Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1585 - Black Demon Merman Chu Dongri, The Hundred Slayers Regiment To Battle

Qing Shui and Yiye Jiange immediately went outside of the Sea King’s Palace. When they heard that Muyun Qingge had already gone to the scene, they hastened their pace and quickly rushed over to catch up to her.

This area was about a thousand li away from and a thousand li above the Sea King’s Palace. There was already a fierce commotion outside of the palace. Most of the Carp Tribe had already spread their influence towards the Sea King’s Palace. Their population was quite overwhelming too, and their forces should never be underestimated.

Qing Shui thought, as he continued his journey, that the master of this Sunset Palace should be Mermaids. Normally, no one would regard a Mermaid as a powerful existence when they heard its name. To be honest, Qing Shui still couldn’t believe it even until now.

Muyun Qingge was a Drakaina. In comparison to Merfolk, Qing Shui felt that the Drakaina Tribe was stronger. However, when he thought that Jin Liyu could become stronger, why not the Merfolk? According to rumors, Salamanders were considered to be a strong existence, too.

Anything was possible here. Qing Shui didn’t feel strange about it. However, there were many things that were new to him, so he needed some time to process and accept them as facts.

Currently, the Sea Dragon Palace and the Vicious Shark Palace were already finished. The Sunset Palace had come for them to uphold their justice. The Sunset Palace did not care for either side - which side was right and which side was wrong. When they saw the Sea Dragon Palace and the Vicious Shark Palace being annihilated, they didn’t need an argument.

Differentiation between the right and the wrong was useless in this case. Only the victor would become the king. The loser would become a bandit.

This made Qing Shui think of a situation in his past life. If one were to reason with the other, fist fights would ensue. Where there were fists flying around, there would be arguments. However, to be able to truly control the situation, one would still require power to back himself up. Otherwise, there would be nothing to discuss face-to-face.

As the protector of the Sea King’s Palace, normally Qing Shui would not show himself this early. But now, the people of the Sea King’s Palace were feeling insecure, and they needed Qing Shui’s appearance to somewhat comfort most of their emotions and boost their morale.

Even though he had shown himself, he didn’t move forward to the frontline. Instead, he entered a temporary cave, where most of the area was covered in water. However, these people were able to stay in here like fishes in water. Just like humans living with oxygen in the air, there was no discomfort whatsoever.

Qing Shui took a gander at the distance just now and noted that the movement afar was massive. However, he had seen bigger battles. This spectacle was just child’s play. When he entered the cave, he saw that Muyun Qingge and a few powerful cultivators from Sea King’s Palace were already here.

When the cultivators saw Qing Shui and Yiye Jiange entering the cave, they gave the duo a few polite greetings. Qing Shui exchanged his greetings as well before turning to Muyun Qingge and asked, “Do you have any plans?”

“This time, I don’t care what reason they have. As long as they intend to betray the Sea King’s Palace, I will make them pay.” Muyun Qingge said with a casual smile, yet there was a certain aloofness in that smile of hers.

There were a few great water tribe leaders in the Sea King’s Palace. Qing Shui observed the situation and felt that her words meant something. He couldn’t be certain about it. Nevertheless, he assured her, “Don’t worry, I will help you with that. I really hate treacherous people a lot. These people do not hold friendship in regard and will betray others at any given time. These kinds of people are despised by anyone. They will not have a good ending either.”

Muyun Qingge knew that Qing Shui was only trying to back her up. She laughed, “The Sunset Palace has already arrived, but they don’t seem that willing to show their faces. These rebels from the Sea King’s Palace are really pitiful to actually think they can rise to the top once they leave us. This is the Sunset Palace’s same old trick. Their master was once tricked before, so they take delight in using this kind of trick repeatedly and consistently. If they were able to leave Sea King’s Palace by relying on their own power, then I must comply with that.”

At that moment, the Merman came back again and reported, “Reporting to Palace Mistress, the leader of Shark Wolves has sent us a missive.”

Muyun Qingge took the missive from the merman and smiled after she read the contents, “Take a guess on what is written in here.”

