"This is the bead left behind after Little Black's death?"
Xiao Wu recognized what it was.
"Little Black is Little Black, and the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger is the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger—they're not the same thing!"
Chu Chengzhou said with a blackened face.
Although the summoned Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Little Black was formed from his seventh soul ring, which originated from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, the two couldn't be conflated.
Moreover, as a summon, Little Black wouldn't leave behind any beads upon death.
"Can it really awaken domain power?"
After carefully examining the black bead in her hand, Zhu Zhuqing blinked, her eyes flashing with suspicion.
Something as lofty as a domain shouldn't be so easy to obtain, right?
"Well, I can only say there's hope, but I can't guarantee it 100%."
Chu Chengzhou waved his hand dismissively.
Suddenly, Chu Chengzhou recalled something he had forgotten for a long time—something similar to this black bead.
It was the inner core of the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake that he had obtained in the Hell Road of Slaughter City.
At the time, he intended to have Little Red refine it, but after leaving Slaughter City, things got busy (busy chasing girls), and he forgot all about it.
Little Red: ..., Have you stopped loving me?
But it wasn't too late now—he'd arrange it for Little Red later.
Without hesitation, Zhu Zhuqing immediately began refining the black bead left by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
Zhu Zhuqing's personality was undoubtedly very strong-willed. However, after breaking off her engagement with the Star Luo Imperial Family, she no longer showed it outwardly.
Now that Xiao Wu and Chu Chengzhou had both advanced to Soul Saints while she was still lingering at the Soul Emperor level, she naturally felt a sense of urgency.
Though Ning Rongrong, her second sister, kept her company and their soul power levels were similar, it must be remembered that Zhu Zhuqing was a battle-type soul master, while Ning Rongrong was a support-type soul master.
If her strength couldn't keep up with Chu Chengzhou and Xiao Wu, she would become nothing more than a side character in the future.
Ning Rongrong, on the other hand, was different. The characteristics of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul allowed her to function effectively even if her soul power level was an entire rank lower, albeit with higher soul power consumption when using enhancement skills.
In short, if one of the three sisters were to become a mere decoration, Zhu Zhuqing's chances were undoubtedly the highest.
Thus, Zhu Zhuqing, who didn't want to become a decoration, naturally yearned for greater personal strength.
However, just as she began refining, Zhu Zhuqing frowned.
"Evil energy?"
Similarly, Chu Chengzhou noticed something amiss almost immediately.
The black bead left by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was indeed an energy crystal, but it wasn't attributeless—it contained multiple attributes: time, space, wind, thunder, darkness, and evil.
Zhu Zhuqing's Nether Spirit Cat martial soul didn't have clear attribute divisions, making it an attributeless martial soul. Time, space, wind, and thunder energies didn't possess negative effects and could be refined without side effects.
Darkness energy, though leaning toward negativity, was still a pure elemental attribute. As long as her martial soul's attribute wasn't light, it wouldn't cause any issues.
But evil energy was different—it was purely negative. Unless her martial soul inherently possessed evil attributes, refining it wasn't suitable.
Forcing the refinement could easily lead to mental issues, pushing her toward becoming a dark soul master.
"Zhuqing, stop for now!"
Chu Chengzhou halted Zhu Zhuqing's refinement.
If the issue of evil energy couldn't be resolved, he couldn't allow Zhu Zhuqing to refine it, lest his big kitty turn into a dark soul master.
"What a pity."
Looking at the black bead in her hand, Zhu Zhuqing's eyes flashed with regret.
She could sense that this bead contained a vast amount of energy. If she could refine it, even setting aside the possibility of awakening domain power, her soul power would undoubtedly increase significantly.
Zhu Zhuqing's intuition was correct. After all, this was an energy crystal condensed by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. In the original storyline, the black bead from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger hunted by Tang San even traveled to another world, becoming a cheat tool for some protagonist.
Though the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger that became Chu Chengzhou's seventh soul ring was less than fifty thousand years old, its base wasn't as strong as the sixty-thousand-year-old one hunted by Tang San in the original storyline. Moreover, because it was an active offering, the energy contained in the black bead was far less than the one obtained by some protagonist in another world. Nevertheless, it still contained a vast amount of energy.
