Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor [499] (Patreon)

Yin Meng offered to be a power bank, giving her essence to aid Chen Ming’s cultivation, and to act as a guide, leading him into the Star Dou Forest to hunt all the hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.

Not a matter of choosing between two sticks, or seizing some blazing future...

After confirming Yin Meng’s state, Chen Ming thought for a while about how to maximize her value. Finally, under her hopeful gaze, he nodded, sparing her.

“But even if I spare you, I have to put some shackles on you. If you betray me, it won’t be a small matter.”

“W-what are you going to do?” Yin Meng, slumped on the ground, face flushed and dazed, raised her head, teeth chattering, terrified he’d pull out her soul for remodeling.

“I’ll plant a seal in your spirit sea, and one in your dantian. As long as you behave, they’re nothing, but if you try anything, you won’t be able to use your soul power; and if you do something you shouldn’t, your brain will explode.”

“How about that? I’m pretty democratic, right?”

“Y-yes! Big Brother, you’re super democratic!” Yin Meng didn’t even know what “democratic” meant, but seeing the regretful looks of the dragon and tiger, she quickly agreed.

“Good. Lie down.”

Guided by Chen Ming, Yin Meng lay down, not daring to resist. A seed of spiritual power burrowed into her spirit sea, growing and anchoring itself with soul-rending pain.

Then, Chen Ming used his own blood and soul power to carve intricate patterns on Yin Meng’s abdomen with the Ascending Dragon Sword.

With the resonance of dragon power and her dantian, the special pattern penetrated her skin and flesh, rooting itself and forming a pink mark representing life energy, with a faint silver glow from the Silver Dragon King’s power. When her soul power churned, the mark would glow, causing stinging and heat.

Like a dog collar, it was a mere restraint in daily life, but if she lost control, it would lock her soul power and inflict excruciating pain.

With the seals set and the Silver Dragon King’s will crushed, Chen Ming finally relaxed, putting away his twin hammers charged to the limit—main god-level weapons—back into a demi-plane.

Sensing that flash of overwhelming destructive power, Yin Meng, just about to stand, dropped to her knees in terror, sobbing uncontrollably.

Chen Ming glanced at her, lost for words, then turned to the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, who nodded, walked over, and roared menacingly.

Instantly Yin Meng stopped hurting, stopped crying, and knelt obediently in a dogeza pose.

Seeing this, Chen Ming flung out the Ascending Dragon Sword. His second martial soul, long unused in human form, transformed into a young man strikingly similar to himself. After a glance, Chen Ming’s main body left, and the dragon and tiger entered the sword, leaving only Silver Yin Meng and the sword clone in the dungeon.

Facing the man who, for some reason, felt familiar, Yin Meng calmed down somewhat. Supported by the sword clone, she was led to a secret room deep underground.

Though underground, the space was vast, with ceilings over ten meters high, covering several square kilometers.

Special soul devices on the ceiling emitted sunlight and moonlight, even simulating their effects. Countless plants grew, some familiar from the Star Dou Forest, some entirely unknown.

Some of the plants made Yin Meng instinctively clench her legs and feel sick, but overall, the environment was quite satisfactory.

As she wondered what to do next, the sword clone led her to a lawn, smiling kindly.

“Yin Meng, I want you to aid my cultivation!”

“Huh?”

On the ground, feeling the energy in his avatar further purified, Chen Ming smiled.

“Dual cultivation is better than solo. I used to wonder what a furnace was for—turns out I just never had a good one before.”

Yin Meng, having once possessed a million years’ cultivation, with her energy and the Silver Dragon King’s upgrades, was perfect for the Ascending Dragon Sword’s growth and absorption. The fusion of gold and silver dragon bloodlines also offered greater potential.

But gazing toward the Sunset Forest, Chen Ming remembered the fall of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings, a lingering regret.

“Once I get my ninth soul ring, I’ll go explore those divine burial sites.”

With a sigh, he turned back to his research.

On the table before him was a special model like a throne. Chen Ming mapped the energy flow and module linkages, planning to create a soul master artifact—an apparatus to draw power from the void, awaken martial souls in bulk, modify soul master talents, and grant limited soul rings.

Though still a rough idea, the functions were mostly designed. But from afar, the oversized model looked suspiciously like a golden throne atop a pyramid.

If this artifact could be completed as planned, perhaps humanity on Douluo Star would one day launch interstellar expeditions.

...

...

...

"Clap, clap—clap, clap—"

In the dark, bloody, oppressive underworld, enforcers whipped the backs of hunched figures, forcing dazed soul masters to sow and till the blood-red land.

Starved and drained of blood, these soul masters were skin and bone, eyes hollow and lost, but their innate vitality kept them working like beasts in this land unfit for farming.

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have come to Slaughter City.”

In the fields, a slightly healthier middle-aged soul master worked clumsily, cursing quietly.

He was a fallen one, born to a minor noble family but forced into evil ways due to weak innate soul power.

A few years ago, for unknown reasons, the two empires went crazy hunting down fallen soul masters, damaging their martial souls, and forcing them into brutal labor.

Mining, forging, digging channels...

Somehow, even once-noble soul masters had become cattle, forced to do work they’d once disdained, with no reward but a single meat meal a day.

Soul masters, born above others, had never known such suffering! No women, no wine—how could anyone live like this?

Caught in a sweep, he fled in desperation, eventually seeking out an old friend—also a fallen noble soul master.

Through this friend, he learned of a so-called holy land for the fallen—no, for evil soul masters: Slaughter City.

There, everyone was a noble evil soul master, cultivating the lives of ordinary people as casually as eating or drinking, with no shame or discrimination, all high-born.

Guided by his friend, he sold all he owned, took his gold spirit coins, and headed for the legendary Slaughter City.

However...

Everything turned out differently than he’d imagined!

Remembering his bitter experience, his hands slowed slightly. The overseer noticed and, without mercy, lashed his back with a barbed whip, tearing off a chunk of flesh.

“Number 5678, slacking off? Want to be turned into corpse starch, drained for Bloody Mary, or play with Lord Tiger and Lord Dragon?”

A cold voice came from behind—the friend who had led him here, now grinning viciously.

“Mercy, Overseer!”

The man cried and worked faster, blood streaming from the wound, not daring to resist.

Watching the trembling man, the overseer sneered, then casually plucked the flesh from his whip and popped it in his mouth, savoring the taste.

Since the King of Slaughter lost to the Grand Priest of Spirit Hall years ago, the city had lost its supply lines and collapsed. The fallen soul masters turned on each other, even storming the enforcers’ lines.

To prevent chaos from destroying the city, a new plan was devised: use some fallen as bait to lure others, exchanging their value for needed resources.

The blood bags in the city were now also used as slaves, forced to farm the blood-soaked land.