Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 688 – The Powerful ‘Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens’

The strength of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant, under the effects of the Diamond Qi and Diamond Protection, could be considered as a Grade Five Martial Saint Level.

It would also mean that it had the attack power of 1500 countries of strength, and the defense of nearly 3000 countries of strength.

However, the Fire Bird had now achieved the power that was about 2000 countries of strength!

Qing Shui was shocked when he had realized how much power the Fire Bird currently possessed. Wasn’t this a bit too fast considering the tremendous amount of power it had gained just from one Origin Essence Pearl? The Fire Bird had jumped from being a Peak Martial King demonic beast to a Grade Six Martial Saint, or to be more precise, a Grade Six Elementary Martial Saint. In other words, the Fire Bird’s power would be equivalent to the power of a Grade Six Peak Martial Saint human.

When he thought about the flames earlier, Qing Shui felt that the Fire Bird may already had another blood awakening due to the correlation of its special blood to the advancement of his power.

The Fire Bird flew back and fluttered around happily as it soared across the sky above him. It kept letting out a series of high-pitched cries, as it obviously projected its happiness towards Qing Shui. Whenever he looked at the Fire Bird, he would always be reminded of the legendary divine bird – the Phoenix!

Especially the scene where the Fire Bird’s body was bathed in burning flames – it had instantly reminded him of a phoenix rising from the ashes!

Qing Shui couldn’t wait to find out the Fire Bird’s newfound abilities, so he decided to check them quickly. When he saw the abilities, he realized that most of it had already changed.

The Flying ability was a natural ability of the Fire Bird, as to most flying beasts in the world. The endurance and the speed of flight were incomparable, which didn’t come as a surprise as the flying ability was considered as the best skill any flying beast could possess. In the case of the Fire Bird, it could now fly four times the speed of sound for a longer period of time.

Qing Shui was quite pleased with the improvement. The speed of his Fire Bird was now doubled compared to its previous state. And most importantly, its endurance had grown quite strong, which was even stronger than his Diamond Gigantic Elephant.

Hell’s Inferno: Fire Bird’s powerful flame attack. The pitch-black flame has the ability to burn everything in its way. It was considered to had a terrifying and disruptive force when unleashed.

The name seemed to have had a change as well!

Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens: When this move was released, its power and the damage of its flame attack would be doubled. These effects would last for 15 minutes, and could only be used once per day. During the span of 15 minutes, any damage inflicted on the Fire Bird would be reduced by multiple folds.

Qing Shui was stunned immediately by this abnormally strong battle skill. It took him quite a long time to regain his composure, as well as to realize what the name ‘Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens’ implied. Was it an indication that there was a possibility for the Fire Bird to evolve to a Phoenix in the future?

It would be too insane if he use the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens as a supplementary skill during a battle. The Fire Bird could now strike with 2000 countries of strength and endure damages it received at around 8000 countries of strength in 15 minutes. As for the burning flame of the Hell’s Inferno, he still had no clue about how much damage it could inflict yet.

It was quite unfortunate that the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens could only last for 15 minutes, and also disheartening that it could only be used once per day. If he could use the skill for an unlimited number of times in one day, then the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens would certainly become a much powerful threat to his opponents.

Qing Shui would never have thought that the Fire Bird could actually gain such a powerful supplementary battle skill during this breakthrough. He felt a bit jealous because of that.

If only the Fire Bird’s power was a bit higher – despite having a mighty defense power, it could essentially become an invincible being in front of those below the grade of Peak Martial Saints under the influence of the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens. Of course, without the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens, it would be an entirely different story.

And there was also the powerful Hell’s Inferno – in which he could incorporate it with his Critical Damage and Primordial Flame Ball under the effects of the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens to perform an overwhelming attack.

Qing Shui eventually cooled down his excitement and continued to analyze the Fire Bird’s skills. So far, the Fire Bird had shown some promising results that could provide assistance to Qing Shui for the next battle. Indeed, it had experienced quite a tremendous change.

Phoenix Paradise: When the Fire Bird had received a fatal blow, there would be a 30% chance of rising from the ashes after it had died!

This skill had already existed during the last breakthrough, so besides having its power greatly improved, the only new skill the Fire Bird had gained was the almighty supplementary skill – the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens.

As he felt extremely satisfied, Qing Shui called back all of his demonic beasts and kept them inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Then he slowly made his way to the deeper parts of the Mountain of Longevity.

