Chapter 117: Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor [117]
Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo quickly secured leave from Bibi Dong.
As Titled Douluos, they were not mere laborers or beasts of burden. Their status on the continent was incredibly high.
Although in the event of a major incident, all Titled Douluos affiliated with the Spirit Hall were required to comply with mandatory deployment, it was evident that no such major event was occurring at the moment.
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In recent years, the continent has been peaceful. Even Tang Hao, who had hammered the previous Supreme Pontiff to death and angered his own father to death, had disappeared without a trace. Tang Hao and the Clear Sky Sect had also been quietly maintaining their reclusive state.
It could be said that in these past years, there had been almost no destabilizing factors worthy of the Spirit Hall's attention.
When Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo requested leave, Bibi Dong didn't even bother to inquire about the reason.
After Chrysanthemum Douluo mentioned that they were going to the Extreme North for some matters, Bibi Dong even instructed her attendants to fetch several coats made of ten-thousand-year-old seal skins from the Spirit Hall's treasury for the two of them.
After advising them to stay safe and return quickly, Bibi Dong once again buried herself in her secluded cultivation chamber. Most of her energy was now focused on improving her cultivation, and the remainder was spent searching for hundred-thousand-year-old soul beasts.
Within the Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong was essentially a figure who appeared only occasionally, and unless the heavens were falling, she was absent. She no longer displayed the courage and vigor she had upon first ascending to her position.
After returning to their residence, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo parted ways with the others.
Dugu Bo took Dugu Yan back to Heaven Dou City, while Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo took Chen Ming to the Extreme North to acquire a soul ring.
Before parting, they agreed that after Chen Ming obtained his soul ring, he would return to Heaven Dou City on his own.
The Extreme North was far from the core regions of the Douluo Continent. Even with the physical capabilities of Titled Douluos, it still took Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo about ten days to arrive.
One couldn't help but wonder how, thousands of years later, Huo Yuhao had managed to travel so quickly between the borderlands of the Extreme North and Shrek Academy in the core regions of the Douluo Continent.
The outskirts of the Extreme North were an endless tundra. Unlike thousands of years later, even the outermost regions of the Extreme North were largely unexplored, and humans could only make tentative attempts to map them.
Fortunately, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo's affiliation with the Spirit Hall, as figures second only to the Supreme Pontiff, allowed them access to maps of the Extreme North from the Spirit Hall's archives.
These maps were the result of thousands of years of records and explorations, mostly created by ice-attribute soul masters who had painstakingly navigated the area step by step. They even included rough indications of soul beast habitats.
Although the maps were not very detailed and likely contained many inaccuracies, they still proved to be of great assistance to the group.
Bibi Dong had gifted Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo several coats made of ten-thousand-year-old seal skins. After each of them donned one, they gave the rest to Chen Ming, along with several sets of inner armor made from the pelts of ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts.
Chen Ming chose an inner armor made from the hide of a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear, wearing it underneath a seal-skin coat. Even in the Extreme North, he felt little of the cold.
The Extreme North was a vast expanse of whiteness, and no map could account for every detail.
A few days after entering the icy plains of the Extreme North, the group encountered a massive snowstorm. The overwhelming forces of nature were so powerful that even Titled Douluos dared not confront them head-on. They had no choice but to find temporary shelter in an ice-attribute soul beast's lair.
After easily dispatching the lair's original occupant, a ten-thousand-year-old Ice Bear, the three of them survived on its meat for several days. Once the storm subsided, they resumed their exploration of the Extreme North.
For the soul beasts of the Extreme North, snowstorms were both a disaster and a blessing.
Over 99% of the soul beasts in the Extreme North had ice attributes, though the degree varied. During a snowstorm, the ice-attribute energy in the environment surged and became volatile, significantly increasing the storm's power. Soul beasts below the ten-thousand-year level were at risk of death.
After the snowstorm ended, this surging ice energy would calm down and slowly settle back into the eternally frozen ice layers of the Extreme North.
During this period, when the extreme cold energy was still lingering and had not yet completely settled, it became the best time for the soul beasts of the Extreme North to absorb it.
After the snowstorm, soul beasts of all kinds emerged from their hiding places.
Snow Leopards, Ice Winged Birds, Frost Beasts, Ice Antelopes, and Ice Turtles—among the many soul beasts, there were both common ice-attribute creatures found throughout the Douluo Continent and unique species native to the Extreme North.
During this time, Chen Ming quietly searched for signs of a Red-Eyed Ice Toad, hoping that the snowstorm might have drawn one out.
After more than ten days of searching, however, he still hadn't found the Red-Eyed Ice Toad. Instead, they stumbled upon a soul beast made famous during the Legend of the Gods era due to the protagonist Huo Yuhao.
"The Ice Jade Scorpion?"
A ten-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion was wandering across the icy plains, casually devouring the ice-attribute energy in the air.
Although it had only recently reached the ten-thousand-year level, its rate of absorbing energy was equivalent to several ordinary ten-thousand-year ice-attribute soul beasts combined. It was as though the ice energy of the entire region actively gravitated toward this Ice Jade Scorpion.
Wherever the Ice Jade Scorpion passed, all other soul beasts avoided it. Whether they were thousand-year soul beasts or ten-thousand-year-old ones stronger than the scorpion, all of them retreated to make way for it.
Watching this scene, Chen Ming, hiding in an ice cave, suppressed his breath while summoning his martial soul. Comparing the two, he couldn't help but feel that his Emerald Scorpion Emperor bore a striking resemblance to the domineering Ice Jade Scorpion outside.
Although their attributes were completely unrelated, their appearances were remarkably similar. The Ice Jade Scorpion looked like a color-swapped version of the Emerald Scorpion Emperor.
Seeing this, and then observing Chen Ming's martial soul possession state, Chrysanthemum Douluo suddenly had an idea.
"Xiao Ming, do you think you can absorb the soul ring of this scorpion? It looks like it's a perfect match for your Emerald Scorpion Emperor!"
Ghost Douluo, after some thought, agreed.
"Indeed. This scorpion may have just reached the ten-thousand-year mark, yet even soul beasts over twenty-thousand years old actively avoid it—including top-tier ice-attribute beasts."
"I believe this scorpion is some kind of supreme-quality soul beast that hasn't been recognized by the people of Douluo Continent. Didn't you say you've consumed immortal herbs and can attempt to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring for your fourth ring?"
"If that's the case, why bother looking for that Red Eyed Ice Toad? You might as well absorb the soul ring of this Ice Jade Scorpion instead."
"The Ice Jade Scorpion's soul ring?" Chen Ming lowered his head, pondering.
The Ice Jade Scorpion species was once venomous, but in its pursuit of ultimate ice power, it had completely abandoned its toxicity, gaining unparalleled control over extreme ice instead.