"Roar!~"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger flapped its black bat wings, flexed its forelegs, and paced from side to side, low growls rumbling from its mouth.
Its intentions could not have been clearer. It was plainly assessing Li Zha.
Outside the arena,
Phantom Brain Douluo Han Tianyin let out a surprised murmur.
"Pagoda Master Leng, isn't there something strange about this Soul Beast? Its aura is clearly dark, but its appearance reminds me of a Radiant White Tiger."
"And whenever this Dark Demon Evil God Tiger growls, several kinds of elemental power surge through the space around it at once."
"How have I never seen a Soul Beast like this before?"
Han Tianyin was utterly baffled.
A Soul Beast with multiple elements, and such a ferocious one at that.
Leng Yaozhu explained:
"Two years ago, large numbers of Soul Beasts vanished from the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform in Skysea City, one of the eighteen pillars."
"The branch staff initially thought Soul Masters were responsible. But after closing the Spirit Pagoda and investigating for a month, they discovered this strange black tiger was the culprit."
"The Skysea City branch sent this Soul Beast to headquarters. I happened to see its file, so I found people to study it myself."
Leng Yaozhu's gaze grew grave. "And guess what they found?"
Han Tianyin asked curiously, "What?"
"This black tiger can actually advance its cultivation by devouring other Soul Beasts, and even Soul Masters."
Leng Yaozhu took out a chart. "When I received this black tiger, its cultivation registered at eight hundred years. Over these past two years, we've fed it large numbers of Soul Beasts separately for testing."
"We even included one or two captured Evil Soul Masters."
"The black tiger's cultivation shot straight up to fifteen hundred years. Yet during the periods when we didn't feed it, its cultivation age barely changed."
Han Tianyin understood. "It gains cultivation by devouring other living beings? That sounds a lot like the Evil Soul Masters among us humans."
"Exactly."
Leng Yaozhu nodded.
"To find out where this creature came from, I searched the Spirit Pagoda's ancient texts but found nothing. Finally, I went to Shrek Academy. In a biography of Thousand-Hand Asura Tang San, one of the first-generation Shrek Seven Devils, I finally found a description matching this black tiger."
"It's called a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger."
"It's an immensely powerful, evil Soul Beast born when an evil god's power descends upon a Radiant White Tiger, causing its elemental powers to mutate completely."
"Usually, as soon as a Soul Beast like this appears, the other Soul Beasts nearby attack it together and destroy it, so human Soul Masters rarely discover one."
"When Thousand-Hand Asura Tang San was a Titled Douluo, he encountered a sixty-thousand-year Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. Its strength rivaled that of a hundred-thousand-year beast, and it could even turn both itself and its opponent back into children. Its combat abilities were bizarre beyond belief."
"Even Tang San nearly fell at its hands."
Han Tianyin was somewhat shaken.
He truly had never expected such a bizarre, heaven-defying creature to exist among Soul Beasts.
"Pagoda Master Leng, then doesn't that mean this fifteen-hundred-year Dark Demon Evil God Tiger is equivalent to..."
"Exactly. Its combat strength rivals a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's. It's even more murderous and bloodthirsty than the vast majority of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."
Han Tianyin narrowed his eyes.
He could not help worrying about Li Zha.
Li Zha had not even become a three-ring Soul Elder yet.
Even with his innate divine strength,
wouldn't fighting a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast be too much?
While the two were talking,
inside the Spirit Ascension Platform,
the thousand-year Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had already circled Li Zha several times.
It finally stopped in front of Li Zha. Its tiger eyes narrowed with an almost human expression, and the corners of its gaping, bloody maw curled upward into an eerie, chilling beast's grin.
By the look of it,
it seemed to have seen through Li Zha and was ready to attack.
For the bloodthirsty Dark Demon Evil God Tiger to hesitate so long before deciding to hunt already showed that it had sensed something unusual about Li Zha.
"Want to eat me, huh?~"
Li Zha kicked up the Fire-Tipped Spear and rested it across his shoulder with his right hand. His left hand slipped into his pocket as he tilted his head and eyed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger sidelong.
"What a coincidence. I want to eat you too!"
Li Zha's figure suddenly flashed. He sprang high into the air in an instant, swung his spear with both hands, and thrust at the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's head.
Red light surged from the Fire-Tipped Spear's tip. His first Soul Skill, Hundred Slashes Across the Prairie, had clearly activated.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger raised its head and twisted its upper body at an unnatural angle, narrowly slipping past the spear tip. Li Zha's Fire-Tipped Spear plunged into the ground.
At that very moment, the scorpion-tail hook behind the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger extended with a hum and stabbed toward Li Zha.
Li Zha reacted just as quickly. Gripping the shaft, he spun around it like a gymnast to dodge, then used that momentum to wrench the Fire-Tipped Spear free and retreat.
"Heh heh heh~"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger gave an eerie human laugh, glanced at Li Zha's chest, and tipped its head upward.
It was signaling for Li Zha to look down.
Li Zha glanced down and discovered that the scorpion tail's earlier strike had torn his clothes without him even noticing.
Han Tianyin focused his gaze and looked closely.
"This creature... is pretty fast. Li Zha may have a tough fight on his hands."
Speed was essentially a combination of neural reaction speed and the actual speed of muscular movement.
