As the sun dipped toward the horizon, Chu Chengzhou opened his eyes—it was already dusk.
[Attribute Panel]
- Host: Chu Chengzhou
- Soul Power: Level 13 Soul Master - Martial Soul: True Spirit Flag
- Soul Ring: Yellow (652 years)
- First Soul Skill: Summoning - Sky Azure Tree
- Skills: Meditation (Purple), Body Refinement (Yellow), Spirit Refinement (Yellow)
*"A soul ring with 652 years of age and soul power at level 13?"*
Glancing at the attribute panel in front of him, Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.
Generally speaking, adding a first soul ring around four hundred years would boost soul power directly to level 12.
In the original story, Tang San reached level 13 because he waited three months after his martial soul awakening before attaching his first soul ring. During those three months, he didn't slack off on cultivation.
Starting with just level 10 soul power and attaching a 652-year soul ring, advancing straight to level 13 after the breakthrough was considered normal.
Moreover, since the summoned Sky Azure Tree itself had wood attributes, he could now freely convert his previously unaligned soul power into wood-aligned soul power.
Unfortunately, it seemed this ability wasn't particularly useful for now?
Knowing that this wasn't the time to study his cheat-enhanced abilities, Chu Chengzhou only gave the panel a quick glance before closing it.
"Has half a day really passed?"
Looking up at the red sun in the western sky, Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but feel surprised.
While refining the soul ring, he hadn't noticed how quickly time had flown.
Suddenly, Chu Chengzhou felt a slight sense of constriction. Looking down, he realized his clothes seemed to have shrunk a size—they no longer fit as well as before.
Of course, it wasn't that his clothes or pants had gotten smaller—it was that after attaching his first soul ring and leveling up his soul power, his body had grown significantly taller, making his previous clothes less fitting.
This was precisely why soul masters who advanced their soul power often experienced accelerated physical development, leading many prodigious young soul masters to appear adult-like despite their actual age.
"Little Chengzhou, how does it feel?"
At this moment, Su Nan's voice sounded from nearby.
"It feels amazing!"
Glancing at the deep yellow soul ring glowing around him, Chu Chengzhou grinned contentedly.
"Try releasing your soul skill."
Su Nan suggested.
Chu Chengzhou nodded slightly. A faint blue glow emanated, and his True Spirit Flag martial soul rapidly expanded to human-sized.
*"Huh? There's an added Sky Azure Tree pattern?"*
Upon closer inspection, Chu Chengzhou noticed a dark green tree-shaped pattern on his previously drab True Spirit Flag martial soul—his summoned Sky Azure Tree.
However, it was normal for a martial soul to change after attaching a soul ring, so Chu Chengzhou wasn't particularly surprised.
Besides, having the summoning pattern on the flag made it look far more impressive than the plain gray it had been before.
With a flick of his large flag, the deep yellow soul ring around him shimmered, and amidst the surging soul power, an identical figure of the Sky Azure Tree appeared beside him.
"Tsk~, Little Chengzhou, is there any difference between the Sky Azure Tree you've summoned and the original one?"
After examining the summoned Sky Azure Tree, Su Nan asked curiously.
"No difference."
As he spoke, under Chu Chengzhou's control, the summoned Sky Azure Tree released a beam of emerald green light toward Su Nan.
Though the True Spirit Flag allowed summoned beings to possess intelligence, this trait was evidently not yet apparent due to the low age of the soul ring.
For now, the summoned Sky Azure Tree operated purely on instinct and required Chu Chengzhou's direct control.
"Not bad—it's about on par with a two-ring healing-type soul master."
After sensing the healing output of the summoned Sky Azure Tree, Su Nan praised it.
Chu Chengzhou, however, wasn't particularly reassured. He noticed that after commanding the summoned Sky Azure Tree to release its healing soul skill, a significant portion of his soul power had been depleted.
Indeed, the law of conservation of energy applied everywhere—even here.
Previously, when he summoned the Sky Azure Tree, he observed that the soul power consumption wasn't too high, leading him to believe he could rely on overwhelming numbers in battle. But it turned out there was a hidden pitfall waiting for him.
"There's a downside—the soul power required for the summoned being to use soul skills must come from me. Once my soul power runs out, the summoned being will automatically disappear."
Chu Chengzhou said, frowning.
Having one summoned being was manageable, but as the number increased in the future, it was foreseeable that his "blue bar" length would become his biggest weakness.
What to do if the blue bar isn't long enough? Two solutions existed:
Increase soul power levels. Higher soul power levels naturally extended the blue bar.
But even after leveling up, adding another summoned being would reintroduce the same problem, creating a vicious cycle.
Improve the quality of soul power. Better-quality soul power indirectly extended the blue bar's length.
However, Chu Chengzhou decisively dismissed the second option.
Jokingly speaking, he was initially a "super trash" with only half a level of innate soul power. His top priority was to raise his soul power levels. If the blue bar wasn't long enough, then so be it—he could rely on high-level summoned beings to dominate and instantly defeat opponents.
As long as he avoided evenly matched battles, possessing a top-tier martial soul meant that even if he didn't focus on improving soul power quality, his blue bar should still support a single burst.
As for the quality of soul power?
There was no need to worry about it in the early stages, lest it delay his soul power upgrades. By the later stages, when he developed the soul core method from the future—with three complementary soul cores—the issue of quality would resolve itself.
"There's no such thing as a perfect martial soul, Little Chengzhou. Your martial soul can summon beings equal in age to the hunted spirit beasts, which already makes it an exceptionally powerful martial soul."
Su Nan wasn't concerned about the soul power consumption. In his view, his grandson's martial soul had undergone malignant mutation, and achieving such functionality was already extraordinary.
Take the reputedly strongest weapon martial soul, the Heaven Splitting Hammer—it also had its own weaknesses, such as speed.
"Mm-hmm."
Chu Chengzhou nodded.
Having shortcomings wasn't a problem as long as he used his brain properly. Avoiding situations like Qian Renxue, who emphasized her weaknesses instead of strengths, or foolishly going head-to-head with Tang San and his hammer, was key.
Soon, seeing that it was getting late, Chu Chengzhou dismissed the summoned Sky Azure Tree and walked with Su Nan toward the entrance of the Hunter Forest.
On the way back to the small town at the forest entrance, Chu Chengzhou reviewed the changes in his cheat-enhanced abilities after advancing.
Mm-hmm, no changes. There were still two AFK slots, and the efficiency remained unchanged.
As for the newly available AFK-upgradeable soul ring, its efficiency was one year of age per day of AFKing. However, the increase was limited to the soul ring's age and the corresponding bodily improvements, without boosting soul power.
The cheat only enhanced the soul ring's age, not the consequences of increasing it.
"Is it because my soul power level isn't high enough, or has my crappy cheat already reached its ultimate version?"
Chu Chengzhou thought to himself, feeling rather frustrated.
If the lack of changes was due to insufficient soul power levels, that was fine. But if his current cheat was already the ultimate version, its practicality would be significantly reduced.
After all, upgrading to a god-tier martial soul would take over twenty years—by then, the opportunity would have long passed.
Of course, Chu Chengzhou leaned more toward the second possibility.
His cheat could even upgrade god-tier martial souls. It didn't make sense for its effects to be so limited, did it?
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