Devouring Soul Emperor

And so, amid the constant, agonizing cycle of tearing and mending, Chu Qingyun gritted his teeth and relentlessly inscribed the Ice Patterns onto his body.

At this point, he had no other choice but to endure.

He had only prepared one portion of the Spiritual Medicine needed to cultivate the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern. If he wasted it, he would lose his chance to master the fifth layer, at least while he was on the Flying Ship.

As the verdant power was continuously consumed, the green dot on Chu Qingyun’s arm also steadily faded.

Eventually, the green dot vanished completely.

A torn muscle in his left leg could no longer be repaired.

’Damn it! All I have left are my legs!’

Chu Qingyun was frustrated. His cultivation of the fifth layer was stuck in limbo, unable to advance or retreat.

After a moment’s thought, Chu Qingyun mentally connected with his Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul, drew out a stream of Martial Soul Power, and gathered it at the wound on his left leg.

With the help of the Martial Soul Power, the torn muscle began to mend at an incredibly slow pace.

Chu Qingyun sighed helplessly.

’At this rate, by the time this wound fully heals, the power of the Spiritual Medicine in my meridians will have completely dissipated!’

But there was nothing to be done about it. The Martial Soul Power of the Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine had always been a bit of a mixed bag; it wasn’t completely useless, but it never proved helpful in any significant way.

Not all Martial Soul Powers were useful.

There were Martial Souls like the Devouring Martial Soul and the Flame Martial Soul, whose powers were incredibly potent, but there were also those like the Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine, whose power was of limited use.

There were even some whose Martial Soul Power was utterly useless.

Just then, Chu Qingyun suddenly remembered something else. In his Storage Ring, he still had a few dark red Elixir Pills left, the ones created by devouring the flesh and blood of Demon Beasts.

’Those pills can help restore Physical Strength, but I wonder if they’re any good for healing injuries.’

Chu Qingyun took out the Elixir Pills he hadn’t used last time. He wrapped a wisp of Devouring Power around one, extracted a stream of dark red energy, and carefully guided it to his left leg.

Then, Chu Qingyun discovered that the torn muscle in his left leg was indeed absorbing the dark red energy and healing at a discernible pace.

This healing rate was undoubtedly much slower than that of the verdant power.

However, it was more than ten times faster than the healing provided by the Martial Soul Power of the Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine.

Before long, Chu Qingyun was able to resume his cultivation of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern.

Chu Qingyun was careful not to let the pressure tear his body in too many places at once. If his body truly couldn’t withstand the strain and collapsed, it would be a catastrophe.

After consuming five of the dark red Elixir Pills and enduring the agony of his muscles being forcibly torn hundreds of times, Chu Qingyun finally gritted his teeth and pushed through to the complete mastery of the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern!

He had to admit, luck had played a part in his success this time.

If he hadn’t had some of the verdant power and a few dark red Elixir Pills on hand, given his body’s current limits, he would have only managed to cultivate the fifth layer to less than half of its completion.

The vast majority of the Spiritual Medicine’s power would have been wasted.

"Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, Ice Pattern!"

Chu Qingyun called out softly.

Primordial Power surged through him. Instantly, his entire body lit up with a faint, ice-blue glow, and a tangible chill began to radiate from his form.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, rolled his shoulders, and a satisfied smile spread across his face.

After activating the Fifth-Layer Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, his overall strength had once again received a massive boost.

With his current strength, he was confident he could now easily defeat an opponent on Dai Linggang’s level!

After completing his cultivation of the Profound Celestial Divine Pattern, he rested for a while.

Afterward, he took out the more than two hundred Thunderlight Stones and began to cultivate his Thunder Light Sword Qi.

After advancing to a third-level Martial Spirit, his Thunder Light Sword Qi had grown to a meter long. Compared to the one- and three-centimeter-long Sword Qi Seeds he started with, this was a quantum leap.

If Chu Qingyun were to face that Mixed Martial Soul monster now, he could decapitate it in a single strike with this meter-long Sword Qi alone.

As he infused the Thunderlight Stones one by one, the faint purple patterns within the Thunder Light Sword Qi gradually grew more substantial.

After consuming just over two hundred and ten Thunderlight Stones, the Thunder Light Power within his Thunder Light Sword Qi finally reached saturation once more.

「There were still over three months left of the journey to the Blood-soaked Land.」

The journey grew tedious, and many of the candidates for the sect recruitment began to wander about the Flying Ship, networking and currying favor. They hoped that by forming alliances, they could help each other pass the trials in the Blood-soaked Land.

Chu Qingyun, however, had no interest in such things.

In his eyes, these so-called last-ditch alliances were nothing more than a form of self-delusion; they would never hold up under real pressure.

He would much rather act alone than team up with a group of scheming individuals, each with their own agenda.

Besides, with his many assets—like the Hidden Qi Technique, the Thousand-faced Martial Soul, and the Shadow Martial Soul—traversing the Blood-soaked Land might be fraught with danger for others, but for him, simply passing the assessment would be no trouble at all, barring extremely bad luck.

「More than twenty days later.」

The Flying Ship had finished gathering all the talented youths participating in the sect recruitment from every County City in the Great Xia.

After picking up the last group from a border county, the Flying Ship officially left the territory of the Great Xia.

During this time, Chu Qingyun had remained in his room, studying the final section of the Thunder Sword Manual.

There was one last section after the part on Thunder Light Sword Qi.

Normally, this part should have detailed the sword techniques for the stage beyond Sword Qi, along with the corresponding cultivation method.

But in the Thunder Sword Manual, this section had seemingly been wiped clean, leaving only a short, cryptic passage.

Thunder: ultimate hardness, ultimate strength.

Lightning: ultimate quickness, ultimate speed.

The Thunder Dao is contained entirely within these four words!

’Hardness, strength, quickness, speed... The Thunder Dao...’

For nearly twenty days, Chu Qingyun had been mulling over this short passage, but to no avail.

He had even gone back to meticulously study every preceding section of the Thunder Sword Manual, but still came away with no new insights.

On the other hand, his comprehension of the Sword Technique itself seemed to have deepened slightly.

’Ultimate hardness, ultimate strength, ultimate quickness, ultimate speed... Thunder... Lightning... Thunder and Lightning...’

Chu Qingyun sat by the window, the short passage replaying endlessly in his mind. He tried desperately to comprehend its meaning, but it always felt just out of reach, as if separated by a veil. He simply couldn’t grasp the core concept.

Of one thing, however, Chu Qingyun was certain: the passage contained something of profound importance, something he had to decipher and understand on his own.

Just as his entire Heart and Mind were completely immersed in that short passage, a sharp knock sounded at his door.

"Open the door! Open up!"