The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger didn't put up much of a fight. After twitching a few times, it died for good.
The moment it died, Lin Chuan's surroundings abruptly changed. The space from before was like a black curtain being lifted, slowly drawing back on both sides.
He was beneath the shade of a tree. The tips of the Blue Silver Grass leaves before him were still stained with conspicuous crimson blood.
The mysterious power that had made his body revert to a younger state had also completely vanished.
Lin Chuan returned to his Spirit Emperor strength, while Chrysanthemum Pass and Ghost Elder once again radiated the long-missed pressure of Titled Douluo.
Feeling his strength return to its peak, Gui Mei said calmly,
"Being a Titled Douluo is still better."
Chrysanthemum Pass unusually didn't respond. He gazed despondently at his own upturned orchid fingers.
As he sighed, his thoughts had already drifted far away.
Lin Chuan's mood was utterly unlike the two men's easygoing demeanor.
He stood before the black Spirit Ring floating above the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's corpse, his gaze sharp as a blade as he examined the beast carefully.
Five Spirit Rings hovered and shimmered around him, while Giratina's massive body stood quietly to one side.
The Spirit Ring before him was a deep, inky black. After telling Giratina to keep watch over the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's corpse, Lin Chuan sat cross-legged on the spot.
Looking at the Spirit Ring, which was over sixty thousand years old, he let out a long breath.
Once he was ready, he drew the Spirit Ring toward himself with his Soul Power. It settled around him, and he began to refine and absorb it.
Lin Chuan had kept his Soul Power and stamina at full strength. Even as the surging energy rampaged through his meridians like a crazed beast, he still had the strength to resist.
Refining and absorbing the Spirit Ring was a long process.
The stabbing pain in his meridians and the ache swelling through his body made Lin Chuan grit his teeth in agony.
Though his body still trembled faintly, he didn't dare stop absorbing the Spirit Ring for even a moment.
The aching in his flesh grew steadily worse, testing Lin Chuan's willpower.
It was like doing push-ups: even when his body reached its limit, he couldn't stop. Gradually, his strength failed and his head began to spin.
Throughout the process, Chrysanthemum Pass and Ghost Elder stayed by his side, watching as Lin Chuan absorbed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's Spirit Ring.
When they saw his body nearing collapse, both felt the urge to stop him.
With their strength, they could protect Lin Chuan's vital points the instant the backlash struck and at least save his life.
But neither the prospect of being questioned afterward nor Lin Chuan's continued determination to press on had made them interfere without permission.
They were still responsible for this mess. They'd sensed that Lin Chuan's physique could handle a Spirit Ring of fifty to sixty thousand years.
Their mistake had been that neither of them knew the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's exact age.
Judging by how things stood, this Dark Demon Evil God Tiger might have been more than sixty thousand years old.
Fortunately, it hadn't been much older. Otherwise, Lin Chuan would have exploded on the spot.
Just as the atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive, Giratina, which had been idling like a mere accessory, sprang into action.
It moved swiftly, appearing in the blink of an eye before the bead that had fled from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's brow.
It opened its mouth and drew the bead in with a powerful suction, catching the fist-sized, purple-black orb in midair. Then it returned to Lin Chuan's side.
There was no doubt that the bead's sudden escape meant the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's source was still inside it.
The soul's source tried to use the bead to travel through time and space, but fortunately, Giratina suppressed it outright.
Its ability to devour souls was far stronger than the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's. The tiger could only cower inside the orb, trembling, and didn't dare control the bead to flee again.
Otherwise, with Giratina ready for it, the moment it showed itself, it would be devoured.
In other words, the instant it poked its head out, it was dead.
The bead itself also held energy: pure darkness and devouring, the power of ultimate evil.
Less conspicuous were its time and space attributes, along with wind, lightning, and strength.
If Giratina hadn't worried that eating the orb might cause a disturbance during Lin Chuan's absorption of the Spirit Ring, it would have swallowed it from the very start.
Gui Mei and Chrysanthemum Pass hadn't expected anything like this. They knew Lin Chuan's Martial Soul was peculiar and unlike an ordinary Beast Martial Soul.
But this thing could act on its own. Wasn't that an external Martial Soul?
The two men secretly exchanged a glance. Looking at Giratina's towering body, they suppressed their doubts and continued to watch Lin Chuan.
They were both Titled Douluo, but neither had a particularly thorough understanding of Martial Souls.
Still, they both thought of someone who called himself a "Grandmaster of Martial Soul Theory." His Martial Soul was an external Martial Soul, too.
It was a half-rank innate pig Martial Soul, with self-awareness and a physical form.
Lin Chuan had said Giratina was special for two reasons. First, he wanted to avoid attracting any extra attention beyond the amazement at his Innate Full Soul Power.
Second, he didn't want people probing and studying him too much while he was still weak and hadn't yet grown strong.
He knew the truth would come out eventually. At least with his current Spirit Emperor-level strength and two domains, he wouldn't need to worry as much once it did.
Although he didn't even know what he was worried about. Maybe it was that lunatic, Bibi Dong...
The sunset sank lower, and twilight crept in, climbing the ridge little by little until it covered most of the sky.
Sitting quietly in the dusk, Lin Chuan's violent aura had settled. The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's Spirit Ring now hovered steadily in the sixth position.
He broke through the bottleneck at level sixty and went straight to level sixty-four.
The Spirit Ring he'd obtained from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger granted him Shadow Claw, imbued with ultimate evil, space, wind, and lightning attributes.
Anyone struck by it would suffer the corrosion of evil energy.
At best, they would become weakened, losing vitality and recovering their mental strength more slowly.
At worst, their internal organs would be steadily corroded by the evil energy until they died without treatment.
Shadow Claw greatly increased his speed and could unleash blades of evil wind.
A moment later, Lin Chuan breathed out a mouthful of foul air and opened his eyes. A dark glint flashed across them.
The cool night breeze brushed past, bringing a refreshing chill. Along with the improvement and transformation of his mental strength, it left him feeling invigorated.
He stood and stretched his body. The stiffness from sitting too long produced a series of crisp cracks.
Turning to look around, he finally noticed something strange.
Chrysanthemum Pass and Ghost Elder were nowhere to be seen, and the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's corpse had disappeared from before him.
Shouldn't the two of them have stayed to protect him?
Noticing Lin Chuan's confusion, Giratina, standing beside him, explained,
"The earlier battle drew the Titan Giant Ape from Star Dou Forest. To avoid disturbing you, the two of them lured it away."
It returned to Lin Chuan's side. Before he could ask anything else, it spat out the purple-black orb.
"Before they left, they said you should return to Spirit Hall as soon as you finished absorbing the Spirit Ring. They also carved a message in Soul Power over there."
Following Giratina's directions, Lin Chuan looked over and indeed saw a line carved into the ground with Soul Power.
[After absorbing and waking, return safely to Spirit Hall.]
Unlike the two men, who had been worried, Lin Chuan wasn't in a hurry at all. He lowered his head and examined the bead.
Setting aside the powerful Soul Skill granted by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's Spirit Ring, the black bead was the true source of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. The four domineering forces of wind and lightning contained within its body must have come from the bead, too. It was a great opportunity.
The bead was part of the tiger's body, and might have come from its special ability.
That special ability was the so-called "Life and Death Arena."
There was no Spirit Bone, but this bead was the real treasure.
"I'll refine it when I have time. Maybe the Inversion Domain can evolve and reach its final form, the Distortion World."
Lin Chuan nodded in agreement.
He put the Evil God Bead into the storage ring on his right index finger, recalled Giratina, and set off toward the forest's outskirts.