Mysterious Power

During his practice of soul power morphological changes, although Ye Chen failed to find a way to detonate his soul power, he discovered that his soul power was quite unique.

This uniqueness lay in the fact that sometimes, without even needing to invoke his spiritual power, he could perceive the surrounding environment and the aura of nearby soul masters or Soul Beasts using only his soul power.

When spiritual power and soul power were used in combination, he could even gain an ability similar to mind-reading, allowing him to sense the emotional fluctuations of nearby soul masters or Soul Beasts.

However, this mind-reading ability was intermittent and could not be fully controlled; the same held true for his ability to perceive other things through soul power.

Blaziken did not possess a Psychic attribute, so this mind-reading and the ability to perceive things through soul power could not have originated from the Blaziken Martial Soul. Thus, it could only stem from his Body Martial Soul.

To this day, Ye Chen still did not understand why his Body Martial Soul could make his soul power so special.

He temporarily referred to this special soul power as: Mysterious Power.

Over the next half month, Ye Chen purposefully invoked the Mysterious Power during his battles with Soul Beasts, only to find that the more intentional he was, the less he could utilize it.

Finally, after constant attempts and research, Ye Chen chose to give up. He decided to set the Mysterious Power aside for now and focus on his plans for the immortal herb opportunity.

Only by consuming an immortal herb to increase his spiritual power would he dare to absorb a ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring beyond his limits. Therefore, obtaining the immortal herb opportunity was his primary task.

In truth, there were only two ways to obtain the immortal herb opportunity: either befriend Dugu Bo and obtain the herbs through a friendly relationship, or steal them behind his back.

If he befriended Dugu Bo, he would gain not only the immortal herb opportunity but also a Title Douluo as a backer, which would bring many benefits in the future.

Conversely, if he fell out with Dugu Bo and stole the herbs behind his back, he would certainly be hunted down the moment he was discovered.

Comparing the two, befriending Dugu Bo was undoubtedly the wisest choice.

Therefore, Ye Chen had been looking for an opportunity to meet Dugu Bo during this time.

Previously, when he had Blaziken use Flamethrower to burn the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison Array, he had been terrified of being discovered by Dugu Bo.

Now, however, he was no longer afraid.

Because Dugu Bo's first reaction upon seeing a thousand-year second Soul Ring would surely be to interrogate him on the method of absorption, rather than killing him immediately.

During the interrogation, he could truthfully inform Dugu Bo of the secret that Whale Rubber helps in absorbing Soul Rings beyond one's limits, and then deliberately expose his knowledge of immortal herbs.

In this way, Dugu Bo would, in all likelihood, utilize him to identify the herbs. At that point, relying on his foresight from the original work and the solution to the backlash of the serpent poison, he would have a high probability of turning enemies into friends with Dugu Bo.

To achieve this goal, Ye Chen wandered near the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison Array every day, occasionally having Blaziken burn the poison mist within the array to attract Dugu Bo's attention.

Yet, things did not go as planned. A month passed, and Dugu Bo never appeared.

Regarding this, Ye Chen had two speculations: either Dugu Bo was not inside the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison Array, or he simply couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind.

Regardless of the situation, he continued to act according to his established plan while grinding monsters to level up.

Another month passed quickly. Through the battles of this month, Blaziken gradually formed a combat style using Flamethrower for long-range attacks, and Fire Punch and Blaze Kick combined with various footwork for close-quarters combat.

Even when facing enemies skilled in aerial flight, Blaziken could defeat them using Air Walk, and the fire-attributed Explosive Eight-Stage Kick unleashed mid-air was devastatingly powerful; once this move was used, the outcome was almost always decided.

It could be said that the current Blaziken was exceptionally skilled in long-range, close-quarters, aerial, and endurance combat. In terms of raw strength alone, it was already capable of defeating top-tier Soul Beasts with twenty thousand years of cultivation.

After Blaziken's several victories against ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts, Ye Chen received a very generous feedback of combat experience, which allowed his soul power to rise from level 56 to level 57 within just one month.

At this moment, it was night.

The bright moon hung overhead.

In the Poison Mist Forest, the rustling of leaves and the chirping of insects rose and fell in the dark, humid environment.

Near a certain poison swamp.

Watching a Poison King Scorpion Soul Beast fall to the ground, unable to rise, Ye Chen let out a sigh of relief, while Blaziken remained vigilant, guarding against sneak attacks from other Soul Beasts.

This fallen Poison King Scorpion had four thousand years of cultivation and was a high-grade poison-attribute Soul Beast, possessing a terrifying neurotoxin. When fighting it, one would be dead if they were even slightly careless and got pricked by its venomous tail hook.

At the beginning of the fight with this Poison King Scorpion, Ye Chen had been afraid, but as he dodged the scorpion's tail stabs time and again during the battle, he was no longer so fearful; he even enjoyed this state of high mental concentration and emotional excitement.

Without realizing it, Ye Chen found that he had grown to love the feeling of battle. Relying solely on his level 57 soul power and his Body Martial Soul, even without Soul Ring skills or Blaziken's help, he was capable of defeating a four-thousand-year high-grade Soul Beast.

Generally speaking, Soul Beasts were much stronger than soul masters.

Being able to defeat a four-thousand-year high-grade Soul Beast meant that his strength had at least reached the level of a four-ring Soul Ancestor.

"Let's go, Blaziken, let's go check the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison Array." With that, Ye Chen turned and walked toward the exit of the Poison Mist Forest.

Blaziken followed closely behind.

The fallen Poison King Scorpion was not dead, merely severely injured. Watching Ye Chen and Blaziken walk away, it was about to flee when it was suddenly bitten by a giant green snake that struck with lightning speed.

Crunch, snap—

Accompanied by the sound of a violent shell-breaking, the Poison King Scorpion's carapace was instantly crushed by the giant green snake, and countless purple venom and blood flowed from its body, being swallowed by the giant green snake like soup.

Hearing the commotion behind them, Ye Chen and Blaziken turned to look, only to see that the five-meter-long Poison King Scorpion had already been devoured by the giant green snake, leaving only a twitching scorpion tail on the ground.

"Is that a Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Serpent?" Ye Chen quickly recognized that this giant green snake was a pure-blooded Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Serpent, a Soul Beast that possessed the most lethal corrosive poison among all toxins.

Precisely because of this, the Poison King Scorpion had been dissolved and corrupted in an instant, leaving not even a scrap behind.

It was said that the Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Serpent and the Jade Phosphorous Serpent were originally of the same lineage, later shedding their dragon bloodline to become pure snakes.

Although they lost the possibility of turning into dragons, the Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Serpent gained a snake venom far purer and more domineering than that of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent, as well as a wider range of poison mist coverage.

Judging by its physical characteristics, the Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Serpent before him was ten meters long, and the three flower patterns in its snake eyes appeared light green, suggesting its cultivation was around fifteen hundred years.

Meeting Ye Chen's gaze, the Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Serpent suddenly spat out a large area of purple poison mist, then turned and fled.