The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2325 - Great item, "Divine Battle Puppet"

Everyone was seated in the middle of the living room and served with tea. With a glance toward Chi Yang, Qing Shui realized he had no intention of speaking up. Hence, he had no choice but to start. "Since both of you would like to talk, how should we go about with this?"

The man on the left laughed at Qing Shui's words and said, "You have truly humiliated the Divine Rain Sect."

"Respect should be earned, not given. I didn't think much of the Divine Rain Sect before, as we've never had any contact. I had the chance to later on, especially with your so-called Elder Ye and grown to realize that I truly detest the Divine Rain Sect," Qing Shui responded calmly.

"It's only normal to have vermin among you when the sect has expanded and the numbers increased. Our Divine Rain Sect with its organization and strength is no exception. However, that doesn't mean that we can just eliminate an entire group of people, right?" answered one of the men gently.

"The problem is that we don't know if this only applied to those under that Elder Ye, or you are all the same. Regardless, I'm prepared to confront the entire Divine Rain Sect." Qing Shui was honest in his words.

"Young lad, you're strong, but you're overestimating your own capabilities by saying those words," The quiet man on the right spoke up.

"That may be so, but I can guarantee that you won't be able to do anything to me," Qing Shui retorted seriously. With his confidence, even the man known as Brother Ye Lu was a little inclined to believe it.

"Our Divine Rain Sect doesn't wish to continue fighting others this way. Regardless of the reason, we'd like to resolve this peacefully. How do you think we should proceed?" asked the man gently with a smile on his face.

"Sure. Resolving peacefully is good for us too, but the Divine Rain Sect would have to compensate the Chi Clan for their losses," said Qing Shui bluntly.

The married couple was startled by this request. It was great news that the other party was willing to resolve this peacefully and so they didn't expect Qing Shui to still request compensation from the Divine Rain Sect. Their Chi Clan didn't actually lose much; on the contrary, the Divine Rain Sect had lost an elder and several disciples.

"What? You want compensation? I didn't even mention a word about it and yet you are countering us with it?" The man who had chuckled couldn't help but spew his words derisively.

"You want compensation? Do you have no shame?" Qing Shui retorted in shock.

The two men from the Divine Rain Sect were surprised by this. They had wanted to mirror the exact sentiment onto Qing Shui as well—they had never met someone this shameless! But be that as it may, it was their mission from the Divine Rain Sect to resolve this peacefully. One of their upper echelons had a strong prophetic ability, and this mission was entrusted to them by that prophet. If they didn't handle this well, the Divine Rain Sect would definitely face great losses.

This was just how things were at times; they would rather believe it to be true than not,

Chi Yang held his breath.

Eventually, the man on the left spoke up, his face still twitching. "Fine, what sort of compensation do you want?"

The fact that Qing Shui requested for compensation was shocking enough, yet the two men had actually agreed. This was even more surprising. The married couple couldn't believe what they were hearing; the invincible Divine Rain Sect agreed to it even though the Chi Clan killed their people.

"Just ten Divine Artifacts as a token will do." Qing Shui replied after a moment of pondering.

The two men's face twitched aggressively as did the Chi Yang couple. After a pause though, the man on the left coughed before replying. "Mister, your joke isn't funny!"

The man had been referring Qing Shui as Young Lad before but changed to 'Mister' now.

"You had brought trouble to the Chi Clan over and over again. We've lost several brothers as well. This was a matter of life and death, how do you expect to not compensate after killing these people? Ten Divine Artifacts may be a little too many. How about this, we'll settle with five. You can bring some of the strange and unique items to make up the number. Of course, we'll have to like them," Qing Shui chuckled and said.

Five Divine Artifacts wasn't a small number, but they weren't expecting something that was extraordinary. For the Divine Rain Sect, this wasn't an impossible request as well, just a little soreness-inducing. However, it would be fine if they could make up the numbers with unique items instead.

"I'll try. It was just a coincidence that I have some unique items on me now. See if they are able to make the numbers." The old man seemed to recall something before pulling out an item.

It was a wooden figurine of a person, covered in black. It exuded a strong aura of battle intent. Other than that, there was nothing much. Its material was really sturdy. The Divine Rain Sect had tried to wreck it before, but it was impossible to even scratch the surface. This was why it felt extraordinary as well.

This item had been in the Divine Rain Sect for a long time, but no one could figure out its use. Many thought of it as some sort of treasure; however, even that sentiment died down with time.

Eventually, the two men took it out of mere interest. With their status, they were naturally able to get it.

"How about this? This item is sturdy, it can't be ruined even with all my weapons, and it was imbued with a strong murderous intent." The man seemed to be afraid that Qing Shui wouldn't like it and continued recommending it to him.

Qing Shui was indeed frowning but not out of distaste. He was surprised; there was a name to this thing, it was called Divine Battle Puppet.

Divine Battle Puppet!

Divine Battle Puppet, damaged but repairable. Its battle prowess could reach up to 4 trillion Dao Force.

It needed to recognize its master then it was controlled consciously.

The binding method was to obtain ten drops of blood essence, dripping them respectively in ten different acupoints: Tiantu, Shanzhong, Lingtai, Shenfu…

This was great stuff without question. It was damaged but still held such battle potential. If it was restored, then wouldn't it be even more terrifying?

As Qing Shui was deep in thought, he heard the man on the left speak up again. He nodded and said, "Alright, this item seemed pretty exquisite. I will research on it and take it as a Divine Artifact. Did you discover anything after exploring for so long? Why don't you tell me?"

The man was surprised by Qing Shui's words. This item could actually replace a Divine Artifact? However, he was embarrassed as well; he didn't find out anything about the item. Otherwise, why would he have given it? Embarrassedly, he laughed. "This item seemed great, sturdy and resilient. It had a unique aura."

"Alright, that's good. I'll keep this. You guys better hurry and pay up with the other four." Qing Shui threw the item into Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

"Don't worry about it. Oh right, I'm Yuchi Ding." The man smiled.

"I'm Qing Shui!"

"I have a question for you. If you don't wish to answer, would you bear a grudge and resent me?" Yuchi Ding snickered.

"Do you wish to ask how strong I am, or if I have any powerful forces backing me up?" Qing Shui smiled as he looked at the man.

"You guessed right, hehe!" Yuchi Ding snickered again.

"How strong I am? I can kill you in an instant." Qing Shui reciprocated with his own chuckle.

Yuchi Ding froze at that. Although subject to disbelief, he knew that the other party wasn't just bragging. Elder Ye was killed instantaneously and gone without a trace. This meant that the attack which killed Elder Ye had been an overkill. This person was stronger than Elder Ye by that much; on the other hand, he truly didn't know how strong Qing Shui's attack had been. He only kept in his mind that Qing Shui's secret ace seemed tough to evade.

"As for the powerful forces backing me up… I won't tell you that. You can feel free to guess, but I'm going to fight the Nine Continents Divine Palace and would clash against the Nine Continents Demon Gate."