Chrysanthemum Douluo looked grim.
He had noticed a Soul Beast following Hu Liena and the others earlier, but he had thought it was merely a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast skilled at concealment and had paid it little mind.
Who would have thought that what emerged would be a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, a species already declared extinct?!
What was it about these children that had attracted this Soul Beast?
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had evaded his surprise attack so easily just now. It had clearly sensed someone hiding in the shadows and prepared for it.
This is going to be difficult!
"A sixty-thousand-year-old Dark Demon Evil God Tiger?"
Before Hu Liena and the others could recall what sort of Soul Beast that was, they heard Chrysanthemum Douluo's low, grave voice!
"Run!"
That single shout undoubtedly told Hu Liena and the others one thing.
Against this Soul Beast that was only sixty thousand years old, Chrysanthemum Douluo actually had no confidence in dealing with it while protecting them?
To consider the worst, were Chrysanthemum Douluo's chances of winning very slim?
Hu Lina snapped out of her daze as though waking from a dream. Grabbing "Shi Lang," Qian Renxue, and Jing Shanshan, she joined the others in running desperately toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger swept its pitch-black slit pupils over the fleeing group, then returned its gaze to Chrysanthemum Douluo before it.
It gave a low growl. The two slit pupils at the end of its tail lit up with dark red light at the same time, instantly unleashing dozens of black-and-red blades of light.
With a single glance, Chrysanthemum Douluo judged that this attack, formed by fusing the wind and evil attributes, rivaled the power of a Soul Skill from an ordinary Soul Ring over fifty thousand years old.
I absolutely cannot take this head-on. The best choice is to dodge!
But he could not dodge!
Those dozens of black-and-red blades of light were aimed at Hu Liena and the others behind him!
His seventh Soul Ring shone with a dangerous black light. The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum in his palm trembled in the wind and rapidly enlarged, swelling to more than five meters across in the blink of an eye and becoming a gigantic golden chrysanthemum suspended in midair.
Martial Soul Avatar, Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.
Chrysanthemum Douluo had no intention of testing or underestimating this sixty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast. He unleashed his Seventh Soul Skill right from the start, immediately going all out.
At the same time, his ninth Soul Ring abruptly lit up, its black radiance blazing.
Ninth Soul Skill, Chrysanthemum Withered, Wounds Across the Ground, Flowers Fall and Hearts Break.
The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum grew larger still, its golden light becoming ever more crystalline and lustrous. Then it shattered with a thunderous burst, each petal spinning like a crescent blade and forming a gigantic golden tornado.
The golden tornado easily intercepted the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's dozens of black-and-red streaks of light, then sped toward it without losing any power.
At the sight of this, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's first thought was to avoid its cutting edge.
Yet no matter which direction it ran, the golden tornado instantly changed course and pursued it relentlessly.
It had been locked on to.
Realizing this, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger forcefully planted all four limbs on the ground. Its body arched slightly like a bridge, its pitch-black fur stood on end, and a low, furious snarl rumbled from its throat.
"Grrrr!"
Layers of gray light emerged over the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's body, swiftly gathering into a sphere before it.
This was an area killing move that fused its Soul Power with its evil power, then mixed the three attributes of wind, lightning, and evil into an explosive release.
Its power was such that even the two hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beasts deep within the Star Dou Great Forest dared not take it head-on!
The purplish-black lightning sphere, carrying the violent power of the intertwined wind, lightning, and evil attributes, instantly slammed into the golden tornado formed from countless crescent-bladed petals.
The two forces collided violently in midair with a muffled boom.
Purplish-black lightning and golden blade light savagely ground against each other. Gray currents churned over the lightning sphere's surface, attempting to corrode every petal of the tornado with evil power.
The golden tornado, meanwhile, continually wore away at the lightning sphere's core with its sharp cutting force.
Purplish-black lightning arcs and shattered golden petals shot in every direction. Even Hu Liena and the others, who had already been running for some time, could clearly sense the danger radiating from them.
The stalemate lasted only an instant before the golden tornado spun around the purplish-black lightning sphere, enveloping it layer by layer.
Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes lit up, and he was about to press his advantage to inflict as much damage on the beast as possible in a single strike.
Boom!
The next moment, the golden tornado exploded from within, and an extremely small purplish-black lightning sphere shot toward Chrysanthemum Douluo.
Uncontainable astonishment filled Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes.
He had never expected his Ninth Soul Skill to be defeated after taking just two attacks from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
It truly deserved its reputation as a legendary Soul Beast. Even though its Soul Power was inferior to his, its strength could not be underestimated!
Facing that tiny purplish-black lightning sphere, Chrysanthemum Douluo gathered Soul Power in his right hand and casually swept it out, shattering the nearly dissipated sphere.
At the same moment the lightning sphere shattered, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger accelerated into a charge. Its body seemed to become a streak of black light, closing the distance to Chrysanthemum Douluo in the blink of an eye, so quickly that he failed to react in time.
The Evil God Hook on the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's tail rose slightly, a point of dim black light silently gathering at its tip.
Chrysanthemum Douluo did not know what the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger intended, but his wealth of combat experience told him that the more an enemy wanted to do something, the less he could allow it to succeed.
This Dark Demon Evil God Tiger is closing the distance. That means its next killing move has a very short range!
Without the slightest hesitation, Chrysanthemum Douluo immediately retreated.
The black light on the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's tail hook suddenly expanded. A pitch-black hole silently formed before it, its dangerous gravitational pull seizing Chrysanthemum Douluo's body like an invisible hand.
"What?!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo felt an irresistible suction envelop his entire body, even causing the circulation of his Soul Power to falter.
It will be hard to escape!
Glancing at the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger as it prepared its next attack, Chrysanthemum Douluo instantly understood. The lightning sphere just now had merely been laying the groundwork for this black hole. A trace of resolve flashed through his eyes.
He drove his Soul Power to its utmost, and the golden chrysanthemum burst into a sky full of blade petals that divided into two groups.
One group shot toward the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger with full force.
The other charged along the black hole's gravitational pull, attempting to attack in place of defending and destroy the pitch-black hole, seeking to break free of that powerful pulling force.
The blade petals were swept inside like clay oxen entering the sea, stirring only faint rings of ripples.
Chrysanthemum Douluo's heart sank. His Martial Soul Avatar instantly contracted, and the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum condensed anew into a golden film of light around his entire body, attempting to withstand the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's next attack with his Titled Douluo-level Soul Power.
The expected attack did not come. He merely felt the ground vanish beneath his feet as his field of vision twisted and shattered. Although his eyes had suffered no attack whatsoever, everything went pitch-black.
The weightlessness lasted only a moment before his feet touched hard ground.
Chrysanthemum Douluo steadied himself and looked up.
A gray, barren expanse stretched into the distance. Above him lay a murky, dark red sky without sun, moon, or stars, while a stale, stagnant air permeated the surroundings.
He instinctively activated his Soul Power. His rank ninety-five cultivation remained, and he could still release his Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum normally, yet he could not use his Soul Skills?!
"You must be joking!"
His gaze fell on his hands.
His skin was as delicate as a baby's, and his fingers were long and slender. They looked as they had when he was a child.
His Soul Power remained, but the sensation of it circulating through his meridians had become unfamiliar, as though this body had returned to the moment of its first awakening!
In the distance, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger slowly approached.
Its body had also shrunk considerably, and its red pupils glimmered with a dangerous light in the gloom.