The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1159 - There's a Portrait of Beauty Within the Wishing Goddess Statue? Soul Capture

Tantai Xuan and Yu Ruyan were startled when they saw Qing Shui's serious expression. They were quite amused. There wasn't any rule on this but people would normally make one wish, which was their most important wish. Making 'many wishes' would just be making more than one wish.

"A sincere heart is vital for wishes. Do you think you have a sincere heart?" Tantai Xuan smiled and looked at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui was taken aback. That was right. He actually didn't take wishing seriously. That would mean he wasn't really that sincere about it. If there was no sincerity, what was the point in making any wishes?

"Forget it, I think I'm going to pass on wishing," Qing Shui said after reconsidering.

"Come on, Qing Shui. Just make one wish then, alright? Don't you wish to be able to meet Sister Di Chen soon?" Yu Ruyan pulled Qing Shui.

"Alright, alright. I'll listen to you!" Qing Shui tried his best to be sincere. He looked at that Goddess Statue and made his wish.

After making his wish, Qing Shui opened his eyes and they happened to meet the statue's eyes. A wave of strange sensation rose up all of a sudden and the next thing he knew, his spiritual sense became a blur.

He appeared in the midst of a boundless grassy plain. There were powerful flying demonic beasts flying in the skies here and also powerful demonic beasts on land. Each and every one of them were about the size of a mountain.

"Oh, Alpha Dragon species!"

Qing Shui saw that there were some Alpha Dragon species among them, Diamond Berserk Dragon Beast and Golden Eyed Tiger King Dragon. Alpha Dragon species contained more than 30% Dragon Bloodline within their body. Historical books had recorded that dragons were also categorized into many species and even specific categories. For instance, dragons without claws, two-clawed, four-clawed, five-clawed…… and also the legendary nine-clawed.

Dragons were usually different in color for each species. There were white, black, green, blue, gold and red dragons……

As for which was the most powerful, it all depended on its bloodline. Every species had their own emperors that possessed the most noble bloodline. Although Qing Shui stood here and didn't see any dragons, it was still extremely amazing for him to see a few Alpha Dragon species.

Most of them here were Ancient Gigantic Beasts and Ancient Desolate Beasts. Some of them were fighting each other, some were fleeing…....

Just then, many cultivators appeared in midair. These cultivators were at least of the State Master level. They were fighting against the demonic beasts. Sword Qi was going back and forth in the air and they were endlessly unleashing all kinds of trump cards. Beastly roars and the sharp swooshing noises in the air were constantly heard.

ROAR!

All of a sudden, a gigantic roar rang out or perhaps he should say a dragon's cry. This could be considered the most realistic dragon's cry Qing Shui had ever heard. He lifted his head to look and witnessed a stunning scene.

There was a gigantic demonic beast. From its head to its tail, it was no less than 1,000 meters long. It had two horns on its head that resembled the head of a jiao but Qing Shui was sure that this was definitely a dragon. It was a pure gigantic green colored dragon. It had four claws on its feet and it exuded an earth-shattering pressure. It moved and the way it moved amazed Qing Shui…...

Qing Shui realized that he actually couldn't move even an inch under this wave of pressure. As expected of a dragon. Its impressiveness was enough to make one prostrate themselves in worship. Perhaps this was because he had finally seen the mythical beast that he had only seen in paintings before. In here, it was only a demonic beast. The king among the demonic beasts….

Roar!

The gigantic green colored dragon had a pair of eyes, that were no smaller than the size of a pavilion, which exuded supreme pressure. With a thundering roar, it breathed out something akin to 'water vapor' that hid the sky and covered the earth like clouds in the skies. The entire sky turned hazy, despite its height in here….

The powerful demonic beasts that passed by below couldn't even put up any resistance in time as they all instantly turned into ashes…...

It was a stunning scene. In his consciousness, green dragon was a water species. He wasn't sure how much killing power it possessed. However, it was only now that he realized that water vapor, cold ice and low temperature icy mist were all water related. Just like the water vapor earlier, that was of the most terrifyingly low temperature. When it hit a certain coldness in temperature, it would be the same as fire and able to 'destroy' everything like it could.

Qing Shui suddenly saw something astounding. There was actually a silhouette on top of the gigantic green colored dragon. This dragon was too enormous. A person would be extremely tiny standing on top of a 1,000 meter long dragon. Besides, he didn't even think about who could tame such a formidable demonic beast earlier….

Qing Shui had very good vision, yet he couldn't get a clear look. Even so, he could identify that it was a woman due to that exquisite and delicate physique. Her face was hidden as if she was wearing a conical bamboo hat.

Qing Shui's silhouette shook all of a sudden as he disappeared from there. He then heard the two ladies shouting at him. He shook his head, feeling as though there were some changes in his body. But he couldn't be bothered to sense it right now. He glanced towards the two ladies and saw Yu Ruyan's worried expression.

"What happened to you? You didn't respond at all to us calling out to you. You have been wishing for 15 minutes already…."

"Errm, I suddenly thought of something……"

The two ladies were speechless.

How could he space out when he was making his wish….

Qing Shui had a realization again within his heart right now. That was a realization that awakened after seeing the figure of that gigantic green colored dragon and its attack. Qing Shui stared at the Goddess statue in the middle. Right now, he felt that this Goddess statue really seemed to be alive.

But he didn't understand why something like this would happen. Then, he was hit by a sudden realization. "There's a Portrait of Beauty within the statue……"

This was only a feeling. The eyes he saw earlier were probably the eyes on the Portrait of Beauty. Qing Shui was startled by his own conjecture. He had probably communicated with the consciousness of the lady in the Portrait of Beauty and saw those scenes. This was the most logical explanation.