Qing Shui observed the smiling expression on Muyun Qingge’s face. Although he had some idea of what it was, he didn’t utter a word.

Yiye Jiange smiled, “Can it be that the Shark Wolf tribe is requesting for reinforcements or asking for help?”

“Yiye Jiange is smarter still. The Shark Wolf tribe said they were compelled to the situation in the missive, and that they had no choice left. They even said that their hearts have always been with the Sea King’s Palace.”

Qing Shui didn’t say anything, but he knew that this sort of thing would happen numerous times in a day. There were many incidents where one would be devoid of choices or would not have the knowledge of the result of certain choices, thus unable to make comparisons.

A single person and groups of people would always experience moments when a choice was needed to be made. Every choice could potentially affect their entire life. No one would know for certain that the choice he made would be the best one. The next best thing he could do was to make a choice without regret.

The Shark Wolf tribe had chosen this path and they could only walk on it until the end. Qing Shui felt that it wasn’t necessary to write this missive. Of course, he couldn’t dismiss the thought that this was part of their plot to dismiss the opponent’s troops. After all, there were facing a Black Demon Merman tribe in front of them. This was a strong group in the water tribe.

Muyun Qingge handed the missive to Yiye Jiange and said, “Jiange, tell us what we should do. The missive said they could act as a planted agent in the enemy’s base.”

“It’s not necessary for us to go down this path. On top of that, they are not quite trustworthy. The Shark Wolf tribe is cunning in comparison to the others. You can’t just simply believe some of their words. The Sunset Palace is powerful, but it’s not like we don’t have the strength to counter them.” Yiye Jiange replied with a smile.

“I almost forgot that we still have a powerful protector. Qing Shui, we have to depend on you this time.” Muyun Qingge giggled.

Both forces set into their battle formations in preparation for the battle. Even though there wasn’t any special formation, it was still a type of positional battle. This way, they could allow themselves to cooperate with one another more smoothly while battling.

The Sea King’s Palace still had the Carp tribe acting as the vanguard of the formation. After all, the Carp Dragon Gate formation was considered quite powerful. It was still extremely effective against those with slightly weaker power in the battlefield.

The probability of this formation failing was less than one over ten thousand. Not only could this formation allow the Carp tribe to grow stronger, it could also could weaken the opponents the tribe fought. Thus, this formation was considered to be one with the offensive and defensive elements.

Jin Liyu had grown more mature than before. After he had experienced this incident, he became earnest and dependable instead. Now, he was leading the Carp tribe with every ounce of his strength. There were no complaints from him either.

It was a disgrace for the Carp tribe to be stripped of the position of the Third Palace Lord. As time went by, some people were beginning to realize the reason for the disgrace. Even the entire Carp tribe were condemned by the public because of that. In the beginning, most of the ignorant people in the Carp tribe fiercely retorted against their own people. They even made a move against them. However, the Carp tribe had decreed an order, making them unable to strike back. If that wasn’t the case, some of them would be kicked out of the tribe immediately.

Because of that, during this period of time, the Carp tribe were also living in an arduous condition. Qing Shui didn’t say anything when he saw that situation with his own eyes. He wasn’t afraid of people who had endured hardships for the sake of retaliation, but he was afraid of small-minded people. He felt he had no problem controlling Jin Liyu and the Carp tribe, so he had no fear of the Carp tribe becoming stronger. On the contrary, he had hoped that they would become more powerful instead. If they were stronger, they could provide tremendous help to the Sea King’s Palace.

At that moment, Qing Shui caught sight of Black Demon Mermen and the Shark Wolf tribe. The Black Demon Mermen were bigger in build than the Black Scales Mermen. Their heights were all about seven or eight meters tall. Similarly, their pitch-black body had scale-like armors on them too, which looked quite ferocious and vehement.

Even though they looked human, an enormous sharp horn could be seen sticking out from their heads. Each of them was weilding a giant Black Gold Club, and they were all emitting a wave of horrifying aura from their bodies, which was quite ferocious.

