The Strange Dark Element

The news of Xing Tian easily defeating Yu Tianheng while crossing ranks spread like wildfire, cementing his reputation as the number one genius of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

However, Xing Tian himself did not care; he was currently deep in thought.

Xing Tian stared blankly at his palm, watching a mass of black mist slowly emerge and swirl between his hands and fingers.

"My dark element seems unusual. It can autonomously protect my body and devour Yu Tianheng's lightning; otherwise, I wouldn't have won so easily."

That was correct. The final straw that broke Yu Tianheng was that Xing Tian's dark element was so powerful and bizarre that it could consume his lightning element.

Xing Tian had not expected himself to possess such an overbearing ability.

When Yu Tianheng first used Thunderous Force, Xing Tian was not hit directly, but his clothes were scorched by the lightning, and a small amount of it had seeped into his body.

It was this intrusion of lightning that seemed to awaken the strange dark element within him.

When Yu Tianheng landed his final heavy blow on Xing Tian's shoulder, the dark element inside Xing Tian became fully active, completely devouring the lightning attached to Yu Tianheng's attack.

Xing Tian was thus able to remain completely unaffected by the lightning, though at that moment, the soul power consumed was twice that of his first soul skill.

"My Dark Evil Spirit Mantis martial soul possesses the dark attribute. After classes officially started, I focused on studying knowledge regarding the dark element, but I flipped through every book in the academy on the subject and found no mention of my situation."

"There are only dark-attribute soul masters who use Soul Ring skills to turn their own dark elements into a form to avoid damage, or use Soul Ring skills to create small black holes to devour an opponent's attacks. And those *Soul Ring*s are all over ten thousand years old!"

"Yet, I seem to be born with it, only it was just awakened."

"Could it be an innate soul skill?"

"But even if it were an innate soul skill, this is too exaggerated. Should I go ask Senior Dugu Bo?"

Just as Xing Tian was thinking of seeking advice from Dugu Bo, two voices called out.

"Xiao Tian, let's go eat!"

Xing Tian looked up to see Osler and Yu Feng approaching.

Suddenly, Xing Tian seemed to sense something; the corners of his mouth curled up into a cunning expression.

Osler and Yu Feng immediately felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads.

Xing Tian radiated black energy, locking onto the two of them, and said coldly, "Do me a favor."

Osler and Yu Feng were so terrified they hugged each other—the two had never been so close—and trembled as they shouted in unison, "Don't come over here—"

"Xiao Tian, what exactly are you doing? Why did you have to come to this remote forest?"

Osler watched nervously as Xing Tian paced around him, while Yu Feng leaned against a large tree, looking relieved.

Xing Tian said indifferently, "Activate your Martial Soul Possession first."

Osler swallowed hard and summoned his martial soul hesitantly. His original short golden hair turned black, his handsome face appeared somewhat pale, his pupils became two vertical lines, black fur grew all over his body, sharp claws extended from his hands, and his legs were slightly bent.

Watching Osler in his Martial Soul Possession state, Xing Tian couldn't help but nod. "As expected."

"What do you mean 'as expected'?" The confusion in Osler's heart grew.

Xing Tian said nothing and walked silently behind Osler.

Just as Osler was about to turn around to ask, he was interrupted by Xing Tian: "Don't turn around, just stand like that."

Osler had no choice but to stand there nervously and helplessly. Xing Tian summoned his Dark Evil Spirit Mantis martial soul, slowly raised his right hand, which was emitting thick black mist, and placed it on Osler's back.

The next instant, Osler's whole body shook—not from fear, but from excitement, an excitement originating from his martial soul.

He suddenly felt as if he had undergone a earth-shattering change, and an indescribable aura surged into his body from his back.

He felt as if he had fallen into a bottomless dark abyss, yet this dark abyss felt as warm as a parent's embrace, like a wanderer who had been away for years finally returning home.

Osler discovered that he seemed to be assimilated by this aura; something inside him was growing stronger, leaping to another level.

Just as this feeling reached its peak, Osler couldn't help but let out an excited roar.

In an instant, strands of black light like thin gauze surged from his body, forming a black tornado that surrounded him, and Osler himself was rendered completely black.

Immediately after, the area within a hundred meters went dark, as if the surroundings had fallen into a cold night. Yu Feng couldn't help but shiver.

"What's going on!" Yu Feng hurriedly took a Soul Tool lighting lamp from his storage Soul Tool, but miraculously, the light from the lamp seemed to be largely devoured by the surrounding darkness, only barely illuminating Osler and Xing Tian.

"My martial soul has evolved!" Osler said excitedly.

Yu Feng looked at the Osler before him, his jaw dropping so low an egg could fit inside.

At this moment, the black light tornado surrounding Osler had vanished, with only a few strands of black light slowly diffusing from his body. Behind Osler appeared a phantom of a ghost leopard, which was vastly different from his original ghost leopard martial soul.

The current ghost leopard martial soul was entirely grey-black, covered in black patterns that seemed to flow and devour light. Parts of the fur on its shoulders and limbs appeared to have turned into twisted metal armor, and its claws and eyes emitted a chilling, pale-blue light.

Osler said excitedly, "According to the family records, our inherited martial soul, the Ghost Leopard, is a high-level martial soul with a dark attribute. If cultivated properly, it can evolve into the top-tier martial soul, the 'Black-Veined Ghost Leopard'."

"But I can be certain that my current martial soul is definitely not just a Black-Veined Ghost Leopard. It is even above that!"

Yu Feng couldn't believe everything before his eyes was real; Osler's martial soul evolution was more painful to him than being killed. "How is this possible! Xiao Tian touched you once, and your martial soul evolved!"

"Ah—" Yu Feng immediately threw himself on the ground, grabbing Xing Tian's pant leg with teary eyes. "Xiao Tian, hurry and touch me! Don't hold back!"

"Ew—" Xing Tian shook off Yu Feng in disgust and said leisurely, "This is a new ability I discovered."

"After the battle with Yu Tianheng, I realized the dark element within me had been thoroughly awakened, but I hadn't figured out exactly what this strange dark element was capable of—until you guys came in. Or more accurately, when Osler came in."

"At the time, I just had a feeling—perhaps it was an intuition brought on by my Martial Soul—that I could strengthen Osler's Martial Soul, since his also possesses the dark attribute."

Yu Feng asked with eager eyes, "So that means..."

Osler boasted triumphantly, "It means you can't achieve Martial Soul Evolution! Hahahaha!"

"This isn't actually Martial Soul Evolution," Xing Tian suddenly poured cold water on Osler.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Osler was confused but felt it sounded impressive.

Xing Tian explained, "The evolution your Martial Soul is undergoing right now is triggered because my dark-attribute soul power is assimilating yours. It isn't your Martial Soul's origin evolving directly, so..."

Yu Feng immediately understood. He stood up and shoved Osler, breaking the contact between Xing Tian's hand and Osler.

The aura surrounding Osler slowly faded, the black radiance gradually receding back into his body, and his Martial Soul reverted once again to the original Ghost Leopard.