The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1472 - Black Diamond Rat King, a powerful demonic beast

Though it may be really fast, Qing Shui still managed to see it. It was a demonic beast. Its appearance resembled a rat and it was black like ink. It looked really shiny as well. Even with the Paragon Golden Armor, Qing Shui didn't dare to let down his guard.

Dragon Slaying Beast!

Qing Shui immediately summoned the Dragon Slaying Beast in front of him for safety. He feared that his Golden Battle Halberd wouldn't be able to withstand it and he was reluctant to use his only chance of automatically blocking a fatal strike so soon.

Ding!

A loud and clear noise rang. It sounded like the sharp noise of a whistle. The black figure went back to the direction from where it came. The Dragon Slaying Beast, on the other hand, stopped momentarily. As the saying went, speed was power. The Dragon Slaying Beast had indeed not disappointed Qing Shui in terms of its defensive capability. However, the opponent's tiny demonic beast was just equally as formidable.

Black Diamond Rat King!

The tiny beast was also a mutated rat species and was extremely rare, just as its name said. It was like black diamond, extremely tough and sharp. It was only because it ran into the Dragon Slaying Beast that it got deflected. Against normal people, it would have penetrated straight through them. It could bite off warrior's swords with its teeth just like biting off bean curd.

Qing Shui never expected to run into beasts similar to both the Dragon Slaying Beast and Marrow Nibbling Golden Dragon Silkworm. Unfortunately, it was no match for either one of them in any aspects. It was almost at the same level as the Earth Devouring Mouse.

The fact that the Dragon Slaying Beast was able to deflect the Black Diamond Rat King shocked the man. The rat king was one of the beasts he had the most confidence in. He felt that the only weapon which would be able to deflect the Black Diamond Rat King's attack was the Golden Battle Halberd. The speed of the Black Diamond Rat King was too fast; it was not easy to deflect it.

"Young man, you indeed surprise me. To think that you actually own a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Beast like this."

The man continued to swing his Beast King Sword as he spoke and as he did, slightly more than ten demonic beasts started to appear one after another. Now, there were two more Black Diamond Rat Kings. The rest of the beasts were all huge wild beasts. Among them, two were Super Shield Beasts.

The Super Shield Beast was tough and fast. The only thing which it lacked was offensive prowess. Despite its large size, it was able to move flexibly. It sacrificed its attack in exchange for supreme defense. In a way, this was considered to be quite reasonable.

It neglected up to half of its attack prowess in order to double its defensive strength. Furthermore, it also had its own powerful battle techniques which were all for boosting its defensive capability. This kind of demonic beast was quite rare across the world. Qing Shui had always wanted to look for a beast like this, but he had never managed to run into any. Now that he saw it, he found itf really appealing.

As expected, the Divine Beast Sect was indeed unique. Merely the ten demonic beasts which appeared now were already something which normal people could never stand a chance against. Two Super Shield Beasts and three Black Diamond Rat Kings. Two huge beasts proficient in physical attacks and three skilled in elemental attacks.

"Today, I am going to let you witness the proper way a person from a beast taming sect should battle." The man looked at Qing Shui with a smile.

Qing Shui smiled and looked back at the man, "I seem to have forgotten to mention to you that I am also a Beast Tamer."

At a time like this, Qing Shui wasn't trying to show off. He was in a life-and-death situation where even the slightest mistake could lead to an irreparable outcome. Thus, Qing Shui immediately summoned out the Hellfire Phoenix, Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant, Thunderous Beast, Seven-headed Demonic Dragon Spider and two Ice Silkworms to the arena.

As soon as the Seven-headed Demonic Dragon Spider appeared, it summoned out a swarm of demonic spiders. Among the swarm of spiders, there were some which had gone through mutations. They were all waiting for a chance to attack.

As soon as the Demonic Dragon Spider was released, Qing Shui took this opportunity to form the Four Elephant Formation. He also unleashed the Phoenix Battle Intent and used the Heavenly Talismans.

By the time the opponent recovered back from the situation, Qing Shui had already finished setting up his mighty Four Symbols Formation.

