Chapter 981: The Mysterious White Dust

For the Moyu Clan, the Immortal Arts Hall is a place filled with sanctity, whether in the East or West Moyu.

Every generation's Grand Immortal Master, even if their cultivation base is not necessarily that of a Sovereign, holds a status equivalent to one.

However, with the decline of the East Moyu and the fall of the Eastern Immortal Arts Hall's Grand Immortal Master, the East Moyu's Immortal Arts Hall has gradually lost its former glory.

All the Immortal Masters within are locked in internal strife, each wishing to suppress the others to succeed the position of Grand Immortal Master.

Miss Yuedong, though a disciple of the previous Grand Immortal Master, is not the only one qualified to succeed.

That is why she devised a crazy plan to cooperate with the Lan family to scheme for the corpse of the Mingyan Great Emperor. If she were to succeed... then not to mention just an Immortal Arts Hall, even the entire East Moyu would be under her and the Lan family's control.

But now... everything has taken a turn.

Fortunately, there is Erniu.

Erniu is kind-hearted and loves to help others, so Miss Yuedong's plan has found a successor.

At this moment, in a Moyu city closest to the East Moyu Immortal Arts Hall, Erniu, having heard that Xu Qing does not intend to act with him, fixes his gaze upon Xu Qing.

"True, what you need most right now is an identity."

"Then, after you obtain your identity, will you come find me?"

Erniu asks.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing shakes his head.

He has his own matters to attend to. Just as the Eldest Senior Brother wants to take control of the Immortal Arts Hall, what Xu Qing needs to do is resolve a problem that has troubled him for a long time.

Xu Qing has pondered this problem many times but never found a solution, until... the appearance of Xue Chenzi gave Xu Qing some associations.

Thus, regarding the Eldest Senior Brother's words, Xu Qing speaks calmly.

"I am not certain of the time of my return."

"That Xue Chenzi possesses some traits that interest me greatly. Eldest Senior Brother, I intend to go explore them."

"Once I finish exploring, I will come find you."

Xu Qing's words immediately pique Erniu's curiosity.

"What traits?"

Xu Qing looks up, gazing into the distance. The mark he left on Xue Chenzi has already dissipated by seven or eight parts on its own, but at the time, to be safe, he had also left behind one of Little Shadow's shadow eyes.

Thus, he has not lost the trail of this Xue Chenzi.

Sensing this now, a strange glint appears in Xu Qing's eyes as he murmurs softly.

"Untainted by karma!"

After saying this, Xu Qing takes a step forward, his figure blurring for an instant before vanishing into the horizon.

Erniu gazes in the direction of Xu Qing's departure, lost in thought.

"That's fine too. Anyway, with the Little Junior Brother's current cultivation base, being cautious is no harm. Besides... this is East Moyu, and isn't there Lu Lingzi here?"

Erniu licks his lips, turns, and looks toward the direction of the Immortal Arts Hall, speeding away.

Just like that, the Green-Cow duo separates here, each going about their own business.

Several hours later, in the sky above East Moyu, Xu Qing's figure remains hidden, approaching steadily according to the guidance of the shadow eye.

As he draws near, ripples rise in his heart.

Encountering Xue Chenzi and sensing the traits on him was an accident Xu Qing had not anticipated.

And this accident is the focal point of the ripples in his heart.

Because the biggest problem troubling him during this period is precisely his cultivation base!

Ever since he died in the Human Imperial Capital and was resurrected by his Master using the flesh and blood of the Remnant Face to reshape his body, although he gained much, he also faced many shackles.

The fusion of soul and body is only one of them.

What makes him most anxious is his cultivation base!

To a certain extent, his cultivation base has been stuck!

To break through the Return to Ruins realm, he needs all one hundred divine powers within his sea of consciousness to shine.

This is incomparably difficult.

But he wants to become stronger; he wants to step into the God-Concealing realm. Because whether it is the threat of Prince Ziqing or the current war in the Eastern Wanggu Continent, everything requires him to become a true powerhouse to go further and more calmly.

And remaining under his Master's wings is not the path Xu Qing wants.

Yet, divine powers are not something he can obtain just by working hard.

Whether it is enlightenment or plundering the power of gods, both are uncertain matters.

And the word "uncertain" is unacceptable to Xu Qing, who has seen his cultivation base climb steadily all along.

