Deep in the Star Dou Forest, ancient trees towered overhead, their branches and leaves blotting out the sun. Primal energy saturated the air everywhere. Five figures flitted silently across the thick branches like ghosts, covering dozens of meters with each touch of their toes. This elite team had gathered to hunt the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger—Grand Elder, Chen Yi, Chen Zhen, Hong Yue, and Zhang Tao.
Maintaining formation, the Grand Elder led at the front, his spiritual power radiating ahead like invisible webs, probing the way. Chen Yi was in the center, keenly scanning his surroundings. Chen Zhen and Hong Yue kept alert on either side, ready for emergencies. Zhang Tao took the rear, using his prior experience with the target to keep track of its location.
Soon, the Grand Elder halted and signaled with a raised hand. The five landed almost simultaneously on a massive horizontal branch, hiding among the dense leaves while watching the relatively open forest below, which was shrouded in a faint, eerie black aura. Hong Yue frowned, peering carefully but sensed no strong life force. She turned to Zhang Tao, lowering her voice, "Xiao Tao, are you sure the soul beast is really nearby? I can't sense anything except the sound of falling leaves and stones."
Zhang Tao quickly explained, "Sister, this is the place! Last time I fought the beast fiercely here. I tried to catch it with my tail hook but only managed to leave a faint soul power mark under its ribs. This mark is linked to my mind, and I can sense it clearly. It must be here—no mistake!"
Chen Zhen stroked his chin, uncertainty on his heroic face. "Strange, I deliberately observed the surroundings on the way. A beast this powerful should have left obvious traces, but I found nothing."
Purple lightning flickered faintly in Chen Yi's eyes as he carefully surveyed the seemingly quiet forest. In reality, it was filled with an ominous, deathly silence. He spoke in a low voice, "According to ancient records, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's power originates from the evil gods. It's born with strange attributes—wind, thunder, darkness, time, space, and more. It might be able to fully hide itself, creating the illusion of 'nothingness'. It's not impossible to imagine."
The Grand Elder nodded slightly, his vast soul power spreading quietly over the area like liquid mercury, probing even more finely.
"Let's go down and take a look." He specifically instructed Chen Zhen, "Stay close to Xiao Yi and make sure nothing can ambush him."
Chen Zhen nodded heavily, "Don't worry, Elder. If he's with me, not a hair will be lost!" He unconsciously stepped half a pace forward, shielding Chen Yi more securely.
The five descended like falling leaves into the dense forest, their steps muffled by years of decaying mulch. They spread out, searching behind ancient trees, deep in the undergrowth, and even scanning for possible caves underground. But the result was disappointing—nothing but faint evil and darkness lingered in the air, not even a single tiger hair.
Hong Yue frowned deeper and whispered to the elder, "Elder, could the beast have sensed us and fled out of fear?"
Chen Zhen shook his head, confident, "Impossible. This operation was extremely secret. After entering the forest, the Grand Elder personally shielded us with his soul power, perfectly hiding all fluctuations. Even if the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger is rare and strange, it hasn't reached a hundred thousand years—how could it see through the Grand Elder's concealment?"
At that moment, the Grand Elder, who had been searching with his spiritual power, suddenly interrupted, not turning around as he asked Zhang Tao, "When you marked it, did you notice anything unusual?"
Zhang Tao was stunned, suddenly recalling a crucial detail. His tone turned uncertain, "Unusual? At the time... I resisted its evil wind blade to leave the mark, my soul power shook violently, and my mind nearly collapsed... Thinking back, when my mark succeeded, in the beast's eyes... it seemed... Did it notice my intentions early on?"
Hong Yue immediately realized, "That's it! The beast's spiritual intelligence is terrifyingly high—it probably used your mark against you, waiting for you to be alone, or return, to ambush you. This time, it didn't expect four strong people, including the Grand Elder, and so it fled!"
Listening to their analysis, Chen Yi reevaluated the difficulty of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. He asked Zhang Tao, "If we can't find it here, do we have any other leads?"
Zhang Tao looked embarrassed, "There are suspicious caves in several directions we could check..."
"Enough." The Grand Elder's cold, authoritative voice interrupted. He slowly turned, his deep eyes now staring coldly at the empty space ahead like sharp blades, his lips curling in a chilling arc. "As expected of a soul beast tainted by the aura of gods. Its spiritual intelligence is remarkable, and it's mastered the art of hiding right under our noses."
As he spoke, all eyes locked onto the space the Grand Elder was staring at.
As if to prove his words, in that instant—
"ROAR——!"