Having a treasure mountain yet being unable to enter—there was nothing more frustrating or regrettable than that.
"Don't worry, I have a solution. I'll take you tomorrow!"
Chu Chengzhou consoled her.
The problem before Zhu Zhuqing was simply the issue of evil energy entering her body during the refinement process. Evil energy, being a negative attribute, could easily create hidden dangers.
This situation was akin to how he felt overwhelming killing intent after causing a massacre in Slaughter City.
Solving this problem wasn't difficult—Tang Yuehua could help.
Tang Yuehua's innate domain originally cleansed others' minds, and now it also possessed the ability to purify all negative states. If Zhu Zhuqing refined the black bead while within the domain's range, there would be no need to worry about evil energy entering her body.
Back then, Qian Renxue was very considerate; calling her "Big Brother" wasn't for nothing. The mansion she gifted to Chu Chengzhou was quite spacious—though nowhere near the scale of a soul master academy, it did have a training ground spanning a hundred meters in diameter.
On the training ground, Chu Chengzhou materialized his True Spirit Flag martial soul. His third soul ring lit up, and he summoned the Fire Phoenix summon Little Red.
"Chirp—"
Seeing no apparent enemy targets, Little Red let out a slightly puzzled cry toward Chu Chengzhou.
"Here's something good for you~"
With that, Chu Chengzhou took out the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake's inner core, which had been gathering dust in his storage soul-guidance device, and held it in front of Little Red.
Of course, saying "gathering dust" was a bit exaggerated since storage soul-guidance devices weren't connected to the outside world, so there was no dust inside.
"Chirp?"
The Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake's inner core had a concealed aura, and with Little Red's insufficient strength, she couldn't perceive the energy fluctuations. She couldn't tell what use this small golden-red ball might have.
"Just eat it!"
Chu Chengzhou directly tossed the inner core into Little Red's mouth.
"Chirp chirp—"
As soon as it entered her mouth, Little Red didn't notice anything immediately. However, once the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake's inner core reached her stomach and began diffusing its energy, Little Red's eyes widened instantly. Happily, she leaned over and rubbed against Chu Chengzhou.
As the inner core's energy released, Little Red clearly felt her cultivation age slowly increasing.
"Don't rub anymore, focus on refining!"
Little Red could sense her cultivation improving, and as her summoner, Chu Chengzhou keenly noticed this as well.
He was extremely satisfied.
This scene confirmed one of his guesses—that his summons could increase their age through methods other than AFKing or receiving divine trial rewards.
Since Little Red could increase her age by consuming the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake's inner core, then perhaps the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger summon Little Black, who belonged to the race of dark soul beasts, could also enhance its cultivation by devouring soul beasts?
Of course, there was no need to go around hunting soul beasts specifically for Little Black to devour and increase its age.
However, he would inevitably hunt soul beasts over ten thousand years old in the future. Even if they offered themselves through controlled consciousness, their bodies would remain. Following the principle of waste utilization, feeding those corpses to Little Black would surely cause its age to skyrocket.
'By this logic, should my True Spirit Flag martial soul ideally add dark soul beast soul rings?'
Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but ponder.
The importance of soul ring age for soul masters was undeniable. As the Chu family developed, the True Spirit Flag martial soul would undoubtedly be passed down.
But he was the only one with cheats—his bloodline descendants wouldn't have them.
If soul ring ages couldn't be increased, then the True Spirit Flag martial soul wouldn't be much stronger than other martial souls of the same quality.
Even if low-age summons could experience significant strength increases when there was a level gap between them and the soul master, they would still ultimately be inferior to high-age summons.
Thus, adding dark soul beast soul rings to form summons that could increase their age by devouring other soul beasts seemed very necessary.
Of course, whether a soul beast was classified as a dark soul beast didn't directly relate to its species.
Most soul beasts that could enhance their cultivation by devouring living beings became dark soul beasts.
But thinking about his future descendants going 'heh heh heh—', Chu Chengzhou quickly pushed this idea out of his mind.
It was just too terrifying!
