Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 727 – The Diamond Gigantic Elephant and the Fire Bird that consumed the Ice Snow Sacred Fruit

“You already have a few women, are you still not satisfied?”

“The more pretty women I have, the merrier.” Qing Shui rubbed his nose and chuckled.

“You are not that kind of person. I understand what you are thinking but I don’t feel that kind of love you have towards me from before anymore. Perhaps your love has already been divided to the other women. You don’t have to worry about me. I will not leave here, and even if I plan to, this will still be my home.” said Wenren Wu-shuang while looking at Qing Shui.

“I am sorry that I am a greedy person.” Qing Shui gave a bitter smile to Wenren Wu-shuang.

“I know. Since you are honest, I will give you another chance. Don’t blame me if you aren’t able to catch my heart.” Wenren Wu-shuang’s face was flushed with a subtle red color.

Qing Shui smiled after hearing those words – the words that reassured him that he was still in her heart. The only reason she said it in this way was because of how reserved she was.

“Miss Wu-shuang has a peerlessness beauty that is incomparable in the entire continent. I will cherish the chance you give me, so for that, I will definitely catch your heart even if I have to snatch you away by force.” Qing Shui laughed.

“You dare!” Wenren Wu-shuang gave a slight scowl before she burst into laughter.

…….

Half a month passed. Qing Shui was now quite excited as he stood under the Ice Snow Sacred Fruit Tree in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. This was because the two pieces of fruit hanging in the tree had already ripened.

The Ice Snow Sacred Fruit has a certain chance of allowing the demonic beast to the advance one of its techniques to the next cultivation realm. Should this fail, then the demonic beast would gain the strength of 200 countries instead. The effects could only be activated if the demonic beast was in the range of the Grade Two to Peak Martial Saint. Moreover, there was no limit that the effects would be activated only until the Grand Perfection Stage of the Peak Martial Saint either.

Unfortunately, this fruit could only be consumed by demonic beasts. Qing Shui continued to observe the two pieces of translucent and glittering azure blue Ice Snow Sacred Fruits as his heart was filled with a sudden jolt of excitement, albeit a bit less excited than usual.

The Ice Snow Sacred Fruit could at least increase the demonic beast’s power by 200 countries of strength. If the demonic beast was lucky enough, it could advance one of its cultivation techniques to the next realm in an instant. The advancement wasn’t as simple as jumping by one level, it could even skip a few levels to reach the next realm. However, realms do come in different sizes. The smallest increase of a realm could even boost a Grade Two Martial Saint to a Grade Three Martial Saint on a whim.

Qing Shui picked the fruit from the tree carefully. It would take another 1000 years for the next fruit to grow. A 1000 years would be five years outside the realm. Even though the fruits have extraordinary effects, it was still quite time-consuming to grow one, much less the time for the fruit to fully ripen.

Two pieces of the Ice Snow Sacred Fruits – one for the Firebird and one for the Diamond Gigantic Elephant. These two were the first demonic beasts that came to his mind, because they might be able to reap a huge benefit if they were to advance to another realm based on their current strength and growth. As for the other demonic beasts, advancing their cultivation base to another realm might not be advantageous to them for now.

The current power of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant was roughly the strength of 1700 countries, and its overall defense was about the strength of 3500 countries. When the Diamond Gigantic Elephant used the Ferocious Diamond Attack in addition to its Diamond Qi, Diamond Protection, and the Diamond Crossing Rivers, it would only reach about the strength of 7000 countries altogether.

The cultivation of martial arts would only become progressively harder as one’s level increased, regardless whether they were a human or a demonic beast. There would also be a great disparity in strength between each level, just like how the Diamond Gigantic Elephant was able to display the strength of a Grade Eight Martial Saint with its full power.

The strength of 1500 countries would be qualified as a Grade Five Martial Saint, whereas the strength of 2500 countries would be qualified as a Grade Six Elementary Martial Saint. Those with the strength of 5500 countries would be considered a Grade Eight Elementary Martial Saint, and those with the strength of 7500 countries would be considered a Grade Nine Elementary Martial Saint, which was why the Diamond Gigantic Elephant would only be considered a Grade Eight Martial Saint with its current strength of 7000 countries.

The Fire Bird could unleash a power with the strength of 8000 countries under the influence of the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens. Despite the great amount of strength both the demonic beasts possessed, Qing Shui felt that their powers were a little underwhelming.

He quickly summoned both his Diamond Gigantic Elephant and Fire Bird, and proceeded to feed them each the Ice Snow Sacred Fruit. After that, he began to observe any signs of changes to his two demonic beasts as they promptly consumed the fruit.

