AST 915 – “Lord Of Nine Palace”, Kill!
Qing Shui took advantage of the battle that allowed the Nine Palace Steps to improve rapidly into the Lord of Nine Palace realm.
It was only then that Qing Shui was deemed the rightful owner of the ‘Nine Palace Steps’. He was finally able to truly grasp the quintessence of the Nine Palace Steps, a feat that thrilled him. After all, the Nine Palace Steps was undeniably strong.
“Path of Sky Prison!”
A black silhouette-like halo flashed from Tianyu Liangyi’s body, a subtle gleam of golden light bursting outwards towards the surroundings. Next, his golden pupils shot a light at Qing Shui that locked him down fiercely.
“Sky Prison Bloodbath!”
A flicker of a silhouette flashed across Qing Shui with an instantaneous force that could slice the heavens apart.
Qing Shui’s pupils constricted as he tried to move out of harm’s way. However, when he attempted to do so, he realized his movements had been slowed down considerably. He knew that this was due to Tianyu Liangyi’s odd eyes. Moreover, his opponent seemed to have his strength boosted by multiple levels – his aura felt distinctly different than before.
“Qing Shui, move quickly! He’s burning his life force to increase his power and try to kill you! Move away quickly……” The old man from the Mu Clan shouted as he threw a bunch of Crystal Demonic Beast Cards at Tianyu Liangyi to delay for more time.
Even though Qing Shui could evade Tianyu Liangyi’s attack the first time, he realized it was quite difficult to do the same given his current situation. The second blade was coming his way, and this time it was undodgeable. Time seemed to pass slowly, but this had all happened in under a minute.
Qing Shui retrieved his Poison Dragon Dagger and promptly swapped to the Violet Gold Divine Shield.
Shield Attack!
Godly Armor Shield!
Divinity Protection!
With a stomp on the ground, Mu Qing, who had been coming to his aid, was swiftly swept back by the aftershock of the force.
Bang!
Chrriikkk……
A sharp and uncomfortable noise pierced through the air as Qing Shui was bashed backward, blood gushing out from his body. The Violet Gold Divine Shield had been shattered completely, but the fist-sized violet stone had been knocked loose, rolling to the far side of the battlefield.
A nasty cut appeared from his stomach to his chest, blood spewing from the opening, almost deep enough to reveal his inner organs. Qing Shui could feel his life force draining vigorously from his body as well.
With no time to lose, he quickly took out a piece of the Golden Buddha Aura Lotus and devoured it like a madman. As soon as he ate it, a blinding stream of light enveloped his vital organs like a protective shield, acting as a cork to prevent his life force from draining from his body.
While enduring the extreme pain of his gaping wound, he tapped a few acupoints on his body and applied the Jinchuang Powder to his gash. He used the beast skin of a Martial Saint level beast as a ‘bandage’ and wrapped it around the wound. The skin bandage being stained quickly from the blood oozing from the cut.
All of this happened within two breaths of time.
“How can this be? How is it possible?” Tianyu Liangyi was in shock, albeit for a moment. Qing Shui had settled his wound very quickly, but Tianyu Liangyi realized he had missed an opportunity to kill his opponent during the two breaths of time Qing Shui had taken to mend his wound.
Tianyu Liangyi’s life force was still draining away, because the ‘Path of Sky Prison’ was one of no return. Once the ability was unleashed, he could only use his killer move to try and annihilate his opponent at the price of his death. He was ready to die along with everyone else in this battle.
However, his killer move hadn’t been able to kill Qing Shui successfully. He needed just a little bit more to kill him – it would’ve been enough if it hadn’t been for that damned shield. Tianyu Liangyi wielded his sabre once more and rushed towards Qing Shui with the unwillingness to give up.
The previous assault had been his most powerful one, but Qing Shui had possessed that miraculous shield to defend himself from getting killed by the invincible force of the former could shield himself against his assault this time. Although he couldn’t unleash a force quite as deadly as he did previously, he could still inflict heavy damage on Qing Shui. As long as he could take him out, nothing else really mattered to him.
Descending Heaven Talisman!
Fiery Golden Eyes!
Emperor’s Qi!
