The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1436 - Nameless Technique, Divine Truth Hearing Technique, Divine Exploding Door

In total, eleven Portraits of Beauty had appeared. If there were twelve of the portraits, that would mean that he only had one more left to discover. The Eldest Princess, Yehuang Guwu, and Yu He weren't any inferior to the girls shown on the portraits. Hence, Qing Shui had a feeling that the portrait might only have to do with the twelve types of women or a part of the women available across the world. After all, this was mainly affected by men. But one thing which Qing Shui wouldn't deny was that these were some of the most perfect women that existed.

Initially, Qing Shui used to think that the women in the twelve Portraits of Beauty were capable of opening access to the twelve Heavenly Meridians. Although that was true, women that were not in the Portraits of Beauty were able to do so as well.

Qing Shui never expected the day when he would be able to collect all twelve of the Portraits of Beauty would come. He wasn't sure if the twelve Heavenly Meridians were considered the secrets of the Portraits of Beauty. But that was likely not completely the case. Even for the last remaining Portrait of Beauty, Qing Shui wasn't sure if it was of someone close to him.

He already had eleven of them. For the last one, he could only rely on his luck. He also didn't actually feel that eager to find it.

While looking at the Stone Beast here with the Demon Lord, Qing Shui decided to repeat an old stratagem. Maybe he could only rely on this method to enter the next level. Only like this would he be able to collect the treasure.

"Do you think it will be better for me to continue the method from before?" Qing Shui looked at the Demon Lord.

Qing Shui didn't sound confident enough when he said this. Prior to this, he had already interacted with the Demon Lord's skin. They were tightly stuck to each other, so much so that their lips were even touching. All of this might have happened really suddenly, but this couldn't take away from the fact that it did occur. Now that he asked such a question, the incident would once again take another turn.

"Is there no other way?" The Demon Lord asked Qing Shui.

"You saw it yourself. I have already used other methods prior to this and none of them actually let me penetrate through to it to collect my treasure."

"How about this? I will stay here and wait for you while you go there to grab it." The Demon Lord responded after thinking for a while.

"Erm, won't you feel worried letting me go in alone? Do you not fear that I may die? This is too saddening. I have always been worried about you being alone here." Qing Shui said as he revealed a bitter smile.

The ice-cold face of the Demon Lord changed slightly before she finally gritted her teeth and said, "If you dare touch me, I will kill you right away."

Qing Shui laughed, "I won't, I won't!"

Qing Shui wasn't being specific with what he said. Could this 'I won't' simply meant that he wouldn't touch her, or could it only apply to him telling her that she wouldn't kill him?

The Dragon Slaying Beast was constantly breathing out its icefire there. It had already been fifteen minutes, yet the freezing effect had yet to appear. Qing Shui was a bit upset about the chance for the freezing effect to appear, so much so that he had begun to wonder if this Stone Beast was capable of neglecting the freezing effect provided by the Icefire.

Peng!

Right at the moment when Qing Shui begun to ponder whether he should stop, the Stone Beast appeared. Qing Shui once again grabbed Demon Lord and charged towards it. At the same time, he also used the Nine Palace Laws to move the enormous Stone Beast.

It's unknown if Qing Shui did it intentionally or the strength of this Stone Beast was even stronger. The distance that he moved was slightly shorter this time. Similarly, the gap between them was also very small as well. The both of them were squeezed together very tightly. But the Demon Lord seemed to have been prepared for this kind of scenario. She moved her head away from Qing Shui. However, those firm breasts of hers were being pressed upon by Qing Shui. Qing Shui was able to feel their softness and elasticity. It felt unusually good pressing against them.

Qing Shui felt that the Demon Lord's body was a bit stiff. He had to lean forward in order to reach out his hand and grab the treasure. As he did so, the same scene from before appeared once again. This time, Qing Shui needed to move his head towards his right side. Coincidentally, the Demon Lord's face also happened to be on his right side. Hence, Qing Shui's face interacted slightly with the Demon Lord's cold face. Not only that, his lips also swept across her face and her lips.

As soon as they touched, however, the woman lifted up her hand and slapped Qing Shui's face.

Pa!

