Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor-Chapter 297: Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor []

Chen Ming instructed Xu Bai to organize the data from recent years to determine which soul engineers could be recruited and to identify which soul device technologies emerging on the continent were genuine and which were exaggerated. After giving the task to Xu Bai, Chen Ming wandered around the black market for a while, also taking a brief look at the specialties of the Sun Moon Continent.

Unlike the Douluo Continent, the average quality of soul beasts and martial souls on the Sun Moon Continent was one tier lower. The strongest soul master in the entire black market was merely a high-level Soul Sage with an advanced martial soul, though their foundation was unstable due to the overuse of drugs. Such a low-quality Soul Sage would have been easily defeated by a top-tier Soul Emperor on the Douluo Continent.

However, the Sun Moon Continent had its unique resources—an abundance of rare metals. Both the quantity and quality of these metals surpassed those found on the Douluo Continent, forming the foundation for the development of soul engineers.

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Even though Chen Ming had explored the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan's treasury, he still encountered many rare and even unheard-of magical metals in the black market. While there were no top-tier materials capable of forging divine artifacts, there were many metals with innate spiritual properties. Some of these metals, even in their raw form, possessed unique qualities that gave them natural abilities.

Chen Ming, having studied the blacksmithing compendium authored by Lou Gao, was equipped with a systematic method for identifying metals. His strong spiritual power also enabled him to analyze the various properties of these materials. By the end of his exploration, he had identified about twenty types of metals that both intrigued him and had the potential to advance the blacksmithing system.

Yes, twenty types—not just twenty pieces.

The sheer variety of magical metals on the Sun Moon Continent was staggering. As an underground trading hub located in the imperial city of two major empires, the black market was filled with treasures among treasures, which led to the discovery of numerous metals that caught Chen Ming's attention.

Due to the current chaos in the region, the currencies used on the Sun Moon Continent were extremely complex. There were gold soul coins and silver soul coins, as well as platinum coins made of composite metals and bone coins crafted from soul beast bones and metals. Even understanding the exchange rates and standardization of these currencies was a headache.

The two nations of the Sun Moon Continent used gold and silver soul coins, while the three southern countries used platinum coins and bone coins. However, even gold and silver soul coins varied in purity. A high-purity gold soul coin held greater value than a lower-purity one.

The minting year and region of origin affected the gold content of soul coins. Even though they were all officially issued, their designs and compositions were incredibly inconsistent.

Among southern currencies, platinum coins were relatively stable, but bone coins were extremely chaotic in value. This was due to the varying forging techniques and the differing types of soul beast bones used.

In the black market, southern currencies had lower purchasing power. According to murmurs Chen Ming overheard, a bone coin or platinum coin from the south was worth only 70% of its nominal value in the three southern countries. Moreover, due to the ease of counterfeiting bone coins, many shops refused to accept them. Even when exchanging them, a high service fee was charged.

Besides, the measurement units for length and weight used in the north and south were also different. For all these reasons, most people chose to trade directly using precious metals and materials, returning to the most primitive form of barter. Currency became almost secondary in such transactions. In fact, in some shops, currency wasn't even accepted for purchases.

In summary, Chen Ming could only marvel at the wisdom of the ancestors. Policies like standardizing measurement units, unifying currencies, and adopting standardized writing systems were undeniably correct decisions.

Even with Chen Ming's excellent mental faculties and analytical abilities, it still took him half a day to figure out the basic rules of buying items in this chaotic marketplace. Only then did he begin bartering with the soul beast materials he had brought with him.

Most of the soul beast materials Chen Ming carried were from snake-type soul beasts, a small portion of the supplies he had during his expedition to Spirit Snake Island years ago. However, the materials he chose to bring with him were primarily from mid-level and high-level soul beasts. He didn't bother with lower-level materials, as they would only take up unnecessary space in his storage-type soul tool.

On the Sun Moon Continent, where soul beast resources were scarce, mid-level and high-level soul beasts from the Douluo Continent were typically considered one tier higher in value.

By selling just a small portion of leftover materials, Chen Ming easily purchased most of the metals he had his eyes on. However, a few vendors, seeing how freely Chen Ming spent, tried to raise their prices. When they did, Chen Ming simply chose not to buy from them. After all, there would be plenty of opportunities to obtain metals in the future. At the moment, he just wanted to study them and wasn't in urgent need.

As for whether Chen Ming's lavish spending would attract unwanted attention?

Of course, people were eyeing him, but none of them were foolish enough to consider robbing him.

After all, Chen Ming was using soul beast materials for his purchases instead of gold soul coins or rare metals. Someone capable of hunting soul beasts was undoubtedly a strong individual. Hunting high-quality, high-age soul beasts required an even stronger person—a top-tier expert among experts.

Judging by the soul beast materials Chen Ming casually threw out, most people assumed that this black-robed man was at least a Soul Sage level expert, and possibly even a reclusive Soul Douluo.

A Soul Douluo was considered an unparalleled powerhouse on the Sun Moon Continent. Who would dare harbor malicious intentions against such a figure?

With just a slight movement of his spiritual power, Chen Ming easily shook off the small tails following him. He then teleported back to Xu Bai's room unnoticed. By then, Xu Bai had already finished organizing the data and was prepared to meet his teacher.

Before they departed, Chen Ming asked Xu Bai for details about his teacher. Xu Bai explained thoroughly.

His teacher, Shui Xuan, was from the Shui family of the Rising Sun Empire. His martial soul was the Spirit Turtle. He was a Level 7 soul engineer with an 81st-level soul power rank and a defensive-type Soul Douluo. His soul ring configuration was three yellow, two purple, and two black. Shui Xuan specialized in stationary soul cannon shells and shield-type soul devices. His likes and dislikes were also briefly mentioned.

After gaining a general understanding, Chen Ming used his soul power to conceal both of them, and they headed toward Shui Xuan's estate.

Shui Xuan's estate was located just outside the Great Sun City. It was the ancestral land of the Shui family, managed for over a thousand years, and now expanded to the size of a small city (by Sun Moon Continent standards).

The outer perimeter of the Shui family's ancestral land was guarded by more than ten patrol squads. At regular intervals, soul masters were stationed on the city walls. A three-meter-wide moat surrounded the city gate, filled with carnivorous fish.

The walls were five meters thick and six meters high, appearing to be constructed from blocks of green stone. However, the interior was filled with special materials, allowing the walls to resist both soul master abilities and soul cannon bombardments. The city gate was reinforced with metal and crafted from the wood of tree-type soul beasts.

Mounted on the battlements were four Level 4 stationary soul cannons and twelve Level 3 stationary soul cannons, each guarded by a soul master. These cannons could be loaded and fired at any moment to unleash devastating attacks.

With its guards and fortifications, the Shui family's ancestral land was capable of withstanding an assault from a 5,000-strong army (by Sun Moon Continent standards), making it a true fortress.

Because the Sun Moon Continent was constantly at war, no one found the Shui family's strong defenses unusual. On the contrary, they admired the Shui family for being such a powerful clan with such formidable fortifications.