The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2251 - Demon Gate Wants to Destroy the Taiyi Immortal Palace. Confronting Her

The Ancient Demonic Fruit was great, almost comparable to the Sacred Fruit and the attraction demonic beasts had for it was even more remarkable.

The item that Qing Shui gave Shen Huang had the elements of the Ancient Demonic Fruit. When the Black Ice Divine Worm saw it, her eyes lit up instantly.

Qing Shui's medicinal pill was mighty as always. It healed the Black Ice Divine Worm instantaneously and greatly improved its might. The Black Ice Divine Worm was quite formidable strength-wise, but its venom-related attribute was undeniably stronger. Qing Shui could, on the other hand, craft toxin pills and was able to increase their abilities to their fullest.

Qing Shui's unique Constitution Nurturing abilities were able to stabilize a poison beast's foundation and increase its toxicity. The Gold Needle could unleash its powers and increase lethality.

About four hours later, the Black Ice Divine Worm's power startled even Shen Huang. Now she was the owner of two terrifying beasts, the Rainbow Divine Dragon and the Black Ice Divine Worm.

The Rainbow Divine Dragon cycle was a tad long. While it could battle now, there was a drastic discrepancy between the two creatures.

The Black Ice Divine Worm was terrifyingly powerful now, even the Diamond White Tiger King wouldn't necessarily be its match. Even though the Diamond White Tiger King was a saint-type Beast, it could not counter poison. Based purely on the attributes, it would be suppressed by the Black Ice Divine Worm.

Qing Shui kept the nine spawns of the Black Ice Divine Worm in the Treasure Basin.

Living things couldn't be placed inside, but the current state of the Black Ice Divine Worms should be fine. If the Treasure Basin doubled their quality now, Qing Shui expected them to be able to greatly surpass their mother in terms of strength.

Moreover, they would be nurtured from young, and Qing Shui had a few valuable items which could be used for such cases. These spawns of the Black Ice Divine Worm would be equally intimidating in the future.

Shen Huang was now a custodian at the Divine Palace along with Beihuang Fan, and they had the power to live up to their titles. They both even had exceedingly strong demonic beasts.

As predicted, they were just in time for dinner by the time they returned to the Divine Palace.

Beihuang Fan was aware of Qing Shui and Shen Huang's whereabouts and spoke up. "Be sure to give me a few of them next time."

"Of course, I'd be fine with giving all of them to you too." Qing Shui smiled.

"Forget it then. It doesn't sound like it's anything valuable in this case," Beihuan Fan reciprocated with a laugh of her own.

Qing Shui was rendered speechless. After cooking some dishes, the three had a gleeful meal together. They had a mutual understanding that nothing could happen in the presence of all three of them. Qing Shui wouldn't make a move when both women were there.

The two women approached Qing Shui. He didn't look as though his soul had been robbed anymore. They knew how important Tantai Lingyan was to Qing Shui, and these things could only be dealt with by himself.

"Qing Shui, there's something I have to tell you," Beihuang Fan said after careful thinking.

Qing Shui was startled and asked, "What is it?"

"Demon Gate is planning on attacking the Taiyi Immortal Palace," Beihuang Fan replied gently.

She was the Young Mistress of the Beihuang Clan, and the Beihuang Clan was the leader of the Taiyi Immortal Palace.

"When?" Qing Shui asked after an elongated pause.

"She said she'd give the Taiyi Immortal Palace three days. She will attack the Taiyi Immortal Palace by then," Beihuang Fan stated.

Qing Shui nodded. "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

Beihuang Fan watched Qing Shui and said, "Don't go there, Qing Shui."

"If there aren't any invincible warriors at the Taiyi Immortal Palace, then they won't be able to fight against them. That's right, what's the Taiyi Immortal Palace's Guardian? How is it?" Qing Shui asked.

