Chapter Eleven: The Divine Tiger Stone Talisman

When Su Li awoke, she found herself lying on the grass, the sky above clear and endless, clouds drifting lazily. She flicked her tail with unrestrained ease.

Yes, she had turned back into a cat.

Although the seal on her beast core remained unchanged, fortunately, her cultivation had not diminished. That alone left her deeply satisfied.

“Roar!”

A low growl came from the side, as if protesting her neglect. Su Li turned her eyes away, unable to accept the scene before her. The adult white tiger spirit beast, shaking its head and trying to act cute, was definitely not the same one from moments before.

Whatever the “furball” had done, the divine beast’s spirit now appeared more solid than before. Was it the sealed power?

Lifting a paw, Su Li’s resolve hardened—she had to become stronger!

Suddenly, the small world trembled violently, a domineering aura saturating the air.

“What’s happening?” Su Li asked.

“That aura is from the Divine Tiger Stone Sigil,” the tiger spirit lay prostrate, gazing reverently into the distance, its eyes wide in shock. “The legendary Divine Tiger Stone Sigil—a human cultivator actually found it?”

“Divine Tiger Stone Sigil?” Su Li was puzzled. What new plot development was this? She had a strange premonition that the comic’s storyline was about to veer in an entirely different direction.

Just the thought excited her!

The tiger spirit, astonished, glanced at her and explained, “The Divine Tiger Stone Sigil is merely one piece of the Divine Beast Stone Sigil. Legend has it that after the ancient god Pan Gu created the world, he split the sigil in four: the East Azure Dragon, West White Tiger, South Vermilion Bird, and North Black Tortoise. Each piece embodies the power of a divine beast.”

“So you mean, if one gathers all four sigils, they could command all beasts?” Su Li asked.

The tiger spirit nodded, then shook its head. “In ancient chants, mortal cultivators could command all beasts and challenge the gods, while gods could destroy heaven and earth.”

Su Li’s eyes widened in realization. “The Divine Beast Stone Sigil contains the power of the ancient gods?”

“Perhaps. My inherited memories hold only faint fragments.” The tiger spirit added, “But for a mortal to inherit its power is nearly impossible.”

Divine beasts are blessed, comprehending the world’s laws through generations of inherited memory, accumulating the wisdom of their ancestors. This grants them extraordinary talent and terrifying strength, far beyond ordinary spirit beasts.

Even so, the tiger spirit only knew a hint about the Divine Beast Stone Sigil—clearly, more mysteries remained.

Su Li felt a subtle worry. She trusted the protagonist’s extraordinary luck, but at this moment, the youth’s strength was still too weak.

Just then, purple clouds surged in the western sky, swiftly covering the heavens in a majestic violet haze.

Crackling sounds echoed one after another—the small world shattered in an instant, its scenery shifting in a heartbeat.

The mountain wind howled. At the peak, a youth sat cross-legged, surrounded by coils of purple energy. Before him hovered a slender, bronze-colored stone, its surface carved with a golden white tiger in relief.

“He’s using the power of the ancient gods to cleanse his marrow and forge his bones?” The tiger spirit, alive for ten thousand years, had never witnessed such a sight. It was awe-inspiring.

As soon as these words fell, the surrounding mystical energy surged, flooding into the youth’s body.

The golden light from the Divine Tiger Stone Sigil intensified, then a dozen bolts of thunder crashed down, with a deafening tiger’s roar echoing from their heart.

“Ah!”

Unable to restrain himself, the youth let out a hoarse cry of agony.

Su Li’s heart clenched.

At that moment, the tiger spirit beside her transformed into a streak of golden light and shot into the thunder, merging with the living relief on the Divine Tiger Stone Sigil.

A wondrous scene unfolded—the tiger carved on the sigil seemed to come alive and darted into Shen Luo’s body.

All phenomena around them vanished at once.

Thud!

Shen Luo fell backward, collapsing heavily to the ground.

Su Li leapt to the youth’s side, placing her paw on his chest to feel the strong, steady heartbeat beneath. At the same time, she sent a thread of spiritual sense along his meridians to examine him.

Shen Luo’s breath was calm and robust, his mental state elevated. His coma was simply due to the strain of sudden power—she breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon, she was elated to discover he had leapt from the Foundation Establishment stage straight into the third realm of Heart Movement.

