Devouring Soul Emperor

Suppressed by his Primordial Power, the Thunder Light Power within finally calmed down after about half a minute.

Once the Thunder Light Power stopped its berserk surge, Chu Qingyun finally let out a sigh of relief.

’Each one costs 1600 Military Merits. If another one shatters, I’ll really start crying.’

Refining a Thunderlight Stone was, after all, different from refining a Spiritual Medicine.

After that single berserk surge, all the Thunder Light Power had escaped from the Thunderlight Stone. Now, the Primordial Power in his hand enveloped only the Thunder Light Power and the shattered stone.

Through the meridians in his hand, Chu Qingyun absorbed the Thunder Light Power into his body.

Compared to the raw Thunder Power he had refined from natural lightning when he first began cultivating the Thunder Sword Manual, this Thunder Light Power was much gentler, yet it felt incredibly substantial.

This quality was also compatible with Sword Qi.

Sword Qi is Sword Momentum, condensed to its absolute limit!

He dispelled the Primordial Power in his hand. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

In his palm, the shattered remnants of the Thunderlight Stone had paled, leaving only the faintest, almost imperceptible hint of purple.

This stuff was useless now, so Chu Qingyun casually tossed it aside.

Using this rather crude method, Chu Qingyun extracted the Thunder Light Power from the remaining four Thunderlight Stones. He sent all five wisps of Thunder Light Power into his Qi Sea.

’At times like this, I can’t help but miss my Devouring Power. If I could actively control it, refining these energies would be incredibly simple!’

Unfortunately, outside the Illusion Realm, his Tier Three Devouring Martial Soul remained a chaotic, inert mass, showing no signs of activity.

Once devoured and refined by his Devouring Martial Soul, the five wisps of Thunder Light Power became Chu Qingyun’s own, making them very easy to control.

’The Thunder Light Power is ready. The next step is to condense Sword Qi, then ’plant’ the Thunder Light Power within it to cultivate Thunder Light Sword Qi!’

"Thunder Sword Momentum!"

Chu Qingyun began by calling upon his familiar Thunder Sword Momentum.

Whenever he had used his Thunder Sword Momentum in the past, he had always unleashed it immediately upon his enemies.

This time, however, he held back, concentrating all the ferocious power of his Thunder Sword Momentum onto his Thundercloud Sword, condensing it but not releasing it.

Imbued with the power of the Thunder Sword Momentum, Chu Qingyun immediately began executing the sword techniques from the third move of the Thunder Sword Manual—the techniques for creating Thunder Light Sword Qi.

These weren’t techniques for combat, but a special sequence designed to condense Sword Momentum into Sword Qi.

As he executed one peculiar sword technique after another, the surging thunder on the Thundercloud Sword began to contract.

This contraction, however, was not due to the Thunder Sword Momentum’s power dissipating. Instead, the energy was becoming more and more condensed.

The benefits of more condensed and focused power were obvious.

The destructive potential of the same amount of force is worlds apart when applied to a single point versus a wide surface.

After he finished performing the entire sequence of sword techniques with his Primordial Power, the raging Thunder Power and the Sword Momentum it contained had completely subsided into the Thundercloud Sword.

Even the innate power of the Thundercloud Sword itself had become much more condensed.

Originally, the Thundercloud Sword’s blade would sparkle with thunder light, making it dazzling and conspicuous even without any Primordial Power infused into it.

Now, however, not a single spark of thunder could be seen on the Thundercloud Sword. It looked just like his old Black Iron Long Sword, emitting only a deep, black luster.

However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the blade seemed to be enveloped in an extremely faint, gray layer.

At the very tip of the sword, a small, centimeter-long wisp of gray energy pulsed in and out.

This gray energy was the Sword Qi, produced by condensing the power of the Thunder Sword Momentum and the Thundercloud Sword to their absolute limit!

Chu Qingyun had long since comprehended the method for condensing Sword Qi.

Before obtaining the Thunderlight Stones, he could have followed this method to condense his own Sword Qi.

Even earlier, before he had even mastered the Thunder Sword Momentum, he could have found a Spirit Level Sword Technique and used it to condense Sword Qi.

But Chu Qingyun had done none of those things.

The reason was that doing so would have granted temporary benefits—a momentary surge in power.

But the Sword Qi’s starting point would have been too low. This would mean his foundation in the way of the sword would be weak, hindering his long-term development.

That was why Chu Qingyun had waited until now. Only after obtaining the Thunderlight Stones did he finally begin to truly forge his Sword Qi!

With the Sword Qi condensed, Chu Qingyun controlled the Thunder Light Power from one of the stones, guiding it from his body, through his meridians, and slowly ’planting’ it into the Sword Qi on the Thundercloud Sword.

Chu Qingyun controlled it with extreme care, but as the wisp of Thunder Light Power advanced a third of the way up the blade, it suddenly let out a FZZT and burst apart, dissolving into a shower of sparks.

"Damn it! Another one!"

He couldn’t help but curse under his breath, a sense of anxiety creeping into him.

’Another sixteen hundred Military Merits, down the drain!’

’The Sword Qi condensed from the Thunder Sword Momentum and the Thundercloud Sword’s power is too strong, too fierce. The slightest lapse in concentration and it destroys the wisp of Thunder Light Power!’

’There are only four wisps left. I absolutely cannot fail again. Otherwise, I won’t even be able to form a Sword Qi Seed today...’

Taking a deep breath, Chu Qingyun once again controlled a wisp of Thunder Light Power, slowly guiding it into the Sword Qi along the Thundercloud Sword.

This time, the Thunder Light Power advanced two-thirds of the way up the blade.

Two-thirds of the Sword Qi along the blade had been infused with a minuscule amount of Thunder Light Power, the dull gray Sword Qi now showing faint, almost imperceptible traces of pale purple thunder light.

But just as it reached the two-thirds mark, there was another FZZT, and the Thunder Light Power was once again destroyed by the Sword Qi!

Wiping out all his previous progress in an instant!

The muscle at the corner of Chu Qingyun’s eye twitched. Gritting his teeth, he sent another wisp of Thunder Light Power toward the Thundercloud Sword. He vowed fiercely in his heart, ’I refuse to believe I can’t succeed today...’

But as a result of his impatience, the wisp of Thunder Light Power was destroyed when it was only halfway there!

’Damn it!’

Chu Qingyun was fuming with anger and anxiety. His arm trembled, and even the Sword Qi on the Thundercloud Sword wavered, on the verge of dissipating completely.

’Only two wisps of Thunder Light Power left... the last two!’

’Damn it, damn it, damn it!...’

Three consecutive failures had made him extremely agitated.

As the saying goes, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

Chu Qingyun had long since mastered the sword techniques for condensing Sword Qi. He had thought that creating the Thunder Light Sword Qi would be a relaxed, simple affair.

But now that he was actually doing it, he realized the hardest part was this final step: planting the Thunder Light Power into the Sword Qi!

’This is no good. In this state of mind, I’ll never be able to complete such delicate work. What do I do? What do I do...’

Chu Qingyun was now in a bind.

He had refined all the Thunder Light Power at once. If he couldn’t successfully plant it into the Sword Qi and form a Sword Qi Seed, the two remaining wisps couldn’t be stored in his body for long either.

’Calm down... I need to calm down...’

’That’s right! I still have one Ice Heart Leaf!’