Dugu Yan smiled faintly, her emerald dragon tail swaying gently as a pair of cold, gleaming green dragon claws flexed slightly.
"This young lady accepts your challenge." Dugu Yan beamed. "Come on then, let big sister see what you've got."
As her words fell, three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—rose from the body of Dugu Yan, who had already activated her martial soul. Although her martial soul had just evolved from a snake to a dragon, that powerful aura of a dragon was already fully present.
The instant the soul rings appeared, a formidable and terrifying dragon pressure bore down on Oscar. However, Oscar held his jade sword like a sharp blade, not moving an inch, completely unafraid of Dugu Yan's pressure.
"Be careful." Oscar gave a warning, then stepped forward two steps and thrust his sword. The jade sword, carrying terrifying sword energy, suddenly swept toward Dugu Yan.
Dugu Yan merely smiled at this. She knew Oscar was holding back, but it didn't matter; she would use her strength to make him get serious.
Suddenly, the two yellow soul rings on Dugu Yan's body lit up. This time, Dugu Yan did not release any poisonous mist, because her first two soul skills had undergone beneficial mutations after her martial soul's evolution—or rather, an upgrade.
"First Soul Skill: Jade Scale Dragon Claw!"
Now, when Dugu Yan released her first soul skill, its effect changed from auxiliary control to attack amplification. Upon releasing the skill, Dugu Yan's claws instantly grew more than double in size, with her attack power and speed increasing by fifty percent.
"Second Soul Skill: Jade Scale Dragon Armor!"
This original second soul skill had also changed. After releasing it, a suit of emerald green armor instantly condensed across Dugu Yan's body. The armor covered her entirely, not just her body and head, but even wrapping around her dragon tail. The armor directly caused a massive boost to Dugu Yan's defense, while simultaneously increasing her own defense by one hundred percent.
Furthermore, during this process, Dugu Yan would eliminate any sensation of pain, becoming purely a weapon of slaughter that felt no suffering.
The evolution of her martial soul allowed Dugu Yan to directly use the amplification of these two soul skills on herself, and the effect was even more terrifying than using them on others.
After releasing these two soul skills, Dugu Yan's speed surged instantly. She turned into a blur to avoid Oscar's jade sword, then attacked Oscar from the side.
The emerald dragon claws looked magnificent, but the terrifying attack power they carried could not be ignored. With the evolution of her martial soul, Dugu Yan's offensive capabilities now surpassed those of soul masters of the same level.
Moreover, the most terrifying point was that even without using her third soul skill, the Jade Scale Snake Poison attached to her dragon claws was horrifying enough. If a soul master of the same level were scratched by Dugu Yan's claws, the poison on them would instantly invade the opponent's body.
It could be said that not only had Dugu Yan's close-combat ability received a terrifying boost, but her difficulty to deal with had also multiplied.
With the amplification of the first soul skill, Dugu Yan's attack came incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, those sharp emerald dragon claws arrived at Oscar's neck.
However, Oscar's reaction speed was also very fast. His jade sword swiftly deflected upward to block Dugu Yan's dragon claws, then exploded with terrifying sword energy, suddenly slashing toward Dugu Yan.
Dugu Yan instantly used her dragon claws to block. Under the effect of the second soul skill which eliminated pain, Dugu Yan felt no sensation at all from the terrifying cutting force when Oscar's jade sword struck her.
Meanwhile, her dragon claws were constantly seeking an opening to attack Oscar from all sorts of tricky angles.
However, Oscar was experienced after all. Even though Dugu Yan's combat power had increased significantly, she still hadn't found any opportunity.
Oscar had only been using the ordinary sword techniques of the Frost Moon Sword Style, without employing any specific sword moves.
It was precisely because of this that Dugu Yan was able to go toe-to-toe with Oscar. Even if Oscar used some ordinary sword moves, Dugu Yan was able to defend against them.
After all, her second soul skill provided a defense boost of one hundred percent—a full doubling of her defense.
Added to that, the armor's own defensive power was extremely shocking. Dugu Yan's close-combat ability received a massive upgrade, transforming from a poison mage who could only rely on toxins into a warrior capable of melee combat!
