Ancient Strengthening Technique (Portraits of Beauty)

Chapter 688

AST 687 – Refining Demons yet again! The Fire Bird broke through

Qing Shui walked out of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and walked towards the White Jade Jiao, which was dead. Qing Shui planned to dissect it and sc.r.a.pe off its skin to collect materials. But as he was about to do it, he came to a stop.

He thought about it for a while and eventually took out the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace. So far, he has only used the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace once, which was back when he was at the Stellar Horse Lake. Ever since then, he never took it out even once. The idea to use it this time was prompted by a sudden impulse to refine demons.

By refining demons, there was a chance for him to get some unexpected stuff. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to get anything if it failed. While there were a lot of reasons behind it, he might end up with some particularly good stuff.

For example, the Origin Essence Pearl of a demonic beast.

It’s just like the pearl that he got last time when he was at Stellar Horse Lake. However, the one that he got last time was refined from two demonic beasts. It’s not that there wasn’t any possibility of attaining it from refining one demonic beast, it’s just that the chance of success was very small. In addition to that, the chance of obtaining it would only be higher if the demonic beast was alive.

But it’s too dangerous to refine a demonic beast while it was still alive. Qing Shui wouldn’t have done it last time if he had a choice. This time, Qing Shui was going to take it as a practice to see if he could obtain some huge benefits from refining demons.

It might have been because of the White Jade Jiao but not only was Qing Shui was unable to sense any powerful beasts within ten metres of the area, there were even no signs of demonic beasts beyond Martial Saint.

Qing Shui sat crossed-legged three metres above the ground and began to recover his energy. Qing Shui released the Diamond Gigantic Elephant, Gold-Silver Colored b.u.t.terfly, Jade Emperor Queen Bee as well as the Jade Emperor Bee. In any case, this was a dangerous area. After all, a gigantic demonic beast came and swallowed him while he was in the State of No Conscious, he wouldn’t even know how he died.

After a the time it takes for a joss stick to burn, Qing Shui opened up both of his eyes. He looked fresh and relaxed. Taking into account that this place had abundant spiritual energy, it helped Qing Shui to recover a lot faster than usual.

After investigating the area around him once, Qing Shui took out the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace and slowly offered his sacrifice to the furnace. Slowly, a simple and unadorned light shone on top of the furnace and enveloped the corpse of the White Jade Jiao.

The Primordial Demon Refining Furnace got bigger and bigger. It eventually came to a stop when it was big enough to contain the corpse of the White Jade Jiao. After that, it gradually secured itself to the ground and held onto the corpse of the White Jade Jiao.

The White Jade Jiao died not long ago. This was what inspired Qing Shui to refine demons, he felt that he was in luck  and should give it a try,

After that, Qing Shui began to gently pat the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace. Everytime he did so, a faint golden light would dissolve into the Demon Refining Furnace.

As time pa.s.sed, the light that was glowing on the Demon Refining Furnace shrunk. It started off shrinking really quickly but gradually the speed at which it happened got slower and slower.

Refining demons meant refining the essence within the body of a demonic beast. Considering that the White Jade Jiao had formidable strength and was large in size, when refining it, one would have to rely on powerful strength as their foundation to refine it.

Normally, during the process of refining demons, people would use demonic beasts that just died. Once a demonic beast was dead for a long time, the essence of its corpse would fade away and naturally result in it becoming worthless for refining.

Time went on little by little. Very quickly, night had already approached. The stars in the sky added to the brilliant white snow cover caused the surroundings to look very bright. However, Qing Shui seemed like he was unaware of all of this happening. He kept his eyes closed while maintaining a calm mind.

Slowly, the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace shrank all the way to its original size. However, the light on top of it glowed even more brightly and it even started making serene noises. It was a really shocking scene.

Suddenly, the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace started giving off dazzling light. It was a simple and unadorned yet gorgeous light. At this moment, the pictures on the Demon Refining Furnace became really lively. It looked really colorful and distinct.

