Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor

Chen Ming was flying at an incredible speed. After passing through the South Pole, he managed to reach the southern region of the Sun-Moon Continent in just about ten days.

Currently, although humans dominate the Sun-Moon Continent, they lack the capability to extend their presence across the entire landmass.

The southern region of the continent is relatively cold, which makes it a harsh and desolate land for the Sun-Moon people, who prefer hot climates (all nobles are dark-skinned). Except for a few defeated refugees, exiles, and some unique small tribes, there are hardly any traces of humans in the southern part of the Sun-Moon Continent.

Upon first arriving on the Sun-Moon Continent, Chen Ming was quite intrigued and decided to explore the human settlements in the south to see how this continent differed from the Douluo Continent.

However, after scanning several settlements with his spiritual sense, he discovered a disappointing reality: out of nearly 100,000 residents, only about a thousand were soul masters, which was roughly just one-third of the proportion found on the Douluo Continent.

Among these thousand or so soul masters, the average cultivation level was only that of a low-ranking Soul Master. There were very few Grand Soul Masters, while a Soul Elder could become the leader of a small settlement. A Soul Ancestor was regarded as a regional overlord, and the strongest soul master was just an elderly Soul King with a soul ring configuration of yellow, yellow, purple, purple, and purple.

As for the quality of martial souls...

Let's put it this way: back when Chen Ming first awakened his martial soul, the second son of the city lord in his hometown had a martial soul of a leopard cat, which was considered low quality but at least capable of making him a soul master.

Here, among this group of soul masters, even that slightly degraded leopard cat martial soul would be considered above average. If you factor in the poison attribute, it might even qualify as a top-tier martial soul within this group.

In fact, Chen Ming, back when he had just absorbed his second soul ring and had not yet joined the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, could have effortlessly wiped out all these people.

The only martial soul that could barely be considered high-grade was the fire-element martial soul of the elderly Soul King.

The problem is, pure elemental martial souls are typically of top-tier quality, so a mere high-grade fire element martial soul was truly underwhelming.

Chen Ming had initially thought that these people must have some other capabilities to survive here. Even if their martial souls were weak, they should at least excel in soul tools, right?

But after scanning the area repeatedly, Chen Ming was left speechless by what he discovered.

The most skilled soul engineer among them was only a fourth-level soul engineer, and it was none other than the elderly Soul King with the fire-element martial soul. Moreover, due to his old age and declining physical and mental health, he no longer crafted fourth-level soul tools and could at most create third-level ones.

In these tribes, the number of soul tools was less than half the number of soul masters. Forget about equipping everyone with a soul tool—even among low-level soul masters, two or three of them might not even share a single first-level storage soul tool.

As for their technical skill... Chen Ming didn't even bother to comment.

Perhaps due to his advanced age, Chen Ming watched as the elderly Soul King's hand trembled while engraving a soul formation, causing the soul tool's core to explode. If Chen Ming hadn't stabilized it in time, the old man might have blown himself up.

Initially intrigued by the continent, Chen Ming quickly lost his patience due to encountering such disappointing individuals. After stabilizing the soul tool core, he directly teleported into the elderly Soul King's tent, knocked out the guards outside with a mental shockwave, and released the aura of an ordinary Soul King.

He thought this would prompt the elderly Soul King to cooperate and talk. Instead, the Soul King, who had the aura of a Soul King himself, was trembling under Chen Ming's ordinary Soul King aura. He couldn't even speak, and his soul power flowed chaotically.

Chen Ming couldn't help but laugh in exasperation. He finally realized that this elderly Soul King was a fraud who had relied on drugs and seniority to climb the ranks. His combat ability was worse than that of an average Soul Ancestor on the Douluo Continent.

To avoid accidentally killing the old man, Chen Ming withdrew his aura and even used soul power to stabilize the Soul King's condition. Only then did the elderly Soul King barely recover.

