Devouring Soul Emperor

After returning to the Black Blood Gang’s headquarters, Tu Qiang and his two men quickly gathered seventeen Level 6 Martial Spirits. With the three of them included, they formed a party of twenty and also left the city.

After leaving the city, the Level 6 Martial Spirit who had previously tampered with Chu Qingyun’s clothes took out a small bottle and released a tiny bug.

The tiny bug circled twice in mid-air, then flew off to the east.

"The kid went east. Follow it."

Tu Qiang and the other nineteen men followed the tiny bug at a steady, unhurried pace.

At almost the exact moment Tu Qiang’s group of twenty left the city gates, Lord Ming of the Martial Soul Hall also happened upon the site of Chu Qingyun and Huo Yuchen’s great battle.

"This is... that kid’s aura!"

Since Chu Qingyun and Huo Yuchen had fought a massive battle here, the residual fluctuations of Primordial Power and their auras were at their strongest and most obvious. Lord Ming’s keen senses detected the traces that hadn’t yet completely dissipated.

After making a few discreet inquiries, Lord Ming learned what had transpired.

’A King-grade Divine Sword? Hmph. A bunch of fools. If he truly possessed a King-grade Divine Sword, he would have cut you all down one by one long ago. How could he have possibly let you force him out of the city...’

Lord Ming snorted contemptuously and also headed out of the city, following the direction Chu Qingyun had gone.

Many people tailed Chu Qingyun after he left the city. He, in turn, changed direction and strode quickly eastward.

Heading east was no whim; he hadn’t chosen the direction at random.

It was because the Hengduan Mountain Range lay to the east of Black Blood City.

For Chu Qingyun, who possessed abilities like the Thousand-faced Martial Soul and the Shadow Martial Soul, the more complex the environment, the more it played to his advantage.

The Hengduan Mountain Range, the primary mountain range separating the eastern and western zones of the Blood-soaked Land, was a place of towering peaks and vast, deep forests, and was also infested with all kinds of Demon Beasts.

To others, it was a place of nightmares.

But for Chu Qingyun, it was practically his home turf!

Earth Spirit Realm experts were all incredibly fast.

Even without moving at top speed, it wasn’t long before they could see the massive mountain range in the distance, cutting across the horizon.

With the Hengduan Mountain Range in sight, Chu Qingyun immediately accelerated. He activated the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern and, with a WHOOSH, shot toward the mountains.

"Damn it! The kid is heading for the forest! Stop him!"

"That sly brat! He actually dares to enter the forest!"

The pursuers behind him all accelerated, chasing after him relentlessly.

Some, however, were well aware of the dangers of the Hengduan Mountain Range. Even in the outer forests, one could run into a Tier Four Demon Beast if their luck was bad—a creature equivalent in strength to a human King-Realm expert.

An encounter with such a Demon Beast was basically a death sentence.

Thus, a portion of the pursuers gave up and turned back to Black Blood City.

While sprinting at top speed, Chu Qingyun glanced over his shoulder at the people still chasing him, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

’Hmph. A bunch of fools courting death. Go on, chase me. When the time comes, I’ll make sure none of you even have a corpse left to bury!’

’These people, tempted by the Strange Sword into this relentless pursuit, can’t be good people. For them, murder and robbery are surely commonplace.’

Chu Qingyun wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt for killing every last one of them.

Yet, a doubt lingered in his mind.

’That Young Master Tu of the Black Blood Gang... he hasn’t come after me.’

’There had been some kind of reaction between the Strange Sword and Young Master Tu’s sword. Even I had been intrigued; I had already resolved to get my hands on that young master’s blade.’

’Logically, Young Master Tu should feel the same way.’

’Besides, as the young master of the Black Blood Gang, the local hegemon, he of all people shouldn’t give up so easily.’

The more Chu Qingyun thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed, and his guard went up.

Meanwhile, behind this first wave of pursuers, Young Master Tu and his nineteen men formed a second wave. They followed the tiny bug as it tracked the scent left on Chu Qingyun’s clothes.

As for the third wave, it consisted of Lord Ming, who had just exited the city and was still asking for information on which direction Chu Qingyun and his pursuers had gone.

As the saying goes, mountains are farther than they appear. A moment ago, the Hengduan Mountain Range had seemed just a stone’s throw away.

But Chu Qingyun had to sprint for a good half-hour before he reached the edge of the outer forests of the Hengduan Mountain Range.

Up close, the Hengduan Mountain Range seemed even more majestic and imposing than it had from a distance.

But with pursuers closing in behind him, Chu Qingyun didn’t waste time admiring the view and plunged headfirst into the forest.

There were over a hundred people following him. The vast majority were Fifth-level Martial Spirits, but there were a few Level 6 Martial Spirits among them as well.

If they truly launched a reckless, all-out siege, Chu Qingyun would probably have to expose his Devouring Martial Soul, as well as his many other Martial Souls, just to take care of them.

After Chu Qingyun disappeared into the forest, the hundred-plus Earth Spirit Realm experts paused at its edge, hesitating for a moment.

"Dammit! We’ve chased him all the way here. If we don’t go in and try our luck, we’ll be too ashamed to ever show our faces in Black Blood City again!"

Led by a Fifth-level Martial Spirit, the hundred-plus Earth Spirit Realm experts charged into the forest one after another, fanning out to search for Chu Qingyun.

None who had dared to chase him this far were cowards.

The mere edge of the Hengduan Mountain Range’s outer forest was not enough to frighten them off.

Giant trees were everywhere in the forest, their canopies so dense they blotted out the sun. The continuous foliage blocked nearly all sunlight, casting the entire forest in a gloomy darkness.

Chu Qingyun tried using his Shadow Martial Soul but found the results were less than ideal.

Though his form became much blurrier, he was still easily spotted.

After entering the forest, Chu Qingyun didn’t linger on the outskirts. Instead, he used the Hidden Qi Technique to conceal his aura and charged deeper into the woods.

He would be found too easily in the outer ring.

The deeper he went, the larger the area his pursuers would have to search.

And the more they scattered, the easier it would be for Chu Qingyun to pick them off.

Outside the forest, they had been hunting Chu Qingyun.

But now, inside the forest, the roles had completely reversed, though his pursuers hadn’t realized it yet.

Now, they were the prey!

Young Master Tu and his nineteen men soon arrived at the edge of the forest.

"Young Master, it looks like they went into the forest. Should we pursue?" the man who had released the bug asked Tu Qiang, holding it in his hand for the moment.

Though the bug was agile, it was only a Tier Two Demon Beast and completely powerless before an Earth Spirit Realm expert.

Tu Qiang hesitated.

The forests surrounding the Hengduan Mountain Range were dangerous.

On more than one occasion, Tier Four Demon Beasts had appeared, even in the forests near Black Blood City.