Devouring Soul Emperor

"Heh heh, Lord Guardian, it’s not that I don’t want to sell. It’s just... I can’t rest easy until I’ve successfully broken through to the Half-Step Martial Spirit realm," Chu Qingyun said with a small laugh.

Using a Nascent Condensation Pill wasn’t a one hundred percent guarantee for a breakthrough.

If it didn’t work the first time, he’d need a second try.

"Haha, I understand, I understand! In that case, I wish Captain Chu success on your first attempt!"

"Captain Chu, if you ever do decide to sell, please think of me first! As for the price, we can always negotiate..."

After leaving his name and address, the man took the hint and departed.

Carrying his pile of new belongings back to his room, Chu Qingyun eagerly took out a small jade box. The moment he opened it, a refreshing fragrance that invigorated the spirit washed over him.

Inside the box lay a round, milky-white elixir about the size of a cherry.

Upon closer inspection, one could even see a thin, milky-white wisp of what looked like airflow enveloping the elixir.

’So this is a true elixir... a Spirit Level elixir, the Nascent Condensation Pill...’

Just as Chu Qingyun reached for it, an unexpected knock came from the door.

It was another Guard General who wanted to buy the Nascent Condensation Pill from Chu Qingyun. He said Chu Qingyun could name his price—Military Merits, Primordial Spirit Liquid, or any Spiritual Medicine or Celestial and Earthly Treasure he desired. He even hinted that he was acting on behalf of a Grand Commander.

Helpless, Chu Qingyun used the same excuse to politely turn him away.

However, what he didn’t expect was that...

In the span of a single morning, a total of five people came looking for Chu Qingyun, all with the same goal: to buy his Nascent Condensation Pills. Every single one of them offered incredibly tempting treasures in exchange!

Chu Qingyun was so disturbed by the interruptions that he didn’t even have a moment to use the Nascent Condensation Pill for his cultivation.

In the end, he had no choice but to hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on his door and bolt it from the inside.

After half an hour, the stream of visitors finally stopped.

Chu Qingyun took out one of the Nascent Condensation Pills and placed it gently in his palm.

’To think a single, tiny elixir could be so valuable... nearly twenty thousand Military Merits, a Tier Four Spiritual Medicine, a fragment of a King-level Sword Technique... Those people were willing to part with so many amazing things just for one pill. If I could become an Alchemist...’

Holding the elixir, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but get lost in thought.

It was hardly his fault. The items those people had offered for the Nascent Condensation Pill were simply too alluring.

Nearly any one of those items would have driven people to fight to the death, yet here, they were offered just to obtain a single Nascent Condensation Pill!

The elixir melted the instant it entered his mouth.

Chu Qingyun felt a peculiar power rise from his abdomen. It seeped into his meridians, then followed the flow of Primordial Power into his Qi Sea.

He had already learned the proper way to use the Nascent Condensation Pill beforehand.

Once all of the Elixir Power had entered his Qi Sea, Chu Qingyun once again employed his previous breakthrough technique, selecting a region of Primordial Power to condense and compress.

After condensing that section of Primordial Power into a single drop of Primordial Liquid, Chu Qingyun controlled the drop and moved it into the mass of Elixir Power within his Qi Sea.

The milky-white Elixir Power seeped into the drop of Primordial Liquid, bit by bit.

After about a tenth of the Elixir Power was consumed, the drop of Primordial Liquid, which had been trembling unstably, finally calmed down. It became as crystal clear as Primordial Spirit Liquid, giving off a very stable feeling!

Very carefully, Chu Qingyun moved this drop of Primordial Liquid out of the area containing the Elixir Power. Then, little by little, he released the pressure he was applying to it.

He withdrew all of his mental focus.

And yet, the drop of Primordial Liquid remained in its liquid state, suspended within his Qi Sea!

This was the effect of the Nascent Condensation Pill: it stabilized the newly-formed Primordial Liquid, allowing it to exist long-term within the Qi Sea without being diluted and assimilated by the surrounding Primordial Power.

Succeeding on his very first attempt gave Chu Qingyun a huge boost of confidence.

He immediately repeated the process, using up all the Elixir Power to successfully condense ten drops of Primordial Liquid.

When he was done, the ten drops of Primordial Liquid floated together stably, showing no signs of collapsing or being assimilated.

After condensing the ten drops of Primordial Liquid, a close look at his once-full Qi Sea would reveal that the level at the very top had dropped by a tiny amount.

’The Elixir Power in one Nascent Condensation Pill is so meager...’

Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but mutter, his gaze falling on the other two Nascent Condensation Pills on the table.

If anyone else had heard him, they would have been utterly speechless.

Complaining that a Nascent Condensation Pill’s power was too meager was something only Chu Qingyun would ever do.

For a Qi Sea created by a typical Tier Two or Tier Three Martial Soul, condensing ten drops of Primordial Liquid would consume half, if not more, of their total Primordial Power, pushing them close to the limit of what their Qi Sea could sustain.

It was even worse for those with Qi Seas created by a Tier One Martial Soul, or for some ninth-level Martial Artists born with naturally small Qi Seas.

Even if they managed to get a Nascent Condensation Pill, they wouldn’t dare condense ten drops of Primordial Liquid. If their Primordial Power dropped too low without being replenished in time, it could easily lead to serious problems and damage their very foundation.

After all, condensing Primordial Liquid for a breakthrough was an incredibly draining process for the mind. Almost no one could condense and compress Primordial Liquid while simultaneously refining Primordial Stones or Primordial Spirit Liquid to replenish their Primordial Power.

And the Elixir Power from the pill wouldn’t last forever in the Qi Sea either.

But despite his grumbling, Chu Qingyun didn’t take another Nascent Condensation Pill. It wasn’t because he was reluctant to use it, but because it was no longer necessary.

For Chu Qingyun, the main purpose of the Nascent Condensation Pill was to establish a beachhead.

With those ten stable drops of Primordial Liquid established, the rest of the process was much simpler.

Using the same old method, Chu Qingyun condensed and compressed another section of his Primordial Power. The resulting new drop of Primordial Liquid was, as before, unstable.

However, when Chu Qingyun moved it next to the ten drops he had made earlier, it was as if the new drop had found a powerful backer. It grew much more stable, no longer in immediate danger of being diluted and assimilated by the surrounding Primordial Power. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It was like smashing a block of ice into pieces before throwing them into water—they would surely melt faster than if the block had been thrown in whole.

When gathered together, the drops of Primordial Liquid could support each other.

For a full day, Chu Qingyun remained behind closed doors, cultivating. He continuously condensed drop after drop of Primordial Liquid from his Qi Sea.

After cultivating this way for a day and a night, he had consumed nearly 80% of the Primordial Power in his Qi Sea and condensed a total of almost a thousand drops of Primordial Liquid!

The thousand drops of Primordial Liquid merged into a large cluster, hovering in his Qi Sea.

For an ordinary person, even after they truly became a Tier One Martial Spirit and converted their entire Qi Sea to Primordial Liquid, they likely wouldn’t have this much!

But for Chu Qingyun, with his ten-thousand-meter Qi Sea, a thousand drops of Primordial Liquid was merely the beginning of the Half-Step Martial Spirit realm...