Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Fire Line kept chasing Oscar, burning after him, almost reaching him but always falling just short.
This scene was somewhat similar to when Ma Hongjun had first obtained his soul ring and provocatively challenged Oscar. But this time was different—Ma Hongjun's soul power foundation had improved, and he also had Dai Mubai assisting from the side.
Most importantly, Ma Hongjun could fly now. The pressure he brought to Oscar was incomparable to before.
Seeing Oscar running faster and faster, Ma Hongjun decided not to toy with his boss anymore. The fire wings on his back suddenly erupted with even more intense flames, giving his speed an instant boost.
In the blink of an eye, Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Fire Line directly burned onto Oscar's body. However, Oscar had been keeping watch for Ma Hongjun's follow-up moves all along.
Just as the fire line was about to swallow Oscar, the jade sword in Oscar's hand had already turned ice blue.
Oscar swung his sword in a reverse motion, and a terrifyingly cold sword qi suddenly flew out.
The ice sword qi collided with the Phoenix Fire Line and actually froze the entire line of fire in an instant. Moreover, the freezing continued upward along the fire line toward Ma Hongjun in the sky.
Ma Hongjun was so frightened by this scene that he immediately extinguished his flames. He flapped his fire wings to quickly rise several more meters.
Clearly, Ma Hongjun had never expected Oscar to have this ability.
His boss's jade sword wasn't supposed to only have cutting attributes? Where did this terrifying cold aura come from? Could Teacher Gai Yue have also taught Oscar his ice attribute? This was simply too unreasonable!
However, while Ma Hongjun was hesitating, the jade sword in Oscar's hand had already changed from ice blue to crimson red. He swung again at the frozen flames—this time not an ice sword qi, but a flame sword qi carrying crimson fire.
The descending flame sword qi touched the frozen fire line, and instant vaporization occurred. Thick water mist immediately filled the air.
Dai Mubai, who had just approached Oscar, instantly felt his vision blur. The next moment, he felt a terrifying force strike his abdomen, sending his entire body flying backward.
Oscar's physical quality had already approached the level of a Soul Emperor. Moreover, after using his external soul bone, his strength and attack power would increase by another fifty percent.
Oscar had taken advantage of the moment the water mist appeared to approach Dai Mubai. He delivered a fully charged punch that sent him flying.
Even without the boost of a strong attack type martial soul and soul skills, with the enhancement from his external soul bone, Oscar's strength and attack power were already infinitely close to the Soul Emperor level. Dai Mubai, at merely Level 29, had taken Oscar's full-powered strike.
His entire body flew backward and crashed to the ground, knocked unconscious. During the process, he only felt like he'd been hit by a carriage. He didn't even know how Oscar had struck him.
And if he hadn't used his first soul skill, Oscar's full-powered strike would have left him paralyzed.
Of course, Oscar had controlled his force—Dai Mubai would only need to lie down for a few days at most.
Ma Hongjun heard Dai Mubai's scream and the flames on his body surged again. The terrifying flames instantly evaporated the water mist, and then he saw Oscar standing not far ahead, with Dai Mubai lying on the ground, unconscious.
Ma Hongjun helplessly shook his head, clearly realizing he had underestimated his boss's strength.
However, although his boss was terrifying, Ma Hongjun wasn't weak either. After improving so much over this year, his physical quality had already reached the level of a Soul Master. Now at Level 35, his physical quality was at least comparable to a Level 45 Soul Master.
Coupled with his Evil Fire Phoenix, a top-tier strong attack type beast martial soul, he really wanted to properly challenge his boss.
So actually, it made no difference whether Dai Mubai was there or not. For Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai's current strength not causing trouble was already good enough.
Because both Oscar and Ma Hongjun had explosive power far beyond soul masters of the same level.
Dai Mubai, at merely Level 29, was completely unqualified to participate in their battle.
Unless Dai Mubai could break through to Level 30 and obtain his third soul ring, perhaps then he might barely qualify to participate in this fight.
At this moment, Ma Hongjun stared vigilantly at Oscar. Oscar's ice sword and fire sword earlier had indeed surprised him. After all, for one person to simultaneously possess two opposing elemental abilities was already enough to astonish anyone.
And it wasn't just Ma Hongjun who was surprised—Zhao Wuji was too. Like Ma Hongjun, his understanding of Oscar was basically from a year ago. He had no knowledge of Oscar's improvements at Dugu Bo's place over the past year.
