One thing did surprise Chu Chengzhou. Although Thousand-Refined battle armor was the lowest grade of battle armor in later generations, by the attribute panel's grading for skill ultimate techniques, it showed only purple.
You had to know that only spirit masters with spirit power level 50 and above could wear Thousand-Refined battle armor normally, and it could let a five-ring Spirit King display the strength of a seven-ring Spirit Sage. With such a powerful special soul tool, it ought to be rated black grade, right?
But judging by the grading used for forging ultimate techniques, purple seemed normal.
In the past, the yellow and purple grades of forging ultimate techniques corresponded to Thousand Refinements of metal, while the subsequent Spirit Refinements of metal required black-grade forging ultimate techniques.
Looks like the grade of this battle armor crafting skill is linked to metal forging.
Without hesitation, Chu Chengzhou opened the attribute panel, took the Divided Mind Control secret art out of the AFK bar, and swapped in Battle Armor Crafting (Dark Purple).
Ning Fengzhi: "."
"One day to complete the skill. If nothing unexpected happens, then three days later I'll master Spirit-Refined battle armor, another ten days for Soul-Refined battle armor, and another thirty days for Heavenly-Refined battle armor... In a month and a half I can forge four-character Heavenly-Refined battle armor?"
Doing the math in his heart, Chu Chengzhou could not help clicking his tongue inwardly.
Sure enough, my plugin is the best!
The following afternoon, Chu Chengzhou lay on a lounge chair in the front yard of his residence, eyes half-closed, basking in the sun.
Suddenly, a wave of feedback information surged into his mind.
After a long moment, having digested the insights from Thousand-Refined battle armor crafting, Chu Chengzhou opened his eyes, a gleam flashing within.
As expected, once the attribute panel's [Battle Armor Crafting (grayed out Purple)] was completed, it converted into [Battle Armor Crafting (Purple)], which was precisely the method for crafting the full set of one-character Thousand-Refined battle armor from later generations.
Compared to the crude Thousand-Refined battle armor that Ma Jieke tinkered out earlier, the purple battle armor crafting skill completed via the plugin not only optimized the soul guidance arrays in many ways, but also added quite a few components to the armor.
They were helmet, breastplate, left pauldron, left upper-arm guard, left forearm guard, left gauntlet, right pauldron, right upper-arm guard, right forearm guard, right gauntlet, waist guard, battle skirt, left thigh guard, left shin guard, left boot, right thigh guard, right shin guard, right boot, eighteen components in total.
At once, Chu Chengzhou took out several pieces of Thousand-Refined Blue Yun Copper he had long prepared from his storage soul tool.
Red soul power light flared at his fingertips. The Thousand-Refined Blue Yun Copper rapidly melted into blazing copper, and after shaping and cooling, a full-body set of pure-metal Thousand-Refined armor with eighteen components, leaving only the face exposed, came fresh off the line.
Of course, truly flawless battle armor must include facial protection, and even the eyes would be crafted from transparent material, leaving no defensive gaps.
But what he was making was just a "kid's toy" Thousand-Refined battle armor, so lacking a facial guard was no big deal.
Next, earth, water, fire, and wind four-element fused soul power surged into his hands, condensing into a soul power engraving knife that shone yellow, blue, red, and green. Chu Chengzhou inscribed soul guidance arrays on the eighteen armor components one by one.
Inscribing arrays is not only a technical task but also a meticulous one. The slightest carelessness in inscription would lead to all efforts being wasted.
Yet with Chu Chengzhou's level of spiritual power and his perfect grasp of the Thousand-Refined battle armor crafting method, there was no room for mistakes so long as no one disturbed him.
Half an hour later, with the inscription on the final left boot completed, the "deluxe edition" Thousand-Refined battle armor was finished.
After a brief thought, Chu Chengzhou left his residence and flew through the air toward the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
The servants at his residence were not spirit masters, while Ma Jieke was a six-ring Spirit Emperor, and a high-level one at that. For this "deluxe edition" Thousand-Refined battle armor, he needed a Spirit King who had just stepped into the fifth ring to test it, so its effects could be shown most clearly.
In a side hall of the Council Hall at the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Qian Renxue, in the guise of Xue Qinghe, was handling imperial affairs.
All of a sudden, the salutes of the palace guards sounded outside the hall: "Greetings, Young Master Chu!"
At once, Qian Renxue, who was handling affairs inside, seemed to think of something. A blush rose to her face as she thought to herself that this lecher had come in broad daylight to do something bad again.
Soon, the hall doors opened and Chu Chengzhou walked in.
"Don't come over. I'm busy. Don't even think about doing anything indecent."
Before Chu Chengzhou could speak, Qian Renxue spoke first.
Chu Chengzhou: "."
Now that you said it like that, I wasn't planning anything lewd, but I'm instantly interested.
At once, Chu Chengzhou shut the hall doors, laid down a layer of soul power barrier to shroud the entire hall, and then walked over with a wicked smile.
Before long, with her disguise lifted, Her Majesty the peerlessly beautiful Empress enjoyed the service of her most attentive subject.
For a time, winds rose, clouds surged, and the sounds of battle did not cease.
After a long hard fight, under her attentive subject's relentless assault, Her Majesty collapsed in defeat and lost the battle completely.
"All you do every day is bully me."
After resting a bit and slightly recovering her strength, Qian Renxue pouted, dressed herself, and again became the awe-inspiring Emperor Qinghe of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Qian Renxue knew that if she insisted on keeping Xue Qinghe's face, Chu Chengzhou would not do anything lewd with her.
"Ahem. Business. How is the situation at the front now?"
Clearing his throat, Chu Chengzhou, who had no lewd thoughts for the moment, asked seriously.
"Everything is proceeding smoothly. After Ge Long fell, I appointed Ci Xue as the new commander of the punitive army. A few days ago Ci Xue sent word that more than half of the Star Luo Empire's territory has been occupied. It won't be long before we push up to Star Luo City."
At the mention of this, a smile appeared on Qian Renxue's face.
Once Star Luo was annexed, then the royal authority of the four kingdoms under her banner and the eastern principalities would be abolished, and she would step from the shadows into the light. She would be the empress ruling the entire continent, and in terms of power would surpass even Bibi Dong, the Pope of Spirit Hall.
"After Star Luo falls, how will you deal with the Dai clan? And how will you handle the other spirit master clans and forces within Star Luo?"
Chu Chengzhou asked again.
He did not care about the fates of those spirit master clans and forces, but he did care about the Hell Civet clan that was deeply tied to the Dai family, since the current clan head of the Hell Civet clan was his father-in-law.
Although Zhu Zhuqing did not have a good relationship with the Hell Civet clan, as the son-in-law he could not very well wipe out his own father-in-law's clan.
"Those willing to submit will be kept. Those unwilling to submit will be buried with the Star Luo Empire.
I can even accept the surrender of the White Tiger Dai clan.
However, any man who bears the White Tiger martial soul and has blood ties to the Dai clan within five generations, whether he carries the surname Dai or not, will be forbidden to marry and have children. Women are unrestricted."
Qian Renxue said without hesitation.
T/N: The title is orignally yyds (永远的神 (yǒngyuǎn de shén)) which means"the GOAT," "absolute legend," "the best.", which doesn't really make sense in english so I just used the best.