Time ticked by, minute by minute, and soon half an hour had passed.
Suddenly, the crystalline blue orb hovering above Chu Chengzhou's left arm began to emit a strong blue aura.
In the next moment, the blue orb twisted and transformed into a left arm soul bone that resembled a blue crystal, faintly glowing with a gentle blue light.
Without pausing to dwell on the extracted left arm soul bone, Chu Chengzhou immediately released his spiritual power to envelop himself and meticulously examined his condition.
Not long after, a faint smile appeared on Chu Chengzhou's face.
Although his soul power level had dropped to Level 73 Soul Saint and his physical strength had noticeably decreased, the Crystal Protection Left Arm Bone he had previously fused into his body had indeed been completely extracted.
Chu Chengzhou could clearly feel that he was now able to fuse another soul bone into his left arm once again!
The technique for extracting soul bones—success!
As for the "side effects" of the soul power level dropping and physical strength decreasing after extracting the soul bone?
This wasn't a side effect—it was an inevitable phenomenon.
Since the Crystal Protection Left Arm Bone had been removed from his body, the soul power boost and enhanced physical strength it provided naturally disappeared along with it.
Subsequently, Chu Chengzhou re-fused the recently extracted Crystal Protection Left Arm Bone back into his body.
He wasn't short of higher-year left arm soul bones, but the Crystal Protection Left Arm Bone came with an Absolute Defense Skill. Although it was only 60,000 years old, its soul bone skill was undoubtedly far superior to the 80,000-year left arm bone dropped by Dai Weisi.
If he didn't have better options, he wouldn't bother, but since he did, he naturally chose to fuse the stronger soul bone.
Time slowly passed, and before long, it was the afternoon of the next day.
On the bed inside the bedroom, Chu Chengzhou, who was currently fusing soul bones, exuded a steadily growing aura of soul power.
After a long while, accompanied by a one-level increase in his soul power, the emerald-green torso soul bone brimming with life energy was successfully fused into his body, making him yet another fully soul-boned soul master on the continent.
The cultivation speed of the Nine Breaths Qi Absorption Technique far exceeded that of ordinary meditation techniques, and its speed in refining soul rings and soul bones was also exceptionally fast.
In less than a day, after re-fusing the Crystal Protection Left Arm Bone, Chu Chengzhou refined four more soul bones.
A 90,000-year right arm bone, an 80,000-year left leg bone, a 90,000-year right leg bone, and a 60,000-year torso bone.
After re-fusing the Crystal Protection Left Arm Bone, his soul power level and physical strength returned to their original levels.
Now, having fused four high-year soul bones, not only did his already exceptional physical strength surpass the vast majority of Title Douluos by a significant margin, but his soul power level also leaped by four levels, reaching Level 78 Soul Saint.
Unfortunately, these newly fused soul bones were for his limbs and torso, so the increase in spiritual power was minimal. Moreover, the slight boost in spiritual power was simply due to the increase in soul power level and wasn't directly related to these four soul bones.
The right arm, left leg, and right leg soul bones didn't bring any surprises. Aside from their age, in Chu Chengzhou's eyes, they weren't particularly impressive. Their attached soul bone skills were average at best—typical offensive-type skills.
Perhaps for ordinary soul masters, 80,000 or 90,000-year offensive soul bone skills would be considered their trump card or ultimate move. But for Chu Chengzhou, the power of these three offensive soul bone skills paled in comparison to his Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow paired with the Flowing Gold Armor-Piercing Arrow. They were essentially useless skills.
However, the torso soul bone brought a small surprise. Though its soul bone skill wasn't particularly ancient, being only 60,000 years old, it was highly practical.
Healing-Type Soul Bone Skill: Endless Vitality, which, when activated, rapidly restores injuries.
Previously, Chu Chengzhou had a healing skill—the innate healing ability of Sky Azure's tree summon, Xiao Qing (Little Azure)—but as his soul power level increased while Xiao Qing's age remained stagnant, Xiao Qing's healing ability gradually became insufficient.
