Ancient Strengthening Technique

His strength returned to normal in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, but not soon after, he suffered heavy suppression in this area. As long as the Heavenly Laws here remained unbroken, he could do nothing but suffer.

Qing Shui randomly picked a direction and headed out. Since he was here to train, he would experience harsh and grueling training while facing danger, battles, and comprehending the truths of life walking the tightrope, allowing himself to burst forth with the power of life and experiencing a rebirth at the darkest hours.

Not a single cultivator could skip a cultivation stage without facing difficulties and tempering. Many major clans would allow their disciples to face danger under their watch, intervening when it seemed insurmountable, all without letting the disciples know, resulting in them chalking it up to luck.

This was done only when it was actually life-threatening, and only for the most important juniors in the clans. However, the reality was that those receiving protection would never become the strongest ones.

Simply as a preventive measure, this sort of strategy was employed by the major clans, only with a slight variation. Those receiving protection would be the second-tier geniuses, meant to replace and carry on the legacy, should anything happen to the supreme geniuses.

Along Qing Shui’s path, he had taken many winding roads and shortcuts, experienced countless training and temperings, countless battles and deaths, all step-by-step as he walked along the path. Though he had no real master, many people had given him guidance along the way.

Pu!

His thoughts were disjointed amidst his daydreaming, as he reflexively sent an object flying away with his palm. With a poof sound coming out, it seemed like something had been smashed.

Qing Shui had just smashed an apple.

He had unknowingly walked to the edges of a forest, as the culprit behind the apple gave Qing Shui a shock. A Long-armed Ape.

It had a large body that was three meters tall with its arms at twice that length. Qing Shui had never seen such a massive specimen with its beautiful snow-white hair and abnormally bright, clear eyes. It looked at Qing Shui and bared its fangs menacingly.

This was a titanic forest. Though it was like a fruit forest, it was honestly more of a jungle. As Qing Shui couldn’t see any semblance of an end in any direction, as though he did see an end facing another direction, hence, he deduced that this was merely a growing jungle.

Upon further inspection, monkeys seemed to have heavily populated the area, both in terms of the varying species and the actual numbers. In just a single area, Qing Shui could spot up to ten thousand of them, with some being particularly strong leaders.

There were many different fruits with equally varied colors, each letting off an incandescent brilliance under the radiant sun. These fruit trees were immensely old, as not even ten people huddling together could completely surround one of them. They seemed to possess some spiritual Qi, though insignificant individually, the jungle’s accumulation of Qi was shocking.

As Qing Shui was in a daze, the white Long-armed Ape threw yet another apple at him. With its arm strength, the human-head sized apple flew at breakneck speed.

These monkeys were slightly sentient, but it was still impossible to communicate with them. Though Qing Shui wanted to leave without harming them, he had a sudden impulse to obtain the fruits for fermenting wine as these were the finest fruits he had ever seen.

Qing Shui tried to take a detour, but he was completely surrounded, frustrating him. He didn’t want to concede, so he decided to send the monkeys packing, before attempting to pick the fruits.

With a flick of the wrist, Qing Shui created powerful shockwaves, sending them all flying while avoiding killing simply because he had no desire to do so. Else, he could have casually massacred them.

Zhizhi…...

A flurry of screeches, as the naturally cowardly monkeys tended to go with the flow. If you retreated, they would gang up on you. On the contrary, if you displayed strength, they would even compete with each other in retreating, completely dispersing in an act of cowardice.

Finally, it was clear and Qing Shui could enter the forest. As he traversed the forest, he picked the ripened fruits. The season was perfect. There were apple trees, pear trees, pine cones, white fruits, blue fruits, sweet fruits,…...

Qing Shui couldn’t pick all of them, so he grabbed as many as he could since the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal could hold just about everything.

He slowly inched into the depths of the forest.

Zhizhi…..

The monkeys wanted to stop him, but they could only watch him helplessly, as they couldn’t best him. As he edged further in, the monkeys got even more restless as more and more powerful monkeys began following him.

Qing Shui was still strong enough to deter them but others would have a tough time getting mobbed.

Four shining snow monkeys holding tree branch-like cudgels barred his path.

“Human, trespassing upon the sacred ground is an offense punishable by death!” One of the monkeys screeched.

It was the same height as a human with sparkling snow-white hair, smooth and perfect proportions, giving off a silver light. It exuded immense power, with its eyes glistening with a faint bloodlust, giving it an air of savagery.

“Sacred ground? Isn’t this just a fruit forest?” Qing Shui was shocked, but happy that there was a monkey capable of communicating.

“This is the Snow Monkey Sage’s territory, a sacred ground. Your act of trespassing is truly contemptuous and worthy of death,” That monkey added.

“No matter what, I’m the guest here. Not receiving a guest and even attacking him, you guys are too petty. There are so many fruits here that my picking would not be problematic at all.” Qing Shui smiled.

“Stop blathering. Face my cudgel!”

The Snow Monkey didn’t bother reasoning anymore and directly swung his bat at Qing Shui at an astonishing speed, a part of their natural advantages as a Snow Monkey.

Great Buddha Imprint!

Qing Shui stretched out his palm as a giant palm imprint descended to suppress the monkey.

Qing Shui’s level of enlightenment was higher than the monkey’s as he used a killer move of the Buddhist schools. The monkey instantaneously fell from the sky, unable to move as Qing Shui noticed that the Snow Monkey’s body carried a hint of demonic power.

Although it was very faint, the feeling was very real, which confused Qing Shui as the other monkeys didn’t have this slight demonic power but only the four.

“Release me at once. Else when our king arrives, he’ll make you suffer a miserable death.” The other three simply held back as their companion was suppressed, knowing they could not defeat the intruder.

Qing Shui smiled and remained silent as he opened his Heavenly Vision Technique to look at the monkey. He was shocked as this was a demonification of the monkeys’ pure bloodline, hinting that something sinister was lurking in the forest.

This was definitely a treasure, able to increase physical strength and bloodline strength. However, it carried a hint of demonic power. Once the demonic power and attributes rose to a certain level, it would morph into a Demon King’s Bloodline, turning them evil and their foundations shaky. Once they couldn’t withstand the corruption of the bloodline, they would be controlled by the blood and could even become an evil demon with no future ahead of them.