So now, seeing that Oscar alone possessed two opposing attributes, and that his control was so skilled with such terrifying destructive power, Zhao Wuji was greatly shocked.
After all, everyone knew that ice and fire, these two opposing attributes, shouldn't appear in the same person.
But Oscar was an exception. Having absorbed the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Fire-Apricot Yellow Spring, not only did his martial soul gain the special effect of ice-fire dual immunity, but his external soul bone also directly possessed both extreme ice and extreme heat attributes.
Although neither had reached the ultimate level yet, they were definitely in the high-tier attribute category. Having perfectly fused with his external soul bone, Oscar naturally had complete mastery over both attributes.
And Oscar could not only switch between these two attributes at will, but could also merge them into one, unleashing even more terrifying attacks.
At this moment, Oscar glanced at the unconscious Dai Mubai. He moved sideways toward him, hooked his foot under Dai Mubai's body, and directly kicked him toward Zhao Wuji.
At the same time, Oscar tossed a sausage to Zhao Wuji—it was his usually stored first soul skill, the Super Recovery Big Sausage.
Zhao Wuji caught both Dai Mubai and the sausage. He placed Dai Mubai on the ground, then stuffed the sausage into his mouth. All of Oscar's soul skills were instantly dissolvable upon entering the mouth, directly transforming into pure soul power that flowed into the body and quickly took effect.
After consuming the sausage, Dai Mubai's complexion noticeably improved. Meanwhile, Oscar and Ma Hongjun on the fighting platform had already begun fighting again.
Ma Hongjun dove down toward Oscar. His right hand transformed into a flame claw, with terrifying flames contained within. The flames slowly condensed into a crimson fireball. The fireball wasn't large, but the power within it was formidable.
"Flame Phoenix—Phoenix Explosion!"
Holding the fireball, Ma Hongjun shouted. His fire wings flapped, and under the eruption of flames, his speed suddenly increased, far surpassing soul masters of the same level in the agility attack category.
This kind of explosive speed was something ordinary soul masters completely lacked. One could say that Ma Hongjun had not only mastered the ability to fly, but could also rely on his control over his martial soul and flames to unleash speeds that even agility attack type soul masters of the same level couldn't achieve.
However, Oscar naturally wasn't afraid of Ma Hongjun's surprise attack. Otherwise, he would have long ago consumed his third soul skill to fly. The reason he hadn't was because Oscar had confidence in his own strength.
Oscar's jade sword spun in his hand. The originally crimson jade sword instantly gained two more colors. Now the sword had sky blue as its base, with red and blue interweaving in brilliant contrast.
Cutting, ice, and fire—three attributes merged into one. This was the strongest form of Oscar's external soul bone, and also the most soul power-consuming form. But in exchange, it delivered terrifying offensive capability.
Oscar gripped the jade sword with his left hand and instantly swung twice. The red and blue sword qi suddenly erupted and merged, as if forming a red-blue sword dragon at the moment of the swing.
"Sword Intent—Ice and Fire Double Heaven!"
The perfect fusion of ice and fire—this strike had even incorporated Oscar's comprehended sword intent. A majestic qi instantly locked onto Ma Hongjun.
Feeling this terrifying qi, Ma Hongjun instantly knew that this attack alone might not be enough to defeat Oscar.
So in an instant, Ma Hongjun used his second soul skill, Evil fire Phoenix. After using this soul skill, his flame power instantly increased by fifty percent.
This meant his attack power had directly increased by fifty percent. Combined with his Phoenix Explosion, which condensed flames to their ultimate extreme to form an explosive attack...
So after using his second soul skill, the power of this strike was not just a fifty percent increase—it had achieved an effect greater than the sum of its parts.
When Ma Hongjun's held fireball collided with Oscar's ice-fire sword dragon, a terrifying boom immediately erupted.
In an instant, a shockwave was raised, blowing Dugu Yan's long hair beside Zhao Wuji, creating a beautiful scene.
At this moment, Dugu Yan was wearing a green dress, her long hair flowing in the wind—an absolutely stunning sight. However, neither Oscar nor Ma Hongjun had the mind to appreciate it at this moment.
After their attacks collided, Ma Hongjun's figure was instantly sent flying backward. He couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood, caused by the backlash from the explosion's power.
After all, he wasn't holding a sword in his hand. The backlash force directly transmitted to his body, making him feel uncomfortable.