Seeing the two's martial souls and auras, Dugu Yan, who had come to Zhao Wuji's side, nodded slightly: "This level and such top-tier martial souls might indeed pose some threat to Little Ao."
Hearing this, Zhao Wuji turned to look at Dugu Yan: "You have that much confidence in Little Ao? Mubai is one thing, but the current Hongjun is completely on par with Little Ao from the same period, perhaps even surpassing him."
Dugu Yan smiled slightly: "Teacher Zhao, Little Ao has improved quite a bit during this time. You'll find out later. Let's wait and see."
Just as Dugu Yan finished speaking, Oscar slowly raised his left hand. A sky-blue jade sword appeared in his grasp. With the appearance of this jade sword, Oscar's entire aura instantly became sharper, making Ma Hongjun and Dai Mubai feel as if they were being pointed at by a sharp blade.
Meanwhile, Oscar's right hand was held behind his back, concealing an orange sausage tightly gripped in his palm. Two yellow and one purple—three soul rings slowly rose from his body.
At this moment, Oscar stood like an unyielding, unbreakable sharp sword, facing the soul power pressure from Ma Hongjun and Dai Mubai without changing his expression. There was even a sense of vaguely overwhelming the two of them.
"Oscar, Martial Soul: Sky Blue Jade Sword, Level 37 Strong Attack System Battle Soul Master," Oscar slowly announced.
Hearing this, Ma Hongjun and Dai Mubai glanced at each other, because they both knew that Oscar's actual martial soul was the Supreme Sausage. However, there was nothing wrong with Oscar stating it this way.
After all, he had hidden his sausage martial soul perfectly. The jade sword in his hand was no different from an ordinary weapon martial soul. If they didn't know Oscar's background, they really would have been deceived.
But it didn't matter anymore. What Oscar called it wasn't important—the level wasn't fake.
Although both were surprised that Oscar had gone from Level 30 to Level 37 in just one year, they had mentally prepared themselves.
After all, the Phoenix Nirvana Pill Oscar gave to Ma Hongjun had produced such improvement. Oscar had spent this entire year learning at Dugu Bo's place—there was no way Oscar himself hadn't improved.
So although they were surprised, this was within reasonable expectations. Zhao Wuji had the same thought.
What they didn't know was that although Oscar had taken immortal-grade herbs, they hadn't significantly increased his soul power. The main reason he had reached Level 37 was that absorbing a soul ring beyond his level for his third ring had directly pushed his soul power to Level 33.
Combined with the physical transformation from two immortal-grade herbs, his cultivation speed had improved again, so this level of improvement fell within the normal range.
Seeing that both sides had released their martial souls, Zhao Wuji's voice rang out again: "The duel... begins!"
As Zhao Wuji's words fell, the flames on Ma Hongjun's body suddenly condensed. A pair of flame wings slowly formed on his back. With a flap of his fire wings, Ma Hongjun's entire body soared into the air.
Seeing this, Oscar was still somewhat surprised, because Ma Hongjun hadn't used any soul skill. This pair of fire wings was entirely condensed from soul power and flames.
Ma Hongjun, shooting up into the sky, let out another resonant phoenix cry. In the sky above, it was as if a massive fire phoenix had appeared. Ma Hongjun's feet seemed to have transformed into a pair of flame phoenix claws. Raising his claws, he sent several flame claw strikes toward Oscar.
"Flame Phoenix—Phoenix Claw!"
Several flame-condensed claw marks tore toward Oscar with crimson flames. Seeing this, Oscar was reminded of the time when Ma Hongjun had followed Flender to the Sunset Forest to obtain his third soul ring. Flender had told him about Ma Hongjun's various efforts over the past year or so.
The current Ma Hongjun was indeed not the little fatty from the original story. His development of his martial soul had reached a level of perfection. Even without using soul skills, he could unleash many powerful techniques.
Along with Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai also attacked. He suddenly opened his mouth wide, and a thick golden beam shot out, locking onto Oscar together with Ma Hongjun's attack.
"Second Soul Skill: White Tiger Luminous Wave!"
Facing the two's attacks, Oscar wielded his jade sword, instantly unleashing several terrifying sword qi slashes. He directly blocked Ma Hongjun's attack while shifting his body two steps to the side, evading Dai Mubai's attack.
Although Dai Mubai's second soul skill was powerful, it had a fatal weakness—it only attacked in one direction. While the attack power was sufficient, if an enemy could dodge it, this soul skill was even less flexible than Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Fire Line.
However, just as Oscar had blocked their first attack, their second attack arrived. Ma Hongjun dove down toward Oscar and suddenly sprayed a terrifying stream of flame directly at Oscar's head.
This was precisely Ma Hongjun's first soul skill—Phoenix Fire Line.
The moment the fire line sprayed out, the surrounding temperature instantly rose several more degrees. But Oscar's reaction was incredibly swift—he immediately retreated several steps, barely dodging the fire line attack.
However, Ma Hongjun naturally knew that Oscar understood him well. So the moment Oscar retreated, Ma Hongjun flew up to follow. The fire line chased after Oscar, seemingly just a bit away from burning him.
At this time, Dai Mubai had already activated his first soul skill, White Tiger Protective Barrier, instantly boosting his attack, strength, and defense by fifty percent. He charged toward Oscar.
Oscar quickly retreated several more steps, then started running along the fighting platform. The fire line chased behind him, bit by bit, while Dai Mubai had already moved to block his front.
Oscar knew these two were trying to sandwich him and win in one fell swoop. But naturally, Oscar wouldn't give them this opportunity.
Ma Hongjun's current phoenix flames were indeed terrifying. Although his soul power level was two levels lower than Oscar's, Oscar still didn't dare to take his flames head-on.
Because although he had gained an immunity to all poisons after consuming the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Fire-Apricot Yellow Spring, he himself didn't have ice-fire dual immunity. This immunity effect was in his martial soul. Only by consuming the sausages created by his soul skills could one gain ice-fire dual immunity.
There were also limitations—as soon as the soul skill's effect faded, the ice-fire dual immunity would also disappear. This was the same as Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul gaining ice-fire immunity in the original story.
However, there was a benefit—Oscar's future soul skills would automatically gain this ability. Although the ice-fire dual immunity had obvious limitations, it wouldn't consume Oscar's soul power. It was essentially a passive ability, which was a gain for Oscar.
But right now, Oscar naturally had no need to consume his own sausage. Even without ice-fire dual immunity, he had ways to deal with Ma Hongjun. The reason he was running was simply waiting for the right opportunity.
After all, Ma Hongjun had improved rapidly during this year. But Oscar, relying solely on his external soul bone, also possessed strength sufficient to match a Soul Master.