Devouring Soul Emperor

Chapter 298: Chapter 298: Five Level 1 Martial Spirits

A Ten-star Vine grew within a ball of fire. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like two Martial Souls that had been crudely smashed together, not a single, complete Mutated Martial Soul.

Chu Qingyun thought for a moment, and an idea suddenly came to him.

’If I can just get the flames to wrap around the vines, that should work!’

No sooner said than done!

With the Devouring Power acting as a deterrent, the two Tier Four Martial Souls became like two balls of dough, letting Chu Qingyun knead and shape them however he pleased.

Chu Qingyun molded the Flame Martial Soul into various shapes. He could even split it into ten streams to wrap around each of the ten vines of the Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul. All he had to do was ensure the flames converged where the vines met.

The Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul also became completely docile. Chu Qingyun could even control it to hide the iron threads on its vines, retract five or seven of them, and shrink its body to perfectly imitate its previous appearance as a Three-Star or Five-Star Vine.

’This way... combined with the Hidden Qi Technique, I can completely conceal my Martial Soul’s aura to Tier Two or even Tier One... A perfect explanation!’

Chu Qingyun’s eyes lit up.

This time, he had finally found a reason that could perfectly explain this mutated "Flame Iron Thread Ten-Star Vine"...

After practicing for a while longer, Chu Qingyun was able to maintain perfect control over the two Martial Souls’ forms even after withdrawing his Devouring Power.

Once everything was settled, the horse had also recovered, so Chu Qingyun got back on the road.

「Three days later.」

Chu Qingyun arrived at a post station not far from the County City.

Chu Qingyun planned to exchange his horse here and then head straight for the County City.

However, just as he neared the station, Chu Qingyun’s expression suddenly changed. The Devouring Martial Soul in his Qi Sea had begun to tremble faintly.

This only ever happened when members of the Martial Soul Hall were nearby!

’A chance encounter?’

’Or a deliberate ambush?’

Chu Qingyun couldn’t be sure yet, so he pulled on the reins to slow down, secretly raising his guard.

As he focused his senses, he did indeed detect more than one obscure fluctuation of aura in the vicinity. If he hadn’t concentrated on sensing them, he would have missed them entirely.

He was already close to the post station, close enough to clearly see the figures of people inside.

But Chu Qingyun suddenly yanked the reins, coming to a halt. "You lot up ahead, you’ve worked so hard hiding. Why not come out now?"

Any further and he would walk right into their encirclement.

At this point, Chu Qingyun was almost certain: these people were here for him!

Logically speaking, a Half-Step Martial Spirit like Chu Qingyun shouldn’t have been able to so easily detect Tier One Martial Spirits who were doing their utmost to conceal their auras.

However, these people had originally been just Level-Nine Martial Artists with Tier Two Martial Souls. They had forcibly raised their cultivation realm by consuming that potion.

They couldn’t even properly control their own explosively increased power, let alone something as ethereal and difficult to manage as their auras.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate for a moment.

Then, the ambushing Martial Soul Hall members, seemingly confirming that Chu Qingyun had genuinely discovered them and wasn’t just bluffing, stopped hiding their auras and leaped out.

Five men in total jumped out from the side of the road, blocking Chu Qingyun’s path.

Seeing these five men, Chu Qingyun couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, his eyes narrowing slightly. ’Five Tier One Martial Spirits... They really want me dead...’

Deploying five Tier One Martial Spirits to assassinate a single Half-Step Martial Spirit... it was clear the Martial Soul Hall had invested heavily in this.

If an ordinary Half-Step Martial Spirit had encountered such a lineup, they would have had no escape, only to be effortlessly slaughtered. But with Chu Qingyun, things were different.

Even though there were five Tier One Martial Spirits, Chu Qingyun wasn’t the least bit flustered.

"Who are you people? What do you want?"

Before making a move, Chu Qingyun wanted to try and get some information out of them.

After all, he already knew these five were from the Martial Soul Hall, but they didn’t know that he knew.

One of the five men suddenly took out a portrait, compared it carefully with Chu Qingyun, and said with a sneer, "So you’re the Great Xia Dragon Guard Captain, Chu Qingyun? Heh heh, you sure kept us brothers waiting..."

The five of them were under orders to intercept and kill Chu Qingyun.

But they only knew that the destination for Chu Qingyun’s trip out of the city was Cloud-Mo Village in Iron Blade Gorge. They had no idea which specific route he would take.

So, they could only choose the dumbest, yet also most practical, method: waiting!

They had been waiting at this mandatory pass-through station for two full days, hiding by the roadside every day, and all five of them had long since had enough.

"Waiting for me? How did you know I would pass through here?"

Chu Qingyun asked, looking at the five men.

"Haha, how did we know? We have our ways, of course, but we’re not telling you!"

"Not only do I know you’d pass through here, I also know you’re heading to Cloud-Mo Village in Iron Blade Gorge, am I right?"

All five of them grew smug.

In their eyes, the five of them had soared to the heavens in a single step, going from Level-Nine Martial Artists straight to Tier One Martial Spirits, completely skipping the Half-Step Martial Spirit stage! freewёbnoνel.com

With such strength, dealing with a mere Half-Step Martial Spirit would be a piece of cake, wouldn’t it?

Facing the Half-Step Martial Spirit Chu Qingyun, a faint sense of superiority even welled up inside them. ’I just drank a potion and advanced to a Tier One Martial Spirit, while you still have to train so painstakingly!’

Even if they could never advance again, they had still hit the jackpot!

However, if they knew the side effects of that potion, they probably wouldn’t be feeling so smug anymore...

"Kid, die!"

"Watch me finish you in one move!"

The man in the middle of the group suddenly shouted, the aura of a Tier One Martial Spirit erupting from him. A massive amount of Primordial Power surged into his palm as he struck out at Chu Qingyun.

The turbulent palm strike kicked up gusts of wind, creating a truly imposing display of power for a moment.

However, Chu Qingyun just furrowed his brow slightly.

The man’s aura was indeed that of a Tier One Martial Spirit, no weaker than Heaven-Reaching Clouds. The fluctuations of his Primordial Power were also incredibly pure, far surpassing a Half-Step Martial Spirit.

But Chu Qingyun still had a strange, indescribable feeling.

He felt that this Tier One Martial Spirit from the Martial Soul Hall, whether it was his aura or his Primordial Power, had a... very loose and scattered feel to it.

In the Qi Sea of someone in the Martial Spirit Realm, Primordial Power is condensed and compressed to the extreme into Primordial Liquid. The Primordial Power they use should be like the edge of a blade—extremely solid and sharp.

But this guy’s Primordial Power felt like an ocean wave; it was strong, but the force was diffuse.