Devouring Soul Emperor

BANG!

A loud crash echoed, and the entire cave seemed to tremble. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

In his fury, Niu Zhuang was tripped by the Ten-Star Vine and slammed heavily onto the ground, sending shattered rock flying from the hard stone floor.

"Die!"

Chu Qingyun let out a low cry. He activated his Profound Celestial Divine Pattern and used Thunderbolt Flash, plunging his sword into Niu Zhuang’s previous wound. A bolt of Thunder Power, seemingly with a mind of its own, shot straight for Niu Zhuang’s head.

Chu Qingyun was becoming increasingly proficient with the Thunderbolt Flash technique. He even felt he had gained a deep understanding of the second form of the Thunder Sword Manual; he was just one step away from mastering it completely.

After finishing off Niu Zhuang, Chu Qingyun suddenly felt a sense of dread. He looked up and saw that Iron Arrow had also unleashed his True Martial Soul.

It was a black arrow nearly two meters long. A black stream of Qi flowed from its shaft, forming the shape of a Full Moon Longbow.

And the arrowhead was locked firmly onto Chu Qingyun!

’The True Martial Soul of an Artifact Martial Soul...’

Though a cold sneer remained on Chu Qingyun’s face, he had secretly raised his guard. This was the first time he had ever seen such a True Martial Soul.

In fact, it was the first time he had ever seen a bow-and-arrow-type Martial Soul at all.

There was no sound of a vibrating bowstring, only a WHOOSH.

Accompanied by a piercing shriek as it tore through the air, the long arrow streaked through space like a black bolt of lightning, aimed straight for Chu Qingyun’s head!

’So fast!’

Chu Qingyun’s pupils contracted. He hastily sidestepped to dodge, his eyes fixed on the blurry black line.

’In this situation, the best solution would be to bring out the Puppet and hide behind it. But Huang Ju and the others took the Puppet, so now all I can do is dodge.’

However, to Chu Qingyun’s surprise, after he dodged, the Black Arrow, already halfway to its target, adjusted its trajectory and continued flying toward him!

’Damn it! I forgot this isn’t an ordinary arrow. This Black Arrow *is* Iron Arrow himself!’

Chu Qingyun’s heart sank. He hadn’t expected the Black Arrow to be undodgeable. He would have to block it head-on!

His Qi Sea trembled slightly as a massive amount of Primordial Power surged out to form a defense in front of him. At the same time, Chu Qingyun swung his sword forward with all his might.

SNAP.

The Sword Aura delayed the Black Arrow for a moment before being shattered with a soft sound.

However, the Black Arrow’s speed had also slowed considerably, and more than half of the black Qi stream swirling around it had been dispersed, revealing its true form.

After the Sword Aura shattered, Chu Qingyun retreated rapidly, unleashing his Primordial Power with all his might to obstruct and resist the Black Arrow.

As it traveled through the released Primordial Power, the Black Arrow seemed to face immense resistance, and even its own power was continuously drained.

The Black Arrow’s speed grew slower and slower until, finally, it failed to hit Chu Qingyun, coming to a complete stop a dozen or so centimeters away from him.

Its power completely spent, the Black Arrow trembled and reverted to the form of the black-robed, middle-aged man, who then lunged for Chu Qingyun’s neck.

However, without his True Martial Soul, he posed no threat to Chu Qingyun.

Several vines, already prepared, shot out instantly, binding Iron Arrow tightly from all directions until he couldn’t even move.

Using one’s True Martial Soul comes with a subsequent period of weakness. In this state, Iron Arrow was even less of a match for Chu Qingyun.

"Who in the world are you? How can you turn into Old Liang and the others!?"

Iron Arrow struggled with all his might.

By now, he had already figured it out. From the very beginning, they had all been deceived by Chu Qingyun. The ones who had left with him one by one must have been killed as well.

"The dead tell no tales, but a dead man who knows nothing is even better at keeping secrets. Iron Arrow, go to hell!"

Chu Qingyun didn’t waste any more words on him, finishing him off with a single, clean strike of his sword.

Chu Qingyun had always been extremely cautious. Even knowing Iron Arrow was about to die, he had no intention of explaining anything to him.

After devouring Iron Arrow’s Martial Soul Power, Chu Qingyun chose to keep his Martial Soul.

It was a Tier Two Martial Soul, the Black Arrow. Its Soul Technique was Thorny Black Arrow, which could fire an arrow from over three hundred meters away that would invariably hit its locked target unless forcibly intercepted.

Since entering the valley, Chu Qingyun had already acquired two Martial Souls.

The Swallowing Mud Worm Soul gave him a new large-scale control ability, while the Black Arrow Martial Soul provided him with an extreme long-range attack. Neither his Sword Technique nor his Ten-Star Vine could currently reach a range of three hundred meters.

Moreover, Chu Qingyun believed that once he raised the Black Arrow Martial Soul to Tier Three, its range would become even greater!

After dealing with Iron Arrow and the others, Chu Qingyun walked toward the large pile of purple stones in the deepest part of the cave.

Fine arcs of Thunder constantly flashed across the purple stones. Just getting close was enough to feel the violent power contained within them.

The Thundercloud Lion was a Tier Three Demon Beast that had lived and grown in the depths of the Mist Forest for over a hundred years. These stones were the product of absorbing the ambient Primordial Power of the world, influenced by the bursts of Thunder Power the Thundercloud Lion released each time it broke through to a new level.

Thus, although Iron Arrow and his men knew the stones contained immense power, they hadn’t paid them much mind, because that power was simply unusable.

Chu Qingyun, however, had other ideas about them.

Just because Iron Arrow and his men couldn’t use them didn’t mean Chu Qingyun couldn’t. After all, he possessed the power of the Devouring Martial Soul.

Back when he was cultivating the Thunder-Attracting Chapter of the Thunder Sword Manual, his Devouring Martial Soul had been able to swallow and refine even the far more violent, naturally occurring thunder. Dealing with these stones should be no problem.

Touching the purple stones felt like getting an electric shock, making one instinctively pull their hand back. Fortunately, Chu Qingyun had long since adapted to Thunder Power, so he wasn’t afraid of this.

He found a slightly smaller stone, used his Thundercloud Sword to cut off a piece, and held it in his hand, beginning to absorb the power from within.

The Thunder Power and Primordial Power were tightly intertwined, forming a violent, light-purple energy.

After this energy was absorbed into his body, it began to wreak havoc on his meridians.

Having learned from his previous experience, Chu Qingyun didn’t use his meridians to refine this power at all. Instead, he used his Primordial Power to push it directly into his Qi Sea.

After entering the Qi Sea, the light-purple energy continued to radiate a violent aura.

And just as Chu Qingyun had expected, his Devouring Martial Soul stirred, releasing streams of Devouring Power that swiftly swallowed the light-purple energy.

A moment later, the light-purple energy was refined by the Devouring Martial Soul, which in turn produced a stream of pure Primordial Power and a stream of gentle Thunder Power.

Under Chu Qingyun’s control, the Primordial Power circulated through his meridians for two full Circulations before merging into his Qi Sea.

As for the Thunder Power, it gave him a bit of a dilemma. He certainly couldn’t absorb and use this kind of power, but it seemed like a waste to just throw it away.

Just then, he glanced at the Thundercloud Sword beside him and had an idea.