Martial Soul Evolution

"Of course." Dugu Bo looked proud. "Your grandfather was a handsome young fellow in Heaven Dou back in the day. The people chasing after me could have lined up all the way from Heaven Dou to the Star Luo Empire."

"Yeah, right. I don't believe you." Dugu Yan stuck out her tongue.

Off to the side, Lin Changgeng and Wang Qiu'er couldn't help smiling at the grandfather and granddaughter.

"All right, Yanyan, we have company." Dugu Bo stopped Dugu Yan's antics, then asked, "Would Your Eminence Qiu'er help the two of us find the earth dragon golden melon?"

At this, Dugu Bo scratched his head sheepishly. He had been sitting on a treasure trove without even knowing it, using it only to suppress his poison. The only herb he recognized was the singular velvet sky chrysanthemum.

Hearing this, Wang Qiu'er tossed Dugu Bo a book.

Dugu Bo caught it and flipped through it. Once he found the description of the earth dragon golden melon, he began searching.

Before long, Dugu Bo found the earth dragon golden melon's vines.

The vines were brown and as thick as a child's arm, their surfaces covered in fine golden patterns, like sleeping earth dragons coiled upon the ground. They spread along the earth, putting out a root every half foot that burrowed deep into the soil, greedily absorbing the dragon energy of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

There were no leaves on the vines, only fist-sized fruits hanging at their ends.

The fruits were oval and earthy yellow all over, with natural golden patterns crisscrossing their surfaces like an earth dragon's scales-or naturally formed runes. A small protrusion crowned each fruit, shaped remarkably like a slightly raised dragon's head, as though it might come alive at any moment.

After confirming that they matched the book's description, Dugu Bo uprooted them outright, taking one for himself and one for Dugu Yan.

"Yanyan, eat this earth dragon golden melon just like an ordinary melon. You only need to eat the flesh inside. Once you finish, sit cross-legged where you are and absorb it."

With that, Dugu Bo sat cross-legged on the ground, split open his earth dragon golden melon, and ate the flesh inside. Dugu Yan followed her grandfather's example. After one bite, she felt a surge of rich energy enter her body and immediately ate faster, no longer caring about her table manners.

Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan immediately activated Martial Soul Possession. Both the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor and the Jade Phosphorous Serpent felt the medicinal power of the earth dragon golden melon, convulsing constantly and twisting from side to side.

The emerald scales covering Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor kept changing, becoming thicker and heavier. Gold emerged across the azure scales, turning the serpent's entire body azure and gold.

The greatest changes occurred in the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's head. Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor was a martial soul he had evolved on his own, the king of all serpents, capable of suppressing most serpent species. A pair of horns resembling dragon horns had already grown from its head.

Now, as his martial soul evolved, its serpent head gradually changed into a dragon's head. Its horns grew longer, and dragon whiskers sprouted, making it look even more like a dragon.

Although no four clawed limbs grew beneath its belly, its serpent tail became a dragon's tail. Apart from its lack of limbs, it was a living, breathing dragon.

Dugu Bo's martial soul should now have been called the Golden-Scaled Azure Flood Dragon, with the added ability to control the earth attribute. Serpents were themselves lesser dragons, and the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor had already been the king of all serpents. Its next step should have been a python, yet it had unexpectedly leaped straight to a flood dragon, jumping two ranks at once.

The Golden-Scaled Azure Flood Dragon stood at an even higher level, its scales growing thicker and heavier all over. It no longer had anything to fear in close combat against a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon capable of Dragon Transformation. Close combat had originally been Dugu Bo's weakness, but now he had no shortcomings left.

With the medicinal power of the earth dragon golden melon, he advanced straight from the early stages of rank ninety-two to rank ninety-three, nearly reaching rank ninety-four.

An immortal herb with a compatible attribute offered tremendous improvements even to a Titled Douluo.

"It looks like you gained quite a lot?" Wang Qiu'er said when she saw Dugu Bo awaken.