It sounded really clear and loud, but it didn't hurt that much. It was just a simple slap. Qing Shui wasn't mad; he was actually happy. But at the same time, he also couldn't help but wonder if this behaviour of his was considered lowly…...

The woman stepped back and looked at Qing Shui before she proceeded to look at her own hands. She might have killed a lot of people, but it was her first time slapping someone in the face. She didn't understand the reason behind her doing that. She also came to realize that her heart was in a bit of a confusion. She was no longer able to maintain her usual calm mood. Why was that so? Even she herself didn't know the answer.

"Are you still mad?" The fingerprint on Qing Shui's face looked really obvious.

"Sorry!" The woman said softly.

Qing Shui shook his head, "You did nothing wrong, so why are you apologizing?"

The woman remained silent. The cold expression on her face had begun to turn even colder. She turned around and looked into the surroundings, seemingly hinting to Qing Shui that she didn't feel like talking.

Despite the fact that Qing Shui had successfully triggered fluctuations in her heart, things seemed to have taken a turn against his favour. He had come to the realization that he had been rushing things.

"I feel like heading back now." The Demon Lord suddenly said.

Qing Shui was stunned. He moved forward and held her hand.

The Demon Lord lifted up her hand, yet she didn't attempt to hit him. She wanted to break away from his hand but her attempts resulted in failure because Qing Shui held on really tightly.

"There is nothing wrong with liking someone. I was in the wrong before this. I promise you that in the future, I will not attempt the same thing again without your permission. Even I am not sure myself as to why I want to try to make you a bit happier. Are you not willing to give me even a single chance to try to do so?"

Qing Shui responded in a sincere tone.

"It's impossible, nor is there any hope for you to do so. I have told you before. Don't involve yourself in this mess, as it's a waste of your time." The Demon Lord once again tried to break free from Qing Shui's grasp. Qing Shui also let go of her.

"There is nothing that's impossible. Even though the outcome may be important, there are some things in which the process leading to the end plays an even more important role as well. Human life is filled with eight distresses: birth, age, sickness…… At the moment we are born, we are bound to suffer in human affairs. No one is perfect, nor will everything go according to your will. The greed which humans have deep within them will cause them to never be satisfied with what they have. It will lead to them competing against each other and ultimately lead to them thinking of ways to improve themselves." At this moment, both of Qing Shui's eyes seemed to be filled with wisdom. Regarding human nature, Qing Shui still had knowledge about it to a certain extent.

"I have already told you about it. It's up to you whether to hear it or not." The woman said gently.

"Then do you still insist on going back? Can you continue to progress forward with me? I guarantee you that I will definitely keep my promise." Qing Shui looked at her and said in a serious tone.

The Demon Lord nodded.

Qing Shui started to look around the area. This was an area with even bigger palace. The only difference was that no Stone Beasts could be spotted around here, nor were any stone gates able to be found. A familiar yet strange feeling suddenly emerged within him.

Yes, this was a formation!

"Why don't we start off by taking a look at what is in this box first?"

This time, Qing Shui opened the box very quickly. Within it were two books which seemed to talk about battle techniques. Like before, the books also had golden edges and they were also made from Beast Parchments which would stay pristine even after an extremely long period of storage.

Divine Truth Hearing Technique!

These were the words on one of the books. As for the other one, there were no words on top. Even its golden edge was made to be really thin. It looked even more plain and unadorned.

Qing Shui picked up the Divine Truth Hearing Technique whereas the woman went for the other book.

Qing Shui flipped through the Divine Truth Hearing Technique. While reading it, he wasn't sure if he should be happy or not. It was used to cultivate one's ability to hear, enabling them to hear people speaking even from far away. That wasn't all; it could be used to lock on to a certain place. It was a really unusual technique.

Just as Qing Shui started to read the book, he heard the voice of someone crying out in surprise. It wasn't really loud. Following on, he was surprised to see the woman tossing the other book to the side. It's just that the battle technique which she tossed out was left open. As soon as he took a peek at the content in it, he automatically understood why.

Spring Palace Portrait!

