Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1009 – Battle, Joint Battle With Thunderous Beast, Grinding Cultivation

“Hmm, Crystal Cards, how did I forget about these?”

Qing Shui quickly took out several Crystal Cards that could increase his poison ability, power, speed and defense and subsequently slapped those cards onto his body. These cards were able to increase 60% of his abilities, allowing him to gain some power no more than the strength of 30 stars, which was about 10% of his overall power.

He didn’t know whether he should hate the world’s regulation or love it!

The world has a regulation that could limit his potential power tremendously but with the Area Dominance and Emperor’s Qi, as well as the Heaven Descending Talisman, he could take on beings far more powerful than himself in an alarming manner. Moreover, these debuffing skills had become more powerful, which could still decrease the combat statistic of his opponents in an instant, albeit in their usual manner. Qing Shui was satisfied nonetheless. Perhaps the world’s regulation wasn’t so bad after all.

There was no time to lose right now. The effects of his battle armor could only increase by 10% but it was better than nothing. Qing Shui evaded the dragon’s colossal attack and tapped his Big Dipper Sword on the Berserk Dragon’s tail.

Art of Pursuing.

With the ability to ignore the disparity between their power, the Art of Pursuing could not be evaded but could be warded off with some sort of unique item or skill. However, Qing Shui decided to try his luck. It would be ideal if the dragon could not ward off the effect whatsoever.

Bang!

Qing Shui’s arm shivered a little as he deviated the terrifying force from himself. The Art of Pursuing was able to increase his opponent’s weight and decrease its speed in the process.

Qing Shui consumed both the Gale Pellet and Agility-Enhancing Fruit, allowing him to move a bit faster than the Berserk Dragon. The strike from his sword wasn’t able to inflict a heavy wound on the dragon but he was able to sway its tail away from him, which inadvertently caused the dragon to let out a furious roar.

Combination Sword Technique!

Bang!

Qing Shui was able to knock back the gigantic beast this time, which led him to think that this was the effect of the Shield Attack. If he were to face an opponent of weaker power, it wouldn’t be surprising if he could hit a successful knock-back because of his greater power.

But now, it was different. First of all, his opponent was a Berserk Dragon with a humongous head and secondly, the gigantic beast was far more powerful than himself. In addition to that, the Shield Attack ability had recently upgraded to the third level, increasing the chances of a successful strike by a lot.

Qing Shui felt a rush in his veins when he was able to disrupt the senses of this gigantic and domineering dragon. The dragon has four legs resembling the pillars of a building, with the height about dozens meter tall. The scales of the dragon were violet in color but metallic in texture. It was enormous in size, especially the head – which was ferocious and massive. This was the first demonic beast that Qing Shui thought had the fiercest and most compelling appearance. The Berserk Dragon was as sinister as the Seven-headed Scarlet Serpent he had fought before.

Qing Shui depended on his speed and the Nine Palace Steps to avoid clashing against the Berserk Dragon. However, the dragon had a mighty defense, which he found impossible to break at the moment.

Bang!

This time, he was able to knock back the dragon some distance. The 20% chance of doubling his attack and activation of the Shield Attack ability had appeared. He continued to swirl around the dragon, finding a possible weakness he could exploit.

The two large eyeballs could be a weakness but he knew it would be inconvenient to land an attack on the area around the eyes. Qing Shui continued to look around the other parts of its body but all of them were covered in armor of scales. Worst of all, he couldn’t even break the dragon’s armor even under his peak condition.

Roar!

The Berserk Dragon roared furiously, perhaps due to Qing Shui’s constant evasion from his assaults. In the midst of fury, the dragon flailed its gigantic tail aimlessly at Qing Shui like a tornado, covering the surroundings with dust and wind. Qing Shui took a an abrupt step forward and swung his sword with a distinct strength.

Sword of Sixth Wave!

Bang…..

Qing Shui quickly retreated but his expression had eased up a little. The Shield Attack didn’t activate and the damage unleashed did not multiply, yet the Berserk Dragon was knocked back by his attack. As long as he could resist against the dragon’s attack, he was confident that he could destroy it after a while.

In essence, humans were smarter creatures than demonic beasts. Qing Shui still had many tricks up his sleeves, so he took this battle as a way to grind his cultivation. His power had surged too fast these past few days anyway.

Buddha’s True Eyes!

Roar!

Qing Shui unconsciously unleashed the Buddha’s True Eyes, which unexpectedly shocked the Berserk Dragon for a moment. However, the dragon quickly regained its composure and became more violent, opening its jaws and spouted a burning mass of air.

Toxic miasma!

Qing Shui didn’t think that the Berserk Dragon actually had the ability to spout toxic miasma with a terrifying high temperature. Even though he wasn’t completely immune to poison and fire, the dragon’s attack could not cause any damage to him even the slightest.

Sword of Sixth Wave!