At this moment, Qing Shui opened up both of his eyes while maintaining the movement of his hands. Not knowing when it happened, the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace started rising up towards the sky. Qing Shui on the other hand, attempted to continue burning it with his Primordial Flame.

To a certain extent, the process of refining demons and refining medicines were similar. They both have to go through the refining process. At the moment when the Demon Refining Furnace had shrunk to a certain extent, it would need the Primordial Flame to refine it.

The Primordial Flame in Qing Shui’s hand became weaker and weaker until it stopped. At the same time, the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace also descended from the sky and slowly landed on the ground. Even though the Demon Refining Furnace didn’t look that big, it felt as if it weighed about a thousand countries in the instant it fell.

Qing Shui slowly stood up and looked towards the Demon Refining Furnace. At this moment, he felt a bit excited. He knew that the demon refining process this time was a success, hence he was really looking forward to seeing what came out of it.

There were only two things, one was a pure jade pearl that was about the size of a fist whereas the other one was a crystal card as large as his palm. There was a blurred image on top of the card. It took the shape of the Pure Jade Jiao from before.

Without the need to mention it, the pearl was the Origin Essence Pearl . The card on the other hand should be a demonic beast card, otherwise known as a crystal card. It was a body of energy.

It was just like the time when Qing Shui had the tiger card. When he patted it on his body, he felt a very strong effect. It could help raise his offensive strength. As for how much it raised, he was uncertain about it. All along, he hadn’t used it even once. Normally, he would feel that it was a waste to use it. But then in times of emergency, he would forget about it instead. Hence, he had always had the tiger crystal card with him.

Qing Shui grabbed the crystal card of the White Jade Jiao in his hand. As he did so, a cold aura went through his body. The feeling of having a powerful spiritual energy in his body was even stronger than the one with the tiger crystal card.

It might have been because there were other Beast Tamers across the continents or perhaps there is another reason but the effects of the card were all written on top of it.

Additional state: Speed reduction, freeze. Upon usage, it had effect of reducing opponent’s speed by 100% for half an hour. It has a fixed percentage of freezing your opponent. The duration of the opponent being frozen would depend on their strength.

“Not bad, it seems really strong.” Qing Shui didn’t know much about the effect of the cards. He only judged the card based on what was shown on it. For example, Qing Shui regarded the card that stated a reduction in speed as much as 100% as a good card but he was uncertain exactly what the 100% speed reduction was based on. What he thought was even better was the effect of freezing the opponent. For opponents with almost equal strength, if one of them was frozen, the other one would have more than enough time to instantly kill him.

Qing Shui put away the crystal card of the White Jade Jiao and put it together with the tiger one. It would definitely come in handy in the future. After taking out the pearl, Qing Shui immediately put the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace back into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

The Origin Essence Pearl was definitely considered to be a rare treasure, the one in Qing Shui’s hand in particular, they were highly sought after but low in supply. It was made from one of the strongest demonic beasts that Qing Shui had encountered so far.

Minggggg!

Not knowing when it happened, the Fire Bird began spiralling around the top of Qing Shui’s head. It seemed to be yearning for the Origin Essence Pearl which was in Qing Shui’s hand. Even though the only thing it was doing was circling in the sky, Qing Shui could see that it was quite eager to taste the pearl.

To be honest, Qing Shui had never actually thought about letting the Fire Bird have it. He planned to help the Diamond Gigantic Elephant move up even further in terms of strength. But as he looked at the Fire Bird’s eager expression, he began to feel a bit hesitant.

The Fire Bird was Qing Shui’s first Demonic Beast, yet it was the weakest one at the moment. Even the Gold-Silver Colored b.u.t.terfly and the Jade Emperor Queen Bee were both stronger than it. For a moment, Qing Shui felt really guilty. Not only did he use the Fire Bird to escape from risky situations, he even used it for transport. Simply put, it was one of the most important demonic beasts to Qing Shui.