He truly was the child of destiny!

Just as she prepared to withdraw her spiritual sense, she was suddenly entangled by a divine beast’s power dormant in his core.

That energy was pure and familiar, impossible to resist—she yearned to absorb more.

“Mmm!” The youth frowned and groaned.

Su Li snapped awake, hurriedly pulling back her spiritual sense. She closed her eyes and was surprised to find that the unruly divine beast energy had joyfully rushed into her beast core and settled peacefully.

When she opened her eyes again, a faint golden sheen adorned the manjusri flower tattoo on her forehead, so subtle it was nearly invisible.

“Who’s there?”

Su Li’s sharp senses detected a ripple in the air, her gaze becoming instantly fierce.

Soon, a wisp of white tiger spirit drifted out from the protagonist’s body.

No, it wasn’t just a wisp anymore.

Humans have three souls and seven spirits; the same is true for divine beasts. After a spirit beast achieves transformation and cultivates further, other souls gradually form, until they become indistinguishable from humans. The three souls are main, earth, and fate; the seven spirits are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire.

What shocked Su Li most was that, in less than a stick of incense’s time, the white tiger spirit had already condensed two souls. She immediately grew angry. “What else have you been hiding?”

The tiger spirit shrank, trembling, and explained softly, “Legend says the four divine beasts each sealed a pure power within their sigil. The aura of the ancestor White Tiger helps me stabilize my souls, so I can overlay myself on the sigil.” It lay behind Shen Luo’s head, eyes wide and innocent.

Heh!

A mocking light flashed in Su Li’s eyes. Connecting past events, she asked, “Did you know we would come here?”

The tiger spirit dared not lie. “The one who sealed my soul here told me that, in ten thousand years, someone would appear whom I must recognize as master.”

“Who was that person?”

“I don’t know.” The tiger spirit’s expression twisted in terror, as if its head were pierced by thousands of needles. “I—I lost a part of my memory.”

Su Li boldly speculated—perhaps her transmigration wasn’t accidental, but orchestrated? Yet the tiger spirit’s next words shattered her assumption: “But I don’t know why you’re here, too.”

Su Li understood at last. “So, when we were in the small world, you planned to kill me but changed your mind?”

The tiger spirit grew guilty and curled up, pretending to be dead.

“Do you know who I am?” Su Li pressed.

The tiger spirit shook its head repeatedly. “I don’t know. But your blood and energy make me feel both anxious and familiar. Perhaps you’re also a high-ranking divine beast from the Divine Realm.”

The words sounded plausible at first, but on closer inspection, they were full of holes.

Su Li asked again, “What was that thunder just now?”

The tiger spirit replied, “It was a tribulation of punishment—Heaven thought I was about to revive, violating natural law, so it sent thunder to destroy me.”

“So, my blood can revive you? Is that part of the divine beast’s power?”

“Of course not,” the tiger spirit blurted, then immediately stopped, catching a fleeting cunning in her cat’s eyes. Sheepishly, it added, “I mean, you’re not just any high-level spirit beast. You’re much stronger than me.”

It wasn’t that the tiger spirit didn’t want to tell her—it had sworn a godly oath under threat from “her” not to speak, though it didn’t understand why. After all, the other was a big shot.

Su Li remained skeptical.

The tiger spirit could only fabricate, “I don’t remember much. Maybe once I’m revived, I’ll recall everything.”

With so much left unsaid, doubts still swirled within Su Li, but she suppressed her thoughts and asked about another matter. “If the sigil seals the White Tiger’s divine power, why don’t you use it?”

The tiger spirit sighed, “I’m too weak now to endure it. Besides, after countless ages, that power has developed its own consciousness. Unless it consents, it can’t be absorbed.”

Su Li was surprised, and soon a trace of displeasure flickered in her eyes as she thought of something. “So you plan to reside in his body from now on?”

The tiger spirit shuddered. “Of course not! I usually stay in the sigil.” To prove it, it pawed at Shen Luo’s chest and produced a bronze-colored stone.

Seeing this, Su Li finally looked pleased.

The tiger spirit wagged its tail, revealing all: “Just infuse mystical energy into the sigil, and you can leave the secret realm.”