After Gu Yang absorbed the Exploding Bamboo Soul Ring, his second Soul Skill gave his Shikotsumyaku an explosive property. Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets was merely a ranged attack formed by using the thrust of those explosions.
The bone bullets exploding like bombs after being fired were the best demonstration of this.
Gu Yang was not Tang San. He knew none of the Tang Sect's hidden weapon techniques, so he naturally could not make his bone bullets curve like guided missiles.
And the Dark Devil Tiger was too fast, making it very difficult for Gu Yang to hit it.
Yet Gu Yang could not keep attacking with bone bullets forever, even setting aside the number of bones he had.
Although his Shikotsumyaku could regenerate his bones after they were damaged, there were only so many bones in his hands. He could launch at most four volleys of bone bullets.
Even disregarding the number of bones, Gu Yang's Soul Power could not withstand such heavy consumption.
The explosions of the bone bullets were powerful, but their corresponding Soul Power consumption was considerable too.
Under these circumstances, since Gu Yang could not hit his opponent, he might as well seize it before attacking.
With the enemy strong and himself weak, the best opportunity to seize it was when it attacked him.
With the defense of his Bone Armor, Gu Yang knew the Dark Devil Tiger could not kill him in a single strike.
That being the case, he would seize that opportunity to grab it.
There was precedent for using Shikotsumyaku this way.
As for the intimidating effect of the Dark Devil Tiger's Fear Roar, it was canceled out by Holy Dragon's Protection, Gu Yang's third Soul Skill.
Intimidation was also a negative status, so Holy Dragon's Protection could naturally resist it.
Everything went exactly as Gu Yang had anticipated. He had indeed briefly trapped the Dark Devil Tiger with the bone spikes on his body.
Although he could not keep it trapped forever, that brief moment was all he needed.
Some of his bones gathered together, enclosing Gu Yang completely.
The bones trapping the Dark Devil Tiger, meanwhile, detonated with a thunderous boom.
Even tiny finger bones could produce such tremendous power when they exploded, let alone his already thick shoulder blades.
Amid a violent roar, the explosion was even fiercer than before, directly blasting away the trees within dozens of meters of its center.
The brutal force left a massive, deep crater at the center of the explosion.
Two figures were hurled in opposite directions as the explosion erupted.
His shattered Bone Armor withdrew, and Gu Yang vomited blood again and again, as though he would cough up fragments of his internal organs.
He only dared do this because Shikotsumyaku allowed his body to recover quickly. What ordinary person would dare play like this?
Having failed to get himself killed, Gu Yang quickly looked toward the Dark Devil Tiger, which had also been at the center of the explosion.
The moment he saw the Dark Devil Tiger, Gu Yang felt somewhat disappointed.
The Dark Devil Tiger actually had not died.
The Dark Devil Tiger stood opposite Gu Yang, glaring fiercely at him. However, its right foreleg, which Gu Yang had restrained, was held slightly off the ground. A closer look revealed mangled, bleeding flesh; it could no longer move normally.
"Roar!"
The Dark Devil Tiger opened its mouth and roared furiously, even louder than before.
Most Soul Beasts became excited at the sight of blood.
When Soul Beasts themselves were wounded and bleeding, there were generally two possibilities.
One was that they turned and fled at once, with fear driving their bodies.
The other was that they became even angrier, with rage over their wounded dignity taking over their minds.
The Dark Devil Tiger was the latter.
As a king of beasts, the Dark Devil Tiger naturally had its own pride. Being grievously wounded by a puny human like Gu Yang was an utter disgrace in its eyes!
The fury in its heart made it itch to tear Gu Yang to pieces.
The Dark Devil Tiger could still move, but Gu Yang could barely do so.
The slightest movement made his whole body feel as though it were falling apart, wracked with agony, as if there were not a single place that did not hurt.
The bones throughout his body had transformed into Bone Armor to protect him twice, suffering varying degrees of damage both times, with his torso bones suffering the worst.
His shoulder blades had exploded outright, and the joints of his ten fingers had been shot away~
Gu Yang could now be considered to have comminuted fractures throughout almost his entire body.
Even so, facing the Dark Devil Tiger, Gu Yang did not panic in the slightest. Instead, he immediately mustered the last of his strength and shouted:
"Old man, haven't you watched enough? If you don't step in now, I'm really going to meet my end here!"
As soon as Gu Yang finished speaking, a figure flashed down in front of him. It was none other than Bone Douluo, who had left earlier.
Looking at the Dark Devil Tiger before him, Bone Douluo felt a lingering fear. "To think you really called it, brat. This beast really was lurking in the shadows!"
Bone Douluo truly was frightened. Had Gu Yang not insisted repeatedly, the slightest carelessness might really have gotten Gu Yang killed in that first ambush. Then he would truly have become a sinner of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
As for pursuing the Golden-Eyed Eagle, that had merely been a scheme Gu Yang and Bone Douluo devised together to lure out the Dark Devil Tiger.
Throughout their journey, even after entering the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, Gu Yang had only encountered some Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. He had rarely encountered even Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
The reason was probably Bone Douluo's presence.
Most high-ranking Soul Beasts had developed intelligence. After sensing Bone Douluo's strength, they naturally dared not attack. Only low-ranking Soul Beasts that still relied on instinct would attack without restraint.
Thus, Gu Yang wondered whether the presence lurking in the shadows was also wary of Bone Douluo, and that was why it had refused to show itself for so long.
When the Golden-Eyed Eagle happened to attack, the two turned its move to their own advantage.
After all, how could anyone remain on guard against a thief for a thousand days? Without resolving the hidden danger, how could Gu Yang obtain his fourth Soul Ring?
Otherwise, how could a mere ten-thousand-year Golden-Eyed Eagle have drawn Bone Douluo away for so long?
Once the Dark Devil Tiger was lured out, it could forget about escaping Bone Douluo's grasp, especially now that its right foreleg was grievously wounded, its flesh barely hanging on and exposing the stark tiger bones beneath.
At this thought, Bone Douluo could not help giving Gu Yang an appreciative glance.
Even a Soul Saint might come to grief against a forty-thousand-year Soul Beast.
Not to mention that this was a Dark Devil Tiger, a powerful beast to begin with. For Gu Yang to have come this far, his combat awareness and handling of the situation could practically be given full marks.
After all, Gu Yang was only a rank-forty Soul Elder who had yet to obtain his fourth Soul Ring.
With a flap of its bony wings, the Bone Dragon instantly sent the Dark Devil Tiger flying.
After several blows in succession, the Dark Devil Tiger was wounded all over and could not get up for the moment.
"Grandpa, go easy on it!"
Bone Douluo was puzzled, but he still stopped what he was doing.
"This beast left you in such a state, and you still want me to go easy on it?"
Even the Dark Devil Tiger, which had already been beaten into something resembling a puddle of sludge, wondered whether its ears had been damaged by the blows and it had misheard.
I tried to kill him, and he actually wants to let me go?
What a good person!
"Grandpa, I'm not trying to let it go. I want to kill it myself and make it my fourth Soul Ring!"
"..."
The Dark Devil Tiger, whose hope of survival had just rekindled, grew furious once more upon hearing Gu Yang's words.
This damned human actually wants to take me and make me his Soul Ring?
Damn it!
"But this Dark Devil Tiger seems to be over forty thousand years old already," Bone Douluo immediately said, having learned beforehand the upper limit Gu Yang could absorb for his fourth Soul Ring.
"A little over won't matter."