With the True Spirit Banner martial soul advancing in quality and transforming into a divine-grade martial soul, the changes were naturally not only in appearance.
Summoning the spirits and running tests, Chu Chengzhou found that besides the martial soul's innate domain, his True Spirit Banner now had two additional traits.
Trait One: Spirit Heart. It allows his mind to connect with his summoned spirits.
In the past, when Chu Chengzhou commanded his own summoned spirits in battle, those with decent intelligence who could understand human speech only needed verbal orders, such as the Dark Devilgod Tiger Xiao Hei and other summoned spirits of over one hundred thousand years.
But if the summoned spirit lacked sufficient intelligence and could not understand human speech, such as the Heavenly Azure Tree Xiao Qing, the Light Lion Xiao Bai, the Fire Phoenix Xiao Hong, or the Darkwater Turtle Gui Er, he could only communicate through spiritual power.
After the martial soul's transformation, however, through the Spirit Heart trait, whatever Chu Chengzhou thought could be conveyed to all his summoned spirits at once.
The difference was like a mechanized force completing its informationization.
The people were the same, the guns the same, the cannons the same, yet the latter could completely overwhelm the former.
Trait Two: Spirit Fusion. He can merge with a summoned spirit.
There are two modes. One, Chu Chengzhou himself fuses, with the summoned spirit as the primary body and himself as secondary. Two, the summoned spirit fuses, with himself as primary and the summoned spirit as secondary.
For example, if Chu Chengzhou chooses the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear Xiong Da as the fusion target, taking Xiong Da as primary and himself as secondary, then their fused form would be a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.
Excluding bonuses from soul cores, support skills, masteries, and the like, the fused Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear's strength would be Xiong Da's own one hundred thousand years plus Chu Chengzhou's ninety-one-level Titled Douluo converted as one hundred thousand years, totaling a two-hundred-thousand-year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.
Although an ordinary level-91 Titled Douluo would only be crushed before a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, if you compare by level alone, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast indeed corresponds to a level-91 Titled Douluo.
If he takes himself as primary and Xiong Da as secondary, then the fused form remains Chu Chengzhou himself. His strength would be his own base at level-91 Titled Douluo, plus the one level of soul power converted from Xiong Da, a hundred-thousand-year summoned spirit, within the nine-ring realm, resulting in level 92 Titled Douluo.
nmmp, that looks like a raw deal.
But in terms of actual strength, Chu Chengzhou at level 91 plus a hundred-thousand-year Xiong Da would not be able to beat Chu Chengzhou at level 92.
Although within level 95 and below the gap of one level is not large, Chu Chengzhou is not an ordinary Titled Douluo. Even the one-level gap at the entry to nine rings is not something a hundred-thousand-year soul beast can make up.
Moreover, in Chu Chengzhou's view, the primary function of the Spirit Fusion trait is not to stack the power of the summoner and the summoned spirit, but to protect the soul master.
If he had not cultivated various powerful masteries and had no offensive or defensive soul skills, wouldn't he be the biggest weakness in the team?
Once facing an enemy, the opponent would certainly carry out a decapitation tactic rather than clash head-on with the summoned spirits.
But if he merges with a summoned spirit, the opponent's decapitation tactic fails. Unless the opponent can suppress with absolute strength, even if he himself is weak, his safety is not in danger.
Chu Chengzhou understood that his own situation with cheats was special. If his descendants awakened the True Spirit Banner, leaving aside the strength of the summoned spirits, their personal strength would certainly be far inferior to his.
With Spirit Fusion, if one has trained masteries well, they can assist the summoned spirits in battle or let the summoned spirits bolster themselves.
If one has no talent for cultivating masteries, then simply fuse in combat, taking the summoned spirit as primary and oneself as secondary, and lie back while the summoned spirit carries the win.
It is a pity that Spirit Fusion allows only a one-to-one merge, not multiple spirits, and certainly not one person with multiple spirits. Its power boost is only additive, not a qualitative elevation like a martial soul fusion skill.
As for the innate domain that awakened automatically after the True Spirit Banner transformed, the True Spirit Domain, its effects were likewise impressive, with three domain skills attached.
Domain Skill: True Spirit Rhythm. It can ignore suppression and dispelling from other domains.
For example, the Demon-breaking Domain of Sea Dragon Douluo, first among the Seven Sacred Pillars of Sea God Island, can dispel all abilities that are also domains. Before the True Spirit Domain, Sea Dragon Douluo's Demon-breaking Domain would be completely ineffective.
Another example is facing Tang Hao with the Killing God Domain. If one lacks the Killing God Domain, one's own strength would be suppressed by 20 percent, but relying on True Spirit Rhythm, the suppression from the Killing God Domain would not take effect.
Likewise, Tang Chen's Slaughter Domain, which has an anti-skill effect that forbids the opponent from using soul skills within its range, would also not affect him.
Of course, Chu Chengzhou was clear that for True Spirit Rhythm to function, there must not be a heaven-and-earth gap in strength between himself and the opponent, or brute force would break all arts.
Domain Skill: Spirit of All Things. Within the True Spirit Domain, all summoned spirits gain a 50 percent boost in strength.
This domain skill is simple and direct, and the boost ratio is very high. It is not without drawbacks. The number of domains is unique and the range is limited, so it may not cover all summoned spirits.
Domain Skill: Command Heaven and Earth. Much like the weakened "fountain" in the rift game from his previous life, it can quickly draw external elemental power corresponding to the attributes of his various summoned spirits to restore his vitality, soul power, and spiritual power. The denser the external elements, the stronger the actual effect.
"Not bad. A good skill."
Chu Chengzhou nodded in satisfaction.
In his view, Command Heaven and Earth is not only a recovery-type domain skill but also an auxiliary skill for rapid power growth.
Note that the rainbow-grade Nine Breaths Qi can refine all energies for personal use. By rapidly drawing vast external elemental power through this domain skill, he can also use it to raise his soul power level.
In other words, with this domain skill, even without the special treasure ground of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he can absorb a vast amount of water-element power in the boundless sea and convert it into his own strength through Nine Breaths Qi.
Additionally, after the True Spirit Banner transformed into a divine-grade martial soul, the previous limit that a summoned spirit's bloodline could reach at most below divine-grade was automatically lifted.
Thus, after the martial soul advanced to divine-grade, although the year count did not increase again, the Dark Devilgod Tiger Xiao Hei experienced a surge in strength, and even the innate soul skill that had been suppressed by bloodline rank was regained.
Once the innate soul skill is unleashed, even a demigod-level opponent who gets caught can only become nourishment for Xiao Hei's evolution.