"It's a sword, an ancient sword. I'm not sure about the details but according to my father, the ancient has grown too old and long past its prime years." Beihuang Fan didn't seem to know much about the Guardian Sword either.

Once it was settled, Beihuang Fan made her return to the Taiyi Immortal Palace.

When the old Golden Battle God left, anything regarding the Divine Palace had naturally fallen into Qing Shui's lap.

While the Demon Gate wasn't weak, Qing Shui thought that the scariest existence among them was Tantai Lingyan. No one else there posed a threat to Qing Shui. The thought of it made him feel bitter; to have your lover become your worst enemy. He still couldn't get past the fact in that short while.

Shen Huang stood beside him and could feel Qing Shui's train of thoughts. "Don't think too much about it. We'll take a look in three days' time."

Qing Shui nodded. He wouldn't allow her to hurt him as she pleased again. This time, they would be battling until the very end with neither showing mercy to the other. The people there would die for nothing otherwise. She wasn't who she was before and the person he missed was all in the past.

Qing Shui could understand that; nevertheless, it was still hard to accept.

Time flew by and the day Qing Shui dreaded the most was here. Qing Shui arrived a day before to establish the formations. Regardless of good or bad, formations were mandatory. In fact, he had done up a chain formation. He still hadn't heard or seen the Taiyi Immortal Palace's Guardian Sword.

All formations were ready, just needing activation. Dozens of people from the Divine Palace came, leaving the common folk behind. There wouldn't be any use in them coming anyway.

Three days went by in haste. On that day, the sun was shining bright with thousands of golden rays penetrating the haze above the Taiyi Immortal Palace. Beihuang Liefeng was aware that the Demon Gate was a formidable opponent, and while he seemed full of excitement, he still felt the immense pressure. If the Taiyi Immortal Palace lost their current generation, he wouldn't be able to answer to their ancestors even if he died along with them.

"They're here. The people from the Demon Gate are here!"

"There aren't many of them!"

"They don't need the numbers. That woman, who is as beautiful as Young Mistress Beihuang, would be enough to suppress us all. It matters not how many of them come, but whether she comes with the entourage. Else, the Taiyi Immortal Palace will have nothing to fear."

"Hmm, It wasn't just the woman from the Demon Gate who's as beautiful as Young Mistress Beihuang. Look at the woman beside the Divine Palace's Palace Lord. She's not inferior to the other two."

"That's right. Why do I feel as though all the beautiful women are related to him in some way?"

"Exactly. Wasn't the woman at the Demon Gate together with him before they separated due to the pressure? To take revenge on him…"

"Oh, so this was instigated by relationship issues. Women sure are terrifying, especially the beautiful ones. I'm not going to look for beautiful women anymore."

……

It was a given that Qing Shui could hear the commotion, but he didn't say a word. That was how rumors were like, able to spin facts into all sorts of other stories. With a little of each individual's creative additions, the rumor suddenly became a fact when it had been told to a hundred others.

Right now, Qing Shui was focusing on the faraway sky. The one leading the entourage was a woman in red attire; it didn't conceal her ice-cold demeanor. You couldn't conceal an aura like that; it could be felt from thousands of miles away.

There were about twenty to thirty of them, each riding their own demonic beast in an imposing manner. Traces of their movements dragged out behind them.

Activate formations!

Qing Shui activated the formations at once, but he, Beihuang Liefeng, and some others were outside of it. They were standing in mid-air, facing off with those from the Demon Gate.

"We meet again." Qing Shui stepped out and looked at Tantai Lingyan.

"You are…? You are Qing Shui. How did your hair turn white?" Tantai Lingyan might have been cold, but she seemed more natural than the last time they had met. Though she was surprised, her tone was still calm.

Qing Shui trembled. She could remember his name. It was as though they were back at the starting line again, only worse. He had opened her crystal coffin back then, but even when he did that, she couldn't bring herself to kill him. Yet, she had attacked him without hesitation the last time they had met.