Chasing Small Bargains, Paying a Heavy Price

Although the original novel never explicitly stated the exact temperature of ultimate fire.

Its approximate temperature range could still be deduced from the destruction wrought on the surroundings when soul masters with ultimate fire, or something approaching it, fought.

Without the slightest exaggeration, making an incendiary bomb that burned at the temperature of ultimate fire might have been difficult for Chen Ping, but creating something like the Scarlet King's Hellfire, with a temperature approaching ultimate fire, was not.

But reaching the right temperature did not mean achieving the same destructive power. That was the crux of the problem. Ultimate fire at the same temperature was worlds apart when wielded by a Level 30 soul master and a Level 90 soul master!

As for the homemade incendiary bombs in Chen Ping's hands, they burned at seven to eight hundred degrees. With a few improved ingredients, pushing them past a thousand degrees would not have been a problem.

But their destructive power was not remotely comparable to that of a soul skill unleashed by a soul master at temperatures above a thousand degrees.

So when the Touch Dragon King's soft abdomen was said to have no fire resistance, that was in reference to flames wielded by soul masters of the same level.

Chen Ping's incendiary bombs really did fall a little short.

Soul power was miraculous, wasn't it?

Chen Ping had no time to ponder the wonders of a world with soul power. His most urgent priority was staying alive.

The incendiary bombs were considerably weaker than he had expected, but that did not mean Chen Ping had no other contingency plans.

Chen Ping flung out the thousand-year soul beast dung powder he had originally intended to save for resale, scattering it over the Evil Pincer Bug and the Touch Dragon King. He hoped it would scare off either one of them.

At this point, he was no longer fixated on killing the Touch Dragon King. As long as the green hills remained, there would always be firewood to burn.

But the thousand-year soul beast dung powder Chen Ping scattered seemed to work very poorly. Not only did it fail to frighten off the two hundred-year soul beasts, it drove them into an even greater frenzy.

Seriously?

Now Chen Ping truly was a donkey at the end of its tricks. If he could, he would have liked to extract potent insecticides such as pyrethroid and acephate to deal with these soul beasts.

But that was already beyond the system's pitiful capabilities.

First, Chen Ping's knowledge of chemical insecticides amounted to little more than their names. He had no idea how to extract them.

Second, all Chen Ping's system could do was extract and integrate what he himself knew with information from the Douluo Continent. It really could not produce anything groundbreaking.

When he first awakened the system, Chen Ping had indeed asked it for a Star Destroyer. But even generating blueprints for a Star Destroyer required Chen Ping himself to understand the principles behind it.

Put plainly, much of the time, the system could only provide assistance.

Giving the remaining thousand-year soul beast dung powder in his hand a reluctant glance, Chen Ping bitterly spent several dozen academic points on a complete analysis of its composition.

Previously, to save money, he had spent only a single point to confirm that it really was dung produced by a thousand-year soul beast, then paid it no further attention.

This time, before he died, he wanted to see just what was in the dung powder that had landed him in such a miserable predicament.

[Name: Thousand-year soul beast King Sea Cucumber dung powder]

[Effect: Dung powder from a gigantic sea cucumber measuring over five meters in length. Due to its original owner's cultivation, it may repel some timid ten-year soul beasts.]

[However, to land-dwelling soul beasts unfamiliar with the scent of sea soul beasts, especially hundred-year land-dwelling soul beasts, this smell may be quite appetizing and provoke their hunting instincts.]

After reading the item description, Chen Ping wanted to skin the crooked merchant who had sold him this stuff and eat him alive.

What did it mean to chase a small bargain and pay a heavy price? This was fucking chasing a small bargain and paying a heavy price!

As the saying went, people could teach you over and over without getting through, but one lesson from life was enough. The problem was, would Chen Ping get a second chance?

The answer was... yes, brother. Yes, he would!

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!!!"

After Chen Ping scattered the King Sea Cucumber's dung powder over the Evil Pincer Bug and the Touch Dragon King in two successive throws, the Touch Dragon King, whose eyes had already been blinded by burning oil, finally followed the scent to the culprit.

Enraged beyond all limits, the Touch Dragon King blazed with fire, like a flaming train barreling out of hell.

Its pair of golden-whip-like antennae quivered slightly as it moved. Its enormous mandibles opened and closed repeatedly, ringing like clashing metal, with sparks even flashing between them.

Chen Ping abruptly dropped into a desperate donkey roll, dodging to one side.

"Hiss-"

The Touch Dragon King suddenly let out a piercing hiss. Its enormous body twisted nimbly, and its pair of coldly gleaming mandibles snapped toward the Evil Pincer Bug.

"Bang!"

A tremendous crash rang out. The Evil Pincer Bug could still tell friend from foe, after all, and narrowly dodged the Touch Dragon King's attack at the last possible instant, escaping the miserable fate of being bitten in half.

With half its body embedded in the wall, the Touch Dragon King merely shook its head as though nothing had happened. The six steel-blade-like wings on its back twisted and sliced through the wall, pulling its body free of the earth and stone.

At the sight, Chen Ping broke out in an even colder sweat. He hurriedly wiped the remaining powder from his hands onto the cave wall, terrified that the Touch Dragon King would catch its scent.

Having burrowed its way out of the mountainside, the Touch Dragon King was now completely blinded by rage. Although the Evil Pincer Bug did everything it could to evade its attacks, the Touch Dragon King had gone utterly berserk. Rows of sharp claws flailed wildly, while its mandibles, capable of devouring iron and shearing steel, clanged together.

Venoms of every color and effect sprayed from the Touch Dragon King's mouth: green, purple, black, and more.

Some venom hissed and smoked upon striking the ground, while some evaporated into the air, irritating Chen Ping so badly that tears streamed down his face and he could barely open his eyes.

If even Chen Ping was suffering like this, the Evil Pincer Bug was naturally in far worse shape. After the Touch Dragon King's mandibles bit off two of its legs, the Evil Pincer Bug finally reached its limit.

Smelling the King Sea Cucumber's scent on the Touch Dragon King, the dim-witted Evil Pincer Bug clamped one pincer around the middle of its body.

Its forked, venomous tail, shaped like a pair of scissors, stabbed viciously toward the Touch Dragon King's abdomen, which the flames had nearly burned through.

"Hiss-"

This time, the Touch Dragon King shrieked even louder. Something that smelled so damned delicious actually dared to fight back?

The Touch Dragon King abruptly curled its body, bringing its head within reach of the Evil Pincer Bug's. Its coldly gleaming mandibles snapped shut with a clang, crushing the Evil Pincer Bug's head!

In an instant, white, green, and various other fluids poured from the Evil Pincer Bug's wound.

Even so, its steel pincer showed no sign of loosening, remaining clamped tightly around the Touch Dragon King's body.

As for its scissor-like, forked tail, laden with potent venom, it had plunged firmly into the Touch Dragon King's belly and was still churning away inside.

As everyone knew, creatures that could release venom and creatures immune to venom were generally two different things.

Even a venomous snake could be poisoned to death by a bite from another of its kind. It could swallow a venomous member of its own species whole because venom could be digested once it entered the digestive system, but not once it entered the bloodstream.

The Touch Dragon King's current situation was equivalent to that of a venomous snake bitten by another venomous snake. Even possessing potent venom of its own, or several different kinds, did nothing to change the fact that it was now close to dying of poisoning.