Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor

Yes, to be precise, the fire attribute is just a means that the Red-Eyed Ice Toad developed to produce venom. The fire attribute is important but not essential. Generally, having about 20% of it is enough.

However, this particular Red Eyed Ice Toad has an excessively strong fire attribute, accounting for nearly 40% of its overall makeup, or even closer to 50%, which is on par with its original ice attribute.

This mutation causes its ice and fire attributes to clash and merge uncontrollably, constantly tormenting the Red-Eyed Ice Toad. Its brain is perpetually filled with nothing but pain.

The fusion of ice and fire not only produces venom but also gives rise to an unusual vitality. This vitality sustains the Red-Eyed Ice Toad's life, allowing it to continuously feel pain and be endlessly tortured by its unique attributes.

Even after reaching ten thousand years of cultivation, the Red-Eyed Ice Toad has never been able to awaken from its torment to gain consciousness.

"Xiao Ming, the scorpion from earlier was swallowed by this Red Eyed Ice Toad. I think it's already dead. Are you planning to absorb the soul ring of this Red-Eyed Ice Toad, or should Old Ghost and I try to find a similar scorpion for you later?"

"Master, I think I'll absorb the soul ring of this Red Eyed Ice Toad. That scorpion earlier—I initially thought it was an ice-attribute Jade Phosphorus Scorpion, which has both ice and poison attributes. But during the battle, I realized that the scorpion had completely abandoned its venom attribute in exchange for pure ice."

"Although I could attempt to absorb it, its pure ice attribute wouldn't necessarily be fully compatible with me. It would likely cause irreversible changes to my poison attribute."

"I'll just absorb the soul ring of the Red-Eyed Ice Toad."

Although Chen Ming concealed the fact that he already knew the Jade Phosphorus Scorpion lacked the poison attribute, what he said otherwise was truthful.

With only the ice attribute, when Chen Ming returns to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he would only be able to absorb the Eight Petal Immortal Orchid to strengthen his ice attribute, losing out on the opportunity to interact with the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

But if he absorbs the Red-Eyed Ice Toad, which has a balanced mix of ice, fire, and poison attributes, Chen Ming would most likely gain both ice and fire attributes, as well as a derivative poison born from the fusion of ice and fire.

This way, when Chen Ming returns, he could directly consume both the Eight Petal Immortal Orchid and the Infernal Delicate Apricot, then jump into the pool for an ice-fire refinement of his body. Not only would his body and martial soul be strengthened, but his poison attribute would also remain intact. He might even achieve the dual ultimate attributes of ultimate ice and ultimate fire.

Hearing Chen Ming's decision, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo no longer objected. After all, their original goal in coming to the Extreme North was the Red-Eyed Ice Toad and the scorpion from earlier was merely a whim.

Now that they had found the Red-Eyed Ice Toad, absorbing its soul ring was perfectly logical.

Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo used their soul power to lift the immobilized Red-Eyed Ice Toad while cleaning up the traces left on the ground. After confirming that no critical information had been left behind, they took Chen Ming and the Red-Eyed Ice Toad to a nearby soul beast nest.

After clearing out the original inhabitants and ensuring no dangers would disturb them, Chen Ming used his tail to pierce the brain of the Red-Eyed Ice Toad, guiding the soul beast—tortured by pain for countless years—into a peaceful death.

A black ten-thousand-year soul ring rose from the Red Eyed Ice Toad's head. Seeing this, Ghost Douluo spoke with some concern.

"Xiao Ming, are you confident in absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring? Although you've always absorbed rings beyond the typical age limit, there's a fundamental difference between ten-thousand-year and thousand-year soul rings. Not only is the soul power much stronger but there's also the residual will of the soul beast at the moment of its death, which makes absorption very difficult."

"On the continent, while Soul Kings can absorb ten-thousand-year soul rings, many people still die every year because they can't handle the soul beast's lingering will when attempting to absorb such rings. Even for sixth-ring soul masters, absorbing ten-thousand-year soul rings is still a daunting challenge."

"This soul ring appears to have cultivation close to fifteen thousand years. Normally, the upper limit for a fifth soul ring is about twelve thousand years. Even my sixth soul ring is only a few hundred years older than this one. Xiao Ming, have you thought this through?"

Before Chen Ming could reply, Chrysanthemum Douluo patted Ghost Douluo on the shoulder and reassured him on Chen Ming's behalf.@@novelbin@@

"Old Ghost, you underestimate the miraculous effects of immortal herbs. Xiao Ming has consumed two immortal herbs and even absorbed the soul ring of one. His physique and mental strength are on a completely different level from ordinary soul masters. With his current physical and mental capabilities, absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring shouldn't be a problem."

"Well, alright," Ghost Douluo, knowing Chrysanthemum Douluo's personality, didn't press further. He simply nodded silently and stood beside Chen Ming, watching him closely with a worried expression.

Absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring as the fourth soul ring was still too incredible for Ghost Douluo to fully accept.

"Master Ghost, I'll be fine!"

Chen Ming gave Ghost Douluo a thumbs-up, then closed his eyes to begin guiding the ten-thousand-year soul ring left behind by the Red-Eyed Ice Toad into his body.

There's a qualitative difference between ten-thousand-year and thousand-year soul rings. As soon as this soul power entered Chen Ming's body, he could feel the immense strength contained within.

That said, Chen Ming's body had already undergone a complete transformation.

The Star Luo Holy Pearl allowed him to develop a soul core before even reaching level 40. The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum had strengthened his meridians to the level of a Titled Douluo's.

At first, Chen Ming felt a bit nervous. But as the ten-thousand-year soul power flowed into his meridians, he quickly realized there was no need to worry.

While the strength of a Titled Douluo's meridians doesn't equate to the capacity to bear Titled Douluo-level soul rings, the soul power of this less-than-twenty-thousand-year-old soul ring posed no threat to his meridians.

The Red-Eyed Ice Toad's soul power rampaged within Chen Ming's meridians for a while, but it couldn't cause even the slightest pain. With a gentle nudge of his mental power and a slight rotation of his soul core, the Red-Eyed Ice Toad's soul power became as docile as a servant before its master's whip.

Within a quarter of an hour, Chen Ming had successfully guided the Red-Eyed Ice Toad's soul power into his dantian. Right as he was about to enter the stage of selecting his soul skill, a peculiar soul fluctuation blocked his path.

How to describe it? If this soul fluctuation's strength was rated as 1, then Chen Ming's soul strength would be at least 100. The difference was qualitative.

If Chen Ming hadn't paused upon sensing this unique fluctuation, it would have been instantly crushed by him.