The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2245 - Two Battle Gods' Request for Battle

Qing Shui didn't expect the Divine Palace's Guardian Beast to gift him something as great as the 'Refining Golden Cave'.

However, the possession of a Golden Cave was the pre-requisite to using it.

Qing Shui had some knowledge about the Golden Cave now. It was a Saint level cave. However, it wasn't the same Saint as Martial Saints. This Saint was to address Martial Saint Cultivation.

A Saint Cave was stronger than the normal caves, with the ability to defend against three of the usual. It would only grow stronger with time, much like how Qing Shui's Golden Cave was a lot stronger after being refined. One Golden Cave of his might be able to defend against eight normal caves now.

'Refining Golden Cave' could only be used to refine a Golden Cave. Qing Shui only had one Golden Cave. If only all of them were Golden Caves, how invincible would he be?

Qing Shui's line of thought left him feeling unsatisfied as he kept the 'Refining Golden Cave' in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Departing from the rear mountain, Qing Shui returned to the courtyard. Upon Qing Shui's recovery, many visitors left on the second day.

Beihuang Fan and Shen Huang both stayed behind.

Shen Huang joined the Divine Palace. Of course, the Phoenix Organization was still hers, and she was merely a custodian at the Divine Palace. To put it simply, she wasn't required to participate in anything; it was a position without obligations. It wasn't clear what the Golden Battle God had told them, but both Shen Huang and Beihuang Fan became their custodians.

Qing Shui got to know the reason soon after. Even though the Golden Battle God had retired from his position and had a good number of years left in his life, he still had personal issues to attend to. He anticipated that he wouldn't be able to help with the Divine Palace after he was done with them.

Hence, he was passing on the Divine Palace's Palace Lord title to Qing Shui.

Qing Shui wanted to decline, but with others in the Divine Palace wishing for him to take over the title as well, he knew he didn't have a choice. In the end, he took over the title and became the Divine Palace's Palace Lord.

Qing Shui's thoughts subconsciously drifted to the Demon Gate at the title. Shaking his head, he didn't dare dwell on it and forced himself to forget about the issue. He was no longer alone in this and neither his family nor the Divine Palace could do without him, so he had to be mature. Even if he had no fear of dying, he couldn't just throw his life away.

Qing Shui wanted to probe about issues the Golden Battle God had, to see if he could be of any assistance. However, the old Golden Battle God merely responded that it was personal and posed no danger, just a bit of complication that required his interference.

The Golden Battle God told the two women that Qing Shui would soon be taking over the title of Palace Lord and sought their help to assist him. It was obvious that they wouldn't decline such a request.

During this period in the Divine Palace, Qing Shui trained, discussed the situation beyond their walls, as well as any movement from other powerful groups.

Nuo Lan was providing the Divine Palace with the latest updates and was prompt in doing so. She continually fed reports on information gathered to Qing Shui and in just a short amount of time, it changed him. He looked even more reliable now, perhaps his white hair had something to do with that.

Qing Shui realized how much effort it took to operate a huge clan as well, especially when there were strong contenders around them.

If the Divine Palace had been the strongest in their area as they were in the past, then things might have been easier. There would be no worry about being assaulted and likewise, there wouldn't be as much pressure.

Establishing a formation!

Qing Shui still had to establish a formation in the Divine Palace using even stronger materials than the last. After all, their enemies now were a lot more terrifying than those they had before.

Flagpoles crafted from the refined bones, and flags made from the skin of Divine grade demonic beasts.

The Treasure Basin and the Hundred Treasure Chest increased the quality of these items by a significant margin, before Qing Shui used his Primordial Flames to smelt it over days. With their limited energy, they manufactured approximately two hundred of those formation flags. These things were still useful to Qing Shui.

Twelve Devil Slaying Formation!

After several days, the formation was completed, but Qing Shui had yet to activate it. The activating method was through the formation flag in Qing Shui's hand. It was a Trap Formation and a Killing Formation. Besides the Formation Flags, it also relied on the geography. This was the beauty of the Heavenly Dao which Qing Shui had started using when he established the formation.

The Twelve Devil Slaying Formation was a success. Under the effect of the Formation Eye Stone, the formation's power wasn't anything to scoff about. Brute force would have nothing on the formation.

Moreover, those within the Divine Palace had begun practicing formations for at least an hour every day.

Qing Shui didn't expect them to become Formation Masters. However, he did want them to be familiar with the right positions to take. In addition, Qing Shui had them practicing a type of formation which could attack their enemies.

It's not too much, it's the essence!

Formation was just like that too. It was a method to speedily increase their entire body's stats.

Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Fish in Water Formation!

The formation required one to learn Fish in Water Formation!

The formation could be done by two people or even more. It was highly practical.

These were troubled times that put Qing Shui in a state of constant worry. The women at the Sea King Palace were able to use formations and had always been learning. Qing Shui established a formation before he left. Other than that, there was also the bloodthirsty demonic vines.

Qing Shui didn't know the real power of the bloodthirsty demonic vines, but he could feel the immense power. The Guardian Beast of the Golden Yakshas had been killed by it in an instant—this was the proof of its power.

Besides, they were at the Northern Sea, so Qing Shui wasn't as worried for them.

Two months passed just like that.

Two months couldn't be considered long or short. The old Golden Battle God had left for a while now, and the Divine Palace was now under Qing Shui's command. It wasn't too bad either; his powers were increasing substantially. Qing Shui had disseminated the Growth Pills too.

Don't underestimate these pills. Many had broken through with those and Qing Shui's other medicinal pills, increasing their powers significantly. Everyone was working hard at training during this period because of the Sky-Obstructing Crow's words, "Chaos will befall soon. Everyone should work hard in increasing their strength, so we can still stand firm amidst troubled times."

Nuo Lan approached Qing Shui on the third day. "There are two Battle God Inheritors outside, they're requesting a challenge. If we lose, we'll have to join their Divine Palace and If they lose, their Divine Palace would merge with ours."

"Let us go take a look. It's about time we injected some strong blood essence into the Divine palace as well. Still, if we're losing against them, then there wouldn't be much meaning," Qing Shui spoke as he walked.

The two of them were invited to the mountain, but not the peak.

It was only halfway up the mountain where there was an enormous plot of empty land, usually used for training.

There were many people in attendance when Qing Shui arrived, and he saw the two Battle Gods. They looked like middle-aged men; one was bald, and the other was wearing a robe which had several Archives of Demonic Beasts embroidered upon it.

With just a glimpse, Qing Shui identified the inheritance they possessed.

The bald man was a Buddha Battle God, a bloodthirsty type of Battle God, second only to the Massacre Battle God, trained in the Giant Buddha Hand.

The other man who was wearing the embroidered Archives of Demonic Beasts robe was the Beast King Battle God.

They were among the stronger variations of the Battle Gods. Qing Shui was elated by this; the Divine Palace needed an injection of fresh blood essence. He wondered how many members the other Divine Palace had but speculated that there weren't many of them. As Battle Gods though, it didn't matter which merged into the other. However, the principle remained that the weaker would always be merged with the stronger.