Evil Tiger, Thunder God Inheritance

"Fifth Soul Skill, Thunder Spirit Bodyless."

Su Zhen's fourth soul ring lit up beneath his feet, his body transforming into a bolt of lightning to dodge a massive golden slash.

"Not bad, kid. That attack of mine reached the level of a Soul Saint, yet you managed to neutralize it just like that."

The mountain-like giant bear standing before Su Zhen spoke. The bear was covered in dark golden fur, with arms so long they hung past its knees, and two massive dark golden claws that radiated power capable of tearing through space.

"You flatter me, Senior Xiong Jun. Although this humble one was lucky enough to dodge the fatal blow, the residual force of the slash still left me injured."

Su Zhen wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth and spoke calmly.

The giant bear before him was none other than Xiong Jun, one of the five great guardian fierce beasts of the Star Dou Forest and the king of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear clan.

"Hahaha, you sure have a sweet tongue, kid. It wasn't a waste giving you all that Spirit-Controlling Bee honey."

"Let's call it a day for now. Di Tian sent word that he has found the tiger that Xiao Zhen needs."

Beside them, a stunning young woman dressed in a long emerald-green dress waved her hand, casting a green light onto Su Zhen that instantly healed the internal injuries he had sustained from Xiong Jun's strike.

Her long, emerald-green hair cascaded to her waist, and beneath her green dress, her beautiful legs were encased in green silk stockings. Her exquisite face, accented by the green hues, appeared even more fair and delicate. She was the greatest beauty in the soul master world, the strongest healing-type soul beast, and the matriarch of the Emerald Swan clan: the fierce beast Bi Ji.

"Senior Di Tian found that soul beast? Finally, I can break through to become a Soul Saint."

Su Zhen had been cultivating in the Star Dou Forest for a year. Over this year, with the full resources of the forest poured into him, he had soared from level 62 to level 70, becoming the youngest Soul Saint on the entire Douluo Continent and setting a precedent for reaching the rank at thirteen and a half years old.

The seventh soul ring Su Zhen had chosen for himself was a 65,000-year-old Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, that super soul beast tainted by the Evil God.

Bang!

A massive black tiger was thrown down from the sky. It was eight meters long, pitch black without a single stray color, and its tail was composed of countless bone segments like a scorpion's, with a glowing, barbed stinger held high.

This super soul beast, capable of fighting two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts even at sixty thousand years of age, now lay on the ground gasping for breath, a gruesome wound piercing through its abdomen.

"This tiger was quite cunning. It knew I was looking for it and went into hiding. With a trace of the Evil God's bloodline, it would have taken even me some effort to find it if it didn't want to be discovered."

Di Tian descended slowly from the sky, landing on the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger to examine the prey he had captured.

"Kid, kill it. Although its age is slightly lower, its bloodline is incomparable to those two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts outside."

Su Zhen walked up to the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, raised his arm to manifest a black spear made of lightning, and thrust it into the beast's eye. After a few twists, a pitch-black soul ring slowly emerged from the corpse of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

Su Zhen immediately activated Martial Soul Possession, sat cross-legged, and began to guide the soul ring onto himself to begin absorption.

The moment Su Zhen closed his eyes, a black bead emerged from the corpse of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, attempting to escape into the void.

However, it could not escape before three fierce beasts. No sooner had it appeared than Di Tian caught it in his claw.

The long process of soul ring absorption began, with Di Tian, Xiong Jun, and Bi Ji sitting to the side, silently watching the thirteen-and-a-half-year-old youth.

"Di Tian, do you really think this kid can lead the soul beast clan to glory?"

Xiong Jun asked Di Tian, feeling bored.

"He will. He can certainly realize the prosperity of our soul beast clan. Do not forget his identity. Ever since the Three-Eyed Golden Lion sacrificed itself to him, he has been the only auspicious beast of our clan. As long as he exists, our clan will surely flourish."

Di Tian voiced his thoughts. As the fierce beast who had known Su Zhen the longest, he understood the terrifying potential of this youth. Yet, when mentioning the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the eyes of the Beast God dimmed involuntarily.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion, whom he regarded as a daughter, had sacrificed itself to this young man to become his sixth soul ring. Because they were both auspicious beasts, the sacrifice served as a completion for the Thunder Prison Qilin, making Su Zhen's sixth soul ring his life-bound soul ring.

As a life-bound soul ring for an auspicious beast, Su Zhen's sixth soul skill was nothing short of a divine skill.

The three-stage life-bound soul skill boosted Su Zhen's combat capabilities exponentially. The moment it was activated, it formed a suit of lightning armor, greatly increasing the host's attack speed and defense, with all attacks while armored carrying paralysis and explosive effects. "Judgment of Fate" was the second stage, unfolding a massive Thunder Domain centered on the host, which had only one effect: allowing the host to foresee all actions of everyone within the domain for the next three seconds. "Thunder God's Spear" was the final effect: it froze an enemy for one second, condensed all the power of the lightning armor and the domain into a lightning spear in the host's hand, and hurled it at the frozen target. The spear had a lock-on effect, ensuring a hit that caused massive damage and a high-paralysis spherical lightning explosion. Su Zhen named this soul skill "Heavenly Punishment: Thunder Prison Judgment."

When Su Zhen revealed the effects of his sixth soul skill before all the fierce beasts of the Star Dou Forest, they had all fallen silent. With buffs, a domain, target-locking, and damage-dealing capabilities all in one, it could already be called a divine skill.

It took Su Zhen two months to finish absorbing his seventh soul ring.

Opening his eyes, Su Zhen felt the surging soul power within him, and a smile he couldn't suppress spilled across his face. At this moment, he had finally joined the ranks of the strong.

"Thank you to the three seniors for guarding me."

Su Zhen stood up and bowed deeply to Di Tian and the others. During the two months he spent absorbing the soul ring, the three seniors had not left his side for a single moment.

"What's there to thank? Three months is just the time it takes us to take a nap. It's no trouble, we were idle anyway."

Xiong Jun spoke first, his pride impossible to conceal. As one of the kings of the Star Dou Forest, all the soul beasts beneath him felt only fear, but this was the first time he had felt respect from Su Zhen, which the king of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear clan found very gratifying.

"Kid, absorb this as well."

Di Tian tossed a black bead to Su Zhen.

"This is? The inner core of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger!"

The moment Su Zhen caught the bead, he recognized its origin; he could feel the cold, evil aura of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger emanating from it.

"Yes, it escaped while you were absorbing the soul ring, but I caught it. As the essence of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's entire cultivation, absorbing it will surely cause your seventh soul ring to undergo a qualitative leap."

"Many thanks to Senior Di Tian for your thoughtfulness."

Su Zhen had been so focused on the soul ring before absorbing it that he had completely forgotten about the inner core. It was fortunate that Di Tian had helped.

Su Zhen consumed the inner core and entered a state of cultivation once more. Absorbing an inner core was not as taxing as a soul ring; this time, Su Zhen finished in only two hours.

"How is it? How do you feel?"

"Senior, I..."

Before Su Zhen could finish his response to Di Tian, his entire body transformed into a bolt of lightning and vanished from where he stood.

BOOM!

Di Tian and the other two instantly reverted to their true forms, their three massive bodies appearing beside the Lake of Life. The three of them swept their spiritual power across the entire Star Dou Forest, yet they could not find even a trace of Su Zhen's aura.

"Boss, what is going on here?"

Xiong Jun asked Di Tian, who stood to the side. The disappearance of Su Zhen was a matter of immense consequence; even he had to look to Di Tian for a decision. This was the first time he had addressed Di Tian as "Boss."

"This matter is not simple. I felt..."

"Lord!"

The three beasts ended their conversation and transformed back into human form. Gu Yuena appeared at the exact spot where Su Zhen had vanished, and the three beasts bowed to her respectfully.

"Di Tian, you felt it too, didn't you? The aura of that personage."

Gu Yuena's cold voice drifted over, and a hint of shock could be detected in her tone.

"Yes, Lord. I did not expect that personage to have left a legacy on the Douluo Continent."

"Truly unexpected. Su Zhen, you must seize this opportunity."

Gu Yuena gazed at the spot where Su Zhen had disappeared, her cold dragon eyes seemingly trying to pierce through the layers of space.

"Where is this?"

Su Zhen looked at the dilapidated, ancient palace before him, feeling very confused.

Most of the palace had collapsed. Inside the empty main hall, only a single massive stone pillar stood in the center, carved with dragons and phoenixes, with wisps of golden lightning coiling around it.

"Welcome to the Thunder God Temple, my successor."

A majestic male voice echoed through the hall, sounding like thunder and carrying an ancient sense of destruction and judgment.