Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor

Dugu Bo tied a rope made from the tendons of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast to a large tree beside the gorge. Then, he handed Chen Ming and Dugu Yan some medicine to conceal their auras. The group quietly descended the nearly vertical cliff into the valley while doing their best to mask their presence.

If Dugu Bo, with his Title Douluo-level strength, had acted directly, the time they spent descending would have been enough for him to grab the target and bring it to Dugu Yan.

However, this trip was meant to train the two's experience, so Dugu Bo naturally refrained from intervening, instead acting as a teacher from the sidelines.

Initially, Chen Ming was a bit worried, unsure if the medicine Dugu Bo gave them would work or if they would attract the attention of the snake swarm. But facts proved that the Dugu family's experience was indeed reliable.

Following the path and methods left by their predecessors, Dugu Yan and Chen Ming stealthily navigated the snake-filled canyon. After spending a significant amount of time, they finally found a suitable third soul ring for Dugu Yan:@@novelbin@@

The Jade Phosphor Serpent is around 2,300 years old, with a fluctuation margin of no more than 50 years.

The scales of the Jade Phosphor Serpent were neatly arranged, emitting a green radiance. The scales on its head even showed signs of evolving into those of a Jade Phosphor Serpent King. Whether in terms of soul power or vitality, it was a standout among its kind.

Although it was only about 2,300 years old, its quality was comparable to a typical Jade Phosphor Serpent with 4,000 years of cultivation.

Over the past few months, Dugu Yan had consumed many rare items, significantly improving her physical fitness. Her martial soul had also undergone further enhancement after taming its poisons.

The absorption limit of her third soul ring had risen to around 2,500 years, far above the average Soul Elder. This 2,300-year-old Jade Phosphor Serpent was a perfect fit for her.

With Dugu Bo's guidance, Dugu Yan and Chen Ming first set up a trap in a suitable spot. Then, they used prepared bait to lure the Jade Phosphor Serpent into the trap.

The poison in the bait quickly incapacitated the snake, and Dugu Yan personally finished it off. The blood essence that leaked out was neutralized by other materials already placed in the trap, leaving no trace of their activity.

For a short time, the snake swarm would remain unaware that a 2,300-year-old Jade Phosphor Serpent had been hunted by intruders.

Chen Ming and Dugu Bo stood guard while Dugu Yan absorbed the soul ring. Nearly two hours later, Dugu Yan opened her tired eyes, signaling the successful absorption of her third soul ring.

Dugu Yan quickly dismantled the Jade Phosphor Serpent's corpse, selecting valuable parts to store in her spatial soul tool. The group cleaned up the blood on themselves and slowly climbed out of the gorge using the rope.

After leaving the gorge, both Dugu Yan and Chen Ming couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the snake swarm in the gorge didn't pose much of a threat to the two, especially Chen Ming, the careful, thief-like movements were mentally taxing.

Even though Chen Ming had lived in a scorpion cave since childhood and was used to handling venomous creatures, this process still gave him a rare sense of excitement.

Logically, after obtaining the soul ring, the group should have left the Star Dou Forest quickly. But at this moment, Chen Ming was reluctant to leave.

"Grandpa, I'd like to try training in the Star Dou Forest. I want to improve my combat experience against soul beasts, especially flying ones."

"Oh?" Dugu Bo glanced at Chen Ming and understood why he had this idea—it was likely due to his recent encounter with Flender, who could fly.

After a brief moment of thought, Dugu Bo nodded, deciding to postpone visiting his old rival.

To be honest, every level-up for a Title Douluo was a cause for celebration. Yet Dugu Bo had consecutively advanced three levels, and no one on the continent knew about it.

They say young people like to show off and flaunt their strength, but the truth is, older people enjoy it too. They just pretend not to because they think they lack the ability.

Dugu Bo planned to use this trip to the Star Dou Forest as an opportunity to visit his old rival, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and make him suffer a humiliating defeat. This plan had been in his heart since he reached level 92, but he had endured for half a year for the sake of his granddaughter and to handle his poison affliction.

However, for the sake of his future grandson-in-law, Dugu Bo didn't mind holding back for a few more days.

In the following days, the group wandered the forest's outer areas and occasionally ventured into the mixed zones.

Most of the time, Chen Ming was battling various soul beasts. While many of them were of average quality and didn't interest Chen Ming, a few had abilities that caught his attention.