In this respect, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was undoubtedly outstanding among thousand-year Soul Beasts. Never mind that Li Zha had yet to become a three-ring Soul Elder,
even an ordinary Four-Ring Soul Ancestor dying at this creature's hands would have been no surprise.
In fact,
Han Tianyin was not wrong.
Li Zha, too, now knew this would be difficult.
His insufficient Soul Power Level was his greatest weakness. He had never expected Leng Yaozhu to get hold of a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, Li Zha.
Even if a thousand-year Dark Demon Evil God Tiger lacked that move that made both sides grow young together, its combat strength still rivaled a ten-thousand-year beast's.
Without a Soul Guidance Mecha or Battle Armor to bolster him, relying purely on his meager level-twenty-nine Soul Power and two Soul Skills, Li Zha felt he could fight it. But killing this thing was an entirely different level of difficulty.
Little Flame, I'm counting on you this time.
Li Zha spoke inwardly,
then charged straight forward.
Man and tiger collided in an instant. After one brief, probing exchange, both realized the other would be difficult to handle and simply began fighting for their lives.
The Fire-Tipped Spear clashed furiously with tiger claws. Li Zha also had to guard against surprise attacks from the scorpion-tail hook, leaving him in a rare, bitter struggle.
"Second Soul Skill, Flaming Trees and Silver Blossoms!"
The shaft of Li Zha's spear transformed, lotus patterns appearing across it.
This Soul Skill had also been provided by the Blazing Dragon Spirit. A phantom flaming tree sprouted, and fiery patterns covered the ground for more than ten meters around Li Zha.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger immediately slowed, and the evil aura on its body began steaming away.
"Roar!"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger no longer dared be careless. It immediately drew on the various elemental powers in the surrounding space to resist Li Zha's flames.
To its shock, it discovered that this was utterly useless.
Whatever elemental power it summoned, Li Zha's Samadhi True Fire rapidly devoured it.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's cunning showed itself at this moment. It swiftly adjusted its strategy, abandoning resistance and instead driving the wind element at full power to increase its speed.
As one force waned and the other waxed,
the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's agility actually returned to its initial level.
"Breaking Stance!"
The Fire-Tipped Spear shifted nimbly in Li Zha's hands. Breaking Stance, Counter Stance, Returning Stance, Dividing Stance-he unleashed the entire combination in an instant.
Within a few minutes, Li Zha struck its vital points more than a dozen times,
yet the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger endured every blow head-on.
Li Zha panted lightly.
Had his level been just a little higher, this Dark Demon Evil God Tiger would have died long ago.
For the first time, Li Zha, a monster of raw stats, had been resisted by an even greater stat monster. A streak of viciousness rose in his heart.
"Die!"
Li Zha leaped up with the spear in both hands and stabbed toward the black tiger's eyes.
"This is bad."
Han Tianyin immediately sensed trouble.
Sure enough,
by jumping, Li Zha had left his lower body wide open,
and the black tiger revealed a wicked grin. Its scorpion tail shot out instantly, striking first despite moving later. It stabbed straight into a vital point in Li Zha's abdomen and sent him flying.
Boom!
Li Zha hurtled sideways, smashing through several trees before collapsing amid a cloud of dust.
"Ah, Zha'er still got impatient."
Han Tianyin felt a pang of regret.
Li Zha could originally have fought this Millennium Dark Demon Evil God Tiger on even terms. Now that a vital point had been struck, his chances of winning had vanished in an instant.
Sure enough,
the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger opened its huge maw and gave an eerie laugh.
Unleashing its full aura, it leaped toward Li Zha.
The dust dispersed,
and the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger pinned Li Zha's neck beneath one paw, then bit down on his hand. It actually intended to eat him alive.
At this critical moment,
Leng Yaozhu and Han Tianyin both looked into the arena. They sensed something odd about the Li Zha pinned beneath its paw.
Sure enough,
the next moment,
Li Zha descended from the sky.
"Hundred Slashes Across the Prairie has stacked three hundred times! Let's see you block this thrust!"
Li Zha gripped his spear with both hands,
and drove it straight through the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's neck!
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger panicked instantly. It lowered its head to look at the Li Zha beneath it, only to discover that he had turned into a piece of wood.
Its tiger eyes went wide.
What the hell?
How did I mistake a piece of wood for a human?!
"Trying to play tricks on your dragon grandpa? You're showing off your broadsword before the god of war."
The Blazing Dragon Spirit flew out and mocked it.
To make this creature lower its guard, his master Li Zha had deliberately endured a full-force blow.
Only then had the beast grown careless.
"Roar!"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger let out a mournful roar, but its neck had been pierced through a vital point. Blood spurted out, and more than half its strength drained away at once.
The Blazing Dragon Spirit joined the battle, biting and tearing furiously.
This Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had actually tried to eat his master alive. It had already paved its own road to death!
The Blazing Dragon Spirit now intended to let it taste being eaten alive.
As a member of the Dragon Race,
the Blazing Dragon Spirit also deeply disliked creatures like the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
This thing devoured everything indiscriminately.
Though the Dragon Race did not fear it, they still found it disgusting.
If you bastards eat all the Soul Beasts, who the hell is the Dragon Race supposed to rule?!
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger gave one final roar and collapsed.
And so,
The Millennium Dark Demon Evil God Tiger met its end!
As it died,
Li Zha suddenly felt the Soul Power inside him begin to surge.
"Am I about to break through?"
Before you continue