Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1018 – Meeting Mo Zitong Again

“That’s true. Oh, right. What matters do you have here today?”

Qing Shui looked at the curious Elder Zhou and smiled. “I want to see someone from the Demon Gate that has the power to speak. It would be best if I can meet your clan’s head.”

Elder Zhou frowned. The clan head of Demon Gate wasn’t someone that could be met by just anyone. However, he could only silently admire Qing Shui when he saw his calm demeanor. So he nodded at him with a smile. “I shall bring you to meet someone who has the power to speak for Demon Gate.”

There was a reason behind Elder Zhou’s immediate agreement. Mo Zitong had specially informed him about this before. If Qing Shui came to the Demon Gate, bring Qing Shui to him.

Qing Shui was also surprised that he had agreed so easily like this. He initially thought that he would have to go through a lot of troubles, or even had to lift a finger when needed to force the other party’s important member to show himself.

Since this could be settled peacefully then it would be for the best. After all, the problem between the Demon Gate and Buddha Sect wasn’t something that could easily be solved. It was basically impossible for both parties to come to a reconciliation with each other. Hence, it was not strange at all for things to turn out the way it did for Huoyun Peng and Mo Hongluo.

Perhaps they had already expected such an ending. However, people couldn’t care so much once such feelings between two parties were conceived. In the end, this didn’t only make them suffer but also their daughter, Huoyun Liu-Li.

“Then I shall thank you for your trouble, Elder Zhou.” Qing Shui said courteously and smiled.

“Let us make a move now then!”

As soon as Elder Zhou finished his sentence, a black crow appeared. Elder Zhou signaled for Qing Shui to get on the black crow. He promptly soared into the air and landed on the back of the black crow. This was Demon Gate’s flying beast. However, this black was much inferior to the ones used by Mo Zitong, Elder Wu and the rest.

The black crow flew towards a distant place. Qing Shui stood by Elder Zhou’s side. He didn’t say anything since he was going to meet someone slightly reputable from the Demon Gate. It wouldn’t be too late to speak until then.

“Does Mister Qing have any business with the Demon Gate?” Elder Zhou said casually. He sounded so absent-minded that it didn’t even sound like a question. It was more like something he had casually said.

“I’ve come to the Demon Gate to see someone,” Qing Shui said slowly after thinking for a moment.

“See someone? If you don’t mind, you can tell me. I might know that someone,” Elder Zhou seemed to be very interested in the person that Qing Shui wanted to meet.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Qing Shui asked while smiling.

Elder Zhou’s heart jumped when he saw Qing Shui’s smile and he didn’t know why. He started to hesitate now, unsure of how to respond to that question.

“Do you know Mo Hongluo?” Qing Shui wasn’t afraid to expose this. He might find out about something else.

“Mo Hongluo? The name sounds like someone from the Demon Gate, but why have I never heard of him?” Elder Zhou looked at Qing Shui doubtfully.

Thoughts were running through Elder Zhou’s head very rapidly. People with the surname Mo were all important figures from the Demon Gate. On top of that, people with the surname Mo were very rare and they were mostly from the Demon Gate.

Qing Shui didn’t say anything else. He didn’t need to explain further if Elder Zhou couldn’t even recognize the name. Besides, Huoyun Liu-Li was all grown up now and was in her thirties. This meant that Mo Hongluo had been imprisoned for more than 30 years. He reckoned that only a few people in the Demon Gate currently would know of this.

While they were talking, they had entered a large mountainous region. After flying for about another one hour, a winding flight of stone steps appeared beneath them. Elder Zhou stopped the black crow for a landing.

Qing Shui checked his surroundings without saying anything else. The stone steps here weren’t huge and winded upwards. Manors were seen on either side of the stone steps and they extended up the slope. The manors here were unique and had a distinctive style. They could withstand mountain flash flood and rain. Moreover, they were actually close to the summit so the area around them was more level. On top of that, the mountain rocks were more stable than the land, so there was no need to worry about any landslides.

As they made their way up to the summit, he could see the manors populating around the region here and they were well spaced. Although the buildings weren’t arranged neatly and were of different heights, they made a peculiarly beautiful scenery.

When they arrived on the mountain, they met a lot of people. Most of them were dressed in black and many of them greeted Elder Zhou when they saw him. Some also greeted Qing Shui and many of them recognized him.

They were all very surprised. After all, Qing Shui didn’t really leave a good impression on Demon Gate. Mo Zitong, who was number one among the younger generation of Demon Gate, was pushed down and could only be beaten by this youth. Even Elder Wu was injured by him and he had also warned Demon Gate not to act blindly without thinking.

He was the only person who dared to do such thing in the World of the Nine Continents. Although his warning wasn’t heeded by the Demon Gate at all, Mo Zitong stopped Demon Gate from taking action on Qing Shui. He wished to defeat Qing Shui with his own hands and find his honor back.

Hence, Demon Gate didn’t take any action since Qing Shui’s existence could encourage Mo Zitong to constantly improve. He had an objective that continuously motivated him. Qing Shui could be considered his rival.

Regardless of everything, it was important to have a rival. One would be able to improve very rapidly if they had a rival, at least faster than usual.

Some people were even worked up and wanted to fight Qing Shui on the spot. But they behaved as soon as Elder Zhou told them that Mo Zitong wanted to meet Qing Shui. They had only done that earlier to intimidate Qing Shui. This was Demon Gate, they reckoned that not even Qing Shui dared to be impudent here. Little did they know that Qing Shui could actually kill all of them without batting an eye.

They entered into a less eye-catching manor. This manor was very huge. There seemed to be a few more smaller courtyards around. Two guards stood at the entrance. “Is the young lord around?” Elder Zhou went up and asked politely.

