Ma Hongjun tumbled backward through the air, but his fire wings flapped to quickly stabilize his form. He dove toward Oscar again. Although he had coughed up blood and felt uncomfortable, he knew Oscar must be suffering too.
But actually, Ma Hongjun had completely overthought things. Although the backlash from this collision was enormous, first of all, Oscar's jade sword had already absorbed a significant portion of it for him.
Moreover, his external soul bone was his left palm bone. His left hand was much tougher than an ordinary soul master's. Combined with his physical quality being far superior to Ma Hongjun's—already approaching the Soul Emperor level—Oscar had actually received very little backlash force and suffered almost no damage.
Diving down again, Ma Hongjun didn't condense another flame attack. Instead, his right hand was completely wrapped in soul power, forming a large flame claw. Carrying a majestic might and terrifying phoenix pressure, he swooped toward Oscar like an eagle locking onto its prey.
"Flame Phoenix—Phoenix Claw!"
Ma Hongjun's phoenix claw not only possessed the terrifying temperature of flames but also had a tearing sensation like an eagle's talons.
This attack's power might not match the explosive force of Phoenix Explosion, but in terms of attack power, it was definitely more direct and sharper than Phoenix Explosion.
With the added momentum of his dive, the power of this strike had invisibly increased even further.
However, Oscar's strength and attack power had already been boosted by fifty percent from the passive effect of his external soul bone.
Combined with his physical quality already approaching the Soul Emperor level, with this fifty percent boost, his physical quality alone was completely on par with a初级 Soul Emperor.
This kind of qualitative gap was something Ma Hongjun's slight diving momentum simply couldn't compensate for.
Oscar wielded his three-colored jade sword with great flourish. He was clearly using the Frost Moon Sword Technique taught by his teacher, Gai Yue.
Although the Frost Moon Sword Technique was a Gai Yue family tradition, it encompassed almost all sword technique styles.
This sword technique consisted of nine forms, which were further divided into twenty-seven sword moves and eighty-one sword techniques. It not only covered the entire spectrum from existence to non-existence of the sword but also clearly explained how to cultivate the sword.
Oscar was currently using the fourth form of the Frost Moon Sword Technique's core—Cold Star Flying Moon!
The three-colored jade sword suddenly turned ice blue as Oscar wielded it. Terrifying cold qi released from the sword. The blue ice sword in Oscar's hand seemed to dance like a flying moon—not only beautiful to behold but also exuding an endless sense of danger.
This strike had once again incorporated Oscar's sword intent. The cold aura reached its peak. When the sword was swung, it was like an ice moon flying out, directly slashing onto Ma Hongjun's flame claw.
Ice and flames interweaved, creating endless water mist with the two at the center. Ma Hongjun felt a stinging pain in his palm, which was wrapped in soul power and flames.
Even though he had given it his all, he could barely match Oscar for just an instant. Then Ma Hongjun had to flap his fire wings to quickly retreat, or his right hand would either be severed or frozen solid.
His purified phoenix flames were invincible at the same level. Almost no attribute could suppress him at an equal level.
But Oscar had done it. Although Oscar's soul power level was two levels higher than Ma Hongjun's, what posed the greatest threat to Ma Hongjun was the perfect fusion of Oscar's ice attribute and sword intent.
Oscar's sword qi already carried cutting and killing power. Combined with ice that was no weaker than his phoenix flames, Ma Hongjun inevitably fell into a disadvantage.
However, Ma Hongjun still didn't give up. Although his self-created soul skills and phoenix flames were no match for Oscar, he still had his third soul skill unused.
His third soul ring had reached four thousand years, with power sufficient to match an ordinary soul master's fourth soul skill. Combined with the fact that he had absorbed a soul ring beyond his level, his third soul skill's power was actually far superior to an ordinary soul master's fourth soul skill.
This was also Ma Hongjun's strongest killing move. His third soul ring was different from the original story—it wasn't a flight soul skill but a powerful attack soul skill.
It also didn't come from the Earth King that appeared in the original story's fourth soul ring, which only had fire attributes without phoenix bloodline.
This time, Ma Hongjun's third soul skill came from a Cloud-Piercing Bird that possessed phoenix bloodline. Not only did it have excellent phoenix bloodline, but it could also maximize its attacks through powerful fire attribute abilities.
Ma Hongjun had perfectly merged with this soul ring, giving birth to a super-powerful single-target attack soul skill.
After being forced to retreat, Ma Hongjun quickly gathered his soul power and used his third soul skill. With the enhancement of his second soul skill, Evil fire Phoenix, his third soul skill's power had been maximized. Ma Hongjun channeled all his remaining soul power into this final strike.
