Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 996 – Great Takeaways, Purple Qi Star Grass

Roar!

A clear and loud roar that was like the clanking of metal rang out, causing the world to tremble, resounding through the clouds.

“Damn, to think that this creature can cry out like this!”

Qing Shui fixed his gaze on the giant which was pouncing at him.

Qing Shui wasn’t too worried. This was a demonic beast which could be either on land or in water. And although it was stronger in water than it was on land, it was now on land. Looking as the huge body pounced toward him, Qing Shui calmly took a few consecutive steps.

Nine Palace Steps!

Qing Shui dodged and attacked with a Combination Sword Technique. His target was the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor’s stomach. He knew that it was impossible for him to be able to penetrate its shiny back.

Roar!

The Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor which was in mid-air flipped its huge body, whipping out its big tail toward Qing Shui across space. It was quick as sparks and it didn’t seem to experience any resistance in the air. It was as if it had instantly appeared before Qing Shui without any warning.

Golden Tail Whip！

This was the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor’s killer move and many demonic beasts had died to this attack. It wasn’t just extraordinarily fast but its force was also strong and valiant.

Boom!

Qing Shui flashed repeatedly and the Big Dipper Sword rapidly moved away from the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor after a quick tap. He had initially thought that the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor wouldn’t be too hard to deal with and he would probably only need only a few rounds to kill it. However, looking at it now, it wasn’t that simple. The damaging prowess of that huge tail was far too great.

Emperor’s Qi!

Qing Shui weakened the beast’s strength by 1,200 stars and his Big Dipper Sword allowed him to receive 10% less damage. With that, the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor, which had a strength of 6,000 stars was reduced to be less than 4,400 stars.

After the weakening impact, its speed would be too great a match for Qing Shui. Qing Shui would have no problems even if he were to face it head on. Therefore, he dashed over and attacked with his Combination Sword Technique.

In the past, Qing Shui had only used his Combination Sword Technique in practice and not in battle. Thankfully, he had mastered his Four Moves Combination Sword Technique extremely well and when he hit his target for the 4th time, his attacking prowess was doubled.

Boom!

Roar!

There was an agonizing roar, the spurting of its blood all over the place and the shattering of bones. Qing Shui had struck it in the stomach where it was much weaker as compared to its back. The Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor was now heavily injured.

The 20% chance of increasing the damaging prowess felt very good. Qing Shui pounced once again. It was simpler this time around. He had even attacked its back once and was surprised that even when the attack prowess had increased, only a piece of its back the size of a fist had fallen off.

However, the powerful force once again sent the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor flying several consecutive times. Occasionally, the attacking prowess was doubled. Very quickly, the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor collapsed.

Qing Shui didn’t stand on ceremony and cut open its stomach to retrieve its Core. He also took the golden hide on its back. To think that this was leather with lumps in it and it looked good. He took out his Gold Essence Carving Knife and Gold Essence Scissors, circulated his Qi of Ancient Strengthening Technique and cut it up into pieces with great craftsmanship before putting them into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Qing Shui planned to make armor. With such a big piece of leather and with his Art of Forging having improved, he could now make some. He now had the necessary ingredients and could make battle armor or a battle skirt. It was a pity that he couldn’t make an inner armor.

This was also considered quite a good takeaway. The battle also brought Qing Shui quite good battle experience and it allowed him to gauge how powerful a demonic beast he could deal with. He realized that it was still relatively easy for him to deal with a demonic beast with a strength of 6,000 stars.

After all, after the demonic beasts had been weakened, their strength would not even be 5,000 stars. Moreover, his Nine Palace Steps was very powerful as well. The only thing was that Qing Shui’s attack was at 4,000 stars and that Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor had extremely strong defences. Therefore, it would only be effective when his attacks were twice as strong and they had hit the flaws.

The only thing Qing Shui had the advantage of was speed. This was why he could beat the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor so quickly.

Next, Qing Shui looked toward the lake and he was stunned for just a moment. There were many Golden Snake Grass and Silver Snake Grass. Although it wasn’t as if the entire lake was filled with them, he could still see many of them here and there.

He collected them and threw them into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal…

Qing Shui was in a very good mood. This stuff was extremely valuable and the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal’s pond was sufficiently big too. Qing Shui collected them very quickly. At the start, he collected Golden Snake Grass and Silver Snake Grass but toward the end, he collected only the Golden Snake Grass.

Qing Shui’s action was very fast and he only looked for those on the surface of the water. He cleared the surface of the lake very quickly. The reason he was here was to look for treasure and to take in some Spiritual Qi while he was at it so as to become stronger.

After every short while, Qing Shui would sense that he had gotten slightly stronger but the increase was very small. After all, Qing Shui had the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and one year of hard work to Qing Shui was only the equivalent of training for less than four days in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Sometimes, it could take up to a maximum of eight days since he cultivated many things in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Qing Shui could tell that not a lot of time had passed and this was a piece of treasured land. Earlier, he hadn’t only collected Golden Snake Grass and Silver Snake Grass. He had also collected some other medicinal herbs which had an age of 3,000 years or more. There were also some which were 5,000-6,000 years of age. Qing Shui hadn’t come across any of greater age and thus he decided to fish for a while.

He took out his Pure Gold Fishing Rod and quickly put it into the lake. He felt very calm. There weren’t many things now which could faze him. Of course, he still held great anticipation toward fishing for items.

After all, this was a Sacred Land of Panacea.

After the time for less than it would take for half an incense to burn, the fishing rod moved and Qing Shui pulled it up.

7,000 Years Moon Flower!

Fish again!

6,000 Years Starry Grass!

