At his words, the people beside him chimed in.
"Exactly! We all saw the way you looked at him just now!"
"..."
Dugu Yan blushed slightly at their words.
But she quickly straightened her back and swept her green eyes over the crowd, without a trace of hesitation.
"That's right. I admit that I doubted Teacher just now."
She admitted it openly, then changed tack, her voice carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
"That was because I was ignorant! Because I was foolish! I failed to recognize a towering mountain when it stood before me!"
"But now I've experienced Teacher's godlike abilities for myself. I know how terribly wrong I was!"
"And you're still refusing to see the truth!"
Her voice rang clear and resolute throughout the classroom.
Truthfully, even now she still had grave doubts about Chen Xuan's theories of "Martial Soul Evolution" and "Soul Ring age being determined by will."
After all, they overturned everything she had learned about Soul Masters since childhood.
But Chen Xuan had rid her of the bloodline poison that had plagued her family for generations. That was an immense debt of gratitude.
By any measure, she had to defend Chen Xuan's dignity.
That was Dugu Yan's code of conduct.
After she finished speaking, she ignored the nobles, who stood gaping in shock, turned around, and bowed deeply to Chen Xuan, who remained calm on the dais.
"Teacher Chen Xuan, I, your student Dugu Yan, sincerely apologize for my earlier rudeness and contempt!"
"Please forgive my ignorance."
She bowed low, her tone utterly sincere.
Chen Xuan looked at her, a trace of approval in his eyes.
She could admit her mistakes and knew how to be grateful. Her character was quite good.
"Get up."
Chen Xuan spoke calmly.
He walked down from the dais and stopped in front of Dugu Yan.
As she looked at him in confusion, he raised his right hand and gently pressed his slender index finger against her smooth forehead.
His fingertip was warm.
A strange sensation spread from between her brows, rushing through her entire body.
Dugu Yan's body stiffened. She was completely stunned.
In all her life, she had never been so close to a man.
The warmth of his fingertip passed clearly through her skin, stirring ripples in her heart unlike anything she had ever felt.
A heat that made her cheeks burn welled up inside her. She could even feel her ears growing hot.
The sensation was strange. She didn't dislike it—in fact, she even felt a hint of longing to draw closer to him.
Just as her thoughts were in a jumble, a vast flood of information surged from Chen Xuan's fingertip into her mind!
Boom!
Dugu Yan felt as if a bomb had exploded in her spiritual world, unleashing a monstrous wave.
This was no ordinary knowledge.
It was an analysis of the essence of Martial Souls, an ultimate interpretation of Soul Power, and the deepest secrets of life and the soul!
"Snakes belong to yin and feed by devouring. Yet when things reach their extreme, they turn against themselves. At the end of poison lies the seed of life..."
"The poison of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent stems from its bloodline, but it can also temper that bloodline..."
"Draw upon the golden yang energy of heaven and earth, fuse it with the core of your Soul Power, temper your scales, refine your sinews and bones, and turn poison into essence. Only then can you shed your mortal body and transform into a soaring dragon..."
Countless profound techniques poured into her mind like wisdom poured into the crown of her head.
All the doubts and bottlenecks she had encountered in her Martial Soul cultivation seemed laughable and brittle before these theories.
A brand-new world swung open before her!
So... Martial Souls really could be cultivated this way!
So... what people called a limit was only the result of a narrow perspective!
Brilliant light burst from Dugu Yan's eyes. She sank into a state of profound enlightenment.
"Raaah—!"
A piercing serpent cry rang out from within her!
The next moment, dazzling golden light shot up behind her!
The phantom of a massive green poisonous serpent appeared. It was her Martial Soul, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent!
But now, it was undergoing a world-shaking transformation!
Its emerald scales were being replaced, at a visible speed, by brilliant gold!
Each scale grew thicker and more magnificent, gleaming like metal as mysterious patterns flowed across them.
Two fleshy bumps slowly rose on its head, hinting at its impending transformation into a dragon!
A pair of powerful claws sprouted beneath its belly, their tips gleaming with a chilling light!
An aura a hundred times more domineering and noble than before swept across the entire hall!
The golden light faded.
A majestic giant serpent covered in golden scales coiled behind Dugu Yan. With a crown of horns on its head and two claws beneath its belly, it looked down at the crowd with golden, vertical pupils.
The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor... had evolved into the Golden Scaled Soaring Dragon!
The entire hall fell silent.
The troublesome noble students were completely dumbfounded. They stared with mouths agape, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
What had they just witnessed?
A Martial Soul... had really evolved?
With just... a casual touch, he had made a powerful Beast Martial Soul undergo a transformation they wouldn't have dared dream of?
This wasn't an illusion!
The pressure of its superior bloodline made the Soul Power within them tremble!
"Hmph."
Ye Lingling gave a quiet snort from the crowd, looking smug and proud.
"Do you believe Teacher's theory now?"
Her voice was soft, but it struck the hearts of every doubter like a heavy hammer.
Dugu Yan slowly opened her eyes, sensing the Soul Power surging through her body, several times stronger than before.
She also felt the much closer, blood-deep connection between herself and her Martial Soul. She was overjoyed.
She could feel that her Golden Scaled Soaring Dragon—
whether in attack power, defense, or its poisonous properties—was countless times stronger than her old Jade Phosphorous Serpent!
This was nothing short of a second birth!
She turned to Chen Xuan. All doubt had vanished from her gaze, replaced by boundless reverence and fervor.
"Thank you, senior, for giving me a new life!"
She spoke with emotion and was about to bow again.
Chen Xuan raised a hand to stop her, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"You're still calling me 'senior'?"
Dugu Yan froze, then understood. A blush rose to her face, but her heart leaped with joy.
Without the slightest hesitation, she bent her knees and dropped respectfully to the ground, performing the formal bow of a disciple to her master.
"Your disciple, Dugu Yan, pays her respects to Teacher!"
The instant Dugu Yan finished speaking, a system notification rang in Chen Xuan's mind.
[ Ding! You have successfully taken in a disciple: Dugu Yan, the granddaughter of a Titled Douluo and a Child of Destiny. You have changed her fate of certain death. Rewards issued!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: Million-Year Soul Bone—Void Dragon Skull!]
As the notification ended, a radiant skull, seemingly carved from amethyst, appeared silently in his system space.
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