Chapter 116: Change of Plan!

They quickly discovered the cause of the changes in the surrounding environment.

It was a black giant tiger, its body pure black without a trace of other color, its blood‑red eyes filled with a gloomy, mad, and murderous aura that made one's blood run cold.

Its height exceeded eight meters, its muscles bulged like hard rock, each bundle containing explosive power; roughly estimated, its weight was over three thousand catties.

The king character on its forehead was also black, but different from the black of its fur—a gloomy, mist‑like black that seemed to carry endless evil and curse.

Most striking was its tail. Compared to ordinary tiger‑type soul beasts, its tail was much longer and stood straight up, composed of countless tightly connected bone segments; at its tip was a huge inverted hook that gleamed with a sinister green light.

Seeing it, Yu Tianyun immediately recalled a special soul beast he had once read about in an ancient text, a beast far rarer than the Human‑faced Demon Spider and nearly extinct. This beast was extremely peculiar, its numbers exceedingly scarce; it was an existence even more monstrous than a top‑tier soul beast, and because it was too monstrous it could hardly survive in the soul beast world, hence its extreme rarity.

This soul beast is called the Dark Evil God Tiger; the one before them is likely the same one Tang San encountered in the original story, aged over sixty thousand years.

Yu Tianyun had taken a special interest in this beast, so he deliberately looked up information about it.

The ancient text recorded that an evil god had descended upon a white tiger, causing it to mutate, turning its original light attribute into darkness, giving birth to a pair of black wings symbolizing depravity and a hook like a scorpion's tail.

The Dark Evil God Tiger's strength is tremendous; although soul beasts can generally become human martial souls, this beast is an exception—no one's martial soul has ever been it.

It is not inherently dark‑attributed; rather, it bears the evil god's supremely evil attribute, something a human body cannot endure.

If judged by martial soul rank, it would absolutely be on par with a Six‑Winged Angel martial soul, or even stronger.

The Dark Evil God Tiger possesses an overbearing nature: its growth does not come from its own cultivation, which is extremely difficult for it; only by devouring other soul beasts or human Soul Masters' soul power can its strength rise quickly.

Therefore, wherever this beast appears, it immediately provokes other soul beasts to gang up and attack, and it must be utterly destroyed before it grows strong.

Even a thousand‑year‑old Dark Evil God Tiger is rare, let alone the one now facing Yu Tianyun, whose cultivation exceeds sixty thousand years.

Such a top‑tier soul beast is capable of challenging opponents one rank above itself.

In other words, a ten‑thousand‑year‑old Dark Evil God Tiger can challenge a hundred‑thousand‑year‑old soul beast.

No wonder the Human‑faced Demon Spider earlier fled in panic; compared to evil, the Human‑faced Demon Spider isn't even worthy to hold the Dark Evil God Tiger's stirrup.

At this moment, the Dark Evil God Tiger's blood‑red eyes locked onto Yu Tianyun; as it gazed at him, it sensed several auras—one like its own divine aura, and a rich true‑dragon aura—both of which excited it greatly.

It clearly understood that devouring this human, Yu Tianyun, would likely yield greater gains than devouring a hundred‑thousand‑year soul beast, but the three Title Douluo beside him made it uneasy; still, it had never lost to a human, and with its cultivation already over sixty thousand years, it brimmed with confidence.

Even so, it remained extremely cautious during its advance, still sensing a dangerous aura emanating from the three.

Yet the Dark Evil God Tiger could not resist the temptation Yu Tianyun presented; it clearly judged that if it could devour Yu Tianyun's body, it would very likely break through the hundred‑thousand‑year limit in a short time.

Its cultivation need not be measured in years; once its strength reaches a certain level, it can advance. By then, even the Azure Green Ox Python and the Titan Giant Ape would be unable to contend with it.

Recalling the data on the Dark Evil God Tiger from his mind and adding his own judgment, Yu Tianyun's expression turned solemn.

At the same time, he also felt a surge of excitement, for the Dark Evil God Tiger also possesses the lightning attribute, which suits him extremely well; aside from its age being inferior to that of the Azure Green Ox Python, every other aspect far surpasses it.

Thus, Yu Tianyun decided to change his original plan—he would absorb the soul ring of the Dark Evil God Tiger before him. Lightning‑type soul beasts are rare, the Azure Green Ox Python will not move its den, and waiting until he reaches rank sixty would not be too late, whereas this Dark Evil God Tiger has no fixed lair; missing it would make it hard to find again.

Accordingly, Yu Tianyun swiftly informed his three grandfathers of this decision, and at the same time told them the Dark Evil God Tiger's most powerful skill—the Life‑and‑Death Arena.

The three frowned, not expecting that this tiger‑type soul beast with over sixty thousand years of cultivation would be so monstrous. Yu Yuanzhen said in a low voice, "If that's the case, let's all move together to take it down, and be sure to hold back nothing."

Chen Xin and Dugubo exchanged a glance, nodded in agreement, and their expressions turned extremely solemn.

Hearing Yu Tianyun's description, they knew the Dark Evil God Tiger's Life‑and‑Death Arena could swap out any one of them; they must cripple it and rob it of combat ability before it unleashes that skill.

This is far tougher than their original plan's Azure Green Ox Python; immediately, Yu Yuanzhen, Chen Xin, and Dugubo summoned their martial souls and assumed a defensive stance.

The soul rings on their bodies were uniformly two yellow, two purple, five black—the soul‑power pressure of Title Douluo—spreading instantly throughout the area.

The Dark Evil God Tiger's huge evil‑god hook behind it rose slowly, swaying gently; each sway sent a string of twisted, strange light halos through the air. Its body was black, but the energy waves it emitted were gray, a gray filled with evil. That gray light was like a plague; wherever it passed, plants withered and vitality vanished.

With each step forward, the surrounding plants automatically parted to the sides. The temperature within the Star Dou Great Forest seemed to drop suddenly—that was the cold of evil.

The Dark Evil God Tiger was no stranger to human Soul Masters; seeing the soul rings on Yu Yuanzhen and the others, its blood‑red eyes grew wary, its steps slowed further, yet the aura on its body grew increasingly overbearing, as if it were demonstrating its might to the enemies before it.

Battle was imminent; a tense atmosphere filled the air, making hearts beat uncontrollably faster.

(End of chapter)