Fire Bird’s current power was only at the strength of 2000 countries, which mean that it was a Grade Five Martial Saint demonic beast. Only when it managed to reach about the strength of 2500 countries would it be considered a Grade Six Martial Saint.

The Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens could double both the Fire Bird’s strength and its attack damage in an instant. The reason that the Fire Bird could be extremely powerful was because of the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens, which could also act as a power stacking ability. Take for example, Fire Bird’s overall power was currently at the strength of 2000 countries. When the strength was doubled, the amount would become 4000 countries. And when the attack power was doubled, the amount would then become 8000 countries.

Screech!

Prrrrttt!

The cries weren’t loud, but the two of them were beginning to move restlessly in an unnatural way. The Fire Bird began to circle around the sky, while the Diamond Gigantic Elephant began to stomp around ceaselessly in the sky as well.

The air around them had also been vibrating constantly after they began to act strangely. Qing Shui ascended the sky slowly as he felt something surging inside both of the demonic beasts’ bodies. He was still quite excited about what was about to happen. After all, how powerful they should become was in correlation to how strong Qing Shui was.

Roar!

Suddenly, the Diamond Gigantic Elephant let out a loud cry. Both of its front limbs lifted up in the air before it abruptly used the Mighty Elephant Stomp technique, which caused a straight path of gaseous substance, that seemed like a distortion of dark cloud, to spread around the sky. The strong aura the elephant gave off was enough to rip the sky apart. The distorted dark-cloud aura seemed as if it could destroy everything in its path.

Swish swish….

The shrilling sound was beginning to hurt his ears before the sound of an explosion in the air lingered. The explosion had caused a formation of dark clouds rising through the sky about 50 meters away from him.

Qing Shui enjoyed that very moment when the force in the air had risen up to the sky!

The Mighty Elephant Stomp had reached the Grand Perfection Stage!

The Mighty Elephant Stomp of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant that never had a breakthrough for a long while had suddenly reached the Grand Perfection Stage. This technique could be used in mid-air, and the best part was that the strength of the technique was ten times the strength of its current attack power.

Qing Shui trembled when he felt the power from the Mighty Elephant Stomp earlier because the force of this technique felt stronger than the Thunder God at its full power.

This meant that the Mighty Elephant Stomp had reached another realm!

The power of a Grade Six Martial Saint – the strength of 2500 countries, the defense that had reached the strength of 5000 countries, the Grand Perfection Stage of the Mighty Elephant Stomp with the strength of 25000 countries, the attack power that was the strength of two and a half stars…..

Qing Shui had a satisfied smile on his face. The Diamond Gigantic Elephant could unleash an attack of about the strength of 10,000 countries under normal circumstances. Even the Diamond Protection of zero net energy consumption was able to increase its defense several times.

The attack power of the strength of 2500 countries could reach to the strength of 5000 countries when the Diamond Qi was activated. Similarly like the Diamond Protection, the Ferocious Diamond Attack could unleash the strength of 10,000 countries without any consumption of energy.

The more Qing Shui thought about it, the more he wanted to go on a frenzy. The Diamond Gigantic Elephant was a demonic beast that regarded fighting as its main purpose in life. He couldn’t measure the elephant’s strength with the normal standards anymore, which was why Qing Shui had already overlooked its cultivation grade a long time ago. The strength of the body was the most important thing for the demonic beast – how much power the demonic beast could unleash would be the new standard for determining its grade.

The Diamond Qi was a zero-energy consumption passive battle technique that would always exist as long as the Diamond Gigantic Elephant was still alive. These kinds of passive techniques would always be a point of interest when it came to the analysis of its powers. Other than that, the Ferocious Diamond Attack and the Instantaneous Diamond Evasion could be used at any time as well.

The Diamond Gigantic Elephant that had surpassed a cultivation realm was running towards Qing Shui as it circled around him. Even though the elephant did not change in terms of its appearance, Qing Shui could feel that it had somehow possessed an aura of steel that wasn’t there before.

Fire Bird was still screeching as it circled the sky unnaturally. Suddenly, its body flashed in a bright red light, and it was burning in a layer of raging flame.

Screech!

A piercing screech rang out in the sky, yet it was pleasant to his ears. He felt like he could immerse himself in that clear pleasant cry all day.

A breakthrough!

