Devouring Soul Emperor

"All candidates, listen up! After you draw your lots, you are forbidden from leaving the city today. The timer will start tomorrow morning when the city gates open. Only those who complete their mission and return to the City Lord’s Mansion within ten days will be considered to have passed the second round of the assessment!"

"Anyone who dares to sneak out of the city ahead of time will be stripped of their Great Xia Martial Edict and have their title of Great Xia Samurai revoked for life!"

"And another thing—this is not an act! You will be facing real fugitives!"

After the rules were emphasized repeatedly, the remaining three hundred-plus people began to draw their mission targets in the order they were previously arranged.

"Damn, I drew a murderer. Just a Level-Six Martial Artist, but he killed twelve people in a row in Dongyun City and escaped into Flame City’s territory."

"Killing twelve people is nothing. The guy I drew massacred an entire village."

"Damn it, what bad luck. I drew a pair, the Bandit Duo..."

The people at the front were all discussing as they drew, many of them looking excited and quite happy.

Hearing this, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but rub his nose, feeling a bit speechless.

To be fair, he himself had killed quite a few people in and around Qingshan City, though most of them were from the Blood Wolf Gang.

The Blood Wolf Gang had committed countless evil deeds and had an absolutely rotten reputation.

Moreover, his relationship with the Great Xia Martial Palace and the City Lord’s Mansion was decent. Thus, with no one reporting him, the officials didn’t investigate, allowing him to get away with it. Otherwise, he might have ended up on the wanted list himself...

Seeing the candidates’ excited expressions, the few Great Xia Dragon Guard captains all shook their heads slightly.

They could see the frivolity and arrogance in these candidates.

Admittedly, compared to the fugitives, the candidates were geniuses, and their overall strength was certainly far superior.

However, the fugitives had their own advantages: they were ruthless and cunning, and their real-world experience was far richer than that of these Great Xia Samurai.

In every assessment, despite the first round weeding out the weak, the death rate in this second round was always extremely high.

When you go out to kill others, you must be prepared to be killed in return. Those fugitives, who had casually killed ten, even dozens of people, were no pushovers.

Yet most of the candidates clearly lacked this understanding.

However, the Great Xia Dragon Guards wouldn’t say anything. Some things were useless no matter how many times you said them; they could only be truly understood through personal experience.

After Zhao Hanfeng and his two companions drew their missions, they left the City Lord’s Mansion, clearly afraid that Chu Qingyun would use their previous bet to mock them again.

The lot drawing proceeded quickly, and before long, it was Chu Qingyun’s turn.

He reached into the opaque box and randomly grabbed a paper ball. After opening it, he saw the number 127 written on it.

"Chu Qingyun, Mission 127. Here you go. Remember, you can only leave the city tomorrow when the gates open! Also, be careful..."

A Great Xia Dragon Guard standing nearby found the scroll corresponding to number 127 and handed it to Chu Qingyun, not forgetting to give him a word of caution before he left.

Chu Qingyun’s performance in the first round had left a deep impression on all of them.

"Ma Zhiyong, a Level-Seven Martial Artist, is a Flower Thief who roams through fourteen cities including Lie Mountain City, Barbarian Bull City, and Tieshan City. He has violated over a hundred young women from good families. He is insidious and cunning. According to reliable intelligence, Ma Zhiyong has now fled to San Yang Town, which is under the jurisdiction of Flame City..." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Over a hundred women!

’Holy shit, what a perverted prodigy!’

Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but curse inwardly. Thinking about how he’d only ever slept with one woman, he felt a pang of irritation toward this Ma Zhiyong.

’But the girls this guy ruined definitely can’t compare to the one *I* ruined!’

Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but recall his time with Ning Xue, but he felt that the words he had just muttered to himself sounded a bit strange...

After reading the scroll from top to bottom twice, Chu Qingyun’s brow furrowed slightly.

It wasn’t that he was worried about Ma Zhiyong’s strength. He was just a Level-Seven Martial Artist. Although that was two levels higher than him, Chu Qingyun was completely confident he could deal with him.

What he was worried about was that the scroll stated Ma Zhiyong had already committed crimes in fourteen different cities. Fourteen cities! Lianshan County only had thirty-six cities under its jurisdiction in total!

In other words, Ma Zhiyong had run through almost half of Lianshan County’s territory without being caught by the Great Xia Dragon Guards or the various City Guard Armies, nor had he fallen at the hands of other Martial Artists.

This was enough to show that, at the very least, the man had some real skill when it came to escaping. He definitely wouldn’t be simple to deal with!

’Sigh, what bad luck. It’s no use overthinking it now. I should just head back. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’ll head to San Yang Town tomorrow and see what’s what.’

Chu Qingyun sighed softly and started walking toward the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall.

When he returned to the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall, he saw many people, including Chen Jinshi and Chen Lengyu, waiting for him at the entrance. Even the disguised You Yun was waiting there.

Because the Great Xia Dragon Guards were rather domineering, not only were spectators forbidden at the assessment, but no one was even allowed to linger near the City Lord’s Mansion. So, everyone could only wait at home.

"Qingyun, did you pass the first round?"

At the entrance, Chen Jinshi asked with an expectant look on his face. Many others from the Golden Lion Martial Arts Hall also stared at Chu Qingyun with anticipation.

They were all very grateful to Chu Qingyun, especially Chen Jinshi and his daughter. If Chu Qingyun hadn’t stepped in to help them, they likely would have been doomed.

Facing their anticipation, Chu Qingyun smiled and nodded. "I didn’t disappoint. I passed the first round."

"That’s wonderful! I knew Lord Chu would definitely pass!"

"Sir, what was in the first round of the Great Xia Dragon Guard assessment? What’s the second round?"

"Why are you asking about that! You think a kid like you can join the Great Xia Dragon Guard? Sir, tell us, what do the Great Xia Dragon Guards look like? Did you see any Martial Spirit Level experts?"

Hearing that Chu Qingyun had passed, the crowd grew excited, shouting and asking all sorts of questions.

In the crowd, Chen Lengyu, who had a colder personality, didn’t say anything but simply smiled at Chu Qingyun. Chu Qingyun returned the smile.

’If he couldn’t even pass the first round, what’s the point of being alive...’ You Yun muttered quietly and disappeared.

She didn’t even notice it herself, but even though she had long guessed the result, she couldn’t help but come out and wait, wanting to know at the first possible moment...

Meanwhile, in the study of the Zhao Family Patriarch, Zhao Hanfeng was recounting everything that had happened during the first round of the assessment, holding nothing back.

"Patriarch, you previously told the three of us to secure the spots for direct promotion to captain, but... that’s simply impossible! The three of us are only Level-Six Martial Artists, but among the candidates, there isn’t just a whole crowd of Level-Seven Martial Artists, there are even a dozen or so Level-Eight Martial Artists. We’re no match for them at all."

Zhao Hanfeng said with a pained expression, and Zhao Yunhao and Zhao Tianjie deeply agreed.

As the saying goes, seeing is believing.

They had all originally considered themselves super-geniuses, but after personally seeing so many Great Xia Samurai today, they finally understood that there were plenty of geniuses far more formidable than them!