"I never imagined Blue Silver Grass could develop in such an unexpected direction. Come on, then!"
Dugu Bo offered his appraisal, fighting spirit rising in his eyes as he watched the dark-blue spear hurtle toward him.
He neither dodged nor retreated, shouting in a low voice:
"Fifth Soul Skill!"
"Jade Phosphorous Serpent Armor!"
Dark-green scales emerged across his skin, covering his entire body layer upon layer like supple armor, gleaming with a cold, eerie luster.
The Blue Silver Overlord Spear, which had been about to pierce his chest, was stopped and slid past his side, failing to leave so much as a white mark on the armor's surface.
"My turn."
Dugu Bo turned his hand and closed it around empty air, his Sixth Soul Ring blazing with light.
"Sixth Soul Skill!"
"Jade Phosphorous Serpent Lance!"
A serpentine lance formed entirely from emerald-green poisonous mist took shape in his palm.
Its shaft curved like a snake's spine, its tip forked like a venomous tongue. Faint snake-eye patterns marked its grip, and the entire lance seemed to exude a foul wind that could eat into bone.
The next instant, he thrust the lance straight forward, and Lin Yue raised his spear to block.
The moment the weapons clashed, a sizzling sound of corrosion actually rose from the surface of the Blue Silver Overlord Spear.
After several exchanges, Lin Yue had clearly fallen behind.
Dugu Bo was, after all, a veteran Titled Douluo who had made his name many years ago. His attacks were seasoned and devious, each one cutting off all of Lin Yue's avenues of retreat with perfect precision.
Within just a few breaths of exchanging attacks and defenses, Lin Yue had been forced back repeatedly, barely managing to hold him off.
Then came a sweeping blow, the serpent lance carrying tremendous Soul Power as it slashed toward his waist.
Lin Yue blocked and used the force to send himself flying backward, his feet carving long tracks across the ground before he finally opened a gap of several dozen paces.
"Seventh Soul Skill!"
"Blue Silver True Body!"
He steadied himself, and his Seventh Soul Ring lit up at his call.
Dark-blue radiance soared into the sky, a vast, regal phantom of the Blue Silver Emperor enveloping him.
Now, enhanced by his true body, his Blue Silver Soul Skills doubled in power while their Soul Power consumption halved, and he began condensing his Fifth Soul Skill once again.
Dugu Bo frowned slightly at the sight, wondering why his opponent was repeating the same trick, only to see one spear appear behind Lin Yue, then two, then three...
A dense mass of Blue Silver Overlord Spears took shape, their tips all aimed straight at him. In just a few breaths, their number had already approached a hundred!
"Trying to win through numbers?"
"Seventh Soul Skill, Jade Phosphorous Emperor True Body!"
Dugu Bo's pupils contracted. Without further hesitation, he unleashed his Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar, while his fourth Soul Ring also bloomed with light.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Ten Thousand Poisons Devouring!"
Swarms of venomous snake phantoms split off from the poisonous mist, surging toward Lin Yue like a tide.
The strength of each snake phantom's poison was directly proportional to the Soul Power spent on it. Its bite poisoned its target and could also continuously suppress the target's ability to recover.
For a time, a forest of Blue Silver spears faced a tide of venomous snakes across the entire platform. Both sides bombarded each other furiously from a distance, locked in a sustained struggle of attrition.
Deafening booms rang out without end as waves of Soul Power exploded outward, shaking the entire mountaintop platform.
Yet as time slowly passed, Dugu Bo gradually began to feel that something was wrong.
His gaze remained fixed on Lin Yue opposite him. His opponent's expression was composed and his breathing steady, seemingly showing no sign whatsoever of dwindling Soul Power.
He himself, on the other hand, had already consumed nearly half his Soul Power maintaining Ten Thousand Poisons Devouring!
Noticing the disparity, his expression hardened. Holding back none of his trump cards any longer, he shouted fiercely:
"Eighth Soul Skill! Time Freeze!"
Hum!
An eerie power of time enveloped almost half the platform, instantly freezing time and space.
The spear phantoms filling the sky, along with Lin Yue himself, were firmly immobilized, unable to move.