A tiger's roar, full of rage and violence, exploded! The once-empty space rippled violently, and in the next moment, a massive black shadow surged forth. It was ink-black, as if condensed from the purest darkness, over eight meters long, muscular, and brimming with explosive power. Its most striking features were its cunning, cruel, and violent blood-red pupils, and the scorpion-like tail behind it, gleaming faintly and crackling with wind and thunder. On its forehead was a sinister gray rune, radiating an evil aura.
It was the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger!
The moment it appeared, it didn't hesitate or look back. Darkness, wind, and thunder exploded from its body, its four claws leaving deep, black prints as it charged like black lightning into the depths of the Star Dou Forest.
At that moment, the tiger was filled with fear and regret. When Zhang Tao first found it, the tiger had planned to devour that lone human Douluo to break through its seventy-thousand-year bottleneck. But it hadn't expected humans with such overwhelming martial power, nor that it would fail to defeat them, and now four had appeared, one with an aura as unfathomable as the abyss.
Its only hope was to escape to the core area and use the two-hundred-thousand-year soul beasts to block the pursuers—maybe these humans could buy it a few seconds more!
"Where do you think you're going!"
At the moment the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger tried to move, the Grand Elder thundered from behind. Silver light burst from him—the second awakening of his spirit. Without even moving his feet, he thrust his hand forward, and in an instant, the wind and clouds changed color!
A massive silver hand, condensed from intertwined soul power, appeared in the air above the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, its vivid lines pressing down with terrifying force to crush the beast.
Boom!
The ground shook violently, dust and smoke rising to the sky! The tiger felt an irresistible force crush it, dropping its speed to zero as it was slammed into the earth, forming a deep handprint-shaped crater.
Crack!
Its organs twisted from the impact, and it spat out a mouthful of blood filled with dark energy. At the brink of death, the tiger let out a desperate, unwilling roar. Its sinister tail suddenly glowed, releasing gray-black air that wrapped around its body like a huge eggshell.
It was the "Evil God Protection"—a near-absolute defense skill. Normally, this could block most Title Douluo's attacks, but before the silver hand, it couldn't hold for a breath!
Crack!
A sound like shattering glass as the gray-black shield fractured and exploded, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger suffering grievous wounds, blood pouring from its mouth and nose. But using this brief window, it burned its core, its tail flashing again as mysterious spatial fluctuations enveloped it!
Pop!
Space distorted, its form blurring, and in the next moment, it escaped from the remnants of the silver hand and vanished into the air!
At the same time, just as it disappeared, its scorpion tail flicked backward, sending several black wind blades wrapped in evil energy slashing at Chen Yi and the others, trying to hinder their pursuit.
"Watch out!"
Chen Zhen shouted, stepping forward. His strong body became a reliable barrier in front of Chen Yi, arms crossed to block. Earthy-yellow soul power condensed into a sturdy shield.
Bang!
The evil wind blades struck the shield with a dull thud, energy dispersing and carving deep marks into an ancient tree, but failing to break through Chen Zhen's defense.
"Spatial power!"
Chen Zhen and Hong Yue both gasped, faces grave. They had prepared mentally, but seeing a soul beast use spatial teleportation so skillfully was still daunting. Opponents who mastered spatial abilities made pursuit or escape exponentially more difficult.
In the next moment, a hundred meters away, space rippled, and the battered tiger reappeared, still staggering. But its brief moment of survival was not yet over—
SLAP!
Another crisp smack sounded. A small silver palm, as if waiting there, struck precisely and unmercifully between the tiger's waist and abdomen.
Oww——!
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger let out a miserable wail, its massive body sent flying uncontrollably, smashing through seven or eight ancient trees before crashing to the ground, stirring up dust, struggling to rise.
The Grand Elder's form appeared ghost-like near where it had first vanished, slowly withdrawing his palm and gazing indifferently at the paralyzed beast a hundred meters away. He exhaled four faint words,
"Impressive, isn't it?"
Spatial teleportation was mysterious and swift, but before the Grand Elder, who had already formed his own domain and integrated surrounding space into his soul power surveillance, the tiger's movements were as pointless as hide-and-seek played right before his eyes. Every trace was clear and meaningless.
Chen Yi, Chen Zhen, Hong Yue, and Zhang Tao looked at each other, seeing shock and helplessness in each other's eyes. They had expected a fierce battle, even prepared for hardship, but aside from blocking wind blades, they were almost pure spectators. The Grand Elder had unilaterally crushed the enemy.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger lay in ruins, its red pupils filled with endless fear and despair. This human's power was beyond comprehension—its concealment, speed, defense, even its most trusted spatial ability, all collapsed like a child's trick before this might. The tiger finally realized it was truly doomed this time.
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