Tang An immediately pinpointed the sources of the two auras.
Ahead of them was a silver-white fox with nine tails. The vertical eye on its forehead glimmered faintly, and its body was covered in wounds. It was clearly at the end of its strength.
Close on its heels was a giant tiger, over eight meters long. Its body was pure black, without a single streak of another color. Its muscles bulged like hills, and it weighed at least five thousand jin.
Its blood-red eyes were filled with a sinister aura. In the center of its forehead was a black marking shaped like the character for "king." The black was even darker than its fur, like a mass of fog that had gathered and refused to disperse.
The strangest thing was its tail. Made up of countless segments of bone, it pointed straight at the sky. A huge hook at its tip glimmered with a chilling light in the moonlight.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
The name flashed through Tang An's mind, and he couldn't help cursing inwardly.
...So this is where you were waiting for me.
It wasn't that he hadn't encountered Mental Attribute Soul Beasts. Heaven had prepared a huge gift for Huo Yuhao—a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
And, afraid the gift might be lonely, it had thrown in a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger for free.
The favored daughter of fortune, indeed.
Tang An sprang to his feet, his gaze sharp as lightning.
"Brother Niu, northwest, twenty thousand meters from here. Two Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts—a fox and a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger—are fighting. Go intercept them. I want both of them alive."
At his words, Niu Tian's Limit Douluo aura erupted. Without wasting a word, he flashed away into the night sky in a streak of azure light.
Tang An turned to Tang Ya and Beibei, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Wait here. I'm taking Yuhao to obtain her Soul Ring."
With that, Tang An hooked an arm around Huo Yuhao's waist and swung onto the Breeze Unicorn beside them.
Suddenly finding Tang An on its back, the unicorn snorted in protest. It was about to kick up its heels when Tang An gave it a kick on the rump.
It let out an aggrieved whinny and unfurled the Wind Wings tucked against its flanks. Thin as cicada wings, they beat sharply, and the unicorn's four hooves trod on the wind as it became a streak of azure light and raced northwest.
Xiao Wu naturally followed close behind. Her pink hair streamed in the night wind, and a few bounds were enough to match the unicorn's speed.
The wind howled, and the trees on either side flashed past.
Huo Yuhao huddled in Tang An's arms, her heart pounding.
Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were beings she wouldn't even have dared dream of. Yet Tang An had just said that one would be her Soul Ring.
The unicorn raced through the forest for a little while before the trees ahead suddenly began to thin.
A clearing, strewn with wreckage, came into view. The trees for a hundred zhang in every direction had been snapped in half by some terrifying force, lying scattered across the ground.
In the center of the clearing, Niu Tian had already manifested his Sky Azure Bull Python Martial Soul Avatar. The phantom of a giant azure python coiled in midair, pinning two figures—one large, one small—to the ground.
The larger one was silver-white, its nine tails drooping limply to the ground. The vertical eye on its forehead flickered on and off, and blood stained its snowy fur. It curled around itself, seemingly protecting something.
On the other side, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was firmly trapped beneath the Sky Azure Bull Python's phantom. Its blood-red eyes burned with savagery and resentment in the night, one of the black fleshy wings on its back was broken, and the dark red demonic patterns across its body flickered in and out.
Tang An leaped down from the unicorn with Huo Yuhao in his arms and landed steadily.
Both Soul Beasts turned to look.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's blood-red eyes were full of savagery and resentment, while the Nine-Tailed Silver Fox's vertical eye fixed on Tang An, sweeping over him from head to toe.
Then it did something no one had expected.
It spoke.
"Human... I can sacrifice myself to you."
Its voice sounded directly in Tang An's Sea of Consciousness, weak and urgent.
"If you'll spare my child, I'll give you my Spiritual Origin, Soul Ring, and Soul Bone. Everything. I only ask that you protect it."
After speaking, the giant fox struggled to shift its curled-up body, revealing a palm-sized little fox beneath it.
The little fox was pure white, with a vertical eye on its forehead and only one tail. It gazed at Tang An with a pair of damp, glistening eyes.
Tang An looked at the little fox, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he mused inwardly.
...So powerful was her luck that one Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring wasn't enough. She even got a future Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast cub thrown in for free.
Tang An nodded and readily agreed. "All right."
A hint of relief flashed through the Nine-Tailed Silver Fox's eyes. But the next moment, Tang An raised a hand and pointed at Huo Yuhao beside him.
