The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2273 - Two years later, Demon's Gate invading the Nine Domains

The sun was glaring with tens of thousands of strands of golden light falling onto the entire lake and the surrounding greenery. The air smelled like fresh grass. A light breeze blew by. Though it was slightly cold, everything here was as usual.

Myriad things will recover. The recovery of life would be strongest at this time.

Qing Shui sat down on the grass, leisurely looking at the clouds up in the sky. A few deer were making merry a distance away and ants were slowly crawling up next to him. An eagle was soaring high in the sky while Qing Shui, bathed in the glowing rays of the sun, seemed to let off his own glow.

Golden Brilliance Dao!

Qing Shui felt the limitless power of the sun's rays, bringing forth endless vitality. The beings on this earth had their own circles and relations, seemingly linked and yet unrelated, constantly breeding and growing, constantly passing onto each new generation.

This was a Heavenly Dao rule, the Golden Brilliance Dao.

Qing Shui had stayed here for quite some time, killing beasts, observing the birth of plants, demonic beasts, wild beasts, and flying beasts. He also spectated battles and the peace after the battles, the continuation of life, from withering to thriving, returning to withering...

There would be disappearances. There would also be unbelievably low troughs, which would be followed by brilliant, incandescent peaks. Qing Shui most frequently observed the ants and learned the most from these ants.

Two years had passed in a flash.

Qing Shui had been here for two years and he had reached the Ninth Cave Realm a year and a half ago. He had been constantly observing the Heavenly Dao, comprehending it as he tempered his body and underwent battles. The Tenth Cave never budged, but he didn't despair either.

The Tenth Cave Realm was a fabled realm. Even pure blooded Desolate beasts undergoing weird phenomena to reach for it would fail miserably. One might even turn into ashes if they were careless.

Hence, the most exceptional humans would only open eight or nine caves and then enter the next realm, while pure blooded Desolate beasts would almost all open nine, with some with weaker talent opening eight, and then charging right into the next realm.

Eight Caves was the sign of a monarch of an area, while a single Nine Caves expert would appear in a million mile radius. Counting premature death and other situations, it would be 1 in a hundred million living beings.

The Caves Realm was preceded by the Divine Connection Realm, hence it was difficult to enter to begin with.

Peng!

Another one of the Caves behind Qing Shui's back was turning golden. He smiled, seeing that he had finally grasped a strange rule. Qing Shui had nine Caves and five of them were already golden.

The next one was successfully refined into gold.

Qing Shui understood that the Ten Caves Realm was something that could be met but never sought after. It seemed high time for him to return. Qing Shui had also returned a few times before since it didn't take more than a few days. Anyway, with the Sky-Obstructing Crow present, he could be at ease.

Qing Shui's Cave turning golden allowed his strength to improve by leaps and bounds, but most crucially, the Caves were part of the Heavenly Dao Realm. Therefore, this was an improvement in his Heavenly Dao Realm.

He used the Nine Continents Steps to leave.

Qing Shui wanted to wait for all nine caves to turn golden before returning.

However, this sort of thing required some level of luck. Fortunately, this wasn't exceptionally difficult to accomplish. It merely required time. It could even stagnate, with decades passing before a Cave turned golden. With his current attainments, Qing Shui didn't have anything to complain about.

On the fourth day of his journey, he arrived at the Divine Palace. This place was still the same after half a year.

The Sky-Obstructing Crow took one look at Qing Shui and said: "Not bad."

"Senior, I have some medicine here. Please see if you can use it." Qing Shui took out the super Origin Essence Pill.

"What a strong Origin Essence." The Sky-Obstructing Crow was astonished.

"This is the skull of a Primordial Gold Grizzly. Perhaps it can be of use to you." Qing Shui passed the skull of the Primordial Gold Grizzly to the Sky-Obstructing Crow.

Qing Shui had been constantly meditating on its skull and had no more use of it. As the Divine Protector of the Divine Palace, the stronger the Sky-Obstructing Crow was, the better it was.

It was very shocked when it examined the Primordial Golden Grizzly's skull. It paused for a long while before saying: "You're letting me meditate on such good stuff?"

"This isn't much. Senior's strength is linked with Divine Palace's prosperity." Qing Shui stated matter-of-factly.

This made it sigh in its heart. The new Palace Lord not only possessed exceptional talent, but also had a great heart. He had a charismatic way of doing things that would ensure his future success.

"Senior, there are many people who want this thing. Even someone from the Nine Continents' Martial Gate died for this. Let us sneakily meditate upon it, for the sake of a future where we can fearlessly stand our ground." Qing Shui spoke after some thought.

"I understand. We are never to leak the existence of this thing, no matter how strong you've become. Even if you learn it, people can't just steal you away, but they can think of all sorts of dastardly plots to try and steal an item, even through murder," the Sky-Obstructing Crow said with gravity.

Qing Shui would naturally understand this. He solemnly nodded his head.

The Sky-Obstructing Crow used the super Origin Essence Pill, its strength had increased by half, and even its bloodline had increased by fifteen percent. Its body had some degree of Primordial Blood but it still couldn't be considered a pure-blooded Sky-Obstructing Crow. Even with that said, It was still definitely stronger than other Sky-Obstructing Crows.

Meditating on the Primordial Gold Grizzly's skull, it was a massive chance for it. It was extremely grateful to Qing Shui. This sort of thing was irresistible to him. It must've been the luck carrying over from previous lives which gave him such a golden opportunity.

Qing Shui had returned to the courtyard with Beihuang Fan and Shen Huang both waiting there. They were elated to see him. He took no time and ran up to hug each of them. Perhaps he gained bravado or perhaps it was because he didn't see them for a while. Either way, the two women were even happier and slightly embarrassed.

"I've been thinking about you two all this time. Did you miss me?" Qing Shui pulled the two along, one with each hand as he happily spoke.

The two women didn't respond, which was just as Qing Shui expected. This was basically him touring around his own courtyard.

"Have there been any incidents lately?" Qing Shui hadn't returned for a while, so he asked.

"Nothing much, but the Demon's Gate is getting stronger. Your woman has already entered the Nine Continents Star Ocean Domain." Beihuang Fan said.

Qing Shui rubbed his nose, recalling his first meeting with Tantai Lingyan. He couldn't believe that she had already reached that area and brought the Demon's Gate to battle with some of the great powers of the Nine Continents.

Qing Shui was not surprised by the pace of her progress, mainly due to her Demon Saint Blood. If her strength didn't improve dramatically then it would be surprising.

Qing Shui's current strength was exceedingly powerful, but whether he could match up to her was still unknown. He shouldn't be far off. He was currently holding off and waiting, but he felt like it would be soon until he had to pick a side amongst the great powers of the Nine Continents. A sense of heroism was welling up in him.

"Qing Shui, the Divine Palace's improvements have also been pretty good. Many strong existences have come by to visit, wanting to see if our Divine Palace has any hope," Shen Huang said.

"Wanting to visit me, that would be good, when is it happening?" Qing Shui didn't feel that it was unnatural to join up with a few stronger Divine Palaces, as they weren't the only ones.