Glancing at Little Red, who was refining the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake's inner core, Chu Chengzhou had a servant bring over a reclining chair. Lying on the chair, he monitored Little Red while simultaneously experimenting with new techniques.
There was a considerable gap from his initial expectations. Chu Chengzhou had thought that with time and space attribute soul power, his arrows would carry game-changing time or space effects.
Like time-accelerated arrows that could hit opponents before they could react.
Or space-jumping arrows that could traverse space and directly strike opponents.
Reality proved he had overthought it.
Arrows formed with time or space attribute soul power indeed carried time or space forces, but the accompanying effects were negligible.
Time-accelerated arrows did accelerate slightly, but their speed was still slower than arrows imbued with wind attribute soul power, where speed was one of the elemental characteristics.
Space-jumping arrows could indeed traverse space, but the distance crossed was extremely short. After being shot, the arrow vanished instantly, reappearing two meters away, then continued flying along its normal trajectory.
It was said that something was better than nothing, but time-accelerated arrows and space-jumping arrows couldn't even achieve that.
And it wasn't just about the negligible effects—the time and space forces could only be carried by pure time and space soul power arrows. Once combined with Flowing Gold Armor Piercing Arrows, the slight time acceleration and space-jumping effects disappeared completely.
Needless to say, this was due to his insufficient comprehension of time and space. He had just barely touched the surface.
Opening the attribute panel and glancing at it, Chu Chengzhou thought for a moment, then removed the seventh soul ring from the eighth AFK slot and replaced it with the Elemental Domination Skull.
If everything went as expected, Little Black could increase its age by devouring soul beasts.
Thus, it wouldn't need to occupy a precious AFK slot—at least not for now. Feeding it a few ten-thousand-year-old soul beast corpses would basically make it a ten-thousand-year-old summon.
Relying solely on his own comprehension of time and space, the difficulty was obvious. Fortunately, the Elemental Domination Skull's soul bone skill: Elemental Domination, could enhance the comprehension of all elements, including time and space.
And the higher the soul bone skill's age, the stronger the effect would be. At the very least, after a qualitative change in age, the effect would significantly improve. Upgrading the Elemental Domination Skull's age through AFKing would also aid his future comprehension of time and space.
Of course, sharpening the axe doesn't delay the cutting of wood. Currently, the boost from the Elemental Domination soul bone skill in terms of comprehension wasn't substantial. For now, Chu Chengzhou decided to set aside comprehending time and space and first experiment with multi-attribute soul power fusion.
Once the Elemental Domination Skull was upgraded to a hundred-thousand-year-old soul bone, he would use the soul bone skill to comprehend time and space.
Aside from time and space, he could now freely convert between wood, light, fire, metal, water, earth, wind, thunder, darkness, and evil—ten attributes.
After some thought, Chu Chengzhou decided to experiment with fusing earth (soil), water, fire, and wind to see if he could evolve it into chaos attribute.
Spreading his five fingers apart, except for the thumb, Chu Chengzhou's fingertips of the four remaining fingers respectively emitted wisps of soil, water, fire, and wind attribute soul power.
Then, bringing the four fingers together, the four attribute soul powers came into contact, and he controlled them to merge into one.
Instantly, Chu Chengzhou felt turbulence in the four wisps at his fingertips. Then, the four different attribute soul powers lost control simultaneously and dissipated into the air.
"Is my soul power control level insufficient?"
Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.
But if fusing earth, water, fire, and wind could truly create chaos, perhaps his current soul power level, which he prided himself on, was actually lacking?
After some thought, Chu Chengzhou lowered his expectations and decided to start with a dual-attribute fusion.
Wind aiding fire—in earth, water, fire, and wind attributes, wind and fire fusion should be the simplest.
The next second, a green soul power representing wind appeared on his left hand, and a red soul power representing fire appeared on his right hand. Slowly bringing his hands together, he attempted to fuse them into one.
Immediately, Chu Chengzhou sensed a repelling force, similar to forcibly pressing together two magnets of the same polarity.
Dual-attribute fusion was not the same as simple dual-attribute stacking.
