All Evil Shall Ultimately Be Brought to Justice by Black Cat Sheriff!

After clearing out the corpse ghosts beyond the gate, Yuan Zhu charged into Vajra Temple in one breath. The Yellow Springs Buddha Rhythm unique to this place—the aura of pollution—surged more than tenfold. The shadow rifts that had once been clearly visible in his eyes now grew blurred and gradually receded beyond his grasp...

"Eh? Guess I can't exploit bugs anymore."

Entering Vajra Temple was like stepping into another away-field domain, where he was suppressed everywhere by an invisible force. Trying to casually toss corpse ghosts into the Shadow World and trap them to death as he had outside the gates was now beyond his capabilities.

"Boss, be careful! This place is even more wicked than the sacrificial hall back then. The moment you enter the temple gates, it's like entering another independent space. Fortunately, it isn't completely sealed off on a physical level. If you throw a stone over the wall, it can still fly out. If we can't win, we'll run for it! Don't worry, they won't be able to stop us!"

The Little Elf timidly spoke with utter conviction, planning for defeat before even calculating victory. When it came to running away, she was no weaker than her master! The Tiger Demon nodded and looked toward the corpse ghosts that had noticed the breached gate and were steadily closing in around him. He muttered, "If you put it that way, then I've got a solution!"

The Buddha Corpse Ghost had led the temple's elites away to besiege Buddha Tomato, but Vajra Temple still had a large number of corpse ghost monks guarding their nest, including quite a few high-quality specimens.

For instance, Snail Zen Master, who had just run out of the temple to gaze at the stars, possessed the ability to see through deception and even had other hidden trump cards. Unfortunately, before he could make a move, he had been thrown into the Shadow Dimension.

Now, the Four-Armed Arhat guarding the stone bridge and the Two-Headed Monster Monk across the pond were both elite monsters in the Immortal Scripture's eyes.

The pollution levels within them were more than ten times those of ordinary corpse ghosts. They could already threaten him even in Tiger Demon Form.

But these corpse ghosts had long since died completely, their brains rotten. Even after being restarted by Yellow Springs Pollution, they possessed little intelligence, lacked tactical methods, and were not difficult to deal with.

The Tiger Demon rushed forward, a gust of cold wind rising around his body and sweeping across the entire field, blowing away all the Yellow Springs corpse aura clinging to them.

At the same time, he thrust out a claw. Shadow Power, like black mist, erupted forth, gathering and taking shape between his tiger claws into a massive shadowy talon. It flew several meters and seized a corpse ghost.

Then the Tiger Demon exerted all his strength, swinging his arm in an overturning motion. The pitch-black shadow claw followed, hurling the corpse ghost over the courtyard wall like a baseball.

Caught off guard, the corpse ghost was truly thrown out. With a bang, it smashed into the ground outside the wall.

"Haha, it worked!"

Yuan Zhu was overjoyed. Thanks to the Little Elf's cowardice and weakness, she had planned an escape route early on, allowing him to seize upon Vajra Temple's flaw.

Aoo! Roar! Waaah! Waaah! One many-armed corpse ghost after another swung their Dharma palms, launching attacks infused with death aura and forcing the Tiger Demon to continually shift and dodge. At the same time, sharp claws shot out, flinging wave after wave of wind blades, which he answered with shadow blades.

The four-armed corpse ghost sprang forward, moving with startling speed as it killed its way before him. Its two thick Dharma palms formed seals, gathering intense death aura into Dharma sigils that struck in rapid succession, each palm faster than the last, hammering continuously against the Tiger Demon's black, coarse fur.

From afar, the Tiger Demon's fur looked sleek, smooth, and flowing. Up close, however, every strand was coarse and hard, interwoven into a layer of stiff fur padding that effectively dispersed and neutralized the force of impacts. And once an attack passed through to the thick tiger hide, it encountered yet another layer of resilient defense.

The four-armed corpse ghost's Buddha-seal palm strikes hit him again and again, causing Yuan Zhu agonizing pain. Yet after the momentary agony faded, he discovered in surprise that it seemed to hurt only a little.

The Yellow Springs Pollution contained within those attacks had failed to breach even the Tiger Demon's most basic defenses, let alone the Soul Firewall serving as inner armor.

"Roar!"

With an angry howl, he backhanded it with a claw, slamming the four-armed corpse ghost right before him. It hurriedly turned its Dharma palms to block before its chest, but the Tiger Demon still sent it flying with one slap, blasting it into a nearby ornamental rockery like a cannonball.

