Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor [504] (Patreon)

The royal treasury of the Heaven Dou Empire is both hard and easy to open.

Just like years ago, Qian Renxue didn’t follow the procedure to take the Azure Sky Jade Dragon’s dragon pearl from the treasury as a gift for Chen Ming. As emperor or crown prince, you have some privileges.

If it’s just one or two items—not a hundred-thousand-year soul bone, for example—you can take it first and explain later.

And since the Heaven Dou Empire has no hundred-thousand-year soul bones or anything equally valuable, unless you empty the place, everything’s negotiable.

While Xue Ye was going through the motions, Qian Renxue quickly opened the treasury by her means and had her soul masters carry out the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, replacing it with an Invincible Golden Body barrier bought privately from Chen Ming.

To the Empire, the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud is just an extremely powerful soul tool, mainly used to make a strong barrier. In effect, it’s not much different from an invincible shield soul tool.

As for what Tang Chen will think when he gets it...

What does that have to do with Qian Renxue?

Out of respect for Xue Ye’s last-ditch “if I must die, at least save my family” face, Qian Renxue at most planned to spare her sister Xue Ke and a few decent Xue family members, leaving a spark for the future.

To be honest, after years of growing up and discovering the Empire’s rot, Qian Renxue sometimes really wanted to just get rid of Xue Ye.

He didn’t do many bad things directly, but he enabled far too much: tax evasion, black trades, illegal armies, and hidden populations. Many things he didn’t do himself but benefited from.

To Qian Renxue, Xue Ye wasn’t a tyrant, but neither did he deserve to be called a wise ruler. He was just a fig leaf, barely holding the Empire together.

If Qian Renxue took power, she wouldn’t put Xue Ye on public trial, but neither would he get a happy ending. But if he tried to fight back, she’d have to make his image a bit better for the future.

A few days later, the procedures finished and the treasury was opened. Xue Ye, or rather, forced by Tang Chen hiding nearby, entered alone, without guards.

Inside, Tang Chen was amazed at the collection.

Top treasures were deep inside—few even after millennia. But mid- and upper-tier treasures were piled up, and as long as they were produced in the empire, the treasury had stockpiles.

Rare soul beast materials abounded.

Dragon heads, Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear skeletons, phoenix-blooded bird wings, tiger skeletons, and tiger whip wine...

Most came from rare, long-lived soul beasts, some from extinct ones. Even Tang Chen, an old powerhouse, had never seen many of them.

He knew now wasn’t the time to focus on these, but still filled his storage device with materials that could help Clear Sky Sect disciples cultivate faster and stronger. If it wasn’t inconvenient, he’d have taken it all for the sect.

Looking at all these rare materials, Tang Chen was puzzled. With just a tenth of these, plus the Empire’s wealth, you could’ve raised two or three Titled Douluos.

Yet the Empire has none, not even one offering at that level, preferring to keep things locked away.

How does a power with no Titled Douluos have the resources to mass-produce them?

For the first time in his life, Tang Chen wondered why trash like Xue Ye could be emperor, while Clear Sky Sect was only a sect.

“When Xiao San grows up, I must have him control a country, make Clear Sky Sect the royal family. Only then can our ultimate tool martial soul thrive. These unworthy fools can just die.”

“With gods as backing, Clear Sky Sect will become the greatest sect forever, even producing more gods and ruling the continent!”

Tang Chen, thinking aggressively, casually stuffed treasures into his storage device, while Xue Ye watched, bleeding inside, powerless to stop him.

Finally, Xue Ye led Tang Chen to the box holding the so-called Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.

Perhaps because the box was too good, even as a demigod Tang Chen couldn't sense any divine aura coming from it.

He opened it and saw a blue coronet sitting quietly inside, but when he examined it, his face twisted in confusion.

He pulled it out and injected soul power. The golden gem lit up, and a barrier appeared strong enough to block a Titled Douluo, but there was no Sea God power at all.

Tang Chen frowned, tapped the shield a few times, and in just a few hits, it shattered into soul power fragments, the crown’s structure collapsing, and the gem turned to dust.

Tang Chen was silent for a long time.

“Is this a divine tool?” he muttered, unable to believe the ruined coronet in his hand.

Not even Sea God Island had seen the real Sea God’s Heart for centuries.

From the sparse information available, the Sea God’s Heart was a noble item, able to release a strong barrier, maybe with other powers—a special soul tool.

Now, Tang Chen wasn’t sure if this was the real thing. If it was, he’d just broken a divine tool. If not, where was the real one?

And—where did I get the idea that the Sea God’s Heart, called the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, was stored here? Why do I feel sure it's in the Heaven Dou Empire?

Tang Chen covered his face, eyes showing confusion and pain.

He had no idea where the real one was—this was just a false memory planted by the Asura God, making him think he’d found a clue to the Sea God’s inheritance tool.

Had he gotten the real thing, he wouldn’t have questioned it. Now, finding a fake, he began to doubt his memory—and the flaw showed immediately.

Tang Chen’s chaotic thoughts woke the Asura God’s divine sense, who conjured a big wooden table in the spiritual space and flipped it over in frustration.

“Back then I manipulated the emperor, killed Sea God Island’s high priest, and put the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud in the treasury. I even tampered with it, and it’s not compatible with land soul masters—no one should be able to use it!”

“Where’s the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud?”

Asura God was in agony.

Why was he asleep just now? Because he didn’t want to alert the Sea God’s sense inside the shield.

If the high priest went to collect the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud as a private favor, it’d deepen the relationship; if as an order, it’d raise suspicion.

But Tang Chen breaking the item had forcibly woken him. Seeing it through Tang Chen’s eyes, he immediately realized the problem.

This was a top soul tool, yes, but nowhere near the true Sea God’s Heart; no Sea God power, just a good tool.

“Didn’t I destroy soul tool civilization as an excuse to wipe out the dragon god’s remnants? How is there still such a top-level soul tool in this world?”

Asura God was annoyed.

Douluo humans existed long ago, but the first generation weren’t native—they ascended from other planes, and then settled on Douluo.

As a hub world, Douluo had all kinds of power systems—magic, fighting spirit, internal power, sorcery.

These first arrivals used their energies, incompatible with soul power. Their descendants with soul beasts became the first humans able to use soul power.

Some inherited the old systems, others switched to soul power and martial souls.

Soul tool civilization combined various technologies, driven by soul power.

Back then, martial souls weren’t so clear-cut. Human martial souls, like soul beasts’, were blood manifestations. Humans didn’t break through quickly but didn’t need soul rings to advance. There was no law for soul rings or bones to drop from beasts.

Soul power was a mid-low strength, but broadly useful system.

But with god realm chaos and the Dragon God’s fall, Douluo’s rules changed. Bottlenecks appeared.

Otherworlders were okay, but anyone with Douluo blood got an extra shackle.

Because Douluo humans resulted from interbreeding soul beasts and outsiders, they had the world’s mark and soul beast traits.

Their life form was like present-day wolftakens—more refined, less crazy. Smart, long-lived, no fixed levels, but with soul beast-like cultivation.

They were descendants of gods and beasts. Not born holy, but better than most beings.