The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1535 - Difficult Battle

The sun in the sky was very bright. The old man stood there like a phantom. Qing Shui felt an intense sense of crisis in his mind.

Qing Shui's entire body tensed up as he stared at this old man who suddenly appeared.

"This must be the Ghost Ancestor of the Gu Clan. There's only a select few in the Great Qin Dynasty who could beat him in a fight."

"I heard that the strength of this old man was ranked among the highest in the Gu Clan. To think that such an old freak would actually appear here."

"Yeah, this young man is strong. But ultimately, he is still too young."

"Do you guys think that this young man would concede?"

"Who knows? If I were him, I would have conceded already. I would endure for ten years, twenty-five years, fifty years and a hundred years. Endure all the way until I become strong enough."

…..

"Young man. If you admit defeat now, I will permit you to do so." An archaic voice rang out, low and husky.

"Are you trying to use reverse psychology on me?" Qing Shui smiled.

The old man shook his head. "Honestly speaking, you right now still don't have the qualifications for me to do so."

"I'm sure you don't want me to concede like this. If I did, wouldn't you be very disappointed?" Qing Shui stared at the old man. He couldn't see the expression on the old man's face and couldn't guess his thoughts as a result.

"Young man, your way of thinking is too narrow-minded. There are no eternal friends and no eternal enemies. Maybe you treat the Gu Clan as your enemy. But in my eyes, there's no such as a clear concept. On the surface, the Gu Clan seemed to have suffered a lot of damages and has a sky-high hatred for you. But no matter what, what could be more important than the survival of a clan?"

The old man's voice had no emotions and was filled with a strange calmness and decisiveness. Qing Shui knew he wouldn't be able to achieve this feat ever.

"When a clan grows too large, there will always be arrogant wastrels being born. If a great clan went all out to avenge these useless trashes, their status would only be degraded sooner or later."

The words of the old man caused some from the Gu Clan to feel their hearts tremble as they perspired cold sweat. They knew they were about to be punished. They had been living a comfortable life for too long and had forgotten about the clan rules.

"Since you want to fight, let's do so then. Punches and kicks have no eyes, please be careful." The old man took out a thin-looking black-colored iron rod that shimmered with cold light.

The old man looked at Qing Shui, "Are you ready? I'm going to make my move now."

"Bring it." Qing Shui held on tightly to his Golden Battle Halberd as he nodded.

The old man's silhouette suddenly blurred. Qing Shui felt something was wrong and hurriedly retreated while using his spiritual sense to lock onto the old man's movements.

Bang!

A powerful force smashed onto Qing Shui's chest as blood spurt out.

One move!

With just a casual move, the old man forced Qing Shui to retreat while injuring him. But as he retreated, Qing Shui also activated some of his skills.

Art of Pursuing!

Emperor's Qi!

Qing Shui felt an immense shock in his heart. The speed of this old man was just too terrifying. At the very least, he had no way to match this speed and he was already injured by a simple move from the old man.

Although the injury wasn't critical, the attack was very fearsome. Qing Shui didn't understand how the old man's speed could be so fast.

Qing Shui didn't know that what the old man was proficient in, was precisely speed. Speed was basically power. The old man depended on his terrifying speed and his weapon. His weapon, a thin black-colored iron rod, was also not an ordinary object. It was something forged from Nine Heavens Mystic Iron. Although it looked thin, it contained an extremely powerful strength and the ability to intensify one's strike.

The old man's speed and strength were lowered by a large margin. He felt immensely shocked in his heart, and with a shake of his body, a swirl of white Qi enveloped him.

Roar!

Vajra Subdues Demons, Diamond Sword Qi, Dragon Elephant Stomp!

All these were no longer effective. Qing Shui knew the reason must be the cloud of white Qi around the old man. However, the old man was even more surprised than Qing Shui. He discovered that the innate techniques he had cultivated had no way of avoiding being negatively influenced by Qing Shui.

Thunderbolt!

Qing Shui didn't let the Thunderous Beast attack. He immediately sent it back to his Violet Jade Immortal Realm. He was afraid that the Thunderous Beast might be instantly killed. The Golden-Scaled Dragon Elephant was very powerful and wouldn't be killed easily so it could stay. The main beasts he wanted to summon were the Hell Nightmare Beast and the Dragon Slaying Beast.

"Young man, your strength truly makes one jealous. How could anyone hope to stand against us?" With just a single glance, the old man could see how terrifying Qing Shui's abilities are.

Qing Shui had to admit it as well. The old man's speed was extremely fearsome. If he aided the old man by augmenting his speed while weakening their enemies, the old man's strength would instantly reach heaven-defying levels.

"Sadly, we are enemies." Qing Shui wiped away the blood stains from his mouth as he smiled.

"Well, we can still become friends." The husky voice of the old man drifted over.

"Sadly, I have no interest in being your friend." Qing Shui smiled. This old man gave off a too sinister feeling and it felt exceedingly uncomfortable to interact with him. How could it be possible that he would force himself to be friends with someone he didn't like?

"That's a pity. Leaving you alive would bring nothing but trouble. Now that we are in the combat arena, I can choose to make you disappear. What a pity indeed." The old man's silhouette flashed.

Without the 40% increase in speed, Qing Shui could finally see his silhouette clearly. Although he lowered 20% of the old man's strength, he still wasn't confident to fight head-on against him.

