Devouring Soul Emperor

After arriving in Celestial Martial City.

Chu Qingyun's Qi Sea of Primordial Liquid had never been completely full. It was still just a little shy of the top.

For a typical Martial Artist, even one with a Qi Sea created by a Tier Four Martial Soul, this small gap wouldn't require a full box of Primordial Spirit Liquid.

However, for Chu Qingyun, even filling this tiny gap consumed an astonishing amount.

Opening all the boxes, Chu Qingyun sent out a dozen or so streams of Devouring Power to absorb the Primordial Spirit Liquid from all of them at once.

The refining ability of his Devouring Martial Soul was extremely potent. It could devour and refine the entire Primordial Power of a Level 6 Martial Spirit in under half a minute.

Therefore, simultaneously absorbing a dozen or so portions of Primordial Spirit Liquid was no problem at all.

A constant stream of Primordial Liquid, rich with Primordial Power, flowed out from his Devouring Martial Soul, slowly filling the remaining space in his Qi Sea to the brim.

After nearly emptying all dozen-plus boxes of Primordial Spirit Liquid, the Primordial Liquid in his Qi Sea was finally full.

Chu Qingyun retracted his Devouring Power and focused his Soul Power. He began to compress and condense the Primordial Liquid in his Qi Sea, pushing for a breakthrough to Level 6 Martial Spirit.

Chu Qingyun was already very familiar with this process.

Three minutes later, a RUMBLE seemed to echo within his body.

The Primordial Liquid in his Qi Sea suddenly dropped, leaving only about one-fifth of what it was when full.

The breakthrough was a success!

Relying on his formidable Soul Power, Chu Qingyun broke through to Level 6 Martial Spirit in one go!

As a Level 5 Martial Spirit, Chu Qingyun could easily defeat or even kill an average Level 7 Martial Spirit with his Thunder Sword.

Now that he had successfully broken through to Level 6 Martial Spirit, he could probably even hold his own against a Level 8 Martial Spirit!

After his successful breakthrough, Chu Qingyun poured the remaining Primordial Spirit Liquid from the dozen-plus boxes into a single one. The leftover liquid barely covered the bottom.

'This… there's probably not even fifty drops left. It's a good thing I got some Primordial Spirit Liquid from the Blood Sect ruins and over the past month. Otherwise, it really wouldn't have been enough…'

Chu Qingyun tilted the box, looked at the Primordial Spirit Liquid pooling in one corner, and shook his head helplessly.

'And this was just to fill that tiny little bit at the very top of my Qi Sea.'

'If I had to use Primordial Spirit Liquid to fill the entire thing…'

The mere thought gave Chu Qingyun a headache. Even as a Spirit Level Alchemist, he would probably have to refine elixirs nonstop to earn that much Primordial Spirit Liquid.

After his breakthrough, Chu Qingyun took out the blood-red orb again and began to devour the crimson power on its surface.

Although Chu Qingyun didn't know what this blood-red orb was, he was certain it was no useless trinket.

This was something a Martial Sect expert had personally carried with him even at the moment of his death. Not even the famously formidable Ten Thousand Spirits Saint Body Secret Technique had received such treatment.

A Martial Sect expert, even within a sect, would hold a transcendent status, like a Supreme Elder who never concerned himself with worldly affairs.

After more than a month of devouring, the color of the blood-red orb had faded considerably.

Chu Qingyun controlled three thin streams of Devouring Power and wrapped them around the orb.

Sensing the external intrusion, the crimson light reappeared. The Devouring Power began to slowly absorb it, and a crimson crystal started to form in Chu Qingyun's left hand.

Once the crimson crystal grew to the size of his palm, Chu Qingyun placed it in his Storage Ring and started forming a new one.

He did this because if it grew too large, it would become inconvenient to hold.

For the next two days, Chu Qingyun stayed in his room, devouring the crimson power from the orb.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the day the sects began their recruitment trials, Mu Xiaoxiao came looking for Chu Qingyun with Dai in tow, and the three of them set out together.

"Hmph! So you've finally decided to come out. We're in Celestial Martial City, and you haven't even gone out to look around. You just coop yourself up in your room to cultivate. Don't you ever get bored...?"

Mu Xiaoxiao said, a bit vexed.

Over the past two days, she had tried to find Chu Qingyun a few times, but he always used cultivation as an excuse to not go out with her, forcing her to wander around with only Dai.

However, in those two days, she had managed to explore nearly all of Celestial Martial City.

"We've already been accepted into the Saint Extreme Sect in advance. We don't have to take the trial, so there's no need to go so early, is there?" Chu Qingyun said.

"Hee hee, we're going early to watch other people take the trial, of course."

"Chu Qingyun, don't you think it'll be interesting to watch everyone else fight tooth and nail for a spot in the Three Major Sects, knowing we've already been accepted into the Saint Extreme Sect?"

"These are the top geniuses from all the great dynasties in the Land of Hundred Dynasties, you know."

Mu Xiaoxiao said excitedly.

Chu Qingyun shook his head. He didn't find the idea particularly interesting. Given the time, he would rather be devouring more of the crimson power from the orb.

However, he had already turned Mu Xiaoxiao down for two days straight, so it wouldn't be right to refuse her again today.

Besides, if he didn't go with Mu Xiaoxiao, Chu Qingyun genuinely had no idea where the sects were holding the trials…

The location for the sect trials was set within an incredibly vast estate inside Celestial Martial City.

An estate of this size was likely impossible to buy in Celestial Martial City, even with money.

However, in Celestial Martial City—or rather, in all cities within the sect territories—the major merchant guilds and family clans were all intricately connected with the various major sects.

This recruitment trial was being held jointly by fifteen sects, so acquiring an estate was naturally a simple matter of a single word.

At the entrance, two people stopped Chu Qingyun's group of three.

"You three, you may only enter to participate in the trials after handing over your sect's Golden Order," one of them said, his face devoid of expression.

Chu Qingyun nodded and handed over his sect's Golden Order.

Mu Xiaoxiao also handed over two Golden Orders. She was a bit nervous, as she planned to continue posing as someone from the Great Xia Dynasty and was slightly afraid of being questioned.

Unexpectedly, the two men merely inspected the Golden Orders and asked nothing else, allowing the three of them to enter directly.

'So they really do only recognize the order, not the person…'

After passing through the gate, Chu Qingyun couldn't help but recall the rules a sect member had explained to them when they first arrived in the Blood-soaked Land.

"Phew, they didn't ask a thing. I was nervous for nothing," Mu Xiaoxiao said with a long sigh of relief after they went inside. "But these sects really are incredibly powerful, to station two Level 9 Martial Spirits as guards at the door."

Chu Qingyun nodded, deeply moved.

In the Great Xia Kingdom, a Level 9 Martial Spirit was an absolute powerhouse. Even in the Great Xia Dragon Guard of Lianshan County, they would be a high-ranking official at the Military Lord Level.

But here in the sect territories, they were reduced to being doormen…