Deep within mountain ranges of overlapping peaks.
Beneath the towering trees, Lin Rong leaned casually against a thick trunk, his old butler standing beside him. Behind them, the Nine Bend Vine Dragon coiled around a sturdy tree trunk.
The two men and one martial soul waited idly here for the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger to arrive.
Time flowed by slowly.
Suddenly, darkness obscured the sky above them.
Amidst a thunderous roar, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, carrying two humans, descended onto an open space not far from them.
"Evil God Domain..."
Facing the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, Lin Rong showed no fear. Instead, he curiously observed the darkness enveloping them.
Within the dense darkness, an aura of pure, ultimate evil emanated constantly.
Logically, evil auras should evoke hatred and disgust, but that's because those evil auras weren't pure enough.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's evil power originated from the God of Evil. This was a pure evil attribute, not a diluted, inferior evil force formed by a mixture of many negative emotions.
"Roar~"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's crimson eyes stared intently at the Nine Bend Vine Dragon coiled on the tree trunk not far away.
From a distance, it had only sensed the aura of an extremely delicious prey that would greatly benefit itself.
Now, at close range, it realized this prey's strength seemed to exceed its imagination.
In the original story, when Tang San encountered the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, its cultivation level was between sixty-five thousand and sixty-eight thousand years.
At that time, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's strength was equivalent to a Rank 96 or 97 Titled Douluo.
The current timeline was still more than ten years away from that point.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, having missed over ten years of development, currently had a cultivation level of just over fifty thousand years.
Its regular combat strength had only just touched the threshold of a Titled Douluo, roughly equivalent to Lin Rong's current strength.
Lin Rong's old butler, having concealed his aura, was not noticed by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
"Grandpa Yu, you don't need to act this time, let me handle it!"
Under the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's wary gaze, Lin Rong stretched leisurely, saying in a light tone:
"This damned Heart Tribulation has kept me stifled for so long. Finally, I've found an opponent of comparable strength. It's the perfect chance to vent my frustration!"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger possessed extremely high intelligence and understood human nature. Seeing that Lin Rong didn't take it seriously at all, it felt angered, but also became more vigilant.
This human in front of it was so fearless; he must have some trump card it didn't know about.
However, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was not intimidated. Did it not have its own trump cards?
Its Evil God Wings flapped, causing spatial fluctuations. The two humans riding on its back disappeared and reappeared a hundred meters behind it, in a safe zone.
Looking at Lin Rong, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's crimson eyes were filled with uncontrollable greed.
From such close proximity, it could clearly sense the vast and pure life force within Lin Rong, as well as an aura of divinity that was growing vibrantly.
The fluctuation of Soul Power fused with Divinity was so unique, more appealing than any Spirit Master's Soul Power it had ever absorbed.
This made the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger extremely excited, as it knew that devouring the human before it would bring far greater benefits than any creature it had ever consumed.
It was even certain that devouring this human child would be more effective than devouring a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
Its greedy nature suppressed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's hesitation. It decided to go all out. Even if it ultimately lost, it still had a trump card to turn the tables and achieve victory.
Just as the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was greedy for Lin Rong's body, Lin Rong also desired the Evil God Bead within the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
Zhou Weiqing's ability to become the Great Strength God was greatly indebted to this Evil God Bead.
In other words, the Evil God Bead had the power to turn a natural cripple into a peerless genius qualified to inherit a godhood.
With so many godhood inheritances currently on the Douluo Continent, Lin Rong was worried about not having enough talented individuals to inherit them. He was determined to obtain the Evil God Bead that was being delivered to him.
A dragon's roar echoed, and the Nine Bend Vine Dragon disappeared from the ancient tree's trunk, appearing beside Lin Rong.
Seeing this, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger responded with a powerful tiger roar, showing no weakness.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's massive Evil God Hook at the end of its tail swung slowly. It didn't attack immediately but paced around the vicinity, searching for the optimal moment to strike.
This scene reminded Lin Rong of an idiom from his previous life: "like a tiger eyeing its prey."
The idiom was quite fitting for the current situation.
However, since the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger wasn't going to make the first move, Lin Rong wouldn't be polite.
Lin Rong slowly raised his right hand, and with a flash of light, a blue-gold spear appeared in his grasp.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black – six Spirit Rings arranged themselves neatly on his body, pulsing rhythmically.
As the saying goes, attack when unprepared, strike when unexpected.
Lin Rong appeared to thrust the spear towards the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, but this move was merely a feint. The true attack came from the banyan roots and vines lurking beneath the ground.
As expected, facing his initial attack, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, unaware of Lin Rong's full capabilities, chose to avoid the direct confrontation and leaped backward.
Unexpectedly, this played right into Lin Rong's hands. The moment the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger landed, countless banyan roots and vines burst from the ground, entangling it firmly in place.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's scarlet eyes flashed with a trace of incredibly human-like surprise; the human's Martial Soul wasn't the long spear in his hand at all.
A lapse in its meticulous planning, it had initially assumed this human's Martial Soul was a blue-gold long spear accompanied by a Dragon Soul, instinctively overlooking the possibility of it being an External Spirit Bone.
This unfavorable start ignited a surge of anger within the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, and the Evil God Hook on its tail whipped through the air like afterimages.
The incomparably sharp hook blades instantly severed the banyan roots and vines that had entangled it.
When the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger broke free from its restraints, what greeted it was a beam of cyan-purple lightning thick as a barrel.
"Roar~"
A tiger's roar erupted, accompanied by a fierce wind.
With cyan winds surging around its Evil God Wings, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger vanished the instant the cyan-purple lightning was about to strike it.
"Hmph! The speed of wind."
Hearing the movement from behind him, Lin Rong calmly turned around. He watched as the pure black tiger claw was blocked by the Nine Bend Vine Dragon, remarking with a hint of mockery:
"With Little Qing here, don't even think about sneak attacks."
Lin Rong's fifth Spirit Ring lit up, and a cyan light separated from the Nine Bend Vine Dragon, transforming into another Nine Bend Vine Dragon beside it.
The differentiated Nine Bend Vine Dragon raised its dragon claw, lightning power flashing on the claw, and swiped towards the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's head.
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