“Yes, he is. Do you have any business with him, Elder Zhou?” The tall and strong man on the left asked. He appeared to only be in his thirties.

“Can you please inform the young lord that Qing Shui has come?”

“Alright, I shall go at once!”

News of Qing Shui coming to Demon Gate spread like wildfire here. Qing Shui’s name was especially famous around Demon Gate. Most people seemed to know about him.

“The young lord has extended his invitation to Mister Qing alone.” The man from earlier came back and informed Elder Zhou.

“Qing Shui, I’m leaving first. The young lord is definitely one of the reputable people among Demon Gate.” Elder Zhou smiled at Qing Shui.

“You have my gratitude, Elder Zhou.” Qing Shui said with a smile. Despite everything, Elder Zhou was the one who had brought him here.

Back then, Qing Shui had shown mercy on Mo Zitong and Elder Wu because they were from Demon Gate. When he later found out that Huoyun Liu-Li’s mother was Mo Hongluo, he knew that he had probably done the right thing in going easy on them.

He knew that Demon Gate actually had no other choice but to imprison Mo Hongluo. They could only blame it on this ill-fated relationship between them as the Buddha Sect had similarly imprisoned Huoyun Peng. Great aristocrat clans could afford to lose anything but face. They couldn’t yield at any cost.

Besides, some things weren’t going to be solved even if one party yielded. This was why it had led to the current situation.

Qing Shui went into the manor. The moment he went in, he sensed two powerful auras that were similar to Ji Yunlang. There was also another aura that was about 2,000 stars. This should be Mo Zitong’s aura. Those other two were probably the people who were guarding Mo Zitong. Demon Gate was indeed powerful.

There weren’t too many people in the manor. Qing Shui made his way towards the rear courtyard because the guards at the gate had told Qing Shui that Mo Zitong was at the rear courtyard. That aura of 2,000 stars strength also came from the rear courtyard. It was most likely Mo Zitong.

The rear courtyard was vast, just like a small sized public square. He could already see Mo Zitong who was fully dressed in black looking in his direction from a distance. There was some beauty in his handsomeness. He watched Qing Shui with battle intent surging in his eyes right at this moment.

He was number one among the younger generation of Demon Gate. There were no other disciples of the same age from any other aristocrat clans or great sect who could suppress him and beat him. Yet this youth was able to do it. He had completely suppressed him and easily defeated him.

Mo Zitong strength had increased tremendously again by now. Although he wasn’t fully confident, he still wished to battle with Qing Shui once again.

Qing Shui walked over while smiling.

“So we meet again,” Qing Shui chuckled at Mo Zitong. The tone of his voice was very relaxed, imperceptibly dissolving Mo Zitong’s intense battle intention.

This greatly astonished Mo Zitong. It was important to know that one would be in a very dangerous situation when their resolution was dissolved by another; though he knew that Qing Shui had no intention of killing him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone easy on him last time.

“I want to fight with you again once more!” Mo Zitong tried his best to raise his battle intention. But things didn’t go quite as well as he hoped it would be.

“You can’t even bring your battle intent together anymore. You’re not my match and I don’t wish to attack your will to fight. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to raise your strength again in the future.” Qing Shui advised gently.

“I want to fight with you again, even if I am going to lose!” Mo Zitong said coolly.

Qing Shui was going to reject at first, but he smiled instead after thinking for a moment. “Sure. But if you lose, you’ll have to agree to my condition.”

Mo Zitong frowned. Agree to his condition? Could he agree to his condition if he wanted to take over Demon Gate? He was having second thoughts about this now, but then he inwardly sighed. He was sighing about how he was already thinking he would lose before he even fought with him.

“I’m not going to agree to any conditions.” Mo Zitong replied very flatly.

This was a great surprise to Qing Shui. He had thought that he would ask him about the condition. Little did he expect he’d immediately refuse.

“Don’t you want to know why have I come here today?” Qing Shui looked at Mo Zitong who had pretty much lost all his battle intention. Perhaps he had known that he wasn’t his opponent because his current strength was even a little inferior to Qing Shui’s strength back at that time.

“You’re going to tell me anyway.” Mo Zitong laughed. He seemed to be very confident about that.

Qing Shui laughed too. He was right about that. Mo Zitong wasn’t going to let him talk about any conditions with him. Furthermore, Qing Shui wasn’t only here to only talk about conditions. He wanted to see someone. If they wouldn’t let him, he’d fight. It would be easier to talk about conditions when he had beaten the hell out of someone.

This was the most effective method when it came to dealing with a big sect. The best way to deal with them was to suppress them through force. As for whether it would work, he’d know if he tried.

“I wish to see someone,” Qing Shui directly told Mo Zitong.

Yet it was during this moment Mo Zitong suddenly moved. “You’ll have to beat me first before we talk about this!”

Mo Zitong’s figure dashed towards Qing Shui rapidly. He raised the Qi aura of his entire body tremendously and suppressed Qing Shui. His footwork was complex and strange.

Mo Zitong’s strength had improved considerably over this period of time. Although he felt that he was still somewhat inferior to the past Qing Shui, he still didn’t want to give up. He wanted to give it another try. During this period of time, he spent most of his time cultivating his speed.

During the last time, he felt that his speed was completely suppressed. Now that he felt that his speed and footwork had increased tremendously, he should at least be able to persevere a little longer this time.

Qing Shui was taken aback. He didn’t expect that Mo Zitong would still be unwilling to give up until the end. Qing Shui had to sigh in amazement at Mo Zitong’s powerful talent as he watched him dashing towards himself. His fighting strength had improved by a lot ever since that time. It was a pity that the current Qing Shui was also as different as the Heaven and Earth compared to back then.