Chapter 563 - 564: Vicious

But just then, his ears twitched. He heard a noise behind him.

He turned and waited for a moment, only to see two people appear.

It was Zheng Tianrong and one of his subordinates, a Level Eight Martial Spirit named Dai Bai.

Zheng Tianrong originally had two Level Eight Martial Spirit subordinates. However, they had inevitably suffered losses during the fierce battles in the Fire Poison District, and one of them had died.

Upon seeing Chu Qingyun, ecstatic expressions instantly appeared on both Zheng Tianrong and Dai Bai's faces.

"Hahaha, to think I'd actually run into you! Chu Qingyun, let's see where you can run this time! Over ninety thousand Saint Extreme Points... they're still mine!"

"Dai Bai, go kill him!"

Zheng Tianrong laughed maniacally. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes as he ordered Dai Bai to kill Chu Qingyun.

Dai Bai nodded and walked toward Chu Qingyun with a cold smirk.

Although he too was afflicted with Fire Poison and was somewhat exhausted from a full night of fighting, he was still very confident about dealing with a Level Six Martial Spirit. Besides, Chu Qingyun had also been through a night of intense battles and exhaustion.

When you thought about it, the Physical Strength and Primordial Power of a Level Six Martial Spirit were far inferior to those of a Level Eight Martial Spirit.

Therefore, Dai Bai couldn't imagine any scenario in which he would lose to Chu Qingyun.

However, before he could take two steps, he suddenly froze in place, his face filled with disbelief.

Chu Qingyun's eyes also widened in an instant, unable to believe the scene before him.

Just as Dai Bai was moving forward to attack Chu Qingyun, Zheng Tianrong suddenly struck from behind. He gathered a massive amount of Primordial Power in his palm and thrust it through Dai Bai's back. His hand, dripping with hot blood, protruded gruesomely from Dai Bai's chest.

"W-why..."

Dai Bai asked weakly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Zheng Tianrong, however, had a face full of Evil Qi. "Dai Bai, don't blame me. Only when all of you are dead can I enjoy those ninety-thousand-plus Saint Extreme Points in peace. Don't worry, I'll send Chu Qingyun to join you right away."

Hearing this, a desolate and mocking, yet bitter, smile crept onto Dai Bai's lips.

'As the saying goes, "Once the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden away; once the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked for dinner."'

'But look at Zheng Tianrong now. He hadn't even made a move on Chu Qingyun yet, and he was already backstabbing and killing me.'

Then, Dai Bai's head slumped, and he died.

"Hmph. You haven't even gotten your hands on the Token, yet you're already so eager to kill your own men. Zheng Tianrong, you truly are vicious."

Chu Qingyun couldn't help but say mockingly.

"Hehe, a man who isn't ruthless can't be great. As long as I can get over ninety thousand Saint Extreme Points, I can break through to the Martial King Realm and become an Inner Sect Disciple!"

"When that time comes, what use will a subordinate like this be to me?"

"Chu Qingyun, there are no magma pits around for you to escape into this time. If you know what's good for you, hand over the Token, and I'll give you a quick death!"

Zheng Tianrong stared at Chu Qingyun, his face full of Evil Qi as he spoke.

But Chu Qingyun simply drew his Thunder Shock Sword slowly. "Come on!"

In their first exchange, Chu Qingyun didn't attack with his full strength. Instead, he avoided the brunt of Zheng Tianrong's assault, grabbed Dai Bai's corpse, and devoured his Primordial Power.

Afterward, Chu Qingyun began to unleash his full power to kill Zheng Tianrong.

Zheng Tianrong's strength was still quite a bit weaker than Chen Yi's.

Moreover, the great battle in the Fire Poison District had caused a significant amount of Fire Poison to accumulate in his body. Now that he was in another fierce fight, there was a risk that he would be unable to suppress it.

Chu Qingyun, on the other hand, had long since dispelled the Fire Poison and had no such worries.

After a flurry of all-out attacks, Zheng Tianrong was left in a sorry state. The Fire Poison erupted, no longer suppressed, and Chu Qingyun seized the opportunity to cut him down with his sword.

Before he died, Zheng Tianrong's heart was filled with regret.

'If I had known, I should have teamed up with Dai Bai to kill Chu Qingyun first, and then dealt with Dai Bai afterward...'

After finishing off Zheng Tianrong, Chu Qingyun grabbed his shoulder with one hand. He unleashed his Devouring Power, which invaded Zheng Tianrong's meridians and began to devour his Primordial Power.

Streams of pure Primordial Power were refined into Primordial Liquid by his Devouring Martial Soul and injected into his Qi Sea.

The last bit of space in his Qi Sea was continuously being filled with Primordial Liquid.

Soon, his entire Qi Sea felt like it was swelling.

The Primordial Liquid had finally filled his Qi Sea!

Under these circumstances, Chu Qingyun's first instinct was to start cultivating and attempt a breakthrough to Level Seven Martial Spirit.

However, he forcefully suppressed this instinct, immediately retracting his Devouring Power. At the same time, he sent out a palm strike, shattering a nearby Shi Mountain.

After consuming a little Primordial Power, the swelling sensation in his Qi Sea also disappeared.

Attempting to break through to the next Realm would waste a significant amount of the Primordial Liquid in his Qi Sea if he failed.

For a normal Martial Spirit Realm cultivator, this might just mean the loss of some Primordial Spirit Liquid and a bit of heartache.

But for Chu Qingyun, if he failed, replenishing the lost Primordial Liquid with Primordial Spirit Liquid would be almost impossible.

Therefore, a single failure would severely disrupt his cultivation rhythm.

Besides, he had gone through so much trouble to obtain the Magma Essence. Chu Qingyun was determined to refine it into a Celestial Spirit Pill to ensure he had enough confidence before attempting a breakthrough.

With all his objectives accomplished, he took Zheng Tianrong's and Dai Bai's Storage Rings and devoured their Martial Souls. Then, Chu Qingyun continued on his way out of the Molten Rock District.

By now, he was already in the outer parts of the Molten Rock District.

On his way out, he encountered Molten Beasts a few times, but they were close calls without any real danger, and he didn't run into any major trouble.

Because he had fought two major battles along the way—against Chen Yi, and then Zheng Tianrong and his men—he had been delayed for some time.

As a result, most of the other people who had fought their way out of the Fire Poison District had already left the Molten Rock District and returned to the sect.

The entire Molten Rock District was now teeming with enraged Molten Beasts, making it unsuitable for training for the time being.

So, Chu Qingyun summoned the Tier Three Flying Demon Beast he had rented and flew back toward the Saint Extreme Sect's headquarters.

Within the sect's territory, riding a Flying Demon Beast was relatively safe.

And so, Chu Qingyun finally relaxed a great deal.

He took a quick inventory of the Martial Souls he had devoured over the past few days and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

During his few days in the Molten Rock District, he had only obtained a total of three Tier Four Martial Souls.

The main reason was that people with Tier Four Martial Souls had much greater cultivation potential than those with only Tier Three Martial Souls.

So, after a few years of accumulating experience in the Outer Sect...

...those Outer Disciples with Tier Four Martial Souls could still break through to the Martial King Realm and enter the Inner Sect, even if they couldn't place in the top twelve of the Inner Sect qualification competition.