His footsteps had become bolder as he trekked his way into the mountains – he had gained a bit of confidence because of the Fire Bird’s breakthrough. If the Fire Bird had the power it currently possessed during the fight with the White Jade Jiao, the battle would have gone a bit smoother without much effort. If the White Jade Jiao had been weakened by Qing Shui’s technique first, then the Fire Bird would be able to hit a tie with the White Jade Jiao, given that the Fire Bird had activated the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens beforehand. During the moment of the heated battle between the two demonic beasts, Qing Shui would have an ample time to ‘snatch’ away the Ice Snow Sacred Fruit before the White Jade Jiao could notice.

Even if he tried to kill the White Jade Jiao with his enhanced Fire Bird, it would have been a lot easier to do.

Either way, he had already reached his goal, and the Fire Bird had already reached a breakthrough, so he was still quite happy about it. His heart was explicitly filled with joy and happiness at this point.

Perhaps the area he was on was still a part of the White Jade Jiao’s territory, which could explain the lack of any encounter with another powerful demonic beast so far. However, when he had reached about 50 li deep inside the mountains, he finally encountered a few demonic beasts. Sadly, these demonic beasts could not even compare to the strength of the invincible White Jade Jiao.

Qing Shui had now reached 500 li deep into the mountains. The journey was all smooth sailing except for the White Jade Jiao earlier, however, that was also because of the Ice Snow Sacred Fruits that were present in that area.

Then he had a funny thought for a bit when he remembered about the Ice Snow Sacred Fruit Tree he had gotten earlier. The tree was more valuable than the fruit because the fruits would take a lot of time to mature before it could be pick up. If the fruit was harvested while it was still young, then that would be a loss for everyone. Most people who stumbled upon the fruit would either pick the unripe fruits or give them up entirely.

Even when Qing Shui had already possessed an artifact that was as mighty as the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he still didn’t know how to describe his excitement when he had obtained the Ice Snow Scared Fruit tree from the White Jade Jiao.

It would be extremely difficult for someone who wished to stand on top of the World of the Nine Continents without having a few supreme treasures on their sleeves. So each time he had acquired a new powerful artifact, he felt like he had taken another step towards the apex of the World of the Nine Continents.

After five days had passed, Qing Shui had already ventured 800 li deep into the mountains. At that moment, Qing Shui hesitated to push his journey forward. Old man Ying had warned him that if he hadn’t reach the level of a Peak Martial Saint yet, then he should not venture beyond the range of 1000 li.

In any case, he had already reached so far, so he decided to search around the area to find the Three Tailed Immortal Fox.

There were rumors that the Three Tailed Immortal Fox had lived in a remote area with an extremely cold weather, which meant that this part of the mountains had qualified to that condition. He was filled with hope that he might be able to find the Three Tailed Immortal Fox around here.

The Three Tailed Immortal Fox was a demonic beast with a level between Elementary Martial Saint to less than Grade Two Martial Saint. Even though the Everlasting Pellet required the Three Tailed Immortal Fox Blood, the alchemy recipe stated that it was the lowest requirement needed to be able to successfully refine one. So it would be best if he was able to find a Four Tailed Immortal Fox Blood, otherwise the Three Tailed Immortal Fox Blood would do just fine.

He had roamed over the mountains and through the deep ravines, passed through bottomless ponds and a seemingly ancient forest, and walked through multiple tunnels. He had been to almost everywhere within the supposed territory of the Three Tailed Immortal Fox, but he couldn’t find any foxes except for other demonic beasts that didn’t interest him. Qing Shui was extremely uninterested to fight those demonic beasts – he didn’t want to fight the Martial Saint beasts despite being able to because he didn’t want to waste any of his time. If he went on a rampage to kill the demonic beasts, he wouldn’t be able to kill them all as there were too many of them. When he first killed a few demonic beasts, he had acquired quite an amount of beast leather and cores. But after that, he had completely lost his interest in those items.

Within the 1000-li territory, there weren’t any demonic beast that could compare to the White Jade Jiao earlier. But if he was able to meet one again, it might be a lucky incident, or it could be a disaster, depending on the outcome. Just like the White Jade Jiao, if he had won the fight, then he was lucky to be able to reap the spoils of the battle, but if he had lost the fight, then it would be a disaster as he would be dead by then.

At random times, the sky would be swarmed with a bunch of large flying beasts either flying alone or in a group. The distance from here to the Village of Longevity was around 1000 li. However, none of the demonic beasts had ever caused any trouble in the Village of Longevity before. Old man Ying had mentioned earlier that there were a few Demon Suppressing Stones placed on the mountain peaks around the village to ward off the demonic beasts from disturbing them.

