The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2336 - Poison Wolf King, Gifting the Whip, Middle Three Regions

Qing Shui stumbled at her words. She was serious? He hadn't even done anything with her, why would she do that for him…

"Alright, alright... Miss, consider me afraid. What exactly do you want?"

"I want to be friends with you," the woman replied sheepishly.

It was clear to Qing Shui that friendship was just the beginning. It would develop gradually in the future. It wasn't that he didn't like the woman, but he felt that he had enough women by his side. Likewise, it was difficult for him to reject them too. After all, they all had beauty enough to destroy a country.

The woman must have been confident in herself too, she wouldn't do this otherwise.

'Men are visual creatures.' On top of the woman's initiation, it was putting Qing Shui in a tough position.

"We're already friends." Qing Shui smiled.

"I would like to ask you to establish a formation in the Divine Rain Sect." The woman reciprocated his smile.

"That's not a problem, I'll teach it to you. Before that though, I have something to give you. Perhaps you'll like it." Qing Shui thought it through. This was the first time he met someone from the sky fox race, and she might be the last. After what had happened, the woman was his friend; he was confident about that much.

Since they were friends, then there were many advantages to having powerful friends, especially in the Lower Three Regions. It was possible that some of his bases would migrate here in the future.

"You're giving me something." The woman watched Qing Shui gleefully.

Qing Shui took out the God Striking Whip, then began the process of recognizing owners. It would take some time for it to finish, around a week. Just like that, the woman dripped her blood essence and continued for a week. Qing Shui accompanied her through the process.

The woman had immense trust in Qing Shui's words. She knew that this had belonged to the Divine Rain Sect, an item passed down from ancient times. However, it was an obsolete item. Since it was in Qing Shui's hands, she deduced that it was something the Divine Rain Sect had given to him as compensation. She didn't expect herself to be the one recognized as its owner right now.

Frankly, she didn't know this was an exclusive Divine Artifact for the sky fox race.

After a week, a bright ray of divine light rose and shot towards the sky. Multicolored sunlight illuminated the rainforest but lasted only for a short while. The woman was surprised. Now, she knew what this was exactly, it was a Divine Artifact for her sky fox race.

While damaged, it had recovered about 20% from the last time Qing Shui saw it. There was no doubt that it was one of the strongest Divine Artifacts present. He didn't know if it would ever be fully repaired. If it did revert to its original state, then it would be invincible.

The woman felt as though she had become one with the God Striking Whip. With just a shift of her consciousness, it appeared in her hand and disappeared accordingly. There was a miniature and exquisite, inch-long God Striking Whip around her wrist.

The God Striking Whip looked pale gold now, exuding great divine might. It was more striking than before as it glowed in gold. It didn't lose its rustic feeling and had instead had grown stronger.

The woman was frozen with shock for a long while. She didn't expect Qing Shui to give her such a great gift, to the extent where she couldn't even reject it.

"Do you like it?" Qing Shui smiled.

"Yes, this is too precious," the woman replied.

"This belonged to Divine Rain Sect, and you're the only sky fox race I know. Besides, this belonged to your ancestors, so you're the most suitable recipient for it." Qing Shui was honest. However, if it wasn't exclusive to sky fox race, would he still have given it?

"If I had this earlier, then my senior wouldn't even be my match."

"Your senior is…?" Qing Shui was curious.

"He's a Poison Wolf King with a naturally poisonous body. His entire body is filled with poison, and he has an extremely strong cultivation as well." She didn't hide anything from Qing Shui.

"Alright. I'll avenge you in the future when the opportunity comes by."

It was only natural that Qing Shui didn't favor someone who could be this ruthless. Besides, he knew that the other party wouldn't let him go either; they wouldn't let anyone who cured this woman go. So, it was better for Qing Shui to kill them when there was a chance.

Qing Shui established the formation and taught the woman how to do it. It would take some time for her to master it. Qing Shui left thereafter. The woman knew of the relationship between Qing Shui and the Chi Clan, as well as the Divine Palace. She knew what to do even without him bringing it up.

The only thing which left her unsatisfied was the fact that he had never asked her for her name.

She understood that he would only run away if she chased too tightly at the back of his heels. Everything should be done slowly. She had already given up on her woman's pride in front of him.

……

Back at the Divine Palace, Qing Shui set up several Spirit Gathering Formations. This would hasten the training process for everyone. The Divine Palace had taken shape now with powerful warriors joining them from all over, as well as the number of weapons and treasures which were stacking up. Massacre Battle God and Mighty Strength Battle God's attacks were almost on par with Qing Shui's full defense.

Of course, That was the case when they were also in the state of full strength given by Qing Shui's strengthening skill.

There was less than a hundred people in the Divine Palace, and this was including Hill Moving Battle God and the others. Qing Shui, on the other hand, was planning on advancing to the Middle Three Regions.

The time he had spent at the Lower Three Regions wasn't long, and he did not check out many places. This was normal; it would have taken too much time to visit every single site, perhaps a few decades to a century's time. Besides, he didn't intend to linger for long. Going to the Middle Three Regions now was a little later than he had predicted.

Qing Shui broke the news of him going to the Middle Three Regions to the Divine Palace. Inevitably, there were many who wanted to follow only to be met with a shake of his head. "I'm going there alone this time. The Middle Three Regions isn't like here. I'll fetch you over when the opportunity comes."

The Sky-Obstructing Crow once had told him that he could've reached the Fourth Region with its previous evaluation of him. Now that he was significantly stronger than before, with the addition of the Divine Puppet, Qing Shui thought he would be able to have a firm footing in the Middle Three Regions. He wondered if there were Demon Gates in the Middle Three Regions. At the very least, it should have a branch from the Nine Continents Demon Gate. However, how many would there be?

Through the sky fox race leader of the Divine Rain Sect, Qing Shui knew that the Middle Three Regions consisted of the Demon King Domain, the Forsaken Earth Region, and the Forsaken Heaven Region.

Those were the Middle Three Regions, and it was different from the Lower Three Regions. Each region in the Middle Three Regions had a great discrepancy with each other, and each had its own paradise. There were many strong warriors and empires, along with ancient sects, unique powers and races who lived together. Everything was equal.

Qing Shui bid them farewell, letting them train in peace at the Lower Three Regions to increase their powers, as well as to expand the Divine Palace. This was just a base, and they were going to advance towards the Upper Three Regions in the future.

While the two women couldn't bear for him to leave, he consoled them and said that he could set a destination at the Middle Three Regions upon arrival and visit them often from then on.

Qing Shui could now break down the wall which obstructed the passage from the Lower Three Regions to the Middle Three Regions. This could hinder many people, however, anyone at the level of Divinity could pass through. Such obstruction was quite terrifying. Even in the Nine Continents, Divine grade warriors were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Looking at it from a bigger perspective, to have one divine warrior at each city was already considered decent. After all, no one knew about their exact numbers in the cities of the Nine Continents. However, powerful forces would always have the means to gather those mighty divine warriors.