"But you're not sacrificing yourself to me. You're sacrificing yourself to her."
Huo Yuhao froze.
She pointed at herself, her face full of confusion. "Me? Sacrifice... to me?"
Huo Yuhao waved her hands in a panic. "Brother Tang An, this is a sacrifice from a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast! I can't do it. I can't withstand it."
The Nine-Tailed Silver Fox was stunned too.
Its vertical eye moved back and forth between Tang An and Huo Yuhao twice, full of bewilderment.
"Boy, are you sure?"
Its Spiritual Power sounded in Tang An's mind again, incredulous.
"I'm a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and this is a sacrifice, not an ordinary Soul Ring absorption."
"Through a sacrifice, all my power will be poured into the recipient without reservation. Even a Super Douluo would have to treat this with caution. You're certain you want to give it to someone else?"
You can't bring about a qualitative change for me. There's not much point in giving it to me.
"Enough talk. My disciple needs this Soul Ring. Sacrifice yourself to her, and I'll protect your child."
The Nine-Tailed Silver Fox fell silent.
It looked at Tang An's eyes, devoid of greed, and suddenly understood.
This human boy wasn't unaware of how precious it was. He truly didn't care. There was no greed in his gaze, no hesitation—only an unshakable calm and confidence, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That bearing reassured the Silver Fox more than any promise could.
After it died, its child would be with someone like this. It would never be mistreated.
"Very well." The Silver Fox said no more. Struggling, it raised its upper body and aimed the vertical eye on its forehead at Huo Yuhao.
A gentle yet immense column of silver-white light shot from its vertical eye, enveloping Huo Yuhao completely.
"Yuhao, relax your mind and circulate your Soul Power to absorb it. Leave the rest to me." Tang An's gentle voice sounded by Huo Yuhao's ear.
Huo Yuhao felt an immeasurably vast Spiritual Origin surging into her Spirit Eyes. She hurriedly closed her eyes, sat cross-legged, and circulated her Soul Power with all her might to absorb the power.
But the power of a Ten-Thousand-Year sacrifice was simply too immense. Her body began to tremble slightly, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Tang An called out inwardly, "Little Dream, wake up. Time to get to work. Help this girl obtain a Wisdom Soul Ring like I did."
In the Sea of Consciousness, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm rubbed her eyes and popped her head out of the lake, mumbling groggily:
"Master, what's going on in the middle of the night...?" Through her senses, Tian Meng glanced outside, and she instantly snapped awake.
A Ten-Thousand-Year Nine-Tailed Silver Fox was sacrificing itself, and a little fox cub beside it was trembling with fear. The scene was practically identical to when she had sacrificed herself to Tang An.
"Holy crap!"
Tian Meng jumped up in the Sea of Consciousness, her eyes wide and round.
"There's another story just like mine? A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is willingly sacrificing itself to a little girl who doesn't even have a Soul Ring?"
She shook her head in shock and exclaimed, "Are all the companions of a divine heir this badass? If I'd had this kind of luck back then, I'd have become a true Hundred-Million-Year Soul Beast!"
For all her exclamations, Tian Meng moved without delay. A beam of interwoven gold and silver light flew out from Tang An's brow and landed beside Huo Yuhao, who was absorbing the power of the sacrifice.
The origin aura of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm mingled with the Silver Fox's Spiritual Origin, helping Huo Yuhao transform that immense power into the form of a Wisdom Soul Ring, just as she had done for Tang An.
And just as everyone's attention was fixed on Huo Yuhao and the Silver Fox—
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger moved.
It had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead, waiting for this very moment. The tail made up of countless segments of bone suddenly went taut, and the enormous hook at its tip rose high, flashing with a cold gleam in the moonlight.
Evil God Spike. Life and Death Arena.
These were the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's most terrifying innate skills.
Its tail hook transformed into an Evil God Spike. A black hole formed at the tip before their very eyes, and the void shattered like glass. Terrifying suction poured from the black hole, locking directly onto Tang An.
Once drawn into that alternate space, both the opponent and the tiger would be forcibly reverted to their infant forms.
In that alternate space, the battle to the death would only end when one side died. The victor would devour the loser's soul, bloodline, attribute origin, and cultivation base completely, leaving not a trace behind.
"Xiao An!" Xiao Wu shrieked.
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