If this final attack still couldn't defeat Oscar, then he would just have to accept defeat.
"Third Soul Skill: Phoenix Cloud-Piercing Strike!"
With Ma Hongjun's use of his third soul skill, a massive fire phoenix suddenly condensed behind him. The fire phoenix spread its wings, and a pair of sharp pupils instantly locked onto Oscar.
The moment he was locked onto, Oscar sensed something was wrong. This lock wasn't a qi lock—it was like the positioning tracking soul skill Zhao Wuji used.
Oscar's brows furrowed slightly: "A strong attack skill with locking capability? Just as Teacher said, although Hongjun's third soul skill shares the same name as the fourth soul ring skill in the original story, its effect and power are worlds apart."
And indeed, just as Oscar had thought, although Ma Hongjun's third soul skill had the same name as the original's fourth soul ring skill and lacked the semi-controlling second-phase aftereffect skill...
In terms of power, it had gained a massive improvement. Moreover, this soul skill had fused with the Cloud-Piercing Bird's positioning and locking characteristic. Once a target was locked by Ma Hongjun, the attack would only stop when his third soul skill struck its target.
Otherwise, it would fall into endless pursuit until this soul skill's energy was exhausted.
But Ma Hongjun's third soul skill fully demonstrated his explosive power. The speed unleashed by this soul skill was absolutely not something ordinary soul masters could dodge.
So once locked by this soul skill, there was only one outcome—taking the hit head-on.
However, Oscar actually had a way to dodge. By consuming his third soul skill, with the flight speed of the Swift Dragon, Ma Hongjun's soul skill might not be able to catch him.
But this was completely unnecessary, because Oscar didn't fear Ma Hongjun's soul skill attack.
Oscar suddenly tossed his jade sword toward the sky. The originally ice blue jade sword instantly transformed into three-colored soul power light. Then, sky blue, ice blue, and crimson red jade swords condensed in mid-air.
The number reached over fifty. Although the visual effect was far less domineering than Ten Thousand Swords Returning to Origin, the power of this technique had already far surpassed what he had been capable of in his twenties.
"Sword Intent—Three Origin Sword Rain!"
Oscar shouted, and the three-attribute jade swords suddenly attacked toward Ma Hongjun, having no intention of dodging at all.
Meanwhile, Ma Hongjun had completed the release of his third soul skill. The fire phoenix behind him let out a resonant phoenix cry, locking onto and swooping toward Oscar.
The first of Oscar's Three Origin Sword Rain to contact Ma Hongjun's fire phoenix were the ice swords. There were twenty ice swords in total. All were shattered by the fire phoenix, directly consuming two-thirds of the fire phoenix's energy.
Moreover, more than half of the entire fire phoenix was frozen by the ice. Next came the fire swords—another twenty fire swords made contact with the ice formed by the ice swords. The entire fire phoenix instantly vaporized, slowly dissipating into the air.
Finally, the remaining ten-plus jade swords were unstoppable, screaming toward Ma Hongjun.
At this point, Ma Hongjun had no power left to block. His remaining soul power could barely maintain his flight, with absolutely no extra soul power to defend against Oscar's remaining flying swords.
Seeing his body about to be pierced by flying swords, Ma Hongjun immediately pleaded with Oscar. Otherwise, he was truly afraid Oscar would skewer him like a kebab!
"Boss, I was wrong! I won't provoke you ever again. Please call off your technique!" Ma Hongjun cried as he flew backward trying to dodge the flying sword attack while urgently begging for mercy.
Hearing Ma Hongjun's plea, the ten flying swords about to pierce through his body suddenly transformed into sky blue soul power light. They reformed into two large hands that grabbed Ma Hongjun, then tossed him toward Oscar.
The condensed hands were a characteristic of his external soul bone—Condensation. Oscar's external soul bone could condense into anything, as long as Oscar could imagine it.
However, in terms of pure attack power, only the sword was strongest. Because his external soul bone came from the Purple-Gold Sword Bamboo, the sword was the strongest attack weapon this external soul bone could condense.
This was also why Oscar had chosen to cultivate the sword rather than the staff.
Of course, the Dragon Pattern Staff Technique he had learned from Li Yusong back then wasn't forgotten, but his skill with the staff definitely couldn't compare to his swordsmanship.
Ma Hongjun howled as he was tossed down, finally being grabbed by the collar by Oscar, who lifted him up: "Kid, you're strong, but not strong enough... So don't show off in front of me from now on. Otherwise, next time I won't let you off so easily."
Hearing this, Ma Hongjun nodded his head vigorously like he was pounding garlic: "Yes, yes, yes, Boss. I won't dare next time. Please let me off this time."