At this point, Qing Shui decided to use everything, as he faced his opponent who possessed a powerful ability. However, Qing Shui’s debuff abilities were more frightful, to the point of stopping Tianyu Liangyi completely in his tracks after being hit with the weakening abilities. Tianyu Liangyi turned pale, but after stopping for a brief moment, he continued to rush towards Qing Shui with his sabre in hand.
He couldn’t accept the turn of events and was more than determined to fight Qing Shui, despite already sealing his fate to death. The Path of Sky Prison was a one-way ticket to death, so he was prepared to die for his cause.
This time, Qing Shui evaded Tianyu Liangyi’s attack in a calm fashion. The sabre attack was the same one as before, yet the force of the attack had weakened drastically compared to the previous strikes.
If he could evade this attack, it would mean that Tianyu Liangyi would die without successfully being able to kill Qing Shui. The killing move was certain to kill Qing Shui if it landed, but even so, he had not succeeded. Supposedly, no one could match up to his formation techniques, but apparently this was not true, as he looked at the formation that had been set up by the young man in front of him.
He had failed by the hands of a formation technique. This young man had created a formation he could never figure out. He had been careless, and that led to his defeat, because he had taken lightly his opponent’s formation in the beginning of the fight……
Perhaps this was his miscalculation, but he would never die peacefully knowing that it had been his fault all along.
“I won’t accept this!”
Tianyu Liangyi tilted his head towards the heavens and roared loudly. There was a hint of feebleness and regret in his voice as he exploded, his body shredding into pieces before vanishing from the air.
Qing Shui watched Tianyu Liangyi as he vanished from the air. He finally felt a sense of relief after knowing that he had defeated Tianyu Liangyi, a man deemed too dangerous in this world. If Qing Shui didn’t have the Golden Buddha Aura Lotus at that time, he would have died more than a few times already.
The fight had ended, and his intense spiritual and mental fatigue began to crawl back.
“Qing Shui!”
A soft sensation wrapped around his hand as a celestial-like voice rang out. He turned his head and, to his surprise, Mu Qing was standing by his side. Her expression of shock and deep concern immensely imprinted onto Qing Shui’s mind.
She didn’t care if she was tainted with the blood on his hand……..
“I’m fine!” Qing Shui chuckled while holding onto Mu Qing’s hand. At that moment when he had been struck by Tianyu Liangyi’s deadly attack, he had seen this woman coming towards him without hesitation. He didn’t know what to feel back then, but she had indeed leaped towards him during the battle. Perhaps in that sort of situation, he had thought that only his mother or his wives would risk their lives for him. After all, being able to risk one’s life for another required an immense amount of courage……
The old man and the members of the Mu Clan were already surrounding Qing Shui to check on him. When they saw Mu Qing holding hands with Qing Shui, they couldn’t help but let out a few chuckles. It was only then that Mu Qing realized that she was holding Qing Shui’s hand and immediately released her grip.
As Mu Qing lowered her head, she could see Qing Shu, whose blood was everywhere on his body. Without hesitating, she held onto Qing Shui’s hand once more and said, “How is your wound?”
“It’s fine, I’m an alchemist myself, you know.” Qing Shui let out a few laughs.
“I will go with you and tend to your wounds” Mu Qing said as she bit her lips, feeling the blood rushing to her face intensely.
The other members laughed teasingly as they left to tend to their own matters after realizing Qing Shui was fine . There were many things that needed to be done, including looking after the number of casualties from the Mu Clan.
Qing Shui gave them an abundant supply of Jinchuang Powder to treat the injured members.
“Qing Shui, this is something precious that fell out from your broken shield. Keep it for next time, when you need it most,” said the old man from the Mu Clan as he handed Qing Shui a violet stone.
Qing Shui didn’t expect the Violet Gold Divine Shield that he had used for years had shattered and broken. He received the stone from the old man, and with one glance, immediately threw it into his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to keep it safe.
At least something had been left from the broken fragments of his shield this time. Last time, there had been no remnants from the Lunar Silk Garment whatsoever when it had been torn apart. In any case, he still felt bitter as he remembered the Violet Gold Divine Shield being shattered into fragments.
