The mysterious woman that Erniu was talking about was panting at this moment. Her eyes stared at Xu Qing as though she was looking at a monster.
She had indeed planned to sell out Chen Daqing, who had entered with her, as a scapegoat and divert the trouble. Moreover, she had concealed her traces very well throughout, so no matter what Chen Daqing said, there would be no traces of her.
However, now, the waves in her heart had reached a monstrous level.
She knew of the Variant Immortal School.
In fact, she was familiar with almost all the schools in the Academy, which was related to her status as a student and her background.
Not only was she familiar with the various schools of Imperial Academy, but she also knew more about the super sects in the outside world than ordinary people.
However, precisely because she understood, the shock she felt at this moment was so great.
'Hundreds of thousands of soul threads… Neither Li Xuanfeng nor Chen Daoze could achieve that back then!'
'It was said that Li Xuanfeng had 50,000 soul threads. Chen Daoze had more, but even then, he only had 70,000 soul threads.'
'Unless… they didn't die and are still alive now, perhaps it would be possible…'
'However, that is impossible. Li Xuanfeng is a person from 8,000 years ago. Unless he reached Soul Accumulation, he won't be able to live for so long under the rules of the Heavenly Dao. Is he Chen Daoze? The rumors outside about Chen Daoze turning into a divine creature back then, unable to revert, and ultimately becoming a specimen, were false?'
This woman's mind was in extreme turmoil. Today's events had overturned her understanding. Hundreds of thousands of soul threads were terrifying.
In fact, because of this horror, her ordinary face appeared out of sync with her emotions and tone, seeming somewhat stiff, further confirming her use of a disguise.
She stared fixedly at Xu Qing, wanting to see some clues from Xu Qing to prove her almost ridiculous guess.
Xu Qing calmly met her gaze.
He didn't care about the other party's shock. Moreover, they had only met by chance, so there was no need for him to answer.
Hence, Xu Qing shifted his gaze away and looked at the Star Emperor Branch Sect. However, he sent out a wisp of his divine consciousness and locked onto the woman. If the other party had any ill intentions, he would attack immediately.
At the same time, he was also analyzing the Variant Immortal School's cultivation art he had displayed earlier.
This was the first time he had used the soul thread weaving technique in a fight. From the might, although it was a little insufficient, the change in his aura had an extremely great advantage.
Moreover, it was even faster and could display more changes than the first layer of the god form.
The most important thing was that he could break through the original upper limit. As long as he had enough soul threads, he could continue to advance.
'The original upper limit is determined by the form the soul threads are weaved into. The number of soul threads needed for the first god form would be in millions if they were soul threads of the Variant Immortal School.'
'However, my soul threads are all formed from divine sources, so 200,000 is enough.'
'However, the second god form is more powerful and complicated than the first god form. From this, I think it will take about 500,000 strands to weave it.'
'This is also the reason why I need the flesh of the Crimson Goddess to replenish my second god form using a normal method.'
Using the method of the Variant Immortal School, Xu Qing gained a deeper understanding of his god form by analogy.
'I still have too few soul threads…'
'I'll go back tonight and try to see if I can refine the flesh of the Crimson Goddess into soul threads with the method of the Variant Immortal School!'
Xu Qing fell silent.
The woman opposite him increasingly felt that Xu Qing was unfathomable. The more Xu Qing didn't speak and she couldn't obtain any clues or details, the more her mind raced with various thoughts and speculations.
These speculations made Xu Qing even more mysterious in her mind.
Just like that, time flowed by. In this silence, an hour passed.
Looking at the dark sky and sensing that dawn was about to arrive, Xu Qing slowly frowned.
According to his understanding of the captain, the other party usually wasn't so slow; rather, he tended to favor quick and decisive actions, which aligned more with his temperament.
But now, it was taking a little too long.
"Something might have happened to that friend of yours…"
Seeing that dawn was about to arrive, the mysterious woman hesitated for a moment before speaking.
However, the instant she finished speaking, the resplendent mountain where the Star Emperor Branch Sect was located suddenly shone and a figure rushed out.
It was the captain.
He looked ragged all over, quite disheveled, with numerous wounds covering his body, each one a gaping hole from which blood gushed out incessantly. However, despite his condition, his expression was remarkably uplifted.
After he appeared, he only glanced at Xu Qing and Xu Qing understood his intentions. He didn't hesitate at all. With a raise of his hand, 310,000 soul threads erupted outwards, forming a vast earth child.
He released it with all his might.
This huge beetle emitted a terrifying pressure from its entire body. Divinity fluctuated outside, while its essence was the power of a cultivator. It let out a soundless roar at the sky and pressured the resplendent mountain behind the captain.
At the next instant, fluctuations spread from the resplendent mountain. Dozens of figures rushed out from within. All of them emitted fury and intense killing intent.
However, the moment they appeared, it was precisely when Xu Qing's earth child descended.
A rumbling sound echoed through the sky.
What was even more astonishing was that with a thought from Xu Qing, his soul threads erupted and transformed, forming a divine creature called yin fiend.