This move was his ultimate trump card in reality. Ordinarily, his hidden internal injuries meant he dared not unleash it at full strength, but in the Arena, he could use it without any reservations.
He seized this fleeting, absolute opportunity, and his ninth Soul Ring immediately lit up.
An utterly pitch-black torrent of deadly poison erupted, annihilating all life. Space warped and Soul Power shattered in its wake. Possessing the terrifying power to corrode meridians and break down Soul Power, it surged madly toward the immobilized Lin Yue to devour him.
But both men were now level-90 Titled Douluo, and just as the torrent of deadly poison was about to touch his body, the time-binding effect abruptly dissipated.
Able to move again, Lin Yue willed his ninth Soul Ring to shine with unprecedented brilliance.
"Ninth Soul Skill!
"Blue Silver Puppet! Tianshu, Azure Dragon!"
Countless strands of Blue Silver Grass surged out around him, weaving and entwining furiously to form two colossal figures.
One was a vine-armored giant that towered between heaven and earth, while the other was an equally enormous azure dragon!
One on the ground and one in the sky, the pressure of the two puppets instantly filled the entire mountaintop platform.
Lin Yue now stood in the palm of the vine-armored giant's hand, looking down on Dugu Bo from above.
Under his mental control, Azure Dragon swung his enormous body and swept out his thick tail, batting aside the oncoming annihilating poison and neutralizing the killing blow.
Then, with a twist of his body, he charged toward Dugu Bo!
At the sight, Dugu Bo's expression changed drastically.
He drove his Serpent Emperor True Body forward to meet the attack, becoming locked in combat with the dragon.
After several exchanges, the battle finally ended with Dugu Bo exhausting his Soul Power and losing.
The Game Pod doors opened, and the two rose one after the other and walked back to the counter.
"You truly are formidable, Boss Lin. To think you could use a mere stalk of ordinary Blue Silver Grass to such a degree. This old man's defeat was well deserved."
Dugu Bo stroked his beard with a sigh of admiration, while Lin Yue smiled and shook his head.
"You flatter me. What I used actually wasn't ordinary Blue Silver Grass, but the Blue Silver Emperor."
"Blue Silver Emperor?"
Huo Lie, Shui Qinglan, the Dragon Duke and Snake Granny, and the others all looked puzzled, murmuring the name under their breaths. It was the first time any of them had heard of such a Martial Soul.
Lin Yue explained briefly:
"As the name suggests, it's the emperor form that Blue Silver Grass evolves and transforms into, the supreme existence among plant Martial Souls."
Understanding dawned on everyone. No wonder this commonplace plant Martial Soul could unleash such earth-shaking combat power.
Once everyone had digested this, Lin Yue spoke with a serious expression:
"Since you've all now witnessed the entire match firsthand, let me explain the Arena's rules in detail."
The room immediately fell silent, everyone holding their breath and focusing intently as they listened.
"First, issuing a challenge is simple. Just do what Dugu Bo did earlier: lie down inside the pod and say who you want to challenge."
"You can freely choose a challenge level from 10 to 100. If both sides haven't agreed beforehand-for instance, if one person chooses level 30 and the other chooses level 50-the system will take the midpoint, level 40, for the battle."
"Once you enter the preparation phase, you have three minutes to freely select and combine any Martial Souls and Soul Skills within the system."
After saying this, he looked around at everyone and asked with a smile.
"As for the benefits of that, I'm sure you all understand without me needing to say much, right?"
"For example, you can test the Soul Skill combinations you believe suit you best. That's one benefit that immediately comes to mind."
Everyone present nodded at his words, agreement in all their eyes.
For Soul Masters, choosing Soul Rings and Soul Skills had always been crucial. Being able to repeatedly test Soul Skill combinations in the Arena and find the best match would be immensely significant to them.
That point alone made this Arena worthy of every Soul Master's eager pursuit!
Watching their eager expressions, Lin Yue smiled slightly:
"It seems you've all understood the value of this Arena."
[Thank you to reader Tako for another gift of nine recommendation votes, and to Fried Octopus for one recommendation vote. Every little bit carries your goodwill. May everything go smoothly for you, and may you enjoy peace and health year after year! Thank you for your support!]
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