It wasn’t all that surprising for a dangerous place like this to have a Demon Suppressing Stone despite being close to a town area. However, this was a place that could be easily assaulted by a demonic beast, so it was best to prevent any casualties by placing a Demon Suppressing Stone to keep off any demonic beasts from this area.

The Demon Suppressing Stones had different grades, which could be used to subdue different demonic beasts of different grades as well. Typically, Demon Suppressing Stones were carved into the shape of a beast that imitated the silhouette of an auspicious beast, dragon beast, or divine beast. A highly skilled sculptor could even infuse a type of mysterious energy into the stone as they carved the shape into it.

And then a month had passed.

Qing Shui didn’t catch any glimpse of the Three Tailed Immortal Fox, but he was able to find quite a few rare medical herbs around the Mountain of Longevity, especially near the tunnels, ponds, and areas of high altitudes.

Today, he decided to search around for the Three Tailed Immortal Fox again. He had already made a final decision – if he could not find the fox within the next three to five days, then he would leave immediately and go elsewhere to search for the traces of the Three Tailed Immortal Fox.

Caw!

Suddenly, a piercing cry rang out in the sky. Qing Shui seemed to be familiar with the sound as he reacted quickly by looking up to the sky as fast as he could.

Three-legged Crow!

Qing Shui had looked around the sky and noticed that there was only one Three-legged Crow soaring above him. The Three-legged Crow was considered to be a Grade Seven Martial Saint demonic beast as it possessed the power around the strength of 4000 countries. The crow was about 20 meters in height, and it had a body colored completely in black. Its beak and claws were quite sharp, and so was its piercing cries, which could easily distort one’s state of mind if not careful.

The Three-legged Crow could also be considered as a mutant beast, as well as one of the variation of the crow species. It was a demonic beast that travelled within a large group to form a powerful colony, which they would normally do. However, this crow appeared to be travelling alone. And as lonely as it seemed, this crow was also dumb enough to rush towards Qing Shui as soon as it saw him.

Screech!

Qing Shui quickly summoned his Fire Bird!

The sudden appearance of the giant Fire Bird had shocked the Three-legged Crow for a moment, but it quickly let out a high-pitched cry as if it was trying to intimidate the Fire Bird before it flew towards the Fire Bird’s direction instead.

The crow thought it could intimidate the Fire Bird just because it possessed about 4000 countries of strength, which was twice the amount of Fire Bird’s 2000 countries of strength. Feeling confident of its victory, the Three-legged Crow quickly rushed towards the Fire Bird without hesitation.

Screech!

Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens!

The Fire Bird let out a high-pitched cry as it was enveloped in a layer of red flickering light. In that instance, the Fire Bird appeared as if it was a legendary divine bird doused in a holy flame. After that, it opened its beak widely and quickly spouted a dark suffocating flame at the crow!

The flame was a few meters long and a meter wide – it had morphed into a shape of a giant sword as it travelled through the air.

Caw caw!

At that moment, the Three-legged Crow seemed to had sensed a great danger to its life and began to find a way to escape quickly. However, it was too late, as the dark flame had instantly hit the body of the Three-legged Crow. The suffocating flame in combination with Fire Bird’s supersonic flying speed was practically unavoidable.

In a flash, the mighty cry of the crow had turned into a screech of desolation. A giant flying demonic beast had vanished in the air within a breath of time,which left a subtle scent of burnt roasted meat.

Qing Shui was overjoyed. Even though the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens could only be used once per day, he wasn’t concerned about that at all. The Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal that Qing Shui had frequented could be used multiple times per day. So in essence, if he put away his Fire Bird into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal after it had used the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens, then he could wait until a day had passed in that realm before he could use the move once more.

The ratio of the time in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to the time in real-life was 200:1. With that in mind, he could use the move once again in about less than 15 minutes – or seven and a half minutes to be precise. He would be able to use the move again in less than 15 minutes, provided that the Fire Bird returned to the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal as soon as the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens had been used up. Because of that, Qing Shui wasn’t particularly upset with the limit because he had found a loophole to use this skill as many times as he wanted within a day.

As mentioned before, the Fire Bird could only be considered as a Grade Six Elementary Martial Saint due to its current strength. Despite that, Qing Shui realized that it had also possessed a powerful and dignified aura of a king, which could enable the Fire Bird to face an opponent stronger than itself without feeling suppressed due to the difference of their levels.