Devouring Soul Emperor

Chapter 356: Chapter 356: Blushing

After becoming a Level Two Martial Spirit, Chu Qingyun took the Strange Sword out of his Storage Ring.

"Thunder Light Sword Qi!"

Channeling the Primordial Power of a Level Two Martial Spirit, he unleashed his Thunder Light Sword Qi. A half-meter-long blade of Sword Qi instantly shot out from the Strange Sword, but the purple patterns within it were much fainter than before.

Chu Qingyun knew this was because the Sword Qi had grown, rendering his Thunder Light Power insufficient. He needed to infuse it with more Thunderlight Stones.

’That’s strange. Mu clearly didn’t seem to know any Sword Techniques. How did he manage to use Sword Qi?’

Retracting the Thunder Light Sword Qi, Chu Qingyun carefully examined the Strange Sword in his hand, pondering this question.

’Should I... try it myself?’

Chu Qingyun tentatively channeled the Primordial Power of his Level Two Martial Spirit into the Strange Sword. He only infused it with Primordial Power, without executing the Thunder Light Sword Qi technique.

Once the Primordial Power filled the entire Strange Sword, a twenty-centimeter-long, pale gray blade of Sword Qi suddenly shot out from it!

Chu Qingyun was once again astonished.

’The reason Mu was able to use Sword Qi had nothing to do with his own ability. The key was this Strange Sword!’

In the path of the sword, manifesting Sword Qi was considered a sign of true proficiency—a Minor Achievement in the Sword Dao. Countless Martial Artists, and even Martial Spirits, went their entire lives without ever reaching the Realm of Qi.

’And yet, with this Strange Sword, someone could manifest Sword Qi directly!’

’And it seems the strength of the Sword Qi is dependent on the amount of Primordial Power infused into it!’

’My Primordial Power as a Level Two Martial Spirit can produce a twenty-centimeter blade of Sword Qi, while Mu, a Level Three Martial Spirit, could create one half a meter long!’

’This Strange Sword... could it really be a King-grade Divine Weapon?’

Aside from a King-grade Divine Weapon, Chu Qingyun couldn’t think of any other explanation. But it was still odd. ’Even a King-grade Divine Weapon shouldn’t be impossible to bind...’

Just as Chu Qingyun was studying the Strange Sword, a knock came from the courtyard gate. The Celestial Wind Army Master had sent someone to deliver the promised Thunderlight Stones.

’That was fast...’

Chu Qingyun quickly put away the Strange Sword, opened the door, and accepted his Thunderlight Stones.

Inside a decorative brocade box, fifty Thunderlight Stones were neatly arranged—exactly fifty, no more, no less. When he opened it, a hazy, pale purple halo emanated from within, visible even in the daylight.

Chu Qingyun was already highly skilled at fusing Thunder Light Power into his Sword Qi.

It took him more than two hours to fuse all fifty Thunderlight Stones into his Thunder Light Sword Qi.

However, the Thunder Light Power within the Sword Qi was still not saturated; it was just a little short.

When it came to important matters of the Martial Dao, Chu Qingyun always strove for perfection. Even if perfection was unattainable, he had to do his absolute best.

Since the Thunder Light Power was still lacking, he naturally had to do everything he could to supplement it.

Rummaging through his Storage Ring, Chu Qingyun found a Nascent Condensation Pill. It was a reward from a previous special mission; he had forgotten to sell it at the last auction.

In addition to the Nascent Condensation Pill, he also scrounged up a few Violent Yuan Pills. After a quick calculation, he figured they would sell for enough Military Merits. And so, Chu Qingyun headed to the exchange post once more.

Seeing Chu Qingyun arrive to sell Elixirs again, the white-bearded Appraiser at the exchange post was practically beaming.

There wasn’t a single Alchemist in the Great Xia Dragon Guards, so they welcomed any and all Elixirs. Moreover, Violent Yuan Pills were quite effective for experts of the Earth Spirit Realm, and even the Celestial Spirit Realm.

To purchase a Violent Yuan Pill listed at the exchange, one needed at least Grand Commander-level clearance.

After selling the Elixirs, Chu Qingyun had an idea. He pretended to straighten his clothes, using the movement to take the damaged Thundercloud Sword out from his Storage Ring.

The Appraiser, however, was busy examining the Elixirs and didn’t notice a thing.

"Ahem, excuse me, sir. Could you take a look at this sword for me? Can it be repaired? Or perhaps you know of any skilled Artifact Refining Masters in the County City?"

Chu Qingyun asked, passing the Thundercloud Sword over.

"A Spirit Level Treasure Sword?"

The Appraiser recognized it at a glance and took it with a chuckle. "I’ve done a bit of research on weapons myself. While I’m no Artifact Refining Master, I can certainly take a look for you..."

The moment he took the Thundercloud Sword, a bolt of lightning sparked from the break, making his eyebrows twitch in surprise.

The old Appraiser shook his head as he inspected the Thundercloud Sword, tapping and prodding it. "Forged with Extraterrestrial Meteorite Iron as the primary component... the materials are very ordinary. The choice of supplementary materials is also questionable. It shouldn’t have included Star Sand..."

"The forging technique is crude. Definitely the work of a novice..."

"And this... sigh. The Spirit Awakening technique is even cruder. The power from the Demon Core was just forcibly crammed into the blade in the most brutish way possible..."

Hearing the Appraiser’s critique, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but blush.

He blushed on behalf of Master Jin from Flame City, and also for himself. Master Jin had handled the material selection and forging, but the Spirit Awakening had been his own work. ’It’s not wrong to call me a novice, I guess...’

"If you ask me, this sword is a lost cause. It could be repaired, sure, but it’s completely worthless to do so. Your Token records show you have a one-time purchasing right at the Grand Commander level. You could just go to the Grand Commander’s section and buy a new one. I recall they have three Spirit Level Treasure Swords in stock, all of them far superior in quality to this one."

The Appraiser said, handing the Thundercloud Sword back to Chu Qingyun.

Chu Qingyun, however, just shook his head slightly. ’If that’s the case, then forget it. It’s not like I’m short on swords, now that I have the Strange Sword.’

’As for this Thundercloud Sword, I’ll just let it sit in my Storage Ring from now on. It can serve as a memento.’

This did, however, remind Chu Qingyun that he still had his one-time Grand Commander-level purchasing privilege left to use.

Spending some Military Merits, Chu Qingyun bought another twenty Thunderlight Stones. Then he went to the Grand Commander’s section and purchased a Tier Four Ice-type Spiritual Medicine. Afterward, he returned to his quarters and continued Refining the Thunderlight Stones.

That same afternoon, something occurred in Lianshan County, within the long-abandoned small city that served as the headquarters for the Lianshan County Martial Soul Hall.

The Sub-Palace Master of the Lianshan County Martial Soul Hall was sipping tea, contentedly watching a performance by several singers and dancers.

The members of the Martial Soul Hall were all transformed from human Martial Artists. Aside from their physical composition, their interests, hobbies, and full range of emotions were no different from those of humans.

Just then, an expert from the Martial Soul Hall at the Earth Spirit Realm burst in. His hands were cupped together as if holding something. With a THUD, he fell to his knees before the Sub-Palace Master.

"Hall... Hall Master, something’s happened!"