What tremendous strength?! Yuan Zhu lowered his head and turned over his tiger claws. This strength was simply heaven-defying!

"Roar, roar, roar!"

Cat Flurry!

Roaring, he repeatedly swung his claws at the ground, ripping and slicing through the heavy stone paving, flinging chunks of shattered rock into the air. Accelerated by Call the Wind, they shot out like cannonballs, blasting the approaching corpse ghosts one after another into the air.

So this was the joy of sharpening one's claws?

Not only did his claws not hurt, they even gave him an inexplicable sense of pleasure. The Tiger Demon thus pawed at the ground with even greater manic fervor, his movements so fast they left afterimages. He overturned and tore apart countless thick stone slabs and chunks of rock, leaving deep cutting marks behind.

With one swipe of his claws, cold wind and shadows mingled together, forming energy tiger claws that shot out once more to finish them off, slicing the corpse ghosts into pieces scattered all over the ground.

Splash, splash! Splash, splash! Waves rose and fell in bursts. Across the small pond not far away, the Two-Headed Monster Monk pressed his palms together before his chest, spread his legs to either side, and dropped into a horse stance. Then he leaned his upper body to the left, raised his right leg high, and stomped down viciously.

After repeating the motion several times, the tranquil pond became increasingly turbulent under his urging. In the end, filthy Yellow Springs water surged into waves two meters high, rolling up and out of the pond before crashing onto the ground and soaking the corpse ghost remains.

The shattered chunks of flesh rapidly absorbed the turbid Yellow Springs water, drawing toward one another and reassembling into complete corpse ghosts, all while releasing an even stronger foul aura.

They too pressed both palms together before themselves, raised their extra third Dharma palm high, and once again drew a thread of turbid water from the pond to coil around their bodies before charging at the intruder.

"Boss, hurry and try your close-combat talent! Trading blows directly is too disadvantageous—you're taking a huge loss!"

The Little Elf hurriedly reminded him. You might be a big tiger, but all your bloodline divine abilities had been distorted by pollution into spell-type abilities. Facing them head-on was a terrible bargain! Stop scratching around like a cat already—how much force could that possibly have? Hurry and try an offensive divine ability!

At the Little Elf's reminder, Yuan Zhu noticed the ??? Claw ??? filled with question marks. This divine ability looked like it was brimming with unknown flaws and loopholes. If possible, he truly did not want to use it directly; he would rather find a safe place to test it first.

Claw! But just as the Little Elf had said, this seemed to be the Tiger Demon's only close-combat divine ability, making it perfect for the current situation.

So he tried activating it. Shadow Power within his body swiftly flooded into his pair of forelimbs. A cool sensation circulated through the bones of his five digits, and then his tiger claws began to grow dramatically longer. Like Wolverine ejecting metal blades, five dagger-sharp bone blades sprang from each tiger claw.

It was not only his claws that lengthened and became incomparably sharp. Large quantities of white jade bones, made of the same material as his snake tail, grew upward in reverse from his tiger claws, forming a vicious exoskeletal arm guard in the same style as his skeletal tail and firmly protecting both claws, his forearms, and his front limbs.

A flood of information appeared in Yuan Zhu's mind. So long as he continued pouring in mana, this exoskeletal armor—covered in sharp, vicious bone blades and spikes—would spread over his hind legs, body, and head, evolving him into Skeleton Garurumon. The cat version! "Holy shit, that's kind of cool!"

A Yellow Springs corpse ghost ambushed him at close range, and the Tiger Demon raised a claw to block. He did not even use much force. The arm guard covered in sharp skeletal spikes merely collided with the corpse ghost's Dharma palm, easily piercing through its fleshy arm. At the same time, the exoskeletal armor was splashed with Yellow Springs water, which sizzled as it corroded and broke it down.

Slap! With a slight exertion of his arm, he used the sharp bone claws to easily tear the corpse ghost into upper and lower halves, which were then blown apart in midair by the snake tail. Yuan Zhu looked at the skeletal arm guard rapidly repairing itself, as well as the turbid Yellow Springs water that still stubbornly corroded and dissolved the jade-like bones.

Two utterly different types of Pollution Energy collided, corroding and canceling each other out with a continuous sizzling sound. It was obvious that his Shadow Power was inferior to the Yellow Springs Buddha Rhythm by far more than a single level.

