Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor [41]

After receiving the invitation from Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, Chen Ming entered the room with a complex mix of emotions. He immediately opened the box and hugged the fragment inside, carefully examining it from every angle.

However, as soon as he started, Chen Ming was dumbfounded.

When he infused soul power into it, the stone absorbed it but gave no response. When he extended his spiritual power into it, the same thing happened—it absorbed the energy but didn't respond.

If it were a lifeless object, Chen Ming could vaguely sense that it contained an immeasurable vitality within.

But if it were alive, Chen Ming couldn't feel the critical spiritual essence that living beings possess.

The spiritual essence within it seemed to be no greater than that of the blue silver grass by the roadside, far inferior to the ornamental plants in his courtyard. Even some of the metallic ores Chen Ming had encountered before had more spiritual essence than this fragment.

After pondering for a moment and confirming there were no other issues, Chen Ming returned to his meditation chamber. Holding the fragment, he pressed his forehead against it, attempting to mobilize his spiritual essence to observe the fragment's essence through methods different from the soul masters of the Douluo Continent.

Once, twice, three times…

Five times, ten times, twenty times…

The mobilization of spiritual essence didn't always succeed, and even when it did, the fragment showed no special reaction. It wasn't until Chen Ming, exhausted from repeated failures, began to feel a growing restlessness that the seemingly lifeless fragment finally reacted.

At that moment, Chen Ming had a sudden epiphany:

"For spiritual essence, it may not always be about maintaining absolute calmness. Perhaps emotions are also a valid way to unlock its potential."

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Chen Ming felt as if he were being pulled into another world.

Before him unfolded stories from this continent's distant past.

Countless years ago, the heavens collapsed, and dragons from the Divine Realm fell onto the Douluo Continent.

The dragons' bodies shattered, and their blood soaked the earth, enriching it and giving rise to numerous dragon-blooded sub-species.

The bodies of dragons were treasures beyond measure. A single dragon scale or strand of flesh could transform low-level soul beasts completely.

Even after death, some dragons' souls remained attached to their dragon pearls, protecting these most vital artifacts despite their shattered bodies. However, a few dragons left no trace of their souls, and even their dragon pearls shattered upon impact.

In that era, a great azure dragon fell to the earth. Its body disintegrated, and its dragon pearl shattered. The scattered dragon energy and blood transformed the environment, bestowing a group of centipedes with some characteristics of the Azure Dragon.

This group of centipedes became the first generation of the Celestial Emerald Dragon.

For a brief period—brief, at least by the standards of soul beasts—the dragons' remains, scattered across the continent, were gathered by an unknown force. Only fragments were left behind, and few intact dragon skeletons remained in the wild.

With the dragons' fall, life flourished, and countless miraculous transformations occurred on the Douluo Continent. For ordinary soul beasts, it was an unparalleled blessing.

The Celestial Emerald Dragon, having inherited part of the Azure Dragon's blood and energy, evolved into a species almost indistinguishable from pure-blooded true dragons by devouring other dragon-blooded soul beasts and remnants of dragon-kind left on the continent.

But then, something unexpected happened to the soul beasts.

At some point, a restriction appeared in their world. When a soul beast's power reached a certain level, the heavens would unleash a destructive lightning tribulation that reduced most to ash, leaving only a lucky few.

For some reason, the Celestial Emerald Dragon, despite their numbers, was entirely unable to overcome the lightning tribulation. The race that had thrived on the fortune of the dragons' fall was nearly wiped out by the tribulation, leaving only a few second and third-generation members behind.

The remaining Celestial Emerald Dragons reproduced slowly, but every time one reached a certain level of power, it would be destroyed by the thunder tribulation.

After an unknown amount of time, when the Celestial Emerald Dragons were on the brink of extinction, a special newborn emerged within the species.

For most Celestial Emerald Dragons, only after 90,000 years of growth, during which the dragon energy within them increased and purified, would their heads fully transform into dragon heads. However, this newborn was different—it was born with a dragon head and possessed considerable intelligence from birth.

As this Celestial Emerald Dragon matured, it refused to accept death under the thunder tribulation. Determined to find a solution, it ventured into the Star Dou Forest, seeking the legendary Beast God, Di Tian.

After causing considerable commotion, it finally located the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Di Tian, deep within the forest. Yet, when it asked for guidance, the Beast God refused to provide an answer, merely telling it to wait, hinting that a solution might appear in the future.

To the Celestial Emerald Dragon, this was an insult, a dismissal of them as a mere mongrel lucky enough to inherit true dragon blood. Harboring resentment, it secretly re-entered the Star Dou Forest in search of its solution.

During the search, it discovered a type of soul beast known as the Emerald Swan, a soul beast with immense life energy within them. It believed this might be the key to breaking through the 100,000-year barrier.

Seizing the opportunity, while the forest's ferocious beasts gathered beneath the Lake of Life for unknown purposes, it attacked and killed several Emerald Swans nearing 100,000 years of age. Under the furious assault of other soul beasts, it managed to escape the Star Dou Forest and hid in an unremarkable, secluded location.

Through refining the life force of the near-100,000-year-old Emerald Swans, it created a small piece of metal, about the size of a human pinky finger. This mysterious metal brimmed with seemingly infinite life energy.

Using this life force, it reversed the deathly attributes within its body into life energy. Although this transformation brought it closer to the Azure Dragon, it also pushed it closer to the 100,000-year barrier, where the overwhelming aura of destruction loomed constantly.

With no turning back, it returned to its birthplace, consuming all of its kin and any soul beasts that shared their bloodline. Then, it retreated to the secluded location, preparing to face the 100,000-year thunder tribulation.

But…

The thunder tribulation it faced was unlike that of ordinary soul beasts. It was an unending storm of destruction, devoid of life, mercy, or limits—its sole purpose was annihilation.

While typical 100,000-year soul beast tribulations lasted a few hours, or rarely, nearly a day, it had braced to endure three days and nights of lightning. Yet, in reality, there were only three strikes.

The space around shattered, the heavens wept, and the earth lost its color—it was power at the level of gods.

This was not a tribulation meant for a soul beast; it bore no trace of life, only pure destruction.

The first lightning strike shattered its soul power and scales, obliterating the near-perfect attributes of life and death, as well as its potent venom.

The second lightning strike reduced its dragon-like body, nearly identical to that of the Azure Dragon, to ashes, leaving a massive scar on the earth.

The third lightning strike descended upon its dragon core. Despite the life energy from the golden life metal, its dragon soul was utterly dispersed. The dragon's core fused with the life metal, forming a singular entity that fell to the ground like a meteorite.

Three lightning strikes crushed the Celestial Emerald Dragon's dream of becoming a divine beast. In the moment of its death, it finally understood—it was but a mere ant among countless others.

This era does not belong to soul beasts.