Simple dual-attribute stacking was like placing a gold ingot and a silver ingot together, while dual-attribute fusion was like perfectly blending the gold and silver ingots into a single alloy. The difficulty difference between the two was immense.
Fortunately, this repelling force wasn't as strong as the previous four-attribute fusion, which caused immediate turbulence. With his current soul power control level, it wouldn't spiral out of control.
'Completely eliminating this repelling force should be considered perfect fusion of wind and fire dual attributes, right?'
Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but think to himself.
Chu Chengzhou: Hmm~, annoying!
As the sun set westward, under the evening glow, Chu Chengzhou lay on the reclining chair tirelessly experimenting with the fusion of wind and fire dual-attribute soul power.
As for results?
He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but Chu Chengzhou felt that the repelling force between the two major attribute soul powers had slightly decreased compared to before.
"Chirp—"
At this moment, a noble phoenix cry resonated.
Sensing movement from Little Red, Chu Chengzhou stood up, intending to approach and express satisfaction.
Suddenly, his sharp senses detected intense heat approaching. Chu Chengzhou hurriedly activated his protective soul power to shield himself.
The next moment, a circle of crimson red light rapidly spread, enveloping the entire training ground.
"Damn~!"
Looking at the crimson red light covering the entire training ground, Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but feel elated but immediately cursed and hastily recalled Little Red.
The next second, the crimson red light disappeared, revealing the previously hard training ground, now emitting high temperatures and showing signs of melting.
Fortunately, there were no servants in the training ground at the moment. Otherwise, the domain released by Little Red earlier would have certainly caused casualties.
Indeed, the crimson firelight that covered the entire training ground was the phoenix domain awakened by Little Red—a domain exclusive to phoenix-type soul beasts or soul masters.
Summoning Little Red again and scolding her, Chu Chengzhou's face eventually broke into a satisfied smile.
After refining the Ten-Headed Fiery Yang Snake's inner core, the Fire Phoenix summon Little Red not only awakened the Phoenix Domain but also experienced a significant surge in strength. Her age increased from the original ten thousand years to just over thirty thousand years, surpassing Chu Chengzhou's expectations.
Phoenix Domain: The domain was filled with scorching phoenix flames. Within the domain's range, the power of phoenix flames increased by 50%, and as long as the domain remained unbroken, the Fire Phoenix would be immortal, able to constantly resurrect through phoenix flames.
Although summons weren't afraid of death, the immortality effect provided by Little Red's Phoenix Domain was still highly useful.
Because after a summon dies, it couldn't be summoned again immediately and required some recovery time. Additionally, summoning a summon consumed a significant amount of Chu Chengzhou's soul power.
Unfortunately, Little Red didn't grow multiple heads like Ma Hongjun's martial soul in the original storyline.
But having multiple heads wasn't crucial. In Chu Chengzhou's view, multi-headed creatures didn't align with his aesthetic standards.
Furthermore, in the Douluo universe, true powerhouses were never multi-headed creatures.
Today was one of the six days each month when he was "allowed" to stay out overnight. After dinner, Chu Chengzhou left home and met up with Hu Liena. Together, they strolled through the night market of Tian Dou City.
The little fox was his fiancée, not just some casual companion. Though a happy life involved battles, it wasn't all about fighting.
After a spree of shopping, the two headed to the Tian Dou Grand Hotel.
In the room, after exploring the profound principles of yin and yang together, a sweaty Hu Liena collapsed into Chu Chengzhou's arms.
During casual conversation, Hu Liena brought up serious matters: "That good brother of yours, Xue Qinghe, sent someone to the Holy Hall to deliver a message, saying that he's hosting a banquet for me at noon in three days. What do you think he wants?"
Hu Liena remembered that in the afternoon, Crown Prince Xue Qinghe of Tian Dou had sent someone to the Holy Hall to deliver an invitation.
"Xue Qinghe is inviting you?"
Hearing this, Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.
"Mm, I don't know what tricks he has up his sleeve."
Hu Liena nodded.
"Don't worry, Xue Qinghe is one of us."
"One of us?"
Hu Liena blinked, her expression puzzled.
Although she knew Chu Chengzhou was close to Xue Qinghe, Xue Qinghe was the crown prince of the Tian Dou Empire and the future emperor. Even if their relationship was good in daily life, such people couldn't be blindly trusted, right?