"Things seem to be getting more and more interesting. The man's eyes were filled with fire. Despite the huge number of demonic spiders around him, he didn't seem to be the slightest bit afraid. In fact, he completely neglected them and didn't bother about their strength.

As of now, even Tantai Lingyan and the people from Divine Sound Sect were all left with their hearts hanging. The strength of their enemies were beyond what they had expected. If it had been them suffering from this disaster, they wouldn't have known what to do. Merely facing off against those beasts was already a huge problem. It's hard to even defend oneself, let alone against the man who was likely to be even more dangerous than the beasts.

Qing Shui immediately drew a Heavenly Talisman. Now that both of them were really close to each other, Qing Shui unleashed his Vajra Subdues Demons.

Emperor's Qi!

Qing Shui intentionally set his target on the three Black Diamond Rat Kings.

Art of Pursuing!

It has been a long time since Qing Shui had last used this battle technique. After it received an upgrade in its realm recently, it had once again become one of Qing Shui's most powerful techniques.

The Art of Pursuing lowered the opponent's speed by 30%.

All of the battle techniques which awakened from the Ancient Strengthening Technique were really formidable. The only drawback was that the amount of speed reduced couldn't be further stacked with other techniques. Otherwise, the opponent would be slowed down to the point of becoming a turtle if Qing Shui could chain it together with the Diamond Sword Qi and Seal of Xuantian.

Though the technique couldn't be stacked, the Art of Pursuing was still a very formidable technique. Qing Shui would be lying if he was to say that he wasn't upset with the fact that it couldn't stack. Despite that, he would still be able to reduce the opponent's speed only slightly more if he were to use all of them together. At most, he could reduce it by 35%.

What sort of outcome would a speed reduction of 35% bring? For example, in a battle between two warriors with equal strength, if one was to experience a reduction in speed of 35%, the only fate which awaited him would be suppression by his enemy.

Though the Black Diamond Rat Kings were really fast, Qing Shui was able to dodge their attacks easily. 35% of speed was too much.

The man immediately ordered the three Black Diamond Rat Kings to attack Qing Shui.

Qing Shui immediately ordered the Dragon Slaying Beast to keep one of the rats occupied whereas he alone faced against two of them. It was considered quite relaxing. But there were still other demonic beasts.

The man was unable to recover from the shock of being significantly weakened by QIng Shui. Never had he expected for him to be so terrifying. However, since things had already taken such a turn, the only way he could solve this was by killing the young man. This was what the man had in mind. He was willing to give up everything to eliminate him.

The man looked towards the beasts around Qing Shui. Each and every one of them were more than enough to drive the beast tamers mad. Though he also had a decent tamed beast, beast tamers were meant to appeal more to demonic beasts.

Just like the Lu Brothers, the man also possessed the physique of a person with the Heart of Demonic Beast. Furthermore, he was also one of the genuine people in charge of Divine Beast Sect.

Seeing the two Black Diamond Rat Kings slowly nearing him and the man charging towards his demonic beasts, Qing Shui immediately ordered the Hellfire Phoenix to initiate its attacks. He also ordered the Seven-headed Demonic Dragon Spiders and the rest of the spiders to do the same thing.

Pa!

Qing Shui's first stance of Nine Stance of Ancient Divine Battle Technique struck one of the Black Diamond Rat Kings. This wasn't anything unusual, but the Black Diamond Rat King was penetrated through by the Golden Battle Halberd.

。

The Black Diamond Rat King, which already had a small figure to begin with, immediately died on the spit.

Prior to its death, the rat didn't let out even a scream. The man immediately put his hand on his chest, as if his heart was going to start bleeding.

Qing Shui made his way towards the last remaining rat, which he intended to kill himself. But at this moment, the two rat kings backed off instead. They hid behind the Super Shield Beast.

Qing Shui completely ruined the man's offensive plan with that strike of his.

"You forced me to do this." The man looked at Qing Shui with eyes that looked a bit confused as well as a bit resentful.

Divine Beast Possession!

His Divine Beast was a Three-headed Dragon Snake.

The enormous Three-headed Dragon Snake immediately engulfed the man. The green dragon snake looked unusually sharp. It just a flash, it charged towards the Golden Scale Dragon Elephant.

