Yu Tianming didn't step forward. Instead, he turned to look at Dugu Yan, who was stunned by the power of the two energy orbs.
He pulled Dugu Yan into his arms and stood still, his expression serious as he stared at the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, deep in thought.
Feeling the warmth of Yu Tianming's breath by her ear, Dugu Yan gradually recovered from her shock. She looked at the side of his face in confusion and asked, "Is the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger not dead yet?"
"It's very smart. Most likely, it's playing dead right now. Yanyan, let's not get too close. Use your poisonous arrow rain from here and attack it from afar."
Upon hearing this, Dugu Yan raised her right hand. Dozens of black poison arrows formed from venom floated in the air above them. These arrows resembled flying needles, infused with a venom she had repeatedly refined—just looking at them was terrifying.
With a flick of her hand, the arrows shot toward the wounds on the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
The tiger was already gravely injured. A short section of the Sea God Trident handle was still lodged in its lower back, and its fur was scorched and matted from the thunder and flames. Flesh was torn open, and gray blood continued to ooze from its wounds.
But even in such a state, Dugu Yan's poisonous arrows could only pierce half an inch into its muscles. Against the massive body of the tiger, that damage was negligible.
As for her mixed serpent venom, it was useless against such extreme evil. The corrosion effect was nearly imperceptible.
Yu Tianming thought to himself, 'As expected, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger has a high resistance to toxins. It's like extreme attributes overpowering regular ones—it doesn't even flinch.'
Dugu Yan frowned slightly when she saw how little effect her attack had.
Yu Tianming patted her shoulder and explained, "Since it's highly resistant to regular poisons, try using your fourth soul skill—Decaying Toxin. No matter how strong it is, it can't resist the erosion of life force."
Dugu Yan nodded. With another wave of her hand, the poison arrows appeared once more, still black as ink, but somehow different this time.
When they struck the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, there was no visible corrosion, but the beast suddenly opened its eyes again. Within its eyes gleamed a deeply human-like hatred, and it let out another furious roar.
After being impaled by the Sea God Trident, it couldn't move, and without a wielder, the trident only passively released divine power. It had barely enough strength left to launch a Dark Demon Evil Thunder attack.
When it saw that the thunder couldn't reach Yu Tianming, who stood a hundred meters away, it pretended to be dead, waiting to ambush him with its Evil God Spike the moment he came close—pulling him into a one-on-one in the Evil God's domain.
But Yu Tianming knew its tricks. He had Dugu Yan shoot the Decaying Toxin from afar. The toxins made the tiger, now truly on the brink of death, feel the chilling presence of mortality.
Dugu Yan smiled. "Looks like my Decaying Toxin is actually working pretty well on it."
Yu Tianming smiled too. "It can resist the Green-Scaled Serpent Venom, as well as your neurotoxins and berserk toxins. But the Decaying Toxin directly corrodes life force. How could it possibly withstand that?"
Dugu Yan sighed. "Decaying Toxin is high-tier and corrodes life itself, but it consumes too much spirit power. Most of the time, it's not even as effective as ordinary poison. I didn't expect it to be so useful here."
She was right. Against regular enemies, her Green-Scaled Serpent Venom could kill with ease. The Decaying Toxin, on the other hand, often felt like overkill.
Yu Tianming nodded. "Technically, the Decaying Toxin has transcended the definition of 'poison.' You don't need to use it all the time, but you should always keep it ready for enemies like this."
He suddenly changed the subject and said enthusiastically, "Yanyan, your neurotoxin, berserk toxin, and Decaying Toxin are all passive soul skills. You really should go to the Slaughter City someday."
Having seen the power of the Sea God Trident, Dugu Yan nodded. "If I get the chance, I'll go. Who knows, maybe I'll get a divine inheritance just like you, Tianming."
As they talked, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had already endured dozens of arrow attacks.
Under the relentless onslaught of the Decaying Toxin, its once-black fur was gone. The membranes of its wings were entirely corroded, and its body looked like a pile of gray, bleeding, rotting flesh.
Dugu Yan asked curiously, "Why hasn't its spirit ring appeared yet?"
"The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger is special. It won't naturally release a spirit ring. We have to manually condense one from its corpse."
Still seeing no sign of the Evil God Pearl, Yu Tianming added cautiously, "It might still be alive, pretending to be dead, waiting for us to get close for a sneak attack."
In truth, the tiger wasn't dead. Although its consciousness was fading under the constant attacks, it managed to activate its Evil God Shield to protect the last sliver of its life force.
It knew it was doomed, but its hatred ran deep. Even if it had to suffer longer, it wanted to stay alive just long enough for one last act of revenge.
Yu Tianming summoned a gravity field to pull a boulder the size of half a man to his side. Then, he casually threw it toward the tiger.
The dazed tiger sensed the incoming object. Its dull eyes suddenly lit up. The aura of death vanished. The scattered Evil God energy turned from gray to black.
With a furious roar, the previously quiet Evil God Hook lashed out from behind. The gray turned to black, and the hook straightened like a long spear, stabbing at the boulder.