…

Purple Qi Star Grass……

Qing Shui stared in a daze at this medicinal herb which had been filled with Spiritual Qi for a very long time. It was like a violet colored orchid and was translucent, giving the feeling that it was more of an artistic craft masterpiece. Qing Shui was very agitated.

“The main ingredient for the Violet Qi Pellet is out. I can refine it now.” Qing Shui had a surprised smile on his face. This was a great surprise. As expected of a Sacred Land of Panacea.

Although Qing Shui knew that there were many medicinal herbs in the Sacred Land of Panacea, especially valuable and precious ones, one would only have one day to come in each time and it was extremely dangerous. This was also why people who came in here seldom managed to get their hands on good items.

It was just like how these medicinal herbs were all guarded by the Golden-Back Giant Crocodile Emperor.

In the five continents, one would have a strength of 5,000 stars at most. Or rather, one could only display a strength of 5,000 stars. Therefore, it was hard to find a cultivator with a strength exceeding 5,000 stars even in such sacred lands. It was because people who were beyond this level would choose to head to the other four continents outside.

Of course, there might also be some people who had strength exceeding 5,000 stars fighting in such sacred lands. It was a pity that such situations were rare and the Sacred Land of Panacea in Greencloud Continent was well hidden and relatively young. This time around, the reason Northern Sacred Lu Continent knew of it was because General Manor’s Zu Clan and Tie Clan had revealed the secrets. Both clans had already left but Ji Yunlang chose to not pursue them, leaving them a way out.

Suddenly, the fishing rod sank again and Qing Shui pulled it up. What he was astonished about was the powerful Spiritual Qi the item exuded. The Spiritual Qi made its surface appear to be slightly foggy.

It was the size of a fist and in a milky white color. Just from its Spiritual Qi alone, Qing Shui could tell that it was a treasure and it might even be a “spiritual item”. Qing Shui was very agitated and looked at it with his Heavenly Vision Technique.

Ancient Spirited Turtle Pearl: The pearl formed from the condensation of all the essence of a Spirited Turtle of at least 10,000 Years. It has powerful spiritual nature and has amazing effects.

The introduction was very simple but Qing Shui was overjoyed. Spiritual item, it was really a spiritual item. There was a spiritual item that was like this, formed from the condensation of a part of a spiritual beast. Usually, the lifespan of these spiritual beasts must be very long or that they must be extremely powerful. Of course, opportunity was also required.

Spiritual items were different from magic treasures. It was just that spiritual items were expendables and could only be used once. They couldn’t be taken by humans. There was once when a person ate a spiritual item but eventually ended up dying with his body exploding.

However, spiritual items could be used for alchemy. Of course, if a Beast Tamer had it, he could give it to his demonic beast. By rights, any demonic beast would be able to take it but it would be best if it was taken by a demonic beast which was of the same type as the one the spiritual item was condensed from or even have its bloodline. This could ensure that the absorbent rate was maximized.

Spirited Turtle Pearl!

Qing Shui thought of the pond in his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and decided to keep it first and study it at a later time. He fished again and very quickly, two hours passed by.

He had gotten quite a number of precious fish and also six Purple Qi Star Grass. Qing Shui was overjoyed.

This was sufficient!

He had spent quite a long time here and Qing Shui was satisfied with the things he had gotten. Frankly speaking, he would be satisfied even if he were to just get the Purple Qi Star Grass. However, he had still gotten a lot of Golden Snake Grass, Silver Snake Grass and a spiritual item, the Ancient Spirited Turtle Pearl.

Leaving the place, Qing Shui continued to proceed on, searching the surroundings. Unknowingly, four hours passed by. He didn’t come across anyone and when he entered this area, he continued to hear tremendous roars.

The place was filled with mountains and forests. Of course, there were also wide plains. In this area, if one wasn’t strong enough, one’s legs would turn to jelly just from hearing the roars.

Qing Shui’s primary goal was to search for treasures and not to kill demonic beasts. Therefore, he did his best to avoid them. From the 500 li mark to the current 800 li mark, none of the demonic beasts he came across had a strength exceeding 6,000 stars.

This made Qing Shui feel that his guess should be accurate. From the 500 li mark to quite a distance away, the level of danger should be the same. He progressed steadily.

It wasn’t as if spiritual herbs or treasures could be found everywhere in the Sacred Land of Panacea. Good things won’t come falling down from the sky for no reason. Even if one wished to obtain treasures from the Sacred Land of Panacea, the person would still need to have power.

In the blink of an eye, six hours passed by. Half of the time he had in this place had gone by. The sky had darkened but it wasn’t completely dark. It was already completely dark outside but this place just seemed to be as the weather was, gloomy.

His takeaways for these six hours were quite good. He managed to collect some medicinal herbs. Most importantly, he even got his hands on a large piece of meteorite. This item was very valuable and could be used in forging. It was required even for forging armor.

Another two hours passed by and Qing Shui arrived at the 2,000 li mark and came to a stop. In this area, all the demonic beasts he came across were still around the strength of 6,000 stars but they would definitely not exceed a strength of 6,500 stars. For the past 2 hours or so, he had only killed two demonic beasts and there was once when he escaped from a group of demonic beasts. Even though it had been extremely dangerously, he hadn’t used the Nine Continents Steps.

It wasn’t because he didn’t dare to use it but it was more of he couldn’t bear to do so.

Standing on top of a mountain at the 2,000 li mark, Qing Shui glanced out at the endless view. There were only mountains extremely far away and thus there was nothing which obstructed his view.

Over 14 hours had passed by and there was still less than 10 hours left. He was hesitating if he should do what he was thinking of. It was a little crazy but extremely tempting.