"Quite a lot indeed," Dugu Bo said humbly. "But that is all thanks to Your Eminence. Without you, I would still be nothing more than an old man waiting to die."

"There's no need to thank me." Wang Qiu'er shook her head. "If you want to thank anyone, thank yourself. After all, I certainly wouldn't have saved you if you hadn't given Changgeng your herb garden."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo bowed to Lin Changgeng. "Thank you for saving my life, young friend. I, Dugu Bo, will remember your help until my last breath. I swear upon my martial soul that from this day forward, my life belongs to you. Even if I must die, I will not let you come to harm."

"Senior, please don't do this." Lin Changgeng pulled Dugu Bo upright. "I only saved you to have another fighter by my side. There's no need to go this far."

On the continent, swearing upon one's martial soul was the most solemn oath of all. If someone broke it, their martial soul would shatter on the spot.

Just as Dugu Bo was about to say more, something changed beside them.

Roooar-

A resounding dragon's roar swept across the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. The three turned to look and saw that Dugu Yan had completed her martial soul's evolution.

Since Dugu Yan's martial soul had only been a Jade Phosphorous Serpent, rather than a serpent emperor like Dugu Bo's that could transform directly into a flood dragon, it became a new lesser-dragon martial soul: the Golden-Scaled Flood Dragon.

It was an enormous flood dragon with four clawed limbs beneath its belly, a dragon's head, and a fish's tail. Its flaw was that the dragon horns on its head had not fully evolved. It was just a little short of becoming a true dragon.

Its golden scales were beautiful, yet offered incredibly powerful defense.

Its dragon's head was majestic and imposing, and its golden slit pupils held the dignity of a true dragon. Its thick, powerful limbs could support it as it walked. It had the unmistakable appearance of an eastern dragon, looking remarkably like the golden dragons of myth and legend.

"What do you think of this martial soul?" Watching Dugu Yan's transformation, Lin Changgeng asked Wang Qiu'er curiously.

"Hmm..." Wang Qiu'er rubbed her chin. "Its quality definitely can't compare to mine, but it's a little stronger than your Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. It falls short of the Golden Sacred Dragon. I'd say it's fairly ordinary."

"But it looks like the poison-attribute soul power in her body is gone. From now on, she'll probably have to focus on power attacks like me."

"That's pretty good, then." Lin Changgeng nodded. He still greatly disliked poison.

Dugu Yan opened her eyes. Martial Soul Possession was already active, and golden scales covered her entire body. Her left hand, in particular, was considerably thicker than her right.

"Hm? Yanyan, is your left hand using the secret art of Dragon Transformation?"

Dugu Bo had a keen eye. Dugu Yan's left arm clearly resembled a dragon's arm. He had seen the dragon arms produced by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's Dragon Transformation, and hers looked exactly the same.

"I think so. My left hand turned into a dragon claw. I don't know how it happened either, but now I can use Dragon Transformation as soon as I activate Martial Soul Possession. I can feel that the strength in my hand has doubled, and my poison attribute is gone too. My soul power has reached rank thirty, but I won't know exactly how far into the thirties I am until I absorb a soul ring."

Dugu Yan looked at her right hand and discovered that she had grown stronger. Even her poison abilities were gone, seemingly cast aside by her new martial soul. This delighted her beyond measure. Honestly, if her martial soul hadn't possessed the poison attribute, why would a girl like her have spent all day dealing with poison? Now that the poison was gone, she could become a Power Attack System soul master.

"Hahaha, wonderful news! It's even more powerful than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Dragon Transformation. It looks like we'll have to carefully revise the soul beasts we've planned for Yanyan."

Dugu Bo was also delighted by Dugu Yan's words. Because his martial soul was a serpent, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon had always suppressed him terribly, leaving him unable to unleash even seventy percent of his strength. Now both grandfather and granddaughter's martial souls had evolved to the same level as the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, and Dugu Yan's was even a little stronger. Still, they could not let outsiders know just yet. Martial Soul Evolution was no small matter, after all. Otherwise, people from a certain faction would surely try every possible means to uncover its secret.