Mingtian spent the entire night processing the day's events and buried every deceased villager one by one. After resting for a few hours, he waited until the eastern sky gradually turned the pale color of dawn. Then, he shouldered his backpack, left the village, and set out on the path of revenge — to become stronger and embark on a journey to take vengeance on the Martial Soul Hall.
Mingtian was a man of clear purpose. His next mission was to add another soul ring to his Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Martial Soul, then find a Martial Soul that was neither too strong nor too weak to practice with, to avoid suspicion.
Outside their village lay the border between the Tiandou Empire and the Xingluo Empire. A part of their territories had no clear boundaries and was covered by a vast Soul Beast forest called the Lingdou Forest — second only to the Tiandou Empire's Star Soul Forest and the Xingluo Empire's Panlong Forest.
The Soul Beasts in Lingdou Forest mostly mingled between the two empires, with little reputation and rarely visited by people.
But for Mingtian, it was enough to search for a suitable soul ring here.
With a soul power level of 33 and the ability to devour defeated Soul Beasts to absorb their Martial Souls, Mingtian grew more confident. If anyone looked down on him because of his six-year-old appearance, they would pay dearly.
…
Early morning in Lingdou Forest was thick with the vitality of life. Mingtian entered cautiously.
Some Soul Beasts with around ten years of cultivation roamed without drawing much attention.
"Ten-year Vine Demon, Ten-year Dream Butterfly, Ten-year Pangolin…" Mingtian recognized a few common species but shook his head and pressed deeper.
He soon reached about 100 meters into the forest's depths, where Soul Beasts were typically at a century level of cultivation.
A few hundred-year Soul Beasts glared suspiciously upon seeing him.
"Hundred-year Azure Sea Spirit Ape, Hundred-year Phoenix Tail Rooster Snake, Hundred-year Dark Turtle…"
Some were mild-tempered, like the Dark Turtle, others hostile, like the Phoenix Tail Rooster Snake.
Some braver Soul Beasts contemplated whether to make Mingtian their breakfast.
Mingtian sneered coldly. His Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Martial Soul activated, an aura full of evil spirit enveloping him, a yellow century-old soul ring gleaming.
Feeling the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's presence, many Soul Beasts who had ill intentions backed off, though some cast resentful glances.
Just as Mingtian quietly gloat, a sudden shriek erupted.
"Ssssh!"
Something in the jungle sensed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's aura and attacked.
Mingtian immediately switched to his Red Dog Martial Soul, speeding to dodge the sneak attack.
"What the hell?!" he asked as he put distance between himself and the attacker.
The attacker revealed itself: a long purple tail hook flicked out at him.
"Dark Demon Evil God Tiger? No, a scorpion!"
The tail looked just like the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's tail — a scorpion tail hook — even smelling a bit similar.
"Could it be a soul beast from the same origin as the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, favored by the evil god?" Mingtian thought, advancing toward the attacker.
The scorpion tail hook struck again — then a third attack — this time three tail hooks!
The three tails twisted and turned like venomous snakes in bizarre angles.
Mingtian increased his dog speed and finally saw the attacker.
"Three-tailed scorpion?!"
"It must be a mutated three-tailed evil scorpion, surely related to the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's origin. Legend says the evil god tiger's tail is from this kind of soul beast."
"Is it challenging me because it senses my Dark Demon Evil God Tiger aura? Or is it seeking revenge for the tiger stealing its tail?"
Mingtian smiled. This three-tailed scorpion was perfect as the second soul ring for the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger — it could even masquerade as his original Martial Soul.
"One, two, three…"
"Seven-section scorpion tail, looks like a 700-year-old soul beast — just right."
He prepared.
Red Dog Martial Soul's second soul skill, Dog Bark, activated!
"Bark!!!"
The powerful sound wave caused the three-tailed scorpion to hesitate.
Seizing the chance, Mingtian leapt, striking the scorpion's back with his third soul skill, Dog Claw Hundred Claws!
Dark red dog claws slashed at the back, leaving wounds.
The scorpion, enraged, swung its claws and slashed several purple crescent blades at Mingtian.
Switching Martial Souls, Mingtian activated Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's first soul skill: Evil God Bodyguard!
A gray mist enveloped him, making his body appear intangible.
The purple scorpion blades sliced through without a mark, but the scorpion's triple tail hooks attacked again — aiming at his heart, eyes, and lower body with impossible angles.
Suddenly, the three tail hooks flicked forward, and the scorpion did a strange move: it flipped backward as if dragged by its tails, landing with its head facing Mingtian, baring purple spikes for a double strike.
Faced with this, Mingtian boldly grabbed two of the scorpion's tails.
Dog Bark released a powerful sound wave that forced the third tail to retreat.
Switching back to Evil God Bodyguard, he dodged the spikes.
But Evil God Bodyguard didn't protect his hands holding the tails — this was intentional.
Without pause, he switched again to Dog Claw Hundred Claws!
The red dog claws spun down along the tails, attacking the scorpion's body.
"Ssssh!!!"
The scorpion screamed in pain.
Mingtian repeated the Dog Claw Hundred Claws attack twice more, maintaining this brutal grip despite huge soul power consumption.
It was like wrestling someone, suddenly grabbing both their hands and shocking their arms and heart with powerful electric currents.
After about three minutes, the two tails lost all strength.
A yellow soul ring appeared from the scorpion's body.
Quickly switching to Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Martial Soul, Mingtian absorbed the three-tailed scorpion's soul ring with his devouring ability.
Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's second soul skill was precisely the Evil God Tail, using the scorpion tail hooks to attack, inflicting the scorpion's poison.
Mingtian was very pleased with the second soul ring and absorbed the three-tailed evil scorpion Martial Soul.
The three-tailed evil scorpion automatically generated a century-level soul skill.
Each time Mingtian killed and devoured a soul beast as his Martial Soul, he no longer needed to hunt other beasts for the first soul ring — an inherent soul skill corresponding to the beast's age would form automatically.
Now, Mingtian's Martial Souls and Soul Skills were:
Red Dog Martial Soul:
Soul Rings: Yellow, Yellow, Yellow
Soul Skills: Dog Speed, Dog Bark, Dog Claw Hundred Claws.
Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Martial Soul:
Soul Rings: Yellow, Yellow
Soul Skills: Evil God Bodyguard, Evil God Tail.
Three-Tailed Evil Scorpion Martial Soul:
Soul Ring: Yellow
Soul Skill: Scorpion Claw Slash.