Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor

The events of the day were too extraordinary, so Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun insisted on keeping them a secret. Even though Chen Ming repeatedly assured them it wasn't necessary, the two of them solemnly swore an oath, invoking the Angel God and pledging their martial souls as collateral.

In this world, such vows carry great weight. If Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun were to reveal the secret lightly, even if the Angel God did not descend to punish them, their martial souls would still be affected. At best, their soul power would regress; at worst, their martial souls could be crippled.

However, the cave was not an ideal place for further discussion. After confirming there were no other issues, Chen Shijie led Chen Ming and Chen Tianyun back through an underground tunnel to the Chen family's secret chamber.

The cave where the Jade Phosphorous Flower of the Seven Absolutes was nurtured lay deep within the core of the Biluoxia Canyon. The Chen family had cleverly integrated themselves into the soul beast ecosystem, occupying a niche and pretending to be a group of soul beasts for centuries. Because it was located deep underground and surrounded by powerful ten-thousand-year soul beasts, no outsiders had ever discovered the place.

The hidden passage was long and winding. Even with the physical stamina of soul masters, it took half a day to traverse. Losing one's way inside would make finding an exit nearly impossible. Currently, only a handful of people in the Chen family know the full layout of the passage.

After returning home, Chen Shijie allowed Chen Ming to spend a month exploring and enjoying himself in Biluocheng, accompanied by Chen Tianyun. However, if Chen Ming wished to visit other cities, both Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun would have to accompany him.

Chen Ming agreed but quickly grew bored after just a few days in Biluocheng. Oppressed by the lack of excitement, he decided to return to the Chen family estate and resume cultivation after less than half a month.

The main reason was simple—there wasn't much to do.

The entertainment options in the world of Douluo Dalu were incredibly outdated and limited. Because of his values and perspective from his past life, Chen Ming also had no interest in visiting any of the special establishments.

Biluocheng was a poor and barren place. The largest market in the city was owned by the Chen family, and Chen Ming had visited it countless times already. The best trading venue in the city belonged to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy there either. After browsing through it once, Chen Ming felt like he had wasted his time and would have been better off going home to consume whale glue and continue cultivating.

Thanks to the evolution of his martial soul and the acquisition of the Jade Phosphorous Flower of the Seven Absolutes's soul ring—a soul beast of the highest quality—Chen Ming's talent had been further enhanced, partially compensating for his earlier shortcomings. While it's commonly understood that a soul master's cultivation is fastest before reaching rank 10 and slows down afterward, Chen Ming's cultivation speed has more than doubled thanks to various factors.

In just two short years, Chen Ming progressed from rank 12, right after absorbing his first soul ring, to rank 20, increasing his soul power by eight ranks and officially becoming a quasi-Grand Soul Master.

During this time, he not only strengthened his body through training and the proper use of whale glue to withstand higher-level soul rings but also successfully cultivated his martial soul to evolve into thirteen tail segments before acquiring his second soul ring, further improving its quality.

According to Douluo Dalu standards, being an eleven-year-old quasi-Grand Soul Master was already considered excellent. However, Chen Ming himself wasn't entirely satisfied. After all, compared to the Shrek Seven Monsters from the original work, his progress was only on par with Ning Rongrong or Zhu Zhuqing. He was far behind Tang San, who had the innate advantage of the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

In Chen Ming's view, his greatest gain over the past two years wasn't his soul power but the discovery and understanding of his cheating ability.

Through repeated meditation and exploration of soul rings, Chen Ming realized that his golden finger was a unique spiritual trait that didn't belong to the world of Douluo Dalu. While this trait couldn't currently be applied in combat, it manifested in other ways.

For example, when absorbing a soul ring, Chen Ming could actively select the ring's soul skill and characteristics, as well as tap into a deeper portion of the soul ring's laws. After the soul ring stabilized, he could expend spiritual power and soul power to slowly increase the soul ring's age and even make limited changes to the soul skill contained within it.

However, much like Huo Yuhao tens of thousands of years later, this enhancement didn't improve his base attributes. It merely strengthened the laws carried by the soul ring. In other words, if he absorbed a hundred-year soul ring, his body would only receive the base attribute boost of a hundred-year soul ring. Even if the ring was upgraded to ten thousand years, it wouldn't improve his physical attributes further.

In two years, Chen Ming had only managed to uncover his golden finger's capabilities to this extent. As for deeper potential, he felt it would require him to reach much higher levels before fully excavating it.

If he hadn't spent time developing his golden finger or experimenting with upgrading his soul rings, he might have reached level 20 six months sooner. However, developing his golden finger was more critical than simply focusing on soul power cultivation.

As for which soul beast his second soul ring would come from… that had been decided from the moment he awakened his martial soul.

"A thousand-year Emerald Scorpion, with nine tail segments… what an incredible talent. If it doesn't die prematurely, becoming the Scorpion King in the future is certain, and reaching the level of Scorpion Emperor isn't out of the question."

Looking at the Emerald Scorpion before him, which had been meticulously prepared for who knows how long, Chen Ming's tone carried a touch of admiration. Yet his gaze held no trace of pity, nor was there any killing intent about him.

Killing a bug that intruded into one's life might require building up some resolve, but slaughtering a chicken or duck ready for the pot didn't even warrant such effort. Before awakening his martial soul, Chen Ming had killed countless scorpions while mimicking their behavior in the Scorpion Cave for training. Killing one more now made no difference to him.

This Emerald Scorpion had its entire body pierced by wooden spikes, its tail segments tightly bound. Faced with Chen Ming and the two others, it displayed none of the ferocity or reactions a soul beast should have.

Decades ago, this exceptional Emerald Scorpion had been discovered by a Chen family ancestor and brought back home.

At the time, it was only a hundred-year soul beast but was already born with seven tail segments. After being captured and brought to the Chen family, they drove wooden spikes through its body and submerged it in a deep underground pool filled with a concoction of medicinal herbs and toxic substances. The scorpion was stimulated and forced to grow through various methods.

Each year, just maintaining the medicinal pool costs thousands of gold soul coins. Moreover, some of the ingredients came from soul beasts that had to be personally hunted by the Chen family in the depths of Biluoxia Canyon. Altogether, the Chen family had invested tens of thousands of gold soul coins into this soul beast. The price paid was nothing short of staggering.