Ancient Strengthening Technique (Portraits of Beauty) Ancient Strengthening Technique Chapter 885-886

AST 885 – Early Martial Emperor Five-Headed Demonic Spider, Qing Shui multiplying his earnings

The huge body of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider had not grown larger. In fact, it seemed to have shrunk slightly. Nonetheless, it gave off a feeling that it had become more 'tempered' and its shriek became even louder.

The silverish-grey glow from the Five-Headed Demonic Spider grew brighter and brighter. Its huge body trembled continuously. It started to shed its sh.e.l.l, which was as hard a steel. It was growing a new layer.

Rebirth?

Qing Shui felt that his wish might be fulfilled soon. If the Five-Headed Demonic Spider could break through to Martial Emperor, even if it was the weakest of Martial Emperors, it would be sufficient.

The silverish-grey glow grew brighter and brighter and the Five-Headed Demonic Spider's aura grew stronger and stronger. Qing Shui stood in the distance and watched, waiting for the Five-Headed Demonic Spider to evolve.

The time it took for one incense stick to burn pa.s.sed. Suddenly, the body of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider seemed to have exploded. The silverish-grey glow became extremely resplendent. The Five-Headed Demonic Spider released an intense aura and was wrapped up in that glow.

This time, it did not take long. Soon, the glow rescinded. Qing Shui stared blankly at the Five-Headed Demonic Spider in front of him. It was a pure silverish-grey and it looked very beautiful. Its body had a metallic look to it. However, it seemed to be half as large as before….

However, its abilities had undoubtedly grown a lot stronger and its thick aura was incomparably intense……

Qing Shui felt that the current Five-Headed Demonic Spider should be comparable to that Golden Dragon. The eyes on the five huge heads turned silvery-grey. It looked a lot more natural on it.

When it saw Qing Shui, it actually made 'chichi' sound and ran over. Then it ran circles around Qing Shui. Maybe because it had become his demonic beast but Qing Shui could feel that it had a strange connection with him.

He could even feel a sort of dependence that the Five-Headed Demonic Spider had towards him. It was an indescribable feeling. It was as though the Five-Headed Demonic Spider was a small child……

This feeling made Qing Shui feel like laughing. It was an indescribable feeling. He stretched his hands out to touch this huge fellow, trying to sense its abilities. He was actually unable to tell……

However, now that it had become his demonic beast, Qing Shui was able to use his Heavenly Vision Technique to look at the Five-Headed Demonic Spider. He wanted to see what strong techniques it had, so that he would be able to utilize it better in the future.

Mutated Five-Headed Demonic Spider!

This was the first thing Qing Shui saw. He felt amazed for awhile before he became happy. The probability of demonic beasts mutating was very low. When it happened, it was normally a good thing. It would gain some special abilities or techniques, allowing its abilities to become stronger.

Thinking of the size of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider, Qing Shui felt that it should be a result of the mutation. He then went to take a look at the techniques of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

Five Qi Origin: The Five-Headed Demonic Spider's innate technique. Permanently raises the body's abilities by five times. Does not consume any energy.

Qing Shui was stunned. He original felt that having the Fire Bird and himself was enough. Only now did he realize that the gap between a peak Martial Saint and an early Martial Emperor was so wide.He was sure that the abilities of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider were definitely at the level of a Martial Emperor. It might even be a high early Martial Emperor.

Corrosive Poison Web: The Five-Headed Demonic Spider attacks with an inescapable web. The web has a cohesive and corrosive property. The resilient spider silk is difficult to cut even with a blade.

Poison Silk Entanglement: The Five-Headed Demonic Spider can fire a thread of poison silk. This attack has a range of 500 meters and entangles the target. Its speed is very fast and it is highly toxic and cohesive.

Spider Swarm Attack: The unique ability of a king of demonic beasts. Its strong subjects are able to attack together with it.

Flying Spider Silk: After using this ability, its speed will increase by five times. This ability lasts for seven and a half minutes. It can be used once a day.

Sharpness: The Five-Headed Demonic Spider's eight legs are incredibly sharp. They carry a high toxicity and penetrating ability.

Unyielding s.h.i.+eld: The Five-Headed Demonic Spider's defense is extremely strong.

Qing Shui quickly looked through the techniques in one breath. This Five-Headed Demonic Spider did not have many battle techniques, nor did it have an explosive ability like the Mighty Elephant Stomp or Mighty Elephant's Recklessness.

Although this Five-Headed Demonic Spider did not have that kind of explosive battle techniques, nor did it have a technique like the Fire Bird's h.e.l.l’s Inferno, it was good at sneak attacks and crowd control. It could suddenly increase its speed and use the Corrosive Poison Web or Poison Silk Entanglement. Qing Shui was thinking that he could combine the Thunderous Beast's Violet Lightning Strike with the Corrosive Poison Web or Poison Silk Entanglement…

The Flying Spider Silk was a skill that it had obtained after it mutated. The Corrosive Poison Web and Poison Silk Entanglement should have been strengthened as well. He was now satisfied. He had never expected that after mutating, it would warm up to him so much. He initially thought that this early Martial Emperor beast would not be as close to him as his other demonic beasts. However, things turned out different to what he had expected.

Qing Shui attempted to communicate with it but after he heard its voice, he became stunned…

That old turtle that guarded the water crystal palace back then had an aged voice. It was a voice that was transmitted through his consciousness. However, the voice he heard from the Five-Headed Demonic Spider now was that of a four or five year old girl……

Was it because that old turtle was a very strong Martial Emperor or was it because it was very old……? As for this Five-Headed Demonic Spider, it was only in its early stages……

This was only Qing Shui's guess. He supposed that the ability to communicate via the consciousness was a standard of determining if a demonic beast was a Martial Emperor. Only by becoming a Martial Emperor could a demonic beast communicate with its master via an illusionary voice.

His Five-Headed Demonic Spider was now a Martial Emperor leveled demonic beast. His wish had finally been fulfilled. Qing Shui was feeling very happy now. As he put away the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace, he communicated with the Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

The results caused Qing Shui to become very astonished. When the Five-Headed Demonic Spider broke through to Martial Emperor, everything it sensed and saw was new to it. It could be said that the Five-Headed Demonic Spider was now a clean slate but it was roughly aware of its master and some situations.

This lead Qing Shui to be incomparably happy. To think that this would happen. It looked like that when demonic beasts broke through to Martial Emperor, it was similar to a rebirth. To Qing Shui, this was a good thing. When this happened to a tamed demonic beast, it would not forget its master. Just like Qing Shui's demonic beast, the brand on their souls would not vanish. Furthermore, after they broke through, they would remain by the side of their tamer. It would not become a masterless demonic beast after being reborn.

This was Qing Shui's guess. Qing Shui had read some records on Beast Tamers in history books. These records said that the tamed demonic beast would not betray its master when it broke through. Only when the beast was mistreated to a certain extent would it have thoughts of betrayal. There were very few people who would mistreat their demonic beast. Aside from some perverted people, no one would choose to do that. For tamers, their demonic beasts were akin to their children.

After experience rebirth, the Five-Headed Demonic Spider was now very different from before. After taking this step, it was like it had ascended to the heavens. Qing Shui really wanted to know about the level of its abilities. So he asked the Five-Headed Demonic Spider about its abilities. The answer he got caused Qing Shui to be very astonished.

Under its peak state, its abilities would nearly reach 400 stars…

This was a difference of a hundred stars compared to before. After all, previously it was already half a step into the Martial Emperor realm. Now, the level of its abilities directly jumped to 400 stars……

After all, just the Five Qi Origin could increase its body's ability level by five times. The body of demonic beasts were naturally strong and they had innate battle techniques. Humans, on the other hand, had other supplementary techniques.

The earlier increase of 100 stars was actually just an increase of 20 stars. After he weakened it, it should still have about 50 stars of abilities. Although it was strong, its speed was truly lacking.

This was the reason why Qing Shui was happy. It looked like he had gained a lot. With this breakthrough, its strength had multiplied, how terrifying.

The starting point of demonic beasts was very high and was unlike humans, who could multiply their level of abilities by ten with every breakthrough. Humans had weapons and their other supplementary techniques. They had to use their brains but demonic beasts could rely on their bodies. This was how it had been since time immemorial.

Seeing the abilities of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider caused Qing Shui to be very excited. This could also be considered as a huge increase in his strength. Although he had not become a Martial Emperor, he now had a Martial Emperor leveled demonic beast……

He had not come to the Sky Penetrating Mountains for nothing. The Primordial Demon Refining Furnace was very strong, which made his trip to the Southern Viewing Continent very worth it. The Thunderous Beast had also made significant contributions……

Not long after this, a large group of demonic spiders came. These were the subjects of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider. There were about 500 of them. Qing Shui informed the Five-Headed Demonic Spider of the rules of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal was now very big, it would have no problem accommodating all these spiders. He was just worried that the spiders might wreck the things in there.

Thus, Qing Shui communicated with the Five-Headed Demonic Spider. After obtaining its guarantee, he sent all the spiders inside his realm. The things that they could eat were the black fishes, turtles, and prawns. Qing Shui even made another huge pond and placed some black fishes, turtles, and prawns in it for them. With their speed of proliferation, food for them would not be a problem.

The Jade Spirit Fruit Tree that he placed in there not long ago was somewhat close. He also placed in the jade stones he obtained from the Ten Thousand Turtle Swamp along with some rare herbs.

Qing Shui brought all of the spiders in together.

After observing them for awhile, there did not seem to be any problems. The Five-Headed Demonic Spider now had a greater ability to make the other spiders submit to it. Out of the 500 spiders, there were 30 Four-Headed Demonic Spiders. These were Martial Saint leveled demonic beasts. A few of them even had ten stars of abilities.

Qing Shui truly felt this was a great gain now. He felt that he would not have any problem within 300,000 li of Sky Penetrating Mountains. Even if he pushed further by 200,000 li, there would still be no problems. He could finally focus on looking for the Sky Penetrating Gra.s.s.

When he communicated with the Five-Headed Demonic Spider, Qing Shui found out that its old nest was nearby. There seemed to be some things in there. The Five-Headed Demonic Spider then took the lead and brought Qing Shui back to the old nest. The five hundred spiders stayed in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, absorbing the Spiritual Qi and cultivating.

The old nest was only about 100 li away. To them, it was just a moment of traveling. After breaking through to Martial Emperor, Qing Shui found that the Five-Headed Demonic Spider was now very fast.

At the very least, Qing Shui would not be any faster than it even if he tried his best. Its speed was not inferior to that of Golden Jiao. Qing Shui felt that this new-found speed was an additional ability granted by the mutation.

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AST 886 – Formidable techniques, Musings

People feel energetic when they have something to celebrate about. This was exactly how Qing Shui felt at the moment, not tired at all. On the contrary, he felt so energetic that he felt like going back to kill the Golden Jiao or even try to tame it…

Yet, this was just wishful thinking. Humans had to learn to be content with what they had. Taming a demonic beast required the backing of a large amount of spirit energy. This was the reason why Beast Tamers didn't possess that many demonic beasts but tried their best to choose suitable ones. Otherwise, if one was able to tame an army of demonic beasts, wouldn't he be undefeatable? As everyone had a limited amount of spirit energy, even the greatest Beast Tamers could only own a limited number of demonic beasts.

Qing Shui was already content now. He could sense that he had already reached the maximum number of demonic beasts he could control with his current spirit energy. The connection between a beast tamer and his demonic beast was based on telepathy that required a large amount of spirit energy. This was why Qing Shui had only tamed the Five-Headed Demonic Spider after he had become more powerful. Otherwise, he could have only used it to refine demons.

This was also the reason why Qing Shui had never stopped training his spirit energy. He had been imprisoned by the woman in the crystal coffin precisely because his spirit energy was too weak, but he had reaped a huge benefit from that.

Without that woman, his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal wouldn't have reached the seventh level and his spirit energy would not be this powerful. He would've never gotten some of the medicinal herbs in his possession or thought about going to Eastern Victory Divine Continent. The source of his strength today could, in some sense, be boiled down to that woman.

Unfortunately, Qing Shui did not know what to think of her…

His primary goal of going to the Sky Penetrating Mountains was to search for the Sky Penetrating Gra.s.s. Everything else was secondary. As long as his strength kept rising, he held an open-mind towards the situations that presented themselves.

He reached the dwelling of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider very quickly, but the cave was actually huge. Qing Shui followed the Five-Headed Demonic Spider into the cave and as they went deeper, the surroundings got darker.

On the bright side, things like gold, jadeite and other precious stones dazzled brightly precisely because it was dark. Qing Shui did not expect to find these things here in the spider cave, especially not treasures like these. This gave him a rather strange feeling.

There were in fact some unique people in the Central Continent who required gold and precious gems for their cultivation because these things possessed a sort of Spiritual Qi. Oddly, the Five-Headed Demonic Spider did not belong to this category. When Qing Shui asked it about the s.h.i.+ning precious objects, it seemed unable to give him a straight answer.

Anyways, he had a lot of s.p.a.ce in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. No one would ever complain that he had too much money, so Qing Shui logically stored all of these things into his realm. The items included demonic beast crystals that could be used for forging equipment, alchemy and demon refining. Even though they were inferior relative to the core of a demonic beast, they were still very valuable, especially if they originally belonged to a powerful demonic beast.

The amount of items couldn't be considered too much or little. There were many demonic beast cores, perhaps the leftovers of the demonic spider's meals, but there wasn't anything in particular that piqued Qing Shui's interest. His Five-Headed Demonic Spider did not have a fearsome level of strength before its breakthrough and he doubted that just one demonic beast could keep anything special. With this in mind, he didn't feel any disappointment.

Since he was already in the location and it was getting late, Qing Shui decided to explore the place. He could rest for a day before searching for the Sky Penetrating Gra.s.s again. With his Five-Headed Demonic Spider, he could save a lot of time.

Demonic beasts ha a very strong sense of smell and very keen senses in general. With his Five-Headed Demonic Spider, no other demonic beasts dared to approach.

Since he didn't have much to do Qing Shui decided to investigate his Five-Headed Demonic Spider's stats.

First up was its speed. Qing Shui wanted to see how he matched up. He consumed a Gale Pellet and an Agility-Enhancing Fruit, but he was still unable to match the Five-Headed Demonic Spider's speed. It was on a whole different level…

Now, Qing Shui could clearly see the difference between a Peak Martial Saint and a Martial Emperor. Next, he had the Five-Headed Demonic Spider enter its Flying Spider Silk mode, which could increase its speed by five times. He wanted to see what sort of speed that would be.

Qing Shui had cold feet once he saw it. It could definitely kill him in seconds if it wanted to…

There was a large unbridgeable gap between the realms of Martial Saint and Martial Emperor. Everything was laughable when compared to absolute strength, because one would not even have the time to react.

Before its breakthrough, Qing Shui had already witnessed the terrifying prowess of its Corrosive Poison Web. There was now even a green glowing aura on the web. Despite its incredible increase in strength after it reached the Martial Emperor level, Qing Shui guessed that the faint green aura must be the result of consuming the Crimson Pellet.

When the web fell, Qing Shui tried to use his Primordial Flame Ball to burn it, but this time round, he found out that it took a really long time for his Primordial Flames to burn through the web…

Qing Shui was both happy and a little dispirited at the same time. Yet, he thought about how it was just natural that a Martial Emperor demonic beast should have such talents. Otherwise, it would be unable to compete with other beasts of the same level. If he could simply burn and destroy the spider's web, he wouldn't have struggled dealing with the Golden Jiao.

Anyway, his Primordial Flame Ball had always been like that. It was already very powerful, especially after he had reached the large success stage for his Heart of Roc. All in all, since the Five-Headed Demonic Spider was his, if its Corrosive Poison Web was powerful, it would still be beneficial to him.

He knew he would become stronger once he reached the next breakthrough. For now, he would have to depend on his Five-Headed Demonic Spider. He would treat it as his closest combat companion and bring it wherever he went— just like how beast tamers treated their demonic beasts like their children.

Without him noticing, nightfall came. Qing Shui and his Five-Headed Demonic Spider returned to the mountain cave and he pitched a tent. When it was the right time, Qing Shui brought his Five-Headed Demonic Spider into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal was rather crowded now. There were around 500 spiders and 1000 Jade Emperor Queen Bees…

Qing Shui walked around his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, observing. Even though there was a large area of untended terrain after his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal had leveled up, he managed to create a boundary for his herb garden.

The Jade Spirit Fruit Tree was thriving in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. The tree was considerably hardy and hadn't been affected too much when he had retained only its main "spiritual" roots and transplanted it in the realm.

Qing Shui walked over to where his Magnificent Mountains and Rivers Screen was standing and sat down on his Hu Wei Imperial Tutor Chair, facing the eight hanged Portraits of Beauty. Qing Shui looked at each of them sequentially.

The first portrait was Di Chen. He suddenly realized that he hadn't seen her in a long time. After she left with her master, he had not met her even once. He wondered how powerful she was now and longed to see her soon.

Each of the ladies in the drawing was a peerless beauty. Qing Shui could not decide what his relations.h.i.+p with Di Chen was. It probably couldn't be considered stable.

This time, when he had pa.s.sed through the Central Continent, he hadn't look for her but now, he wondered if he had done the right thing.

Wenren Wushuang was at the Qing residence. Qing Shui was certain that he would never leave her and would accompany her until they were both old because she was all by herself.

Yiye Jiange was his friend and his master. More importantly, she knew him very well. She was his wife in name, but Qing Shui did not know how to deal with her. She seemed to lack worldly desires, or at least at the moment. Perhaps if he could eliminate the Lion King’s Ridge in the future, that might change.

Hai Dongqing!

Qing Shui had almost forgotten about that lady. She had said that she would wait for him no matter how long it took. He wondered if that was true and how he should respond. He found his relations.h.i.+p with that woman rather miraculous. Actually, the fate that he shared with each of these incredible women was greatly mysterious and miraculous to him.

Qing Shui smiled when he looked at Canghai Mingyue. She was already his pampered wife. He could remember how stunned he was when he had seen her for the first time: her beauty that could topple kingdoms, that innate disdain in the expression of her eyes. He already had two children with her. They must have grown much taller by now.

Lady Duanmu!

Qing Shui also had not seen this woman in a long time. He forced himself not to think about it because their problems were not easily solvable. He did not mind her age and the fact that she already had a daughter. However, she seemed very bothered by that. Thinking about her daughter, Qing Shui knew that it was difficult for them to reach a proper resolution. No one could help her if she could not overcome her own prejudices.

Maybe this was because he was too young now. Could things change after ten or twenty more years?

Qing Shui shook his head, realizing that he had quite a few troubles, especially when it came to relations.h.i.+ps. The helplessness he felt when he thought about such matters made him uncomfortable. It was as if he simply could not control himself.

Qing Shui hoped nature would take its course, but there really were some things he could not do. He shook his head again and looked to the last portrait. It was the drawing of the woman in the crystal coffin. Her icy facial features were bone-chillingly beautiful and remained so even after they shared that wondrous experience.

Qing Shui could not help but remember the events of that day.

Suddenly, Qing Shui felt as if his soul had been transported to another place. As he looked around, he knew that he had reached a sort of environment that was similar to the 'dream among the sea of flowers'. This was an illusory plane and Qing Shui felt an unspoken misery.

Within the illusory plane, he saw a crystal hall! It must definitely have been that woman in the crystal coffin. After all, he was looking at the woman's portrait. Qing Shui was suddenly afraid of meeting that woman again. He did not know why, even though he knew that she could not kill him in such an illusory plane. He wasn't even afraid that she would kill him, especially since she had spared him previously.

Qing Shui stood in the middle of the crystal palace. Not far from him, he spotted an extremely beautiful woman with an exceptionally icy stare which displayed her fierce independence. She was the woman that looked the closest to a true G.o.ddess.

Her hair was gathered in a high bun, her eyebrows curved gently, and her features were naturally beautiful even without any makeup on. She had a heavenly G.o.ddess-like beauty. Her white dress could not hide her gorgeous figure— that distinctive shoulder, the curve of those b.r.e.a.s.t.s that could steal one's soul, a waist like flowing satin— which seemed perfectly sculpted by G.o.d. Even her pair of exposed jade legs held a faint crystal-like glow…

She exuded a holy aura that repelled any sort of desecration. This was the type of woman that Qing Shui thought no one should approach. It wasn't that she was a cold person but rather that she had an innate aloofness that seemed to stem from her soul.

Qing Shui could not come up with a proper explanation for her appearance. He only knew that this was a sort of connection through their consciousness despite their distance. The only thing he could infer was that this occurrence was related to the Portraits of Beauty.

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