Suddenly, he remembered Mu Fengyang’s words. He had been told that a Grade One Martial Emperor was known to possess the strength of 100 stars without depending on external powers or effects. Somehow Qing Shui was able to understand what he meant because once a cultivator broke through to Martial Emperor, they would not be able to depend on power from outside sources. The weapons and armors of a Martial Saint wouldn’t be able to handle the might of a Martial Emperor. At the same time, lower grade gemstones and medicinal pills with temporary effects would lose their usefulness and purpose as well.
Most powerful cultivators depended on their fists in a fight, using no weapons to inflict pain on their opponents. Ordinary weapons would not be able to endure the ruthless power of a Martial Emperor, and the only weapons that could match up to such power were divine weapons of myths and legends. Clearly, these formidable weapons were not easy to find either.
Because of this, special metal materials and extraordinary blacksmiths would be sought after by many cultivators as they grew in power. After all, weapons with formidable abilities were necessary and crucial when one reached the realm of a Martial Emperor.
It would be easy to acquire a weapon for a powerful Martial Emperor, but getting a weapon of daunting power would not be an easy feat, especially for lower-level Martial Emperors. Divine armors and defensive artifacts were scarce in number. Although the amount of materials in the World of the Nine Continents was considered abundant, blacksmiths who could forge such precious materials were few in number.
He looked at the giant golden sabre nearby and immediately kept it for himself. Mu Qing then quickly pulled him away to tend to his wounds, followed by a row of cheers from the young people in the Mu Clan. As the laughter accumulated, Mu Qing began to hasten her footsteps as she dragged Qing Shui along with her.
Qing Shui remained silent, as he allowed Mu Qing to pull him into her building instead of his room.
Mu Qing’s face was flushed red. She didn’t know what to feel, and she suspected that some members of the Mu Clan would think that the two of them were in some kind of intimate relationship……
This building belonged to Mu Qing, so on most days, no one would come unless they had urgent business with her. Most of the time, there would only be cleaners coming by to tidy up the place when she wasn’t around.
The decorations inside the building were simple and elegant. Landscapes and portraits, as well as calligraphy were hung across the walls. Coincidentally, the decorations in this building were pretty much the same as those in the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Qing Shui almost doubted himself when he first entered the building with Mu Qing.
“Let me treat your wounds” said Mu Qing. She immediately grabbed a medical kit for Qing Shui as soon as she entered the room.
“You know about medicine?” Qing Shui showed interest in her skill, as he smiled pleasantly towards Mu Qing.
“I’m not a very good alchemist and I’m still an early stage physician, mind you.” Mu Qing replied with a laugh.
Having some basic medical ability was common in the World of the Nine Continents. Most of the population were martial cultivators who would periodically get injured, so knowing some general medical knowledge was basically a necessity. Sometimes, they could even save their own lives when treatment was needed immediately.
“I’m okay, so it’s fine!” Qing Shui smiled.
“Even so, I need to clean your wounds and cover them up. You lost so much blood, so there’s no way you’re fine” said Mu Qing with an insistent tone. When she first saw his wound, she was taken aback by the severity of the cut. The blade had cut too deeply into his skin, and for Qing Shui to be alive after receiving such wound was a miracle. Having assured herself that he would remain alive, her heart calmed down and was becoming bolder by the minute…….
“Let me do it myself!” Qing Shui said quickly.
“Just let me bandage you up.” Mu Qing spoke softly as she gripped the medical kit tightly.
Qing Shui was persistent at first, but eventually nodded his head and remained silent. He could feel her fluctuating emotions and kind intentions. Mu Qing had decided to tend to his wounds, but would not bother him with unnecessary things after that. She only wanted to hold on to her memories with him a bit longer by helping him with some things for his sake.
Qing Shui loosened his bandage and took off his bloodstained clothes. Mu Qing wasn’t embarrassed as she looked at the horrible wound on his topless body. A man was baring his well-defined body in front of her, his bare shoulders finely chiseled against the realistic structure of his refined muscles, yet all she could see was the exposed wound on his chest.
