Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor

The Star Dou Forest was a place Chen Ming had rarely visited. The last time he was there, although he was protected by Dugu Bo, he didn't dare to venture too deep into the core area. They had been quickly driven out by the beast hordes after releasing the Poison Deathly Realm. As a result, Chen Ming wasn't particularly familiar with the internal environment of the forest. Given Lou Gao's current state—an eighty-level soul power along with a full set of maxed-out ten-thousand-year soul bones—he was already more than capable of absorbing a hundred-thousand-year soul ring.

Not only could Lou Gao's body, enhanced by ten-thousand-year soul bones in every part, withstand the pressure of a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, but his spiritual state, sublimated through forging, coupled with the bonus effects of the Head Soul Bone, could also resist the remnants of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast's mental oppression.

However, as always, the reality was that there were far too few hundred-thousand-year soul beasts active in this era. For many Titled Douluo, their ninth soul rings were only sixty to seventy thousand years old.

Chen Ming didn't require Lou Gao to have overwhelming combat power, but with Lou Gao's current configuration, if his eighth soul ring were only slightly over thirty thousand years old, like the Titan Giant Ape's, Chen Ming figured he'd be infuriated to the point of grinding his teeth.

For Lou Gao's eighth soul ring, Chen Ming demanded that it must come from a top-tier soul beast that was at least fifty thousand years old.

As for his sixth soul ring, the three choices presented to Chen Ming by the World Consciousness weren't even in the Star Dou Forest. To meet Chen Ming's standards, the soul beast had to be a hundred-thousand-year super soul beast with attributes matching his own, and it needed to possess noteworthy special abilities.

While the Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape met the quality and age requirements, their inherent attributes did not align with Chen Ming's needs.

When the time came, Chen Ming planned to see if anyone else needed soul rings from those two beasts. If someone did, that would be ideal, as a hundred-thousand-year soul ring was still extremely valuable. But even if no one needed them, Chen Ming wouldn't leave them to Tang San.

Chen Ming thought that while the Azure Bull Python was non-toxic, it still carried the bloodline of the Azure Dragon. In the future, it would be highly suitable to use as a soul ring for Dugu Yan.

Upon entering the mixed zone, Chen Ming tapped his right leg, activating the dormant spirit of A Yin within it.

This time, Chen Ming didn't summon A Yin to observe the world in an illusory form. Instead, he gave her a specific task: leveraging her Blue Silver Emperor control over the Blue Silver Grass to locate a suitable top-tier strength-type soul beast of at least fifty thousand years within the Star Dou Forest.

Of course, he also instructed her to keep an eye out for hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, top-quality poison-attribute soul beasts like the Phosphorous Five Poisons, and other mutated poison-type soul beasts.

Although Chen Ming already had several potential options in mind, if the Star Dou Forest happened to have a more suitable choice, he wouldn't mind picking his soul ring from there directly.

Moreover, even if he didn't encounter a suitable hundred-thousand-year soul beast, Chen Ming could use this trip to the Star Dou Forest to collect various high-quality poisons from poison-type soul beasts, especially the three poisons of the Phosphorous Five Poisons other than serpent and scorpion.

Previously, he had encountered Emerald Geckos in the Sunset Forest, but even the strongest of them was not a king-level soul beast. They had all been killed by the Netherworld Scorpion for cultivation purposes, making their toxins unworthy of collection.

To be honest, A Yin felt a bit conflicted about her first task which was to hunt her kind. However, her emotions couldn't change anything. Having been imprinted with Chen Ming's will, she could only reluctantly exercise her Blue Silver Emperor privileges and communicate with the Blue Silver Grass within the Star Dou Forest.

A special power emanated from Chen Ming's right leg, and Golden Crocodile Douluo, standing nearby, turned his head with a puzzled expression as if he had seen something unusual.

