Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor-Chapter 303: Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor []

Although they were too old, the Shui family didn't put much effort into resisting the prying eyes of other forces, often appearing indifferent. However, once their condition improved and they found new hope, the three members of the family displayed considerable capabilities.

Gathering various rare metals required some time, but acquiring the necessary knowledge and materials was instantaneous. Shui Xuan directly led Chen Ming and Xu Bai into the Shui family's secret vault, revealing to Chen Ming hundreds of years' worth of books and records.

Unlike the foundational materials Xu Bai had previously accessed, the Shui family's secret vault contained incredibly detailed information. From comprehensive explanations of the formations used by first-level soul engineers to the systems and evolution of soul formations, as well as the prototypes and refinements of various soul tools—everything from technical details to historical records and future projections could be found.

Shui Xuan even unearthed his notes and materials from when he participated in the seventh-level soul engineer project, handing them over to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming quickly scanned through the books with his spiritual sense. At a workbench in the vault, he manipulated metals as though shaping clay, using his fingers to channel metal-based soul power and effortlessly carve multiple soul formations. With his knowledge, he innovated upon the details of certain formations during the process.

This astounding display shattered Shui Xuan's worldview. Before his eyes, Chen Ming completed the core of a fourth-level fixed soul-guided cannon shell in just five minutes. During the process, Chen Ming also enhanced the attributes of the cannon shell itself.

At that moment, everyone present vaguely understood the truth: although the term "demigod" includes "half," a demigod is still a god. Their abilities cannot be evaluated or restricted by the conventional knowledge or limits of the mortal world.

It is foolish and meaningless to use mortal reasoning to evaluate a demigod's capabilities, no matter how much effort is expended.

Shui Xuan brought out some of his treasured rare metals and, along with his two sons and disciple Xu Bai, observed Chen Ming's every move. They realized that much of the technical content was beyond their understanding or ability to replicate.

Chen Ming's comprehension of laws was already quite profound; he simply hadn't applied them to physical constructs before. With his current strength, using the formations and experiences of these soul engineers, it was easy for him to translate a portion of his insights into laws and his perspectives on soul rings and skills into soul formations.

Creating a fifth-level soul tool was a step above the fourth level. Chen Ming spent half an hour crafting his first fifth-level cannon shell. Another half-hour later, the number of cannon shells on the table increased to three.

The three cannon shells each had different attributes: gold, fire, and thunder. Each possessed immense destructive power, capable of annihilating a Soul Sage who hadn't activated their martial soul avatar within the core range.

However, a fifth-level cannon shell requires a matching fixed soul-guided cannon to unleash its full power. As long as the Soul Sage isn't inexperienced or entirely defenseless, they can mount a basic defense. Effectively killing a Soul Sage with a fifth-level cannon shell relies on strategy, timing, and quantity.

Of course, weaker Soul Sages are exceptions. Even if a weaker Soul Sage activates their martial soul avatar, they could still end up gravely injured by just one shell.

Just seeing the cannon shells on the table made Xu Bai gulp nervously. The two Soul Sages, Shui Zhen and Shui Xia, broke into cold sweats.

After all, the term "weaker Soul Sages" referred to the two of them. In their current aged and weakened state, even a fourth-level cannon shell detonated at close range could send them flying. On the Douluo Continent, even a Soul King could defeat one of them in a single combat, martial soul avatar or not.

Among weak Soul Sages, the two brothers were considered the weakest.

In the context of a story, they would merely serve as background characters or stepping stones for the protagonist.

While fifth-level soul tools were relatively simple to complete, sixth-level soul tools posed a greater challenge.

The complexity and density of an ordinary sixth-level formation were twice those of a fifth-level formation, and the difficulty of linking them was three times greater. In this era, only one out of every ten fifth-level soul engineers had the qualifications to glimpse the realm of sixth-level soul engineers.

Due to the limited supply of rare metals and the fact that this was his first attempt, Chen Ming spent half an hour crafting a "moderately standard" sixth-level soul-guided ray gun.

Unlike the conventional ray weapons of the Sun Moon Continent, Chen Ming's design was based on principles inspired by his Destructive Death Ray. The weapon emitted a rare petrification ray, focusing on first petrifying the target and then destroying it, with extremely high single-target destructive power.

Although the materials used still had room for improvement, the unique attributes of this weapon made it stand out as a masterpiece among sixth-level soul tools.

Chen Ming was eager to continue crafting, but the lack of materials limited his ability to fully unleash his creativity. While the remaining scraps could barely be pieced together to create another sixth-level soul tool, they fell short of allowing Chen Ming to craft something extraordinary.

