dead now, and without a trace.

Yet... this Xu Qing before him just raised his hand, and everything was reversed; his own time was changed, actually flowing back to seven breaths ago.

This matter made his heart churn violently, and the terrifying shadow that appeared behind Xu Qing made his soul tremble, and even his eyes felt stinging pain.

"How is this possible!"

While horrified, the shopkeeper-like cultivator's body retreated rapidly, wanting to repeat his old trick and commit suicide again. But this time, it was clearly too late.

With one step, Xu Qing's body flashed and instantly arrived in front of this shopkeeper cultivator. He raised his right hand and grabbed his chin. With a shake, all the teeth in this person's mouth, along with the poison sac that had reappeared, fell out and sprayed from his mouth.

This shopkeeper cultivator had terror in his eyes and was just about to struggle.

Strands of soul threads instantly scattered from Xu Qing's body, like sharp swords, carrying a brilliant light as they directly drilled into this person's physical body. Wherever they passed, all restrictions were destroyed like dry weeds and rotten wood, making it difficult to explode in the slightest.

A muffled groan came from this shopkeeper cultivator's mouth. The next moment, the Dao Seed within his body also instantly defected, rushing straight to his soul, suppressing and burning the thought of suicide.

All his means, at this moment, all failed, being curbed by Xu Qing in advance. And all of this appeared in a flash of lightning. From beginning to end, Xu Qing was expressionless.

In the eyes of this shopkeeper, all things were strange and inconceivable, but to Xu Qing, everything was just a matter of raising his hand.

Having suppressed all the other party's means, he was too lazy to ask questions. From the series of reactions the other party had before, he already had a basic judgment in his heart.

Thus, without any hesitation, he raised his left hand and pressed it on the top of the shopkeeper cultivator's head, his spiritual sense merged, and he began... soul searching!

Soul searching, in the world of cultivation, is an extremely cruel method. Because this behavior is usually high-rank cultivators acting against low-rank ones, the forced contact results in the soul dimming for the lighter cases, and the soul flying away and scattering for the heavier ones.

Especially if one wants to know the details, then the soul searching must be more thorough, and during the process, one can also use the method of splitting and shattering.

At this moment, Xu Qing was using this method.

This shopkeeper cultivator's soul showed signs of collapse under his search. Cracks became more and more numerous, and miserable, inhuman screams also wailed from this shopkeeper's mouth.

This sound was like ghosts crying and wolves howling, containing extreme pain. If heard by commoners, they would definitely have nightmares for a long time; even if heard by cultivators, they would all have their hair stand on end.

However, this was ten thousand miles in the sky, with no one around, making the beauty of this sound hard to find a listener.

Only Xu Qing, bit by bit, shattered this person's soul, checking all the memories of the past, gradually emerging in his mind the shopkeeper's life.

The other party's origin, identity, etc., all gradually became clear. Because it was too messy, Xu Qing did not pay too much attention, sweeping over it, focusing on half a month ago.

Finally, he saw the scene he wanted to know.

More than half a month ago, in a secret residential house, the figure and words of the black-robed person.

But just when Xu Qing wanted to check more carefully and specifically, the scene disappeared, and the shopkeeper's soul completely shattered, no longer existing, leaving only a limp physical body, motionless.

Xu Qing's brows slightly wrinkled.

"This person's soul was born with a deficiency... unable to withstand more intense soul searching."

Xu Qing recalled the preliminary check of this person's life before.

"He joined an organization early in his life whose origin even he himself did not know. The organization gave him a chance for a new life, but also restricted his life."

"As for the details..."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, turned out this person's storage bag, and found a black pot inside.

With a sweep of his spiritual sense, Xu Qing's expression became even uglier; inside this, there were hundreds of thousands of human souls...

After a moment of silence, Xu Qing's body flickered, disappeared from the spot, and went to several locations in that person's memory.

Every location was a harvesting point set up by the other party. Because the matter at his companion's place had been exposed, the wind was very tight now, so these harvesting points had not been opened by him.

Xu Qing went to each place, and while destroying them, he also recorded the evidence.

Afterward, he left this ring land.

As for the shopkeeper's corpse, it was naturally taken away by him; this was also evidence.

Time passed. Five days later, in the Daotian Domain, within Jiuzhou County.

This county was one of the seven exclaves of the human race, and the distance from the Imperial Capital Domain was not very far. Therefore, after Xu Qing's galloping and sparing no cost to use the teleportation array, he spent five days and finally arrived.

When he arrived here, it was already late at night.

This county, Xu Qing had also passed by on the way to the Imperial Capital before, but he did not stay for too long before opening the ancient teleportation to leave.

Now that he had returned, his heart was filled with killing intent. The moment he walked out of the teleportation array, his figure had already disappeared, galloping toward the place locked by the soul seed.

Of the original three people, one was beheaded by the Tianzhao County Governor, one was destroyed by Xu Qing, and the last one... was right here.

It was difficult for outsiders to find his hiding place, but in Xu Qing's eyes, having fused with his soul seed, even his traces were crystal clear.

Since he wanted to clean house and find the mastermind, he naturally had to pull them out by the roots. At the same time, he also needed to soul search again to confirm the black-robed person in the residential house he had seen.

"The other party's soul seed has not moved in one place for several hours."

In the night, Xu Qing's figure teleported within Jiuzhou County. Half an hour later, he appeared above a mountain range.

