The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2278 - 27th Grade Divine Weapon, heading to the Nine Continents' Nine Domains

Qing Shui knew that he wouldn't stop at the Northern Emperor Domain for long, eventually he would head to the Nine Continent's Nine Domains.

The Nine Domains represented the pinnacle of the Nine Continents, whereby the quality was the highest, in terms of food, art, doctors, all sorts of aspects were all covered in the Nine Domains.

The Nine Domains represented the pinnacle of the Nine Continents' society; this was a cultivator's world, built on the basis of martial dao, so any of the fields would eventually lead back to the martial dao. Hence, it wasn't one of the key fields in the Nine Domains, but rather a precondition for any that wanted to thrive.

This was the gap, like how only government officials could access certain facilities in his previous world.

In this world, it was the martial dao. Only with the martial dao could prosperity and growth be guaranteed.

Tantai Lingyan had already brought her people to the Nine Domains, perhaps the last time he had encountered her she was on the way there. Qing Shui tilted his head; he didn't have a reason to enter the Nine Continents' Nine Domains.

For Tantai Lingyan's sake?

Qing Shui had already learned to let go most of his mortal obsessions, and he could put down most things, but if there was still a knot in his heart, it would be the situation with Tantai Lingyan.

She had already gotten her own revenge, so the matters from yesteryear had already reached its conclusion. Qing Shui's worries were already dispelled as the martial dao was boundless. He personally wasn't bent on reaching the top.

Hence, Qing Shui had always been reconsidering. The Demon Gate and Divine Palace were destined to have a final clash, and control over the Demon Gate would most likely fall to Tantai Lingyan. However, could he have all of the Divine Palaces in the Nine Continents heed his call?

Even if he could, facing her was truly a weird experience. Just thinking about it was strange as nobody could ever have guessed such an ending.

A few days later, Qing Shui happily looked at the gains he made when the Hundred Treasure Chest's grade rose in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Hundred Treasure Chest sixth level opening.

The fifth level was opened two years ago and had only a few but very useful rewards.

Three hundred Aptitude pills, three hundred Potential Pills, three hundred Growth Pills, eight hundred Divine Square Cauldrons, eight hundred Divine Weapon Crystals, Eighty Cultivation Pills, sixth grade Attacking, Defensive, Movement, Recovery, Endurance, Power, Tenacity and Evasion Talisman Stones, increasing the base stats of Divine Weapons by eight percent. Three Heavenly Limit Soulstones, able to absorb soul and spiritual energy.

Qing had received two hundred and forty Aptitude pills when opening the fourth level. Now it was at three hundred. The gap between the different tiers of rewards was getting smaller which was not really relevant to Qing Shui since these kinds of pills were about the same and Qing Shui just didn't care for them.

The Divine Square Cauldrons and Divine Weapon Crystals had increased quite substantially, increasing by two hundred pieces.

It was slightly insufficient as just the Flying Sword would require two hundred Divine Weapon Crystals and Divine Square Cauldrons for each upgrade. Thus, the Flying Sword was upgraded four times with the opening of the fifth layer. Qing Shui was now focusing on the Sixth layer.

Three hundred Aptitude Pills, three hundred Potential Pills, three hundred Growth Pills, eight hundred Divine Square Furnaces, eight hundred Divine Weapon Crystals, Eighty Cultivation Pills, Seventh Grade Talisman Stones of the Attacking, Defensive, Movement, Recovery, Endurance, Power, Tenacity and Evasion categories. Increase the base states of Divine Weapons by nine percent. Three Heavenly Limit Soulstones, able to absorb both soul energy and spiritual energy.

This was the Hundred Treasure Chest's sixth level rewards. Other than the increased Talisman Stone grades, the rewards were identical to that of the fifth level's.

Qing Shui directly ranked up his Divine Weapon. He had used the Fifth Grade Hundred Treasure Chest's loot to raise the grade of the Flying Sword to the 23rd Grade. Luckily, each upgrade still required two hundred Divine Square Cauldrons and two hundred Divine Weapon Crystals.

The divine weapon, Flying Sword was already a terrifying weapon.

Big Dipper Sword, Divine Weapon Flying Sword!

27th Grade!

Allows the damage taken by the user and his allies to be reduced by 10% throughout the battle.

Increase self-recovery rate by 27%, increase 5.4 billion Dao of attack, 5.4 billion Daos of defense, and 5.4 billion Daos of deflecting damage. Reduces 27% of damage taken by the user.

Divine Weapon Seal: Open, can be socketed with runes.

Attacking power, defensive power, evasion, recovery, endurance, speed, tenacity and explosiveness increase by nine percent.

Qing Shui had already collected six unused Heavenly Limit Soulstones. It was strange. His arrival in this world seemed inextricably linked to the soul, but he never really touched anything related to the soul.

He now had seven Golden Caves as the ones that the Guardian Vine helped to convert had finally been fully refined, boosting his strength significantly once again.

Qing Shui now had 110 billion Dao of attacking strength, with 1100 billion Dao of defense.

The Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda of Defense increased his defense by 20%, causing his defense to rise to 1330 billion Daos.

While the Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda of Violence and the Parry Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda added 110 billion Daos of blocking strength, so Qing Shui's defense was more accurately evaluated to be at 1440 billion Daos.

Qing Shui's divine weapon could block or deflect 5.4 billion Dao, and with the 5.4 billion Daos of comprehensive defensive increase, Qing Shui's defense reached around 1445 billion Daos.

With the Nine Continents Mountain's attacking buff, his attack strength was now at 550 billion Daos.

Following the massive leap in strength, Qing Shui found it really unbelievable. Most importantly, the Divine Weapon Flying Sword could decrease damage taken by 37%, with 27% of its original effect, plus 10% as a buff that could be applied onto everyone on his side.

The Emperor's Qi was already a tyrannical ability, capable of weakening the opponents' status by 20%. With this change, the opponent's attack would basically be rendered to half of its potency. The scariest thing was that Qing Shui's defense was already heaven-defying to begin with.

Qing Shui didn't know if it was time for him to head to the Nine Continents' Nine Domains for some fun.

He didn't know if the Guardian Vine had been aware of his Divine Weapons, and its evaluation of Four Domains was prior to his massive power-up. Perhaps he could enter five, six Domains now?

And he still wasn't sure if he wanted to go.

Qing Shui felt that he wasn't suited and wasn't very capable as a Palace Lord. So, he decided to have a discussion with the Sky-Obstructing Crow. It had lived a long life and could definitely provide some guidance in these matters.