The Demon God Tiger entered the forest unaware that humans were following it.
Ma Hongjun and the others signaled to the other three teams that their target had been identified.
A ten-thousand-year-old Demon God Tiger wasn't particularly difficult to hunt.
The only challenge was to maintain some distance from Demon God Mountain to avoid being supported by other Demon God Tigers.
To give Ma Hongjun a chance for practical combat training, this Demon God Tiger was left to him.
Wild combat with spirit beasts was very effective for cultivation, especially with spirit beasts of this level, which could put pressure on Ma Hongjun.
The Demon God Tiger quickly killed a forest deer. Just as it finished its kill,
Ma Hongjun and a dozen others quickly surrounded it.
The Demon God Tiger's eyes widened in surprise as it looked at the suddenly surrounding spirit masters.
It immediately sensed something was wrong.
It put down its prey, warily scanning the group, its tail swaying and straightening, its body slowly circling, maintaining sufficient reaction time.
"Roar!"
With a tiger's roar, it tried to scare away the humans.
"Little tiger, take this!"
Ma Hongjun activated his fourth soul ring, the Dragon Soul Spear turning dark gold. He thrust the spear forward, aiming straight for the Demon Tiger's neck.
The Demon Tiger pushed off with its hind legs, its two front paws rising up, sharp, dark claws extending and striking the Dragon Soul Spear rapidly.
Ma Hongjun spun to the side, using the force of the Demon Tiger's strike to leap up. The Dragon Soul Spear traced a semi-circle in the air before crashing down.
The spear struck the Demon Tiger's back precisely.
However, such a heavy blow did not cause any damage to the Demon Tiger; its body didn't even tremble.
Too steady.
The Demon Tiger whirled around, about to give Ma Hongjun a tiger hug. Its massive body, when stretched out, was nearly three meters long.
Ma Hongjun met the Demon Tiger's posture.
He lay down in the direction of its lunge, then raised the spear.
This offensive-defense tactic caused the Demon Tiger's movements to falter in mid-air.
If it were to pounce like that, it could definitely inflict severe damage on the human, or even kill him outright.
However, the human Soul Master's spear would also pierce its abdomen.
The abdomen is its weakest point, unlike its resilient back.
The Demon Tiger ultimately didn't choose this risky approach. It leaped up, over Ma Hongjun, changed direction, and pounced again.
"Quite clever," Ma Hongjun thought to himself. Even ten-thousand-year-old Soul Beasts possess a certain level of intelligence.
If the Demon Tiger had actually pounced just now, he was very confident he could severely injure it.
Now, at close range, he only needed to unleash his Dark Gold Terror Claws to pierce the Demon Tiger's body.
Ma Hongjun stood up, using the Phoenix Playing with a Hundred Birds technique to dodge the Demon Tiger's attack.
The Demon Tiger finally erupted in fury, its body surging with black light, its claws turning completely black.
This was the Demon God Transformation.
The Demon Tiger's racial skill could comprehensively enhance its strength by 150%.
Ma Hongjun and the Demon Tiger engaged in a fierce battle. In terms of raw power, Ma Hongjun was no match for the Demon Tiger, as the ten-thousand-year-old Demon Tiger possessed strength comparable to a Soul Saint.
However, using the Phoenix Playing with a Hundred Birds technique, Ma Hongjun managed to fight it to a standstill, and the penetrating power of the Dragon Soul Spear was something the Demon Tiger couldn't withstand.
In such a battle of similar strength, sustained endurance was crucial, which is where his fifth soul skill came into play.
Ma Hongjun discovered that the wooden spear's function wasn't limited to absorbing soul power from heaven and earth to replenish himself.
When the wooden spear pierced the Demon Tiger's body, Ma Hongjun could activate the green patterns on the spear to steal its life force.
He had discovered this after his battle against Yang Feng and the three-on-one attack with Hu Yiming, and only gradually understood it in the past few days, now able to use it. The
reason he hadn't discovered the skill's full potential was because he hadn't truly used it.
Since acquiring his fifth soul skill, Ma Hongjun had rarely used it, instead relying more on the torso soul bone, as both had similar effects, but the torso soul bone, being inside the body, had a more pronounced effect.
