Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 2396 – Forsaken Heaven Region’s Zhongyuan City, Meeting Luan Luan

Qing Shui and the others left, heading towards the Forsaken Heaven Region.

This was the last region in the Middle Three Regions and the strongest. It was different from other regions, providing a link between the Lower and Upper Three Regions since there were people from both the Lower and Upper Three Regions in the Forsaken Heaven Region.

Of course, this wasn’t a common sight. Other than that, the place was unique with crooks being mixed in with honest folk. The region was close to the Upper Three Regions and was dense in Spiritual Qi. It was said that the Forsaken Heaven Region’s Heavenly Dao Realm was suppressed at the level of Cave Realm. Anyone at a higher level would be reduced to the latter.

This was the reason why many strong warriors and unique people of the Upper Three Regions chose to stay in the Forsaken Heaven Region. For example, those with unique abilities and were at the Cave Realm would stay in the Forsaken Heaven Region and freely slaughter some of the Nurture God Realm warriors from the Upper Three Regions.

This was the amazing thing about the Forsaken Heaven Region, which was why powers were able to move unhindered. Competition was even more intensive here than in the Upper Three Regions. The Forsaken Heaven Region was basically another territory on its own where even the Upper Three Regions had no control over, unless one could become invincible here in the Cave Realm.

Qing Shui looked forward to coming here because he was also startled when he heard the news. He was at the Ten Caves Realm and they were all Golden Caves at that. It was without a doubt that he was the first to achieve this among those in the Cave Realm. Hence, Qing Shui felt as though he would be able to go on a rampage anywhere upon his arrival.

After a few months, Qing Shui and his comrades arrived at the Forsaken Heaven Region. They bumped into some troubles along the way, but they weren’t too much to handle. Those were resolved easily, and they managed to enter the Forsaken Heaven Region.

The moment they stepped into the Forsaken Heaven Region, Qing Shui could feel his cultivation being suppressed. His perfect defense status was left with just 10 trillion dao or less. It seemed that the strongest within the Forsaken Heaven Region would be around 10 trillion Dao within the Cave Realm.

This left Qing Shui in a dilemma as to whether to be happy or not. Since strength was limited here, along with the Forsaken Heaven Region’s weakening, his supportive abilities would be useless now and this dampened his mood. However, the Divine Soldier Soaring Blade’s reduction ability should still be usable. This ability was terrifying, allowing Qing Shui to be as resilient as a cockroach.

There were pros and cons to everything, but Qing Shui thought this world had more pros for himself than cons.

Qing Shui didn’t know the origin of the Forsaken Heaven Region’s name. There was a myriad of rumors floating around but no definite answers. It was said that its name was related to the Forsaken Earth Region and that they used to be connected. For some reason, they separated somewhere down the line like Heaven and Earth, and the ground drifted apart. The Forsaken Earth Region was the one which shifted away, being regarded as a desolate land afterwards. After an unknown amount of time, the Forsaken Heaven Region flourished to the way it was today.

Besides that, another saying regarding the Forsaken Heaven Region was that the restriction of abilities here was due to the Heavenly Laws. Meaning to say that this place was a slice of the sky, like an independent world but still had to follow this rule.

Qing Shui didn’t think that any of the rumors mattered so he just merely listened. Like reading history books in his previous life, he just thought it sounded interesting.

After a couple of months, the people around Qing Shui had quite an improvement in abilities. They were in an accelerated space although they didn’t have a lot of people. No one would even bat an eye at them when they travelled in a group, given how common it was for a group of hundreds to travel together.

They had already been through dozens of cities. This world was too big. Typically, they would pass through the cities and gather some information, staying for a few days to sightsee if the city was beautiful.

This was like a form of vacation. In all honesty, vacation wasn’t popular in the Nine Continents due to the dangerous nature of their world. Hence, most people would regard the world as an adventure, or would just live within an area. The place was too big after all; any city here was several times larger than those from his previous life. Thinking back about the few places he visited then, they were only about several dozen miles wide.

Adventurers were prone to walk a lot. Since being on adventure was associated to a share of dangers, many of them perished on a daily basis.

Qing Shui and his companions weren’t much different from those adventurers. If they hadn’t been strong enough, a number of them would have died along the way.

Zhongyuan City!

This place was aptly named. Qing Shui and his companions arrived at the central Forsaken Heaven Region after a few months. This was a unique city. Just like Chaos City, it didn’t belong to any empire, and it was huge. There were great stretches of empty land and mountains around it.

It was because of this emptiness that after Qing Shui used his Nine Continents Steps, he had to ride on the Primordial Dragon Elephant for two hours before spotting the city.

It was only after they entered when they realized the vastness of the city and got to know its name as Zhongyuan City. This was the third largest city within the Forsaken Heaven Region.

It wasn’t just the area that was the largest, but even their strength was immense. This was even more crucial than space alone.

Zhongyuan City didn’t belong to any empire and it was its unique point. The one with the most power here was the City Lord. Despite the title, he was practically the Emperor here.

After understanding the situation, Qing Shui decided to make a stop at Zhongyuan City. They had been rushing through their journey for the past few days. It wasn’t hard or tiring when just using Nine Continents Steps for their journey, but they spent most of the time training, resting for a day or so to explore occasionally.

“Daddy!”

Out of the blue, a familiar voice reached them. Qing Shui turned back in disbelief, seeing a beautiful girl gazing back at Qing Shui with the same expression of disbelief and shock.

Luan Luan!

This girl was Luan Luan. Qing Shui smiled as she lunged into his embrace, holding him tightly.

“Why are you here, girl?” Qing Shui recalled that she was at the Northern Underworld Immortal Palace, and a Vice Palace Lord under Beiming Xue.

Hao Tian looked at Qing Shui, puzzled. This was his daughter?

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. Father, why are you all here?” Luan Luan spoke with glee lacing her voice.

Qing Shui explained briefly before starting the introductions.

Everyone was shocked to know that this was Qing Shui’s daughter. Luan Luan tugged at Shen Huang and Beihuang Fan. “Aunts, you’re so beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful too. We feel old just by looking at you.” Shen Huang smiled.

After an exchange of polite words, the group headed to an inn for food.

It was then that Luan Luan explained her side of the story. She was still the Vice Palace Lord of the Northern Underworld Immortal Palace, but she had complete freedom. Beiming Xue identified her gift and chose not to restrict her.

Luan Luan left to make her mark in the world, relying on her strength and numerous demonic beasts to arrive at Zhongyuan City. Within Zhongyuan City, she established a branch for the Northern Underworld Immortal Palace and had been here for two years.

Sometimes, Qing Shui truly did feel that the world worked in mysterious ways. What were the odds of bumping into each other this way? Suddenly, Qing Shui realized that this world didn’t seem that big after all…