Devouring Soul Emperor

After leaving the Thick Fog District, Chu Qingyun used his Thousand-faced Martial Soul to assume the appearance of a dead Examiner he had seen earlier in order to avoid becoming someone else’s prey.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of being robbed, given his current strength.

However, it was better to avoid trouble. Constant harassment on the road would be a nuisance, and it would be a critical loss if it delayed his quest for Military Merits.

Maintaining the disguise, Chu Qingyun hadn’t been walking long before he encountered many others. Some were in small groups, while others traveled alone, but all of them were rushing north in a hurry.

Chu Qingyun considered this for a moment. He sensed something was amiss and decided to follow along.

Along the way, he stopped one of them. "Friend," he asked, "why is everyone rushing north? Did something big happen?"

The man he stopped looked surprised. "You haven’t heard? Word is that Xia He and Zhao Hanfeng, the top two on the Military Merits leaderboard, have both been found. Now, all the factions are in a stalemate, keeping each other in check while they have the two of them surrounded."

This news had already spread like wildfire through the valley and was common knowledge, so the man held nothing back, telling Chu Qingyun everything.

Hearing this, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but feel a jolt of surprise. ’Xia He and Zhao Hanfeng, discovered at the same time!’

’Zhao Hanfeng would never have willingly sought out Xia He. That means Xia He, even with over six thousand Military Merits, wasn’t satisfied. He still wanted to go after Zhao Hanfeng’s share!’

"That guy... he’s just too greedy..."

Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but shake his head. But on second thought, this was perfectly in line with Xia He’s arrogant personality.

Almost everyone was rushing over, which meant Zhang Yunqiu, Wen Yanlie, and their team would be no exception. A glint of killing intent flashed in Chu Qingyun’s eyes as he silently quickened his pace.

After heading north for about half an hour, Chu Qingyun faintly heard a chaotic din. Rushing toward the sound, he soon found a massive crowd.

There were several hundred people in all. Each one kept their distance, wary of the others, yet all of them stared at the central area with eyes burning with greed.

Peeking through a gap in the crowd, Chu Qingyun could vaguely make out two figures at the center, surrounded by layer upon layer of people.

Even without seeing their faces clearly, he could guess who they were. It had to be Xia He and Zhao Hanfeng.

After circling the outer edge of the crowd a couple of times, Chu Qingyun pieced together what was happening.

After seeing Zhao Yunhao and Zhao Tianjie lose their Military Merits in succession, Zhao Hanfeng’s heart had plummeted from the high of his vast merits and Captain-level status into an abyss of fear.

Realizing his Military Merits had become too hot to handle, he had grown scared and fled his hiding spot. But his movements were discovered, leading to Xia He hunting him down.

As for Xia He, after two successful ambushes, his luck had finally run out. The hunt for Zhao Hanfeng didn’t go smoothly, and his own whereabouts were exposed in the process.

Once word got out, a large number of Great Xia Dragon Guards and Examiners converged on their location, gradually shrinking the area in which the two could flee.

Ultimately, the two were forced together and surrounded by a mob of several hundred people.

Xia He and Zhao Hanfeng were only a level-nine Martial Artist and a level-seven Martial Artist, respectively; they were naturally no match for such a crowd.

However, the people surrounding them were not united. By holding each other in check, they had created a delicate balance.

The innermost circle was composed of teams that had level-nine Martial Artists, the Captains of the Great Xia Dragon Guards.

They possessed the greatest strength, and it was precisely these powerful teams that were holding each other back.

Within the crowd, Chu Qingyun spotted quite a few familiar faces, recognizing what seemed to be the four strongest teams present.

Among them, the team with four level-nine Martial Artists—Zhang Yunqiu, Huang Ju, and Wen Yanlie included—was arguably the strongest.

The next strongest was a team led by Sun Daxiong, which included three Great Xia Dragon Guard Captains and a level-eight Martial Artist Examiner whom Chu Qingyun vaguely recognized.

Besides these two factions, there were two other teams, both led by Captain Level experts.

The rest were level-seven and level-eight Martial Artists who had been pushed to the fringes. Although they knew full well they were outmatched, the temptation of over ten thousand Military Merits was too much to resist. They couldn’t help but rush over, nursing a sliver of hope that they could fish in troubled waters.

Great rewards make for bold men.

So long as the bait was tempting enough, there would be no shortage of desperate men. And that very principle was the essence of the conspiracy designed by the Zhao Family Ancestor.

"The way I see it, those ten-thousand-plus Military Merits should be split into four equal shares—one for each of our four teams!"

"An equal share? On what grounds? We have four level-nine Martial Artists, and your team only has one. What makes you think you’re entitled to an even split?"

"So what if you have four level-nine Martial Artists? You think the four of you can fight everyone here and win? Zhang Yunqiu, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll cooperate with the other three teams to handle the rest. Otherwise, we’ll just have a free-for-all and see who’s really capable of taking those Military Merits! Sun Daxiong, what do you say?"

"Me? Haha! In my opinion, an even split is ridiculous. My team and Zhang Haizi’s team have a combined seven level-nine Martial Artists. Your teams only have one each, so why should we split it evenly with you? Seeing as we’re all colleagues, I’ll let you have two thousand Military Merits. That’s as generous as it gets!"

"Generous? Bullshit! You expect me to just stand here and watch while you feast? Not a chance in hell! If there’s no even split, then let’s just fight. It’ll be a free-for-all, and we’ll see who’s scared of who!"

The sounds of the four team leaders arguing erupted from within the crowd.

Sun Daxiong and Zhang Yunqiu, leaders of the powerful teams, didn’t want to split the Military Merits with the remaining two teams. Those two teams, in turn, were demanding an equal share, their main leverage being that the two strongest teams wanted to avoid a chaotic free-for-all.

Although their two teams had seven level-nine Martial Artists combined, making them powerful, it also made them the primary target for everyone else. If they were to be besieged by the several hundred people present, they would likely be thrown into chaos and could even be wiped out quickly.

When there isn’t a difference of an entire Grand Realm between opponents, a quantitative advantage can absolutely trigger a qualitative change.

Just imagine: a hundred, or even several hundred, offensive Soul Techniques striking someone at the same time—all of them Tier Two, with a fair number of Tier Three mixed in. Even a level-nine Martial Artist Captain from the Great Xia Dragon Guards couldn’t possibly withstand such a barrage! 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Moreover, the more than ten thousand Military Merits, now so close they could almost taste them, had stoked the greed, madness, and gambler’s instinct in everyone present.

If the leaders of those two smaller teams made the first move, it would undoubtedly ignite the powder keg and trigger a massive, chaotic slaughter.

Having grasped the situation, the corner of Chu Qingyun’s mouth curved into a smile.

’This stalemate isn’t what I was hoping for.’

’Even though my strength has increased dramatically, it would still be incredibly difficult to forcibly take Xia He and Zhao Hanfeng’s Assessment Tokens all by myself.’

’To fish in troubled waters, you first have to muddy the waters.’

Chu Qingyun silently retreated from the crowd, hiding in a thicket over three hundred meters away. Crouching on the ground, he unleashed the Swallowing Mud Worm Soul he had acquired not long ago.

"Soul Technique—Sinking into the Mire!"