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Chu Chengzhou waved his hand, and the fusion metal sphere that had survived the heavenly refinement tribulation flew before him.
The sphere was cyan—pure, crystalline cyan with a soft aura shimmering across its surface. To the untrained eye, it might have been mistaken for an exquisitely carved jade orb.
Merely by its appearance, Chu Chengzhou couldn't discern what elemental attribute this pinnacle fusion metal possessed. It seemed devoid of any inherent elemental inclination.
"Tsk~, forged from nine different metals and tempered by Chaos tribulation lightning—I'll name you Nine Heavens Chaos Gold."
Clicking his tongue, Chu Chengzhou christened it.
Then, crimson fire-attribute soul power surged from his hand. In an instant, the spherical Nine Heavens Chaos Gold melted into a mass of scorching liquid metal.
"Split!"
Pointing a finger, Chu Chengzhou commanded. Under his control, the molten metal began to divide.
Soon, the liquefied Nine Heavens Chaos Gold formed a set of cyan armor, a cyan great bow, a pair of cyan hammers, and over a hundred cyan arrows.
This batch of Nine Heavens Chaos Gold weighed over four thousand jin. The armor weighed one thousand jin—the Nine Heavens Chaos Armor; the bow weighed eight hundred jin—the Nine Heavens Chaos Bow; the hammers weighed five hundred jin each—the Nine Heavens Chaos Twin Hammers; the remainder became arrows. Each arrow measured three chi three cun in length—the Nine Heavens Chaos Arrows.
"Not bad. Now I just need the Battle Armor Manufacturing skill to upgrade!"
Gazing at the bow, armor, twin hammers, and arrows floating before him—all radiating that soft cyan glow—Chu Chengzhou nodded in satisfaction before storing them within his body.
Among these items, the Nine Heavens Chaos Twin Hammers were already complete. As forging hammers, there was no need to craft them as soul guidance devices; they only required hardness and soul power conductivity.
For the Nine Heavens Chaos Bow and Arrows—once his Battle Armor Manufacturing skill advanced to gold grade and he could forge heaven-refined battle armor—he would simply engrave the necessary soul guidance enhancement arrays onto them.
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Three days later
Chu Chengzhou returned to Tian Dou City.
His delayed return was due to a detour to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
His black-black-black-red-black-red-red-red-red soul ring configuration had looked uneven. At the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he upgraded his first, second, third, and fifth soul rings to one hundred thousand years, achieving a uniform nine-red configuration.
As for nine gold soul rings?
The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well couldn't withstand such exploitation. Chu Chengzhou planned to visit Spirit City next, and after returning, head straight to Sea God Island.
There, he would fuse with his summoned spirits through Spirit Transformation. Using the True Spirit Domain's skill Control Heaven and Earth, he would rapidly absorb the abundant water-elemental energy from the boundless ocean. Nine Breaths Qi Absorption would then devour and refine this energy, channeling it to upgrade his summoned spirits.
After upgrading his first, second, third, and fifth soul rings to one hundred thousand years, Chu Chengzhou's strength surged dramatically. The Fire Phoenix spirit Xiao Hong showed little change.
But the Sky Azure Tree spirit Xiao Qing, Light Lion spirit Xiao Bai, and Profound Water Turtle spirit Gui Er underwent significant transformations.
Unlike human Titled Douluos, all one hundred thousand-year spirit beasts possessed domain abilities—and so did one hundred thousand-year summoned spirits. Upon evolving, Xiao Qing, Xiao Bai, and Gui Er automatically awakened the Life Domain, Sacred Domain, and Profound Water Domain respectively.
Yes—Xiao Qing and Xiao Bai had awakened the Life Domain and Sacred Domain.
Unless they possessed powerful bloodlines from birth, spirit beasts' bloodline levels naturally evolved as their cultivation years increased—especially upon breaking through the one hundred thousand-year barrier.
