After fusing the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind into the Four Symbols, Chu Chengzhou went on to test fusing the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
As expected, the Five Elements fusion also succeeded.
Like the Four Symbols, the fused Five Elements soul power appeared as an interweaving of gold, green, blue, red, and yellow.
Although the Five Elements involved one more element than the Four Symbols, Chu Chengzhou was surprised to find that the difference in difficulty between the two was not large.
Continuing to test multi-element fusion, he discovered that this was not simply because he had gained a little insight into the laws of all elements and thus improved his fusion ability. Multi-element fusion also required proper combinations.
For example, right now he could easily fuse metal, wood, water, fire, and earth into Five Elements soul power. But if he replaced any one of the Five Elements with wind, lightning, light, or darkness, he could not complete a five-element fusion. The Four Symbols showed a similar pattern.
It seemed that in the Douluo universe, fusing the Four Symbols and the Five Elements was easier than fusing other random sets of four or five elements.
"Eleven basic elements in total. Five are the Five Elements. How should wind, lightning, light, darkness, time, and space be fused?"
Gazing at the Five Elements soul power rising once more in his hand, Chu Chengzhou pondered.
He did not think for long. Mealtime arrived, and he set elemental fusion aside for the moment.
Man is iron, food is steel. Skip a meal and you get hungry.
He was a Spirit Master, not an ordinary person, so missing a meal was no big deal. But after years of habit, meals were still to be eaten.
And after eating?
Lu Xun once said that once fed and warm, desire emerges. If you are full, of course you should do happy things.
Lu Xun: Do not put words in my mouth. I never said that. Zhou Shuren did.
Zhou Shuren: The hell, did I ever say that?
That night, Chu Chengzhou ran two engagements.
First half of the night, at Moon Pavilion:
Elder Sister Yuehua happiness +1.
Chu Chengzhou happiness +1.
His combat power −1.
Mm.
Good nephew Tang San's indignation +1.
After the battle, he took a bath, then hurried to the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
Second half of the night, Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
After the battle ended, the angelic young lady happiness +1. With happiness already accrued, Chu Chengzhou happiness totaled +2, but his combat power also totaled −2.
At this moment, Her Majesty the Empress asked, "So late. You came over from your Big Sister's place?"
Chu Chengzhou: "..."
What, I am not allowed to run two engagements in one night?
"Hmph."
Seeing this, Qian Renxue snorted in displeasure and rolled over to mount again.
That night, Chu Chengzhou's happiness value soared, but his combat power value plummeted.
Early the next morning.
Watching Chu Chengzhou walk out of the bedchamber supporting his waist, Qian Renxue, dehydrated after working all night on the bed, wore a cold smile at the corner of her lips.
Heh. Just two, and you have to walk out holding your waist. When those four come back in the future, let's see how you handle six.
As a woman, Qian Renxue knew that trying to stop a man from going out to find other women was not the best way to keep his heart.
The best way was to make the man recognize his own capability so he would not overestimate himself.
In this way, no matter how fragrant or beautiful the wildflowers outside were, the man would not have the ability.
It was a pity she had come late. If she had been first, where would Chu Chengzhou have gotten the confidence to dare look for other women?
Having recovered a bit of strength, Qian Renxue, who had not slept all night, was about to wash up and then get some good sleep.
Just then a palace maid's voice came from outside the hall: "Your Majesty, it is time to prepare for court."
"Cancel today's court session."
Qian Renxue replied without thinking.
The Empress would not attend court today.
Elsewhere, as Chu Chengzhou left the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace with a hand on his waist, he felt a bit troubled.
There was no doubt that his ability was not bad. Otherwise he would not have dared to pursue so many girls.
In the past, with his physical qualities and level of technique, he could overwhelm three or four opponents of Qian Renxue's caliber.
With six girls arranged in two groups of three across seven days, sharing the rain and dew evenly, each girl would get three days a week, with the weekend reserved for recovery.
The problem was that this little minx Qian Renxue did not play fair. She had actually conceived a go-down-together idea and then put it into practice.
An ox is strong, yes, but you cannot work it to death.
With such unrestrained demands, over time, never mind flesh and blood, even Heavenly Refined metal could not withstand it.
Fortunately, although he left supporting his waist, the culprit's end was worse than his. Without several days of rest, she likely would not recover.
At this moment, Chu Chengzhou firmed up one idea. He must never pass on the body-forging technique Indestructible Golden Body to Qian Renxue. Otherwise he would often be in deep water and scorching fire in the future.
Happiness is wonderful, but what many do not know is that at the end of happiness lies disaster.
A dozen minutes later, Chu Chengzhou arrived at the gates of the Seven Treasures Chamber of Commerce in the city.
It was time for this pseudo Divine Craftsman to forge Heavenly Refined metal and become a true Divine Craftsman of this age.
"Welcome to the Seven Treasures Chamber of Commerce."
As soon as Chu Chengzhou entered, a uniformed young lady came up to greet him.
"Young master, how may I assist you?"
The young lady approached politely with a smile.
"Call out your manager."
Chu Chengzhou waved a hand.
"May I ask your name, young master?"
The young lady paused, then bowed and asked.
The supervisor was very busy and did not receive just any customer.
But this was within the imperial capital. Powerful Spirit Masters and high-ranking nobles were everywhere. A distinguished guest might walk in at any time.
To avoid discourtesy, the chamber had long issued a list for them to memorize thoroughly.
If any named guest on the list arrived with substantial business or requested to see the supervisor, the supervisor had to be notified to receive them.
"Chu Chengzhou."
"Ah, Young Master Chu, please forgive the delay. Please follow me to the VIP room for a moment. I will notify the supervisor at once."
Hearing the name, the young lady quickly bowed again and gestured invitingly.
She did not know about other branches, but in the Seven Treasures Chamber of Commerce in Heaven Dou City there was not a single person who did not know who Chu Chengzhou was.
You must be joking. He was the young miss's prospective husband, and he was also the imperial hero who recently crushed the Star Luo Empire's evil plot. He could not be slighted.
That was right. The revenge action by Dai Tao and others that night had been defined by Qian Renxue after taking the throne as an evil plot by the Star Luo Empire. Chu Chengzhou, who had cut down many of the Star Luo Empire's experts and crushed their plot, was naturally a great hero of the Heaven Dou Empire.
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle