Ancient Strengthening Technique (Portraits of Beauty)

Chapter 2026

AST 2018 - Redcloud Gra.s.s, Tilted Moon Branch, Lightning Fruit

Qing Shui was very happy to find the location of the Redcloud Gra.s.s. It was fine as long as he could locate it. For the remaining medicinal herbs, w.a.n.g Zhong also didn’t know about their locations. However, he still told Qing Shui that according to rumors, they could be found on the Thunderous Peak.

Thunderous Peak was a place with storms all year long. One could hardly see any trees there. Among them, some of the lucky trees wouldn’t be struck by lightning. These trees would soon grow fruits which were known as the Thunderous Fruits.

Even if the Thunderous Fruits were to grow out of those trees, there was a 99% chance that they would be struck down by lightning before they could fully mature. Thus, the probability of one getting their hands on a Thunderous Fruit was very small. Furthermore, Thunderous Peak was also a very dangerous place. The lightning there had tremendous power.

Qing Shui was very happy to hear about the news. After all, it was still better than not knowing anything at all. At least for now, he had an idea on how to search for them. As for the risk and lightning which came with the fruits, Qing Shui had his own method to deal with them.

“Mister Qing, I don’t plan to go deeper into the area. I would like to head back and search for some treasures nearby.” Lei Bao said to Qing Shui.

“This sounds like a good idea. In fact, my original plan was to stop moving forward. But then, because I have my own means of escape, it shouldn’t be a problem for me. We plan to move on slightly ahead to see if we could find anything more. Well then, I think this is where we part ways.” Qing Shui smiled and said.

……

Lei Bao and w.a.n.g Zhong left. Qing Shui, on the other hand, was preparing to go deeper into the area along with the two girls.

“Qing Shui, how do you think the guy from the Bright Moon Palace is doing? These people are fake. We had made a deal to be close to each other; if they had kept their promises, they would have definitely seen the signal. Even by now, they should have made it here.” Yu Xixuan smiled and said.

“Actually, those people don’t really care about it. They were just trying to be polite with the things they said before. I believe with all four of them together, they might be even better at surviving than us. Let alone the Bright Moon Palace not being on good terms with the Great Sun Immortal Palace. Thus, if they hear the signal, regardless of whether it"s from the Great Sun Immortal Sect or us, they still wouldn"t turn up.” Beiming Xue seemed to have figured out that this kind of outcome would unfold.

Actually, this was also within Qing Shui’s expectations. Other than one of them being from the Bright Moon Palace, two others were from the Xicheng Clan and the Qiao Clan respectively. It was completely normal that things would turn out like this; there was even a high chance that they might attempt to stab them in the back.

“Alright, let’s stop talking about them and make haste in our journey. We might be able to find some Spiritual Beasts which you guys may need later on.” Qing Shui knew the most effective way to pique their interests.

As he thought, the two girls smiled happily as soon as they heard what he had said. Yu Xixuan said in a charming tone, “Big Brother Shui, if we happen to run into one of them, you have to help me capture it!”

Qing Shui looked back at the charming, mature yet proud Yu Xixuan. She was getting more and more natural with calling him Big Brother Shui. This caused him to feel speechless. Naturally, he wouldn’t take it seriously. Yu Xixuan was not someone who would act so lowly just for one or two Spiritual Beasts. It was just a joke among themselves as friends. In fact, this could be a way for her to tease Qing Shui.

Even though that might be the case, Beiming Xue was still unable to convince herself to do it like her. Every time Yu Xixuan did that, she would only look at her and Qing Shui with a smile.

“Alright, if I help you catch one, how do you plan to repay me?” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“As I said, you are my Big Brother Shui. How else would you want me to repay you?” Yu Xixuan chuckled.

“Little Sister Xuan, aren’t you still single? Why don’t you repay him with your body?” It was very rare to see Beiming Xue opening her mouth to joke about things like this with Yu Xixuan.

“Hehe, Big Sister Xue, I can tell that the corners of your eyes are fluctuating. Could it be that you have had this kind of thought before but never dared to talk about it? I can help you pa.s.s the message to Qing Shui. Considering how beautiful you are, any man would gladly accept your offer. What do you think about it? Qing Shui?” Yu Xixuan turned around and looked at Qing Shui.

