At this moment, Saine had not merged with the Super Metal Robot before him.
The "merger" mentioned here meant that the two of them—their power and realms—had completely "become one."
Back when Saine merged with the Level-9 God of Machines, that had been a true fusion battle. That was why they could unleash a level of power far surpassing both Saine himself and the God of Machines' true body.
But Saine's current state with this Super Metal Robot was more like this: Saine was inside its mechanical core and control room, guiding the power of the Mechanical Civilization to converge into a single whole.
In this process, Saine merely used the power of the Magic Cube to release the Metal Source of Fire, coordinating with these Intelligent Robots and metal warships to complete the fusion.
His own power did not take part.
This also showed that, at least in the battle to forcibly kill Ancient Emperor Jing Jue, Saine himself would not intervene with his own power.
This was also Saine's respect for the rules of balance, as well as his deeper understanding of the rules of Dimensional Hegemony.
It also demonstrated Saine's wisdom.
If the Jue Teng Tree Demon had been in his place, it indeed possessed a Level-9 Mid-Stage life level—but could it shed its old shell and create another outrageously powerful combat force outside itself?
In Saine's view, even the Jue Teng Tree Demon's involvement in this Dimensional Hegemony had been far too primitive.
A Giant Plant Tree like it seemed capable only of condensing tree hearts, or cutting off a portion of its own trunk, then refining them into Civilization Supreme Treasures for the plant-element creatures under its command, thereby driving up their strength.
In essence, the Jue Teng Tree Demon was merely a Giant Tree