Devouring Soul Emperor

Chapter 334: Chapter 334: The Coming Storm

Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but feel that there was something strange about the Martial Soul Hall.

Logically, with a behemoth like the Martial Soul Hall operating secretly in Lianshan County, the Great Xia Dragon Guard should have been closely monitoring its every move.

Yet, in just over ten days, they had managed to intercept and kill seven to eight hundred Small Spirit Realm experts all across Lianshan County. An operation of that scale, regardless of whether it involved dispatching Earth Spirit Realm or Small Spirit Realm experts, would have required a massive mobilization. The Great Xia Dragon Guard couldn’t possibly have been completely oblivious.

Chu Qingyun’s expression was grave as he walked out of the Assignments Office.

From the towns targeted in the previous special mission, to being precisely ambushed by the Martial Soul Hall on his very first assignment, and now to the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s loss of seven to eight hundred Small Spirit Realm Guard Generals...

All of it gave him a distinct premonition.

’It seems something monumental is about to happen. The Martial Soul Hall, an organization that has always lurked in the shadows, is baring its fangs more and more frequently. And with its sights aimed squarely at the Great Xia Dragon Guard, it’s definitely not acting without a purpose...’

"The winds are rising, heralding a coming storm..."

Chu Qingyun let out a soft sigh, and his gaze hardened with resolve once more.

’Be it the Great Xia Dragon Guard or the Martial Soul Hall, no matter what is about to transpire, the most important thing for me is to increase my own strength!’

In the world of Martial Artists, strength was, in the end, the only thing that truly mattered.

Having recently become an Alchemist and won the life-or-death challenge against the Dong Family, Chu Qingyun had, to some extent, grown a bit complacent and let his guard down.

However, the pressure from the Martial Soul Hall had now put him on edge again.

After leaving the Assignments Office, Chu Qingyun went straight to the Exchange Hall.

After advancing to a first-level Martial Spirit, his Sword Qi had grown to twenty centimeters long. It had become much more condensed, representing a huge leap forward.

This made it clear that within the Martial Spirit Realm, every single level of advancement would result in a massive boost to his Sword Qi. But this also presented a problem: Thunderlight Stones.

After all, what Chu Qingyun cultivated was a special Sword Qi from a king-grade Sword Technique. At every stage of its growth, the Sword Qi needed to be infused with sufficient Thunder Light Power, allowing the two to develop in tandem.

If he missed a stage, it would be very difficult to compensate for it later.

By Chu Qingyun’s estimation, for his Sword Qi to grow from three centimeters to twenty, he would need over thirty Thunderlight Stones to fully saturate it with Thunder Light Power.

Including the Military Merits he had just earned, Chu Qingyun had a total of just over twenty thousand—far from enough to buy thirty Thunderlight Stones.

Left with no other choice, Chu Qingyun took out a few Elixirs and sold them to the Exchange Hall, preparing to also purchase the Secret Techniques for the Fourth and Fifth Layers of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern.

No one would refuse something like Elixirs. The Exchange Hall not only accepted them gladly but also gave Chu Qingyun a relatively high price!

Chu Qingyun gathered enough Military Merits to buy the remaining two Secret Technique layers for the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, along with thirty-three Thunderlight Stones. Combined with the two he already had, he now had a total of thirty-five, which he figured should be enough.

After returning to his new Guard General-level residence, Chu Qingyun entered seclusion to use the Thunderlight Stones and fuse their Thunder Light Power into his Sword Qi.

The more the Sword Qi grew, the more stable it became.

Fusing it with Thunder Light Power also became easier.

It took him the entire afternoon, but Chu Qingyun successfully fused all the Thunder Light Power from the thirty-five Thunderlight Stones into his Sword Qi.

The gray Sword Qi was once again filled with faint violet markings.

During this process, Chu Qingyun also tried to unleash the Thunder Light Sword Qi using his finger or the vines of his Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine.

However, he discovered that with his current cultivation level and understanding of Sword Qi, he was not yet able to use the Thunder Light Sword Qi without his Thundercloud Sword.

The transition from fighting with a sword to fighting without one wasn’t a simple matter of Sword Techniques. It was more a state of mind, a level of enlightenment.

Chu Qingyun had already made this transition when it came to his Sword Momentum.

When it came to Sword Qi, however, he had obviously just started and was still a long way from the "swordless" realm.

During yesterday’s life-or-death challenge, Chu Qingyun had killed a total of twelve Small Spirit Realm experts from the Dong Family. Among them, only two possessed Tier Three Martial Souls.

Both were very common Attack-type Martial Souls, so Chu Qingyun didn’t bother keeping them and directly used his Devouring Martial Soul to convert them into Martial Soul Power.

However, when it came to which Martial Soul to strengthen next, Chu Qingyun was hesitant.

Including his Devouring Martial Soul, he now had a total of eight Martial Souls in his Qi Sea. Of those, the Devouring Martial Soul, Fire Martial Soul, and Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul had already been raised to Tier Four.

As for which to strengthen next, Chu Qingyun hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding on the Iron Wall Martial Soul.

Of the remaining five Martial Souls, the ones he used most often were undoubtedly the Thousand-faced Martial Soul, the Shadow Martial Soul, and the Iron Wall Martial Soul. However, the Tier Three Soul Techniques of his Thousand-faced and Shadow Martial Souls were still perfectly adequate for now.

The Iron Wall Martial Soul, on the other hand, was a different story.

Normally, a Tier Three Iron Wall Martial Soul would be considered quite a good Martial Soul for the average Martial Spirit Level expert.

But Chu Qingyun was different. The battles he was fighting now often involved opponents one or even two levels above him, large groups of enemies, or foes who possessed powerful Secret Techniques.

Supported by the Primordial Power of a first-level Martial Spirit, even his Tier Four Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul sometimes felt strained, to say nothing of the Tier Three Iron Wall.

For example, when facing the desperate all-out attack from the Blue Ink Martial Soul’s True Form, his Iron Wall Martial Soul had been torn apart almost instantly, accomplishing nothing.

Therefore, to prevent a critical weakness in his defense, Chu Qingyun decided that even though the Martial Soul Power he could get from Tier Three souls was scarce, he would prioritize upgrading the Iron Wall Martial Soul to Tier Four.

The Martial Soul Power from the two Tier Three Martial Souls successfully strengthened the Iron Wall Martial Soul to 14%.

It was already getting late, so Chu Qingyun decided against visiting the Qin Family. He had a quick dinner, returned to his residence, and began studying the Fourth Layer of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern.

However, just as night had completely fallen and Chu Qingyun was preparing to rest, a soft knock came from his courtyard gate.

Chu Qingyun raised an eyebrow, wondering who could be looking for him at this hour.

’It definitely isn’t Xia He or Xiao Feng,’ he thought. ’If it were them, it wouldn’t be a soft knock, but a loud POUND POUND POUND on the gate.’

He left his house and opened the courtyard gate to find a stranger standing outside.

By the moonlight, Chu Qingyun could vaguely make out that the man had ordinary features. However, he could faintly perceive a weak and obscure aura emanating from him.

From this alone, Chu Qingyun could roughly determine the man’s identity. ’An expert of the Earth Spirit Realm!’