Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Level 7 Martial Artist, Thunder Sword Momentum
The Thundercloud Sword drew its power from the Demon Core of a Thundercloud Lion.
’Speaking of which, it shares a common origin with these purple stones. Perhaps the sword can use this pure Thunder Power.’
Chu Qingyun guided the pure Thunder Power along his meridians and out of his body. As it neared the Thundercloud Sword, the blade absorbed it with ease, just as it had absorbed the power from the Demon Core before.
With the successful test, Chu Qingyun began to use his Devouring Martial Soul to rapidly refine the power within the purple stones.
At first, he could only absorb some of the light purple energy, which he then had to move to his Qi Sea for the Devouring Martial Soul to consume and refine.
Later, as he grew more proficient, his process became much smoother. He could continuously absorb the light purple energy while simultaneously having his Devouring Martial Soul consume and refine it, outputting a steady stream of pure Primordial Power and Thunder Power.
He integrated all the Primordial Power directly into his meridians and Qi Sea. As time passed, the Primordial Power in his Qi Sea grew steadily.
By the time he had consumed a little less than half of the purple stones, Chu Qingyun’s Qi Sea was finally filled with Primordial Power.
This made Chu Qingyun slightly excited. He originally thought the purple stones only contained strong power, but he never expected them to be *this* strong.
According to his estimates, advancing from a Fifth-level Martial Artist to a Sixth-level one would likely require more than sixty drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid, perhaps even more.
But now, the Primordial Power contained in just under half of the purple stones was enough for him to break through to a Sixth-level Martial Artist!
This would undoubtedly save him a huge amount of cultivation resources.
After breaking through to a Sixth-level Martial Artist and his Primordial Power becoming more refined once again, Chu Qingyun continued to refine the remaining purple stones.
After refining all the purple stones, his Qi Sea, now at the Sixth-level Martial Artist realm, was once again filled to the brim with Primordial Power.
In one fell swoop, Chu Qingyun swallowed two drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid and used their power to compress the Primordial Power in his Qi Sea once more.
A deep RUMBLE seemed to echo from within his body.
His Primordial Power became several times more refined, and Chu Qingyun successfully broke through to become a Seventh-level Martial Artist!
Breaking through two consecutive levels, from a Fifth-level to a Seventh-level Martial Artist, not only increased the purity of the Primordial Power in his Qi Sea more than tenfold, but also greatly enhanced his physical strength and power.
As a Fifth-level Martial Artist, Chu Qingyun could already easily defeat an ordinary Ninth-level Martial Artist.
Now that he had reached the seventh level, he was confident he could easily handle even a Ninth-level Martial Artist from the Great Xia Dragon Guard!
’Zhang Yunqiu, Huang Ju, Wen Yanlie... Just you wait!’
Waves of killing intent rose in Chu Qingyun’s heart whenever he thought of those four.
They had seen the secret of his Storage Ring. If he didn’t kill them, Chu Qingyun would never be able to eat or sleep in peace.
The Thundercloud Sword had absorbed a massive amount of Thunder Power. The Thunder Aura on its dark blade grew even more brilliant, and its presence and power were far more formidable than before.
Picking up the Thundercloud Sword and feeling the power within the Spirit Level Divine Weapon, Chu Qingyun felt an overwhelming urge to unleash it.
Gripping the Treasure Sword, he couldn’t help but begin performing the Sword Techniques from the Thunder Sword Manual.
Starting from the very first strike, all the Sword Techniques flowed like water, executed in a single, fluid motion without any hesitation or blockage.
In an instant, his comprehension of the Sword Technique surged forth like a tidal wave.
Ever since mastering the first form, Thunderbolt Flash, Chu Qingyun had never stopped studying the second. It was a long accumulation for a sudden burst. Now, aided by the surging power of the Thundercloud Sword and through continuous practice, he finally had an epiphany and fully grasped the second sword of the Thunder Sword Manual.
"Thunder Sword Momentum!"
With a single slash, a blinding bolt of thunder as thick as a man erupted from the Thundercloud Sword. Hidden within this rampaging electricity was an even more powerful and sharp Sword Momentum.
The Thunder Sword Momentum lit up the cave as it slammed violently into the rock wall.
A loud BOOM echoed.
More than ten cracks instantly appeared on the impacted rock wall, spreading outward and shattering the entire surface.
The cracks grew larger, quickly spreading to the ceiling and other walls. The entire cavern began to shake, with stones and gravel constantly raining down.
"Damn it, it’s going to collapse!"
The corner of Chu Qingyun’s mouth twitched, and he hurriedly ran for the exit.
Not long after he ran out of the mountain cave, a deafening RUMBLE sounded from within. A huge cloud of dust billowed out, and Chu Qingyun knew that the massive cavern inside had completely collapsed...
Once outside the cave, Chu Qingyun took out his Assessment Token, wanting to check the current situation.
A single glance left Chu Qingyun stunned once again.
Zhao Hanfeng, who had been first in the Military Merits ranking, had somehow dropped to second. The new number one was Xia He, with 6,790 Military Merits!
’That guy... He actually stole Zhao Yunhao’s Military Merits, too...’
The image of that ostentatious and arrogant figure couldn’t help but surface in Chu Qingyun’s mind.
On the current Military Merits leaderboard, Xia He held the top spot with over six thousand points. Zhao Hanfeng was second with over four thousand. And because Zhao Yunhao’s points had dropped to zero, Chu Qingyun had moved up a spot to third place.
He had previously taken out six Ninth-level Martial Artists from the Martial Soul Hall, earning him another six hundred Military Merits, bringing his total to 1,260.
The top three contestants’ Military Merits combined accounted for more than 99% of the total. Furthermore, from fifth place downward, no one even had a three-digit score. It was clear just how concentrated the merits had become.
Chu Qingyun could only imagine how frantically the Great Xia Dragon Guard and the other contestants in the valley must be searching for them.
With his current strength, Chu Qingyun was naturally not satisfied with a mere thousand-odd Military Merits. This amount was even less than what he had earned in the second round of the assessment.
However, figuring out how to get out of this thick fog where he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face was also a problem.
After thinking for a moment, an idea came to him: he could use his Puppet.
Although Wen Yanlie and his group had taken the Puppet, it had been bound to him through a blood pact. A connection existed between the Puppet and its master.
Chu Qingyun calmed his heart and focused his spirit, carefully trying to sense the Puppet’s location. Sure enough, he vaguely perceived a direction.
By sensing for the direction every so often, Chu Qingyun followed the faint feeling for about twenty minutes and finally walked out of the thick fog.
The moment he stepped out of the Thick Fog District, his vision suddenly opened up, and even his spirits lifted.
The previous sensation of being unable to see his hand in front of his face had been far too oppressive.
Now, Chu Qingyun had two goals. First, to kill Zhang Yunqiu’s group of four before the third round of the assessment ended. Second, to get his hands on all those Military Merits.
To say he wasn’t tempted by over ten thousand Military Merits would be a lie.
These two goals seemed unrelated, but they could actually be accomplished together. After all, Zhang Yunqiu’s group—four Ninth-level Martial Artists working together—would surely be tempted by those Military Merits as well.
Therefore, what Chu Qingyun needed to do now was head to the most crowded area and find the whereabouts of either Xia He or Zhao Hanfeng.
