Evil Tiger Tempers the Heart, Heart Source Takes Shape

"Sister Bing, its Soul Ring..." Xue Lingyun composed himself and asked.

"As for its quality, there's nothing to criticize." The Ice Empress's tone was certain. "Don't be fooled by its mere few hundred years of cultivation. What's packed inside is more solid and abundant than the Soul Rings of many thousand-year Soul Beasts."

"It's just that the energy is chaotic, its nature violent, and it carries a filthy spiritual taint. If an ordinary person so much as touched it, they'd suffer disrupted Soul Power at best and go insane outright at worst."

She looked Xue Lingyun over from head to toe and nodded. "But you... your foundation was laid crookedly... laid thickly. You should be able to endure it. Go on, put it out of its misery."

Xue Lingyun nodded and hesitated no longer. A high-quality Profound Ice Short Sword that the Ice Empress had given him for practice in his early years appeared in his hand.

He walked to the edge of the pit.

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger seemed to sense its end approaching. Its unfocused pupils struggled to gather themselves as it stared fixedly at Xue Lingyun.

An extremely faint, intermittent "Hah... hah..." emerged from its throat, like a leaking bellows. It was as though it wanted to make one final threatening snarl, yet could not even gather the strength for that.

Its once majestic outline, like a Spine Dragon lined with ghastly pale Bone Spurs, was now pressed flat against the ground. Paired with its helplessly drooping Wings and tail hook, it looked absurdly comical.

Its gaze was mixed with boundless unwillingness, bone-deep venomous hatred, and a trace of near-mocking understanding of fate's cruel tricks.

Xue Lingyun avoided that unsettling gaze and drove the short sword cleanly and precisely into its vital point.

A deep yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from the tiger's corpse.

Its color was far richer and its halo far more solid than those of ordinary hundred-year Soul Rings. Faint bands of dark purple, bluish white, and tiny ghastly white arcs of Lightning curled around its edges.

A heavy, violent energy fluctuation filled with aggression and chaotic attributes spread outward, making even the surrounding air seem slightly viscous.

Xue Lingyun sat cross-legged before the Soul Ring and closed his eyes, but he did not begin absorbing it immediately.

The first thing he did was what he had done every day without interruption for the past seven years: calm his mind and guide his Soul Power along the basic circulation route of the Dharma Cleansing Marrow and Changing Tendons Scripture, a route that had long become instinctive to his body.

This method, born from the mysteries of his previous life and evolved in this world, was mainly divided into several mutually supportive parts:

The Marrow Cleansing Chapter, used to refine the body and transform one's very constitution, had granted him a purer physique and tougher meridians than those of his peers;

The Body Tempering Chapter, used to temper muscles and bones and increase strength, combined with the harsh environment of the Far North and his playful sparring with Xiao Bai and the others, had forged his powerful body;

And what he was circulating now was the Heart Method portion, used to guide and temper Soul Power, or inner force. Its purpose was to nourish the meridians, stabilize the mind, and establish a calm cycle of energy.

In the past, it had been more like an advanced set of foundational exercises. Now, it was a preparatory stance for the coming impact.

His consciousness cautiously touched the yellow Soul Ring.

Bzzzz—!!

It was as if a muddy torrent mixed with gravel, hail, and Lightning had burst through a dam and violently flooded into his meridians!

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's several centuries of accumulated chaotic Soul Power, its violent wind and Thunder Attributes, its cold dark energy, and that evil primordial will that clung like poison to the bone all poured into him at once.

Intense swelling pain and tearing agony spread through every limb and bone.

Even more troublesome was the Spiritual Impact. Brutal, greedy, destructive negative emotions surged like a tide, attempting to erode his consciousness.

Fortunately, the foundation laid by his Marrow Cleansing Chapter was profound. His mind had been tempered far beyond that of his peers through daily use of Huangji Jingshi and refinement by the Heart Method, allowing him to barely preserve the clarity of his spiritual platform.

He immediately circulated the familiar Heart Method with all his strength, attempting to sort through and guide the violent invader.

But before long, he frowned.

Something was wrong.

The circulation route of that Heart Method now felt... somewhat roundabout and obstructed.

It was like using a standardized precision mold to forcibly cast a mass of unruly molten alloys of varying properties. There were constraints everywhere, and the efficiency was abysmal.

A great deal of the violent energy was not effectively guided. Instead, it rampaged through his meridians, bringing doubled pain and chaos.

Though the tough meridians forged by the Marrow Cleansing Chapter and the powerful body built by the Body Tempering Chapter kept him from collapsing for the time being, continuing like this would make the absorption process twice the effort for half the result, with no small risk of future trouble.

I can't force it into this mold... The sense of danger made his mind focus even more intensely.

Under the pressure, the detached insight granted by Huangji Jingshi became especially clear.

He could "see" the chaotic landscape of energy within his body, and he could also feel that deep within his chest, the Primal Heart was producing a peculiar resonance with the chaotic energy pouring in from outside—one of both rejection and attraction.

In that instant, understanding came to him.

He stopped forcing the energy into the old circulation framework, which had become unsuitable for the present moment.

Instead, he sank most of his attention into the beating Primal Heart.

He tried using the Heart Martial Soul as a brand-new, absolute core and starting point!

Guided by his will, a portion of the violent energy that had rushed near his heart meridian was actively drawn in and enveloped by the warm, profound power of the Primal Heart.

Immediately afterward, a stream of energy that had undergone preliminary harmonization—still restless, yet far more subdued—was forcefully pumped out.

Following this newly born Pumping Force, he instinctively began constructing an entirely new path.

Starting from the heart's core, the energy raced rapidly along several specific meridians that were most closely linked to his Martial Soul, those that felt the most unobstructed and the most hungry.

Wherever it passed, it washed through his meridians, tempered his flesh and blood, nourished his spirit, and returned to his heart after completing one cycle.

The core principles of Energy Flow and circulation cycles from the old Heart Method were not discarded. Instead, they were cleverly broken apart, selectively absorbed, and perfectly woven into this brand-new system driven by the heart as its engine.

It was like designing and forging a completely exclusive, highly compatible transmission system on the spot for a one-of-a-kind super engine.

Gradually, the chaotic torrent within him began to weaken and submit, with more and more of it being absorbed into this newborn energy circulation network that was constantly optimizing itself.

The pain remained, but it had changed from aimless destruction into focused, efficient tempering and absorption.

Time passed in silence.

When the final trace of chaotic energy belonging to the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had been breathed in and out by the Primal Heart, transformed, and completely absorbed, the deep yellow Soul Ring also fully merged into Xue Lingyun's body.

The aura around him suddenly surged upward, and his Soul Power Level rose steadily.

More importantly, the Soul Power circulation system that had spontaneously come into being in that critical moment and perfectly matched his Martial Soul—

The Heart Source Circulation Technique

—had completely stabilized and taken shape, circulating smoothly as though it had been innate from birth.