Chapter 787: No Secrets Before the Divine

The cultivator, who resembled a shopkeeper, was utterly bewildered; the scene unfolding before his eyes sent his mind into a frenzy.

He had heard of time reversal techniques, but they were typically used for retrospection, allowing one to observe the past without truly altering it. Furthermore, only Great Cultivators at the Void Return stage were capable of such feats.

Yet now... he had clearly employed every suicidal method: he was poisoned, his physical restraints had erupted, and his soul fire was ablaze. By all accounts, he should have been dead, leaving no trace.

But... with a mere flick of Xu Qing's hand, everything reversed. His own timeline shifted, rewinding to seven breaths prior.

This revelation sent his mind reeling, and the terrifying shadow materializing behind Xu Qing made his soul tremble, even causing a sharp sting in his eyes.

"How is this possible!"

In his terror, the shopkeeper-like cultivator rapidly recoiled, attempting to use his previous self-destructing trick once more. However, this time, it was clearly too late.

With a single step, Xu Qing instantly materialized before the shopkeeper. He raised his right hand, seizing the man's chin, and with a sharp shake, all of the man's teeth, along with the re-formed poison sacs, were dislodged and expelled from his mouth.

Horror flashed in the shopkeeper's eyes, and he was about to struggle.

Wisps of soul threads instantly emanated from Xu Qing, piercing into the man's body like dazzling, sharp swords. Wherever they passed, all his restraints were effortlessly shattered, unable to activate in the slightest.

A muffled groan escaped the shopkeeper's lips. The next instant, the soul seed within him instantly turned against him, surging toward his soul to suppress any self-immolation attempts.

At that moment, all of his techniques utterly failed, preemptively neutralized by Xu Qing. This entire sequence unfolded in a flash, and Xu Qing remained expressionless throughout.

To the shopkeeper, everything was bizarre and inconceivable, but for Xu Qing, it was all effortlessly done.

With all the opponent's methods suppressed, Xu Qing saw no need to question him further. He had already formed a basic conclusion based on the man's prior reactions.

Without hesitation, he raised his left hand and pressed it onto the cultivator's head, infusing his divine sense to begin... soul searching!

Soul searching, in the world of cultivation, is an exceptionally cruel technique. As it typically involves a higher-level cultivator forcibly probing a lower-level one, the contact can leave the victim's soul dim or, in severe cases, completely shattered.

To extract specific details, the soul search must be even more exhaustive, often involving techniques of fragmentation and destruction.

This was precisely the method Xu Qing was employing.

Under Xu Qing's probing, the shopkeeper's soul began to fracture, with an increasing number of cracks appearing. Horrifically shrill, inhuman screams of agony emanated from the shopkeeper's mouth.

The sound was like a ghostly wail, filled with extreme torment. A mortal hearing it would surely suffer nightmares for a long time; even a cultivator would be chilled to the bone.

However, high in the sky, tens of thousands of miles up and with no one around, the 'beauty' of this sound found no audience to appreciate it.

Only Xu Qing meticulously shattered the man's soul, examining every past memory. Gradually, the entirety of the shopkeeper's life unfolded in his mind.

The man's origins, identity, and other details gradually became clear. As the information was too complex, Xu Qing quickly skimmed it, focusing instead on events from half a month prior.

At last, he saw the scene he sought.

It was a hidden civilian residence, more than half a month ago, where a black-robed figure spoke.

But just as Xu Qing attempted a more detailed examination, the scene vanished. The shopkeeper's soul had completely shattered and ceased to exist, leaving only a limp, motionless corpse.

Xu Qing's brows furrowed slightly.

"This person's soul is inherently incomplete... unable to withstand a more intensive soul search."

Xu Qing recalled his initial scan of the man's life.

"In his early years, he joined an organization whose origins he didn't know. While it offered him a new lease on life, it also severely restricted his existence."

"As for the specifics..."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, retrieving the man's storage bag, from which he found a black pot.

A sweep of his divine sense made Xu Qing's expression turn even grimmer: inside were hundreds of thousands of human souls...

After a moment of silence, Xu Qing flickered and vanished, traveling to several locations he had gleaned from the man's memories.

Each location was a harvesting point set up by the opponent. Due to his accomplice's exposure, the situation had become tense, so these harvesting points had not been activated.

Xu Qing visited each location, destroying them and meticulously documenting the evidence.

He then departed from the ring-shaped continent.

The shopkeeper's corpse was, of course, also taken by him as further evidence.

Five days later, in the Jiuzhou Commandery of the Daotian Domain.

This commandery was one of the seven human enclaves, not far from the Imperial Capital Domain. After five days of relentless travel and extensive use of teleportation arrays, Xu Qing finally arrived.

It was late at night when he arrived.

Xu Qing had previously passed through this commandery on his journey to the Imperial Capital but had not lingered, quickly activating an ancient teleportation array to leave.

Now, returning with a heart full of murderous intent, he vanished the moment he stepped out of the teleportation array, speeding towards the location pinpointed by the soul seed.

Of the original three individuals, one had been slain by the Tianzhao Commandery Governor, another annihilated by Xu Qing, and the last... was right here.

