Devouring Soul Emperor

’I can’t just stand by and watch... can I?’

Chu Qingyun thought for a moment and vaguely recalled that on the map he had bought earlier, Cold Star City didn’t seem too far from here. It was just on the other side of the Hengduan Mountain Range.

If this plague-like strange disease really spread rampantly throughout the Blood-soaked Land, he feared even the Demon Beasts within the Hengduan Mountain Range wouldn’t be able to escape.

And just beyond the Hengduan Mountain Range, one would quickly reach Cold Star City.

And Mu Xiaoxiao was from Cold Star City.

Watching Mu Xiaoxiao’s retreating figure, Chu Qingyun felt as if he were seeing himself from about a year ago, right after he had left Chu Family Village.

Back then, he had also gone to Qingshan City alone to take on the Blood Wolf Gang for the sake of his home, with only the meager strength of a seventh-level Martial Artist.

At the time, Chu Qingyun naturally hadn’t been certain he could actually defeat the Blood Wolf Gang. But some things, you just had to give a hundred percent, even if you weren’t sure of the outcome.

Man proposes, God disposes. It was as simple as that.

Regardless of the result, as long as you tried your best, you could have a clear conscience.

Mu Xiaoxiao’s thoughts right now were probably not much different from his own back then.

’Oh, well. I’ll just go with them...’

Chu Qingyun paused for a moment, then his figure flickered through the mountains, and he quickly caught up.

If Chu Qingyun didn’t go, with just the two of them, they would probably be in deep trouble if they ran into even a couple of slightly stronger Mutants.

But with the three of them working together, they could be considered a relatively strong force within these ruins, second only to the groups from the Saint Extreme Sect, the Celestial Sword Sect, and the No-Life Gang.

"Huh? Chu Qingyun, didn’t you go down the mountain?"

Seeing Chu Qingyun catch up, Mu Xiaoxiao’s eyes filled with delight.

"Did you really think I was that disloyal?" Chu Qingyun chuckled, throwing Mu Xiaoxiao’s own words back at her.

Mu Xiaoxiao bit her lip, her eyes shimmering with tears. "Thank you."

"Ahem, don’t thank me. I’m actually just hoping to get my hands on some Secret Techniques and Secret Manuals to cultivate. You know that’s why I came here in the first place."

"But have you figured out how you’re going to stop the Martial Soul Hall?"

Chu Qingyun asked, walking behind Mu Xiaoxiao.

Mu Xiaoxiao’s expression dimmed. She bit her lip and shook her head.

Seeing this, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but sigh internally.

’This is just like when I first went to Qingshan City,’ he thought. ’All I had was a goal, but no actual, viable plan. Luckily, I got a break back then and stumbled my way into the Assassin Alliance, where I met You Yun...’

"Actually, I have an idea. If we really want to stop the Martial Soul Hall, the three of us definitely aren’t enough. We need to cooperate with Huo Yuguang and Zhou Wushang," Chu Qingyun said after a brief pause.

Hearing this, Mu Xiaoxiao’s eyes lit up as a new line of thinking opened up for her.

Zhou Wushang and Huo Yuguang each had six or seven seventh-level Martial Spirits under their command. If they joined forces, they could probably even take on a powerhouse like Lord Feng.

But then she hesitated. "Zhou Wushang and the others... will they help us?"

Both Zhou Wushang and Huo Yuguang had sent seventh-level Martial Spirits to hunt them down, and Chu Qingyun had killed the ones they sent.

It could be said that the enmity between them already ran deep.

"This isn’t about helping us. If the seal in the ruins is broken, it’s bad for everyone. This involves the Martial Soul Hall, so it’s a matter of principle. If they’re smart enough, they’ll know how to choose," Chu Qingyun said.

In the Land of Hundred Dynasties, almost every dynasty has clashed with the Martial Soul Hall to some extent.

Therefore, Chu Qingyun believed that when the Martial Soul Hall was involved, even if Zhou Wushang and Huo Yuguang had conflicts with him, they would prioritize the greater good.

As for the people from the No-Life Gang, that went without saying.

Most of them were from Blood Abyss City. If the Six Imperial Demon-Sealing Array was broken and the mutated monsters rushed out, Blood Abyss City would be the first to suffer a major catastrophe.

Mu Xiaoxiao thought about it and felt that Chu Qingyun’s suggestion made sense, so she nodded in agreement.

As for how to find them, that wasn’t too difficult.

The Saint Extreme Sect, the Celestial Sword Sect, and the No-Life Gang—the three strongest forces in the ruins—were composed of sect members and members of the No-Life Gang.

As the three strongest parties, their goal certainly wasn’t to fool around in the side halls, looking for some Spirit Level or King Realm Secret Manuals and Secret Techniques.

Having spent time with the Saint Extreme Sect’s team, Chu Qingyun and the others knew their biggest, or rather primary, objective was the main hall where the Blood Sect kept its collection of Secret Manuals and Secret Techniques!

Although this was just the ruin of a remnant force of the Blood Sect, there would be at least Martial Emperor level Secret Manuals and Secret Techniques in that most important main hall.

That was what Zhou Wushang and Huo Yuguang were truly after.

Wherever the three strongest teams went, they naturally attracted attention, so their whereabouts were not hard to find out.

As for the location of the main hall, the most important place in the ruins where the Secret Manuals and Secret Techniques were stored, Chu Qingyun’s group simply grabbed a few people and, under duress, managed to get the information out of them. It was an unexpected bonus.

In the process of searching for the main hall within the ruins, in just one afternoon, Chu Qingyun and his group encountered the dark-red Mutants three times, and Mutated Demon Beasts twice.

The most perilous of these encounters was the first time they ran into a Mutated Demon Beast.

Initially, only a single Demon Beast, with strength comparable to the Earth Spirit Realm before its mutation, blocked their path. The three of them prepared to deal with it, but they never expected that less than half a minute after the fight began, it would attract over a dozen more Mutated Demon Beasts. Scared witless, Chu Qingyun and the others turned tail and fled, ultimately escaping the pursuit of the pack only by relying on the Hidden Qi Technique and the complex terrain of the mountain forest.

Earlier that same day, on their way down the mountain in the morning, they had only encountered one Mutant and one Mutated Demon Beast.

But in the afternoon, on their way back up, they had run into Mutants three times and Mutated Demon Beasts twice. Moreover, the mutated beasts had actually started to gather in groups.

This discovery weighed heavily on Chu Qingyun and Mu Xiaoxiao’s hearts.

It showed just how fast this terrifying strange disease, which could mutate both humans and Demon Beasts, was spreading!

With this method of transmission, the spread of the strange disease wasn’t that fast at the beginning, when there were only a few infected individuals. It could only infect a dozen or a few dozen at a time.

However, once the number of Mutants and Mutated Demon Beasts increased, the speed of transmission would also accelerate.

It was a form of geometric growth.

Once the number of Mutants and Mutated Demon Beasts reached a certain point, the subsequent rate of spread would be explosive!

PS: Let me clarify the cultivation Realms in this book. Some of you might be a little confused, and that’s my bad. I might have made it a bit messy by habitually writing King Realm, Emperor Level, Sect Realm, etc.... After Martial Spirit, the progression is: Martial King -> Martial Emperor -> Martial Sect -> Martial Venerable (Venerable) -> Martial Saint (Saint) -> Martial Emperor.