After all, in imperial families, emotions ran thin!
"You'll know when the time comes."
Chu Chengzhou didn't explain further.
If his guess was correct, a major change would soon occur in the Tian Dou Empire. Perhaps Qian Renxue was preparing to ascend the throne early.
If Qian Renxue planned to initiate a palace coup and ascend the throne, mobilizing the forces of the Tian Dou Spirit Hall would be inevitable.
And mobilizing the Tian Dou Spirit Hall's forces would inevitably be known by Hu Liena, who was the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall and held a position in the Tian Dou Holy Hall.
After all, Hu Liena was a direct disciple of her mother Bibi Dong and the current Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall—not an outsider. Even if her identity were known, it wouldn't be leaked.
In other words, this banquet hosted by Qian Renxue for Hu Liena probably didn't have any other purpose but to inform her and give her advance notice.
"By the way, Nana, prepare yourself. I'll take you somewhere for training soon. It's a special place, and we probably won't return for a few years."
"For so long? Where are we going for training?"
"The Sea God Island! The Sea God Island is a legacy site left by a deity. Training there will significantly boost your strength compared to self-cultivation."
Chu Chengzhou didn't hide anything and spoke directly.
His and Xiao Wu's soul power levels were rising quickly, and the upgrade speeds of the other girls weren't slow either.
Currently, Hu Liena was at Level 67 Soul Emperor, Zhu Zhuqing at 66-level, and Ning Rongrong at Level 65. With the addition of the Nine Breaths Qi Absorption Technique and the latent immortal herb potency within them, within half a year at most, Hu Liena, who currently had the highest soul power level, would break through to Level 70.
And if Zhu Zhuqing refined the black bead from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, this time frame would be even shorter.
Before the fastest-progressing Hu Liena or Zhu Zhuqing broke through to Level 70, he planned to take his four girls to the Sea God Island to mooch off the divine grace.
Yeah, not only would they mooch off divine-bestowed soul rings, but hopefully, they'd also snag the Sea God position.
After all, in the Douluo god realm, there were only five god kings. Although Poseidon's (Sea God) ascension to godhood wasn't long ago, his strength ranked just below the five god kings. His Sea God position was extremely valuable.
(T/N: The Sea God's name is Bo Saidong which is Poseidon when transliterated into Chinese.)
"Sea God Island? If I remember correctly, our Spirit Hall once sent people to conquer it, but they failed.
This faction doesn't get along with the Spirit Hall. As the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall, I doubt the Sea God Island would welcome me, right?"
Blinking, Hu Liena said uncertainly.
Upon hearing this, Chu Chengzhou smirked and said, "If you don't mention it, and I don't mention it, how would they know you're the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall?"
The Sea God Island rarely communicated with the mainland and was practically isolated from the world. Not only might Hu Liena, the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall, not be recognized, but Bo Saixi might not even know who the current Pope of the Spirit Hall was.
Anyone affiliated with the Sea God Island could participate in the Sea God Trials. At that time, they could temporarily switch allegiances and join the Sea God Island.
Moreover, if his four girls managed to obtain the Sea God Nine Trials, there would be no need to worry about the 'born into the Sea God Island, die as a ghost of the Sea God Island' issue, preventing them from leaving in the future.
Of course, if they couldn't obtain the Sea God Nine Trials, he could retrieve them once he grew stronger.
Without reaching the Title Douluo level and without a million-year summon, Chu Chengzhou didn't dare act recklessly before a demi-god like Bo Saixi.
As for himself... Chu Chengzhou was certain that he had over a 90% chance of obtaining the Sea God Nine Trials.
After excluding twin martial souls, whether in terms of talent or strength, he far surpassed Tang San from the original storyline when he first visited the Sea God Island.
But with cheats in hand, Chu Chengzhou didn't dare become the inheritor of the Sea God position. Otherwise, if Poseidon discovered the irregularities later and wanted to dissect him for research, he'd be in deep trouble.
Anyway, although the Sea God Island was somewhat exclusive, it wouldn't chase down those who landed on the island and chose not to join.
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