"This body allows my defensive capabilities to remain unshaken beneath a Sovereign, and it possesses infinite potential... but it also imposes restrictions on me."

"And divine powers... although they have improved my combat strength, every acquisition requires opportunity."

"Success comes from divine powers, and difficulty comes from divine powers."

Xu Qing murmurs in his heart.

He has pondered how to solve this before and thought of some methods.

Even when he was in Nanhuangzhou, he asked Senior Qing Qin.

Senior Qing Qin's answer was to tell Xu Qing that this is a brand-new path of infinite potential that no one can fully guide; everything, in the end, must be explored by himself.

All he could give him was the Profound Yang Immortal Light to accelerate the fusion of soul and body.

During those few months in the Human Imperial Capital, while Xu Qing was keeping an eye on Lin Tao, he was also looking for ways, and eventually, he thought of a method.

That is to create a clone, bypass the main body, and cultivate separately.

Thereby achieving the goal of breaking through.

But in the end, he gave it up.

Because after deduction, he found that the possibility of cultivating by creating a clone was almost zero.

The reason for this lies in the fact that his own karma is too great and too numerous.

Whether it is the karma of the Outer Seas, the karma of those gods, or the one with Prince Ziqing... most importantly, it is the one with the Remnant Face of the Upper Desolation.

This makes it so that even if he were to create a clone, the clone would face major problems due to this karma.

The clone would be unable to bear this karma and would collapse on its own the moment it appeared.

Although the Great Emperor's scissors are sharp, they cannot cut it.

Originally, the idea of creating a clone had already been rejected by Xu Qing in his heart.

Until he encountered Xue Chenzi earlier!

The appearance of Xue Chenzi and his exchange with Xu Qing in the blood mist allowed Xu Qing to see some strange aspects.

The threads of fate on Xue Chenzi are different from those of ordinary people.

Under Xu Qing's erasing power, he saw that Xue Chenzi's threads of fate carried some white dust.

Very fine.

This is something Xu Qing has never seen in anyone else's threads of fate.

Although at the time, he and Erniu unleashed the Six Thieves Delusion Immortal Art on Xue Chenzi, it was inadvertently interrupted by the arrival of the youth in the embroidered robe.

But in the process of unleashing this immortal art, Xu Qing had already felt that those white dust particles actually resisted the Six Thieves Immortal Art.

This made imprinting the seven emotions and six desires difficult.

This peculiarity caught Xu Qing's attention, and later, when the youth in the embroidered robe arrived, Xu Qing took the opportunity to intentionally let Xue Chenzi go while burying the matter in his heart.

On the road afterward, he appeared to follow sluggishly, but while listening to the conversation between the youth in the embroidered robe and Erniu, he was also pondering Xue Chenzi's peculiarity in his heart.

Eventually, he had a guess.

"It seems untainted by karma."

Xu Qing's eyes flash with a strange light. It is now dusk, and as the afterglow falls, he looks up at a low mountain not far away, his body flickering as he heads straight for it.

At this moment, inside the low mountain, a cave dwelling is hidden.

Outside the cave, a formation permeates, possessing not only concealment effects but also considerable protection.

Inside the cave, Xue Chenzi sits cross-legged in meditation.

After escaping from Xu Qing and Erniu earlier, he did not return to his original cave dwelling but instead checked himself for marks and changed through multiple cave dwellings to leave traces.

Finally, he opened this one.

Right now, his face is pale, looking as if he has suffered a major injury; the veins on his face are bulging, and the fluctuations on his body are unstable.

Especially the Great Worlds on his body, which have changed from the original seven to five, and all are dim and lusterless.

The two missing Great Worlds were chosen by him to self-detonate during his battle with Xu Qing and Erniu, in exchange for the power to escape.

"That Miss Yuedong is not right!"

"This bitch's strikes were more insidious than before, and her combat strength was stronger. And that corpse puppet of hers... it actually gave me a feeling of heart-palpitating fear."

"Especially that corpse puppet, it could actually cooperate with Miss Yuedong to unleash her Six Thieves Delusion Immortal Art..."

"Damn it!!"

Xue Chenzi's heart churns, filled with unwillingness and resentment, but in his heart, he does not suspect Miss Yuedong's identity, because the Six Thieves Delusion Art is both the symbol of the East Moyu Immortal Arts Hall and the symbol of Miss Yuedong.

