Devouring Soul Emperor

"What a beautiful crystal..."

Mu Xiaoxiao’s eyes lit up.

"You guys killed this Mutant, so this is yours," Chu Qingyun said, handing the pale red crystal to Mu Xiaoxiao.

Mu Xiaoxiao hesitated.

This thing had been dug out of the Mutant’s head. Given how the Mutant looked, the thought of it was even more disgusting than digging out a Demon Beast’s Demon Core. Still, the Mutant had been incredibly powerful, so this crystal had to be something special.

After a moment’s hesitation, Mu Xiaoxiao took the pale red crystal and stored it in her Storage Ring.

She could afford to be indifferent to a Tier Three Demon Beast’s Demon Core, but she couldn’t ignore this.

After taking down the two Mutants, Chu Qingyun and his companions had a much deeper understanding of just how twisted and powerful these creatures were. It reaffirmed their belief that heading down the mountain and leaving was the right choice.

On their way down the mountain, they encountered a Demon Beast that had been infected and mutated.

It was a Pangolin the size of a calf. Before its mutation, it only had the strength of the Small Spirit Realm, but its defensive capabilities and Life Power were exceptionally strong.

Killing this mutated Pangolin took a great deal of their time and energy.

If it weren’t for Chu Qingyun’s Thunder Sword, which was capable of shattering its Armor, they likely wouldn’t have been able to kill the Pangolin at all.

After the infected Mutated Demon Beast died, Chu Qingyun and the others found another diamond-shaped, pale red crystal inside its head.

This crystal was significantly larger than the ones from the two Mutants, but the power fluctuations within it were much weaker. Apparently, the power contained in the crystals was related to the mutated creature’s strength.

As they carefully made their way down the mountain, Chu Qingyun’s heart suddenly skipped a beat as they neared a pile of scree. He froze in place.

Just as he had taken that last step, his Devouring Martial Soul had suddenly trembled within his Qi Sea!

A tremor from the Devouring Martial Soul meant one thing: people from the Martial Soul Hall were nearby!

Ever since he had learned the secrets of the Blood Sect ruins, Chu Qingyun had worried, hoping that no one from the Martial Soul Hall would show up and cause trouble.

Who would have thought his worst fears would come true.

People from the Martial Soul Hall had really infiltrated the ruins!

"What’s wrong? Let’s go."

Mu Xiaoxiao, standing beside him, gave him a questioning look when he suddenly stopped.

Chu Qingyun gestured for her to be quiet. He took a step back, moved around a bit to get a better sense of his surroundings, and then his expression grew even more grim.

It hadn’t been his imagination. There were indeed people from the Martial Soul Hall, just off to their left.

"Use the Hidden Qi Technique. Don’t make a sound and follow me."

Mu Xiaoxiao understood. Chu Qingyun must have discovered something. She told Dai to wait there while she and Chu Qingyun activated their Hidden Qi Technique and crept stealthily in that direction.

They didn’t bring Dai along because he was rather careless. He was likely to give them away while trying to sneak around in broad daylight.

Before long, the two of them spotted a dozen or so people gathered in the shadow of a large boulder not far away, seemingly in the middle of a discussion.

"They’re all in the Earth Spirit Realm. No one’s at the Celestial Spirit Realm. Let’s get closer and hear what they’re saying..." Mu Xiaoxiao’s curiosity was piqued, and she whispered into Chu Qingyun’s ear.

Chu Qingyun nodded. The two crept closer until they were finally within earshot.

"Lord Feng, what’s the deal with those mutated humans and Demon Beasts? The higher-ups never told us about this."

"Yeah, those monsters are damn hard to kill. You can chop them in half and they still won’t die!"

"What’s there to be afraid of? The monsters don’t attack us."

The men were apparently discussing the Mutants and Mutated Demon Beasts that had appeared the previous night. It seemed they hadn’t known these mutated creatures would be in the ruins, either.

"Alright, shut up and listen to me." The voice was clearly condescending and arrogant.

"Originally, our mission was to break the seal in the Blood Sect ruins, release the Demon Beasts within, and use them to coordinate with our people on the outside. We were to drive the Demon Beasts of this entire mountain range into the human territories of the Blood-soaked Land and create a beast tide."

"Under the sects’ Forbidden King Order, even those at the Martial King Realm wouldn’t dare to intervene lightly, and those at the Martial Emperor Realm would be even more hesitant to act. This way, not only can we deal a heavy blow to the western region of the Blood-soaked Land, but we can also make its people resent the major sects."

"But now, something unexpected has happened. For some reason, a new kind of monster has appeared in the ruins, and it’s contagious."

"But... what effect does this really have on our plan?"

"Releasing ordinary Demon Beasts would cause great losses to the Blood-soaked Land. But if we release this kind of monster instead... HAHAHAHA..."

The arrogant voice trailed off into laughter.

The others joined in the laughter.

And Chu Qingyun understood.

The Martial Soul Hall was indeed behind the events at the Blood Sect ruins. However, it seemed they just thought it was an ordinary ruin; they had no idea about the desiccated corpses sealed here.

Mu Xiaoxiao’s eyes, however, widened in astonishment.

’These people plan to break the seal on the Blood Sect ruins and release those horrifying monsters!’

Mu Xiaoxiao nudged Chu Qingyun with her elbow and looked at him questioningly.

Chu Qingyun, however, opened his mouth and silently mouthed three words: "Martial Soul Hall."

Instantly, Mu Xiaoxiao understood.

’If it’s the Martial Soul Hall, then it makes perfect sense they’d want to do something like this!’

Years ago, after learning how terrifying these mutated monsters were, the remaining members of the Blood Sect had poured all their strength, under the leadership of a Martial Sect-level expert, into clearing the monsters from the ruins and sealing them away. They had risked everything.

And now, the Martial Soul Hall wanted to break the Six Imperial Demon-Sealing Array within these ruins and release the mutated monsters inside!

Beyond the ruins lay a vast mountain range.

And beyond the mountains lay Blood Abyss City. The vast surrounding area was filled with human settlements of the Blood-soaked Land.

In that place, experts at the Martial Spirit Realm were a minority. The populace consisted mostly of Martial Artists and even ordinary people. They would have no way to resist those mutated monsters.

If these mutated monsters were truly set free, the consequences would be unimaginable.

They would undoubtedly spread like wildfire across the Blood-soaked Land!

If left unchecked, it wouldn’t be long before the entire Blood-soaked Land was overrun by these monsters. When that happened, even the Land of Hundred Dynasties, and perhaps the territories of the great sects themselves, would not be spared!