Devouring Soul Emperor

Wen Yanlie’s emotions were complex at that moment.

Ordinarily, he should have been thrilled to find a teammate with such strength and talent.

But Wen Yanlie couldn’t shake a strange feeling.

’A Fifth-level Martial Artist who actually has the combat prowess of a Ninth-level Martial Artist... and he’s even cultivated a Sword Technique on par with a Tier Three Soul Technique. A genius like that...’

"You’re joking, Wen," Chu Qingyun said with a laugh, his gaze shifting to Pei Liangcai’s corpse. "If you hadn’t been here keeping watch, Li Tianyou wouldn’t have retreated so easily."

A major reason Chu Qingyun had killed Pei Liangcai without hesitation was that he had his eye on his Martial Soul.

Ever since he’d had the idea of forming teams and coordinating Soul Techniques, Chu Qingyun had started consciously looking out for such opportunities.

Soon, an earthy-yellow Martial Soul, resembling a winged insect, materialized over Pei Liangcai’s body.

Chu Qingyun’s expression remained unchanged. While speaking with Wen Yanlie, he secretly activated his Devouring Martial Soul and swallowed this Martial Soul.

Ordinary Martial Artists couldn’t see the Martial Soul of a deceased person. Chu Qingyun himself could only see the manifested soul with the help of his Devouring Martial Soul.

His Tier Three Devouring Martial Soul instantly consumed the Tier One Martial Soul. This time, Chu Qingyun chose to keep it. He then used the Martial Soul Power he had previously collected to upgrade it directly to Tier Three.

It was a Tier Three Martial Soul: the Mud-Eating Worm. Its Soul Technique was Sinking into the Mire.

Using this Soul Technique could turn a designated area into a quagmire. Furthermore, the quagmire created by Martial Soul Power had a stronger pull than a natural one, making it an incredibly powerful crowd-control Soul Technique.

And now that it was at Tier Three, the speed at which the quagmire could be generated and expanded was significantly faster, and its range and depth were also greatly increased.

However, the Soul Technique’s only weakness was that the user couldn’t be interrupted while casting it, or the quagmire would rapidly shrink away.

Having obtained a new Control-type Soul, Chu Qingyun was in high spirits. He asked, "Wen, you mentioned the location of the three from the Zhao Family earlier. Where are they?"

Wen Yanlie collected himself, then took out his Assessment Token. After a quick glance, his expression changed drastically. "This..."

Seeing his reaction, Chu Qingyun frowned slightly and took out his own Token. One look was all it took for his expression to change as well.

Zhao Tianjie, who had been ranked second, had vanished from the top of the leaderboard. In his place was Xia He, and Zhao Tianjie’s three-thousand-plus Military Merits were now listed next to Xia He’s name.

Chu Qingyun scanned the list and found Zhao Tianjie’s name far down in the rankings. His Military Merits were now at zero.

Clearly, Xia He had found Zhao Tianjie first and taken all of his Military Merits!

Every Martial Artist who saw this, whether a Great Xia Dragon Guard or an Examiner, couldn’t help but frown. Annoyed at themselves for being too slow, they also felt a burgeoning sense of concern.

After all, Xia He was not Zhao Tianjie. Zhao Tianjie was only a sixth-level Martial Artist, arguably one of the weakest people in the assessment.

Xia He, on the other hand, was a ninth-level Martial Artist who had even unleashed an attack at the Half-step Martial Spirit Level during the first trial. His strength was worlds beyond Zhao Tianjie’s.

But a mere ninth-level Martial Artist wasn’t enough to suppress the greed in their hearts.

On the contrary, Xia He’s success only served to galvanize the others, making them even more excited to hunt for their own prey.

And now, Xia He himself had become the prey!

Anyone who dared to lay a hand on one of the three large caches of Military Merits would become the enemy of everyone else in the valley!

Wen Yanlie took a deep breath and said in a heavy voice, "Come with me, Chu. I’ll take you to Zhao Yunhao."

Wen Yanlie felt a considerable amount of pressure.

Both Chu Qingyun’s strength and the success of Xia He—his fellow ninth-level Martial Artist Examiner—in seizing the Military Merits filled him with a sense of urgency. An urgency to *do* something.

Although Wen Yanlie wasn’t one to show off, his competitive spirit was just as strong as any other Martial Artist’s.

Moreover, as one of the two ninth-level Martial Artist Examiners, he had to perform better than everyone else if he wanted to have any hope of claiming the captain’s position.

The people outside the Mist Forest had grown numb watching the Military Merits of Zhao Hanfeng and his two companions continuously rise.

At this point, they wouldn’t even be surprised if the trio’s combined Military Merits broke ten thousand in the next second.

But then, the unexpected happened. Xia He seized all of Zhao Tianjie’s Military Merits, sending him plummeting from the heavens to the abyss. This event was like a boulder dropped into the placid lake of their numb minds, instantly creating a massive stir.

At that moment, a sharp glint appeared in nearly everyone’s eyes as they prayed for their own friends or family to obtain such a massive amount of Military Merits.

The Great Xia Dragon Guards standing beside Guard General Liu Canghai could no longer sit still either.

"Sir, we’re just sitting around here doing nothing. Why don’t you let us go in and provide some support?"

"Sir, it’s peaceful out here. The people by the light screen are completely captivated by the Military Merits; they won’t cause any trouble. Besides, with you here, we’re just decorations. You might as well let us..."

"Sir, that’s over ten thousand Military Merits we’re talking about!"

A dozen or so Personal Guards surrounded Liu Canghai, their gazes burning with unconcealed desire.

At the mention of over ten thousand Military Merits, an unnatural expression flickered across Liu Canghai’s face.

With his strength as a Tier One Martial Spirit, he could at most handle Tier One missions. For Tier Two or Tier Three missions, he’d have to form a solid team before even daring to try. As for missions above Tier Three, he wouldn’t dare touch them.

A Tier One mission only awarded about a thousand Military Merits, and even a Tier Three mission was only worth around three thousand.

If not for his status and the rules of the Great Xia Dragon Guard, he would have loved nothing more than to rush in and snatch the Military Merits for himself.

It was just as the Zhao Family Ancestor had predicted. Under normal circumstances, the real Great Xia Dragon Guards would have killed most of the people from the Martial Soul Hall, causing the pool of Military Merits to shrink by more than half. The remainder would then be divided among several hundred people according to their strength, which wouldn’t have been enough to cause any envy.

But now, not only had the Military Merits been maximized, they had also become highly concentrated. Even those who weren’t originally part of the fight couldn’t resist the temptation!

"Fine. Go provide support."

Liu Canghai finally nodded. He told them to go "provide support," but everyone knew the truth. Killing all the Martial Artists from the Martial Soul Hall would only yield a total of just over ten thousand Military Merits.

’Most of them are probably dead already. What the hell is there to support?’

"Rest assured, Sir! We will seize those Military Merits for you!"

Permission granted, the dozen or so men dove into the Mist Forest without a moment’s hesitation.

Outside a secret room near the West Gate, another person came running, breathless. "Ancestor, it’s terrible! Young Master Zhao Tianjie’s Military Merits were all taken by an Examiner named Xia He! Young Master Tianjie’s merits are now zero!"