Roc’s Might!

Binding Talisman!

As time passed, Qing Shui felt increasingly adept in his attacks, including the Nine Palace Steps, which was increasing in strength as well. Basically, he was able to confront the tough Berserk Dragon with equal toughness.

Combination Sword Technique!

The next moment was followed by a series of clashing sounds that echoed throughout the air. The Four Moves Combination Sword Technique was the fastest way to increase in strength due to Qing Shui being extreme proficient in this technique. While using this technique through an actual combat with a dragon, he was able to stabilize the state of his technique, becoming more dextrous as he unleashed his attack against the Berserk Dragon.

The flow of his attack felt nice – it felt like he had finally completed the mastery of this technique. As soon as the Four Moves Combination Sword Technique was unleashed, the explosive force at the moment of attack was subsequently increased as well.

Once again, Qing Shui was able to sense the potent strength of the Nine Palace Steps. However, the Berserk Dragon had a terrifying level of defense, which would prove to be difficult if Qing Shui wanted to kill the towering beast with ease. If it hadn’t been for its defense, Qing Shui would have killed it within a few seconds.

The eyes!

Qing Shui had a sudden epiphany that the eyes of the dragon must be the key to his victory. Unfortunately, the dragon has horns on its head and the eyelids were covered in scales. The eye movements of the dragon were unbelievably fast, so it would still be difficult if he tried to assault the dragon through its eyes.

Roar!

Another metallic roar rang out in the air!

After that, a ray of brilliant violet light gleamed on the Berserk Dragon’s body, causing Qing Shui to retreat abruptly. With the exception of the Emperor’s Qi, the other debuffing skills had no effect on the dragon, including the Heaven Descending Talisman and Art of Pursuing…..

A demonic beast of such formidable strength has the ability to cleanse its body from negative effects but it could only be used once in a specific amount of time. However, after the cleanse had been performed, the beast would be immune from the same negative effect inflicted previously for a short period of time.

Qing Shui struck another Heaven Descending Talisman on the Berserk Dragon but it was no more effective than the previous one.

In the midst of striking the talisman, he was nearly scratched by the dragon’s giant claws. Fortunately, he was able to escape from the near-fatal strike with the Nine Palace Steps and immediately after that, he called out four of his demonic beasts – Diamond Gigantic Elephant, Fire Bird, Thunderous Beast and Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

Four Symbols Formation!

Qing Shui allowed his demonic beasts to stand further away from each other to set the formation while he continued to do his best to hold off the Berserk Dragon. He wasn’t worried about himself but more concerned that the Berserk Dragon could inflict heavy damage to his demonic beasts whilst they were attempting to prepare for the formation. Additionally, if they weren’t careful enough, they could be killed in an instant – a split-second kill.

Four Symbols Formation!

Through Qing Shui’s telepathic communication with his demonic beasts, he commanded Thunderous Beast to replace Fire Bird’s position, which would increase the effectiveness of the five elemental magical damage, like Fire Bird’s fire element attacks and Thunderous Beast’s lightning element attacks.

And with the Spirit Gathering Lamp, Thunderous Beast’s attack was instantly boosted. At that moment, Qing Shui kept watch of his demonic beasts’ movements as they arranged themselves in a position according to the plan he had communicated.

Ever since he had reached the breakthrough to Martial Emperor, his telepathic communication had become easier and smoother.

The Berserk Dragon wasn’t cautious of Qing Shui’s demonic beasts, perhaps due to the insufficient power against itself. The dragon took a quick glance at his demonic beasts but ultimately turned its focus on the human in front of its presence with fiery glare, intending to unleash its wrath on Qing Shui.

Qing Shui retreated slowly to lure the Berserk Dragon closer to his demonic beasts’ attack range. The dragon was now about 1000 meters apart and the Thunderous Beast required 800 meters of distance from its opponent before it could unleash an attack.

Qing Shui wanted to test the Thunderous Beast’s power now – as a training to gauge how strong the damage would be.

Demon Binding Ropes!

At the same time, Qing Shui commanded the Thunderous Beast to strike an attack.

The Demon Binding Ropes that resembled a large yellow dragon of the thickness of an adult’s leg flung towards the Berserk Dragon. The moment he struck the ropes was the moment a ray of violet light flashed radiantly from the Thunderous Beast’s body.

Thunderbolt!

The attack that would hit hard on an opponent landed straight on the Berserk Dragon’s body.

Despite the formidable strength of the Berserk Dragon, the Thunderbolt attack was able to send the dragon into a shiver, albeit only slightly, much like a human being bitten by an ant. The dragon could ignore it completely but even a slight sting on the body could be felt clearly though its senses.

Thunderbolt!

The Thunderbolt from the Thunderous Beast was fast enough but not that slow. After two strikes of the Thunderbolt, the Demon Binding Ropes were able to entangle the Berserk Dragon successfully.

