Devouring Soul Emperor

Previously, Chu Qingyun had been in hiding.

That Lord Ming couldn’t gauge his strength, so he hadn’t made a rash move, opting to wait for more Sixth-level Martial Spirits to arrive before taking action.

But when he saw Chu Qingyun flee without hesitation the moment he was exposed,

he was able to guess that Chu Qingyun’s strength was definitely not great—at least not as great as theirs—which was why he was running.

Chu Qingyun was currently at the Fourth-level Martial Spirit Realm. After activating the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, his speed was slightly faster than even a Fifth-level Martial Spirit from the Martial Soul Hall, but he was still much slower than a Sixth-level Martial Spirit.

After bursting out of the Martial Soul Hall’s camp, he noticed that the distance between him and the Sixth-level Martial Spirits behind him was rapidly closing.

The leader, Lord Ming, was especially, terrifyingly fast. With almost every step, he shortened the distance to Chu Qingyun!

’At this rate, I’ll definitely be caught!’

Chu Qingyun thought grimly.

’In this situation, my speed is a disadvantage, but I have advantages too—the Hidden Qi Technique and my Shadow Martial Soul. I have to play to my strengths...’

Chu Qingyun thought calmly for a moment, then abruptly changed direction. He dashed to the left, circled two large trees, then suddenly spun around and fled in the opposite direction.

In the forest, Chu Qingyun constantly darted left and right, changing direction.

When he had been running in a straight line, Lord Ming and the other Sixth-level Martial Spirits couldn’t see Qingyun’s figure clearly; all they could make out was a blurry black shadow rushing ahead.

Now, with Chu Qingyun constantly changing direction and all sorts of trees big and small obstructing their view, they instantly found it even harder to see his figure. After just two or three turns, they had completely lost his trail.

"Primordial Power!"

At that moment, Lord Ming, who was the fastest and had been doggedly locked onto Chu Qingyun’s trail, suddenly shouted.

The Sixth-level Martial Spirits behind them instantly understood. One by one, they mobilized their Primordial Power and blasted it ahead.

The Primordial Power erupted in a dazzling light, instantly illuminating the entire forest.

Chu Qingyun’s figure was illuminated by the light radiating from the Primordial Power.

He looked like a blurry shadow, nimbly weaving left and right through the forest as he fled at top speed.

’Damn it, they reacted so quickly...’

Chu Qingyun cursed under his breath. He instantly drew the Strange Sword from his waist and unleashed Thunder Light Sword Qi, hacking at the trees on either side.

The Sword Qi was incomparably sharp.

It wasn’t just the trees directly struck by the Sword Qi; even those caught in the gale from the Sword Aura or merely grazed by its sharp presence were all snapped in two, collapsing with a crash.

Everywhere Chu Qingyun passed, he left a swath of toppled trees in his wake.

This, in turn, made things miserable for his pursuers.

The huge, constantly collapsing trees didn’t just further obstruct their line of sight; they also forced the pursuers to divert their focus to watch out for and shatter the massive trunks crashing down on them.

Soon, some of them grew careless and lost Chu Qingyun’s trail, forcing them to follow the tracks of their companions and the fluctuations of Primordial Power, slowly searching as they continued the chase.

After just a few minutes of this, only Lord Ming remained in hot pursuit behind Chu Qingyun.

The trees crashing down on either side hardly caused him any trouble. At some point, a shimmering silver longspear had appeared in his hand. With a casual thrust, he could instantly obliterate a massive tree trunk.

’Only one left...’

Chu Qingyun glanced back at the pursuing Lord Ming. His eyes narrowed slightly as an idea began to form.

With his current strength, facing seven or eight Sixth-level Martial Spirits would have been a struggle, one he might not have won. But against a single Sixth-level Martial Spirit from the Martial Soul Hall, Chu Qingyun was confident he could handle it.

After fleeing a little further, Chu Qingyun felt the time was right; the other Sixth-level Martial Spirits wouldn’t be able to catch up anytime soon.

Thus, he suddenly dug his heels in, forcing himself to a stop. He then shot backward, pushing the Sword Qi in his Strange Sword to its absolute limit. It erupted with a faint purple light as he slashed toward Lord Ming.

With the power of the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern combined with the Thunder Light Sword Qi, Chu Qingyun was confident this one strike could instantly kill a Fifth-level Martial Spirit!

It would even heavily injure a Sixth-level Martial Spirit!

However, facing the over-a-meter-long Sword Qi, Lord Ming just smiled. "So you finally couldn’t hold back... Sword Qi, is it?"

Just as the Sword Qi was about to strike him, Lord Ming suddenly raised a hand and reached out to grab the faint purple Thunder Light Sword Qi.

’Is this guy trying to get himself killed!?’

Even Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but be horrified to see Lord Ming actually try to catch the Sword Qi with his bare hand. Probably no one understood the sharpness of his Thunder Light Sword Qi better than he did.

BOOM!

The Thunder Light Sword Qi struck Lord Ming’s hand heavily, but instead of the sound of flesh being torn, there was a deafening CRASH.

Chu Qingyun tightened his grip on the Strange Sword and slashed viciously.

The Thunder Light Sword Qi scraped hard across Lord Ming’s palm.

In the next moment, however, Chu Qingyun’s pupils constricted. He was so stunned he was speechless.

Even after scraping with all its force, the Thunder Light Sword Qi had only left a shallow scratch on his palm, from which trickled just a tiny bit of Martial Soul Power!

And seeing that leaking Martial Soul Power, the familiar feeling in Chu Qingyun’s heart grew even stronger.

While Chu Qingyun was shocked speechless, Lord Ming frowned as he looked at the scratch on his palm, seemingly dissatisfied with his own defensive capabilities.

"A mere Fourth-level Martial Spirit actually managed to injure me with Sword Qi... That’s no ordinary Sword Qi," Lord Ming murmured.

Chu Qingyun, however, instantly snapped back to his senses. Without another moment of hesitation, he turned and fled.

’Terrifying! Absolutely terrifying!’

People from the Martial Soul Hall couldn’t cultivate Secret Techniques. That meant Lord Ming had taken his Sword Qi strike head-on, using nothing but his own body!

A full-power strike from his Thunder Light Sword Qi had only managed to leave a minor scratch.

With such monstrous defensive power, Lord Ming was practically invincible against him. How could he possibly fight this?

’Thankfully, his speed isn’t as monstrous as his defense—it’s just that of a normal Sixth-level Martial Spirit. But that Martial Soul Power... it feels so familiar...’

And so, the chase began anew between Chu Qingyun and Lord Ming.

After seeing Lord Ming’s Martial Soul Power, Chu Qingyun became even more certain that he had, at some point, met someone similar to him before!

"Kid, you can’t escape! Your Primordial Power won’t last long if you keep unleashing Sword Qi. Surrender now, and I’ll give you a quick death!"

Lord Ming called out, calm and unhurried, as he chased after Chu Qingyun.