Devouring Soul Emperor

Spiritual Medicine, or Fire Poison?

Chu Qingyun froze for a moment, then quickly understood what was happening.

The Great Xia Dragon Guard’s exchange office used Military Merits to purchase all kinds of Treasures from its members.

Back then, only a fraction of the Fire Poison from the Fiery Red Lotus had escaped, yet it had spread throughout the vast Four-Direction Illusionary Fire Array and managed to poison numerous Level Eight and even Level Nine Martial Artists.

The power of this Fire Poison was plain to see!

Its price would definitely far exceed that of a Tier Three Fire-type Spiritual Medicine.

’What an unexpected windfall!’

Chu Qingyun composed himself and asked, "Excuse me, sir. What is the price for it as a Spiritual Medicine, and what is the price for it as Fire Poison?"

The old Appraiser smiled and said, "To extract either the Spiritual Medicine or the Fire Poison, you would have to destroy the other. Therefore, you can only sell it as one of the two."

"If you sell them as Spiritual Medicine, they’re already contaminated to this extent. They’d require Ice Element Demon Cores to be salvaged, so I can only offer you two hundred Military Merits for each one at most."

"However, if you sell them as Fire Poison, given its intensity, I can offer you two thousand Military Merits for each portion."

Two hundred... versus two thousand!

A tenfold difference!

Anyone who wasn’t a fool would know what to choose!

Seeing the additional six thousand Military Merits on his Token, Chu Qingyun cupped his hands toward the old Appraiser and offered his sincere thanks.

With another six thousand Military Merits, Chu Qingyun, just to be safe, went and bought seven more Tier Three Wood-type Spiritual Medicines.

That brought the total to twenty-two. Now, it was definitely enough to cultivate the Third Layer of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern to perfection.

After another spending spree, he still had just over fifteen hundred Military Merits left on his Token.

He couldn’t help but reflect on how no matter how many Military Merits he had, it was never enough.

On the way to the Merit Assessment Office, Chu Qingyun even found himself wondering what else he had on him that he could sell at the exchange office...

「Back at the Merit Assessment Office.」

Chu Qingyun didn’t even need to ask. One look at Xia He’s expression told him that the man had definitely failed.

"Xia He, what was the Difficult Level trial like? Tell me about it."

Xia He’s expression was grim. "I don’t want to talk about what I encountered, but I’ll give you a piece of advice: be very careful about the choices you make."

"Also, if you want to pass, you must never, ever forget why you’re in there!"

"Don’t forget your objective!"

After Xia He finished, Chu Qingyun still had no idea what he was talking about.

Sun Daxiong, however, nodded in understanding. "Xia, failing your first time is no big deal. I’ve never seen anyone pass on their first attempt. You’ll get it after a few more tries."

But unexpectedly, a vicious look crossed Xia He’s face. He gritted his teeth and spat, "I could try a hundred more times and I’d never pass! That bastard... he deserves to die!..."

Sun Daxiong sighed. He could tell that Xia He was burdened by a powerful obsession.

People like him, if they couldn’t overcome the obsession in their hearts, would never be able to pass the Illusion Realm’s trial.

Carrying such a strong obsession was extremely detrimental to one’s future on the Martial Dao, and even to one’s own strength.

If they ever encountered illusion-type Martial Soul Techniques, they would be completely and utterly neutralized!

Therefore, the Illusion Realm at the Merit Assessment Office was less of an examination and more of a tool to help captains with flawed states of mind perfect their mental fortitude.

"Alright, Xia, don’t dwell on it. It’s not the end of the world if you can’t pass. What matters most is your actual strength!"

"I’m free today, so I’ll treat you all to dinner at Songhe Tower. We can also celebrate Chu’s victory. Defeating eighteen Captain-Level opponents in a row... nothing like that has ever happened in the entire history of the Great Xia Dragon Guard!"

Sun Daxiong clapped Xia He on the shoulder and said with a hearty laugh.

He knew that no one, whether they succeeded or failed, was ever in a good mood right after emerging from the Illusion Realm trial.

"Well..."

Chu Qingyun hesitated, glancing down at the Spiritual Medicines in his hand. He still hadn’t cultivated the Third Layer of his Profound Celestial Divine Pattern.

Instantly, both Sun Daxiong’s and Xia He’s expressions turned strange.

"Chu, don’t tell me you’re going to say you need to cultivate again. Now that you’re in the County City, you’re not planning on just holing up in the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s headquarters to cultivate, are you?"

"Chu Qingyun, you’re already so powerful you’re probably invincible in the Martial Master Realm. If you keep training this hard, aren’t you afraid you’ll cultivate yourself into an idiot!"

"You two..." Chu Qingyun shook his head helplessly. "Alright, fine. I’ll go and see just what this Songhe Tower you’re always raving about is like, Sun."

Not wanting to reveal his Storage Ring just yet, Chu Qingyun returned to his quarters to drop off the Spiritual Medicines before the three of them left the Great Xia Dragon Guard encampment together.

In another part of the Great Xia Dragon Guard encampment, a heavily injured Meng Chengde stood in a room with his head lowered, his face a mask of shame.

Across from him, his face contorted with rage, Liu Canghai was roaring at him.

"Meng Chengde, you’re a goddamn waste! I got you four Gold Medal Captains and seven Silver Medal Captains, and you couldn’t even handle a single Chu Qingyun!"

"I told you to win his Military Merits and drive him into debt! And what did you do? You ended up giving him more than ten thousand Military Merits and burying yourself in debt instead!"

"You piece of trash! A total waste! And you still have the nerve to call yourself a Gold Medal Captain? You have the nerve to even show your face here!?"

Liu Canghai was so furious he felt like his lungs would explode.

He had gone to great lengths to come up with a sinister plan, even begging his third uncle, Liu Taian, for help to find people to deal with Chu Qingyun.

He never imagined that not only would the plan fail, but they would end up handing Chu Qingyun nearly fifteen thousand Military Merits and helping him make a name for himself throughout the entire Great Xia Dragon Guard.

One could just imagine: in less than two days, the news of how Chu Qingyun single-handedly challenged eighteen captains to betting duels—even fighting and crushing fifteen of them at once—would spread throughout the entire Great Xia Dragon Guard.

And right on the heels of that news would be the story of how he, Liu Canghai, had failed in his scheme to deal with Chu Qingyun and instead gifted the man a huge sum of Military Merits for free!

An incident like this would only be salt in the wound for Liu Canghai’s already tarnished reputation!

No wonder he was in such a towering rage.

"Brother, that Chu Qingyun is just too strong. Captain-Level fighters are no match for him. Are we just going to let him get away with this?"

Liu Cangyi, who was standing to the side, chimed in.

Chu Qingyun and Xia He had seriously injured him in front of so many people. Because of that incident, he had been kicked out of the exchange office and lost his job.

He, Liu Cangyi, had never suffered such a humiliation in the Great Xia Dragon Guard. His hatred for Chu Qingyun and Xia He was every bit as intense as his brother’s!

"Let him go?" Liu Canghai’s face darkened. "After he’s done this to us brothers, how could we possibly let him go?! If worse comes to worst, we’ll forge Third Uncle’s orders and have a Half-Step Martial Spirit take action. As long as it’s not someone at the Army Guardian Level who makes a move, it should be..."

Liu Canghai was cut off mid-sentence by an angry voice from outside the door.

"Forge my orders? Haven’t you two embarrassed yourselves enough already!?"