He did not dwell on whether he had the makings of an evil spirit master. Chu Chengzhou opened his attribute panel.
"Hm?"
Seeing Nine Breaths Qi automatically detach from the third AFK slot on the AFK bar and display in color in the skill list, Chu Chengzhou paused, then shifted his gaze to Elemental Fusion, which was also in color but with dimmed text.
"I actually created a super divine skill back then?"
Chu Chengzhou thought in surprise.
He was stunned by his own thought.
Am I really this talented? Am I not just little Chu who relies on a cheat?
After a moment of self-indulgence he gained a bit of clarity.
Back when he created the peerless art Elemental Fusion, his plan had been to fuse all basic elements. If all elements could be perfectly fused, that would deserve the transcendent tier.
Only because the art was incomplete did it show as dim color on the attribute panel.
Cheat: you handle the ideas, I will handle the rest.
Then the question. Since rainbow-grade peerless arts can appear, why can't the incomplete Elemental Fusion be auto-completed by AFK?
Could it be that the current version of the cheat can upgrade a gold-grade divine skill into a rainbow-grade super divine skill, but cannot complete a super god-level art?
He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Chu Chengzhou slotted Ground-Shrinking Divine Light into the AFK slot freed up after Nine Breaths Qi upgraded.
The cart will find its way to the mountain. Thinking about it now is useless. He would know once he advanced to nine rings and became a Titled Douluo.
He looked down at the bowl of whale brain he had only scooped a few bites from. After a moment he put it away.
I already have the Great Absorbing Technique, no, I have Nine Breaths Qi that refines all energy. Why eat this stuff. Wouldn't absorbing spirit rings be better another day?
As for absorbing too much and destabilizing his foundation or causing mixed and impure soul power.
Nine Breaths Qi is a super divine skill. It is not so clumsy.
Absorbing spirit rings is like a twin martial soul spirit master attaching high-year rings to the second martial soul and seeing soul power soar. He would only be absorbing the energy of the rings and would not gain rings or skills.
Besides, with Absolute Control and a soul core in hand, he did not need to worry about a shaky foundation or mixed soul power.
He looked up at the night and left his residence.
He did not go to the Moon Pavilion. He went to the palace.
That little minx Qian Renxue had worn him out last night. Tonight he had to cut her swagger down a bit.
He had not recovered, but Qian Renxue was surely worse off.
If he did not teach her a lesson now and make her suffer a little, she would definitely torment him again after she recovered.
For the sake of future life, tonight Chu Chengzhou would grit his teeth and go to battle.
The next afternoon.
Over the central area of Sunset Forest, a figure descended into the small hollow where the Icefire Yin Yang Well lay. It was Chu Chengzhou.
He glanced at the Ice and fire Yin Yang Well, where scarlet and milky white were sharply divided. He turned his hand. The True Spirit Banner martial soul manifested in his grip. Eight spirit rings lit around him, black, black, black, red, black, red, red, red. As surging soul power rolled out and the scarlet fourth ring shone, a deliberately size-suppressed dark-gold little bear appeared, looking cute.
"Xiong Da, be good and stand guard for me, got it?"
Ruffling the little bear's head, Chu Chengzhou gave a reminder.
This morning, the fourth spirit ring in the fifth AFK slot had advanced to 100,000 years. Chu Chengzhou had gained another 100,000-year Summoned Spirit.
"Roar."
The cute Xiong Da nodded and let out a low growl.
"Tsk. Looks like I need someone to teach you human speech. Being uneducated will not make you a good bear."
Chu Chengzhou clicked his tongue and complained.
Xiong Da: "."
Then Chu Chengzhou ignored Xiong Da, sat cross-legged by the spring, and got to work.
With Nine Breaths Qi that can refine all energies for his own use, bottlenecks no longer existed for him. Chu Chengzhou planned to condense the remaining two soul cores directly, and to do it with yin-yang complement.
There are two methods to condense multiple soul cores. One is same-position resonance. The other is yin-yang complement.
The difference lies in rotation direction. Soul cores condensed by the same-position resonance method all rotate in the same direction, while in the yin-yang complement method adjacent soul cores rotate in different directions.
If soul cores are compared to a circle's center, multiple soul cores by same-position resonance turn one center into two or three centers.
It is still compression and rotation of soul power, but the center changes from a single point to a circle whose diameter is a straight line formed by two or three points.
The center becomes much larger, so the soul power that can be condensed and compressed becomes far greater. Multiple soul cores far exceed a single soul core.
For yin-yang complement, adjacent soul cores rotate in opposite directions. Their forces blend and collide, then recombine, baptize, condense, and elevate, giving the soul power extreme destructive power while compressing it to the limit.
In short, compared with same-position resonance, yin-yang complement has greater advantages. Chu Chengzhou estimated that even if a triple-core by same-position resonance is stronger than a dual-core by yin-yang complement, the margin is limited. It may even be inferior to a yin-yang complement dual-core, let alone a yin-yang complement triple-core.
Of course, while yin-yang complement soul cores are more effective, they are harder to condense than same-position resonance. Gains and losses balance.
Though he had only eight rings in terms of rank, in Chu Chengzhou's view, with his level of soul power control and bodily strength, he should be able to condense a yin-yang complement triple-core.
This was not blind confidence. He had the capital.
Spirit rings do more than advance a spirit master's soul power and grant spirit skills. They also enhance overall physical attributes, and the higher the ring's year, the greater the enhancement.
With four black and four red rings, the body-refining peerless art Indestructible Golden Body, plus the enhancement from four spirit bones above fifty thousand years and two hundred-thousand-year spirit bones, his physique was formidable. Paired with spiritual power at least on par with a Rank 95 Titled Douluo and extraordinary soul power control, he could make the impossible possible when condensing soul cores.
Yes, Chu Chengzhou had again used the Spirit Bone Disassembly Method, replacing his two original Star Luo royal lineage spirit bones with the 100,000-year Diamond Sea Clam torso spirit bone and the 100,000-year Golden Hawksbill Turtle left leg spirit bone that had dropped when he hunted spirits for Tang Yuehua before.
In addition, different soul power ranks produce soul cores of different strength. The burden and pressure when integrating them into the body also differs.
The higher the soul power rank, the stronger the soul core and the greater the pressure during integration. The lower the rank, the opposite.
So the lower the spirit master's soul power rank, and the stronger the physique and spiritual power and the higher the level of soul power control, the more favorable it is for condensing soul cores.
Of course, if he truly could not withstand a yin-yang complement triple-core, he would decisively extract and discard the third core. With his level of control, that would not be difficult.
However, before condensing the yin-yang complement second soul core, Chu Chengzhou had one more thing to do.
Nothing else. He would remove and toss out the attribute-less first soul core that had long since been condensed in the lower dantian of his abdomen.
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle