Ancient Strengthening Technique (Portraits of Beauty) Ancient Strengthening Technique Chapter 1074-1075

AST 1074 – The Legendary Sacred Jade Divine Stone, The Divine Cast Stone

The beauty of the low grade Sacred Beast Pill was that it enabled the weak beasts to self-defend or even become powerful with the a.s.sistance of a powerful cultivator. However, without the a.s.sistance of a powerful cultivator, this low grade Sacred Beast Pellet would basically be ineffective because it would be like a poison to powerful demonic beasts. Hence, it would be very difficult to make the beast consume it.

However, Qing Shui loved this a lot. This Sacred Beast Pill was simply too useful and also the best thing he had for now. It was a pity that it was only a low grade Sacred Beast Pill. If it was a high, supreme, or even a legendary grade Sacred Beast Pill, it could not only tame the beast but the beast would also act like a Divine Marionette and allow the strength of the tamer to significantly increase. Too bad this was only good for one time use.

The Divine Marionette from back then was a special thing. Its ability was particularly powerful to allow Qing Shui's strength to grow continuously along with the demonic beast.

Just this Sacred Beast Pill alone was a priceless treasure due to its rarity, even the Lion King's Ridge possessed only a very limited number of them. On top of that, these pills also had certain restriction in which an ordinary person was only allowed to use it once. Perhaps people with powerful spirit energy may be able to tame a few demonic beasts since the spirit energy used for taming demonic beasts was closely connected to strength. Hence, even if an ordinary person had many Sacred Beast Pills and other's help, it'd still be useless. It was still better for one to improve their strength by relying on themselves in cultivation. External items were only good for enhancement.

The rest of the medicinal pills were not surprising to Qing Shui. However, they were still quite decent for treating injuries or for detoxification. If these were heard by the late 'Old Fourth', he would definitely be so p.i.s.sed that he would come back to life again from his death.

He only briefly glimpsed through the rest of the things. Even the most decent ones among them were dispensable to Qing Shui.

An exquisite little jade-colored stone appeared before him all of a sudden. It seemed to be br.i.m.m.i.n.g with Spiritual Qi.

Qing Shui's eyes lit up and he immediately took the stone in his hand as he wondered what could this item be. It was jade in color and looked like the type of thing that was small, yet appeared to be very impressive. After he pondered for another moment, he quickly activated his Heavenly Vision Technique and examined it.

Sacred Jade Divine Stone: A miraculous object of the legend. A type of Spiritual Stone of Heaven and Earth that allows one to leap as he wishes within the radius of 100 li. Can be used ten times a day.

Usage: Hold in hand, walk around as you wis.h.!.+

Qing Shui was flabbergasted. He remembered the changes in the countenance of the tall and burly old man. He must had considered if he should flee at that time. When Qing Shui thought about this again, he realized how using the Marrow Nibbling Golden Silkworm back then was a wise move.

Leaping 100 li every time was considered very powerful, even Qing Shui's current spiritual sense couldn't be expanded any further. This was even under the circ.u.mstances that Qing Shui was powerful enough. If he leapt two times with the Sacred Jade Divine Stone and then escape with a flying beast, it would be very difficult for his opponents to pursue him. This could be considered a Divine grade object for fleeing because it allowed the user to go anywhere he desired, even if he was paralyzed.

"Good stuff. Too bad it has to be held in hand." Qing Shui looked at the jade stone that was only about three inches long. He then walked as he wished and instantly appeared at another spot in the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. How magical!

Qing Shui recalled that he already had the Nine Continents Steps which would grow powerful along with Nature Energy. Hence, he felt that this item was a little wasted on him. Although this item allowed one to go wherever their heart wished, it still had to be held in the hand.

Qing Shui had seen introductions about this Sacred Jade Divine Stone in some of the books he read before. This Sacred Jade Divine Stone in his hand, that wasn't any bigger than his palm, could be considered as very huge in size. Books had mentioned about the possibility to forge it into a ring to be worn around the finger. This was the most convenient way to use it, since it had to be held by hand when being used.

Perhaps this was also the reason that created an opportunity for Qing Shui. Otherwise, the other party would have a higher chance of escaping if he had it in the palm of his hand at that time.

However, forging the Sacred Jade Divine Stone required one to have a very powerful Art of Forging. Otherwise, the burly old man definitely wouldn't have kept this stone in its original form up till now.

The Sacred Jade Divine Stone was extremely hard and heat-resistant. It was no simple task to merely melt this stone and Qing Shui wasn't too surprised about this either. He wondered if he was capable of forging it as this Sacred Jade Divine Stone wasn't too huge. It was only about one inch thick and three inches long with nearly the width of two inches. If he were to forge it into a ring, he could make quite a number of it.

Qing Shui was getting excited about this idea. He ought to do it. If he could forge it, it would definitely be the most practical item to have and also the most useful thing for self-preservation. The distance within 100 li was decent enough and on top of that, it could be used for up to ten times a day. Perhaps the effects would be even better if he succeeded in forging. He wasn't worried about the effects being lowered, because he only had to focus on forging it successfully. Even at its worst, it would still retain the ability of this Sacred Jade Divine Stone as property.

The only thing he had to worry about was whether he could successfully forge it.

Qing Shui set the Sacred Jade Divine Stone aside as he continued to look at the other items. There weren't too many of them left. His harvest had already exceeded his expectation by far and he felt especially cheerful right now.

"Hm, this is the Divine Cast Stone?"

Qing Shui's eyes widened while he looked at the old looking stone that was about the size of a fist. It wasn't very eye-catching and even the Spiritual Qi on it was very obscured. However, everything was clear to Qing Shui the moment he saw it.

The tall and burly old man wasn't able to forge it in time, or perhaps he hadn't found a suitable forgesmith. Qing Shui couldn't help but to laugh with the Divine Cast Stone in his hands. This thing was indeed something really good.

The Divine Cast Stone could raise the success rate of forges by half and also add some attributes to it. It could be considered a relatively valuable item, just like the Silver Snake Gra.s.s in alchemy. However, it was more valuable than the Silver Snake Gra.s.s and even the Golden Snake Gra.s.s. But of course, this was from the perspective of a forgesmith.

Just the value of this Divine Cast Stone that was about the size of a fist should be enough to match the low grade Sacred Beast Pill.

Qing Shui wasn't too confident at first but now, he felt that he shouldn't have any problems. He was only worried if the current primordial flames would be enough to melt this Sacred Jade Divine Stone.

If Qing Shui and everyone else around him could wear one of these Sacred Jade Divine Stone Rings, he would feel a lot more a.s.sured in his heart. Then there were also at least four bottles of low grade Sacred Beast Pill. Qing Shui had decided to save a bottle for his mother and also help her tame a powerful demonic beast.
Qing Shui then remember his elder sister. However, he didn't really have to worry as her Four-Eared Macaque was a formidable being. It would definitely grow into something impressive one day. There was no need to give Yiye Jiange and Luan Luan a ring either.

Qing Shui also made up his mind to help Wenren Wu-shuang tame one demonic beast. As for the remaining two bottles, he decided to leave them for the Qing Clan because only by doing so, he would be able to leave them without any worries.

With a clear plan in his mind, Qing Shui was very happy and he also felt very relaxed. He then quickly took a look at the other two Interspatial Silk Sachets. Other than the bottle of low grade Sacred Beast Pill in the Old Sixth's Interspatial Silk Sachet, he was only satisfied with the alchemy recipe found in the Old Fifth's Interspatial Silk Sachet. Other than those, nothing else had piqued his interests. Although the weapons, medicinal pills, ores and armors were quite decent, they were pretty useless to Qing Shui.

Nothing could beat those four bottles of low grade Saint Beast Pills. This battle was really worth it as the Lion King's Ridge indeed had a deep root. But Qing Shui had a feeling that this tall and burly old man definitely had some kind of special position in the Lion King's Ridge that perhaps allowed him to embezzle. He must had had some other plans to bring these low grade Saint Beast Pills into the Ancient Ruins. For example, the Old Sixth could be thinking of s.n.a.t.c.hing Yiye Jiange's Seven-Headed Crystal Beast. Even if he didn't, he probably thought of doing something to the ancient desolate beasts.

Qing Shui cultivated and refined some things. He only started to smelt the Sacred Jade Divine Stone after he was fully recovered. He was stunned as soon as he tried to melt it, the powerful primordial flames were unable to melt the Sacred Jade Divine Stone.

He faintly realized something. Why didn't that tall and burly old man attempted to forge something, even when he had both the Sacred Jade Divine Stone and Divine Stone Cast. Could it be that he was unable to melt the Sacred Jade Divine Stone?

He possessed the strongest primordial flames between Heaven and Earth and he was in disbelief. Qing Shui immediately used the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation. Under its effect, the primordial flames were brought to their peak.

Time ticked away little by little. Although Qing Shui had melted some metal that took a very long time to melt in the past, he'd usually know if something could be melted in two or four hours. Even if it was time consuming, at least he knew if it was possible to melt them.

But now, another two hours had pa.s.sed, the outcome still made him very depressed. Without much choice left, Qing Shui immediately manifested the Golden Buddha Image. This way, his spirit energy could be doubled once again and the intensity of his primordial flames would also be doubled.
This was already Qing Shui's trump card. As long as he could melt the Sacred Jade Divine Stone, he was confident that he would be able to forge it.

In just a short while, beads of sweat already formed on Qing Shui's forehead. Unwilling to give up, he persisted for another four hours and even consumed a Vital Essence Pill in between. In the end, he still had to reluctantly stop. At least now he knew why that old man from the Lion King's Ridge didn't forge this stone into a ring.

He couldn't help but to think of this as a pity. If he wanted to melt this Sacred Jade Stone, he would at least have to increase the temperature of his primordial flames by onefold.

He couldn't do anything aside from shaking his head. However, there were actually some other methods. For instance, cultivating the Heart of Roc to the Great Perfection Stage, having the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation breakthrough the infancy stage or consuming a Fate Pill to double his spirit energy.

Although there were quite a number of methods, it was a pity that most of them wouldn't work because they were not within his control. It was very difficult to breakthrough within a short period, so much that even Qing Shui himself couldn't believe the probability of it happening.

Unable to smelt the Sacred Jade Divine Stone, he could only spend all the remaining time on cultivation and of course, refining demons and forging as well.

………

By the time Qing Shui came out, it was almost midnight. The chilly wind here was stronger at night and he could even hear the wind howling.

It was very silent here tonight, so silent that it was almost terrifying. If Qing Shui wasn't brave enough thanks to his high skills, his surroundings were enough to frighten him to half death just by standing around here.

Now that it was already the next day, Qing Shui had decided to take a walk around since he wasn't sleepy. The environment was so poor and the Yin Qi was so thick. He wondered if it was because there were some treasures with Yin attribute lying around.

This was just his intuitive thought. He then casually wandered around, as he searched if there were any mountains, caves or crypts. It was pitch black here at night. Even with Qing Shui's powerful strength, he couldn't see everything clearly like he could during day time.

There were quite a lot of caves here, however there weren't many living things around, especially demonic beasts. They were very rarely seen here. This place seemed to be forsaken and Qing Shui eventually realized that there were really nothing here he could search for.
The sky gradually turned bright. Without realizing it, Qing Shui had already wander around for about six hours. He had some leftover fish that he retrieved from the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal for a simple meal.

Qing Shui, who made no discoveries after a six hours search, decided to venture deeper. Just when he was about to perform the Nine Continents Steps, he stopped. He almost forgot what he had seen yesterday when he used the Nine Continents Steps, that scaly demonic beast that resembled a small hill.

AST 1075 – Low Level Ancient Desolate Beast, The Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox

Qing Shui hesitated for a while before he prepared himself. He held the Big Dipper Sword in his right hand and the Sacred Jade Divine Stone in his left. If the situation took a turn for worst, he could at least dodge within a small range. If things still didn't work out, he could instantly use the Nine Continents Steps to leave the place.

Qing Shui moved forward only after he scanned his surroundings.

Nine Continents Steps!

Qing Shui's figure disappeared on the spot. When he cautiously reappeared at the place where he had appeared once yesterday, he discovered that the gigantic demonic beast which he had previously seen was gone. However, he couldn't help but be stunned at the environment here.

Due to the sighting of that gigantic demonic beast, he only managed to get a quick glimpse of this location yesterday. So he had basically used the Nine Continents Steps to return immediately without taking a look at the surroundings. It was only at this moment that he had good look around here.

The spot that he reappeared with the Nine Continents Steps for these two times was actually not entirely accurate, some occasional inaccuracies were unavoidable. However, this inaccuracy would basically be limited to a range of ten li. But when Qing Shui was searching for some sort of cave around the yin wind region, the difference between the location when he used the Nine Continents Steps this time and the location he used the Nine Continents Steps yesterday weren't exactly the same. Hence, a difference of 180 li would be normal too.

The temperature here was warm like spring. A scene of flouris.h.i.+ng life was everywhere. Even the sky was extremely clear and very sunny. The oppressive atmosphere was gone as well.

"This feels good!" Qing Shui couldn't help but think aloud. He sensed the rustle of leaves in the wind around him with his spiritual sense.

There was still so many demonic and wild beasts here. From time to time, a flock of birds would be seen flying over the sky. Although these birds were raptors from his previous world, they could only be one of the weakest links in the food chain here.

Qing Shui walked around the place unhurriedly. He was actually still thinking about that formidable armored demonic beast right now. He only took a quick glance at that time, so he didn't manage to get a clear look at it. It was about the size of an average hill and was too frightening. He even wished to tame it or bring it back for Wu-shuang to tame it. But he was merely thinking about it now. He kept having the feeling that he was no match for it.

Within a night's time, who knew where had that formidable demonic beast ran to. Qing Shui could only extend his current spiritual sense so far while this type of formidable demonic beast would only need a short while to get hundreds to thousands of li away.

Hence, this was only Qing Shui's wishful thinking because the chances of running into it weren't very high. It was impossible for him to completely search the surroundings. Moreover, there might be more formidable demonic beasts around here, unless it kept living in this region.

Qing Shui rode on the Thunderous Beast and did a quick search of the area. Even though he only had a quick glimpse back then, he felt that that demonic beast should be a low level ancient desolate beast in this Ancient Ruins that had an ancient bloodline flowing within its body.

Roar!

Up till noon time, right when Qing Shui was getting ready for a short break, a m.u.f.fled roar rang out from a distance. This type of sound was deep, yet ear-splitting. It sounded just like m.u.f.fled thunder.

Qing Shui's face lit up. He instantly rushed towards the source of the sound. The Thunderous Beast's speed was astonis.h.i.+ngly fast. Within a short period of time, they had already arrived at the origin of the sound. When Qing Shui saw the scene right before his eyes, he was speechless.

That was because two demonic beasts, as gigantic as hills, were in the process of breeding their next generation. Qing Shui was very bewildered. Was it necessary for these gigantic demonic beasts to be this loud while they were at it?

These two demonic beasts belonged to the same species. One of them was the one which Qing Shui saw yesterday. Its body was fully covered in scales that were like a heavy set of armor. Its four limbs were thick like towering pillars and it had a huge, silver and malevolent head. On top of its head was a fiery huge red horn.

It had a body akin to that of a bull, yet it was covered by bright red scales. There were some odd-looking rings beneath its four thick limbs. Qing Shui wouldn't be able to tell what they were if he didn't look closely enough. He was certain that this was an ancient desolate beast when he saw these rune-like haloes. These haloes were a symbol of the ancient bloodline. Other than its formidable self defense, it also possessed some special abilities.

Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox!

Furthermore, there were two of them!

Qing Shui's understanding on ancient desolate beast was only limited to the records written in the books. There were many books like this in the Main Continent. It wasn't a secret either. Just like those dragon, phoenix, ancient divine beasts, ancient desolate beasts and the others from his previous world, everyone knew about them. They had even seen their pictures. But no one knew if they were real. As for those who claimed that they had truly seen them before were just making a joke.

Qing Shui had discovered its existence through books all these while. Yet it had appeared right before his eyes now. Fortunately, this was the World of the Nine Continents. The things that had happened to him had been astonis.h.i.+ng enough. Hence, he wasn't really that astonished right now but was instead a little delighted.

The Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox was the lowest graded ancient desolate beast in existence. But this lowest graded existence was still a very terrifying existence in the Five Continents. Qing Shui was standing somewhere not too far. He was sensing the aura of these two gigantic demonic beasts and realized that they were nothing compared to the Seven-Headed Crystal Beast without being under the laws of Heaven and Earth's influence. However, it was far more formidable when compared to the Six-Headed Windfire Wolf.

He stood at a distance while he watched those two gigantic demonic beasts doing the thing that even demonic beasts loved doing. Luckily, it didn't take too long. Qing Shui, who was standing not too far away, was already setting up a formation at this moment.

Nine Palace Formation!

This was a formation that Qing Shui had altered. As a matter of fact, he had removed the Eight Trigrams Formation from the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation. The Nine Palace Formation could now be considered a trap formation. It had no destructive power, but it had a more powerful ability of captivity.

Qing Shui did not wish to let go of this type of suitable ancient desolate beast. Unfortunately, there were simply too few low graded Sacred Beast Pills on him. Qing Shui wasn't too interested in demonic beasts of this type of grade. Moreover, he only had four of these low graded Sacred Beast Pills. If he wished to leave with ease, he had to make good use of these four low graded Sacred Beast Pills.

Hence, Qing Shui didn't plan to keep one bottle for himself at all from the start. He had made up his mind to proceed to the four other continents this time. As long as there was no big incident, he would leave and he still had less than a year's time.

These two Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen were a surprise to him. Qing Shui felt a little awkward watching them rubbing their heads against each other. He was in dilemma as to whether he should strike right now.

Thunderbolt!

Qing Shui couldn't be bothered anymore. He had the Sacred Jade Divine Stone and Nine Palace Steps anyway. If things looked bad, he could escape by using the Nine Continents Steps. He didn't want to kill them either. All he wanted to do was to only lure these two Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen to the center of the Nine Palace Formation.

Qing Shui made a special observation. He discovered that the male Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox was particularly fond of the female Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox. Despite the smaller size of the female demon ox, it seemed like it was a little stronger than the male one in strength.

Howl…

The infuriated howl sounded like an ox yet not exactly the same. Four bloodshot eyes turned in the direction of Qing Shui. Those eyes which were larger than water tanks were staring straight at Qing Shui. By now, he had finally understood why they were called a demon ox.

Their thick scaly armors were s.h.i.+ning in red. It was obvious that the other party was furious. Then they charged in Qing Shui's direction. Qing Shui felt delighted in his heart and brought the Thunderous Beast into the Nine Palace Formation. He then waited in the center of the formation for that two Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen to come into the formation.

But when the Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxes were tens of meters away from the formation, the rings of rune beneath their feet suddenly shone magnificently. They halted when they saw Qing Shui's look of surprise and stared at him cautiously.

"d.a.m.n! The ancient bloodline of this Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox has such ability too? They can sense danger in the surroundings? But there isn't any murderous aura in my Nine Palace Formation. It's true it is still dangerous. Can it be that this counts too?" Qing Shui was extremely surprised.