Furthermore, the Dragon Soul Spear hadn't seen much blood, which was why it hadn't discovered the skill's effect.
The wooden spear's soul skill could absorb the Demon Tiger's blood essence, converting it into life force and soul power to replenish Ma Hongjun.
This was an incredibly powerful skill; in prolonged combat, it could weaken the opponent while simultaneously enhancing oneself, practically allowing for endless battles.
From this, Ma Hongjun realized that his other soul skills, Fire Domain, could also become very strong, but he hadn't developed them or found a way to utilize them.
After all, his soul skills were all attribute-based.
With continuous consumption, the Demon Tiger's wounds multiplied, and much of its blood was absorbed by Ma Hongjun's Dragon Soul Spear, causing its once-mighty body to become thinner.
Now, the Demon Tiger could no longer even tremble; it could only weakly shake.
"Mu Bai, it's yours."
The Demon Tiger lay collapsed on the ground, utterly weakened by Ma Hongjun's relentless draining of its life force.
In contrast, Ma Hongjun was not only unharmed, but in fact, his condition had improved.
The absorbed life force directly affected Ma Hongjun's body; it was an invisible enhancement, unlike the more obvious increase in soul power.
Simply put, this absorbed life force was equivalent to increasing Ma Hongjun's lifespan.
Lifespan is a rather mysterious thing.
Currently, the greatest effect of this life force enhancement was increasing Ma Hongjun's physical strength, manifesting as a further breakthrough in the limits of his soul ring lifespan.
Dai Mubai looked at the Demon Tiger, utterly despondent from Ma Hongjun's onslaught, and clicked his tongue.
"Let me end your suffering!"
A sharp dagger pierced its neck; the Demon Tiger didn't even use its soul power to resist.
Perhaps it truly wanted to die.
The first soul beast was successfully absorbed, and after Dai Mubai finished, the group continued their journey. They
would then slowly search the mountains, heading south.
Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, Chen Cheng, Yang Feng, and others successively obtained their own spirit rings.
Their spirit beasts were all killed by Ma Hongjun
. Under the absorption of the wooden spear, those spirit beasts were ravaged and died with no will to live.
Ma Hongjun could already feel the power within his body, as if it were about to explode; the life force he absorbed had reached its limit.
However, Ma Hongjun still hadn't broken through the level 60 barrier.
They traveled south for a long time, two months had passed, but they hadn't found any trace of Grandmaster and Liu Erlong.
They didn't know where the two had gone to hunt monsters.
Perhaps they had gone north and had already returned.
"Few spirit masters come to this mountain range; you must be careful, there might be powerful spirit beasts,"
Yu Tianheng warned.
Then he took out a map and showed it to everyone. It was in the center of the southern mountain range, very long in both directions, and the area was about half the size of a province.
It was also equivalent to half the land area of a typical kingdom.
Few spirit masters would set foot here; it was like the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest, only not as terrifying.
But it was still enough to stop most spirit masters.
To reach the Star Sand Kingdom, Ma Hongjun needed to pass directly through here; otherwise, he would have to detour around the side, circling almost the entire kingdom, which would take at least two months.
The group proceeded cautiously, as no one needed spirit rings anymore. They were treating
it as training.
Ma Hongjun, however, had his own plans. The Dragon Soul Spear could absorb and stack the power of spirit rings from the same spirit beast.
He hoped to find, within the Dragon Tiger Mountains, spirits such as the 10,000-year-old Green Bamboo Sound Serpent, Exploding Bear, Dumpling Dragon, Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear, and Jianmu.
At this point, there was no need to hide; rapidly increasing strength was key.
The next stop was the Fire Domain.
The Dragon Soul Spear's powerful abilities also made Ma Hongjun re-evaluate the spear.
Calling it the Dragon Soul Spear now might be somewhat inappropriate.
The descent of the Martial God's Will had already proven its connection to the Martial God.
The Qian Renxue family's Angel Martial Soul was a divinely bestowed Martial Soul, hence their awakened Martial Soul, reaching the Innate Level 20.
Ma Hongjun had also awakened his Innate Level 20 Martial Soul, all related to the Dragon Soul Spear.
The Dragon Soul Spear, in reality, should be called
the Martial God Spear!
(End of this chapter)