Currently, he was a Soul Saint, and Xiao Qing, a 10,000-year summon, was equivalent to a five-ring healing-type Soul King. Even considering the significant power boost due to the disparity between her summoner's strength and her own age, Xiao Qing was at best equivalent to a six-ring healing-type Soul Emperor at the entry level—still falling short by more than one major rank.
Under such a vast gap in soul power levels, the actual effectiveness of Xiao Qing's innate healing ability on Chu Chengzhou was greatly diminished, nearly negligible.
In other words, until Xiao Qing's age increased, the torso soul bone skill Endless Vitality could compensate for this weakness.
"Smack—"
Suddenly, Chu Chengzhou smacked his forehead.
"Almost forgot!"
Opening his attribute panel again, Chu Chengzhou removed the upgraded Absolute Control from the seventh AFK slot and replaced it with Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow.
The priority for upgrading Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow ranked just below the three fundamental methods of essence, energy, and spirit: Immortal Golden Body, Nine Breaths Qi Absorption, and Eternal Thought. Now that Absolute Control had reached Gold-Tier, and other techniques were either already Gold-Tier or in the process of upgrading, with an empty slot available, it was natural to prioritize upgrading Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow.
After adjusting the idle order, Chu Chengzhou's gaze fell on the fourth slot in the idle column.
The forging secret technique: Creation Hammer was currently AFKing in the fourth slot.
At this point, Creation Hammer's progress toward Gold-Tier had already passed 60%. In just over a month, Creation Hammer would reach Gold-Tier.
The Red-Tier Creation Hammer corresponded to the Soul-Refining level. If all went as expected, the Gold-Tier Creation Hammer would correspond to Heavenly-Refining.
Heavenly-Refined metal materials could be used to craft Four-Word Battle Armor. Equipping She Long, the Snake Spear Douluo, with a full set of Four-Word Battle Armor might not allow him to defeat the demigod-level Qian Daoliu, but defeating Jin E (Golden Crocodile), a Level 98 expert...
Er, wait, She Long's foundation was weak—he was essentially a nine-ring level Soul Douluo. Meanwhile, Jin E, the elder, had a 100,000-year ninth soul ring, making him quite formidable.
Even with Four-Word Battle Armor, She Long might not necessarily defeat Jin E, but taking down Level 97 Title Douluos like Qing Luan and Xiong Shi should be a breeze.
With such a massive boost in power from battle armor, and with him eventually becoming a Heavenly-Refining Divine Craftsman, how could he not create a set of Four-Word Battle Armor to play around with? Wouldn't that be a waste of his status as a Divine Craftsman?
"It seems I'll need to visit the Sun and Moon Continent in the future."
Chu Chengzhou thought to himself.
After the appearance of battle armor as a black-tech advancement on the continent in later eras, four auxiliary professions emerged around it: Designer, Blacksmith, Manufacturers/Makers, and Mechanics.
Designers created blueprints, Blacksmiths provided materials, and Mecha Manufacturers engraved soul-guided arrays. With collaboration among these three professions, a complete battle armor could be crafted, while Mecha Mechanics handled maintenance and repairs.
He was a Blacksmith, and in no time, he'd become a Heavenly-Refining Divine Craftsman. The material problem was already solved.
As for maintenance and repairs, if he could create battle armor from scratch, surely he wouldn't lack the ability to repair it?
What remained to be resolved was how to design and engrave soul-guided arrays.
Although the current era's Douluo Continent hadn't developed soul-guidance technology, the neighboring Sun and Moon Continent had. A trip to the Sun and Moon Continent to find a spirit guide master and learn from them—given his cheat-like advantage—shouldn't pose much difficulty.
Meanwhile, in Slaughter City.
"Boom—"
In the Hell Slaughter Arena, the final opponent was obliterated by a blue-haired figure wielding the Hao Tian Hammer.
Looking at the nine emaciated headless corpses lying on the arena floor, Tang San stood holding his hammer, exuding overwhelming killing intent, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Initially, Slaughter City was chaotic, but after several massacres by him, the inner city became a ghost town.