It could be said that every one hundred thousand-year spirit beast had a bloodline tier no lower than top-grade.
If such a spirit beast were a martial soul, its quality would similarly never fall below top-grade.
The Profound Water Turtle was already a top-grade water-attribute defensive spirit beast. Gui Er's species hadn't changed, and his bloodline tier remained unchanged.
But the Sky Azure Tree and Light Lion were merely high-grade bloodline spirit beasts. Upon reaching one hundred thousand years, their bloodlines automatically evolved.
Chu Chengzhou had never seen what species Xiao Qing had evolved into, so he couldn't be entirely certain. But since its original wood attribute had transformed into a life attribute, he assumed Xiao Qing had become a Life Tree.
Goddess of Life: Do I have a new relative?
Similarly, Chu Chengzhou couldn't identify the species Xiao Bai had evolved into—she might even be an unprecedented new species on the continent.
Since Xiao Bai's attribute had shifted from light to sacred, Chu Chengzhou named her species Holy Spirit Lion.
Moreover, Chu Chengzhou didn't just upgrade his four summoned spirits' cultivation years. Using the Spirit Transformation characteristic of his True Spirit Flag martial soul, he condensed three Yin-Yang Complementary Soul Cores for all nine of his summoned spirits.
It could be said that although his nine summoned spirits all had cultivation years around one hundred thousand—Xiao Hei, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, being the highest at over one hundred thousand years—their combat strength would absolutely not fall short of ordinary Level 97 or even 98 Titled Douluos with matching martial soul types.
Without a doubt, with just his nine summoned spirits, Chu Chengzhou could rank among the top three strongest on the continent.
The only regret was that his summoned spirits couldn't master his Chaos soul power or transform their attributes into Chaos.
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Nightfall, Tian Dou Imperial Palace, Qian Renxue's chambers
"Xue'er, I'm planning to visit Spirit City. Do you want to return with me?"
After an intense battle, Chu Chengzhou stroked the angel's exquisite form as he asked.
"Spirit City? You're going to see my grandfather?"
Blinking, Qian Renxue looked at him in surprise.
"Mhm. But not just Grandfather—I'll also visit our mother."
Chu Chengzhou nodded.
"Hmph~, Bibi Dong isn't my mother."
Qian Renxue snorted and turned her head away.
Clearly, in her eyes, Bibi Dong didn't qualify as her mother at all.
"Stubborn duck beak~"
Chu Chengzhou pursed his lips. Who didn't know your deepest wish was to gain Bibi Dong's maternal love?
Qian Renxue turned and glared at him: "What did you say?"
"Hehe~, let's not talk about her. Are you coming back with me?"
Waving his hand, Chu Chengzhou skipped the topic.
"Forget it. I'll return after some time."
After a moment's thought, Qian Renxue shook her head.
It wasn't that she didn't want to return to Spirit City—she simply couldn't leave the Tian Dou Empire at this critical juncture.
Moreover, she had to consider this: if she, as the Tian Dou Emperor, returned to Spirit City to undergo the Angel God trials, who would manage the empire's affairs here?
Before she openly revealed her identity as the Spirit Hall's Young Miss, she couldn't return to Spirit City. After all, as Emperor Xue Qinghe of Tian Dou, she couldn't remain absent for long.
But if she did reveal her identity... the situation within Tian Dou would remain stable. After this campaign—which was destined to be an absolute victory, albeit strangely so—the court officials, regional administrators, and high-ranking military officers had all been replaced with her loyal subordinates. Even if she raised the swan flag of the Xue royal family tomorrow, no major chaos would erupt within Tian Dou.
Yet she couldn't ignore the reaction of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
Had she had no master-apprentice relationship with Ning Fengzhi, and had Chu Chengzhou not become involved with Ning Rongrong, Qian Renxue wouldn't hesitate. She'd simply lay her cards on the table and force the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect to choose between submission and destruction.
But bound by these relationships, she couldn't resort to brute force.
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