Devouring Soul Emperor

An onslaught of nine consecutive strikes of Thunder Sword Momentum—even someone as strong as Meng Chengde was utterly unable to withstand it!

Besides, even if he could block those, a tenth strike would follow, then an eleventh...

In an instant, a strange silence fell over the area around the battle stage, broken only by the sound of nervous gulps.

What... what just happened?

’Meng Chengde... lost?’

It wasn’t just them; even Grand Commander Chu Yu and the Celestial Wind Army Master, watching from a distance, stared blankly at the stage, the previous scene replaying over and over in their minds.

Ten vines, executing a Sword Technique one after another... ’This is simply heaven-defying...’

After a brief silence, the crowd around the battle stage instantly erupted. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"So strong! If my eyes didn’t deceive me, that was a Sword Technique Chu Qingyun was using! To come up with a way to execute it relentlessly like that... he’s a genius!"

"With that kind of strength, he’s unbeatable at the Captain Level!"

"Against such a dense barrage, Meng Chengde’s Primordial Power simply couldn’t keep up. It’s no wonder he lost."

"Holy crap, so that’s how you use this kind of Martial Soul! I have a Purple Spot Vine Martial Soul too. I guess I need to go learn a Swordsmanship Secret Manual."

"Bullshit! With your pathetic level of Control Power, you can’t even control two Purple Spot Vines at once, and you want to use them to execute a Sword Technique?"

The surrounding Great Xia Dragon Guards’ eyes lit up, and they couldn’t help but buzz with discussion. Their gazes, as they looked at Chu Qingyun, were filled with admiration.

Chu Qingyun’s flash of inspiration, and his ability to put it into practice, had opened a door for them. It showed them that a Martial Soul could be used in such a way!

However, this method was far from being widely applicable.

First of all, forget King-level techniques; even a Spirit Level Sword Technique wasn’t something an ordinary person could master.

Anyone who could completely master a Spirit Level Sword Technique could, at the very least, make it as a Silver Medal Captain.

Secondly, and more importantly, the kind of absolute control Chu Qingyun had over his Martial Soul was even harder to replicate.

Therefore, this method of using a Martial Soul was something they could only discuss and dream about.

"Captain Meng Chengde, your wager with Captain Chu Qingyun was 1,000 Military Merits. However, you must pay double, which means you owe Captain Chu Qingyun 2,000 Military Merits."

"Your Token contains 2,104 Military Merits. After the payment is completed, you will have 104 Military Merits remaining."

The dueling stage official returned Meng Chengde’s Token to him.

Meng Chengde had just struggled to his feet.

But upon hearing this, his vision went black, and he collapsed with a THUD.

’Going from over two thousand to just over one hundred... his heart was bleeding.’

Even the strongest among them, Meng Chengde, had lost—and so decisively, without a shred of suspense. It was a complete and effortless rout.

The remaining fifteen captains, including the last two Gold Medal Captains, felt all hope turn to ash. They were utterly dejected.

But hope or no hope, they still had to go up and fight.

They had all been sent by Liu Canghai to deal with Chu Qingyun and challenge him to these duels.

If they surrendered without a fight, it would be a huge loss of face for Liu Canghai. So, even if it meant getting injured, they had to bite the bullet and get on stage.

"Captains, the next match is about to begin. Who’s up first?" the dueling stage official asked, looking at the remaining fifteen captains.

He, too, was feeling extremely excited and expectant.

In his dozen or so years working at the dueling stage, he had never seen anything like it—one captain taking on eighteen others in a row!

"This..."

The fifteen of them looked at each other, unable to make a decision.

With Meng Chengde severely injured and unconscious, they didn’t know whether to continue with his plan to exhaust Chu Qingyun’s Primordial Power.

And frankly, none of them wanted to be the first to go up.

’Even if defeat was certain, who wouldn’t want to delay the inevitable for even a moment longer?’

Just then, Chu Qingyun, still on the stage, suddenly declared in a loud voice, "The fifteen of you who are left—come at me together!"

The previously boisterous dueling stage instantly fell silent once more.

Everyone wondered if they had heard him correctly. Chu Qingyun... wanted to fight all fifteen of them?

This wasn’t a gauntlet, with them coming at him one by one.

This was a battle against fifteen Captain-level, ninth-level Martial Artists at the same time!

It wasn’t just the crowd; the fifteen captains themselves were utterly stunned, never having expected Chu Qingyun to say such a thing.

Chu Qingyun’s decision to face all fifteen at once wasn’t born of recklessness.

By this point, he had a fairly accurate estimate of the strength of the Great Xia Dragon Guards’ Gold, Silver, and Iron Medal Captains.

A Gold Medal Captain’s strength was roughly equivalent to the combined power of the Mountain and Sea Brothers back in Flame City. They could effortlessly crush and instantly kill an ordinary ninth-level Martial Artist, or even a weaker Silver Medal Captain.

The average Silver Medal Captain, being a tier weaker than a Gold Medal Captain, was roughly at the level of Mad Blade Zhao Chaofeng, perhaps slightly stronger.

As for Iron Medal Captains, they might possess a Tier Three Martial Soul or have mastered a Spirit Level Secret Manual. This made them somewhat stronger than a captain with an ordinary Tier Two Martial Soul, but they were in a completely different league from the other two ranks.

If he had his Thundercloud Sword, forget fifteen of them; even if all eighteen came at him at once, they would just be slaughtered one by one.

But even without the Thundercloud Sword, Chu Qingyun was confident he could easily handle them using the technique he had just perfected: executing a Sword Technique with his vines.

Besides, all of these people had been sent by Liu Canghai.

If he didn’t beat them back in the most brutal, most dominant fashion possible, how could he possibly do justice to all the trouble Liu Canghai had gone to!?

After recovering from their shock, the faces of the remaining fifteen captains lit up with joy as hope was rekindled in their hearts.

One-on-one, they certainly stood no chance.

But fifteen against one? How could they possibly lose?

Even Huo Pengzhan, the strongest captain under Grand Commander Liu Taian, wouldn’t dare claim he could defeat all fifteen of them working together.

"Fine! Chu Qingyun, we accept! We’ll give you the chance to fight all fifteen of us!"

"An eighth-level Martial Artist versus fifteen captains... Chu Qingyun, even if you lose this fight, your name will be known throughout the entire Celestial Wind Army and all of the Great Xia Dragon Guards."

As they spoke, all fifteen of them leaped onto the battle stage.

The people in the crowd, however, all looked at the fifteen of them with contempt.

Fifteen against one, and they were talking as if they were the ones at a disadvantage. They were truly shameless.

Furthermore, after the previous three matches, the crowd’s discussions had spread the inside story of these duels, and most people now knew what was going on.

It had been entirely orchestrated by Liu Canghai.

This fact had made them, almost unconsciously, take Chu Qingyun’s side.

Within the Great Xia Dragon Guards, those with powerful backgrounds were a minority. The vast majority were ordinary members who naturally abhorred the way Liu Canghai abused his power to bully others.