Fortunately, over two months ago, for some unknown reason, the inner city suddenly "came alive" again, with many fallen souls entering daily.
Though these fallen souls were of poor quality—malnourished and weak, with some not even formal soul masters—they were still eligible to compete in the Hell Slaughter Arena.
After more than two months, he had finally achieved a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughter Arena.
Mm, though the sense of accomplishment felt much weaker than anticipated.
There was no helping it—the opponents were too weak. He could knock them down with a single punch. Each time, he defeated nine weaklings—how could there be any sense of achievement?
"Congratulations, young Blue Skull Crusher!"
As Tang San reflected inwardly, suddenly a deep, sharp, and slightly mocking voice echoed from all directions.
The next moment, a towering blood-red figure appeared in the sky above the Hell Slaughter Arena.
"Hmph~ The most watered-down hundred consecutive wins in the history of Slaughter City?"
Gazing at Tang San in the arena, the King of Slaughter secretly chuckled to himself.
Looking back at the history of Slaughter City, every strong individual who achieved a hundred consecutive wins in the Hell Slaughter Arena had defeated numerous high-level fallen souls.
But what about Tang San? Perhaps his strength was sufficient, but his record was rather unremarkable. In most matches, his opponents were weaklings.
Moreover, due to the earlier massacre by the "Soul-Control Great Demon," there were no eight-ring fallen souls in the inner city.
In other words, even in the first thirty-plus matches, the highest soul power level Tang San faced in the Hell Slaughter Arena was merely a Soul Saint, and those were few and far between.
The lack of noteworthy performances in the Hell Slaughter Arena, combined with his father's overbearing interference to help him cheat, made the King of Slaughter look down on Tang San from the bottom of his heart.
Without wasting words on Tang San, the King of Slaughter immediately opened the passage to the Road of Hell.
As for sacrificing the audience? The pitiful people forced into the inner city by Tang Hao had all given their lives to Tang San—where were the spectators?
A day later, after defeating the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King and the Ten-Headed Blazing Yang Snake that had lost its core, Tang San successfully traversed the Road of Hell and obtained the Killing God Domain.
And at the very moment Tang San acquired the Killing God Domain, in the divine realm, within a majestic blood-red hall, a towering figure reopened his eyes.
"Has another practitioner on the Douluo Continent obtained the Killing God Domain?"
The gaze of the Asura God pierced through endless space, focusing on Slaughter City.
Every practitioner who obtained the Killing God Domain qualified to initiate the trials of the Asura God and inherit the position of the Asura God. Naturally, the Asura God had to cast his gaze and assess the potential heir's abilities.
Of course, possessing the Killing God Domain only granted the qualification to initiate the divine trials. Whether one had the strength to complete the trials and inherit the divine position was another matter entirely.
As the gaze of the Supreme God King descended, the Hell Slaughter Arena in the center of the inner city began to glow faintly with a bloody light, as if time were rewinding. All of Tang San's previous performances in the arena replayed in the mind of the Asura God like a video.
Clearly, the Hell Slaughter Arena wasn't simple—some divine king had installed something akin to surveillance.
"???!!!"
Soon, the Asura God, one of the five supreme gods of the divine realm, was utterly baffled.
"How dare this junior cheat?!"
The next moment, an angry roar erupted from the majestic blood-red divine hall.
The Asura God never imagined that a practitioner would dare to cheat.
Just look at the caliber of opponents this so-called "Blue Skull Crusher" faced—even Soul Trainees who hadn't become formal soul masters were included! Why not just let ordinary people hand over their heads?
In his anger, after reviewing Tang San's later matches, the Asura God immediately withdrew his gaze and mentally marked Tang San with a big X.
Asura God: I absolutely will not allow a shameless cheater to inherit my divine position!
If he weren't the enforcer of divine law, bound by the rules, he would have descended to the mortal realm and chopped Tang San up in his fury.
After a long while, as his anger subsided and his emotions calmed, the Asura God couldn't help but recall the image of a youth wielding a golden bow, known as the "Soul-Control Great Demon."
"Why hasn't this brat gone to Slaughter City to initiate the divine trials?"