The two exchanged dozens of moves. Midway through, Dugu Yan suddenly grabbed Oscar's jade sword with both claws, preventing him from attacking. Immediately after, her dragon tail lashed out toward Oscar's lower body, aiming right at his center.
Oscar felt quite speechless seeing this. Although he knew Dugu Yan did this because she knew he could defend against it, being targeted in a spot three inches below his navel by his girlfriend still felt somewhat subtle.
But Oscar's reaction was indeed swift. Although the jade sword in his hand was pinned, in just an instant, Oscar rapidly consumed soul power to condense another jade sword, blocking Dugu Yan's tail strike.
However, Dugu Yan's attack didn't stop there. Although her dragon tail was blocked, the tip of the tail was pointed right at Oscar's chest. Then, as Dugu Yan's soul power surged, a stream of terrifying, emerald, highly toxic poison mist suddenly sprayed out, directly engulfing Oscar entirely.
This was precisely Dugu Yan's third soul skill—Jade Scale Serpent Emperor Poison. Dugu Yan's third soul skill hadn't changed; it still infinitely stimulated her innate lethal poison, and she could release it using any part of her body.
Dugu Yan had clearly used this follow-up move perfectly. She knew Oscar could block her dragon tail attack, but he wouldn't be able to stop the spread of her poison.
However, Oscar was now immune to all poisons. Even if he inhaled all of Dugu Yan's Jade Scale Serpent Emperor Poison, he wouldn't be unscathed, but at most he would feel a bit dizzy; he simply wouldn't be poisoned.
Unless it was Dugu Bo using poison on him, that might make Oscar feel a bit uncomfortable. After all, although Oscar was immune to poison, the gap in soul power between him and Dugu Bo was simply too large.
Seeing that Oscar had taken the hit, Dugu Yan let go of his jade sword and laughed. "Xiao Ao, how was that move? If the person fighting me now wasn't you, the opponent would definitely have fallen for it. They'd surely be kneeling on the ground right now begging me for the antidote!"
Hearing Dugu Yan's words, Oscar swung his sword, using sword energy to disperse the permeating poison fog, then replied, "It's really good. Also, since your Jade Scale Snake evolved into a dragon, your first and second soul skills became amplification skills too. This is simply a huge boost for you."
"Although you lost the group support effect, for your own strength, these two soul skills have caused your abilities to advance by leaps and bounds."
Hearing Oscar's praise, Dugu Yan's smile became even more charming. "Hehe, it's all thanks to you! Now I'm a combination of assault and control. Plus, my second soul skill greatly boosts my defense. I feel like I'm becoming an all-around soul master!"
Hearing Dugu Yan's words, Oscar shook his head helplessly. "What are you thinking? You're only at level forty right now. Although the amplification of your first and second soul skills is strong, it's a balanced development. If you really compare yourself to a pure defense soul master, you're still lacking a bit."
As he spoke, Oscar didn't want to discourage Dugu Yan, so he changed his tone. "However, that is only slightly inferior in a single comparison. If you continue developing in a balanced way, your abilities will be invincible."
"When fighting others, close in first. Use your powerful close-combat abilities to make the enemy think you're an assault system soul master, then suddenly release poison to take them down. In the future, whoever meets you, I can only pray they can kneel down and beg you for the antidote in time, otherwise..."
Hearing Oscar's words, Dugu Yan felt it was too funny. Was she really that bad...
Besides, how could one think about soul master matters like that? She was just reasonably using her soul skills and abilities.
But to be fair, although the ultimate winner of this sparring match would certainly be Oscar, Dugu Yan's third soul skill had indeed just landed a hit on him.
If it were another person, even if they had four soul rings, after being hit directly by Dugu Yan's third soul skill, the outcome would be the same: kneeling down to beg Dugu Yan for the antidote.
So, although Dugu Yan couldn't beat Oscar, if she changed opponents, she would be delivering a dimension-reducing blow to them.
Unless the opponent possessed flying soul skills and could avoid Dugu Yan's attacks entirely, refusing to engage in close combat.
Or if the opponent possessed powerful detoxification abilities and could neutralize Dugu Yan's lethal poison.
Apart from these two situations, among soul masters of the same level, Dugu Yan could already be considered an absolutely invincible existence.