To be honest, if those two Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen entered just like that and got trapped, they would really disappoint Qing Shui.

Therefore, Qing Shui was uncertain if he should be happy or depressed. He wished to trap these two Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox here right now and let Wenren Wu-shuang come here to tame it at a later time when he saw her. As for Mother and the rest, he could go over to the Giant Beasts Mountains to look for a formidable demonic beast. It would be great if he could tame them here by himself, but it would also be fine if he let them and the demonic beast take the low graded Sacred Beast Pill by then.

Qing Shui got out of the formation while riding the Thunderous Beast. Then he had the Thunderous Beast unleash the Thunderbolt once again while he summoned the Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant. With Instantaneous Dragon Elephant Evasion technique, the Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant would also be safe within a short period of time.

Regardless, the strength of the Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen across them was still much more powerful compared to the Thunderous Beast and the Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant. However, it would probably be very easy for the Thunderous Beast and the Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant to surpa.s.s these Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen when they grew up later on.

ROAR!

That slightly larger Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox let out a loud roar. Its huge fiery red single horn very quickly formed a fireball. It was bright and glistening, and swirled like water.

Descending Heavens Talisman!

Vajra Subdues Demons!

Emperor’s Qi!

Qing Shui used all of these within a split second because he sensed that this Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox's flames were as good as his primordial flames. These two Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Oxen were precisely in their adulthood. Their strengths had also reached the peak of the beginner stage.

This was blood flame. He would be doomed if his fresh blood got ignited by its flame due to his recklessness. This was the most terrifying fact about the Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox. Qing Shui put away the Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant in a flash.

Primordial Flame Ball!

Qing Shui had already activated the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation long ago while he was riding on top of the Thunderous Beast's back. A Primordial Flame Ball the size of a human's head formed on the tip of his Big Dipper Sword. He didn't dare to be reckless. At the same time, Thunderous Beast's Thunderbolt never ceased either.

ROAR!

A bright red fireball as big as a water tank shot towards Qing Shui. Soon after, a lightning-like line of fire unexpectedly shot out from that blood horn. The blood red line of fire caught up to the gigantic fireball from before in a moment.

Qing Shui was shocked. He hurriedly hurled the Primordial Flame Ball towards that huge fireball at once.

Boom boom boom……

A series of explosions rang out. The surroundings were blown up, as a faint shadow that resembled a net could be seen. At the wave of Qing Shui's sword tip, the Primordial Flame Dragon forged ahead rapidly with a heaven shattering speed.

Just moments before the Primordial Flame Ball had completely melted, the Primordial Flame Dragon resisted that huge fireball. However, the Primordial Flame Dragon was being swallowed instead. Qing Shui had no choice but to raise the intensity of his own Primordial Flames to its peak.

Buddha Form Reveal, Buddha’s True Eyes!

The Primordial Flames' intensity was raised by a fold. This not only this made it possible to withstand the Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox's attack, but also allowed Qing Shui to gain the upper hand. It was at this very moment that the Thunderous Beast had opened its mouth and unleashed a series of Violet Thunder Chain Lightning towards the Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox.

ROAR!

The well proportioned Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox stamped its four limbs. This beast was slightly smaller in size, yet abundant with Spiritual Qi. A faint halo instantly blocked the Violet Thunder Chain Lightning before it slowly faded away.

Although Qing Shui was fighting, he still managed to catch a glimpse of this scene. His eyes were filled with delight. He didn't expect that this Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox was also the one that possessed the Emperor Bloodline among its group. It was no wonder that the male Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox was so fondly attached to it. After all, that male Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox would also wish that its descendants would be the most outstanding among all…

Apart from their silvery white gigantic head, the rest of its body was blood red. Not only did they appeared bold and powerful, they were very gorgeous too, especially the slightly smaller and well proportioned Bloodhorn Silverhead Demon Ox.

It seemed like there was a chance to win this battle after all!