Devouring Soul Emperor

Under Sun Daxiong’s oppressive aura, Chu Qingyun struggled to stand his ground.

One minute later, Chu Qingyun’s face was as white as a sheet, completely drained of color.

Five minutes later, cold sweat began to bead on Chu Qingyun’s forehead, dripping down his chin and onto the ground.

Ten minutes later, Chu Qingyun’s legs began to tremble. His entire body was under immense pressure.

At first, the surrounding Great Xia Dragon Guards watched the scene with amused interest.

But as time went on, the smiles on their faces slowly faded, replaced by solemnity and even a hint of admiration.

To endure for so long under the aura of a powerful Ninth-level Martial Master like Sun Daxiong without collapsing... ’Even we would find that difficult.’

After all, the higher the Realm, the greater the gap between levels.

Reaching the Fifth-level Martial Master Realm at fifteen proved Chu Qingyun had potential. Lasting so long under Sun Daxiong’s aura proved he had tenacity.

’Someone with both potential and tenacity is destined to soar to greatness one day!’

When facing the previous applicants, these Great Xia Dragon Guards, though they never said it aloud, had always felt a sense of superiority, looking down on them from on high.

But now, none of them looked at Chu Qingyun that way.

After ten minutes, Sun Daxiong abruptly withdrew his aura. His gaze toward Chu Qingyun now held much more approval. "Kid, you caused trouble on the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s turf. Anything you want to say for yourself?"

As the pressure suddenly vanished, Chu Qingyun stumbled but gritted his teeth and remained standing. "If you’re just going to protect your own, then what is there for me to say!"

Hearing this, Sun Daxiong grinned. "Good kid. You’ve got guts. You can go. If you run into any trouble during the assessment, you can use my name, Sun Daxiong!"

Talented, perseverant, and courageous. Sun Daxiong had already grown to appreciate Chu Qingyun’s talent and wanted to take him under his wing.

Even after walking out of the City Lord’s Mansion, Chu Qingyun could still feel his legs were a bit weak.

’I have to admit,’ he thought, ’with a four-level gap between me and a Ninth-level Martial Master, I really have no way to fight back.’

The situation served as a wake-up call for Chu Qingyun. Among the applicants for the Great Xia Dragon Guard, there were bound to be Ninth-level Martial Masters.

The application requirements were to be a Great Xia Warrior and to have achieved a ten-win streak in the Great Xia Martial Palace.

While most, like Chu Qingyun, would have gotten their ten-win streak in the Martial Artist Realm, it was possible that some had achieved it in the Martial Master Realm.

And ninety-nine percent of those who could get a ten-win streak in the Martial Master Realm were Ninth-level Martial Masters—and very powerful ones at that.

’If I can get that Puppet repaired to its peak, I’ll have a fighting chance even against a Ninth-level Martial Master... First, I should go to the Cao Family and get my Primordial Stones back!’

After some thought, Chu Qingyun headed for the Cao Family.

’I have 200,000 Upper Grade Primordial Stones on me right now. After the 180,000 for repairs, I’ll only have 20,000 left. If I don’t collect this debt, I won’t even have enough Primordial Stones to power the Puppet.’

Before long, Chu Qingyun arrived at the Cao Mansion.

As a prominent family in Flame City, the Cao Mansion had been run by the Cao Family for nearly a century and looked quite impressive.

Two guards stood watch at the entrance, but Chu Qingyun paid them no mind and forced his way straight inside.

’I’m here to collect a debt, not borrow money. I need to be assertive and can’t be bothered with the Cao Family’s rules.’

He stormed through the front hall and into the central courtyard before the alerted members of the Cao Family, led by Patriarch Cao Jingwen and Second Master Cao Jingbin, finally blocked his path.

"Patriarch Cao, it’s been three days. How are those Primordial Stones coming along?" Chu Qingyun said, looking at Cao Jingwen.

Cao Jingwen smiled to himself, cleared his throat, and put on a calm and composed air. He spoke unhurriedly, "Chu Qingyun, you forced me to write an IOU, and I haven’t even reported you to the City Lord’s Mansion yet. Yet here you are, showing up at my door. Do you take my Cao Family for a pushover?"

Chu Qingyun’s brow furrowed. "Cao Jingwen," he said coldly, "it seems you intend to go back on your word?"

Cao Jingwen shook his head, then suddenly pulled a small packet from his robes and tossed it in front of Chu Qingyun. "Kid, it wasn’t easy for you to come all this way. Leave the IOUs, and take these two hundred Primordial Stones as a ’reward’ from my Cao Family."

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. Those two hundred Primordial Stones are Lower Grade. HAHAHA..."

After speaking, Cao Jingwen burst into triumphant laughter.

Then, Cao Jingbin and the other Cao Family members joined in with raucous laughter. A few of the more arrogant ones even began to openly taunt Chu Qingyun.

Before, their entire family’s contingent of Martial Masters had been captured alive by Chu Qingyun alone and forced to write IOUs. It was a complete humiliation for the Cao Family.

Now that they had powerful backing, they naturally spared no effort in ridiculing him.

"Good. Very good. Cao Jingwen, I hope you don’t regret this later. From now on, your Cao Family had better just cower inside Flame City. For every one of you I meet outside the city walls, I’ll kill one!"

Chu Qingyun uttered the cold threat and turned to leave.

Killing by Martial Artists was strictly forbidden within the city; offenders would be hunted down by the City Lord’s Mansion. Outside the city walls, however, the rules weren’t so strict.

For a family clan, contact with the outside world was essential. If they were blockaded within a single city, unable to come and go, it wouldn’t take long for financial problems to arise, which would quickly spread to every aspect of the family’s operations. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

This was precisely what Cao Jingwen and the others had feared most before.

But now that they had gotten in with the Zhao Family, they were naturally fearless.

"Wait. You can leave, but first, you’ll leave those three IOUs behind."

An indifferent voice called out from behind.

Chu Qingyun turned around and saw four luxuriously dressed young men walking out from behind the Cao Family crowd. Trailing behind them were Cao Meng and a woman with a seductive expression.

All four young men wore arrogant expressions. The Cao Family members, including Cao Jingwen, were incredibly respectful toward them. As for Cao Meng, he was like a total lackey, bowing and scraping as he followed behind.

Chu Qingyun recognized one of them: Zhao Hanyun, whom he had defeated in a single move at the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall. He had never seen the other three before.

"Chu Qingyun, let me introduce you. These three are paragons of Flame City’s younger generation, known as Zhao’s Three Heroes: Zhao Hanfeng, Zhao Yunhao, and Zhao Tianjie. And this gentleman is Young Master Zhao Hanyun."

It was Cao Jingwen who spoke, his face a mask of smug satisfaction as he showed them off.

With the young masters of the Zhao Family present, his voice carried an extra measure of confidence.