"This bitch must have obtained another huge opportunity after becoming part of the vanguard team and heading to Wanggu!"

"In that case, to kill her, I still need to plan."

Xue Chenzi is helpless. While healing his wounds, he takes out a jade slip.

This is the mission jade slip issued by the Moyu Holy Land to all clansmen, listing all missions and the battle merits obtained upon completion.

"I must continue to accumulate battle merits to exchange for more resources and the qualifications to go to other secret realms."

"Fortunately, there are enough humans, and there are quite a few weak ones among them. At worst, I'll just kill more; I can accumulate battle merits through quantity."

Xue Chenzi has to suppress his killing intent toward Miss Yuedong. He is a person skilled in forbearance; otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until he thought he had the upper hand before striking like thunder.

But now he understands that his strength is still insufficient, so he prepares to continue accumulating, waiting until he becomes stronger before seeking revenge.

But just as his divine sense is searching for a suitable mission on the task jade slip, fluctuations suddenly come from outside his cave dwelling.

These fluctuations were slight at first, but in the next instant, they became violently strong, causing the earth to shake and mountains to rock, with loud echoes reverberating.

The formation is shaken.

The cave door even develops cracks.

This sudden change causes Xue Chenzi's expression to shift, and he raises his right hand, about to press it toward the ground.

On the ground around him, teleportation marks are clearly inscribed.

As long as he presses, he can teleport.

But his hand, when three inches from the ground, suddenly pauses, and in the shadow beneath him, an eye opens.

That is Little Shadow.

It erupts at the critical moment.

Although it hasn't fully controlled Xue Chenzi, it can still manage this one control.

Xue Chenzi's mind shakes violently, and instinctively, a low roar escapes his mouth as he struggles to lift his left hand to continue slapping the teleportation array on the ground.

But at this moment, a cold voice emerges amidst his low roar.

"Found you."

In the next instant, amidst the roaring in Xue Chenzi's mind, Xu Qing's figure emerges from Xue Chenzi's low roar in a highly bizarre manner, manifesting his true form through sound waves.

In the blink of an eye, he is incomparably clear, and his right hand is raised, grabbing Xue Chenzi by the throat.

He takes the opportunity to rush forward, dragging Xue Chenzi's body out of the teleportation array and slamming him hard against the cave wall.

Boom!

The cave shakes, and the mountain vibrates.

Xue Chenzi's eyes widen, his mind horrified, and he attempts to counterattack, but the hand gripping his throat sends a force that makes his whole body tremble, and his body is crazily and swiftly invaded by alien substances.

This scene makes his soul scatter in fear, and instinctively, he is about to unleash some hidden trump cards, but in the next instant, he discovers with even greater terror that his body... is unable to move.

Within his shadow, countless eyes appear.

Under Xu Qing's strike, Little Shadow takes advantage of the shaking in Xue Chenzi's mind to successfully parasitize him.

Thus, the fear in Xue Chenzi's eyes grows stronger, especially since the person before him, while looking like a stranger at first glance, feels vaguely familiar.

This feeling of strangeness and familiarity intertwines, and after it erupts in his mind, he suddenly remembers.

For someone who has obtained a large amount of battle merits and killed many human cultivators, he has viewed the portraits of some high-level humans.

And this one before him... is exactly the one he saw in the high-level human portraits... the Lord of the two Human Domains, Grand Tutor Xu Qing!

Xu Qing has actually appeared in the Holy Land and appeared before him, striking at him...

This matter causes Xue Chenzi's mind to feel as if a heavenly thunder has fallen, and amidst the rumbling explosions, he also suddenly realizes that this matter must be related to Miss Yuedong.

It must be said that his reaction is still very fast.

But unfortunately, it is too late now.

Xu Qing is expressionless, grabs Xue Chenzi, and turns to leave the cave dwelling.

Remaining hidden all the way, several hours later, he finds a wasteland, walks into the underground, and after opening a grotto, he finally releases Xue Chenzi's throat and sits cross-legged to the side.

Staring at Xue Chenzi, he remains silent in thought.

And in Xue Chenzi's eyes, there is both despair and madness, but unable to control his own body, he can only watch helplessly as his body kneels before Xu Qing.

The grotto is silent.

