Devouring Soul Emperor

"How could this be!"

Chu Qingyun’s eyes widened in shock.

The Sword Aura from his Gale Sword had passed straight through the Fire Beast without any resistance, not inflicting even a hint of damage!

While Chu Qingyun was lost in shock, the Fire Beast was already upon him.

"Damn it!"

Chu Qingyun hastily unleashed a wave of Primordial Power to form a defense in front of him.

The bizarre scene repeated itself; the Fire Beast once again passed through the Primordial Power without any obstruction.

Then... it passed through Chu Qingyun’s body and dove into the Sea of Fire behind him.

Even after the Fire Beast had vanished, Chu Qingyun still hadn’t recovered from the shock. It was clearly a beast made of flames—he could even feel the heat of the fire it spewed.

Yet, it was like a ghost, capable of passing through even his Primordial Power.

Instantly, a word flashed through Chu Qingyun’s mind.

Illusion!

’That Fire Beast must be an illusion created by the Sea of Fire. It’s completely harmless, only meant to scare people!’

Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Chu Qingyun continued forward.

After wandering aimlessly and taking a few random turns, he encountered another Fire Beast.

This time, it had taken the form of a mighty tiger. It still had the aura of a level-one Martial Artist, and it lunged at Chu Qingyun, spewing flames and brandishing its claws.

’Another illusion?’

’It’s probably just another illusion,’ Chu Qingyun thought, but he still felt uneasy. He casually swung his sword, sending a Xiaofeng Canyue Slash flying.

The crescent-shaped Sword Aura passed through the body of the flaming tiger, having no effect whatsoever.

’Just as I thought, another illusion.’

Chu Qingyun stood perfectly still. The flaming tiger passed through his body, and he didn’t feel a single thing.

After wandering through the Sea of Fire for another ten minutes or so, Chu Qingyun encountered several more Fire Beasts. Each one took a different form, but they all had the aura of a level-one Martial Artist and were all just deceptive illusions.

After turning at a crossroads, Chu Qingyun spotted another Fire Beast.

’Hmph, a goat this time...’

Chu Qingyun shook his head. Ignoring it completely, he walked straight forward.

The goat made of flames shook its head, snorted two streams of fire from its nostrils, and lowered its head to charge at Chu Qingyun.

’How boring. Can’t it try a different move? Every single one of them acts the same... Wait, holy shit, this one’s real!’

"Profound Celestial Divine Pattern!"

This time, as the Fire Beast charged, he felt that familiar, scorching heat.

But this time, Chu Qingyun discovered his clothes had instantly burst into flames. He instinctively activated the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, and with Primordial Power surging from his hands, he viciously struck the flaming goat before him.

The massive surge of Primordial Power finally blasted the Fire Beast apart, shattering it into great plumes of fire that dissipated into the Sea of Fire on both sides.

Protected by the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, Chu Qingyun was unharmed, but a large patch of clothing on his chest was scorched black.

’Fucking insidious! They hid a real one among all the fake Fire Beasts!’

After finishing off the Fire Beast, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but curse inwardly.

’Good thing that Fire Beast wasn’t very strong. If a more powerful one had ambushed me like that, it would’ve been incredibly dangerous!’

After calming down, Chu Qingyun suddenly felt a summoning sensation from four different locations within the Sea of Fire, beckoning him to come over.

Instantly, a violent shiver ran down Chu Qingyun’s spine.

Even in the scorching Sea of Fire, he felt a chill.

First the strange path through the Sea of Fire, then the mix of real and fake Fire Beasts, and now this bizarre summons—it all made Chu Qingyun feel extremely uneasy.

’This summoning feeling... The only connection I have to this Martial King’s Tomb is that ring...’

Thinking of this, Chu Qingyun pulled the ring off his finger and wrapped it in a piece of his clothing.

Sure enough, the summoning sensation disappeared. And when he put the ring back on, the feeling returned.

’This ring wouldn’t harm me. Could those four places be the key to escaping this Sea of Fire? Or could there be more treasure?’

Chu Qingyun thought of the Puppets and Primordial Stones in the previous two rooms and couldn’t help but feel his heart race with excitement.

He chose the direction where the summons felt the strongest, which should be the closest, and walked toward it.

With a clear direction, the identical, maze-like paths no longer made him feel panicked.

No matter how many detours he took, as long as Chu Qingyun could feel the summons growing stronger, it meant he was on the right path.

After just a few steps, another Fire Beast appeared.

This time, Chu Qingyun didn’t dare to be careless. He slashed at it with his sword, but it turned out to be another illusion...

After walking for a little over ten minutes, he rounded a corner and suddenly saw four people.

These four were none other than the group that had charged into the Martial King’s Tomb first, rushing straight ahead without even touching the Primordial Spirit Liquid.

The Ye Family’s Ye Can, the Jin Family’s Jintai, the Zhou Family’s Zhou Li, and the celestial-looking Miss Ning Xue.

However, the four of them looked rather disheveled at the moment. Ye Can, Jintai, and Zhou Li in particular had pale faces and scorch marks on their bodies.

"Hmph, a mere level-one Martial Artist dares to come here? You mutt, get lost!"

Jintai snorted coldly when he saw Chu Qingyun.

He had been thwarted in the Sea of Fire and was seething with frustration. Seeing Chu Qingyun gave him a perfect target to vent his anger.

Chu Qingyun had heard about their strength outside.

The three men were all level-eight Martial Artists, their strength exceptional. As for Ning Xue, no one knew her strength; they hadn’t even heard what her Martial Soul was.

"Young Master Jin, please calm your anger. With an extra person, we have more options. Perhaps he can help us break this Grand Array."

"And what might your name be, sir?"

Miss Ning Xue’s words were perfectly polite, yet they carried an innate chill, making her feel untouchable.

"My name is Chu Qingyun. It’s a pleasure to meet you. You just mentioned this is a Grand Array. What do you mean by that?"

Chu Qingyun asked curiously.

"Tch, you don’t even know that? What help could you possibly be?"

Jintai said with a disdainful look on his face.

"Hehe, Jintai, you say that as if you knew. If Miss Ning Xue hadn’t explained, you’d still think we’d fallen into an Otherworld."

Zhou Li chuckled, casually exposing Jintai’s earlier ignorance.

Jintai snorted coldly and said nothing. As they were both level-eight Martial Artists, he didn’t want to start a conflict with Zhou Li here.

"If I’m not mistaken, this Sea of Fire should be a Grand Array called the ’Four-direction Illusionary Fire Array’."

"As for the effect of this Array, I’m sure Young Master Chu has already experienced it. The way to break it is to find the four Array Bases and destroy all of them. The Grand Array will then break on its own."

Ning Xue briefly explained the Grand Array.

The key to breaking this Grand Array was finding the locations of the Array Bases. Anyone not proficient in Arrays would be unable to find their way, wandering aimlessly until they were eventually worn down and killed within the Grand Array.

Ning Xue, however, had a trump card of her own and could destroy the Grand Array with brute force.

But doing so would unleash a power far exceeding the Martial Master Level, which would trigger the Restrictions in the Martial King’s Tomb and cause it to self-destruct. In that case, no one would benefit.