Yin fiend was a divine creature that appeared in the west of the Wanggu Continent. It looked similar to a spider but its body wasn't circular but long, like a centipede.
To a certain extent, it was more like a fusion between a spider and a centipede.
After it appeared, it opened its mouth, spewing out black threads. There were countless of them, forming a large net that directly enveloped the resplendent mountain.
It blocked the dozens of people who were about to chase after them.
After doing this, Xu Qing didn't hesitate at all. He directly crushed a teleportation token and his figure instantly disappeared.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the time bought by Xu Qing's interception, the captain also managed to escape, crushing a teleportation token and disappearing without a trace.
Throughout the entire process, they didn't say a word. It was just a glance…
As for the woman, although she didn't have the tacit understanding with Xu Qing and the captain, she also quickly left and hid in the night.
However, at the next instant, her hidden figure suddenly erupted with a piercing blue light that was especially eye-
catching in the dark night.
The expression of the speeding woman changed. She didn't need to analyze it to immediately guess that this must be the doing of Chen Daqing and Ergou. As for who it was, she felt that the possibility of it being Chen Daqing was the highest.
"Damn it!"
The woman hid again but her body still emitted light. In her anxiety, she activated a secret art and spat out a mouthful of blood before forcefully suppressing the light.
At the same time, the resplendent mountain rumbled. Experts attacked and directly blasted open the seal. As the soul threads dissipated one after another, a white-haired old man rushed out.
This old man wore a starry sky robe and his face was ashen. His eyes were filled with anger. After he walked out, he looked at the empty surroundings and then at the place where the woman's blue light disappeared. His voice echoed with killing intent.
"Check the surroundings and search for all clues, especially the location of the blue light. Also, report it to the main sect. We must find the thief!"
The expressions of the dozens of people behind him were also unsightly. They nodded and began to pursue. Most of them rushed in the direction the woman's blue light disappeared in.
As for the old man, he suppressed the anger that was about to erupt and turned to look at the mountain peak. As he looked at the remnants of the spell there, a puzzled expression gradually appeared on his face.
He vaguely felt that he had seen traces of this spell somewhere before.
Hence, he lifted his right hand and grabbed fiercely, grabbing a piece of mountain rock that had come into contact with Xu Qing's soul thread. He held it before him and took a closer look. In the end, disbelief appeared in his gaze and his pupils instantly narrowed.
He realized what it was!
"Soul threads of the Variant Immortal School?"
The Variant Immortal School was once the number one sect in Imperial Academy. Although it had declined now, it was very famous. Since ancient times, there had been a lot of people who had learned the cultivation arts of the Variant Immortal School.
Hence, to the experts in the Imperial City, they weren't unfamiliar with this. However, it had been too many years since an outstanding individual appeared in the Variant Immortal School. As a result, there had been fewer and fewer cultivators, so the old man didn't think of it immediately.
After thinking of the Variant Immortal School, the old man's mind instinctively recalled the earth child and yin fiend, as well as the pressure emitted by these two divine creatures.
All of this instantly caused waves in his heart.
"Mastery stage of the Variant Immortal School's cultivation art!"
The old man suddenly turned his head and looked into the distance. After that, he took out a jade slip and immediately transmitted his voice to the main sect, asking for information about the Variant Immortal School.
As the information was transmitted, the more he read, the more bewildered he became. Recalling the two godly creatures from before and contrasting them to the information, his mind slowly rumbled.
"50,000 soul threads is the threshold of mastery stage."
"100,000 soul threads is the peak of mastery…"
"However, from the fluctuations, the godly creature that just appeared here has more than 100,000 soul threads. That's formed by hundreds of thousands of soul threads!"
"This matter…"
The old man rushed out and headed straight for the main sect.
As the sun rose in the distance, the sky gradually dispelled the darkness and lit up.
Xu Qing had already returned to Ning Yan's mansion but there was no sign of the captain.
Xu Qing was already used to this and didn't care. In any case, since the captain had teleported away, he couldn't die.
As for what the captain had stolen from the Star Emperor Branch Sect, Xu Qing wasn't particularly curious. At that moment, his focus was on the cultivation art of the Variant Immortal School.
"Everything I did tonight was done using the Variant Immortal School's cultivation art, so the possibility of me being exposed is extremely slim."
"Then, the most critical thing now is to see if I can refine the flesh of Crimson Goddess into soul threads."
Xu Qing walked into the confidential chamber and sealed the surroundings to isolate the aura. He then took out the ancient sun and made it float above his head to suppress his surroundings. Only then did he sit down cross-legged. A sharp glint appeared in his gaze as he took out a piece of Crimson Goddess' flesh.
As soon as this flesh appeared, terrifying godly fluctuations rose.
Xu Qing focused and began refining.
Time flowed by.
In the early morning outside, snowflakes were still falling on the Imperial City. Everything looked very calm but as the Star Emperor's branch sect investigated, the news of the theft began to circulate within the city.
It was destined that a storm that would cause a sensation in Imperial Academy was about to form.
