Devouring Soul Emperor

With the vines destroyed, Chu Qingyun’s defenses above him crumbled in an instant. All the small swords shot directly toward him.

Chu Qingyun had no choice but to swing his sword upward, using his Thunder Light Sword Qi to block the dense rain of small swords.

Though numerous, the small swords weren’t individually very powerful.

With a single sweep of Sword Qi, Chu Qingyun instantly shattered a swath of them.

At that moment, however, Yin Feiyang thrust his sword toward Chu Qingyun’s chest. Chu Qingyun was forced to hastily pull his own sword back, barely managing to block the attack.

The sword rain in the air seemed capable of lasting for some time.

Under the combined assault of Yin Feiyang and the sword rain, Chu Qingyun’s expression grew grim. His Thunder Light Sword Qi flickered up and down as he defended himself, looking utterly battered.

It wasn’t long before Chu Qingyun was completely on the defensive, forced back to the very edge of the battle stage. Behind him was the protective barrier!

"Heh heh, Chu Qingyun, you’re finished!"

"Your Sword Qi may be sharp, but it lacks explosive power. You’ll never defeat my Luosheng Sword Rain!"

Yin Feiyang let out a mocking chuckle.

But his words were like a thunderclap that threw open a door in Chu Qingyun’s mind.

’Sharp Sword Qi, but it lacks explosive power...’

In that instant, Chu Qingyun recalled the final section of the Thunder Sword Manual, which he had been studying for over twenty days.

The Thunderer: the ultimate in hardness and strength.

The Lightning: the ultimate in quickness and speed.

The entire Dao of Thunder and Lightning resided in these principles.

’Thunder Light Sword Qi... Sharp... Explosive power...’

For a split second, it was as if Chu Qingyun had grasped something profound. Yet, he couldn’t quite articulate it; it felt as though he had grasped nothing at all.

The sensation was like trying to see flowers in a fog or catch the moon’s reflection in water—it was maddening.

’What *is* that final section!?’

Chu Qingyun screamed in frustration within his own mind.

Just then, the dense barrage of small swords began to fall from the sky.

Chu Qingyun snapped his head up and, his mind a chaotic mess, swung his sword upward.

RUMBLE...

A few deep rumbles of thunder suddenly echoed above Chu Qingyun’s head. The Strange Sword, wreathed in Thunder Light Sword Qi, swept out. In its wake, it left behind a vast, blinding expanse of thunder and lightning.

Surging arcs of Thunder Aura and lightning intertwined and fused, constantly expanding until they formed a Sea of Thunder and Lightning nearly ten meters in diameter!

As it expanded, the Sea of Thunder and Lightning touched the battle stage’s protective barrier.

ZZZT... BANG!

The barrier and the Sea of Thunder and Lightning clashed for a moment before the barrier, seemingly unable to withstand the power, shattered with a deafening bang!

At that same moment, the dense rain of small swords fell from the sky, plunging into the Sea of Thunder and Lightning.

CRACKLE! POP! POP! POP! POP!

A rapid-fire series of pops and crackles echoed out, intense enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Upon contact with the lightning, every single small sword instantly exploded. All of their power vanished as if a stone dropped into the ocean, leaving not a single ripple.

For nearly ten full seconds, the Luosheng Sword Rain vented its fury into the Sea of Thunder and Lightning. But the arcs of Thunder Aura and lightning remained unshaken, absorbing all of the power.

Soon, the power of the Luosheng Sword Rain Soul Technique was depleted, and all the small swords were gone.

Immediately afterward, the Sea of Thunder and Lightning also dissipated.

It had all come and gone in a flash. Aside from the destroyed protective barrier, not a single trace remained.

On the stage, however, both Chu Qingyun and Yin Feiyang were frozen in shock. Below the stage, the entire crowd was equally stunned.

They didn’t understand what had just happened, but every single person had viscerally felt a power emanating from that Sea of Thunder and Lightning—a power that made their hearts pound with terror.

And on the level above, Lord Lan, Prince Duan, and the others who had been watching the stage were also dumbfounded.

"Lord... Lord Lan, I didn’t see that wrong, did I? Was that... Sword Intent? Thunder Sword Intent?" Prince Duan swallowed hard, his voice hoarse.

Lord Lan’s face was a mask of shock. "I... I believe so. It was pathetically weak, but it did seem to reach the Realm of Intent."

Even Lord Lan couldn’t be entirely certain at this point.

At the Small Spirit Realm, mastering a special form of Sword Qi was already an incredible feat. And now, Chu Qingyun had actually manifested Sword Intent with a single strike!

In terms of power, it was a world away from true Sword Intent.

But being able to use it even once meant that Chu Qingyun had managed to touch the threshold of Sword Intent.

One had to understand that many King Realm Experts couldn’t even touch the threshold of the Realm of Intent. Some, even worse, couldn’t even reach the Realm of Qi!

For Chu Qingyun to have come this far on the path of the sword while still in the Small Spirit Realm could only be described as monstrously talented!

’That last strike...’

On the battle stage, Chu Qingyun carefully replayed the last strike in his mind.

However, his mind still felt chaotic, a jumble of thoughts and phrases he couldn’t begin to untangle.

He had managed to produce that strike, but he had no idea what it was or how he had done it.

’I’ll try it again...’

Chu Qingyun looked up at Yin Feiyang, and with a flick of his wrist, activated his Thunder Light Sword Qi.

He carefully tried to recall the previous sensation, then swung his sword in a vertical chop toward Yin Feiyang.

HISS!

Yin Feiyang sucked in a sharp breath. His scalp tingled, and it felt like his hair was standing on end.

He didn’t dare linger for even a second. Erupting with his full speed, he shot backward, his body blurring into an afterimage as he fled the battle stage.

"I surrender! I surrender!"

It wasn’t until he had leaped off the stage that he dared to spare the concentration to shout his surrender.

Chu Qingyun’s last strike, the Sea of Thunder and Lightning, had shattered the stage’s protective barrier. That barrier was designed to withstand attacks from Earth Spirit Realm experts!

In other words, even if two Level 6 Martial Spirits were fighting to the death inside, the barrier wouldn’t have broken.

To destroy that barrier, one would need the power of at least a Level 7 Martial Spirit, or perhaps even a Level 8 Martial Spirit at the Celestial Spirit Realm!

Against such power, even if Yin Feiyang could still use his Secret Technique, even if he fought with his life on the line, he wouldn’t have been able to withstand it for a second!

That was why the moment he saw Chu Qingyun swing his sword, he was so terrified he fled without even looking back.

However, what happened next left him completely dumbfounded at the foot of the stage.

This time, when Chu Qingyun swung his sword, nothing happened. Only a simple streak of Sword Qi flew out...

’Strange. The feeling is gone again?’

Puzzled, Chu Qingyun gripped his Strange Sword and swung it a few more times on the stage. He tried fast strikes and slow strikes. He even swung it toward the open air, trying to recapture the feeling from before.

But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t produce the Sea of Thunder and Lightning again.

Chu Qingyun had a feeling that the Sea of Thunder and Lightning was definitely connected to the final section of the Thunder Sword Manual. He just hadn’t truly comprehended it yet, which was why he couldn’t use it at will.