The Asura God thought in confusion.
Let's rewind time by a day.
As night approached, Chu Chengzhou finished an early dinner and, riding Little Hong, confidently left Yue Xuan and arrived at a desolate mountain about thirty miles west of Tian Dou City.
It was foreseeable that this time, Star Luo's retaliation would result in a battle that would shock the entire Douluo Continent, surpassing even the legendary fight between Tang Hao and Qian Xunji. If he stayed within Tian Dou City, countless innocent civilians would be caught in the crossfire.
To avoid harming innocents, he chose the battlefield to be in the wilderness outside Tian Dou City.
The assassination occurred yesterday during the day. Star Luo needed time to gather forces and traverse thousands of miles to reach Tian Dou, so their group of experts definitely couldn't arrive last night.
But by tonight, more than a day had passed since the assassination. If Star Luo acted swiftly, with Title-level Nether White Tiger users relaying each other, it wasn't impossible for them to arrive.
Of course, perhaps they wouldn't arrive tonight—it was just a possibility.
Even if his prediction was wrong, he'd only have to camp in the wilderness for a few extra days. After all, with the emperor and crown prince assassinated and the imperial treasury looted, Star Luo Empire couldn't tolerate waiting much longer.
After having Little Hong patrol the nearby skies and act as a "guiding beacon" for the incoming Star Luo experts, Chu Chengzhou, with nothing else to do, began experimenting with elemental fusion.
His opponents hadn't arrived yet, so he naturally wouldn't just sit and wait. Last night, his Absolute Control technique advanced, further enhancing his mastery over his soul power. Fusing multiple elements would naturally become easier.
This wasn't his first attempt at elemental fusion, but so far, he could only fuse fire and earth elements and couldn't perfectly integrate a third element. He was still leagues away from evolving the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth) or chaos (earth, water, fire, wind).
Though evolving the five elements required fusing only three additional elements after fire and earth, and evolving chaos required fusing just two, the difficulty of multi-element fusion skyrocketed with each additional element.
The difficulty of multi-element fusion wasn't trivial, and Chu Chengzhou had considered using cheats.
However, to his disappointment, although "Elemental Fusion" appeared as a skill on his attribute panel, its font color wasn't one of the usual white, yellow, purple, black, red, or gold colors but instead a dull, multicolored hue. It was unclear whether this was because "Elemental Fusion" was too high-level or because the current version of his cheat system couldn't place it in the AFK slots for upgrading.
Meanwhile, in the Star Luo Imperial Palace, Hall of State Affairs.
After night fell, figures began entering the Hall of State Affairs one by one.
Not long after, Royal Second Elder Dai Wei stepped forward and addressed the seated, closed-eyed Dai Tao, "Old Clan Leader, everyone is here."
Upon hearing this, Dai Tao opened his eyes, his tiger-like gaze sweeping across the twenty figures in the hall. Then, looking toward the north, a fierce hatred flashed in his eyes.
"Everyone, let's move out!"
Dai Tao didn't elaborate further but simply waved his hand and led the way out of the hall.
Immediately, the others followed, and under the cover of darkness, twenty-one figures left the Star Luo Imperial Palace, heading north toward Tian Dou.
"Mubai, regardless of the outcome of your grandfather's mission to Tian Dou, the continent will likely descend into turmoil. Hurry and learn how to become a qualified ruler."
Not far from the Hall of State Affairs, on a palace balcony, Empress Zhu Xiuling watched the twenty-one figures leave the palace. With a sorrowful expression, she spoke to Dai Mubai beside her.
As the Empress of Star Luo, Zhu Xiuling was no fool. She knew that since Chu Chengzhou dared to come to Star Luo to assassinate her husband, the emperor, and her son, the crown prince, he must have been prepared to face the empire's retaliation.
This time, the empire's revenge mission was almost guaranteed to encounter unexpected circumstances—nearly 100% certain.
This was understood by the five imperial marshals, the seven royal elders, and the retired emperor.
But understanding was one thing; could the empire ignore the deaths of the emperor and crown prince?
