Devouring Soul Emperor

Ultimately, Zhou Jianxiong didn't dare send anyone to cause trouble for Chu Qingyun.

Moreover, he feared Zhou Wushang would cause more trouble and genuinely anger Master Kang. So, he put Zhou Wushang in confinement, forbidding him from leaving his home or meeting anyone before the Pill Battle Conference!

There were still a few days until the Celestial Martial City Pill Battle Conference.

During this time, Chu Qingyun remained in his room, claiming he was preparing for the Pill Battle Conference.

In reality, however, he was hard at work, continuing to use his Devouring Power to consume the crimson energy on the blood-red sphere.

Through his persistent efforts, the power obstructing him grew weaker and weaker. He could even see faint glimmers of light inside the sphere through the crimson glow.

It wasn't until the day before the Pill Battle Conference that Chu Qingyun reluctantly put the sphere away.

The crimson energy was now incredibly faint. Through the nearly transparent glow, Chu Qingyun could even see a ball of white light within the sphere.

Unfortunately, even though the crimson energy was very faint, it remained incredibly stubborn, resisting Chu Qingyun's Primordial Power and Devouring Power and preventing him from probing what lay inside.

The Pill Battle Conference was set to begin the next day.

So, Chu Qingyun sent his consciousness into the Light Card's Illusion Realm. There, he reviewed the refining processes for the various elixirs he had already learned, going over them several times to re-familiarize himself.

He paid special attention to practicing the finer details.

'When refining elixirs, many details are universal, even across different types. The handling of these subtleties, in particular, often requires only minor adjustments to suit a different pill formula.'

He had asked Master Kang about it before.

The rules for the Pill Battle Conference were simple: all participating alchemists would gather and refine an elixir.

In the end, the best one would be judged the champion and win the prize.

As for the finer details of the rules, Master Kang was tight-lipped and refused to disclose them to Chu Qingyun.

'However, based on my own speculation, there are only two likely formats for the competition.'

'First, participants choose which elixir to refine, and the judging will be based on a combination of the elixir's difficulty and quality.'

'In that case, participants would probably have to provide their own spiritual medicines. That's why I asked Mu Xiaoxiao to help me gather a few sets of ingredients for the Spiritual Longevity Pill here in Celestial Martial City.'

'The Giant Elephant Frenzy Pill was good enough to qualify, but in the actual competition, against all the young prodigy alchemists of the Northern Domain, it probably won't be enough.'

'The second possible format is that the conference organizers decide on a specific elixir for all participants to refine.'

'If that's the case, then there's no point in practicing anything specific.'

'The variety of Spirit Level elixirs is simply immense.'

'Even a King-rank Alchemist, or someone even higher, wouldn't dare claim they could master every single Spirit Level elixir.'

'So, unless my luck is heaven-defyingly good or I get some inside information, it's basically a one-in-ten-million gamble.'

Rather than waste time practicing how to refine some random elixir, Chu Qingyun preferred to spend his time devouring the crimson energy on the sphere.

A day passed in the blink of an eye.

However, Chu Qingyun had spent several days practicing inside the Illusion Realm, where his efficiency was more than ten times that of other alchemists.

This was because his Soul Power could be replenished at any time within the Illusion Realm.

As long as his mind didn't grow weary, he could practice indefinitely.

That night, Chu Qingyun didn't enter the Illusion Realm again, nor did he rush to cultivate or work on the sphere. Instead, he had a good night's sleep to rest up.

'This Celestial Martial City Pill Battle Conference is extremely important to me. Besides, I'm also shouldering the heavy responsibility of getting Mu Xiaoxiao and Dai into the sect.'

'So, there's absolutely no room for failure.'

'Even if I can't take first place, I have to make it into the top three.'

Early the next morning, Mu Xiaoxiao and Dai came running to find Chu Qingyun.

"I bought twenty sets of the ingredients for the Spiritual Longevity Pill. That should be more than enough for you."

As she spoke, Mu Xiaoxiao took out a large quantity of Spiritual Medicines from her Storage Ring.

Each type of spiritual ingredient was neatly sorted and arranged—twenty complete sets of ingredients for the Spiritual Longevity Pill.

Twenty sets!

Chu Qingyun couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

'Back when I was in Lianshan County City and wanted to refine the Spiritual Longevity Pill, the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower had to spend a long time searching nearly the entire county just to scrape together five sets of ingredients.'

"Where did you buy so many? The Flower Bone Root is only a Tier Three Spiritual Medicine, but it's extremely rare," Chu Qingyun muttered as he put away all the spiritual ingredients.

"It was easy! I just found a place that sells spiritual medicines and bought twenty sets. It wasn't difficult at all, like you said."

"Oh, right. That, uh, Flower Bone Root and the Turtle Spirit Grass seemed to be a lot more expensive than the other ingredients," Mu Xiaoxiao added.

And at that moment, it finally dawned on Chu Qingyun.

'This is sect territory.'

'Sect territory... you could call it the cultivation Holy Land for the entire Northern Domain, where all kinds of resources are most concentrated.'

'The ingredients for the Spiritual Longevity Pill are extremely rare back in Great Xia's Lianshan County. You probably couldn't even gather ten sets in the entire county.'

'But here in sect territory, in Celestial Martial City, those same spiritual ingredients are nothing special at all.'

'As long as you have enough Primordial Spirit Liquid, you can just walk up and buy them.'

"Heh, I guess my perspective has been a bit narrow..." Chu Qingyun said with a self-deprecating chuckle, shaking his head gently.

At the same time, he made a silent mental note to himself.

'From now on, I need to broaden my horizons. I can't keep looking at things with the perspective I had in Great Xia. I have to start accepting the new reality of the sects and their territory.'

'In Great Xia, the grand finale item at a so-called top-tier touring auction was just a Storage Ring with a tiny amount of space, and it sold for a hundred thousand drops of Primordial Spirit Liquid.'

'But here in Celestial Martial City, something like that is probably just a common commodity.'

'And once I'm actually in a sect, it'll probably seem even more commonplace.'

'Forget the Inner Sect; even in the Outer Sect, the princes and nobles from the various dynasties—the true blue bloods—basically all have Storage Rings.'

'It takes wealth to practice martial arts, after all.'

'Most of those who become top geniuses within a dynasty have the backing of a powerful family and an accumulation of massive resources.'

People like Chu Qingyun, who rely only on themselves, are few and far between.

After putting away the spiritual ingredients, the three of them left and headed for the venue of the Celestial Martial City Pill Battle Conference.

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