In any case, the pearl was something that he obtained from refining demons this time. It was time for the Fire Bird to increase its strength. Qing Shui’s original plan was to help raise the strength of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant because by doing so, it would also help him raise a bit of his strength, which was why Qing Shui neglected the Fire Bird.

The more Qing Shui thought about it, the guiltier he felt. He immediately tossed the Origin Essence Pearl in his hand to the Fire Bird. The Fire Bird was the demonic beast that he used the most, yet it was also the one that he tended to leave out. It would be great if the Fire Bird could become a Martial Saint. It was the first Demonic Beast rewarded by the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Not only that, it even possessed the bloodline of a phoenix.

The Fire Bird happily swallowed the Origin Essence Pearl. After that, it began to continuously fly around the sky. The way it flew looked really unusual. It would fly up and down and move left and right from time to time.

This caused Qing Shui to feel really weird. Normally, regardless of whether a demonic beast or a human took in a pellet or a medicinal pill which helped increase strength, they would both quiet down to consume the strength hidden within it.

However, unlike before, instead of stopping in the middle of the sky, the Fire Bird began flying around the sky constantly. It looked really good doing that with its scarlet body.

Minggg!

A loud bird chirping noise rang. Suddenly, the body of the Fire Bird began burning with flame. This phenomenon shocked Qing Shui. But as he thought about it, it was nothing unusual considering that this was a fire element bird.

Even though the red flame wasn’t extraordinarily strong, it looked really stunning, not to mention that the Fire Bird was quite big now. The sight of it burning with flame looked really spectacular.

The flame slowly got ignited across the whole body of the Fire Bird. Even Qing Shui could feel the sudden burst in the Fire Bird’s strength with his Spiritual Sense.

Minggggg!

There was yet another heaven shaking chirping noise. The noise sounded just like the one that the Pure Jade Jiao made. There was a kind of dignified and serene feeling to it. However, this chirping noise sounded more beautiful than the previous one.

Mingggg!

The chirping noise this time sounded even more thunderous than before. It sounded so loud, like it was about to pierce through the blue dome of heaven at any time. Simultaneously, the flame across the body of the Fire Bird combined together and burst.

In that instant, the Fire Bird began burning in fierce flames like it had exploded. The entire scene looked really spectacular. Qing Shui was stunned while the Jade Emperor Queen Bee and the Gold-Silver Colored b.u.t.terfly moved back with unease. They constantly flew around the area and made uneasy noises while the rest of the Jade Emperor Bees were immobilized on the ground.

Even the Diamond Gigantic Elephant felt really uneasy and began stomping the ground. To solve that, Qing Shui jumped onto the back of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant and gently patted it to calm it down.

The other demonic beasts also felt really uneasy but it wasn’t as dramatic as the Diamond Gigantic Elephant. The sudden burst in the Fire Bird’s strength had already caused the Diamond Gigantic Elephant to feel intimidated. Even though the other demonic beasts belonged to Qing Shui, they would still feel uneasy towards it.

The Fire Bird had already surpa.s.sed the Jade Emperor Queen Bee and the Gold-Silver Colored b.u.t.terfly in terms of strength. They may not have felt as uneasy because their original talents lay in using poisons and they were born within the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, just like the Fire Bird.

Qing Shui gazed at the Fire Bird in the sky that had grown to be about fifty meters. The flame across its body slowly faded away, leaving only two bundles of flame on its tail, adding an additional G.o.dly might to its appearance.

It flapped both of its enormous wings and soared up sharply into the sky. Its movement was smooth, elegant, gorgeous and had a sort of kinglike aura. Even the phoenix crown on its head had also doubled in size even though it was still a bit small compared to the body size of the Fire Bird.

The Fire Bird performed a swift turn. Its body was as curved as a bow, looking particularly soft and coordinated.

Mingggg!

The joyful chirping noise almost made Qing Shui laugh!

The Fire Bird had also become a Martial Saint Grade Demonic Beast!


If you would like to support our translations and unlock some [Portraits of Beauty], please consider pledging to our Patreon!