Looking up at the towering Chen Ming, the old man suddenly dropped to his knees, his body trembling as he spoke in a voice filled with fear:

"Could it be... after all these years, that lord still refuses to let me go? Even though I've fled to the farthest corner of the continent, even though I've grown old and decrepit, that lord still remembers me as a rival in love?"

"Back then, Cuihua chose me because I loved her, and she loved me too. All these years have passed—"

"Alright, alright, old man, stop talking. I'm not here on anyone's behalf. I'm just here to ask some questions. If you don't calm down, I'll help you cool off."

Chen Ming released a bit of cold energy, causing the elderly Soul King to shiver uncontrollably.

"Please, great warrior, spare me. I will answer whatever you ask."

"I'll ask, and you'll answer. What is this continent called? How many countries are there? Which is the strongest nation? What's the level of the strongest soul master? How many Titled Douluos are there? What's the most advanced soul tool technology on this continent? And what are the major factions here?"

Chen Ming made no effort to hide his status as an outsider, so despite his fear, the elderly Soul King could clearly tell that Chen Ming was not from this continent.

The Sun-Moon Continent was surrounded by many islands, so the old man assumed Chen Ming was a sea soul master from one of the islands who had lost his way.

"Please, calm yourself, great warrior. This continent is called the Sun-Moon Continent and is divided into five nations: the Rising Sun Empire, the Waning Moon Empire, the Fire Phoenix Empire, the Evil Eye Empire, and the Tyrant Dragon Empire. The most powerful nations are undoubtedly the Rising Sun Empire and the Waning Moon Empire."

"These two nations are incredibly strong and have intermarried over the centuries, forming a thousand-year-old alliance that suppresses the other three empires. It's said that if they weren't wary of conflict between themselves, the other three empires would have been destroyed long ago."

"This overwhelming strength of the two nations is why the continent is called the Sun-Moon Continent. The remaining three nations can only band together to resist the advances of the Rising Sun and Waning Moon Empires."

"The Rising Sun and Waning Moon Empires occupy the northern regions and are known as the Sun-Moon Alliance, while the other three nations form the Dragon-Phoenix-Evil Alliance, led by the Tyrant Dragon Empire."

"The Rising Sun Empire's legacy martial soul is the Sun, while the Waning Moon Empire's is the Moon. The Fire Phoenix Empire's is the Fiery Phoenix, and although the Evil Eye Empire is symbolized by the continent's strongest soul beast, the Evil Eye, its legacy martial soul is the Silver Moon Wolf."

"The Tyrant Dragon Empire possesses the strongest legacy martial soul on the Sun-Moon Continent, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. A rare few within the empire can awaken an even stronger martial soul, the Purple Radiance Annihilation Dragon, which is universally acknowledged as the strongest martial soul on this continent. Although their soul engineers are the weakest among the five nations, they have the highest number of high-level soul masters."

"The strongest soul master on this continent is, of course, the emperor of the Tyrant Dragon Empire, whose martial soul is the Purple Radiance Annihilation Dragon. His strength is unmatched, making him the only Titled Douluo on the Sun-Moon Continent in the last century."

"As for how many Titled Douluos this continent has... to my knowledge, there's only the Tyrant Dragon Emperor, Zilong, at least on the surface."

"As for soul tool technology... the most advanced soul engineers on this continent can create sixth-level soul tools. It's rumored that the Rising Sun and Waning Moon Empires are researching seventh-level soul tools capable of threatening Titled Douluos, but no one knows if this is true."

"I myself am a fourth-level soul engineer. Though far inferior to the likes of sixth-level soul engineers, I was considered a genius in the field when I was younger. If not for offending a powerful figure and being exiled, I might have had a chance to reach the sixth level."

After making sure he had answered all of Chen Ming's questions, the elderly Soul King spoke cautiously:

"Great warrior, please, I implore you not to harm our tribe. If there is anything you need, I will do everything in my power to fulfill your request. If it's soul tools you want, I have a complete set of fourth-level soul engineering manuals, as well as a fifth-level soul tool ray gun passed down to me by my teacher."

"If you need them, I will gladly offer them to you with both hands. I only ask that you spare our tribe."