Impossible! The empire couldn't remain indifferent.
Forget the domineering Star Luo Empire—even the usually compromising Tian Dou Empire couldn't afford to stay passive.
This was no longer a private grudge—it had escalated to the level of the entire empire.
It was certain that if this plan succeeded, relations between Tian Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire would become extremely tense. Sending numerous Title-level experts into Tian Dou territory to engage in combat was practically equivalent to declaring war.
If the Spirit Hall fanned the flames, Tian Dou might very well erupt into large-scale war with the empire.
As for the plan failing? Then the royal family could activate the "Seed Heritage" plan, prepared for thousands of years but never implemented.
If soul masters couldn't ascend to godhood, their lifespans were limited to hundreds or thousands of years at most. By enduring for a millennium and ensuring the continuation of the White Tiger martial soul lineage, the White Tiger family would inevitably rise again in the future.
Of course, the likelihood of the plan succeeding was still high—it was just that the losses would likely be substantial.
"Yes, Mother!"
Dai Mubai responded solemnly.
Traveling day and night, early on the third morning, before dawn, a small forest about twenty miles south of Tian Dou City welcomed twenty-one figures clad in black robes—Dai Tao and his group.
The speed of Title Douluos wasn't slow, but not everyone in Dai Tao's group was a Title Douluo. Some were even six-ring Soul Emperors acting as accessories, so their speed naturally couldn't match Chu Chengzhou's.
"Second Elder, contact our informants and locate the target's position."
In the forest, Dai Tao instructed Dai Wei.
"Yes, Old Clan Leader!"
Dai Wei nodded and left the forest to carry out the task.
Fifteen minutes later, in a nearby village.
"Hail, Master!"
In a modest farmhouse at the edge of the village, a middle-aged man dressed as an ordinary farmer respectfully bowed to the black-robed Dai Wei.
Clearly, this was one of the many intelligence outposts established by Star Luo's intelligence department within Tian Dou territory.
The middle-aged man was just a low-ranking operative and didn't know who the black-robed figure was, but the highest-level token and code presented by Dai Wei made it clear that this was undoubtedly a major figure from the empire.
"Give me the latest information on the primary target under observation."
After presenting the token and verifying the code, Dai Wei nodded and gave his command.
"Yes, Master!"
Soon, the middle-aged man handed over a paper bag.
After opening the bag and examining its contents, Dai Wei frowned and silently departed from the small village.
Shortly after Dai Wei left, the middle-aged man, whose loyalties were somewhat complicated, left his home and knocked on the door of the village head's house.
Not long after, Dai Wei returned to the small forest.
"Where is the target?"
Seeing Dai Wei return, Dai Tao asked.
"Old Clan Leader, according to the intelligence, Chu Chengzhou left Tian Dou City two evenings ago and has been staying on a desolate mountain about thirty miles west of the city. It seems he's specifically waiting for us."
Dai Wei reported gravely.
Chu Chengzhou's bold departure from Tian Dou City that evening naturally didn't escape the notice of those paying attention.
Moreover, Little Hong, the summoned Phoenix, had been flying in the skies above the desolate mountain these past two days, acting as a guiding beacon. Unless the Star Luo spies were slacking off, locating his position was practically guaranteed.
Hearing this, Dai Tao fell silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the group. Then, without room for dissent, he declared, "Rest for now. We'll launch our attack at nightfall and end this quickly."
In Dai Tao's view, Chu Chengzhou's "active challenge" was actually a good thing.
After all, the continent was vast, full of remote mountains and dense forests. If Chu Chengzhou were to hide somewhere and cultivate for ten or twenty years, the empire would truly be in trouble.
Moreover, by choosing the battlefield outside Tian Dou City, Chu Chengzhou was effectively cutting off one of his own arms.
Setting aside the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, if the Tian Dou Empire, knowing full well that a major battle was imminent, dared to send a large number of experts outside the city to assist Chu Chengzhou, then Emperor Xue Ye's judgment would be severely questionable. Who would protect his safety if he made such a foolish move?
"Yes!"
The group responded in unison.
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