"The External World!"
Su Ming had his answer.
"Not only establishing myself in the present, but the Past Self and Future Self can also use the External World to establish themselves in the past and future."
As for the eighth and ninth Spirit Rings, they would depend on the needs of each body during the construction of their External Worlds.
Three External Worlds clearly couldn't be identical. Su Ming would not allow himself to maintain consistency in the External Worlds either.
"Having the cultivation powers of the three bodies be too homogenized isn't a good thing."
Even for the Douluo 2 side, Su Ming did not intend to replicate all the abilities of the Douluo 1 and Douluo 3 bodies through his second and third Martial Souls.
He would, at most, strengthen these two Martial Souls enough to withstand the perfect descent of the power from the Douluo 1 and Douluo 3 bodies.
As for their internal delineation, he would abandon that.
"In other words, my core remains Spirit Power."
Su Ming once again activated his Spirit Cores.
The foundation of three Spirit Cores, which he had only recently groomed, changed in an instant.
Both the Qi and Blood Spirit Core and the Spiritual Spirit Core were coordinated by the Spirit Power Spirit Core—one could even say they were contaminated.
Spirit Power actually transformed into spiritual power, merging into the Spiritual Spirit Core, circulating once, then returning to the meridians, reforming as Spirit Power.
Similarly, Spirit Power also transformed into Qi and Blood, circulating once under the quenching chain of the Qi and Blood Spirit Core, ultimately reforming as Spirit Power, flowing through his body.
Now, the three Spirit Cores of Essence, Energy, and Spirit were still operating separately, but Spirit Power now occupied all three cores simultaneously.
"This is the cultivation I should be undertaking."
Exhaling for a long breath, Su Ming smiled.
He sat cross-legged and began cultivating Gold Force.
His recent gains had all been used to increase his Spirit Power. He had no reserves for now.
But cultivating Gold Force wasn't difficult. For cultivators with high realm and high talent, accumulation was fast.
Merely drawing in the surrounding Heaven and Earth Vital Energy, Su Ming's Gold Force made considerable progress.
He released his Gold Force into a spherical space one meter around his body. Then, his Spirit Power began, bit by bit, to shape his own rules within it.
"These rules must first complement the circulation of my Spirit Power, so they can form a cohesive whole."
Thus, outside Su Ming's body, within an illusory golden sphere, countless threads wandered, densely covering the entire space. It looked intricately complex, yet upon closer inspection, one could see it had a very clear structure, as if following a certain logic in its movement.
When Su Ming's Spirit Power ceased its wandering and returned to his body, the illusive golden sphere and the dense threads within it faded and dissipated without a trace.
Yet Su Ming could sense that the External World still existed.
"With the support of three Spirit Cores, it's certainly much less taxing."
Su Ming sensed it. Although he still needed to circulate his Spirit Power to maintain the External World's transformations, it wasn't very strenuous. He only needed to drive the resonance between his own Spirit Power and the external world; he didn't need to expend effort maintaining the Spirit Power formations within the External World to prevent them from deforming.
This was fundamentally different from the Douluo 1 era.
As long as the three Spirit Cores within Su Ming's body continued to operate, the framework of the External World, which depended on these three cores, would not collapse.
"It's just that my Gold Force is a bit lacking, and my Spirit Power cultivation is also low."
Su Ming could sense that currently, he still needed his Spirit Power to resonate with the External World for it to function properly. Only when the External World condensed its own Spirit Core would it no longer require his resonance.
At that point, the External World would interact with him constantly.
This would all become instinct!
Gold Force!
Spirit Power!
The urgent task was to devour Abyssal energy and quickly advance the cultivation of Gold Force and Spirit Power.
"Fabricate a set of Three-Word Battle Armor, then continue devouring Abyssal energy."
Su Ming acted on his thought.
He left the First Peak and returned to the forging platform he had set up on the plain.
His movement started the God of Destruction, who had been watching.
Was this guy going to do that kind of Heaven Refinement again?
Unacceptable!
This kid had truly gone too far!
Just as the God of Destruction was beside himself with fury, Su Ming completed a perfect Soul Refinement of ninefold Spirit Alloy.
After Soul Refinement, he stopped forging.
The hopping-mad God of Destruction paused.
Soon, the God of Destruction realized he had misunderstood Su Ming.
This time, Su Ming was only doing Soul Refinement.
Then, Su Ming continued Soul Refining, completing eleven Soul Refinements in a single day. The formulas of the Spirit Alloys he forged also varied; each was a ninefold Spirit Alloy.
In the end, there were eleven pieces in total. Although each Soul Refined alloy used different rare metals, when placed together, they gave a distinct sense of harmony.
Su Ming wielded his forging hammer, reshaping these Soul Refined alloys into corresponding Battle Armor components.
Once the components were formed, he began the fabrication.
Eleven consecutive Soul Refinements had already attracted considerable attention.
When Su Ming began carving the core formations into the Battle Armor components, the surrounding crowd erupted.
Their spirits were high, staring intently at the Soul Refined metal in Su Ming's hands.
Su Ming didn't use a carving knife. His Spirit Power was the sharpest blade. Where his Spirit Power went, it was the finest cutting of the metal. The spirituality was thus guided, forming complex patterns.
Although Su Ming didn't allow anyone to probe with their spiritual power, the spiritual light constantly shooting from the Soul Refined metal was enough to show the activity within.
The war had been raging for over two months. Now, half the Spirit Masters on the battlefield had a few Battle Armor components.
Indeed, after consideration, Su Ming felt that Battle Armor fabrication could be done component by component, just as in later eras.
Therefore, many Spirit Masters present understand what those spiritual ripples meant.
They were the reactions of the spirituality within the Soul Refined metal being cut and channeled into shape. At the same time, each burst of spirituality meant that the spirituality had formed a relatively complete formation structure.
Just looking at the frequency and number of spiritual bursts from the Soul Refined metal in Su Ming's hands was enough to astonish.
"How complex must those core formations be?"
"Don't you think the most terrifying thing is the piece of Soul Refined metal in his hands? No matter how complex the core formations, there has to be enough spirituality to use, right?"
"From this perspective, Three-Word Battle Armor is a qualitative leap compared to One-Word and Two-Word."
"That's certain. I heard from the Body Sect disciples that once Three-Word Battle Armor is completed, it comes with its own domain."
"..."
Amid the exclamations, Su Ming completed the fabrication of the right-hand gauntlet, then began on the right shoulder armor.
His fabrication speed was extremely fast.
He completed eleven ninefold Soul Refinements in one day, then finished carving all his Battle Armor components in the next.
Some Spirit Masters watched for two full days.
In the crowd, Xiao Hongchen's expression was complex.
He was one of those who had silently watched for two days.
From these two days of observation, he was certain: whether it was forging or making Spirit Tools, he was no match for Su Ming.
Now, he just wanted to see what Su Ming's Three-Word Battle Armor could do.
Su Ming finished fabricating all the Battle Armor components. Holding the last piece he had made, the left-hand gauntlet, he turned and stepped into the air, walking step by step toward the Abyssal Gate.
At the same time, he slowly spoke three words.
"Eternal Illumination Realm!"
***
Dive deeper into the story with 50+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!
patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!