This was not merely because Shadow Pollution was weaker than Yellow Springs Pollution. It also had to do with his lack of a complete Extraordinary System: the Tiger Demon template was less comprehensive than the Buddhist Sect's cultivation system, and he was fighting on enemy ground, suppressed by the surrounding environment.

Fortunately, he did not lack polluted spiritual energy. His multiple bloodline talents stacked atop one another, narrowing the vast gaps—and in terms of intelligence, he completely crushed them.

His tiger body twisted. The Skeleton Snake Tail behind him abruptly lengthened and lashed out, vanishing into the shadows on the ground. It then condensed anew into half a Shadow Snake Demon as thick as a bucket, which shot out through the temple gates, plunged into a crack in the earth, and connected to the Shadow Dimension outside.

At this moment, he was like Unit-01 with a power cable plugged into its ass. He no longer had to worry about spiritual energy—or power—and could output to his heart's content.

Claw Max! The skeletal armor on both arms swelled and thickened, becoming heavy armor and growing even more vicious. It swiftly covered his shoulder guards as well, joining together on either side of his spine. Matching skeletal shells also grew over his hind legs, then spread across his entire body and head. Two long saber-toothed tiger fangs emerged from either side of his jaws.

True Skeleton Tiger Demon!

Wrapped head to toe in an exoskeleton, he felt utterly secure—ten thousand times better than Mao Mao King's uniform! Turning to look at the pitch-black giant snake that had vanished into the shadows before reappearing in the distance, Yuan Zhu's mind filled with tiny question marks.

Why was the Skeleton Tiger Demon's battle mode, Shadow Manipulation, a pitch-black shadow serpent wrapped in a layer of translucent shadow-flesh, while the Shadow Tiger Demon, when driving its claws at full force, turned into a skeletal snake-tail form instead? Did these interwoven, black-and-white reversed forms hint that he had the potential to comprehend the Great Dao of Taiji?

Clack, clack, clack... The four-armed corpse ghost led its underlings in another charge.

Wave after wave of Buddhist seal palms slammed continuously into the exoskeletal armor. Its membrane defense had already been difficult to penetrate, and now it had another layer of thorny bone armor, making it even harder to break through.

The tiger demon endured the sizzling corrosive pollution as it frantically swung both palms, controlling Yin Wind and shadows to form one giant hand after another. It dragged corpse ghosts before itself one by one, then unleashed the monstrous strength throughout its body and swatted them over the courtyard wall one after another.

Outside, the snake demon, with most of its body burrowed into the shadows, repeatedly sprang forth and tore at its prey. It bit down on the corpse ghosts falling from above, whipped its head to smash them into the Shadow World, then caught them in midair again as though playing catch and flung them back into the Shadow World.

Relying on its bloodline divine abilities, the tiger demon slaughtered in all directions within Vajra Temple, darting and weaving about, commanding Yin Wind and black mist, and ruling countless disposable silhouette Chang Ghosts. Like a demon descending upon the world, it set off a bloody massacre in this sacred ground of the Buddhist Sect.

It upheld justice on Heaven's behalf and punished evil while promoting good, sweeping every last one of these Buddha-slandering corpse ghosts that had usurped the Buddhist treasure temple into the trash can!

All evil would eventually be brought to justice by Black Cat Sheriff! Before long, it had cleared out all the small fry. Even the most troublesome two-headed old monk and four-armed corpse ghost were swallowed head-on by the arrogant Shadow Snake Demon, which then fled outside the temple gates at light speed and, with a "Bleurgh," vomited them back out. Then it returned, spitting, "Peh! Peh! Peh!" all the way.

"That was amazing, Boss! Did you see that? I wrecked two mini-bosses! I cleared Vajra Temple!"

The giant snake demon rose up excitedly and wriggled back and forth, looking exactly like one of those manically dancing inflatable greeters outside a shopping mall.

She happily celebrated for quite a while, but when she saw that the tiger demon showed no reaction, she froze. The giant shadow snake tail lowered its head, looking down at the tiny-looking—four-meter-tall tiger, still an adorably big armored kitty—and tilted her head in confusion. "Boss? Why aren't you cheering for me?"

Yuan Zhu said, "I'm thinking about something. These claws pack quite a punch. They greatly boost defense and cutting power, and they look pretty cool and domineering too. But they still seem to be missing something. They're just not quite there."