Art of Pursuing!

Nine Continents Mountain!

The Dragon Slaying Beast also followed up by charging in.

The Four Symbols Formation was very formidable. The Dragon Slaying Beast was at the dragon position. It's always mentioned that dragons soared through the clouds in the sky. The dragon position mainly functioned to increase speed and agility. The Dragon Slaying Beast would definitely be very formidable standing on top of this position.

The Hellfire Phoenix was at the Vermillion Position, boosting the strength of its fireball attacks. Not only that, it even used its Sure-kill Heavenly Technique, the Nine Phantoms Slaughter, right off the bat.

Underworld Fireball!

Under the effect of all of these boosts, the Underworld Fireball of the Hellfire Phoenix immediately reached a strength worth four hundred million sun. Furthermore, it was a homing attack.

Vajra Subdue Demons!

Hell Inferno!

The formidable attacks had made even the man pale with fright. Actually, the man was only just as strong as Old Man Lu. This was already considered to be the most outstanding strength a person could ever possess. It was worth around two hundred million sun. When under the effect of Beast Divinity Protection, it was worth six hundred million sun. It's just that after being weakened by Qing Shui, he only had four hundred million sun worth of strength remaining.

Though the Underworld Fireball might have only strength worth four hundred million sun, it didn't mean that the man wouldn't be damaged by it. The Dragon Slaying Beast cooperated with the Fire Bird in its attempt to attack. This time, Qing Shui planned to at least cripple the opponent if he didn't manage to kill him. He was sure that this man was one of the strongest presences in Divine Beast Sect.

Not only was his raw strength top class, he even had the Beast Divinity Protection. It's no wonder that he didn't bat an eye at the Divine Sound Sect and Demon Lord Palace.

The Super Shield Beast could be neglected. The two extremely heavy fellas lived to get beaten up by their opponents.

The lightnings from the Thunderous Beast constantly struck at the opponent's demonic beasts. The man was no exception. With further aid from Art of Pursuing, the man's speed gradually began to slow down.

The Hellfire Phoenix took the opportunity to eliminate five or six of the offensive demonic beasts with its Underworld Fireball. As for the Super Shield Beasts, even the Underworld Fireball wouldn't be able to damage them for the time being.

The defensive prowess received from sacrificing offense was really terrifying. Normally, demonic beasts wouldn't provoke other beasts which they were no match for.

Violet Lightning Strike!

The Thunderous Beast struck the Black Diamond Rat King with its Violet Lightning Strike. But the Black Diamond Rat King managed to bite off the spider web. Seeing that, the Seven Headed Demonic Dragon Spider followed up by binding the Black Diamond Rat King with its spider silk. This tiny beast was really smart; the only place where it came up short was its strength. It had a small figure and a body smooth like jade. It would be really difficult to catch it. The Seven Headed Demonic Dragon Spider's spider web was extremely sticky. In just a while, it managed to tie up the rat king into a rice dumpling. Since the Black Diamond Rat King had lost its speed, it was equivalent to its overall strength being reduced by 90%.

The Black Diamond Rat King which was immobilized once again was drawn back by the Seven Headed Demonic Dragon Spider with its spider silk. Qing Shui immediately threw it into the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace.

The tiny beast trembled at the moment it saw Primordial Demon Refining Furnace. Even the Super Shield Beast roared with unease.

Qing Shui mixed everything according to the recipe. The Seven Headed Demonic Dragon Spider, on the other hand, used the same method to throw the last Black Diamond Rat King into the furnace.

The man was really heartbroken seeing that. But no matter how he tried, he was unable to break away from the Dragon Slaying Beast and Hellfire Phoenix. He may be really strong, but the only unfortunate thing was that his speed had been greatly reduced. Given enough time, the only destiny which awaited him was being depleted to death.

"What are you guys standing there for! Go after them and kill them immediately!" At this moment, the man couldn't bother about any other thing as he roared loudly.

Instead of just dying like that or admitting defeat, the man would rather go for the group kill immediately. He was reluctant to do either scenario.

"You are digging your own grave." Qing Shui smiled and looked at the man, but his eyes were filled with killing intent.