Devouring Soul Emperor

Dong Yuanzhou snapped to his senses and unconsciously took a step back.

Of all the elixirs Chu Qingyun had mentioned, he had only heard of the Violent Yuan Pill.

But after seeing him swallow four elixirs in one go, and then seeing the dumbfounded expressions on everyone around them—even Dong Jingshan’s utter shock below the stage—it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Chu Qingyun’s current strength was anything but ordinary!

"You—what are you going to do? I..."

"This is impossible!"

Dong Yuanzhou’s words caught in his throat as he cried out in alarm.

He saw Chu Qingyun leave an afterimage in his place, then appear before him in an instant!

It was so fast that he, a level-three Martial Spirit, had no time to react!

"Still running your mouth!"

Chu Qingyun snorted. Without using his Primordial Power or his Martial Soul, he threw a single punch—a vicious Upper Hook that slammed into Dong Yuanzhou’s chin.

CRACK!

His jaw shattered on impact. Dong Yuanzhou’s head snapped back as the force of the blow launched him into the air!

The strength from the Violent Yuan Pill, the speed from the Green Wind Swift Shadow Pill, and the power from the Giant Elephant Frenzy Pill all stacked, giving Chu Qingyun’s combat prowess an explosive boost.

Caught in his shock and terror, Dong Yuanzhou was utterly powerless to resist!

As Dong Yuanzhou flew into the air, Chu Qingyun lowered his center of gravity and leaped. Despite moving second, he arrived first, soaring above Dong Yuanzhou.

Just as Dong Yuanzhou reached the apex of his ascent, Chu Qingyun kicked out in midair, planting his foot squarely on his opponent’s chest.

CRACK!

His entire chest caved in instantly. Dong Yuanzhou hung in the air for a moment before shooting sideways, slamming violently into the protective barrier!

BOOM!

The force of the impact left Dong Yuanzhou’s body limp. He coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with shattered internal organs. Even the battle stage’s protective barrier shuddered, rippling nonstop as if it were about to collapse.

Below the stage, a supervisor from the Great Xia Martial Palace’s lip twitched. He quickly raised his hand, forming several Hand Seals and sending them into the base of the stage. This activated the Earth Spirit Realm-level Restriction within the stage, finally stabilizing the barrier.

After taking a direct hit from Chu Qingyun in his powered-up state, Dong Yuanzhou was completely paralyzed on the ground, endlessly coughing up bloody foam, unable to move so much as a finger.

But Chu Qingyun had no intention of letting him off just for that.

After all, when Chu Qingyun had been the one lying grievously injured on the ground, Dong Yuanzhou had shown no intention of sparing him.

Another kick.

BANG!

Dong Yuanzhou was kicked into the air again. His life was extinguished, and his body left a bloody streak as it slid down the protective barrier.

As everyone watched Dong Yuanzhou’s body slowly slide down the barrier, they were all stunned by Chu Qingyun’s explosive increase in power.

A level-one Martial Spirit had killed a level-three Martial Spirit in just three moves!

This... was the power of elixirs!

Beyond their shock, many people looked at Chu Qingyun on the stage, his aura surging, with complicated expressions. ’It’s just one arena match,’ they sighed to themselves. ’Was it really necessary to swallow four elixirs at once?’

’Those were genuine Spirit Level elixirs! Each one is priceless and impossible to find on the market—the kind of trump card you’d only use in a life-or-death moment!’

Little did they know that Chu Qingyun had a total of fifteen of these so-called "trump cards," which he had spent eight days and two thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid to refine...

Just then, Dong Jingshan suddenly strode forward a few steps, pointed at Chu Qingyun on the stage, and roared, "Chu Qingyun! You—you dared to consume elixirs! Taking elixirs is against the rules in the Great Xia Martial Palace! You deserve to die!"

Looking at Dong Yuanzhou’s mangled corpse, Dong Jingshan’s heart bled.

He was a rare genius to emerge from the Dong Family’s branch lineage. Dong Jingshan had even prepared a Secret Technique for him, along with all the Celestial and Earthly Treasures required for his cultivation, just waiting for Dong Yuanzhou to break through to the Earth Spirit Realm.

But now, he had died here, at the hands of Chu Qingyun!

Chu Qingyun had naturally anticipated Dong Jingshan’s accusation.

He took a few light steps to the edge of the stage and said with a sneer, "We are in the Great Xia Martial Palace, that’s correct. But what does our fight have to do with the Great Xia Martial Palace? This is a life-and-death challenge. All the rules were set by your Dong Family. Was there any rule among them forbidding the use of elixirs?"

During the Great Xia Samurai Challenge held within the Great Xia Martial Palace, the consumption of elixirs during combat is forbidden, regardless of whether it’s in the Martial Artist District, the Martial Master District, or the Martial Spirit District.

However, Chu Qingyun’s current life-and-death challenge against the Dong Family had nothing to do with that competition. They were merely borrowing the Great Xia Martial Palace’s grounds and battle stage.

Therefore, whether or not elixirs could be consumed was entirely up to them to decide.

Dong Jingshan had obviously never considered this, allowing Chu Qingyun to exploit a loophole—just as Ye Junhao had done during the Four Races Martial Arts Competition.

"You little bastard! You’re spouting nonsense! Since you’re inside the Great Xia Martial Palace, you must naturally abide by its rules!"

Dong Jingshan’s argument was just a desperate attempt at twisting logic, causing many in the crowd to secretly frown. Their gazes toward him now held a hint more disdain.

But he had no other choice. He had only proposed this life-and-death challenge on a whim; how could he have been expected to consider every single detail.

Besides, even if he had thought of the elixir loophole, he never could have imagined Chu Qingyun would produce three different types of power-bursting elixirs and use them to kill Dong Yuanzhou in three brutal moves!

At this point, Xiao Feng, who had been bottling up his anger for a long time, could no longer hold back. "Dong Jingshan, you shameless old codger! You still have the nerve to talk about abiding by the rules of the Great Xia Martial Palace? The Palace has always emphasized fairness and evenly matched battles! Your Dong Family came up with this shameless gauntlet of death, pitting a Small Spirit Realm expert against our captain, a mere level-one Martial Spirit. And now you have the gall to talk about rules?"

Xiao Feng and the others had long been disgusted by the Dong Family’s life-and-death challenge!

"Brat, you’re courting death! Kneel!"

Enraged by the humiliation, Dong Jingshan fixed his glare on Xiao Feng and his companions. The formidable aura of a Celestial Spirit Realm expert surged forth as he prepared to use the same old trick.

"Stop, Dong Jingshan! Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough for one day? This matter ends here!"

Just then, Elder Qin and Qin Ya emerged from the back area.

Standing at the edge of the stage, Chu Qingyun looked down at Dong Jingshan and sneered, "Make your decision, Dong Jingshan. Either you admit defeat, and I win this life-and-death challenge, or you can keep sending people up. As long as they’re in the Small Spirit Realm, I’ll take them all!"

"Send someone else!"

"Send someone else!"

"Send someone else!"

All around, a wave of shouts erupted from the audience. They didn’t care whether Chu Qingyun had taken elixirs or not; they were united in their demand for Dong Jingshan to hurry up and send another person to fight.