Absolute Defense

The next day.

That night.

Just as agreed.

The same Central Main Soul Fighting Platform, the same host, and the same opponent.

On the Soul Fighting Platform, Dugu Yan and Xia Liang stood facing each other. Both had already summoned their Martial Souls, their respective Soul Rings gleaming around them.

A young man in a fitted silver outfit walked into the spectator area. This young man was Qin Ming, the teacher leading the Imperial Fighting Team.

"Teacher Qin, you're here." Yu Tianheng greeted Qin Ming along with the other members of the Imperial Fighting Team.

Qin Ming nodded, walked over to Yu Tianheng, and stopped beside him, his eyes fixed intently on Dugu Yan and Xia Liang on the Soul Fighting Platform.

"Teacher, Yan Yan, she—"

Before Yu Tianheng could finish, Qin Ming suddenly raised a hand to stop him. "I already know what happened. Yan's opponent is Master Xia from the Academy Kitchen, right? And the two of them already fought a Soul Battle last night. Yan lost."

"Teacher, that was because—"

Qin Ming raised his hand again, cutting Yu Tianheng off. "Watch the match first. Once the Soul Battle is over, I'll review last night's and tonight's cross-rank Soul Battles with you."

Yu Tianheng was somewhat surprised. "Were you there watching last night as well?"

Qin Ming nodded without answering, his gaze never leaving the Soul Fighting Platform.

Dugu Yan and Xia Liang, who stood confronting each other at the center of the platform, had both gained some understanding of one another after last night's fight.

Dugu Yan seemed to have lost her previous arrogance and haughtiness. From the moment she stepped onto the stage, her expression had been exceptionally grave.

The stake for this cross-rank Soul Battle was the Ruyi Hundred Treasures Pouch, something even her grandfather considered precious. She had no intention of losing her grandfather's treasure to someone else because she was useless.

And if she went all out this time yet still lost to a Two-Ring Great Soul Master, would she be able to accept that result? "Dugu Yan, considering how hard I work for you students every day, why don't you let me have three moves in this Soul Battle?" Xia Liang said.

Dugu Yan gritted her teeth in fury. "In your dreams!"

"You two. May the Soul Battle begin?" the host below the stage asked.

Dugu Yan and Xia Liang nodded almost simultaneously.

"Let the Soul Battle begin!"

As the host's passionate shout rang out, the audience members who had been chatting turned their attention to the Central Main Soul Fighting Platform. Cheers and cries of encouragement rose one after another.

Just like before, Dugu Yan first retreated twenty meters.

But unlike before, she wasted no words and chose to attack first.

All three Soul Rings around her lit up at once, and Dugu Yan spewed red, blue, and purple poison mist from her mouth.

Strangely, the three types of poison mist did not merge. Instead, they formed three tightly connected layers in front-to-back order, sweeping toward Xia Liang.

Suddenly, five streaks of light shot toward the three layers of poison mist.

Having suffered once last night, how could she possibly fall for it again?

Seeing that the five streaks were five phalanges Xia Liang had fired, Dugu Yan immediately dodged. This time, she did not retreat backward. Instead, she swayed lightly from side to side, nimbly avoiding the flight paths of all five phalanges.

At that very moment, the three layers of poison mist enveloped Xia Liang's position, forming a three-colored poisonous barrier that covered half the Soul Fighting Platform.

At this sight, a smile finally appeared on Dugu Yan's solemn face. With so much practical combat experience, she knew that once the three layers of poison mist completely engulfed an enemy, the battle's outcome was decided.

These three layers of poison mist were formed from three Soul Skills.

The first layer, the red poison mist, was the First Soul Skill: Excitement Poison. It boosted allies, but served as Poison Control against enemies, causing them to become overly excited and lose their calm judgment.

The second layer, the blue poison mist, was the Second Soul Skill: Paralysis Poison. It could eliminate an ally's sense of pain while inflicting paralysis upon an enemy's nerves and senses.

The third layer, the purple poison mist, was the Third Soul Skill: Corrosion Poison. It was also the Jade Phosphor Purple Poison, the innate poison of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul. It spared neither friend nor foe, instantly dissolving and corroding any object contaminated by it. Its toxicity was extremely tyrannical.

Unless one possessed the ability to fly through the sky or burrow through the earth, anyone trying to pass through these three layers of poison mist would inevitably have their flesh and blood assaulted by three different poisons in succession, eventually corroding into a skeleton frame.

Looking at the three layers of poison mist drifting like clouds ahead, Dugu Yan smiled playfully. If she did not need to hold back, she truly wanted to see what Master Xia would look like after rushing out of the poisonous mist as nothing but a skeleton.

At that moment, the three layers of poison mist, arranged from front to back, began to sway one layer at a time as though stirred by the wind.

Dugu Yan's pupils involuntarily widened. Within the last layer of purple poison mist before her, she truly saw a skeleton rushing out.

However, the skeleton was incomplete. It consisted only of the rib portion—a set of enormous ribs burning with Black-Purple Flame. Each rib overlapped layer upon layer, forming something like a protective shield.

Through the gaps between each rib, Dugu Yan could clearly see a living person enclosed within the giant ribs. It was none other than Master Xia, who should have been trapped inside the three layers of poison mist.

After only a second of shock, Dugu Yan immediately came to her senses. This Master Xia was a Defense System Soul Master. The Black-Purple Ribs covering his entire body should be similar to the Black Tortoise Shell defense of the Shi Family Brothers.

But weren't there gaps between every rib, just like the gaps in a tortoise shell?

Why could her poison mist not pass through those gaps and injure the inside of the ribs?

Naturally, Dugu Yan could not understand. Ever since Xia Liang obtained the Soul Ring of the Netherworld Ghost Bear, the Black-Purple Flame burning on each of his ribs could serve as a Protective Membrane, filling the gaps between the ribs and sealing the entire rib structure shut.

As a result, the three different poisons within the three layers of poison mist were all blocked outside by the sealed ribs.

Not only the poison mist—even poisonous gas could not seep through.

Combined with the stacked boosts of the First and Second Soul Skills, these sealed skeleton ribs could both withstand physical attacks and reduce energy damage of elemental attributes. They could be called Absolute Defense.

Over the past year and a half, Xia Liang had found chances to test it. With his current strength, it would take at least a Soul Ancestor with an optimal Soul Ring configuration to shatter his Rib Defense and injure him.

Of course, if the enemy's attack came up from underground, it would be difficult to defend against. The defense at the bottom, lacking bones as a foundation, was not strong enough and could only rely on a Protective Membrane condensed from Black-Purple Flame to block it.

Having just rushed out from the final layer of purple poison mist, Xia Liang pulled out one rib from the ribs covering his body. Wrapped in a Black-Purple Iron Wire Energy Body, the one-meter-long rib transformed into a sharp blade.

The weapon was called the Iron Bone Blade. Its construction looked simple, consisting only of a bone handle and an iron blade. It was extremely light in the hand, yet under the enhancement of the First and Second Soul Skills, it could unleash the damage of a heavy sword.