Qing Shui was now using speed born from the Formation and could only barely evade his opponent.

Phantom Shadow!

The body of the old man turned blurry as he lunged towards Qing Shui again. His speed was even faster now, and Qing Shui knew that the old man had just executed his ultimate sure kill technique.

At this moment, Qing Shui discovered that his arsenal of sure-kill techniques was extremely lacking. Paragon Strike was unable to injure the old man neither.

Qing Shui's sure kill techniques were extremely powerful but sadly, his strength was still too weak, much weaker compared to the old man. Thus, he had no way to unleash his technique's full potential.

Bloodthirsty Strike!

Bang!

A ray of golden light appeared in front of Qing Shui's chest. The ability of the Paragon Golden Armor to defend against a fatal strike was activated. The old man was shocked, and in that instant, Qing Shui made use of the opportunity to summon his Hellfire Phoenix.

Qin Qing's countenance turned pale. She clenched her fists tightly, appearing like she would rush in at any moment.

Nine Phantoms Slaughter!

Demon Binding Ropes!

The Dragon Slaying Beast also rushed over but was knocked and sent flying by the old man. But even so, the old man was slowed by the ropes and by this time, the Hell Nightmare Beast had already appeared before Qing Shui.

However, at this moment the old man didn't stop at all, his silhouette actually turned illusory.

Void Shadowless Strike!

Chi!

The thin iron rod pierced towards Qing Shui's heart.

Minute Subtlety！

Qing Shui gritted his teeth, swallowing the Blood Berserker Pill which he had prepared.

Instantly, a red light radiated from him, burning like blazing flames. Although the damage he took was huge, his power explosively rose. Maybe, the Qing Shui before still wasn't strong enough. But after ingesting the blood berserker pill, it was an entirely different story.

Paragon Reversal!

Paragon Strike!

Nine Stances of Ancient Divine Battle Technique!

Bang!

Qing Shui's Golden Battle Halberd pierced towards the chest of the old man. This strike was incomparably ferocious and was his strongest ultimate killing technique.

Paragon Golden Armor: Able to let Qing Shui's entire defense reach six times his current strength. Also blocks a fatal strike once every day.

Paragon Strike: Could be used once per day, attack power equaling six times one's strength.

Shadowless Paragon: Increases speed by six times. Could be activated once a day for fifteen minutes each time.

Paragon Reversal: Cooldown time of battle techniques shortened by a fold, attack speed increased by six times.

Qing Shui directly used Paragon Strike and Paragon Reversal. His strength and speed underwent an explosive increase that the old man failed to evade in time.

The speed of the old man was incredible, but his defense wasn't as terrifying as his speed. In addition to Qing Shui's strength which was boosted by the Berserker Blood Pill, he was struck in the left rib, his body cleanly penetrated through.

Just as Qing Shui was preparing to lacerate the old man, the old man took the chance to retreat in a flash.

Underworld Fireball!

At this moment, the Hellfire Phoenix in the air spat out a chain of powerful fireballs.

"The Black Phoenix is so majestic!"

"Humans truly can't be compared to each other. This young man is truly too terrifying. It's inconceivable that he's able to heavily injure the Ghost Ancestor."

"This young man isn't arrogant for no reason. He has true capabilities."

Bang Bang…

The Underworld Fireball could lock onto opponents via spiritual sense. Now, the strength of the Hellfire Phoenix was much stronger in comparison to the Golden Scaled Dragon Elephant. Under the Nine Phantoms Slaughter, Formation, Halo, and Formation Eye Stone, its strength had reached a level similar to the old man.

The old man's strength was weakened to a certain degree. Because of that, plus his injuries, and the bombardment of a chain of fireballs, he was in an extremely miserable state. More than half of his head full of white hair was singed away.

A pale-looking face could be seen. The old man was fending off the formidable might of the Hellfire Phoenix while glancing at Qing Shui and silently musing about what a monster this young man was.

The Dragon Slaying Beast continued launching sneak attacks as well.

Qing Shui's entire body was cloaked in a red glow but he didn't step up to use the Paragon Strike. His attacks were still ineffective, but there were other methods he could use to deal with the old man.

If the old man got close him, he would instantly use the Marrow Nibbling Golden Dragon Silkworm. But right now, he chose to use the Nine Continent Mountain to combine with the attacks of the Dragon Slaying Beast and the Hellfire Phoenix's instead.

The old man was in a sorry state while his injuries were being aggravated continuously.

Nine Palace Laws!

Since they were already headed to a deadlock, Qing Shui wanted to exhaust the old man's strength.

After a long time, a figure abruptly appeared above the old man. "He lost. Let me fight with you next."

Qing Shui glanced over and saw another ancient-looking old man. Even before the previous old man left, the newcomer instantly lunged towards Qing Shui.

Bang!

Qing Shui silently thought to himself that the Gu Clan was truly shameless. But as the old man was rushing over, he discovered that there was no chance. Even if he used the Marrow Nibbling Golden Dragon Silkworm, it would end up in a situation where both of them would die. Qing Shui could tell that the old man was determined to kill him.

However, Qing Shui refused to concede. He wasn't someone who would give up or concede easily. Both his eyes gleamed with a fearsome light as he focused on the old man that was currently rushing towards him.