Outsiders would find his hiding place difficult to locate, but with his soul seed integrated, Xu Qing could clearly discern every trace.

As he intended to purge this menace and uncover the mastermind, he naturally had to eradicate them completely. Additionally, he needed another soul search to confirm the identity of the black-robed figure he had seen in the civilian residence.

"The opponent's soul seed has been stationary in one location for several hours."

Under the cloak of night, Xu Qing teleported across Jiuzhou Commandery. Half an hour later, he appeared above a mountain range.

The mountain range lay shrouded in darkness, with only the occasional sounds of birds and beasts, and the rustling of wind through the foliage.

Otherwise, it was perfectly still.

Xu Qing's gaze swept the area, his form blurring as he shot forward.

The next moment, his form solidified outside a natural cave deep within the mountain range.

Xu Qing frowned. He had sensed something amiss on his way here, and now standing before the cave, the feeling was even stronger. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he raised his right hand and waved. The hidden restrictions within the cave were instantly corroded by the peculiar energy he released, rendering them useless.

In an instant, Xu Qing was inside the cave.

A formation was active on the ground.

Within the formation lay a person.

It was a middle-aged individual, brimming with vitality yet utterly motionless.

He was unclothed, and his abdomen visibly pulsed. Xu Qing's soul seed was lodged within.

Beside the formation, a jade slip rested on the ground.

Xu Qing gazed at the person and the formation, then at the jade slip. After a quick divine sense scan confirmed no danger, he reached out and seized the slip. The moment he examined it, an ancient voice resonated from within.

"Whoever you are, your presence here indicates you, like me, are investigating the Heretic Immortal Dao Seed. I have already uncovered the answer."

"As for this individual, he is in a state of collapse, unable to withstand a soul search. However, under the augmentation of my formation, his soul has not entirely scattered, though it will not last much longer. You may examine him yourself."

Xu Qing was silent for a moment before speaking calmly.

"A mere trick."

"Little Shadow, spread out in all directions. Seal off your maximum range, and by any means, locate the hidden individual here."

The moment Xu Qing spoke, the shadow beneath his feet instantly expanded, conveying a flattering emotion before rapidly spreading to encompass the entire mountain range, and continuing to diffuse outwards.

Within its reach, all birds and beasts instantly trembled, possessed and utterly controlled by Little Shadow.

Xu Qing looked at the man on the ground. He did not believe the jade slip's message.

He leaned towards another possibility: that the individual he sought possessed mysterious methods to extract his own soul seed and implant it into another, thereby executing a perfect escape.

This method might not have been aimed solely at Xu Qing, as the opponent was unaware of his existence. Instead, it was likely designed to deceive Imperial Capital investigators.

Hence, this individual left the jade slip to create a diversion.

How the soul seed could be extracted without Xu Qing's detection was crucial, but there was indeed one plausible method.

The soul seed... was never actually removed. Instead, its non-removal, in a true sense, achieved the effect of being removed.

"A clone!"

Xu Qing's eyes gleamed with a cold light as he stared at the unconscious man on the ground.

If a clone had initially merged with the Dao Seed, and the main body had moved in conjunction with the clone, then this seemingly perfect deception could have been orchestrated.

The critical flaw in this plan, which led to Xu Qing's suspicion, was that no one could have possibly found this location faster than him.

Thus, according to the individual's plan, by the time anyone truly found this place, the clone would have already died, and the formation would provide all the necessary explanations. Presumably, even using time-reversal techniques would reveal no traces.

The man had indeed searched the clone's soul, set up a formation to prevent its soul from completely collapsing, and the clone had indeed been alive for some time.

It was simply that the investigator arrived late.

Xu Qing's eyes showed deep thought. He understood that if his conjecture was correct, his unusually swift arrival was something the individual could not have anticipated.

The traces at this site also indicated a recent setup.

"We'll know if this is the case with a single test."

Soul threads erupted within Xu Qing, rapidly weaving behind him to form... the third layer of the Divine State.

With a resounding rumble, the heavens and earth transformed, and winds surged.

A terrifying figure appeared behind Xu Qing, merging with him to become one.

Like a descending deity, it blurred the surroundings and unleashed strange matter. The cave walls, unable to bear it, began to disintegrate. At this moment, the landscape in all eight directions transformed.

The mountain became a tomb, the vegetation turned into skeletons, and the cave's location became a gigantic skull.

This scene was both illusory and real, making it difficult to discern the world's true appearance.

From this blurred expanse, a figure emerged.

Long purple hair trailed on the ground, shockingly sinister. Outside its crystal-like bones, flesh formed by countless interwoven blood threads expanded outwards, a horrifying sight.

Massive wings, formed from purple feathers and flesh, were present, and a purple moon rose behind it.

A terrifying divine presence also surged.

It was Xu Qing.

He walked towards the formation, raising his hand to grasp at the ground. The unconscious person instantly floated up, caught by the crown of his head.

This was not a soul search. Xu Qing intended to use the power of this divine presence to examine the unconscious man's life threads, seeking the location of his true body.

He had sent Little Shadow to spread out first, fearing that if the opponent was hiding nearby, they might be startled, become aware, and instantly teleport away.

"Traces of Life, open!"

The divine voice echoed through the heavens.