Devouring Soul Emperor

"Hmph. The Dong Family’s so-called ’Life-and-Death Challenge’ is just them sending out Small Spirit Realm experts to challenge you one after another."

"Every battle is to the death. It will continue until you’re dead, or until their family has no more Small Spirit Realm experts to send."

"These rules are clearly just a gauntlet. What a bullshit ’Life-and-Death Challenge’!"

Grand Commander Chu Yu explained with great disdain.

However, after hearing him out, Chu Qingyun’s eyes lowered slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Seeing his expression, both Grand Commander Chu Yu and Xia He couldn’t help but be alarmed. ’This guy can’t be seriously thinking of accepting the Dong Family’s Life-and-Death Challenge, can he!?’

"Chu Qingyun, this Life-and-Death Challenge is no joke! Even though you’ve cultivated Sword Qi and are very powerful, the Martial Spirit Realm isn’t like the Martial Master Realm. In the Martial Spirit Realm, the gap between each tier is enormous. The Dong Family will definitely send a Tier Three Martial Spirit to kill you!"

"Yeah, Chu Qingyun, you’re not going to fall for such a low-level scheme, are you?"

Grand Commander Chu Yu and Xia He both tried to persuade Chu Qingyun urgently.

But Chu Qingyun just smiled and said, "Since they’ve already publicized it everywhere, wouldn’t refusing the challenge tarnish the Celestial Wind Army’s reputation? I’ll accept this Life-and-Death Challenge! I’d like to see just how many Small Spirit Realm experts the Dong Family has for me to kill!"

As he spoke, a cold glint flashed in Chu Qingyun’s eyes.

’Intentionally publicizing it everywhere to force my hand? Fine. I’ll make you all understand just how foolish this move was!’

Moreover, Chu Qingyun had also just realized that if no one believed he could win, he might be able to use this opportunity to make a hefty sum of Primordial Spirit Liquid. After all, with the auction approaching, he was getting short on funds...

As for whether he could win after accepting the challenge, Chu Qingyun wasn’t too worried.

The Third Layer of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern wasn’t having a noticeable effect anymore. Chu Qingyun’s main strengths now lay in his Thunder Light Sword Qi and his Tier Four Martial Soul, the Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine.

With these two assets alone, he should be able to defeat a Tier Two Martial Spirit. If he faced a Tier Three Martial Spirit, he could probably win after a tough fight, provided his opponent wasn’t too strong. But against a very powerful one, the outcome was uncertain.

Naturally, this alone wasn’t enough to give him the confidence to accept this Life-and-Death Challenge.

However, Chu Qingyun had another recently acquired method: Elixirs!

There was probably no rule against using elixirs in the Life-and-Death Challenge. Chu Qingyun was prepared to take a page out of Ye Junhao’s book and exploit the same loophole he had during the Four Races Martial Arts Competition...

Grand Commander Chu Yu and Xia He tried to persuade him some more, but Chu Qingyun was resolute. He insisted on accepting the Life-and-Death Challenge to teach the Dong Family a lesson.

They were out of options and could only leave for now to think of another way.

Once outside, Grand Commander Chu Yu wore a helpless expression.

Xia He, however, suddenly felt puzzled. "Grand Commander, in my experience, Chu Qingyun isn’t the type to get hot-headed and act impulsively. Do you think... maybe he’s actually confident this time?"

At Xia He’s words, a thoughtful look appeared on Grand Commander Chu Yu’s face as well.

’That’s right. Chu Qingyun shouldn’t be provoked by such a crude tactic. Could it be that he really has some way to guarantee victory?’

After a moment of thought, Grand Commander Chu Yu still couldn’t figure it out. He could only shake his head helplessly. "I’ll go report to the Lord Military Commander first. No matter what, I can’t let the Dong Family scheme against someone from my Celestial Wind Army."

After seeing the two of them off, Chu Qingyun locked the door from the inside, took off his shoes and socks, and lay down on his bed. Then, his consciousness connected to the Light Card, and he entered the Illusion Realm.

The initial Illusion Realm was still a scene of blue skies, white clouds, and lush green grass.

However, with a single thought from Chu Qingyun, the surrounding illusion instantly changed, transforming into a replica of his own room.

’Since the real alchemy will definitely happen in my own room, I might as well make the simulation perfect, right down to the surroundings.’

"Pill Cauldron!"

"Eight-leaf Lotus, Red Sun Fruit, Hundred-Year-Old Ink Bamboo Leaves..."

Chu Qingyun continuously called out the names of various Tier Three Spiritual Medicines.

Before him, all these Spiritual Medicines were simulated into existence. And for each type, there was a huge pile, numbering in the hundreds!

Within the Light Card’s Illusion Realm, the supply of Spiritual Medicine was absolutely limitless, enough for Chu Qingyun to squander as he pleased!

The first elixir Chu Qingyun chose to practice was the One Yang Pill.

Compared to the Spiritual Longevity Pill, the One Yang Pill was much simpler.

The very first step in refining elixirs is to use Soul Fire to extract the essence from the Spiritual Medicines.

Although this was the most fundamental step, it was also extremely important, as the purity of the extracted Spiritual Medicine essence would affect every subsequent step.

The purer the initially extracted essence, the easier the subsequent fusion and pill solidification would be, and the higher the quality of the final elixir.

Chu Qingyun had refined Spiritual Medicine essence many times before while cultivating his Profound Celestial Divine Pattern. The only difference this time was that he was using Soul Fire instead of Primordial Power, and a Pill Cauldron instead of his hands.

Soul Power could also be perfectly simulated within the Illusion Realm.

Using his Soul Power, Chu Qingyun guided a Red Sun Fruit into the Pill Cauldron.

Then, with a wave of his hand, a stream of Martial Soul Power from his Flame Martial Soul was injected into the Pill Cauldron, transforming into a Martial Soul Fire that blazed fiercely inside.

Chu Qingyun carefully controlled a wisp of the Martial Soul Fire, cautiously bringing it closer to the Red Sun Fruit. However, the moment they touched, the Red Sun Fruit went POOF and was instantly burned to ash.

The Martial Soul Fire of a Tier Four Martial Soul was far more potent than Primordial Power for refining Spiritual Medicine, capable of extracting a much purer essence. Correspondingly, it was also much more difficult to control.

’The temperature is too high? Then I’ll lower it a bit...’

With a thought, Chu Qingyun cleared the ashes from the Pill Cauldron, adjusted the Martial Soul Fire, and tried again.

The result was another POOF as it burned to ash.

’A little lower...’

POOF!

’A little lower...’

POOF!

...

After more than ten consecutive attempts, Chu Qingyun finally found a suitable temperature and slowly began to refine the Red Sun Fruit.

However, just as he breathed a sigh of relief, the Martial Soul Fire flickered and turned the Red Sun Fruit to ash...

From start to finish, Chu Qingyun tried over eighty times before he finally succeeded in extracting a small, crimson glob of liquid. This was the essence of the Red Sun Fruit’s Spiritual Medicine.

A Tier Three Spiritual Medicine, the Red Sun Fruit, was priced at ten drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid in the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower.

If he had really wasted over eighty of them, that would be... over eight hundred drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid!

That was almost enough to buy a Tier Four Spiritual Medicine!

’Learning alchemy really is just burning money... Thank goodness I have this Light Card...’

Chu Qingyun calculated the cost and couldn’t help but shake his head and click his tongue.

Immediately after, he guided a Hundred-Year-Old Ink Bamboo Leaf into the Pill Cauldron.