Blood as the Guide, Soul as the Fuel—Seven Kill Shakes Heaven, Proving My Dao Heart!

"Aah!"

A miserable scream tore through the air. The remnant soul within the Shadow Evil God Tiger's Life Pearl invaded Chen Lang's Divine Sense like a parasite clinging to bone. In an instant, his originally fair and handsome face twisted grotesquely.

Fine black patterns burst from the center of his brow, spreading like a spiderweb along the corners of his eyes and the bridge of his nose. Within a few breaths, they had crawled across his entire face.

These patterns were not random scratches. They were marks left by the phantom of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's Life Pearl surging beneath his skin. Every line outlined the curve of the evil tiger's fangs, and every raised patch concealed the ferocity of a beast's eye.

It was as if living things were wildly battering against the inside of his skin. The black inscriptions flickered with the pulse of his bloodline. His once-clear eyes were swiftly devoured; their whites turned into ink-black abysses, while his pupils shrank into crimson vertical slits that glimmered with a violence and chill no human possessed.

His lips turned dry and pale, yet an eerie curve formed at the corners of his mouth. As the demonic power seeped deeper in, even his breathing took on a low hum like the growl of a beast.

The veins at his neck bulged, intertwining with the black inscriptions into savage patterns. It was as though a sealed evil tiger was about to burst through flesh and seize this body completely.

At that moment, none of Chen Lang's former clear and bright demeanor remained. In its place was a suffocatingly sinister pressure.

Black inscriptions slithered and flickered across his face, sometimes becoming phantom claws of an evil tiger that swept over his cheeks, sometimes condensing into the dark-gold outline of the Life Pearl, rising and falling at the center of his brow.

Every inch of his skin took on a faint gray-black hue under the corrosion of evil energy. It seemed even his bones were letting out dull, overloaded groans beneath the impact of that power. He was like a living puppet steeped in Evil God Power, twisting into a terrifying form amid agony and transformation.

"Damn it, that beast is trying to possess Little Chen and devour his soul!" Seeing this, a frighteningly fierce light burst from Bone Douluo's clouded eyes, and the bones throughout his body crackled.

His bony fingers clenched tightly, his knuckles whitening from the force. As he watched the black inscriptions spread wildly across Chen Lang's face and his pupils gradually being consumed, the old man's body began to tremble uncontrollably—not from fear, but from rage so intense it shook him to the core.

"Don't panic. Little Chen took quite a few immortal herbs from my place, including herbs that strengthened Spirit Power. His Spirit Power is stronger than we imagined."

Poison Douluo comforted Bone Douluo, saying, "And that beast has only a remnant soul left in its Life Pearl. If Little Chen can endure this and instead refine that beast's remnant soul, he may gain quite a lot."

Before Poison Douluo finished speaking, a vast storm of Spirit Power suddenly erupted inside Chen Lang's body.

Chen Lang's body, once covered in black inscriptions, shuddered violently. A faint pearly-white glow rose around him, clashing fiercely with the sinister black mist and producing a sizzling, burning sound.

The savage inscriptions writhing across his face suddenly halted, as if an invisible force had choked off their advance. The phantom of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's Life Pearl at his brow shook violently as well, faintly revealing signs of instability.

"Damn beast, do you really think I'm that easy to bully?!"

Chen Lang's cold voice exploded from his mouth. The pained howls from before were gone, replaced by icy resolve.

The voice retained the youth's original clarity, yet it was mixed with the hoarseness of his struggle against the evil power. Every word rang firm and forceful, like a sharp sword piercing the sinister pressure in the air.

Within his eyes, stained black as ink, the crimson beast pupils began to contract violently. A trace of clear light stubbornly shone from the depths of his gaze, battling the evil tiger's ferocity within his pupils.

As his voice rang out, the Spirit Power around Chen Lang grew even more turbulent. The pearly-white radiance expanded in wave after wave, forcing part of the black inscriptions backward and exposing patches of his originally fair skin.

"Brat, today, either you die or I perish!"

Yet the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's remnant soul was clearly unwilling to yield. The phantom of the Life Pearl suddenly swelled, and the black inscriptions instantly erupted with even denser evil energy. Dense showers of energy sparks burst where it collided with Chen Lang's Spirit Power.

"Fuck!"

Chen Lang's body shook violently beneath the tearing force of the two powers. His expression repeatedly warped between agony and determination, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to let the other side gain complete control.

At the same time, he was grateful for the years of arduous cultivation that had made his Spirit Power far surpass that of ordinary people. Otherwise, bolstered by the other party's Life Pearl, he might not have lasted this long.

"Brat, stop struggling. Give up resisting. If you hand this body over to me, I will lead you onto the supreme path!" The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's voice was seductive, as though painting Chen Lang a grand vision.

"Fuck off. Since when do I need you to lead me?"

The veins at Chen Lang's temples bulged from the pain. As he cursed, his teeth ground together with a crackling sound.

The black inscriptions raced wildly over his face like countless venomous insects gnawing at his flesh. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's remnant soul rampaged through his body, and every impact made it feel as if his soul were about to be torn apart.

He had never imagined that the opponent was merely a wisp of remnant soul, yet it could unleash such tyrannical power. That evil force, carrying primal ferocity, clung to his soul like a parasite embedded in bone, determined to crush his consciousness completely.

"No wonder it dared to fight a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with only sixty thousand years of cultivation. It really is a bit tigerish..."

Amid the excruciating pain, Chen Lang instead grew increasingly clear-headed, and his eyes shone ever brighter.

The Spirit Power and evil energy within him clashed madly. Every inch of his meridians gave off an overloaded hum under the tearing of those two powers, yet the clarity in his eyes not only did not fade—it burned even fiercer.

Because...

How could life ever be smooth sailing?

Without enduring hardship,

how could one live to see the clouds part and the moon shine through?

"Blood as the guide, soul as the fuel—Seven Kill Shakes Heaven, proving my Dao heart!"

Chen Lang suddenly threw back his head, and a long howl burst from his throat. The pearly-white Spirit Power that had been suppressed by the evil energy abruptly surged!

He had never considered giving up, much less planned to start Slacking Off in such a desperate situation. His indifference toward Ning Rongrong at the beginning and his going along with the system's choices had merely been the carefree nature of someone unwilling to be bound, not the cowardice of bowing to fate.

Now, facing this life-or-death crisis of possession by a remnant soul, the ruthlessness in his bones erupted completely.

A sudden scorching heat rose from his chest. It was the essence of life that had settled within him after he consumed immortal herbs in his early years, and at this moment, it began to boil along with that incantation!

Crimson blood seeped from his pores and collided with the black inscriptions over his body. Dark-purple flames instantly ignited, scorching some of the evil markings with sizzling sounds.

The power of his soul surged forth like a burst dam. No longer passively defending, it launched an assault directly at that remnant soul. In his mind echoed the tyrannical rhythm of the Seven Kill Art, each word transforming into an invisible blade that slashed toward the most vicious core of the remnant soul!