Chang Ghosts lacked soul data, pollution traits, and a link to death in the Netherworld. Now that Yellow Springs Death Qi had filled in part of those gaps, all that remained was refining the first sacrifice before he could try herding them.

Call the Wind lacked a wind uniquely its own, but the path to completing it later was clear enough. And wind followed the tiger; it suited the tiger demon's style perfectly.

But these claws alone... they clashed completely with the tiger demon bloodline talents, instead feeling extremely snake-like. He did not think they matched very well.

"Uh..." The Little Elf gradually shrank down, pulled her skeletal body back out of the shadows, and returned to her original appearance as a vicious snake-bone specimen. Choosing her words carefully, she said, "...This might be my fault?"

"What do you mean? Explain it clearly."

Unable to lie, the Little Elf told him the truth. "Boss, do you remember the original bloodline talent that Shadow Manipulation replaced?"

"Demonic Qi Manipulation?"

"Yes!"

The Little Elf stuffed some of the original tiger demon data into his head.

The original Tiger Demon Spiritual Root recorded a complete set of inherited bloodline arts: Demonic Qi Manipulation, Chang Ghosts, Nether Ghost Claw, Call the Wind, and Mountain Lord Ghost Domain. Each link was locked tightly into the next.

The tiger was king of all beasts, naturally possessing an unparalleled physique and strength. Aside from flood dragons in rivers, lakes, and seas, it had almost no rivals. Thus, once a fierce tiger cultivated into a demon and cast off its primitive life of eating raw meat and drinking blood, it retained its formidable physique and fighting ability.

That was why a tiger demon's body was exceptionally powerful: infinitely strong, thick-blooded and tough as hell, with steel sinews and iron bones, its stamina off the charts. Yuan Zhu had inherited all of that.

Demonic Qi Manipulation, the tiger demon's first talent, could further amplify the body's advantages. By infusing demonic qi into flesh and blood, it granted comprehensive enhancement and let one slaughter in all directions. It was comparable to Younger Toguro's muscle release or a Hulk transformation.

Chang Ghosts had nothing to do with flesh-and-blood combat. Beyond physical slaughter, they opened up an entirely new second track of Netherworld Cannon Fodder and granted mastery over Netherworld power.

Ghost Claw was the renewed fusion of Demonic Qi Manipulation and Chang Ghosts, merging the two talents into one for his own use. On the foundation of a Tiger Demon Body enlarged a second time by demonic qi, it enchanted tiger claws with Chang Ghosts and condensed Netherworld power, attacking both flesh and tearing apart the soul—a third amplification! That was why Yuan Zhu was dissatisfied with the current bone claws and always felt they fell just short. He had inherited only the Tiger Demon Body, but lacked the second enhancement of demonic qi, the third enchantment of Chang Ghosts, and Ghost Claw's unique opposing-force burst attack.

From an invincible dual-attribute, soul-and-physical opposing-force killing move, it had become an exoskeletal attack slanted toward defense. Its killing power had plummeted.

As for Call the Wind further down the line, what the Nether Ghost Tiger called was naturally the Yin Wind of the Nine Netherworlds, continuing to stack Netherworld talents. It could command Yin Wind for wide-area attacks, scatter a prey's three souls and seven spirits, and capture them to refine new Chang Ghosts.

Finally, Mountain Lord Ghost Domain successfully connected the worlds of Yin and Yang. The immense home-field power of the ghost domain could in turn feed back into and empower Chang Ghosts, Ghost Claw, and Call the Wind—the three major talents.

Though Ghost Claw appeared early, it was the tiger demon's strongest single-target killing method. It would never be phased out and could be used until death. In its ideal state, Ghost Claw could stack four layers of enhancement at once: demonic qi, Chang Ghosts, Yin Wind, and ghost domain.

But now... what did the monster bloodlines of the Cultivation Universe have to do with Du Ling Planet? To integrate locally, it had to accept pollution-based modification and cleanse the Boss Template.

Thus, the Nether Ghost Tiger with its Netherworld aesthetic became the Shadow Tiger Demon. The physical divine ability Demonic Qi Manipulation became the spell-type talent Shadow Manipulation.

"Wait, then where did this Universe Within the Belly come from? My snake tail has nothing to do with the Nether Ghost Tiger."

Using his dual vision, Yuan Zhu controlled his tiger head and snake tail to look at each other, another huge question mark rising in his mind. What was going on with this tail? The more he looked at it, the more out of place it seemed, like some free gift included with a phone plan.