The moment has come yet again, the Thunderous Beast was able to unleash another Thunderbolt attack on the dragon.

However, the same violet light radiated from the Berserk Dragon once again, seemingly trying to untangle itself from the Demon Binding Ropes.

Crack!

The Demon Binding Ropes returned to its owner’s hand after being loosened by the Berserk Dragon. At the same time, the mountain-like stature of the Berserk Dragon rose up abruptly like a nimble ape, instilling Qing Shui with a sense of shock and strengthened caution.

With no time to waste, Qing Shui took out the Soulshake Bell immediately.

With the instantaneous use of the Nine Palace Steps, he appeared in front of the Berserk Dragon and dived his Big Dipper Sword with all his might!

Sixth Wave!

Swoosh swoosh…..

The Soulshake Bell began to jiggle abruptly when the Berserk Dragon was at the distance less than ten meters away.

Roar roar…..

Qing Shui was caught by surprise when the Soulshake Bell was able to inflict fear into the Berserk Dragon. Even though the dragon was stricken with fear, it didn’t reach to the point where it would flee or die from fright. The ‘morale’ of the dragon was decreased, however, much like destroying the spirits of defeated soldiers in a war. In a battlefield, a general would not be able to kill a lot of opponents but if that general could manage to kill the commanding general of the opposite force, then the morale of his troops would be boosted, stimulating his troops to defeat the opposite force with one vigorous effort.

Right now, the Berserk Dragon looked like a soldier whose morale had been lowered near to the minimum point.

Thunderbolt!

………

Each time the Thunderbolt was struck, the effect would accumulate. The Berserk Dragon had no idea how terrifying the accumulated energy from the Thunderbolt was. The dragon couldn’t care less right now, because it was more cautious about the Soulshake Bell being held in Qing Shui’s hand.

The beast had an expression akin to a human who feared watching the grotesque scenes in a horror movie. Even though the horrible monsters in the horror movie were fictional, humans would still be terrified nonetheless.

The Berserk Dragon wasn’t aware that Qing Shui had been shaking the Soulshake Bell more than he needed to. He was afraid that the bell would be ineffective against a large dragon, so he shook the bell until the energy stored inside it had been used up completely. Qing Shui only held it in his hand as an intimidating method against his opponent.

It was time to make a move!

Heaven Descending Talisman!

Qing Shui took out the Heaven Descending Talisman again and struck it towards the Berserk Dragon!

Clack!

Success!

Roar!

The Berserk Dragon swung its tail towards Qing Shui in retaliation but quickly found its body a bit stiff as it turned to swing its humongous tail. The stiffness was felt clearly and Qing Shui noticed its swing 30% slower than before, seemingly incoherent with the dragon’s overall movements.

Violet Lightning Strike!

Qing Shui threw two 10,000-Year Coldsteel Beads he had prepared earlier towards the Berserk Dragon.

These weapons had been refined thoroughly with poison.

He was aiming for the moment when his opponent opened its eyes and used the Violet Lightning Strike to force it open for a short while. The Thunderbolt from the Thunderous Beast was struck earlier in order for the Violet Lightning Strike to accumulate to the stun effect.

Blackjade Poisonous Spiderweb!

All of Qing Shui’s attacks were unleashed in a flash!

Pu pu!

Undeniably, the Berserk Dragon was quite powerful but it had one weakness – the eyeballs. The eyelids were made of scales, so striking the eyes openly or through sneak attacks when the eyes were closed would be useless. The Berserk Dragon could not be staggered no matter what attack he had unleashed against the towering beast.

If the Violet Lightning Strike didn’t possess the ability that could ignore the status of other demonic beasts of the same level, the Berserk Dragon wouldn’t be stunned for a moment and create an opportunity for Qing Shui to go in for a strike. Even though the Violet Lightning Strike could ignore the disparity of strength between its opponent and itself, it would only take a moment equivalent to the blink of an eye to stun a Berserk Dragon of such power.

Roar roar……

The dragon didn’t die, however. Qing Shui looked at the Berserk Dragon thrashing about in the middle of the Blackjade Poisonous Spiderweb and was instantly reminded of the web’s toxic element. He knew the dragon would die eventually but it would take an amount of time before the poison could diminish the life out of it.

The Coldsteel Bead wasn’t as large as the dragon’s eyeball but it could still sting the eyeball like a stab from a needle. No matter how powerful the Berserk Dragon was, the poison from the Coldsteel Beads would eventually enter its system and destroy its mind.

The Thunderous Beast was a control type demonic beast, so from the beginning of the battle, Qing Shui had been planning on using its abilities to match with his Hidden Weapons against the Berserk Dragon. The Thunderbolt could leave the formidable beast numb, while the Violet Lightning Strike could reverse the course of events in an instant when Qing Shui was found stuck in an undesirable situation.