Devouring Soul Emperor

This punch.

It carried the power of the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, far more than an ordinary Fourth-level Martial Spirit could withstand.

The man’s vision went black as he was sent flying backward. He crashed heavily onto the ground with a THUD, blood trickling from his mouth and nose.

Chu Qingyun knew exactly how to deal with people like this.

A misunderstanding? That was pure bullshit.

What kind of misunderstanding involves stabbing someone’s Qi Sea—such a vital spot—with a dagger?

The man must have mistaken him for one of those naive young cultivators who only focused on training, someone easy to bully and deceive.

Watching Chu Qingyun approach him step by step, the old man finally felt a pang of fear. "You, what are you doing?"

"What am I doing? Hmph, I’m about to have a ’misunderstanding’ with you too..."

Chu Qingyun snorted coldly, raised his leg, and cleanly stomped on the man’s head, crushing it.

With a SQUISH, it burst like a watermelon.

Clean, decisive, without the slightest hesitation—a single, fatal blow!

After finishing the man off, Chu Qingyun turned around and looked back with a sneer at the few people who had been following him.

Their faces turned ugly. They forced a smile at Chu Qingyun and quickly walked away.

Staring at the man with the crushed head on the ground, a chill ran down their spines. At the same time, they cursed their bad luck. ’Another ruthless bastard!’

Of course, there were decisive and ruthless individuals among those participating in the sect assessments.

However, such people were a minority, and most of them came from places like the Great Xia Dragon Guard, carrying a distinct air about them.

What they hadn’t expected was that Chu Qingyun, who looked to be only seventeen or eighteen, would be so vicious and decisive in his actions.

After intimidating these people, sure enough, no one else dared to bother Chu Qingyun.

Black Blood City was not particularly large, appearing to be about the same size as Qingshan City.

As Chu Qingyun walked closer, he saw that a large area near the city gate, including many of the flagstones and city walls, was covered in dark stains—dried, caked-on blood.

Clearly, this was a place where conflict and bloodshed were frequent.

At the gate of Black Blood City stood two men in black uniforms, both Third-level Martial Spirits.

The two men constantly sized up everyone entering the city, occasionally reaching out to stop people and demand an entrance fee.

These two were members of the Black Blood Gang.

The Black Blood Gang was the most powerful faction in Black Blood City, and they collected an entrance fee from those who entered. This was similar to some cities in the Great Xia, where the City Lord’s Mansion would collect the fee.

However, just as Chu Qingyun approached, the two men seemed to get into a verbal dispute with a big-bearded Martial Spirit, which then escalated into a full-blown fight right at the city gate.

The big-bearded Martial Spirit was a Fifth-level Martial Spirit, much stronger than the two men. His attacks were vicious and cunning, each blow aimed at a vital point.

The two Third-level Martial Spirits didn’t last twenty moves before the big-bearded Martial Spirit struck them down at the city gate, one with each palm.

After killing the two, the big-bearded Martial Spirit snorted, swept a cold glance over the crowd, and turned to leave without entering the city.

"That Big Beard is ruthless, daring to kill members of the Black Blood Gang right at the gate of Black Blood City."

"Tch, so what if he killed them? Worst case, he just never comes back to Black Blood City. It’s not like the Black Blood Gang is going to hunt him all over the Blood-soaked Land for two Third-level Martial Spirits."

"Heh heh, the Black Blood Gang is the number one faction in Black Blood City, with a King Realm Expert overseeing it. But under the sects’ Forbidden King Order, they must be having a tough time right now..."

The surrounding crowd started to murmur among themselves.

However, no one seemed overly surprised. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

In truth, the two Third-level Martial Spirits collecting the fee were also being cautious, only picking on those who were weaker or looked like easy targets.

Unexpectedly, who knows what got into Big Beard, but he had suppressed his Qi as he approached the city and was mistaken for someone weak.

’They even casually kill the people collecting entrance fees. This Blood-soaked Land is truly chaotic...’ Chu Qingyun shook his head and entered the city.

But after entering the city, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

’Chaos. That’s right, chaos!’

He finally remembered. The sense of familiarity he felt from Lord Ming of the Martial Soul Hall was a sense of chaos.

Previously, back with the Great Xia Dragon Guard in Lianshan County, he had teamed up with Xia He and Xiao Feng to carry out a special mission.

During that mission, they had fought a very chaotic and twisted monster.

Lord Ming’s Qi, and the feeling he gave Chu Qingyun, was faintly, yet strikingly, similar to that monster!

’The reason I didn’t think of it yesterday is because that kind of monster is usually easy to identify. It looked disgusting and chaotic. But Lord Ming, on the outside, looks no different from a normal member of the Martial Soul Hall.’

’That monster’s Realm was Ninth-level Martial Spirit, but its strength made it practically invincible to a ninth-level Martial Artist. Even a Half-Step Martial Spirit might not have been a match for it!’

’If I hadn’t already formed a Sword Qi Seed back then, I probably wouldn’t have been able to scratch it.’

’And Lord Ming is the same. Although he’s only a sixth-level Martial Spirit, he could catch my Thunder Light Sword Qi with his bare hands. His defense is incredibly strong.’

’Could it be... that Lord Ming is also a monster fused with a Martial Soul...?’

As Chu Qingyun walked the streets of Black Blood City, he began to form some faint speculations about Lord Ming’s origins.

At the same time, his wariness toward the Martial Soul Hall deepened.

’Ordinary members of the Martial Soul Hall are much weaker than human Martial Artists of the same level. But then there are exceptions like Lord Ming, who are practically invincible within their realm.’

Chu Qingyun wandered through Black Blood City for a while, listening to the conversations around him and gradually getting a better understanding of the city.

The rulers of Black Blood City were a faction called the Black Blood Gang. The gang had three Martial King Realm experts, as well as a good number of Celestial Spirit Realm experts.

Hearing this, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but click his tongue in amazement.

’A city in the Blood-soaked Land, about the size of Qingshan City, has three Martial King Realm experts overseeing it. Their strength is almost comparable to the Great Xia Dragon Guard in Lianshan County!’

Walking through the city wasn’t exactly peaceful, either.

Many vicious-looking men, seeing Chu Qingyun’s unfamiliar and youthful face, recognized him as someone who had come to the Blood-soaked Land for the sect assessments and decided to attack him.

Chu Qingyun showed no mercy to anyone who dared to attack him. He either crippled their legs or destroyed their Qi Sea.

Gradually, his reputation spread throughout the area, and no one dared to target him anymore.