Coincidentally, the page on which the battle technique was described showed a picture of a man and a woman having sex with each other. The picture looked very realistic. The way the expressions as well as the movements of both the male and female were portrayed in the picture were considered top-notch, particularly their elegance depicted in the picture.

Just as Qing Shui was about to move away his sight, he felt a mysterious sensation. It felt really familiar. Furthermore, the fact that this book was here already meant that it wasn't just a simple and plain Spring Palace Portrait.

Qing Shui handed over the Divine Truth Hearing Technique to the woman before he proceeded to pick up the "Wordless Battle Technique" to read through it.

As of now, the woman was a bit lost on her words. At the moment Qing Shui saw the "Wordless Battle Technique", the Demon Lord's face began to blush. There was only a faint pink color across her face, yet it was already enough to make her look extremely attractive.

Qing Shui briefly looked through the book and was surprised when he found out that it was a continuation from the Nameless Technique he had read from before. It's not that the Nameless Technique which he had read prior to this wasn't complete, it's just that now, it had finally been perfected. Furthermore, its effect was even stronger than before. On top of that, there were lines highlighted in red explaining the body motions and steps required to execute the techniques.

Human Body Qi and Spirit. This was a divine technique used to nurture and cultivate one's spirit, suitable for everyone from only ordinary people to powerful warriors. Qing Shui recognized himself to be really powerful in his Qi and Spirit.

The Qi of Ancient Strengthening Technique was also considered a sort of qi, whereas the Spirit was counted as an example of Spirit Energy. Qing Shui had an enormous Sea of Consciousness as well as the Golden Star. The Spirit represented his body physique, like the Nine Yang Golden Body. As of now, the Nine Yang Golden Body was already at a formidable level.

According to the fairy tale stories from his previous incarnation, it was said that the king would cultivate the classics, whereas the girls in the palace would become fairies. From here, it could be seen how powerful the Duo Cultivation Technique was. Even though this place wasn't a fairy tale world, in terms of the level of martial arts in this world, it was a lot more powerful compared to anything in those fairy tale worlds. In his previous incarnations, the most powerful warriors capable of causing ruckus across the temple of heaven would only have a strength worth thirteen thousand jin.

Across the World of the Nine Continents, warriors with weapons that weighed a hundred thousand jin or even more could be found everywhere.

Qing Shui only came back to his senses after he finished reviewing the book. He said a bit embarrassingly, "This is a technique, would you like to have a look?"

Seeing that Qing Shui didn't really have any other intentions, the woman shook her head, "No, it's disgusting. I'll give you this one as well because I have also finished it."

Qing Shui wasn't sure if she meant to say that the drawing was disgusting or the things which men and women did with each other were disgusting.

Right at this moment, the huge gate from before bursted open abruptly.

Qing Shui was stunned. To think that it was actually able to open like this. It was really powerful, such that Qing Shui even felt a bit nervous upon witnessing it opening.

"They used the Ancient Divine Explosive Pearl to burst open the gate. It is a substance made by pressurizing tens of thousands of Pearls of Immortal and Demons Essence together. Naturally, it will possess tremendous explosive ability." The woman said gently after seeing Qing Shui's shocked expression.

Refined from tens of thousands of Pearls of Immortal and Demons Essence……. That was too absurd and terrifying!

"Who actually possesses such a formidable weapon?"

"Divine Burst Gate!"

"The name sounds really aggressive. So, are there a lot of Ancient Divine Explosive Pearls?" Qing Shui asked. He was concerned about it because it was really powerful.

"This thing is something which is either left behind by our ancestors or an unexpected gain. As of now, they are no longer capable of refining something with such a formidable strength. But this still doesn't take away from the fact that they have a lot of powerful explosive weapons within their sect. For example, the Mini Divine Explosive Pearl is made by refining ten Pearls of Immortal and Demons Essence together. It possesses quite decent strength as well.

This is indeed quite a decent weapon. Qing Shui couldn't help but start to wonder how many people he would have crippled if he could have his hands on such a thing. He could just toss it out using his Hidden Weapon Techniques.

Unfortunately, he could only fantasize about it for now.

"Be obedient and hand over the treasure chest and I'll consider letting you guys leave alive." A calm voice came through and interrupted Qing Shui in his thoughts.