However, he felt a little disappointed when he knew Fire Bird’s overall power had broken through to the strength of 2500 countries from the previous strength of 2000 countries. After all, this was the Fire Bird he was talking about, and the fruit he had fed to the demonic beast was none other than the Ice Snow Sacred Fruit that has miraculous effects when consumed.

Naturally, Qing Shui continued to look at the Fire Bird’s battle techniques!

Flying: Fire Bird’s sole flying ability. The endurance and speed were incomparable. As one of the best abilities of all flying beasts, Fire Bird could travel for a long period of time with high-velocity.

Hell’s Inferno: Fire Bird’s powerful flame attack. The pitch-black flame has the ability to burn everything in its way. It has a terrifying and disruptive force when unleashed.

Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens: When the Fire Bird released this move, the damage from the flame attack would be doubled. These effects would last about 15 minutes, and could only be used once per day. During the span of 15 minutes, any damage inflicted on the Fire Bird will be reduced by multiple times.

Phoenix Dance: Passive battle technique. No energy would be consumed. This technique was tempered from the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens during its blood awakening. Moreover, the Phoenix Dance has the ability to permanently double Fire Bird’s overall power!

Phoenix Paradise: When Fire Bird receives a fatal blow, there would be a 30% chance of rising from the ashes after it died!

After reading Fire Bird’s battle techniques, Qing Shui’s disappointment from before had vanished completely. The ‘Phoenix Dance’ was comparable with Diamond Gigantic Elephant’s three best passive battle techniques. Now that the Fire Bird had experienced another blood awakening, a new battle technique had appeared – the Phoenix Dance. It might be due to the improvement of its phoenix blood that the ‘Phoenix Dance’ was able to separate itself from the ‘Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens’, or to put simply, assimilated the passive battle technique from it.

With that, the Fire Bird’s power was able to increase by multiple times. Qing Shui was elated that the speed had been doubled permanently. This would mean that the flight distance had been doubled as well, albeit the with the same amount of energy consumed and the same flight period as before.

With the Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens activated, the Fire Bird’s attack power would be able to just reach the amount of strength of 10,000 countries. Unfortunately, this would only last for about 15 minutes, yet this short amount of time was already sufficient.

At that moment when he saw his Fire Bird and the Diamond Gigantic Elephant, he felt that they were like two pairs of tigers with wings attached. He also felt that he had gained a substantial personal wealth seeing how strong his demonic beasts had become.

When he remembered that he hadn’t seen the Diamond Gigantic Elephant’s battle technique yet, he quickly went to have a look, in hopes that the elephant would gain something useful as well!

The Diamond Qi, Diamond Protection, and Diamond Crossing Rivers didn’t change at all.

The Diamond Sword Qi and the Ferocious Diamond Attack didn’t change either.

The Instantaneous Diamond Evasion could now travel 200 meters in an instant. This was especially thrilling news to Qing Shui because he could sneak an attack or escape from dire situations more efficiently.

Mighty Elephant Stomp: Grand Perfection Stage. It has 10 times the power to attempt an instantaneous powerful attack. There was also a cooldown period of 15 minutes after each activation.

Qing Shui was happy initially, but now he felt a bit disappointed. The Mighty Elephant Stomp had already achieved the Grand Perfection Stage, yet there was still a cooldown time after every use. Fortunately, it was only for 15 minutes.

When he thought about the Mighty Elephant Stomp’s formidable force and its potential growth in future, he was able to come to terms with the cooldown time. Moreover, he would most probably use the technique only once in a battle due to its invincibility. Qing Shui finally shook his head and dispersed all these thoughts as he exited from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

It was almost noon. Recently, Qing Shui had spent most of his daytime in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal until he was ready to get out. When he walked out from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, Qing Jun and Qing Yin were playing in the living room while Wenren Wushuang was beside the children, watching on as they played.

“Daddy!”

“Daddy!”

It was coming on two months since he had been back home. During that span of time, he had already become very familiar with his children. Qing Shui would always give them food, so the two children would always prefer to stick close to him.

He held them each on his arms, and then planted a kiss on their cheeks.

“You like kids.” Qing Shui smiled as he looked at Wenren Wu-shuang.

“I do!” Wenren Wu-shuang’s face was flushed in red all of the sudden. She shot an angry look at Qing Shui because she knew there was something suspicious about the way he made that statement.

“Brother, Sister Wu-shuang, let’s go eat.” Suddenly, Qing Bei walked in and flashed a smile.

“Jun ‘er, come, let aunt hold you!”

Qing Bei picked up Qing Jun while Qing Shui held Qing Yin in his arm and walked out of the room with Wenren Wu-shuang to the big hall.