The movement wasn't fast, but at the moment of impact, a flash of black light appeared at the tip. It expanded instantly into a three-meter-wide black hole that struck the rock.
Only then did the tiger realize—it had fallen for Yu Tianming's bait.
It hadn't even used its full strength before getting tricked. With a final unwilling howl, its eyes dimmed and life faded away.
Just then, a strange pearl began to form in the center of the tiger's forehead.
The pearl was pitch-black but glowed faintly with both green and blue light.
Yu Tianming's eyes lit up. The Evil God Pearl!
To prevent it from escaping, he immediately used the soul skill attached to his Dragon King Wings—Chasing the Moon Through Clouds. His body turned into a streak of white light and shot past the tiger's corpse, arriving dozens of meters away.
He grasped the Evil God Pearl tightly in his hand.
At that moment, a scream of soul-wrenching rage erupted from the pearl—it was the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's remnant spirit.
Space around them twisted and shattered in an instant.
Yu Tianming's dragon body was sliced open in several places by the collapsing space. Reacting swiftly, he used Chasing the Moon Through Clouds again. Red and white flames enveloped him, forming a cocoon of light.
This protected him from further damage—but the resulting black hole from the spatial collapse swallowed both him and the Evil God Pearl in an instant.
Moments later, the rift in space slowly healed. But Yu Tianming was gone.
Only the Sea God Trident, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's corpse, and three stunned girls remained.
Staring at the silent Star Dou Forest, Dugu Yan was overwhelmed with a terrifying thought: Could something terrible have happened to Yu Tianming, who had just been laughing and talking with her?
The three girls fell into a silence full of dread.
After a while, Ah Zi glanced at the Sea God Trident's glowing handle on the tiger's body, then looked at the red octagonal star mark above Dugu Yan's head.
She comforted them, "The young master may have been swallowed by the spatial rift, but he inherited the Sea God's legacy, and the trident is still glowing. He'll be fine."
She turned to Dugu Yan. "Miss, our eighth test is to advance to Title Douluo within ten years and gather a full set of soul bones for the young master. The divine trial isn't over yet."
Dugu Yan, still just a 13-year-old girl, had been hit hard by the sudden change. But Ah Zi's words brought her back to her senses, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Ah Zhu also added, "Miss, you should absorb the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's spirit ring. It took so much effort to bring it down—don't waste the young master's work."
Without another word, Dugu Yan stepped up to the ruined corpse.
With a wave of her hand, a stream of gray energy rose from the body, condensing into a ring in mid-air. It quickly turned from gray to black and shot toward her.
As the ring left the corpse, the massive body dissolved into streams of gray mist, scattered by the wind. Only the Sea God Trident remained planted in the ground.
In a flash of light, the ring settled at Dugu Yan's feet.
The moment she began absorbing it, an icy current laced with sharp intent surged into her body, attacking her powerful physique forged by celestial herbs.
Dugu Yan immediately coughed up blood from the impact.
Luckily, the Sea God Trident had been purifying the evil aura all this time, so there wasn't much left. After spitting out some blood, she quickly recovered and began absorbing the soul ring's energy.
Ah Zhu and Ah Zi both breathed sighs of relief. Though technically maids, they were more like caretakers—and now, with Yu Tianming gone, it was their duty to protect her.
To ensure everyone's safety and to transport the massive Sea God Trident, Ah Zhu quickly pulled out a communication crystal and sent a message to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.
Although this was just the forest's outer edge with few ten-thousand-year spirit beasts, rogue spirit masters were still a danger. Ah Zi, the strongest among them, was only level 66. If a Spirit Sage showed up, they'd be in trouble.
The best solution was to ensure the spirit ring was absorbed safely and the Sea God Trident brought back.
As for why the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was in the forest's outskirts, it likely had something to do with the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.
In the original story, the tiger fought those two, lost, and fled the forest—returning only after Da Ming and Er Ming sacrificed themselves. That's when it met Tang San.
Dugu Yan's soul ring absorption took two full hours.
When she finally opened her eyes, she felt her spirit power had increased dramatically.
A year ago, after obtaining her fifth ring at Sea God Island, she'd reached level 54. Through various trials, her spirit power reached level 60, but she hadn't found a suitable sixth ring. She'd saved her seventh test's God-bestowed ring, hoping to copy Yu Tianming's strategy.
Now, thanks to the tiger's ring and her stored power, she jumped straight from level 60 to 68.
It wasn't just power—this fourth ring from Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer gave extraordinary enhancements.
She felt her physical strength and defense had increased greatly—proof of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's influence.
Six black rings now circled her feet, and the tiger's ring rested as the sixth.
Infusing a bit of spirit power into it, she immediately sensed a surge of evil aura. Her entire body was cloaked in a strange gray light.
Her sixth and fifth rings were both around 30,000 years old. But spirit beast rings were harder to absorb, and the tiger's was especially fierce.
Absorbing it had pushed her to her limit.
For reference, most of the Shrek Seven Devils' seventh rings were only around 50,000 years. Only because of her herb-enhanced body could she handle this one.
Meanwhile, Yu Tianming had already been swept into the chaotic space stream…
(End of Chapter)
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