Since they were in the Star Dou Forest, how could Chen Ming miss the famous Soft Bone Rabbits?

Under the confused gazes of Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo, Chen Ming captured more than a dozen Soft Bone Rabbits for experimentation, ranging from ten-year to thousand-year cultivation levels. However, none of them demonstrated the overpowered Invincible Golden Body skill. One rabbit, which seemed to have some Lightning Rabbit bloodline, displayed a teleportation ability after Chen Ming's research.

It could teleport 2.5 meters but collapsed from exhaustion, lying motionless on the ground. Chen Ming observed that it took two hours for the rabbit to barely recover its basic jumping ability.

Chen Ming concluded that if he truly wanted to research teleportation soul skills, he'd have better luck with Lightning Rabbits. These Soft Bone Rabbits hardly seemed related to Xiao Wu's clan.

In any case, rabbit stew tasted great.

Chen Ming also hunted some flying soul beasts. After dealing with a few, he studied their flight capabilities, but the results were disappointing.

Most flying soul beasts relied on wings and physical adaptations, supplemented by elemental powers. Those with structures unsuitable for flight depended on even stronger elemental powers to stay aloft.

Chen Ming considered developing flying techniques similar to those in the Battle Through the Heavens world but found it impractical after experimentation.

With Title Douluo-level spiritual power and soul core-provided energy, he could form a pair of wings behind him and flap them to lift off. However, the flight was uncontrollable, and soul power drained like water, rendering it less effective than simply jumping.

For a poison-type soul master, creating a flight skill was even harder than studying conventional flying techniques.

Eventually, Chen Ming managed to hover slowly using spiritual power and his soul core's energy. Although the speed was unimpressive, it looked flashy.

If his soul power output increased further, he might achieve low-altitude flight.

Still, driven by a whimsical idea, Chen Ming also experimented with releasing a high-density poisonous cloud to fly, mimicking immortals riding clouds. However, the progress was only slightly faster than his other flight research.

The current energy cost far outweighed the results.

In the last few days, under Chen Ming's insistence, Dugu Bo led Dugu Yan and Chen Ming into the core region of the forest.

Here, ten thousand-year-old soul beasts thrived. Even a Title Douluo had to tread carefully to avoid mishaps.

During these days, Chen Ming encountered several top-quality ten-thousand-year soul beasts, including the Scarlet Flame Leopard, Diamond Tiger, and Earth Giant Bear, all famous in the soul master world. He also fought some of them.

Using the nearly inexhaustible soul power provided by the soul core in his dantian, Chen Ming freely unleashed soul skills he rarely used, such as Toxic Cloud Technique and Toxic Explosion Technique. He also frequently employed Poison Emperor Possession and Destructive Death Ray.

Contrary to his expectations, the Destructive Death Ray turned out to be a powerful physical destruction skill. It could partially petrify the enemy's body and then continuously drill into the target like a rock cutter.

Its focused destructive power easily shattered the shells of ten-thousand-year turtle soul beasts and bypassed defensive soul skills. As a non-elemental skill, it was an excellent counter against creatures with high toxin resistance.

Initially, the group didn't cause much disturbance, carefully managing their movements. Since ten thousand-year soul beasts had their territories, only a few attacked the group, and most gave up the pursuit when they left the area.

With Dugu Bo by their side, the core area was dangerous but not unmanageable as long as they followed survival rules.

However, when Chen Ming tested the Deathly Extinction Poison Domain attached to his third soul ring, it was like stirring up a hornet's nest. A large group of ten-thousand-year soul beasts charged at him.

These included a 30,000-year Scarlet-Faced Mastiff, a 20,000-year Critical Strike Bear, a 40,000-year Hellhound, and even two 50,000-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears among the top-tier beasts.

Dugu Bo alarmed, immediately grabbed Dugu Yan and Chen Ming and fled. Under the threat of death, he even instinctively learned a flying technique Chen Ming hadn't mastered. They escaped the core region in one go, outrunning some flying ten-thousand-year soul beasts.

As they exited the core zone, Chen Ming, with his Title Douluo-level spiritual power and innate talent, sensed a powerful aura disturbed by the chaos. Judging by its attributes and strength, it was likely the Titan Giant Ape, one of the two great Beast Kings.