The Dark Demon Evil Tiger possessed an evil power that could rival the holy power of the Six-Winged Angel, but the evil attribute was not actually its only strongest attribute.
Among the six attributes it possessed, time was one that could stand shoulder to shoulder with its evil power.
Unlike the Supreme Evil, which specialized in destructive offense, the time attribute itself did not possess particularly strong attack power.
Yet it was one of the strongest control attributes in existence.
In terms of profundity, perhaps only the power of fate that Bai Chen possessed in the Douluo Continent's first era could compare with it.
The reason he had managed to survive that life-or-death moment earlier was precisely because of this terrifying time ability.
Time Freeze.
Its effect was simple:
It froze the time of a single target for one second.
Simple, crude—and overwhelmingly powerful.
One second might sound short, but on a battlefield it could determine life and death.
Especially in situations like the one Bai Chen had just faced, it was nothing less than a life-saving divine skill.
In Bai Chen's view, abilities such as Time Freeze or Time Stop essentially represented one concept:
"Refusal of interaction."
Normally, combat implied a two-way exchange.
Only when both sides could attack and defend could it truly be called a battle.
One-sided slaughter was rarely described as combat.
But a skill like Time Freeze overturned that principle entirely.
Freezing the enemy's time forcibly removed them from the battle.
It severed all interaction with the opponent, locking in victory in a way that was almost cheating.
Unfortunately, Bai Chen's current strength was still too weak.
Right now he could only freeze a single individual for one second.
If one day he awakened a domain ability capable of freezing time for everything within its range—
Then he would truly become a terrifying existence.
After hearing Bai Chen's explanation, Xu Xiaoyu couldn't help twitching his lips.
"You brat… being born with twenty levels of soul power is one thing, but your soul skill is just absurd."
Xu Xiaoyu himself was also a Great Soul Master, already Level 28.
In terms of total soul power, Bai Chen still didn't match him—even after killing so many soul beasts.
But in terms of combat ability, the two of them weren't even in the same league.
Among the beasts Bai Chen had slaughtered earlier like livestock, there were several that Xu Xiaoyu would have needed a hard fight to defeat.
As for the ten-thousand-year soul beast Bai Chen had severely injured—
That was something Xu Xiaoyu could not handle at all.
His talent was considered quite good within his family.
Yet he had been completely surpassed by a child eight years younger than him.
It left him feeling somewhat dejected.
At this moment, Na'er also walked forward.
Her emotional reaction wasn't as intense as Xu Xiaoyan's, but traces of fear could still be seen on her face.
Her voice trembled slightly as she asked,
"Brother… you're not hurt, right?"
"Don't worry. I'm fine."
Bai Chen smiled gently and shook his head.
The Dark Demon Evil Tiger martial soul naturally granted the ability to fly.
In combat, aerial units always held a major advantage.
Those sea soul beasts hadn't even been able to touch him, much less injure him.
Although Bai Chen himself looked completely unconcerned, Na'er didn't seem able to accept things so easily.
Lowering her head, she quietly asked:
"Why do humans and soul beasts have to fight each other like this… until one side dies?"
"That's actually very normal."
Bai Chen sighed softly.
He set down the somewhat recovered Xu Xiaoyan and crouched in front of Na'er, speaking gently.
"For soul masters, killing soul beasts and absorbing their soul rings and soul bones is the simplest and most direct way to grow stronger."
"And soul beasts obviously won't just stand still and wait to die."
"So conflict between the two sides is basically unavoidable."
In truth, the relationship between humans and soul beasts was simply one of survival competition.
There was no clear right or wrong.
In ancient times, when soul beasts slaughtered powerless humans, they never believed themselves to be wrong.
Now that humans had the power to fight back, anything they did for their own survival and prosperity was equally justifiable.
And it wasn't only humans and soul beasts who fought.
Even within their own groups, conflict was everywhere.
Across the three eras of Douluo history, war was constantly brewing.
Spirit Hall, the Sun Moon Empire, and later the Douluo Federation had all tried to provoke wars for their own interests—regardless of the countless lives lost.
Meanwhile, soul beasts themselves fought even more fiercely.
The Three-Eyed Golden Ni liked to devour the brains of light-attribute soul beasts.
Whenever powerful lion- or tiger-type soul beasts approached the ten-thousand-year level, the ferocious beasts would often eliminate them to prevent threats to their own positions.
Even Bear Lord constantly coveted Di Tian's position as the Beast God.
If one truly considered soul beasts as a single unified race, their internal conflicts were often even more brutal than humanity's.
If both humans and soul beasts fought so fiercely among themselves—
Then conflict between the two completely different races was naturally inevitable.
That said, while the fear of lion- and tiger-type soul beasts among the ferocious beasts sounded ridiculous at first, looking at Bai Chen's martial souls made it seem far less absurd.
The Dark Demon Evil Tiger—a top-tier tiger soul beast.
The Three-Eyed Golden Ni—a lion-like supreme soul beast.
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff—the ancestor of lion-type beasts.
Even in the fourth era, the Blue Butterfly was also related to tiger-type soul beasts.
Looking at it that way, lion- and tiger-type soul beasts really did seem to produce abnormally powerful existences far more often than expected.
After hearing Bai Chen's explanation, Na'er nodded softly.
She didn't say anything else.
But judging from her expression, she had clearly understood.
"Good girl."
Bai Chen gently patted her head.
Then he turned to Xue E.
"Uncle Xue, I'll take Na'er back to the ship first. You guys keep going."
He had come down to the battlefield mainly to release the killing intent building inside him.
Now that the urge had subsided, it was time to return to the ship.
No matter how strong someone like Xue E was, the battlefield below was still far more dangerous than the ship.
What had just happened proved that clearly.
After all, no one could guard against everything.
Na'er was still just an ordinary girl without soul power.
Remaining in such an environment was simply too dangerous.
With that, Bai Chen led Na'er back toward the hunting ship.
After waiting for a short while on board, the others soon returned as well.
Xu Xiaoyan followed behind her brother with her head lowered.
In her hand, she still tightly gripped the blood-stained dagger.
Her expression looked extremely strange.
In the original timeline, Xu Xiaoyan hadn't killed a soul beast until she was nine years old.
When they later entered the Spirit Ascension Platform, Xu Xiaoyu had to spend considerable effort persuading his sister to take that step.
Yet under Bai Chen's influence, she had done it years earlier.
Bai Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and asked Xue E,
"Is Xiaoyan alright?"
"I'm fine."
To his surprise, the one answering was Xu Xiaoyan herself.
At some point she had lifted her head.
Although traces of fear and disgust toward killing still remained on her face, her eyes shone with determination.
"I don't want to be a bystander anymore."
"I want to become stronger."
"Next time… I want to be the one protecting Brother Bai Chen."