Devouring Soul Emperor

Ye Qi stuck out her tongue, clung to Housekeeper Qin’s arm, and said, "Sir Qin, the Celestial Sword Three Techniques are just too hard. I’ve been studying them for years and still can’t learn them..."

Housekeeper Qin raised an eyebrow and said, "And you just gave them away? Do you have any idea how great a price your father paid to get the Celestial Sword Three Techniques from the Ye Family for you?"

Ye Qi pouted and said brazenly, "Well, what’s done is done. I even promised to give him the other two techniques if Chu Qingyun won. So go ahead, punish me however you want."

"Sigh, you silly girl..."

"But he’s quite the genius, though, to actually master the Sword Drawing Technique."

Housekeeper Qin sighed, shaking his head as he spoke.

"Ahem, Young Friend Chu, you’re truly full of surprises. To think you had such a technique up your sleeve."

"If you ever have the time to visit the Blood Wolf Gang in the future, I will personally welcome you with open arms."

With Liu Ming dragged away unconscious, the Blood Wolf Gang had suffered a crushing defeat.

However, their Gang Leader, Qi Gang, had now set his sights on recruiting Chu Qingyun.

"That’s enough. Chu Qingyun is already a member of the Great Xia Martial Palace in Qingshan City, so don’t waste your breath, Gang Leader Qi."

"Qi, you two get ready. Hurry and get into the Spiritual Pool."

Housekeeper Qin shot Qi Gang a look, crushing his hopes of recruiting the boy.

At the mention of the Great Xia Martial Palace, Qi Gang could only shake his head in resignation.

The Great Xia Martial Palace was an absolutely terrifying power within the Great Xia Kingdom.

Operating under the banner of the Great Xia Kingdom, they did their utmost to recruit geniuses from every city. Over the years, they had discovered an untold number of powerful experts for the kingdom.

The Spiritual Pool was not large, and under the sunlight, the water within shimmered with a myriad of colors.

Even just standing beside the Spiritual Pool, you could faintly feel a gentle fluctuation of Primordial Power from within.

"Haha, I’m going in first!"

Ye Qi laughed and jumped into the Spiritual Pool.

Not wanting to waste any time, Chu Qingyun jumped in right after her.

Once submerged in the Spiritual Pool, Chu Qingyun closed his eyes, assumed a cultivation posture, and began to absorb the energy within.

Just as Ye Qi had said, the energy in the Spiritual Pool was extremely gentle.

It was even more suitable for a Martial Artist’s cultivation than the power of a Golden Thread Primordial Spirit Fruit.

As the gentle energy entered his meridians, it seemed to have a mind of its own, surging toward Chu Qingyun’s eighth meridian and beginning to break open the sealed channel.

When opening meridians, the further one progressed, the more power was required.

The power needed to open the eighth meridian even exceeded the total required for the first seven combined!

Fortunately, Chu Qingyun was in the Spiritual Pool. With the support of the energy it had accumulated over several years, he successfully opened his eighth meridian in just over an hour.

A Level Eight Martial Artist!

Potent Primordial Power coursed through his eight meridians like a surging tide. Chu Qingyun felt his entire body brimming with strength.

Advancing a Realm was an absolutely massive boost to his strength.

Chu Qingyun even felt that now, he could fight Liu Ming without having to use the Sword Drawing Technique.

After he finished cultivating, Chu Qingyun vaguely saw a figure floating motionlessly in the water a short distance away.

’Ye Qi is still cultivating. In that case, I’ll try to break through the Ninth Meridian!’

Driven by the principle of "waste not, want not," Chu Qingyun once again began absorbing the Spiritual Pool’s energy to break through to the Ninth Meridian.

The attempt to open the Ninth Meridian ran into difficulty right from the start.

Even using all his might and the potent Primordial Power from his eight meridians, it took Chu Qingyun a full ten minutes to open it just a tiny crack.

’No wonder Level Nine Martial Artists are so powerful. Opening this Ninth Meridian is ridiculously difficult.’