The Little Elf said, "Excellent question! All I can say is, Boss, your talent is extraordinary! Your Aberrant Spiritual Root not only contains the complete tiger demon bloodline information—it's also a 1.5-times deluxe poor-man's upgrade package! It inherited the ultimate innate divine abilities of two great demon bloodlines. After being smashed apart, reassembled, and pieced together, it has even greater potential, though it needs to go through an initial period of adjustment."

"Universe Within the Belly is the snake demon's innate divine ability from this tail, and I inherited it too? I'm a chimera hybrid—doesn't that make me kind of like a Black Tortoise?"

One had a turtle body and snake tail; the other had a tiger head and snake tail. How bizarre! No wonder he always had the faint sensation of being mentally split. So it was a 1.5-times deluxe poor-man's upgrade package: more for the same price.

He was simultaneously wielding the bloodline divine abilities of two species that had originally been wholly incompatible. Yet after a round of cleansing through Shadow Pollution, they had been forcibly glued together.

The skeletal snake tail had begun merging with Shadow Manipulation; the claws had also inherited the strengthening of snake-bone armor; and Universe Within the Belly, which belonged to the snake lineage, had even gained the functions of devouring prey and refining Chang Ghosts, moving closer toward the tiger demon.

The talents of the two lineages had begun adapting to one another.

"That's right, Boss, so don't be disappointed. The claws may seem to have lost the potential of Ghost Claw, but they are deeply bound to Universe Within the Belly. Universe Within the Belly is an ultimate innate divine ability on the same level as Yin Mountain Ghost Domain. It can endlessly devour prey and keep growing. Right now, the strength of your bone claws depends on the strength of Universe Within the Belly. Once you make it big someday, a single claw strike will carry the attack power of an entire 'space'!"

The Little Elf continued to hype up the beautiful future. If Universe Within the Belly were fed until it reached a hundred cubic meters, then one clawing tear would apply the mass of an entire space to the bone claws. With one slap, any prey would be torn to pieces.

If Universe Within the Belly became a true universe, then one claw strike would wield the power of a whole world.

"Besides, as long as the adjustment goes well, the two bloodline paths will fuse more and more tightly, ultimately becoming a brand-new set of bloodline divine abilities and giving birth to a new species with a tiger head and snake tail! By then, the bone claws will still be able to stack shadows, Chang Ghosts, Call the Wind, universe, and ghost domain. Boss, you'll be even more badass! (voice cracking)"

Under the Little Elf's relentless flattery, Yuan Zhu, who had been somewhat downcast, perked up again and became filled with anticipation for the future!

These bone claws really do have their charm. The more I look at them, the cooler they seem! Ghost Claw's aesthetic is just too Netherworldly—it doesn't suit someone as mighty and domineering as me! So he casually praised her, "Well said. What a sweet little mouth you have."

The Little Elf said, "I am your most loyal rainbow-energy nutritionist! Say goodbye to anxiety and inner turmoil; face every day with soaring confidence! Boss is mighty, Boss is New! Bee! (voice-cracking shout)"

In high spirits, Yuan Zhu continued maintaining his Skeleton Tiger Demon form as he cautiously and vigilantly surveyed Vajra Temple. After the chaotic slaughter just now, he had thrown all the limited corpse ghosts outside the temple and imprisoned them within the Shadow World.

At this moment, the vast Vajra Temple stood empty. The rich Yellow Springs Buddha Rhythm still drifted through the air, yet everything was steeped in dead silence. Without the corpse ghosts operating it, its threat level had plummeted.

"Let's go. Have a good look around. Search every inch of this place carefully and see if there are any valuable treasures. Don't miss a thing."

Little Elf: "That little pond, that little pond! Hurry over there! The Yellow Springs Death Qi is so dense—this is the springhead! Quickly, see if there are any heavenly treasures inside!"

"Heavenly treasures? Those can exist in a filthy world like this?"

Little Elf: "Isn't that all immortal-cultivation common knowledge from your head?"

"That's fiction, not common knowledge! Don't just apply it blindly—this isn't any proper world." And you call yourself Artificial Intelligence? How were you getting more and more brain-dead?

As Yuan Zhu's understanding of Duling continued to deepen, he realized that Little Elf was getting sillier and sillier. It could not distinguish truth from falsehood in his memories, foolishly and innocently treating mythical novels as real reference material.

Still, he quite enjoyed its ability to provide emotional value. Keep increasing the intensity of the mental massage! This king could take it.

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