Devouring Soul Emperor

’Surrender without a fight?’

Chu Qingyun snorted coldly.

He had to admit that with his current strength, defeating Lord Ming was impossible. He probably couldn’t even take a single one of his blows.

However, since Lord Ming’s speed didn’t completely overwhelm him, escaping with his various techniques wouldn’t be too difficult.

"Shadow Splitting Clone Skill!"

Chu Qingyun charged forward with all his might for a short distance before putting away his Strange Sword. He then abruptly changed direction, darting to the left. As he sheathed his sword and veered off, he instantly activated the new Soul Technique from his Tier Four Shadow Martial Soul: the Shadow Splitting Clone Skill.

The moment the Soul Technique was cast, a shadow suddenly shot out from beneath him, speeding off to the right, the opposite direction of his body.

His body, enveloped by the Shadow Martial Soul, looked like a mass of shadow.

The Shadow Splitting Clone Skill, meanwhile, temporarily split off his own shadow, which also appeared as a mass of shadow.

Faced with two identical-looking shadows—one heading left, one right—Lord Ming, just as Chu Qingyun had predicted, couldn’t tell which was the real one.

After a moment’s hesitation, he abruptly changed direction and charged to the right.

Glancing back to see this, Chu Qingyun smiled.

’I can’t believe it worked on the first try,’ he thought. He’d been planning that if Lord Ming guessed correctly, he’d just use the trick a few more times. Eventually, Lord Ming was bound to guess wrong.

With no Sword Qi felling trees to obstruct his path, Lord Ming caught up to the shadow in just half a minute.

"An interesting fellow, full of petty tricks. But in the face of absolute power, they’re completely useless!"

Lord Ming caught up to the shadow from behind and spoke coldly. He then extended his arm, his five fingers suddenly shooting out and lengthening like five long whips to wrap around the shadowy figure.

"Die!"

Lord Ming bellowed as his fingers abruptly tightened their grip.

POOF!

The shadow shattered instantly, slowly dissipating like a cloud of mist.

"This... You damnable brat!"

Lord Ming stood stunned for a moment before letting out an irrepressible roar of fury.

Clearly, Chu Qingyun had tricked him. The real one was the one who had fled to the left!

As his own shadow settled back beneath his feet, Chu Qingyun knew the clone he’d split off had surely been caught and destroyed by Lord Ming.

But it didn’t matter now.

In that half-minute, Chu Qingyun had changed direction three times, leaving Lord Ming far behind.

Soon, Lord Ming’s furious roar echoed from far behind him.

However, not far ahead, Chu Qingyun sensed the presence of two Level 6 Martial Spirits, along with the faint sound of voices.

It must have been the two Level 6 Martial Spirits who had lost his trail earlier; they were now searching for him and Lord Ming.

’It’s only proper to return the favor. You destroyed my shadow, so I’ll kill two of your men!’

A cold glint flashed in Chu Qingyun’s eyes as he drew his Strange Sword and melted back into the darkness of the night.

The two Level 6 Martial Spirits heard Lord Ming’s furious roar in the distance and began rushing toward the sound.

Without warning, a faint purple blast of Sword Qi erupted from the darkness beside them. It struck one of the unprepared Level 6 Martial Spirits, nearly cleaving off half his body from the shoulder down through his arm.

A torrent of dark green Martial Soul Power gushed out like a tide.

Chu Qingyun was ready. A wave of Devouring Power he had prepared in advance shot into the massive wound. Seizing the opportunity while his target was gravely injured, it began to frantically devour his Primordial Power and Martial Soul Power.

"It’s you! Kid, you’re courting death!"

The other man snapped back to his senses and roared. Two huge fireballs instantly condensed in his palms, whistling as they hurtled toward Chu Qingyun.

Right behind the fireballs, the man charged forward as well, circulating his Primordial Power for an attack.

The fireballs radiated waves of scorching heat, appearing incredibly bright and conspicuous in the pitch-black forest.

Although it was only a Tier Three Soul Technique, it was still cast by a Level 6 Martial Spirit, so Chu Qingyun didn’t let his guard down. He activated his Thunder Light Sword Qi and met the attack head-on.

SWISH! SWISH! With two slashes, both fireballs were destroyed.

Then, Chu Qingyun thrust his sword out again, shattering the Level 6 Martial Spirit’s Primordial Power and knocking him back.

In the time it took for this brief exchange, the other Level 6 Martial Spirit had already had his Primordial Power completely devoured, exploding into a cloud of Martial Soul Power.

Ambushed by Chu Qingyun and nearly cleaved in two by a single sword strike, the Level 6 Martial Spirit was too grievously wounded to resist the Devouring Power.

His companion had been killed, yet the remaining Level 6 Martial Spirit showed no signs of grief. Instead, his gaze burned as he stared at Chu Qingyun. "Heh heh, kid, you’re a dead man. As long as I can stall you until Lord Ming arrives, not even nine lives will be enough to save you from him."

"I’ll be greatly rewarded for this!"

In response, Chu Qingyun just smiled coldly.

He wouldn’t have dared to jump out and ambush them if he hadn’t already planned for every contingency.

"Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine!"

Chu Qingyun shouted lightly, and a tall Martial Soul Illusion instantly appeared behind him.

Suddenly confronted with the aura of a Tier Four Martial Soul, even a Level 6 Martial Spirit would feel thrown off, suppressed for a moment. Members of the Martial Soul Hall were the most sensitive to the presence of High Tier Martial Souls.

Seizing the opportunity, ten vines shot out from behind Chu Qingyun. With a sharp WHOOSHING sound as they cut through the air, they instantly bound the Level 6 Martial Spirit tightly from head to toe.

With Chu Qingyun’s strength having advanced to Tier Four, the power of his Iron Wire Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul had also increased dramatically.

The Level 6 Martial Spirit struggled desperately, tyrannical Primordial Power surging from his body, continuously tearing apart one vine after another.

However, even a Level 6 Martial Spirit could not quickly escape the bonds of the ten vines.

Wasting no time, Chu Qingyun landed three swift sword strikes—SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!—opening three deep wounds on the Level 6 Martial Spirit.

’Devouring Power!’

At his mental command, a large amount of Devouring Power surged forth, invading directly through the wounds and devouring the Level 6 Martial Spirit’s Primordial Power at an incredible speed.

In less than half a minute, his Primordial Power was completely devoured. With a BANG, the remaining Martial Soul Power exploded.

After dealing with the two men, Chu Qingyun didn’t linger for a second, immediately fleeing into the vast darkness of the night.

A minute later, a figure arrived at top speed, having brutally crashed a path straight through the forest to get here.

However, all he saw were two dissipated clouds of exploded Martial Soul Power.

When a member of the Martial Soul Hall dies, their Primordial Power dissipates quickly, leaving only a cloud of Martial Soul Power that fades more slowly. Therefore, it was impossible for Lord Ming to tell whether his men’s Primordial Power had dissipated naturally or been devoured.

"Kid, you’re courting death!"

Another furious roar echoed through the silent forest.