In his perception, Chen Ming's right leg seemed to emit an aura similar to that of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

If it were a soul bone, it seemed far too active. But if it were a soul beast, its form of existence was far too unique. Golden Crocodile Douluo felt as though his understanding of the world had been shaken.

However, once he remembered that Chen Ming himself was already the strangest anomaly, his initial surprise gave way to acceptance. He simply nodded as though it were expected and accepted it as fact.

The search for strength-type soul beasts was quick. Even after taking some time to explain her situation to the excited Blue Silver King within the Blue Silver Network, A Yin only needed about ten minutes to provide Chen Ming with over ten suitable targets.

These targets included super soul beasts like the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, as well as top-tier strength and defense types like the Vajra Baboon, Ironclad Rhinoceros, and Black Tortoise.

However, what A Yin failed to notice was that her communication with the Blue Silver Grass had also alerted some Myriad Demon King Trees deep within the Star Dou Forest to the presence of the Blue Silver Emperor. Through the authority and power left by the Myriad Demon King, they began observing the location of the Blue Silver Emperor's aura.

On Douluo Planet, if the Beast God of the Star Dou Forest was Di Tian, then its Plant God was undoubtedly the Myriad Demon King.

With a cultivation of 540,000 years, the Myriad Demon King's status in the Star Dou Forest was second only to the reclusive Silver Dragon King and Di Tian. As the only plant-type soul beast among the Ten Savage Beasts, it ruled over all plant-type soul beasts in the Star Dou Forest without question.

Although its attack and defense were inferior to the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, a super soul beast of similar age to Bear Lord, its extreme wood attribute, regenerative vitality, and bizarre poison and mental capabilities allowed it to suppress Bear Lord in combat.

Its combination of overwhelming power and insidious ruthlessness made even Di Tian and the reckless Bear Lord wary of drawing its ire.

Years ago, when Chen Ming unleashed the Poison Deathly Domain in the Star Dou Forest, it drew the attention of the Savage Beasts. Di Tian assigned the Myriad Demon King the task of searching for any signs of the Netherworld Scorpion in the forest. After a year of fruitless searching, the Myriad Demon King delegated the task to its subordinates.

While A Yin was the sovereign of the Blue Silver Grass, the Myriad Demon King ruled over all plant-type soul beasts. Even at her peak, A Yin would have to bow before the Myriad Demon King. The Myriad Demon King's authority extended to certifying its subjects, granting them recognition as part of its dominion.

Thus, unbeknownst to A Yin, the Blue Silver Grass she communicated with not only reported back to her but also to the Demon-Eyed Magic Trees.

Realizing that the Blue Silver Emperor was searching for a large number of specific soul beasts, one of the Myriad Demon King's confidants—a Demon-Eyed Magic Tree that had broken through the hundred-thousand-year threshold under its guidance—immediately sensed something unusual and sent a message to the Myriad Demon King, who was in seclusion.

By the time Chen Ming and his group entered the core area, the Myriad Demon King had already emerged from its retreat at the Lake of Life. It began taking control of the many plants within the Star Dou Forest to monitor Chen Ming and his companions.

To be fair, both Chen Ming and Golden Crocodile Douluo had noticed that they were being observed. But in the Star Dou Forest's core area, where most residents were either fierce beasts or extraordinary creatures, being watched was nothing out of the ordinary.

The two merely heightened their vigilance to prevent any sudden soul beast attacks, completely unaware that a plant-type Savage Beast was silently eyeing them.

Over the years, Chen Ming has changed significantly. Thus, even though the Myriad Demon King had recently recorded Chen Ming's appearance and spirit ability through the Soul Beast Records, it didn't immediately recognize him as the same young man who had unleashed the Poison Deathly Realm Domain in the core area years ago.

It wasn't until Chen Ming displayed a toxin with distinctive Netherworld Scorpion characteristics against an attacking ten-thousand-year soul beast that the Myriad Demon King finally realized that this was the same person who had previously disrupted its seclusion and drawn the attention of the Savage Beasts.