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Another half-month passed. It was mid-morning.
Hundreds of miles from the Sea God Island, high above the open sea, the last bolt of Chaos Tribulation Lightning crashed down. The hazy, jade-green tribulation clouds overhead slowly dissipated.
"Heh~ The Chaos Lightning Tribulation is still the same old Chaos Lightning Tribulation—but this Lord Chu is no longer the Lord Chu of old!"
Chu Chengzhou glanced up at the fading storm clouds with mild disdain. He'd just endured four Chaos Lightning Tribulations in a row, successfully forging four ingots of Nine Heavens Chaos Gold.
Times had changed. Back when he first forged Nine Heavens Chaos Gold, his fused spirit was Xiao Hei, the 100,000+ year Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. Now? It was Xiao Guang, his million-year Time Dragon.
Moreover, during this period, Chu Chengzhou himself had advanced from early Level 99 Limit Douluo to the peak of Level 99.
In his Humanized Spirit State—with himself as the core and Xiao Guang as support—his power had soared dramatically. Even the Eleventh Tier Chaos Lightning Tribulation could no longer harm him.
Thanks to Instant Bloom—his ultimate technique that manifested an unbreakable soul-flower above his head, rendering him immune to all laws and attacks—the tribulation had only drained his soul power. Not a single hair on his body was singed.
Unsurprisingly, these four ingots of Heaven-Refined Nine Heavens Chaos Gold—each forged from nine different rare metals fused together—were meant for Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Hu Liena.
Technically, Nine Heavens Chaos Gold was tailored to Chu Chengzhou's own needs, not theirs. Their spirits and attributes differed, so the alloy wasn't perfectly suited for them.
But Chu Chengzhou, though a Heaven-Refining Master, was admittedly lopsided in expertise: he had the craftsmanship, but lacked theoretical knowledge. He didn't possess other high-performance fusion alloy formulas.
He'd only succeeded in creating Nine Heavens Chaos Gold thanks to the secret technique "Elemental Fusion"—by sensing the harmonious resonances between multiple elements and reverse-engineering the formula through trial and error.
With no better options, he had to make do.
Fortunately, this "making do" wasn't a major issue. Just like soul bones, minor material mismatches only mattered before godhood.
Once a soul master ascended to divinity, their soul bones would transform into divine armor under the baptism of divine Laws—regardless of original properties, all components would realign to match the godhood's attribute.
Battle armor, too, could fuse with both spirit and soul bones. For example, when Xiao Wu eventually claimed the Sea God's divine position, her Nine Heavens Chaos Gold Heaven-Refined armor and all her soul bones would, under divine baptism, transform and unify into Sea God Divine Armor. Any minor flaws would vanish.
Besides, for Xiao Wu and the others, the imperfections in their Heaven-Refined armor went beyond just materials.
True perfection required the soul master to craft the armor themselves.
In this case, the girls' only involvement was blood-binding the metal.
Was it worth forcing them to learn forging and armor-crafting for the sake of perfection?
Absolutely not!
Of life's three great hardships—sailing, blacksmithing, and tofu-making—only a cheater would willingly choose blacksmithing! Backbreaking labor with no guarantee of meaningful results? No thanks.
"Still got half a day left…"
Stowing the newly forged ingot, Chu Chengzhou checked his status panel and muttered to himself.
By this afternoon, his [Battle Armor Crafting (Red)] skill would AFK upgrade to [Battle Armor Crafting (Gold)]—and barring surprises, he'd finally be able to begin crafting Heaven-Refined Battle Armor.
That's precisely why he'd temporarily paused upgrading Xiao Qing (his Life Tree spirit) to focus on forging Nine Heavens Chaos Gold.
Not that the delay mattered much—Xiao Qing was already 900,000+ years old, likely reaching million-year status within a day.
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Afternoon – Sea God Island
On the sandy shore of the Ring Sea, Chu Chengzhou lounged leisurely, soaking up the sun.
Suddenly, a flood of armor-related insights surged into his mind.
Undoubtedly, the Gold-Tier Battle Armor Crafting skill corresponded to the future era's Four-Word Heaven-Refined Battle Armor.
Not only had the armor's structure been further refined, but the required soul-guided arrays were now meticulously categorized:
- Main Control Core Array
- Energy Resonance Array
- Ability Amplification Array
- Auxiliary Function Array
—and more.
After fully absorbing this knowledge, Chu Chengzhou eagerly pulled out the Nine Heavens Chaos Armor he'd pre-forged long ago—only the soul-guided arrays remained to be etched.
"Hmm… the structure's flawed, and it's missing wings."
He halted mid-motion.
When he'd originally forged this set, his skill was only Purple-Tier, and he'd modeled it after Thousand-Refined One-Word Battle Armor—a clearly inadequate blueprint for Heaven-Refined armor.
Without hesitation, he extended a finger. Crimson soul light erupted, melting the armor and reshaping it—eliminating structural flaws and adding wing components.
Then, Chaos energy surged, condensing into a jade-green glowing carving knife. Piece by piece, he began etching the intricate soul-guided arrays onto the armor.
Heaven-Refined arrays were far more complex than Soul-Refined ones. It took him three hours—until nightfall—to complete the final component.
He drew all the armor pieces into his body.
In the next instant, a jade-green aura erupted—
His Nine Heavens Chaos Armor materialized:
- Entirely jade-like in sheen
- Three pairs of wings unfurled behind him
- Headpiece resembling an elegant jade hairband.
As his soul power circulated, the resonating amplification from the etched arrays catapulted his aura skyward, shattering an invisible barrier—surging past the Level 99 ceiling into the realm of Level 100.
"Level 100? Not bad!"
Chu Chengzhou's eyes widened in pleasant surprise, then lit up with elation.
He knew that in the future, even a full set of Heaven-Refined Battle Armor could only elevate a nine-ring Title Douluo to Level 99 Limit Douluo, and a Level 99 Limit Douluo wearing it could merely rival a Half-God—still falling short of true Level 100.
Yet his Nine Heavens Chaos Armor—forged from metal that endured Eleven-Tier Heaven-Refining Elemental Tribulations—had bridged that final half-step, granting his Level 99 Limit Douluo soul power the raw intensity of a Level 100 soul master.
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