“Yes…. No…. Ye……” Qing Shui was speechless when he looked at Yu Xixuan. This woman had a bit of a devil’s attribute in her. She was a mature, dignified and proud devil.

Yu Xixuan smiled. Beiming Xue looked to the other side to avoid eye contact with her. Naturally, when it came to arguing verbally, she wouldn’t stand a chance against Yu Xixuan.

Qing Shui attempted to change the topic, “Wow, the moon tonight looks so bright!”

“It’s only noon.” Yu Xixuan whispered.

Seeing Qing Shui’s speechless look, Yu Xixuan couldn’t help but let out a loud and charming laugh.

By now, they had already advanced deeper towards the area. If it wasn’t for Little Rin, they would have had to engage in a number of battles. This was the kind of intimidating presence which one would possess once becoming strong enough.

By now, Qing Shui had also realized that he possessed decent strength. However, it was still, only decent. Strictly speaking, his strength was still not good enough. Luckily, his actual combat ability was far superior to his strength. After all, he had treasures like the Nine Continent Mountains. His Divine Dao Origin Essence was also very formidable, particularly in its defensive prowess.

Adding on the h.e.l.l Nightmare Beast and the Buddha Ultimate Art which he recently just acquired, by combining it with his Dragon Slaying Beast, his ability in actual combats would, without a doubt, be extremely strong. This time, he even tamed Little Rin. It did not only have a strong defensive prowess, but its offensive prowess also came along in the same package. For the time being, Qing Shui could have done as he pleased across the entire Northern Ice Domain, if it was only taking into account the forces that were shown on the surface.

“The medicinal herbs here are quite decent. They are much better compared to the ones before.” Qing Shui saw an Ice Lotus Flower and immediately kept it.

They were on top of a huge ice mountain. They could very easily spot some Ice Lotus Flowers. These flowers had all already reached a certain age.

Hou!

Before he managed to pluck a lot of them, a loud and clear roaring noise came through.

A bear’s roar!

Qing Shui was able to recognize the noise. It sounded very loud and reverberating. Qing Shui would have been worried if he didn’t have Little Rin with him. After all, he wasn’t alone. Even though the two girls might be powerful, they weren’t strong enough to face off against it.

Hou-hou!

Yet another loud roaring noise came through. This time, the roar sounded even closer. Furthermore, there seemed to be more than one bear.

Qing Shui’s expression changed. It appeared. Qing Shui was already able to see the big guy. Though it was about fifty meters tall, it actually looked even bigger than a python which was supposedly a hundred meters in size. This was an enormous bear. Even by only taking account of its weight, it would definitely be even heavier than a python that was two hundred meters in length.

For a demonic beast at this level to be fifty meters tall, Qing Shui didn’t know how else he could describe it other than saying that it was a coincidence. After all, back then, Qing Shui had seen demonic beasts a thousand meters in length before. However, this would only apply when the demonic beasts were pythons or dragons. It was not that easy for the other races to reach a length worth a thousand meters.

The Ice Burst Demonic Bear!

Qing Shui knew that everyone had already received the message.

Most importantly, it was Ice Burst attributed. Everytime it attacked, there was a 30% chance that its attacks might double in power. This attribute alone was enough for it to be called heaven-defying. This was mainly due to the high percentage of the Ice Burst. In every three of its attacks, at least one of them would be twice as strong as the other two.

Aside from that, there was a fixed chance that it might partially freeze its opponent with its attacks. By doing that, its opponent’s speed and reaction time would be reduced. On some very rare occasions, its attacks were even able to completely freeze its opponents.

This might be the reason why the Ice Burst Demonic Bear was able to become the Brother of Demons.

There were five of them in total. Luckily, Qing Shui had Little Rin with him. Qing Shui glanced at the Ice Burst Demonic Bear and spoke to the two young ladies, “Do you like this bear? If you do, we will try to take down at least two of them. Let’s make our trip worthwhile.”

Before this, Qing Shui had gone through the power and attributes of the Ice Burst Demonic Bear once. The two girls were staring at them with hopeful eyes. They felt that these bears were almost at the same level as Little Rin. Furthermore, the Ice Burst Demonic Bear also looked very cute but at the same time, mighty.

“I do, I like it a lot.” Yu Xixuan quickly pointed her beautiful daggers.

“I like it too.” Beiming Xue said a bit embarra.s.singly.