Devouring Soul Emperor

They had just suffered a crushing defeat, and Tunfeng had also led his men out to hunt down the Great Xia Dragon Guards.

The remaining Martial Soul Hall members stationed in Shilin Town had almost completely let down their guard. All sentries, both visible and hidden, had disappeared.

To his surprise, Chu Qingyun snuck all the way to their private estate, completely unimpeded.

After all, the twelve masters with Tier Three Martial Souls were still living in the estate.

So before leaving, Tunfeng had made some arrangements, ordering the remaining men to gather their elite Martial Artists and guard the estate well.

Chu Qingyun circled the area, a puzzled look on his face. ’That’s strange. There isn’t a single Level 9 Martial Artist... Where did they all go?’

’Whatever. I’ll get my hands on all the Tier Three Martial Souls first!’

After a moment’s hesitation, Chu Qingyun leaped into the estate.

His plan was to focus on assassination.

Although there wasn’t a single Level 9 Martial Artist here, the remaining ones were all low-level. The strongest was only Level 8, and most were just Level 4 or Level 5. Even all together, they stood no chance against him.

However, if a fight broke out, the twelve individuals with Tier Three Martial Souls would certainly not join in. They would scatter and flee, because their lives were far more precious than those of the guards with Tier Two Martial Souls.

If that happened, Chu Qingyun might catch a few of them, but it would be nearly impossible to get them all in one go.

Therefore, it was better to take them out one by one, without a sound.

Once inside the estate, Chu Qingyun easily located the quarters of the twelve with Tier Three Martial Souls. They occupied the largest and finest buildings on the grounds.

Furthermore, after the earlier commotion they had caused, the entire Town Mayor’s Mansion and even some nearby residents had been woken up, and candlelight now flickered in many places.

Chu Qingyun found a deserted spot and deactivated his Stealth and Shadow Martial Soul. He then carefully recalled the appearance of the leader of the Martial Soul Hall’s Level 9 Martial Artists.

’Thousand-faced Martial Soul!’

’Thousand-Faced Illusion Body!’

After activating the Thousand-faced Martial Soul, the space around Chu Qingyun began to distort. His build, features, clothes, and even his aura started to change rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, Chu Qingyun had completely taken on Tunfeng’s appearance. And since they were both Level 9 Martial Artists, the disguise was flawless!

Having assumed Tunfeng’s appearance, Chu Qingyun swaggered out into the open.

"Lord Tunfeng!"

"L-Lord Tunfeng..."

He encountered many patrolling Martial Artists along the way. Upon seeing Chu Qingyun, every one of them bowed cautiously in greeting, showing the utmost respect.

It was from them that Chu Qingyun learned the name of the man he was impersonating: Tunfeng.

He merely smiled and nodded at those who greeted him, saying nothing. He didn’t know Tunfeng or his manner of speaking, so the less he said, the fewer mistakes he’d make.

Yet, even this small gesture made the men a little suspicious.

’Lord Tunfeng? Smiling at us?’

’You’ve got to be kidding.’

This was one of the limitations of the Thousand-faced Martial Soul. No matter how perfect the likeness, it was easy to be exposed and arouse suspicion when encountering someone who knew the original person very well.

Fortunately, despite their doubts, the low-level Martial Artists didn’t dare to investigate or question Chu Qingyun.

As the leader of over five hundred Level 9 Martial Artists, Tunfeng had been nothing but savage and brutal since arriving in Shilin Town. He would beat and curse the original Martial Soul Hall members stationed there at the slightest provocation and had even killed several of them with his own hands.

He arrived outside a candlelit room without any trouble. Chu Qingyun sensed the presence of a Level 6 Martial Artist inside, then knocked gently on the door.

"Who is it?"

a voice from inside asked.

"It’s me, Tunfeng!"

Chu Qingyun kept his words to a minimum, trying not to say too much.

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties. He looked at Chu Qingyun in confusion. "Didn’t you go out, Lord Tunfeng? Why are you back?"

In the Martial Soul Hall, those with Tier Three Martial Souls held a noble status.

But Tunfeng was, after all, the leader here, with so many Level 9 Martial Artists under his command. As such, they didn’t dare act too arrogantly around him.

His cover intact, Chu Qingyun smiled, shoved the man into the room, and shut the door behind him. "I came back for you," he said with a grin. "Naturally, I have some business to attend to."

"What is it?"

"To send you to your death!"

With a flash of killing intent in his eyes, Chu Qingyun grabbed the man by the neck and tapped his head with a finger wrapped in Thunder Aura. Violent Thunder Power erupted inside his skull, and the man died instantly, without a sound.

A moment later, Chu Qingyun suddenly felt his grip loosen.

The man dissolved like a collapsing sand sculpture, instantly transforming into a mass of dark red Martial Soul Power that floated before Chu Qingyun.

’Devouring Martial Soul!’

With a thought from Chu Qingyun, his Devouring Martial Soul swallowed the entire mass of Martial Soul Power.

Killing a Martial Artist from the Martial Soul Hall had an advantage over killing a normal human Martial Artist: there was no need for the Devouring Martial Soul to waste time converting a Martial Soul into Martial Soul Power.

This was because what it devoured was already pure Martial Soul Power, so the Devouring Martial Soul could process it in a mere moment.

A Tier Three Martial Soul: Red-horned Demon Leopard.

Chu Qingyun had no interest in this kind of Martial Soul. He used it directly to strengthen his Devouring Martial Soul, increasing its enhancement to 24%.

Using the same method, Chu Qingyun eliminated ten more people with Tier Three Martial Souls, raising his Devouring Martial Soul’s enhancement to 84%!

The Thousand-faced Martial Soul was rarely useful under normal circumstances. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But when it was used, the effects were overwhelmingly powerful!

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t assassination at all. It was more like Chu Qingyun was openly strolling up and killing, one by one, the people with Tier Three Martial Souls they so painstakingly guarded day and night. And all the while, their own guards had to continuously bow and greet him along the way...

As he stood before the door of the last person with a Tier Three Martial Soul, Chu Qingyun glimpsed a squad of Martial Artists patrolling past. He suddenly recalled the mission Grand Commander Chuyu had given them.

The mission was to kill every Martial Artist from the Martial Soul Hall in Shilin Town!

’Now that Tunfeng and all the Level 9 Martial Artists are away, isn’t this the perfect opportunity to kill these low-level ones?’

At this thought, a cold smile crept onto Chu Qingyun’s face. He instantly dispelled the Thousand-faced Martial Soul, reverting to his own appearance, then kicked the door open and stormed inside.

"Who’s there!"

In the dim candlelight, a flash of sword light lanced toward Chu Qingyun.

However, Chu Qingyun only smiled coldly. He effortlessly caught the approaching longsword between two fingers. A green light flashed on his arm, and with a sharp SNAP, he broke the longsword in two!

"A Level 8 Martial Artist like you shouldn’t even bother resisting!"

With a low shout, Chu Qingyun struck like lightning, breaking the man’s arms. He followed up with a palm strike that left his opponent severely wounded, the Martial Soul Power enveloping his body flickering unstably.