Qing Shui had never thought of having all the twelve Portraits of Beauty in his possession because he felt that it was a difficult task to achieve. It required too much fortune. But now, he had a feeling that perhaps he could really find all the twelve Portraits of Beauty. It was as if everything had been planned in the dark.

"Don't tell me I have to smash this Goddess Statue?" Qing Shui wasn't entirely sure that there was indeed a Portrait of Beauty within this statue. This was merely his conjecture.

It would have been fine if he had to smash an ordinary statue but this one was the Wishing Goddess Statue. If he really smashed it, he wondered how many people would come after him for his life. He reckoned that some powerful cultivators of the Four Kings Street wouldn't let him get away with that!

"Then should I get it out?" Qing Shui was in a great dilemma right now. Now that he had found it, he really didn't want to give up just like that. Now that he had also discovered the secret behind the Portraits of Beauty, he didn't want to give up on it even more.

Telepathic communication. He had already received benefits from the earlier experience. This even further solidified his intention.

He thought about the quality of the Portraits of Beauty. He wondered if it was exceptionally durable because it was made of beast leather. Although he had never tried to intentionally 'destroy' the Portraits of Beauty, he knew that these Portraits of Beauty were fireproof and waterproof. They probably wouldn't be scratched by ordinary knives or swords either.

"I want to retrieve something. Both of you leave first and wait for me at the other side!" Qing Shui told the two ladies.

"I don't know what you want to retrieve but I'm guessing that it has something to do with this Wishing Goddess Statue. I hope you won't destroy the things here. Otherwise, you will definitely be chased for your life, probably by many people." Tantai Xuan frowned at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui looked at this intelligent woman and shook his head. "Don't worry. No one will know it was me."

"You are really going to destroy the Wishing Goddess Statue!?" Tantai Xuan stared at Qing Shui strangely.

"Maybe not. If I can retrieve it without breaking it, then I won't destroy it. But if I can't retrieve it, then destroying it is the only way," Qing Shui laughed.

"Qing Shui, what is it? Is it very important?" Yu Ruyan asked with a frown.

"Probably very important. Rest assured, I won't be reckless. Listen to me and wait for me there. Maybe nothing will happen." Qing Shui urged the two ladies.

"Sigh, I'm still hoping that you won't destroy it. Otherwise, you can only flee to the other end of the world," Tantai Xuan reminded him once again.

This also made Qing Shui think twice as he grew reluctant. In any case, he knew that there might be one portrait here and there was no hurry for him to retrieve it. Maybe he'd just give it a try. If he could get it out then it'd be fine. If he was left with no other choice but to destroy the Goddess statue, then he could wait and come back to get it again in the future!

This time, Qing Shui looked upon the Goddess statue once again. He let his heart immerse into his sea of consciousness as he had the two ladies shielding him, preventing others from distracting him.

When his heart was immersed into his sea of consciousness, his body jolted. The nebula within his sea of consciousness immediately dispersed. A wave of boundless energy exploded within his body.

It had already reached its boundary when the old man helped him by performing the Strength Infusion earlier. The 'telepathic communication' earlier had a direct impact on his sea of consciousness and this instantly caused a tremendous change within it.

The nebula suddenly dispersed as its numbers also increased by tens of times. That burst of boundless spirit energy stirred Qing Shui. He couldn't be bothered by the amount of his current strength right now. Instead, he instantly used his Qi to bind the statue.

Soul Capture!

This was a type of spiritual secret technique. It was a rare record in the introduction to spirit energy, however there were very few people who cultivated this. Putting aside the fact that it had a very slim success rate, it was ineffective against cultivators of the same level or more powerful cultivators.

Soul Capture wasn't as powerful as its name suggested. This kind of Soul Capture only had weakening effects towards human cultivators. What was the point in weakening someone with lower strength than yourself? It could also be used to weaken demonic beasts, as if absorbing their souls. This could be used against demonic beasts of any level, though the success rate was lower than 1%.

This was the reason why not many cultivators would cultivate this spiritual secret technique that had such an awesome name. Qing Shui had always believed that there were no useless battle techniques, only unsuitable ones. He had abundance of time, so he cultivated it when he had nothing better to do. It was a pity that he had basically never used it.

The reason why he had persisted in the cultivation was because cultivating Soul Capture could slowly raise one's spirit energy. This was probably the motivation behind Qing Shui's persistence.

He had a feeling that this statue probably enshrined the Portrait of Beauty as Goddess or a soul within it. He wanted to try to see if he could use Soul Capture to get the Portrait of Beauty out. That way, he wouldn't need to destroy this divine statue.

Soul Capture!

Qing Shui squinted his eyes. Green colored aura that only Qing Shui himself could see shot out and it directly entered the Goddess statue through her eyes.

Serenity!

There was no reaction. It failed!

Qing Shui wasn't surprised. It was within his expectations. Even though there was some success rate, the failure rate was still very high. Besides, the possibility of getting the Portrait of Beauty from the stone statue through Soul Capture was still unknown.

Soul Capture….

A failure……

Qing Shui kept trying again and again but was met with failures. He understood that the hope of this succeeding was extremely slim from the start, so he was treating this as a practice for Soul Capture. It would be most ideal if he could retrieve it. If he couldn't, then he'd have to think of other ways.

Soul Capture….

His failures continued on. Qing Shui was already growing numb while he kept using Soul Capture over and over again like a machine. Many people had already noticed them. After all, with two women that were as beautiful as immortals standing there, it was hard to not draw any attention.

Pu!

A sound rang out faintly. There was a wonderful feeling in his sea of consciousness. He glanced towards the stone statue again and realized that the sensation he felt earlier was actually gone.

It succeeded?

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