After a long while, Xu Qing first uses the Clothes Clan's Profound Heaven Demon Moon Pill to form a pill targeting Xue Chenzi, then his right eye erases the Dao marks transformed by his power, flashing suddenly. Looking through his eye, a large number of threads of fate appear on Xue Chenzi's body.

After a careful look, amidst Xue Chenzi's trembling mind, Xu Qing raises his hand to take one and observes it carefully.

On this illusory thread, as Xu Qing had seen before, there are quite a few white dust particles; they are also illusory, stained within the thread, and are gradually becoming one with it.

Xu Qing intends to remove these dust particles and attempts to do so, but the moment they are removed, the dust particles disappear on their own.

Xu Qing frowns.

This white dust is very important to him.

Only by finding its source and obtaining enough dust can he utilize its trait of being untainted by karma to make his idea of cultivating by creating a clone feasible.

Thus, after a long while, Xu Qing's left eye also flashes with Dao marks; that is the power of the Six Thieves Delusion Immortal Art.

At this moment, Xue Chenzi's heart roars again. On one hand, he confirms that Xu Qing and Miss Yuedong must be together; on the other hand, he is also shocked by Xu Qing's power.

To possess two powers before becoming a Sovereign—this is something that has never happened in his memory!

And before his shock could last too long, under the gaze of Xu Qing's dual-eye Dao marks, Xue Chenzi's mind blurs, and he loses consciousness.

But Xu Qing's research has only just begun.

He wants to explore what this dust actually is.

At this moment, under his dual-eye Dao marks, the threads on Xue Chenzi's body are not only comprehensive but also appear in color.

They contain karma and contain the seven emotions and six desires.

Xu Qing raises his hand to grab and study them one by one.

Just like that, time passes, and five days go by.

In these five days, Xu Qing does not sleep or rest, immersed in research, but regrettably, no matter how many times he tries, those white dust particles disappear on their own the moment he removes them.

No method can preserve them.

This makes Xu Qing's frown grow tighter and tighter.

"Could it be that the direction is wrong..."

At this moment, as the dawn of the sixth day arrives in the outside world, Xu Qing suddenly raises his hand, snaps one of Xue Chenzi's fingers, and holds it in his hand to observe the flesh and blood, while also not wasting a single drop of the other's blood, beginning a deep exploration of his physical body.

It starts with the finger, then the palm, then the arm, and eventually extends to the internal organs.

Even Xue Chenzi's Great Worlds are within the scope of Xu Qing's research.

Finally, within Xue Chenzi's flesh and blood, he discovers white dust hidden extremely deep.

This discovery makes Xu Qing's spirit lift.

But that is all, because the white dust within the flesh and blood also disappears rapidly after being separated from Xue Chenzi's body.

It is as if Xue Chenzi himself is the source.

"It exists within the threads of fate, and it also exists within the flesh and blood, but it is not in the Great Worlds. Then what about the soul..."

Several more days pass. After finishing the research on the physical body, Xu Qing feeds Xue Chenzi some pills to keep him alive, as he is on the verge of death.

Subsequently, he begins his research on his soul.

Researching the soul requires extra caution, because a slightly excessive force will cause irreversible results.

This will affect Xu Qing's subsequent research.

So the time taken is also longer than before. Ten days later, Xu Qing withdraws his divine sense, his frown deepening again.

In the soul, he searched all areas and found no white dust.

"Very strange. This Xue Chenzi is both like a source and not like a source."

Xu Qing ponders for a moment, then suddenly raises his hand, releasing a trace of his own Misfortune Divine Power, wrapping it around Xue Chenzi's threads of fate, while also unleashing some of the Six Thieves Delusion Immortal Art to continue the invasion.

Then, he focuses all his attention, observing carefully.

A few days later, Xu Qing finishes his research, closes his eyes, and ponders.

Through these few days of observation, he has seen clearly the function of the white dust. The so-called "untainted by karma" is actually the white dust devouring karma.

It slowly devours the invasion of misfortune and the seven emotions and six desires.

"Cannot be stripped... then now, only two paths remain."

"No matter which one succeeds, it is acceptable to me."

Xu Qing's gaze rests on Xue Chenzi before him.

At this moment, the other is no longer in human form; his flesh and blood are growing in a disordered manner, looking very ferocious, yet all around are severed limbs and broken flesh.

