Compared to the Nine-Curve Ascension Dragon Grass, the memories within the origin of the Star Luo Holy Pearl are much simpler.
A long time ago, a meteorite struck the earth. The meteorite contained a vast amount of celestial power, which drastically altered the land. From this transformed land, the Star Luo Holy Pearl was naturally born, possessing the innate ability to absorb celestial power.
Chen Ming already understood the effects of the Star Luo Holy Pearl, which were similar to what was described in the original novel. The core of the Star Luo Holy Pearl is its fruit, which acts as a natural soul core, gathering celestial power from heaven and earth to grow.
When absorbed into a human body, it enhances a soul master's affinity for celestial power and transforms the fruit into the soul master's soul core. It also provides a slight boost to spiritual power.
The Star Luo Holy Pearl is incredibly valuable, and even Chen Ming couldn't help but be tempted by it. In this era, even Title Douluos didn't fully understand the concept of soul cores.
A soul core represents a qualitative change, significantly increasing a soul master's maximum soul power and its quality, as well as greatly enhancing their soul power recovery rate. Having a soul core or not is like being in two entirely separate dimensions.
In the Douluo 2 era, only Title Douluos could condense a soul core, and only at level 99 could they form dual soul cores, with the protagonist Huo Yuhao being the sole exception. By the Douluo 3 era, the level requirement for forming a soul core had dropped to Soul Sages, but the significance of soul cores remained immense.
If he could obtain a soul core now, Chen Ming estimated that he could reach level 40 and acquire his fourth soul ring within one or two years just by focusing on cultivation.
Before reaching the Title Douluo stage, defeating enemies across major power levels would be as easy as eating or drinking.
Moreover, most of Chen Ming's soul skills were heavy on soul power consumption. If he had the soul power recovery speed provided by a soul core, his strength would practically double.
Chen Ming didn't dare to claim that he could replicate the feat of the Death Gody Envoy, who fought head-on against a level 98 Title Douluo, Xuan Zi, but at the very least, as a Soul King, he could take on an average Soul Douluo without issue.
Chen Ming tentatively used his spiritual energy to interact with the Star Luo Holy Pearl, expressing his desire to fuse with it. However, the Star Luo Holy Pearl's spirituality showed no response.
Chen Ming wasn't a celestial-attribute soul master. While the Star Luo Holy Pearl was friendly, as an immortal herb, it wasn't friendly to just anyone.
Its most essential trait was celestial power, and if Chen Ming absorbed it, that unique trait would disappear. Since Chen Ming had no compatibility with it, there was naturally no response.
If the Star Luo Holy Pearl had developed true sentience rather than just spirituality, it might already be yelling at him.
After all, probing its origin was already quite presumptuous, and now he wanted to take things even further.
With no other option, Chen Ming opened his eyes, stood up, and sighed regretfully.
Did he give up on the idea of obtaining the Star Luo Holy Pearl just because it rejected him?
Of course not. Chen Ming was even prepared to kill for it. There was no way he would feel pity for an immortal herb that hadn't even developed true sentience. The Star Luo Holy Pearl's resistance was meaningless.
There was no way he would let the Star Luo Holy Pearl go. The problem was that this particular herb was somewhat special. If it didn't cooperate, the lack of compatibility would make absorption difficult. If his soul power exploded or some other issue arose during the process, not even multiple lives would be enough to compensate for the loss.
Chen Ming began recalling the bloodletting method he had used on the Jade Phosphorous Flower of the Seven Absolutes in the past.
For a top-tier immortal herb like the Star Luo Holy Pearl, Chen Ming didn't mind shedding more blood or putting in extra effort to reshape it into something compatible with himself.
"This is a unique immortal herb called the Star Luo Holy Pearl. Its fruit can be absorbed by a compatible soul master to form a soul core. Unfortunately, this herb is a celestial attribute, which is completely incompatible with my poison attribute, so I can't absorb it for now."
"Star Luo Holy Pearl..." Dugu Bo muttered, feeling like he'd heard the name somewhere before. After some frantic thinking, he finally remembered.
"It's said that the founding emperor of the Star Luo Empire stood out among many soul masters and ultimately established the empire after inadvertently consuming an immortal herb called the Star Luo Holy Pearl."
"To commemorate the Star Luo Holy Pearl, that founding emperor named his empire the Star Luo Empire."
"So the legends were true after all," Dugu Bo said with a mix of emotion and relief.
It was fortunate that he hadn't exposed the existence of this place over the years. Otherwise, if the Dai family learned there was a Star Luo Holy Pearl here, it would spell disaster.
Even if the Star Luo Empire didn't mobilize its entire military, they could at least send a team of Soul Douluos capable of using the Netherworld White Tiger to assassinate him.
In the following period, Chen Ming sat down one by one and began using his spiritual sight. However, to his disappointment, while there were many immortal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, they weren't abundant enough to be everywhere.
Aside from a few immortal herbs mentioned in the original novel, Chen Ming only found a few lesser-known ones. The rest were merely rare treasures or high-quality herbs close to the level of immortal herbs.
Among the remaining herbs that he hadn't yet checked, most were either growing underground or visibly immature, so they naturally received lower priority.
Only one herb made Chen Ming too afraid to even approach it. From fifty steps away, his brain felt as if it were being pricked by needles. At forty steps, he could sense the threat of death.
This herb was the Snow Swan Kiss mentioned in the original novel.
The Snow Swan Kiss's effect was to amplify poisons hundreds or even thousands of times. Even the faintest trace of poison would be magnified to a level capable of killing ten-thousand-year soul beasts.
Although the poisons in Chen Ming's body were entirely under his control, the Snow Swan Kiss was too sinister. For a poison-attribute soul master, it was a massive double-edged sword. Getting too close would result in losing control.
In the original novel, the City of Slaughter, which served as the trial ground for the Asura God and secretly housed the inheritance of the Rakshasa God, had been passed down for countless years. Yet it was ultimately destroyed because Tang San threw a single Snow Swan Kiss into the Path of Slaughter. This caused the City of Slaughter to collapse, and the Slaughter King went berserk and began hunting Tang San across the entire continent.
Chen Ming didn't dare approach that thing. Just from the spiritual warnings, he knew it was a deadly weapon.
Still, despite the constant warnings to stay away from the Snow Swan Kiss, Chen Ming ranked it even higher than the Star Luo Holy Pearl in his mind, making it his top priority.
If I could obtain the Snow Swan Kiss's ability and make my poisons grow dozens or even hundreds of times stronger while remaining under my control, I could confidently shout across the continent, 'Who dares to fight me?'"