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Fortunately, Chen Xin was a Rank 96 Power-Attack System Tool Douluo. With Ning Fengzhi's peerless augmentations, his combat prowess was effectively elevated to the level of a Rank 97 Super Douluo!
Even though the Dark Devilgod Tiger was powerful enough to rival a top-tier hundred-thousand-year soul beast, it found itself firmly suppressed in the face of Chen Xin's overwhelming sword intent.
Roar!
The Dark Devilgod Tiger let out an enraged, guttural howl.
Dugu Bo was proving to be an insufferable nuisance. His Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor acted like a relentless, "shameless snake," entangling the tiger while simultaneously pumping massive amounts of lethal poison into the beast's deepening wounds.
Despite its incredibly resilient physique and high resistance to toxins, the Dark Devilgod Tiger was struggling. Dugu Bo's poison wasn't just a simple toxin; it was an extension of his soul power and a medium for explosive force. Once the poison infiltrated the tiger's body, its subsequent detonation caused internal damage far more direct and devastating than any external strike. This was a new combat tactic Dugu Bo had developed under Su Wen's specific guidance.
"Eighth Soul Skill: Seven Kill Phantoms!"
Beside the massive main Seven Kill Sword, three spectral sword shadows coalesced, each possessing eighty percent of the original's power. These three shadows surged forward, flanking Dugu Bo.
"Second Soul Skill: Spectral Sword Protection!"
One of the sword shadows unleashed a torrent of blade-qi, circling Dugu Bo to form a defensive perimeter.
"Sixth Soul Skill: Myriad Swords Return to Origin!"
The other two shadows worked in tandem to execute the Sixth Soul Skill. Countless strands of sword energy converged, forming two vast rivers of blade-qi. Together with the main river produced by the true Seven Kill Sword, the three torrents of energy spiraled and intertwined, flanking the Dark Devilgod Tiger from multiple directions.
Watching from the sidelines, Su Wen's understanding of Chen Xin's capabilities grew deeper, and a few suggestions began to form in his mind.
To be honest, among Chen Xin's soul skills, with the exception of the Ninth Skill and the defensive Second Skill, almost none were pure single-target power-attack skills. This meant that Chen Xin's path with the Seven Kill Sword was primarily one of large-scale area-of-effect (AOE) destruction. It was only upon reaching the Ninth Soul Ring that he acquired the "God-Demon Dual Slash" to compensate for his lack of single-target burst potential.
Even though his Ninth Soul Ring—a near hundred-thousand-year ring at ninety thousand years—provided immense power that brought his single-target offense up to par, it couldn't be denied that his foundational style was centered on AOE. His first eight rings had dictated that his deepest insights were in these multi-target techniques.
Currently, his "River of Sword Qi" was a simple accumulation and stacking of energy. Su Wen believed that if Chen Xin incorporated formations or "Sword Arrays" into these techniques, the lethality would surely reach a whole new level.
As the three rivers of sword-qi cascaded down, the Dark Devilgod Tiger reacted instantly. It condensed dozens of grey "Dark Devilgod Thunders" around its body in a heartbeat!
BOOM!
A chain reaction of explosions followed. Lightning and sword light flooded the battlefield, drowning everything in a chaotic blur. Su Wen's gaze sharpened.
"Grandpa Sword, Grandpa Dugu, don't let it escape!"
The intelligence of a Dark Devilgod Tiger was exceptional, easily rivaling the cleverest of humans. It knew the value of endurance and strategic retreat. Under the pressure of the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Azure Bull Python in the past, it had chosen to leave the core of the forest to build its strength. Even now, returning to the forest, it had been stealthily devouring beasts on the outskirts.
Realizing it couldn't defeat the combined force of Chen Xin and Dugu Bo, the tiger found its window. Despite the barrage of sword light and thunder, it braced itself against the damage and charged, bursting through the center of the explosion toward the outer reaches of the forest.
Dugu Bo let out a cold sneer. "I've been waiting for you to try that!"
"Medusa's Gaze!"
Dugu Bo was a veteran of a thousand battles. He had been analyzing the tiger's movements throughout the fight. Even though Su Wen's descriptions couldn't capture every nuance, Dugu Bo had deduced that while the tiger's dash was nearly as fast as teleportation, it had a fatal flaw: it required a straight line of travel to reach its destination.
Having realized this, he had been charging his spirit bone skill for a sudden release.
Under the influence of Medusa's Gaze, the Dark Devilgod Tiger's form solidified in mid-air, its body turning to grey stone as it became a massive, frozen statue.
"Ninth Soul Skill: God-Demon Dual Slash!"
The two sword phantoms combined their strength to execute the Ninth Skill. One phantom radiated a divine, holy light, while the other surged with demonic, malevolent energy. Two beams of sword light merged into one, a chaotic blend of holy and demonic qi, and slashed down violently toward the petrified tiger.
Though its body was turned to stone, the Dark Devilgod Tiger's consciousness remained active. Grey currents of energy swirled around it as it tapped into the power of the Evil God for protection.
Evil God's Protection.
This was a defensive skill on the same tier as the "Invincible Golden Body."
BOOM!
The protective barrier of grey currents shook violently, blurring under the impact of the God-Demon Dual Slash. However, the sword energy was eventually ground down and neutralized by the barrier. The tiger's body erupted with grey lightning, cracking the stone casing. It was already preparing for another dash.
Even in mid-air, it could initiate its charge. Furthermore, the cooldown for its dash was nowhere near as long as Dugu Bo's spirit bone skill.
"Hmph, I'm not done with you yet!"
"Eighth Soul Skill: Time Solidification!"
Dugu Bo poured out his soul power. The space encompassing him and the Dark Devilgod Tiger suddenly froze. This skill could normally freeze an area of several thousand square meters, but as his rank had increased, Dugu Bo had learned to shrink the range. This saved soul power and significantly intensified the freezing effect.
Chen Xin's main Seven Kill Avatar stayed just outside the frozen zone. He suddenly unleashed a terrifying mixture of holy and demonic sword intent.
"Ninth Soul Skill: God-Demon Dual Slash!"
Typically, a burst skill of this magnitude required a long cooldown. However, by using his Eighth Skill's phantoms first, Chen Xin was able to chain two consecutive uses of his Ninth Skill—one from the shadows and one from his true body.
This strike was even more powerful than the previous one delivered by the phantoms. The Dark Devilgod Tiger's pupils constricted, its crimson eyes flashing with a wave of pure, unadulterated tyranny. A chilling, sinister aura began to seep into the air.
The "Evil God Hook" on its back straightened into a lethal spike, and at its tip, a miniature black hole quietly began to spiral into existence. The black hole expanded rapidly, reaching a diameter of three meters. Simultaneously, a translucent barrier shimmered into existence around the tiger, cocooning it.
The expressions of Chen Xin, Dugu Bo, Ning Fengzhi, and Su Wen all changed at once.
Clearly, this black hole was the "Time Reversal" arena—the skill that would drag an opponent into a separate dimension and force them to fight in a juvenile state.
Su Wen immediately mobilized his mental energy, unleashing a full-force Spiritual Shock from a distance. He wasn't sure if the tiger's barrier required a mental assault to break—as Tang San had done in the original records—or if any sufficiently strong attack would do. Regardless, for the sake of absolute certainty, he added his own strike to the mix.
(End of Chapter)