Mentally, he is completely withered.

On the verge of death.

Only the fire of life, under Xu Qing's reinforcement, is still burning.

Now being stared at by Xu Qing, Xue Chenzi's heart is already numb; the experiences of this month make him want only death.

In the next instant, Xu Qing raises his hand, and with a grab, pulls Xue Chenzi's soul out, then seals it to the side.

The first path he wants to take is to refine Xue Chenzi's physical body, using the secret techniques of the Alien Immortal School to transform it into his own clone.

The difficulty lies in the homology with his own body and the peculiarity of the white dust, but once successful, Xu Qing would effectively have a clone untainted by karma. Afterward, cultivating with this clone would allow him to bypass the restrictions of the main body.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing forms seals with both hands, and immediately, threads of soul fly out, merging into the flesh and blood before him, beginning the refinement.

Three days later, as the human shape pieced together before Xu Qing turns into a pool of blood and scatters, Xu Qing's refinement fails.

"In the end, it cannot be homologous with me... even if I merge with soul threads and reshape my soul within this body, it still doesn't work. Furthermore, that white dust is too special, which is also one of the reasons for the failure."

Xu Qing sighs, rubs his brow, and his gaze falls on Xue Chenzi's remaining soul to the side.

"Then, only the last path remains."

Xu Qing's eyes reveal decisiveness. This last path is to use Xue Chenzi's soul scattering as the price to perform soul searching.

Thereby searching for the source of those white dust particles within his threads of fate.

Thinking of this, a decisive glint flashes in Xu Qing's eyes, and he raises his right hand to grab, immediately catching Xue Chenzi's soul in his hand.

His divine sense expands violently, and amidst Xue Chenzi's soul's wailing, he invades comprehensively, bit by bit, not letting go of any memory fragments, beginning a destructive excavation.

He sees Xue Chenzi's childhood, sees his growth, sees his feud with Miss Yuedong, and even sees the human cultivators he killed to obtain battle merits.

Countless memory fragments emerge frame by frame before Xu Qing like a tide.

Until finally, Xu Qing's focus is placed on the memories from three months ago.

Three months ago, Xue Chenzi, relying on accumulated battle merits, exchanged for a qualification to go to the Boundary Source Secret Realm!

The Boundary Source Secret Realm is a precious place in East Moyu, containing rich world aura and a large number of rules and laws, which is of great help to God-Concealing cultivators in shaping new worlds.

It previously belonged to the Lan family, but now that the Lan family has fallen, the ownership has changed to Lu Lingzi.

Previously, this secret realm was not open to the public, but due to the current war, it has been opened as a strategic resource, allowing all Moyu Holy Land cultivators to exchange for qualifications with massive military merits.

Xue Chenzi was there when he shaped his seventh Great World.

And it was after leaving this secret realm that white dust appeared in Xue Chenzi's fate!

After careful examination and confirmation of this point, as Xue Chenzi's soul is extinguished, Xu Qing opens his eyes, revealing a sharp glint.

"Xue Chenzi's changes appeared in a canyon within that secret realm. Unfortunately, the memory from entering the canyon until leaving is blank."

"But it can be confirmed that the source is this Boundary Source Secret Realm..."

"It seems I need to make a trip to this secret realm, go to that canyon within the secret realm, and see what Xue Chenzi experienced inside..."

After pondering, Xu Qing takes out Xue Chenzi's mission jade slip.

To go to the Boundary Source Secret Realm, a large amount of battle merits is needed to exchange for qualifications.

And in this jade slip, the mission ranked first is precisely the wanted notice for Lin Tao.

Xu Qing takes a look, scans his divine sense over other missions, and after a long while, he narrows his eyes, having already made a decision in his heart.

Thus, his body flickers, and he vanishes instantly from this grotto.

When he appears, he is already in the sky, transformed into Xue Chenzi.

The Clothes Clan's pill makes Xu Qing's aura consistent with Xue Chenzi's, and through this month of mastery, Xu Qing has reached a level of subtlety, combined with the stitching of the Great Emperor's needle, he is now a perfect replacement.

It is now dawn, the sun is bright, and amidst the morning light, Xu Qing waves his large sleeve, blood mist rises, and he heads straight for the horizon.

Two-in-one, 6200 words.