’Absorb!’

With a single thought, Chu Qingyun began to absorb the energy in the Spiritual Pool with even greater frenzy.

If one looked closely at the multi-colored Spiritual Pool, one could even see ripples of Primordial Power being drawn into Chu Qingyun’s body as if he were a whale devouring the sea.

With the support of this immense power, the pace at which he was breaking through the meridian began to quicken.

However, after an hour and a half of Chu Qingyun’s frenzied absorption, the energy in the Spiritual Pool had greatly diminished, and even its colors had faded significantly.

By this point, Chu Qingyun’s Ninth Meridian was only two-thirds of the way open.

’Damn it! Am I going to fall short at the very last step?’

Chu Qingyun’s heart was filled with frustration.

Breaking through the Ninth Meridian would probably require over ten thousand Middle Grade Primordial Stones.

For a Martial Artist like Chu Qingyun, who had no powerful faction backing him, tens of thousands of Middle Grade Primordial Stones was an astronomical sum.

After all, he had risked offending the Blood Wolf Gang and killed two of their Level Nine Protectors, only to earn just over three thousand Middle Grade Primordial Stones.

Chu Qingyun’s sense of frustration seemed to be transmitted to his Devouring Martial Soul.

The Devouring Martial Soul trembled faintly, and a powerful suction force suddenly erupted from within Chu Qingyun’s body.

The entire Spiritual Pool instantly began to churn violently, as if it were boiling.

Streams of Spiritual Power converged, parting the water as they rushed into Chu Qingyun’s body at incredible speed to replenish the energy he was expending to open the meridian.

Under the Devouring Power of his Devouring Martial Soul, the entire Spiritual Pool was thrown into turmoil.

Even the energy at the bottom of the pool, which had settled there for decades, was drawn out. The upper layers of the Spiritual Pool once again shimmered with a myriad of colors.

With the support of this even more tyrannical power, Chu Qingyun had no time to rejoice. He focused on controlling the force, slamming it into the final section of the Ninth Meridian.

「Half an hour later.」

Chu Qingyun thought he heard a loud BOOM from within his body.

A feeling of profound relief immediately spread through his entire body.

Chu Qingyun’s eyes flew open, and a divine light several inches long shot out from them. A moment later, it slowly receded back into their depths.

A Level Nine Martial Artist!

Even Chu Qingyun couldn’t suppress his excitement and began to tremble slightly.

Jumping two levels from a Level Seven to a Level Nine Martial Artist was several times more difficult than his previous three-level jump from Level Four to Level Seven.

Without the fortunate opportunity provided by the Spiritual Pool, he would have had to slowly accumulate Primordial Stones to break through, just like any ordinary Martial Artist.

After becoming a Level Nine Martial Artist, the next step was to open a Qi Sea in his Dantian, where the nine meridians converged, and become a Martial Artist!

Opening a Qi Sea required ample preparation.

The energy in the Spiritual Pool was now mostly depleted; even the dregs that had settled at the bottom had been drawn out by his Devouring Martial Soul.

Therefore, Chu Qingyun had no intention of attempting to open his Qi Sea here.

’Ye Qi is sure taking her time...’

Ye Qi was still cultivating. Out of boredom, Chu Qingyun began infusing Primordial Power into one of the Five-Star Vine’s tendrils.

The tendril grew rapidly, soon reaching its previous fifty-meter limit before continuing to lengthen.

Sixty meters...

Seventy meters...

Finally, the tendril snaked through the Spiritual Pool, growing all the way to eighty meters!

Soon, Ye Qi finally opened her eyes and waved to Chu Qingyun, and the two of them swam toward the surface together.

After leaping out of the Spiritual Pool, Chu Qingyun let out a long sigh of relief and circulated his Primordial Power, instantly steaming his clothes dry.

Just then, a Blood Wolf Gang Elder who had arrived late suddenly widened his eyes, his gaze locking onto Chu Qingyun.