A Demon's Path Volume 1 Chapter 13

Zhao Shanshan laughed and said, "Esteemed guests, normally we'd sell these red soul stones for 300,000 orange gems. But I'm in a good mood today. I can give you a bulk discount of 20,000 orange gems!"

"We have 30,000 Crimson Soul Pills on hand. Can we use it as collateral?" Sect Master Luo rudely countered.

"Yes, that's fine," Zhao Shanshan agreed. "I'll inform the sales clerk of this transaction and get them to prepare the goods for you. Esteemed guests, you can head on over to the sales counter outside to complete the transaction."

"Glorious Star is really efficient! Haha!" The one who laughed was Sect Master Chen of the Sand Mound Sect. Ling Xiao felt the urge to rush outside and shove his broom into Sect Master Chen's mouth when he heard that crude laughter. Naturally, he didn't act on his impulses.

Some time later, Zhao Shanshan returned to the drawing room and said to the three hiding within, "The three guests have left. Is there perhaps anything else you would like to buy?"

Cheng Qiantai hesitated for a moment before asking in a very serious tone, "Do you have any soul chains for sale?"

Zhao Shanshan smiled. "Of course. What exactly are you looking for?"

"What's the most expensive soul chain you have?" Even though Cheng Qiantai posed this question in a very absent-minded way, Ling Xiao's sharp eye noticed that his Master's hands were shaking ever so slightly.

"Our most expensive soul chain costs 100,000 orange gems. It's woven from the branches of the Purple Deity Tree, and is laced with Golden Crow Thread. In and of itself the chain is a treasure that can defend against spiritual attacks. Moreover, this soul chain has a storage space of 100 square meters."

Ling Xiao didn't understand what a soul chain was before, but when he heard the words storage space, he immediately understood what it was.

A soul chain was formed by stringing soul stones together along a chain. Soul stones stored souls whereas soul chains could hold items. Ling Xiao's original soul chain was the worst in the range, only used to string soul stones together, and lacking the storage function.

Now it seemed that Cheng Qiantai was looking to replace it with a far better one!

"Master…" The ice coating Ling Xiao's heart finally started to melt, albeit just a little. He felt that he owed Cheng Qiantai regardless of whether he was making these investments on the basis of his usefulness.

100,000 orange gems wasn't a small sum to the Northern Jade Sect!

"Miss Zhao, take that soul chain out." Cheng Qiantai's hands started shaking a bit more. "I would like to use 10,000 Crimson Soul Pills to pay for these items."

"Yes, of course." The Glorious Star branch located in Northern Jade City had an outstanding day of business. They usually didn't earn this much in an entire year! Zhao Shanshan was in a particularly good mood today having made these transactions, and so her movements were much quicker than usual.

Soon, the soul chain appeared before Ling Xiao's eyes. With a glance, his eyes caught the majestic aura of gold interweaved with jade emitting from it. Ling Xiao could feel his heart ache a little, tears almost welling up in his eyes.

Cheng Qiantai carefully stored the soul chain away, then waved his hand. "Let's go."

When the three of them returned to the Northern Jade Sect, they headed straight for the Medicine Warehouse. Ling Xiao guessed his master wanted to gift him the new soul chain right away.

As expected, Cheng Qiantai took out the soul chain and the six soul stones. He strung them together, creating an incomparably exquisite soul chain.

"Xiao'er, use the soul chain arts your Senior Brother taught you and activate your soulforce," Cheng Qiantai instructed in an indifferent manner.

"Yes, Master." Ling Xiao closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the floor, focusing his mental strength at the Celestial Soul Chain on his chest. In an instant, the soul chain flashed with a crimson glow, shining on Ling Xiao's peaceful face.

"Go!" Cheng Qiantai waved his hand and the new soul chain flew straight at Ling Xiao, accurately hooking itself around his neck. Where there was only one soul stone on the soul chain before, it now merged with the new soul chain and turned into one that had seven soul stones altogether.

Six different red-ranked celestial techniques appeared in Ling Xiao's mind.

The Celestial red-ranked technique in the Heavenly Soul Stone was named Spatial Alteration. The user could cross a distance of 10 meters in the time it took to travel one. It was more effective when used as a feint in battle.

The red-ranked technique in the Spiritual Wisdom Soul Stone was called the Heart Cleansing Arts. Its properties weren't offensive. Rather, they helped the cultivator restrain the effects of spiritual attacks like Demonic Nightmare, a technique from Ling Xiao's Demonic Seven Souls Chain. Furthermore, it could render various low ranked poisons useless.

The red-ranked technique in the Spirit Soul Stone was called Thunder Summoning. This was a basic technique that allowed the user to summon thunder the thickness of a thumb.

The Core Soul Stone held a red-ranked celestial beast—the spirit of a Three-legged Bird. After cultivating, Ling Xiao could transform into it.

"Fuck! Why do I only get these stupid monsters?" Ling Xiao didn't want to turn into a dog, nor did he want to turn into some ugly bird. He'd just have to drop them for the time being.

The red-ranked technique in the Essence Soul Stone had to do with ways to craft celestial talismans. It was very simple so Ling Xiao didn't bother researching it, only roughly looking over it instead.

The last technique, stored in the Heroic Soul Stone, was a red-ranked summoning technique. The user could summon a Crimson Angel that possessed red-ranked Celestial soulforce. It was a small, naked birdperson brandishing a red dagger.

Once the new soul chain was formed, a crimson light emanated from Ling Xiao's body. The power from the Crimson Soul Pills he previously absorbed to oblivion exploded and stimulated the red-ranked power in the seven soul stones to their peaks!