When Chen Ming finally stopped, the others around him regarded him as if he were a deity. Shui Zhen and Shui Xia, who were previously below-average, became devout believers, while Shui Xuan became an outright fanatic. To soul engineers, powerful soul power was crucial, but exceptional technical skills could also inspire awe and reverence.

In the days that followed, Shui Xuan supplied Chen Ming with rare metals, while Chen Ming continued crafting soul tools in the vault. Meanwhile, Shui Xuan and his two sons began planning which individuals to recruit, how to escape themselves, and how to handle their family affairs.

Since Xu Bai had been away for too long and was a rival in love with the current emperor, he couldn't appear publicly. As a result, Shui Xuan instructed him to stay in the vault and serve Chen Ming.

Deprived of access to advanced knowledge of soul tools for years, Xu Bai was like a mouse that had fallen into a grain silo. He eagerly absorbed the information while carefully observing Chen Ming's crafting techniques.

Although his talent had been wasted for many years, preventing him from quickly advancing to a sixth-level soul engineer, he could still regain his former skill and work towards becoming a fifth-level soul engineer again with effort.

In four or five days, Chen Ming familiarized himself with the Sun Moon Continent's situation, using various materials to identify the locations of major soul beast habitats and powerful soul beasts. He also tasked Ah Yin (who was cultivating passively) with using Blue Silver Grass to gather intelligence, focusing on the Evil Forest and the inheritance of the Purple Radiant Heaven Dragon, hoping to seize any opportunities.

However, Ah Yin's intelligence-gathering was soon interrupted by external forces.

The Sun Moon Continent also had a Blue Silver Emperor, one far stronger than Ah Yin, with an age of 180,000 years. As the undisputed ruler of this continent, this Blue Silver Emperor commanded more Blue Silver Kings than Douluo Continent, some of which were even 100,000-year soul beasts.

Although Ah Yin's bloodline was nobler, the age gap meant that even at her best, she was no match for the other Blue Silver Emperor in terms of essence.

Blue Silver Grass, being inherently genderless, only develops a gender identity after gaining self-awareness. Due to the reproductive nature of plant-type soul beasts, this typically becomes apparent only after they take human form.

Ah Yin identified herself as female, and so, upon transformation, she assumed a female form. The Sun Moon Continent's Blue Silver Emperor is also identified as female.

There could only be one Blue Silver Emperor. If their genders had differed, they might have coexisted. But with two self-identified female Blue Silver Emperors, conflict was inevitable. This was a biological trait of the Blue Silver Grass species—one continent could not support two Emperors.

Even if Ah Yin, residing within Chen Ming's soul bone, could draw strength from him and he could enhance her abilities with his left leg bone, the Sun Moon Continent's Blue Silver Emperor—being the continent's oldest and strongest Blue Silver Grass—still posed a significant challenge. Despite Ah Yin's dominance, the rival Emperor resorted to disruptive tactics, bombarding her with false information and leveraging her grass network to reclaim Blue Silver Grass which had started aligning with Ah Yin.

This stalemate could only end in one of two ways: a prolonged battle of attrition, or a confrontation to settle the matter.

Chen Ming decided on the latter. Once his current tasks were completed, he planned to confront the fiery elder sister grass of the Sun Moon Continent in person.

Meanwhile, Shui Xuan brought Chen Ming a thick list of names, detailing soul engineers he believed could potentially be recruited.

The list included four sixth-level soul engineers, eleven fifth-level soul engineers, and twenty fourth-level soul engineers, with most being from the Sun Empire and a few from the Moon Empire. Shui Xuan was uncertain about which engineers from the Southern Alliance could be recruited.

As a seventh-level soul engineer, Shui Xuan wasn't interested in just anyone. The fifth- and sixth-level engineers he chose were skilled individuals with their research directions or even their teams. The fourth-level engineers were exceptionally talented but held back by their backgrounds, making them prime candidates for recruitment.

In other words, they were either current pillars of their organizations or future ones. Losing this group would deal the Sun Empire a significant blow, if not a crippling one.

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If the Sun Empire's remaining seventh-level soul engineer wasn't a royal prince and the emperor's uncle, making recruitment nearly impossible, Shui Xuan would have been tempted to drag his old colleague down with him, taking both of the empire's seventh-level soul engineers away.

Shui Xuan also knew the two seventh-level soul engineers from the Moon Empire, but they had lost contact due to his poor health over the years, so he wasn't confident about recruiting them.