Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, Xuanming Ghost Tiger!

In the pitch-black night, a shadow of death silently settled over Su Zui's heart.

Though he couldn't see what was around him, the trembling Great Luo Sword Embryo in his hand never stopped reminding Su Zui that the thing had arrived.

Unlike his earlier fear, Su Zui's heart quickly calmed under the shadow of danger.

When faced with life or death, people reacted in all sorts of ways. Some broke down in tears, while others waited in despair for death. Su Zui, however, would instantly calm down and automatically enter a fighting state. Perhaps that was his innate talent.

Su Zui's hand tightened around the Great Luo Sword Embryo, his fingers turning slightly white from the force of his grip. He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. After repeating the breathing exercise three times, Su Zui's heartbeat finally steadied.

The next moment, two Soul Rings, one yellow and one purple, rose from beneath Su Zui's feet, standing out vividly in the silent forest.

The next moment, Su Zui seized his wine gourd without hesitation and took several deep swigs. A few drops of spilled wine slid down his neck, and a faint buzz of intoxication rushed to his head.

Under the influence of the alcohol, Su Zui's gaze soon grew hazy.

In this half-drunk, half-sober state, Su Zui entered a wondrous state. In his world, only he and the Great Luo Sword Embryo remained.

The sound of the wind, the fluctuations in the air, even the faint noises made by insects flying through the bushes—all of them entered Su Zui's range of perception.

Su Zui had fully mastered this state half a year ago, and he called it the Clear and Empty Sword Heart.

It's coming!

In the Clear and Empty Sword Heart state, Su Zui finally caught sight of that figure.

It was a tiger, pitch-black from head to toe, at least eight meters long and over four meters tall at the shoulder. Even one of its legs was like a pillar to Su Zui.

Most striking of all, a piece of dark, translucent, crystal-like horn dragged behind the base of the black tiger's tail.

"This is the king of the night, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger!"

The instant Su Zui recognized the Soul Beast, his heart began to pound wildly. It was the lament of every cell in his body under the shadow of death.

Then Su Zui made the best decision of his life.

"Second Soul Skill, Divine Speed Slash!"

The brilliant purple Soul Ring blazed with light. At that moment, Su Zui increased his speed to two to the fourth power—sixteen times his normal speed!

And that was the limit of what he could achieve now.

Boosted to sixteen times his speed, Su Zui instantly moved over a hundred meters away.

At the same time, a huge black shadow appeared out of nowhere and landed where Su Zui had just been standing. Claws two feet long slashed viciously into the clearing.

The once-hard ground was scored with four savage gashes, as though it were a block of tofu.

If Su Zui hadn't dodged just now, he would surely have been reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.

Meanwhile, in an unidentified broadleaf tree behind Su Zui, Ghost Leopard Douluo had long been poised to strike, a pitch-black ghost leopard flickering in and out of view behind him.

As a level ninety-four agility-attack Titled Douluo, Ghost Leopard Douluo was one hundred percent certain he could save Su Zui at the instant of his death.

Down below, Su Zui had already begun to question his life.

Damn, what kind of luck is this? I actually ran into a Xuanming Ghost Tiger at night.

This thing was even more terrifying than the Hell Spirit Cat and the ghost leopard, with an innate ability to travel through shadows.

And the Xuanming Ghost Tiger before him had clearly passed the ten-thousand-year mark.

However, something was clearly wrong with this Xuanming Ghost Tiger.

Su Zui entered the Clear and Empty Sword Heart state again and finally sensed what was amiss with the Xuanming Ghost Tiger.

Unexpectedly, a gruesome wound ran from the Xuanming Ghost Tiger's abdomen up to its chest.

Clearly, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger was gravely injured.

The wound looked fresh; it had clearly been inflicted not long ago.

"No wonder his speed has dropped so much. So he was badly injured."

A wave of lingering fear passed through Su Zui. It seemed his luck wasn't so bad after all.

If the Soul Beast hadn't been gravely injured, that attack just now would have sent him to the Western Heaven.

After all, a normal ten-thousand-year-old Xuanming Ghost Tiger was strong enough to match a Soul Emperor-level expert. The current Su Zui was no match for it at all.