The people from the Shark Wolf tribe looked a bit like wolfmen. Both their arms were as sharp as a wolf’s claw, yet as sturdy as ever. Their well-built bodies had inherited the feature of a Shark tribe, which was why the Shark Wolf tribe was easily considered a powerful group of cultivators.

“The Sunset Palace Lord wants me to pass this word to you. If the Sea King’s Palace wants to surrender to the Sunset Palace, you have to wipe out all the accounts from before. What do you think?” One of the abnormally tall fellows among the Black Demon Mermen stepped forward and relayed the words to Muyun Qingge.

He was in his prime of the Black Demon Merman, which was essentially a young age. The black scales armor all over his body were shimmering brightly. He was one of the five great fighters among the Black Demon Mermen, Chu Dongri.

She was also hopeful of controlling the people of the Black Demon Merman tribe.

“You tell the Sunset Palace Lord this, I want her to tell me that personally. What kind of thing are you supposed to be?” Muyun Qingge’s voice sounded cold when she spoke to him.

Huff huff!

Chu Dongri let out a rough and heavy howl-like breathing. His large eyes focused on Muyun Qingge as he said, “All these years, did you really think that I was your underling? When you become my prisoner, I will let you taste things that are worse than death.”

“You are just a dog for the Sunset Palace. You have degraded yourself to that role.” Muyun Qingge said calmly. Even though her words were harsh, she didn’t feel anything about it. It made it seem like Chu Dongri was a pitiful man.

Just as Chu Dongri was making his next move, a Black Demon Merman held him back and said, “It’s alright, boss. Don’t give in to these people. Just change the subject. When we finally nab them, we can handle her properly by then.”

“Since you all insist, then we will not go easy on you. Brothers, prepare to move out.”

His voice was quite distinct. Everyone was able to hear him clearly. The fight broke out instantly. All of the sudden, both forces were already locked in a battle.

The weaklings were the ones to make their move first. However, the troops from the Sea King’s Palace were abundant. Moreover, the Carp tribe was quite decent in terms of power too. They were most suitable to battle in this form. As long as the supreme powerful cultivators were not in the battle, the Carp tribe would still act like an impregnable fortress.

Carps were a symbol of luck, so wherever the tribe went, they would bring good luck according to legend. Unfortunately, the Carps in the World of Nine Continents could still turn into traitors, which was definitely not a lucky symbol.

“I should have allowed the Hundred Slayers Regiment to experience the carnage of the formation and use fresh blood to temper their willpower.” Qing Shui said when he saw the struggle in front of him.

Muyun Qingge nodded her head to allow the Hundred Slayers Regiment to enter the battle. In that moment, the battle had escalated. The situation immediately became promising as soon as the Hundred Slayers Regiment charged into the battlefield. Even though the regiment only consisted of one hundred people, they were like an invincible dagger, going into a rampage to secure their triumph.

Qing Shui still felt quite satisfied when he looked at the Hundred Slayers Regiment. The superiority of the Black Scales Mermen had been unleashed completely.

The Black Demon Mermen abruptly burst into rage when they saw the sudden appearance of a hundred Black Scales Mermen butchering their troops. They quickly allowed some of the more powerful Black Demon Mermen to go out for the battle. The amount of these powerful men was not less than three hundred.

The Black Demon Mermen who were dispatched were considerably weaker than Chu Dongri. However, they were still considered to be powerful, even among the Black Demon Merman tribe. They had a high position in the tribe, and most importantly, their potential could grow stronger in the future as well.

Five Elements Formation Destroyer!

The Black Scales Mermen continued to unleash their penetrating attacks against their opponents. In between their assaults, they would change their offensive tactics and switch to defensive maneuvers. Everyone was now able to see that the squad of a hundred people was still in the midst of their altercation. Only a real professional could see how insufficient their cooperative ability was.

The Five Elements formation consisted of five positions. Each of the positions would represent the elements Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Furthermore, each position could be occupied by twenty people. Amongst the five elements, the Black Scales Mermen were represented by water. However, there were some exceptions for those who had cultivated techniques of other elements, which was why all five elements could be occupied completely. Only when all the positions had been occupied would the prowess of the Five Elements formation be unleashed.