It was known that a spirit master could condense at most three soul cores. Given the limited number, Chu Chengzhou naturally wanted to condense higher-quality cores.
Multi-attribute fusion cores, and cores with time and space attributes, would be much stronger than an attribute-less core.
With a plan already in mind, Chu Chengzhou used his spiritual power to look inward at the lower dantian in his abdomen, wrapped the attribute-less first soul core with spiritual power, and carefully drew it out.
Staring at the azure soul core hovering before him and rotating steadily, Chu Chengzhou reached out, grabbed it, then flung it high into the distance, silently shouting, "Detonate!"
A thunderous boom.
In an instant, blinding light burst forth and violent soul power ripples spread. A gigantic mushroom cloud bloomed in the sky.
A soul core's explosion equals a "nuclear" bomb?
Soul beasts near Sunset Forest: ??? Did an earth dragon roll over?
With the "obstructive" attribute-less core gone, it was time to recondense the first soul core.
According to his current plan, the Four Symbols soul core formed by fusing earth, water, fire, and wind would be the first core, located in the lower dantian.
Using space-attribute soul power as the main force and his own blood and qi as support, he would form a space soul core as the yin-yang complementary second core, located in the middle dantian at his chest.
Using time-attribute soul power as the main force and his spiritual power as support, he would form a time soul core as the yin-yang complement third core, located in the upper dantian between his brows.
As for later, he would adjust if needed.
The first soul core was the simplest, and he already had experience condensing it. The only difference was replacing the attribute-less soul power from before with Four Symbols soul power, the fusion of earth, water, fire, and wind.
With a thought, earth, water, fire, and wind soul power surged in the lower dantian. With near-MAX control over soul power, Chu Chengzhou began condensing the first soul core again.
Confident, he condensed the core directly inside his body. The simplest first core. Isn't that basically trivial?
As the energy of heaven and earth around him gathered and poured into his body, half an hour later a Four Symbols soul core appeared in his lower dantian. It displayed yellow, blue, red, and green, rotating clockwise.
The moment the Four Symbols core began to rotate, Chu Chengzhou immediately sensed the difference.
There was no doubt that the fused power of earth, water, fire, and wind far surpassed attribute-less soul power, and the Four Symbols core condensed from the four elements was naturally far stronger than an attribute-less core.
Leaving everything else aside, the Four Symbols core's compression and purification of his internal soul power was far beyond what the attribute-less core could achieve.
After condensing the first core, his internal soul power was largely consumed. Chu Chengzhou took off his clothes and jumped straight into the Icefire Yin Yang Well. Then he ran Nine Breaths. His whole body seemed like a black hole, greedily devouring the power of fire and water in the spring.
The yang spring was scorching and the yin spring was freezing. Even ordinary Titled Douluo would not dare touch them. But to Chu Chengzhou, who had once taken the immortal herbs Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Blazing Delicate Apricot and gained ice immunity and fire immunity, they were no different from ordinary spring water. Soaking was fine. Even drinking to quench thirst would be fine.
Even if there were side effects, they would not come from scalding or freezing but from drinking too much.
Just yesterday, Chu Chengzhou had thought he would have to walk the path of an evil spirit master.
But after reconsidering, rapidly boosting his strength by using Nine Breaths Qi to convert all energies for his own use was not limited to devouring spirit masters or spirit beasts.
In terms of sheer energy, the Ice and fire Yin Yang Well was also a treasure ground. The blazing yang spring and freezing yin spring both contained vast energy.
Of course, even with the spring water as a substitute, absorbing spirit rings would still be necessary in the future. He planned to hunt sea ferocious beasts to assemble sets of top-tier spirit bones with extremely high years. When the time came, their spirit rings could not be wasted.
Thanks to Nine Breaths Qi's efficient devouring, it took only a few minutes for Chu Chengzhou to fully restore his soul power.
He did not leave the spring. Soaking where he was, he began to condense the second soul core.
His internal blood and qi and space-attribute soul power surged. In the middle dantian at his chest, a pool of liquid space-attribute soul power appeared, interwoven in red and silver and mixed with his blood and qi.
Soon, a silver energy vortex tinged with a blood glow and rotating counterclockwise gradually took shape.
The instant the silver vortex formed, Chu Chengzhou felt a tearing force inside his body.
The newborn silver vortex was also badly affected. If not for Chu Chengzhou's strong spiritual power and meticulous control, it would have failed to continue rotating.
The sudden change came from the interference of the Four Symbols core in the lower dantian.
The Four Symbols core in the lower dantian rotated clockwise, while the new silver vortex rotated counterclockwise. Two internal vortices rotating in opposite directions naturally created a tearing force.
Very soon, surging spiritual power flowed out. Chu Chengzhou severed the connection between the lower and middle dantians, blocking the Four Symbols core from interfering with the condensation of the second core.
With the interference isolated, the tearing sensation vanished at once.
Before long, as large amounts of space-attribute soul power and blood and qi poured in, the liquid mixed energy within the blood-tinged silver vortex transformed into a solid silver soul power body etched with dense blood-colored lines.
The solid soul power body formed. Instantly, the energy of heaven and earth around the Icefire Yin Yang Well rushed together, forming a cloud of primal energy above the spring.
In the middle dantian at his chest, the newly formed solid soul power body was like a black hole. While drawing in vast amounts of primal energy from outside, it also greedily devoured the space-attribute soul power and blood and qi that Chu Chengzhou was converting.
Seeing this, Chu Chengzhou's expression did not change. Multitasking, he ran Nine Breaths Qi to swallow the spring's power of fire and water to restore his soul power. At the same time, golden light flared from his left leg.
One of the soul skills of the 100,000-year Golden Hawksbill Turtle left leg bone: Fountain of Life, which rapidly restores one's life force when activated.
What is a hawksbill? Put plainly, a sea turtle. Even in his previous world where no transcendent powers existed, there was a saying about thousand-year tortoises and ten-thousand-year turtles. Turtles symbolized powerful vitality.
When he replaced his torso bone with the 100,000-year Diamond Sea Clam drop earlier, Chu Chengzhou had regretted losing a healing skill. Unexpectedly, the 100,000-year Golden Hawksbill Turtle left leg bone made up for it. And because the soul bone skill was of higher year, its effect was stronger.
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle