The cultivation of soul beasts encounters bottlenecks at full levels of 4, 7, and 10.Once these are broken through, their strength undergoes a qualitative transformation.
The same principle applies to soul ring skills.
The Primordial Sacred Body wasn't too dramatic—it went from 70,000 years to 88,000 years, mostly just accumulating more power.
But the Chaos Sacred Spirit Martial Soul? It got a huge boost—from the initially set 36,000 years all the way to 57,000 years.
Crossing this key threshold, its strength skyrocketed—it's no exaggeration to call it a power explosion.
With the Extreme Yin True Qi as fuel, the effects were way more powerful than using just spiritual power alone.
After a round of simulated testing, Nangong Lingyun was grinning from ear to ear.
Take the second soul skill, Time Control, for instance—its capabilities had been completely reborn.
Time Stop: It still consumed 10% energy, but now it could completely freeze the Golden Lion-Tiger for about 0.33 seconds, and the charge-up time was massively reduced to four seconds.
Against opponents of the same strength as Nangong Lingyun: 0.57 seconds.Against an average level 47 Soul Sect: a whole six seconds.
Time Acceleration/Deceleration:No charge-up needed. No cooldown.
It could now modify the Golden Lion-Tiger's time flow rate by up to ±214%, consuming only 0.5% of Extreme Yin True Qi per second at max power.
And the weaker the opponent, the less energy consumed—and the more dramatic the effect.
Only Time Reversal and Time Travel remained unusable.
After finishing this round of testing, Nangong Lingyun was overjoyed—his time-type abilities were finally revealing their true terrifying potential.
0.33 seconds might seem short, but with his spatial abilities, he could do a lot in that time.
"All martial arts under heaven are breakable—except by speed," as the saying goes.
Three minutes of triple-speed essentially meant tripling what was already extreme speed.
"Hey, you bootleg trash?"
Nangong Lingyun shouted excitedly.Five minutes later, when the two came out of the virtual combat space, both their faces wore smug and deeply satisfied smiles.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was even roaring non-stop:
"You having a bad day, huh?""Still acting tough? Come on then, keep it up!""From today onward, your tiger queen has risen!"
…
With time still left before the arranged duel, Nangong Lingyun took a good half-day to rest. Around noon, he headed off for the appointment.
At the familiar mouth of the valley, both sides wore smug expressions, as if their plans had already succeeded.
The Big Black Tiger was grinning especially wide—it couldn't wait to finally wash away its previous humiliation.
Only the Golden Tiger King looked slightly uneasy.
Something about Nangong Lingyun's cocky vibe instinctively made her feel that something was off.
Nangong Lingyun was the first to speak:
"Lion King, Tiger King, and Golden Lion-Tiger—although we've already agreed to the wager, the specific format of the duel still warrants some discussion.
A gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall.With talents like ours and the future we were meant to have, if we fight without regard for the consequences, any damage on either side would be a great loss."
"So how do you want to fight?"
"I have a treasure that allows our consciousnesses to enter a virtual battle space.
The process is indistinguishable from real combat, but even if we die in the virtual world, our real bodies remain unharmed."
The meaning here was crystal clear: move the wager battle to the virtual realm.
The Golden Lion-Tiger was just about to agree when—
The Tiger King's brows furrowed hard.
Like a detective smelling a clue, she snapped:
"Not so fast! That treasure—you're the only one who knows how to use it. If someone tampered with it, how would we know?"
Nangong Lingyun wasn't offended in the slightest.
"A fight is just a contest of power. Any moves or skills I use inside can be replicated in reality as proof."
That shut everyone up—even the Tiger King had nothing left to argue.
Soon, inside the virtual battle space, which was an exact replica of the outside valley—
The Golden Lion-Tiger stretched curiously, its giant paw slamming the ground and cracking it inch by inch.
One by one, it tested out its abilities—each one identical to its real body. Its face instantly lit up in amazement.
"It's really... exactly the same!?"
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger arrogantly barked:
"Country bumpkin."
But secretly, it was begging Nangong Lingyun through heart-voice communication:
"Boss, use that enlarge skill on me again, please? I swear I'll behave this time!"
After experiencing the super-enlarged Holy Berserk Armor Mode once before, the big cat had been obsessed with that overwhelming power.
Especially with the chance to redeem herself this time—this was her moment to act like a total badass.
She wanted to prove that Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was no lesser being.
But a one-shot win would be way too boring.
"Don't overdo it,"Nangong Lingyun warned—but still granted the request.
Eleven black rings lit up and hovered,Then the first and third soul rings of the Primordial Sacred Body, along with the fourth soul ring (Darkness Control) of the Chaos Sacred Spirit, flew over and attached themselves to the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's paws.
In an instant, this beast's size multiplied severalfold—now even larger than the Golden Lion-Tiger by a full ring.
Its body was encased in a golden armor of divine magnitude—majestic and overflowing with might.
"Yesss! Don't worry boss, I got this—I know my limits!"
She casually responded to Nangong Lingyun in her mind,
Then let out a massive tiger roar, shaking the earth and rocks around with its sonic shockwave.
"This beast-controlling martial soul is insane—it lets the beast pet use abilities from the owner's other martial souls?"
The Lion King's eyes filled with shock.
The Tiger King was also stunned, but made a mental note:
"We have to confirm this move in the real world. If not, it's cheating."
Moments later, both sides were ready.
Battle began.Nangong Lingyun immediately activated Time Acceleration on the Golden Lion-Tiger, speeding time up by 150%.
To the Golden Lion-Tiger, only a second passed. But for everyone else, they had 2.5 seconds to act.
Without a word, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger shot forward with a wicked grin, slapping the Golden Lion-Tiger right across the face.
The smack sent it staggering—nearly collapsing.
Then came wild, arrogant laughter.
Previously, that kind of hit wouldn't even leave a scratch—but this time, it couldn't dodge in time and had to tank it.
This one slap made the Lion King, Tiger King, and even the Lion-Tiger itself visibly alarmed.
"A control-type debuff ability?""No way! A speed debuff this massive?""Wait—no, my speed hasn't changed?"
As the Golden Lion-Tiger said this, the two kings looked even more disturbed.
To outsiders, its speech was painfully slow and drawn-out—like it was gasping for air.
Not long after, when the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger knocked the Golden Lion-Tiger down a second time—
The Golden Lion-Tiger King's pupils shrank sharply, her body trembling violently.
"Could it be... that ability? No way!"
(End of Chapter)