However, Ling Xiao still didn't ascend to the orange rank.

Since Ling Xiao had to cultivate seven different soul stones, not reaching the orange rank was within his calculations.

Li Yuanhuan had told Ling Xiao long ago that cultivating seven soul stones at once was too difficult and that very few Chain Soul Masters could accomplish said feat. Ling Xiao was already one of a kind.

Li Yuanhuan gave his Master a comforting smile. "Master, with Junior Brother Ling's current strength, there's no equal in the red rank. He might even beat orange-ranked Chain Soul Masters with three soul stones or less. Reaching the top 10 in the newcomers tournament should be a walk in the park for him. Your efforts haven't been for naught!"

Cheng Qiantai took a glance at Ling Xiao, feeling very pleased. He nodded and said, "There aren't many orange-ranked Chain Soul Masters with four soul stones or more in the newcomers tournament. Ling Xiao still has some odds of success in his favour. Xiao'er, don't concoct medicine for the next two months. Focus on controlling the power in these seven soul stones and learn as many techniques as you can."

Cheng Qiantai originally wanted to impart one or two different red-ranked boxing techniques from the Northern Jade Sect to Ling Xiao. But when he thought of him having to simultaneously cultivate seven souls, he laid that thought to rest.

Ling Xiao respectfully bowed toward Cheng Qiantai. "Master, thank you for giving me this Celestial Seven Souls Chain. I'll take my leave first."

"Celestial Seven Souls Chain? Yes, that's a good name." Cheng Qiantai paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Xiao'er, do your best to cultivate."

"Yes, Master." Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief. Why are you running your mouth?! Celestial Seven Souls Chain? Fancy thinking! Thankfully, Master didn't think of the Demonic Seven Souls Chain. If not…

It was a close call!

In the following days leading up to the newcomers tournament, Ling Xiao was still toiling away with sweeping the grounds of the Northern Jade Sect, practicing the Northern Jade Celestial Fist, and secluding himself in cultivation. The two soul chains with seven soul stones rapidly fused with Ling Xiao at an unimaginable speed under the influence of that peculiar token. They seemed to perfectly complement each other without showing any indication of exposing one soul by using the other.

Ling Xiao hadn't tried his strength out in battle yet, so even he didn't know how strong he was.

A month passed with each day being as uneventful as the last. There hadn't even been any news of the 20% of the profit the three sects promised to give the Northern Jade Sect.

While Ling Xiao was practicing the Northern Jade Celestial Fist one day, he suddenly heard a whoosh ring through the sky. He raised his head and saw a flare explode toward the west of the Northern Jade Sect.  

"This is-" Ling Xiao was hesitating when Li Yuanhuan roared out, "Master is not in the sect. Let's quickly head west! Our comrades from another sect are requesting for reinforcements!"

Even though Ling Xiao really did want to test his skills, he slowed down when he thought of the possibility of there being danger. But more importantly, they weren't actual comrades of his Northern Jade Sect anyway.

After Li Yuanhuan roared out, he didn't care whether other people were following him as he rushed off to the west ahead of everyone else.

Ling Xiao sighed hopelessly. "Senior Brother is too kind and righteous for his own good."

To the west of the Northern Jade Sect was a vast plain. Ling Xiao followed behind the other disciples in that direction. From a distance away, he could see a group of Demonic Soul Masters surrounding tens of disciples from the Sunny Spring Sect.

Judging from the soulforce they were exuding, there was a mix of 20 or so orange and red-ranked Celestial Soul Masters. On the other hand, there were 40 or so Demonic Soul Masters. All of them were orange-ranked, save for two yellow-ranked ones.

Li Yuanhuan who had rushed off ahead of the rest was now exchanging blows with a yellow-ranked Demonic Soul Master. The other one crossing swords with a yellow-ranked Demonic Soul Master was Wang Batian from the Sunny Spring Sect.

This was the first time Ling Xiao saw Li Yuanhuan's weapon. He wielded a silver pike and seeing as the enemy was having trouble dealing with it, Ling Xiao gauged the pike was somewhat heavy.

Li Yuanhuan dominated the battlefield, but Wang Batian didn't share the same luck. The other yellow-ranked Demonic Soul Master had cornered him and bound him together. As a result, he only had power to hold his own, yet didn't have the power to retaliate. His body was full of vicious wounds and was a sorry sight for all to see.

More than 10 corpses lay on the ground. Judging from their attire, most of them were disciples of the Sunny Spring Sect.

Everyone from the Northern Jade Sect rushed up with Cheng Yu leading the pack. "Kill these demons!"

There were more than 40 orange-ranked Demonic Soul Masters present. They weren't afraid when they saw that the enemy had called for reinforcements, but rather a bloodthirsty glow shone in their eyes. "You've arrived just in time!"

Cheng Yu glared, yet her eyes were still incomparably beautiful. "Die!" A sword appeared in her hand and she stabbed at an orange-ranked Demonic Soul Master, aiming at the heart.

The Demonic Soul Master had just dug out the heart of a disciple from the Sunny Spring Sect when he saw Cheng Yu. He immediately threw the heart at her with a flick of his wrist.

The smell of blood rushed to Cheng Yu's face, almost causing her to vomit. As a result, her movements slowed down just a little.

"Die, brat!" The Demonic Soul Master laughed viciously. After dodging Cheng Yu's sword, he clawed at her heart.

Cheng Yu instinctively raised her sword to block. She couldn't have known that that motion was only a feint. The real attack followed soon after, a claw to the head that spelled death!

Chapter end