Devouring Soul Emperor

Many people within the County City, including the Great Xia Dragon Guards and the various family powers, big and small, were well aware of the Assassin Alliance’s existence.

However, intimidated by the Assassin Alliance’s mystery and power, and given that they had never caused any major disturbances, everyone maintained a tacit agreement to mind their own business.

Chu Qingyun put on a mask, used a skull token to open a hidden door, and entered the Assassin Alliance.

"Token."

The Assassin Alliance receptionist, who was wearing a mask, spoke in a cold, hard voice, wasting no words.

Chu Qingyun was already used to this, so he said nothing and simply handed over his token.

"No mission history. Are you here to accept a mission or to make a purchase?"

"Making a purchase."

"What do you need?"

"The Hidden Qi Technique Martial Spirit Chapter, and the Spirit Level One Yang Pill."

"Elixirs... The most troublesome things..."

The receptionist muttered to himself, sounding somewhat displeased.

He picked up a thick ledger from nearby, expertly flipped to a page, and scanned it quickly from top to bottom. Then he said, "This branch has no One Yang Pills. You can place a custom order. We’ll send your request up the chain, and they’ll find an Alchemist to craft it for you. However, that will require a lot of extra Primordial Spirit Liquid and Contribution Points."

When he finished, the man looked at Chu Qingyun, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Contribution Points, what are those?"

Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but ask. He had never heard of them before.

"Just promoted to Half-Step Martial Spirit? An even more troublesome customer. Here, read it yourself..."

With that, the man tossed the thick ledger he had been looking at onto the counter in front of Chu Qingyun.

Spirit Level Rejuvenation Pill: 50 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid, two Contribution Points.

Spirit Level Hundred Herbs Detoxification Pill: 80 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid, three Contribution Points.

On this page, every elixir listed had not only a price but also a required number of Contribution Points.

He flipped a couple more pages and discovered that Tier Three Spiritual Medicines and other items commonly used by those in the Martial Spirit Realm all required Contribution Points, ranging from one to over ten, or even several dozen.

"The items sold in the alliance are much cheaper than outside. Even this commonly used Rejuvenation Pill could easily fetch seventy or eighty drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid at auction."

"We don’t worry about the Tier One and Tier Two items for the Martial Artist and Martial Master Realms. They aren’t worth much and are considered a perk for new members. But Tier Three items are different. You must complete missions and earn Contribution Points to purchase them."

The man offered a brief explanation as Chu Qingyun read.

It was an easy concept to grasp. The system was similar to the Military Merits system used by the Great Xia Dragon Guards.

High-level items in the Assassin Alliance required Contribution Points to purchase.

Meanwhile, the Great Xia Dragon Guards’ exchange office only accepted Military Merits. Furthermore, while Military Merits could be exchanged for Primordial Spirit Liquid, the reverse was not true—you couldn’t use Primordial Spirit Liquid to buy Military Merits.

These measures were a form of protection, preventing people from acting as middlemen and using Primordial Spirit Liquid to scalp items for a massive profit.

"How long would a custom-ordered elixir take to arrive?" Chu Qingyun asked, looking up.

’I have over a thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid now, which is a decent sum. Custom-ordering one elixir should be no problem, and I can always take on missions to earn Contribution Points.’

’But the crucial issue is that this One Yang Pill is to save a life. There isn’t much time left before Ye Qingfeng’s two-month deadline is up.’

The receptionist thought for a moment, then shook his head. "It’s not guaranteed. It depends on the efficiency of our superiors. Shipping time is hard to calculate, and it also depends on the mood of the esteemed Alchemist. In short, you likely won’t get it in under three to five months."

’Three to five months...’

Chu Qingyun was speechless. By the time they procured the One Yang Pill in three to five months, Ye Qingfeng’s body would be cold.

Giving up on the idea of buying the One Yang Pill here, Chu Qingyun followed the man’s direction and flipped to the page for the Hidden Qi Technique Martial Spirit Chapter.

Hidden Qi Technique Martial Spirit Chapter: 100 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid, one Contribution Point.

For a Secret Technique as immensely practical as the Hidden Qi Technique, a price of one hundred drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid was an absolute bargain. The one-point Contribution Point requirement could even be considered a bonus.

But Chu Qingyun’s expression soured. He didn’t have any Contribution Points.

Since joining the Assassin Alliance, the only missions he had accepted were those against the Blood Wolf Gang.

"Can you check if there are any missions related to Cloud-Mo Village in Iron Blade Gorge?"

Left with no other choice, Chu Qingyun had to find a mission to earn the Contribution Points he needed.

"Iron Blade Gorge, Cloud-Mo Village..."

The man had clearly handled such requests before. He was very familiar with the thick mission ledger and quickly found what Chu Qingyun was looking for. "See for yourself."

Boss of Cloud-Mo Village, Heaven-Reaching Clouds: Seven bounties totaling 130 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

Second-in-command of Cloud-Mo Village, Cui Yanghong: Four bounties totaling 24 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

Third-in-command of Cloud-Mo Village, Zhu Wenwen: Five bounties totaling 27 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

Young Master of Cloud-Mo Village, Mo Feiwen: Six bounties totaling 78 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

Each mission had a brief description. Of the four men, Heaven-Reaching Clouds was a Level One Martial Spirit; the other three were Half-Step Martial Spirits.

Furthermore, only the mission for Heaven-Reaching Clouds awarded two Contribution Points. The other three were worth only one point each.

Seeing these bounties, Chu Qingyun’s first reaction was, ’How can the bounties be so low?’

’A Level One Martial Spirit and three Half-Step Martial Spirits, with nearly twenty bounties between them, are only worth a total of 259 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid!’

After all, in his Storage Ring, he had over 1,200 drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid alone, not to mention miscellaneous items worth another two hundred drops.

But he quickly understood why.

His supply of Primordial Spirit Liquid and Military Merits, after all, had been obtained under very special circumstances.

The Primordial Spirit Liquid came mainly from the accumulated wealth of the several thousand Level Nine Martial Masters who had been guarding the six towns, plus the reward from that special mission. His current thirty-thousand-plus Military Merits were also a reward from that same special mission.

But missions like that were a matter of luck; they couldn’t be sought out.

A typical Level One mission for the Great Xia Dragon Guards only awarded a little over a thousand Military Merits, which wasn’t much different from the missions here.

Besides, he had seemingly already exhausted the places where he could rake in large amounts of Military Merits, like the Merit Assessment Office and the betting arena. Opportunities like that would likely be scarce in the future.

Therefore, from now on, earning Military Merits through missions would be a slow process, just like it was for everyone else.

At this thought, Chu Qingyun felt an even greater urgency to become an Alchemist as soon as possible.

Although he had solved the problem of acquiring Primordial Power for his cultivation with his Devouring Power, cultivating Secret Techniques and Sword Techniques still required a vast amount of resources to purchase Spiritual Medicines or Thunderlight Stones.