But the Xuanming Ghost Tiger before him was badly wounded, with less than a tenth of its strength remaining. Perhaps he really could kill it.

Perhaps it had seen through Su Zui's thoughts, for the Xuanming Ghost Tiger grew impatient as well.

It had never imagined that the human before it could evade its sneak attack.

He had been seriously wounded in the earlier battle, only to sense a human approaching his hunting grounds. How could he allow that? A human had come to his hunting grounds—wasn't that an outright provocation?

And so, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger had prepared to hunt the human down.

In the Xuanming Ghost Tiger's original script, activating Shadow Traversal would have been enough to cut the human in two. Never in its wildest dreams had it imagined it would miss!

But it was too late to say anything now. That attack had nearly exhausted the Xuanming Ghost Tiger's Soul Power, and on top of that, it was badly wounded. It could no longer use Shadow Traversal.

Even so, despite its grievous injuries, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger still believed it could kill Su Zui.

After all, as a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger had an inexplicable confidence.

Not long ago, he had killed a human Soul Master with a full six Soul Rings. He also knew that the more Soul Rings a Soul Master had, the stronger they were.

Even that six-ring Soul Master had died at its hands. How could this fellow with only two rings possibly be its match?

Once it killed this human Soul Master, it would eat him to regain its strength, then take its time enjoying that cat.

The Xuanming Ghost Tiger didn't rush to attack again, however. Instead, it kept its distance from Su Zui and began circling him.

This was the usual fighting style of felines: when facing an enemy, they first circled them to put psychological pressure on them.

The moment the enemy grew afraid and attacked first, it would seize the opening in an instant and deliver a fatal blow!

Su Zui naturally saw through the Xuanming Ghost Tiger's plan. He hadn't expected the beast to be so cautious.

But Su Zui was in the Clear and Empty Sword Heart state now. How could he possibly grow impatient?

Besides, the Soul Beast was gravely wounded, and its wound was still dripping blood. It ought to be the one in a hurry.

Every second he stalled it, its strength would drain away a little more.

So the longer this dragged on, the better it would be for him.

And so, the two sides remained at a stalemate for several more minutes.

As Su Zui had expected, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger was clearly growing impatient. Its genetic code told it to maintain the stalemate and wait for the human before it to reveal an opening, but its intelligent brain told it that if this dragged on, it would meet its end here today.

Driven by its impatience, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger hesitated no longer. With an angry roar, he pounced at Su Zui once more.

Though it no longer had the boost from its Xuanming Power, the Xuanming Ghost Tiger burst into motion at a hundred meters per second on the strength of its body alone.

"Damn it, how is this guy so fast?!"

Without hesitation, the purple Soul Ring beneath Su Zui's feet lit up once more. Boosted to sixteen times his speed, Su Zui was still faster than the Xuanming Ghost Tiger.

In fact, he was several times faster than the Xuanming Ghost Tiger.

A clash between experts was often decided in an instant, and the Xuanming Ghost Tiger had already lost its best chance.

There was a squelch.

The Xuanming Ghost Tiger's claws were still suspended in midair when the Great Luo Sword Embryo in Su Zui's hand plunged firmly into its wound.

At the same time, Ghost Leopard Douluo, hidden in the shadows, seized the moment and sent a wisp of Soul Power straight into the Ghost Tiger's brain.

Struck by a Titled Douluo, the Ghost Tiger, which had still been struggling, immediately collapsed limply to the ground.

Ghost Leopard Douluo nodded in satisfaction.

In any case, the young master had already dealt the Xuanming Ghost Tiger a heavy blow. Stepping in now didn't count as interfering with the young master's training.

After all, a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's dying counterattack was too terrifying. He didn't dare take that gamble.

Su Zui clearly hadn't noticed Ghost Leopard Douluo's intervention. After the Great Luo Sword Embryo pierced the Xuanming Ghost Tiger's body, the Yellow Soul Ring beneath his feet instantly lit up.

"First Soul Skill, Sword Qi Ranges Across!"

Streams of invisible Sword Qi shot out in an instant, severing all the meridians in the Xuanming Ghost Tiger's body.

The Xuanming Ghost Tiger didn't even have time to let out a scream before it sank forever into endless darkness.

Then a pitch-black Soul Ring slowly rose from its body!