Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2358 - The Deity's Decree and the Secret Mystical Technique

Giant waves were formed. Water splashing everywhere, water droplets penetrating steel, the sound of the wind whistling filled the air, sharp enough to penetrate gold. 

The tooth necklace emitted a ring of white light, blocking the water waves. But the Water Emperor’s armor was not just any ordinary armor. It was now a desperate fight of vitality. 

“The battle is going to end right now. I’m not going to play around with you anymore. I’ll send you off!”

The Ghost King took a pale gold “Deity's Decree” and hit it, making the surroundings suddenly become silent. After he threw this decree out, a gold light appeared and shrouded the entire area.

All of a sudden, everyone felt their own strength drop, their bodies as heavy as lead. 

“Water Emperor, if I kill you now, wouldn’t it be as easy as flipping my palm?” The Ghost King snickered guiltlessly. 

    Qing Shui’s brows furrowed. This decree was extremely powerful, as his own powers were diminished by half. Fortunately, it seemed that he could quickly recover; the Battle God Halo power that was previously used was still present, which made Qing Shui sigh in relief. 

Still, the Water Emperor was panicking on the inside. It would be too much a waste if he lost the battle like this. 

“This is the Deity’s decree. Even though it only carries a hint of divine will, it is enough. I wouldn’t have used it randomly, as it is far too precious. For you to have resisted me so, your death has already been decided.”

“Beiyuan Cao, can’t you see? At best, the Beiyuan family will be mere puppets. You’re just giving everything up on a silver platter.” the Water Emperor chided Beiyuan Cao. 

“The Ghost King’s aim is not to conquer the Water Nation. This is merely the first step. We aim to unite all nations to form a greater and stronger country. When that happens, the Beiyuan family will gain many benefits,” Beiyuan Cao said unhurriedly.

“That’s enough. You’ve rambled on for long enough. It’s time for your whole clan to die, but I have to say I really like your daughter.” The Ghost King chuckled with a blatant disregard for others.

“Hey, you’re really disgusting on top of being hideous. I don’t even want to know who accidentally gave birth to you…” Qing Shui didn’t want to speak, but he wanted to help the Water Emperor. He didn’t think that this old ghost would suddenly get Nalan Qing involved in his ugly mess. 

The Ghost King was very ugly. Even though it had something to do with his cultivation techniques, he was ugly to begin with. He hated being called ugly by others the most. In his youth, a woman whom he desired didn’t like him for his appearance and he had killed her in a fit of rage.

Now that he was older, he was not as crazy, but this kind of deep-rooted stigma did not change. Now listening to someone not just call him ugly, but hideous, made anger pool inside him. He set his sights on Qing Shui, “I will make sure you know what being dead is while still living, and make you become a creature more disgusting than I am. 

“I’ll just say it. You by yourself isn’t enough. I can simply annihilate you. How long do you think your decree will last?” Qing Shui snickered. 

“Half an hour. No, just fifteen minutes will do. It’s time to die!”

The Ghost King immediately waved his bone weapon and charged toward Qing Shui.

The Water Emperor naturally wanted to intercept the Ghost King but before he could do so, Qing Shui speedily launched his Divine Soldier Soaring Blade, while applying Emperor’s Qi onto the Ghost King.

Following a loud crash, both parties flew backward in silence.

If the Water Emperor had taken that violent blow, he would have gotten seriously injured or maybe even died, but now he was all fine and did not sustain any injuries. He was wearing a big smile on his face as he turned to Qing Shui. He was fearful of taking that blow, but the impact on his body was just a hollow feeling. It was like biting one’s gums and sucking in a breath, or hitting oneself on the chest. Although the hit sounded unpleasant, it was not actually painful.

Art of Pursuing!

The Ghost King had already felt his strength and speed diminish after battling with the Water Emperor but upon getting hit by the Art of Pursuing, his strength had diminished even more by threefold. He felt like his body was as heavy as lead. Not only that, all of his previous attacks did not seem to have harmed the Water Emperor in any way. Could it be that the decree had no effect?

It didn’t make any sense. The decree had taken effect. He could clearly sense the Water Emperor’s strength drop and yet, he easily blocked his own blow. The Ghost King just couldn’t understand as he stood there, stunned by the fact.

The Water Emperor did not proactively attack. His attacks now would not harm the opponent so attacking was of no use. He simply waited for the decree to wear off to decide the victor.

Now it was the Ghost King’s turn to panic. He didn’t expect that using the Deity’s Decree would result in such a situation.

The Ghost King did not give up and summoned another skeleton dragon, commanding it to fly toward the Water Emperor. His bone weapon also cast a ghastly shadow that loomed over the whole sky. Even though poison was his expertise, using battle techniques in a fight was not inferior to using poison.

The Water Emperor was now using all of his strength to block the blows. The more hits he received, the stronger he felt. Even though it seemed as though he was slowly retreating in defeat, his body could still endure it without suffering any injuries.

The more hits the Ghost King delivered, the stranger he felt, as if his insides were a mess. Time trickled by slowly. If he were unable to defeat them in the period during the time when the Deity’s Decree was effective, it would be impossible to bring down anyone after it had worn off.

The Ghost King halted for a bit. The bone in his hand eventually turned green while his whole body had gradually turned black as coal; his body started emitting clouds of black smoke. He looked like a giant metallic lump and his body was no longer as scrawny as before. It was now well-built and muscular.

“You all will die today!”

Devilish Transformation!

The Water Emperor’s expression immediately changed. At that moment, Qing Shui was also quite surprised. This was a secret mystical technique, where he could temporarily defy the heavens. His attacks were even bestowed with armor-piercing properties.

Die!

Once again, the Ghost King threw his black bone weapon at the Water Emperor. This attack seemed like it contained some sort of terrorizing abilities. Even though the Water Emperor had barely managed to avoid the hit, it still impacted his shoulder.

Ka-cha!

The sound of bones breaking could be heard and the Emperor could be seen flying across the room, blood spewing out of his mouth. His eyes also shone with a hint of powerlessness. The Ghost King was too strong. The difference in their strengths had now been pulled apart greatly again.

Boom!

Just as the Ghost King was about to deliver another attack to the Water Emperor, a giant creature standing at around five to six meters stood in between them.

The black lumpy creature was shaped like a human. It looked like a carved wooden puppet, but had its own sentience.

This was the Divine Battle Puppet that Qing Shui had gained.

At this moment, the whole area’s powers were diminished by half, but Qing Shui immediately gathered the Battle God Halo and other techniques, to use them on the Divine Battle Puppet. Not long after, the strength of the puppet rapidly increased. It was not inferior to the Ghost King. If the Ghost King did not have the Deity's Decree, he would have been easily defeated. Even now they were not inferior to him.

Upon seeing this big creature appear, the Ghost King did not regard it as a big threat. The bone in his hand suddenly enlarged tenfold and he aggressively flung it towards the Divine Battle Puppet. He really did not perceive it as threatening. Not all large monsters were powerful.