"What a shame!"
Almost as soon as Ning Rongrong's voice rang out, the gate formed by the Dark Devilgod Tiger to reverse time and pull them into the Life-and-Death Arena began to crack.
With a loud bang, it shattered.
Tiny fragments of soul power scattered over Ning Rongrong and the Dark Devilgod Tiger.
"No… impossible!"
The Dark Devilgod Tiger's eyes widened in shock.
Its Life-and-Death Arena ability had been forcibly terminated?
Unbelievable. The Dark Devilgod Tiger had never imagined such a thing could happen.
"You… what did you do?"
"Do you think I'd tell you?"
"Goodbye, little tiger!" A soul-guided missile with ice attributes shot out from her soul tool.
Like an arrow, it pierced straight through the Dark Devilgod Tiger's skull.
With its head impaled, the Dark Devilgod Tiger's body was quickly covered in thick frost under the chilling effects of the soul tool's formation.
"Dark Devilgod Tiger, let me tell you something."
"After activating the arena, aside from your familiarity with skills and control over your abilities, everything else including your physical attributes is greatly weakened."
"In other words, you're no longer a hundred-thousand-year soul beast."
"You were too careless." Ning Rongrong watched as the sealed Life-and-Death Arena gradually faded, seemingly about to disappear, and a faint smile appeared on her face.
"Blame yourself for mentioning earlier that my power could affect you!"
"Those who drown are usually the ones who know how to swim."
Ning Rongrong put away her soul tool, and the Nine Treasure Glazed Pagoda slowly materialized behind her. Her appearance also reverted from the time before and after her martial soul awakening to her original form.
Her shoulder-length chestnut hair fluttered gently in the breeze of the Blue Silver Forest.
As soon as she returned to the Blue Silver Forest, Ning Fengzhi and the Bone Douluo quickly surrounded her.
"Rongrong, that was too reckless." Ning Fengzhi wanted to say more, but only a few words escaped his lips.
"If I didn't do this, killing a hundred-thousand-year Dark Devilgod Tiger would've been impossible," Ning Rongrong replied.
Without entering the Life-and-Death Arena, even the Bone Douluo would have had almost no chance of killing the Dark Devilgod Tiger.
With its control over time and space, formidable dark concealment abilities, and powerful domain, if the Dark Devilgod Tiger wanted to escape, even a rank 99 powerhouse might not be able to stop it.
"Even the most skilled can slip up. Since when does an auxiliary-type Soul Master fight a hundred-thousand-year soul beast?"
The Bone Douluo knew Ning Rongrong had her own plans, but the Dark Devilgod Tiger was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
If things hadn't gone according to plan, she might have ended up dead.
"Mm, I'll be careful, Grandpa Bone." Ning Rongrong nodded. "There's something on the Dark Devilgod Tiger's body that I absolutely must obtain."
"Something you must obtain?" Ning Fengzhi and the Bone Douluo exchanged glances. This was the first time they'd heard Ning Rongrong so adamant about acquiring something.
Even a hundred-thousand-year soul bone or soul ring meant little to her.
A faint domain of ice and fire appeared beneath Ning Rongrong's feet. Through the subtly hidden domain, she transmitted her voice to Ning Fengzhi and the Bone Douluo.
Ning Fengzhi frowned slightly before nodding. The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously summoned their martial souls.
"Illusionary Wisdom Spirit Bone Illusory Space!"
As Ning Fengzhi spoke, the surrounding space was enveloped by an invisible surge of soul power.
"Found it over there!"
Through the spiritual resonance of the Illusory Space, the Bone Douluo also detected an abnormal energy fluctuation.
Without hesitation, he charged toward the source.
A bone spike condensed in his palm, radiating a gray-black energy. The Bone Douluo viciously thrust it toward the seemingly empty space.
The previously vacant space twisted violently.
A basketball-sized, miniature Dark Devilgod Tiger, clutching a black pearl in its jaws, narrowly dodged the Bone Douluo's attack and desperately scrambled toward the edge of the Illusory Space.
But in its current state, how could it possibly contend with the Bone Douluo?
The Bone Douluo hurled the bone spike in his hand.
Schlick!
The spike impaled the Dark Devilgod Tiger's body. It let out a pitiful whimper before dissolving into black mist.
A murky, black glass-like orb resembling a black pearl fell to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.
The Bone Douluo picked it up. The moment the orb touched his palm, his body trembled slightly before quickly steadying itself.
He returned to Ning Rongrong and Ning Fengzhi, resuming his role as their protector.
Ning Fengzhi dispelled the Illusory Space, sighing inwardly:
"The Dark Devilgod Tiger is truly terrifying. It actually had an escape method prepared."
"But what is this orb? Earlier, in the projection of Rongrong's conversation with the Dark Devilgod Tiger, it seemed its origins weren't simple."
Could this orb be related to a god or more specifically, the evil god mentioned by the Dark Devilgod Tiger and Ning Rongrong?
"Uncle Bone, are you alright?" Ning Fengzhi eyed the black-qi-emitting orb in the Bone Douluo's palm, a faint unease stirring in his heart.
The Bone Douluo shook his head but remained silent.
The three approached the Dark Devilgod Tiger's corpse.
Above it, a red hundred-thousand-year soul ring had now materialized.
"I'll temporarily take custody of the Dark Devilgod Tiger's soul ring."
Ning Rongrong's Nine Treasure Glazed Pagoda trembled slightly as the red soul ring slowly merged into it.
"No soul bone?" Ning Fengzhi carefully examined the Dark Devilgod Tiger's body. Aside from the soul ring, the massive tiger was as clean as if it had been looted so poor it didn't even have the hundred-thousand-year soul bone that such a beast should possess.
"There couldn't have been one." Ning Rongrong directed her Nine Treasure Glazed Pagoda toward the Bone Douluo.
"Absorb!"
With a soft command, the Bone Douluo's soul power fluctuated intensely.
The Dark Devilgod Pearl then slipped from his grasp and was slowly drawn into the Nine Treasure Glazed Pagoda.
"Rongrong, this is…?" Ning Fengzhi's expression shifted slightly.
"That orb was trying to control Grandpa Bone."
"What?!"
Before Ning Fengzhi could question further, the Bone Douluo took a deep breath, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
"Thank you, Rongrong." His voice carried a trace of gratitude. "The orb left behind by the Dark Devilgod Tiger after its death affected me far more than I expected."
"Uncle Bone, what exactly happened?" Ning Fengzhi was puzzled.
"Just as Rongrong said, that orb could influence my mind."
"It seems the Dark Devilgod Tiger's primary soul consciousness was hidden inside."
"This…"
Ning Fengzhi was at a loss for words, his gaze shifting to Ning Rongrong.
"Grandpa Bone's compatibility with the Dark Devilgod Tiger is too high. The Dark Devilgod Pearl is itself an artifact of the evil god essentially a divine object."
"I didn't expect it to affect Grandpa Bone's will."
The fact that the Dark Devilgod Pearl could influence the Bone Douluo surprised Ning Rongrong.
"An evil Soul Master, huh…"
In later installments of the Douluo Dalu series, there were indeed claims that the Bone Dragon martial soul belonged to evil Soul Masters.
As for the concept of evil Soul Masters, Ning Rongrong remained skeptical.
The criteria for identifying evil Soul Masters in The Unrivaled Tang Sect were:
Possessing an inherently evil martial soul, such as skeletons or ghosts.
Using devouring as a cultivation method for example, absorbing the souls of other Soul Masters or soul beasts to increase one's own power.
By these standards, figures like Tang Chen, Tang San, Bibi Dong, Gu Rong, Ghost Douluo, Meng Shenji, Ma Hongjun, and even Tang Hao could all be classified as evil Soul Masters.
After all, the Asura God's domain was literally forged from mountains of corpses.
"Bone Dragon, undead, or dark-type martial souls…"
It seemed she would need to study the Dark Devilgod Pearl carefully before making further judgments.