Looking out, this mountain range was pitch black, with only the sounds of birds and beasts occasionally coming out, and then the rustling sound of wind blowing through the grass and trees.

Besides that, it was completely quiet.

Xu Qing's gaze swept over, his body blurred, and he flew away rapidly.

The next instant, when his figure was clearly revealed, he was already in the depths of this mountain range, outside a natural cave.

Xu Qing's brows wrinkled. On the way here, he had already felt that something was wrong. At this moment, standing here, this feeling was even more obvious. Thus, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and with a wave of his right hand, the restrictions hidden in the cave were instantly corroded by the hetero-quality he emitted, losing their effect.

In an instant, Xu Qing had already appeared inside the cave.

On the ground, there was a formation, which was currently running.

Inside the formation, a person was lying.

This person was a middle-aged man, full of vitality, but he was motionless.

He had no clothes on, and his stomach position was squirming; Xu Qing's soul seed was inside.

And outside the formation, there was also a jade slip placed on the ground.

Xu Qing looked at this person and this formation, and then glanced at the jade slip. After his spiritual sense swept over and confirmed there was no danger, he raised his hand and grabbed the jade slip. The moment he checked it, a vicissitudinous voice echoed within the jade slip.

"No matter who the visitor is, being able to find this place shows that you are like me, all for the sake of investigating the Hetero-Immortal School Dao Seed matter. I have already asked for the answer."

"As for this person, because he could not withstand the soul searching, he is in a state of collapse. But under the blessing of my formation, his soul has not completely dissipated, but it cannot last long. The visitor can check it himself."

Xu Qing was silent. After a long while, he spoke indifferently.

"Petty tricks."

"Little Shadow, spread out in all eight directions, seal your limit distance, no matter what method you use, find the person hiding here."

As soon as Xu Qing's words came out, the shadow under his feet instantly soared. After conveying a flattering emotion, it spread rapidly, covering the entire mountain range area, and even spreading continuously toward the outside.

Within its range, all birds and beasts were instantly trembling, possessed by Little Shadow, and everything was controlled.

Xu Qing looked at the person on the ground; he did not believe what this jade slip said.

He believed more in another possibility of this matter: this person he was looking for possessed some mysterious means, could take out his own soul seed, place it on someone else, and then escape like a cicada shedding its skin.

This method might not be aimed only at Xu Qing; after all, the other party did not know of Xu Qing's existence. Then, this method should be aimed at the investigators of the Imperial Capital regarding this matter.

Thus, this person left the jade slip, playing mystery.

As for how to take out the soul seed without being discovered by Xu Qing, this is a key point, but there is a way that can actually be done.

That is, the soul seed... from beginning to end, had never been taken out, but this kind of not taking out, in a true sense, could achieve the effect of taking out.

"Clone!"

Xu Qing looked at the person in a coma on the ground, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

If the one who fused with the Dao Seed from the beginning was a clone, and the main body acted with the clone, then it could create this kind of seemingly perfect situation before his eyes.

And the flaw in this matter, which was also the key point that caused Xu Qing to have such a guess, was... it was impossible for anyone to find this place faster than him.

Therefore, according to that person's plan, when someone really found this place, his clone would have already died, and the formation could explain everything. Thinking about it, even if one used the technique of time passing to check, there would be no traces at all.

He was indeed searching the clone's soul, and he was indeed setting up a formation to maintain the clone's soul from completely collapsing, and the clone had indeed lived for a period of time.

It was just that the person investigating this matter came late.

Xu Qing's eyes revealed contemplation. He understood that if this guess was correct, then his coming so fast was also something that person could not predict.

And the traces here also proved that it was set up not long ago.

"Whether it is like this, one try will know."

The soul threads in Xu Qing's body erupted, weaving rapidly behind him, forming... the third layer of the God-Spirit state.

Amidst the rumbling, the heavens and the earth changed color, and the wind and clouds surged.

A terrifying figure appeared behind Xu Qing, fused with him, and turned into one.

Like a god descending, it made the four directions blur, the hetero-quality erupted, and the rock walls of the cave could not withstand it, appearing to decompose. The positions of the eight directions, at this moment, changed their appearance.

The mountain became a tomb, the grass and trees became bones, and where the cave was located, it became a huge skull.

This scene was both illusory and real, making it difficult for people to see the true appearance of the world.

And in this blur, a figure walked out.

Purple long hair dragged on the ground, evil and astonishing. Outside the crystal-like bones were flesh and blood formed by countless blood threads lingering, and it even spread to the four directions, shocking the eye.

There were also huge wings formed by purple feathers and flesh, and a purple moon rose behind him.

There was even a terrifying status rising.

It was exactly Xu Qing.

At this moment, He walked to the formation, raised his hand and grabbed the ground. The person in a coma instantly flew over and was grabbed by the top of the head.

This time it was not soul searching; it was Xu Qing wanting to use the power of this status to check the life threads of this person in a coma and find the location of his main body.

As for letting Little Shadow spread out first, it was for fear that if the other party was hiding nearby, they would be startled and perceive it, instantly teleporting away.

"Trace of Life, Open!"

The divine sound shook the heavens.

——

The *Xian Ni* (Renegade Immortal) anime has started airing, and Tencent Video is airing three episodes in a row today; it is top 1 on all lists.

I watched some a few months ago and felt it was very good; I have some emotions.

Some readers might have been teenagers back then, and now they are already fathers. More than ten years have passed in a flash, but time will never let down the ambition of the blue clouds. ===== CHAPTER 747 =====