==
AST 916 – Violet Star Stone, Penta-color Ancient Art of Forging Technique
Looking at the bloody wound, she took up a fresh towel and submerged it in a bucket of warm water with a natural motion, yet in a way as if she had never treated a wound before. She then took the wet towel and cleaned the blood surrounding the wound and proficiently applied medicine to the wound. After that, she unwrapped a new roll of bandage and began re-wrapping the treated wound with the bandage.
Qing Shui’s wounds had actually healed up for the most part but the surface still appeared scarred and pulsing with blood. The wound was healing from the inside toward the outer skin. It would take a little bit more time for the surface to seal up into a scar. The Golden Buddha Aura Lotus was quite miraculous in nature but even miracles would take time to act despite it only being briefly.
Qing Shui glanced at the woman fixing his wound with the bandage while having her head lowered. She was a woman of desirable beauty and he felt quite close to this beauty not in a sense of distance but spiritually. He didn’t feel this way because she was tending to his wound, but because of the accumulated effort she had displayed over the course of their interaction from when they first met each other.
Sometimes it would be easy to be touched just by simple gestures.
“Miss, I’m going to rest. You should rest early too,” Qing Shui said as he casually put on his clothes. She had to go back anyway and he had planned to go into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to recover in the meantime, because he was worried that the two old demons would come back for him sooner or later.
Even so, it would take a few days or possibly a few weeks for them to come back!
“Rest well then. Be careful of your wounds. I will call you when dinner’s ready,” Mu Qing said softly, as she glanced at the lethargic expression on Qing Shui’s face.
He nodded and left the building after that. Mu Qing watched his back with an indescribable feeling as he walked away, unsure of what to feel of the current situation.
Qing Shui returned to the building opposite of hers, closed the doors and locked himself in his bedroom before entering the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.
For the following days inside the realm, he intended to recuperate slowly and quietly while cultivating his skills to pass the time. When he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, the first two things he could see were the violet stone and the golden Sky Prison Sabre he had thrown in earlier.
Qing Shui approached the items and sat on the ground. He held the giant sabre in his hands, determining the materials used to forge this weapon to be of high quality through a brief moment of analysis. A weapon of upper quality was naturally powerful, which explained why the sabre was able to shatter his Violet Gold Divine Shield quite easily.
The Violet Gold Divine Shield was an ancient artifact and now the shield was no more. Qing Shui used to think that the Violet Gold Divine Shield would never break but it seemed he was wrong. He couldn’t quite believe that the shield had actually shattered – the reality seemed hard to comprehend for now.
Qing Shui quickly used the Heavenly Vision Technique on the sabre!
Sky Prison Sabre: Weapon forged from the extraterrestrial meteorites with the ability to triple the user’s power.
A great weapon indeed!
Qing Shui stared at the giant sabre for a good minute before he sighed heavily. The Thunder God could only double his power at most and it was considered his most powerful weapon to date. Unfortunately, the Sky Prison Sabre was unsuitable to use, at least in Qing Shui’s case.
Not everyone could use the Sky Prison Sabre that could gain an increase to the user’s power and have their power quadrupled in an instant. One must raise their sabre mastery to a certain degree, as well as having a perfect compatibility with the sabre before using it in battle…..
Much like the Dragon-Headed Cane and the simple ‘stick’ he had acquired from the Flowerfuit Mountain, Qing Shui could only analyze these weapons but not use them as his main weapons. He could however use them in another way, which was to dismantle the weapons and use them as materials for tempering his own weapons.
The Sky Prison Sabre was forged from meteorites but to Qing Shui, the material of the weapon itself was nothing more special than any other meteorite he had seen. Unless he had planned to give it to someone else as a gift, Qing Shui could smelt the weapon and use it to forge new equipment or temper it with the other artifacts.
Qing Shui took another look at the Sky Prison Sabre but ultimately decided to put it aside for now, as he currently didn’t have the capability to smelt the weapon into forging materials. It was a bit unfortunate to smelt such a powerful weapon into forging materials in any case.
After that, he picked up the warm violet stone that was the size of a cobble. This material was left by the Violet Gold Divine Shield when it shattered. It was the first time he had really felt the stone when he held it in his hand.
However, he wasn’t quite sure why there would be a stone inside the Violet Gold Divine Shield. Could there be more secrets that he hadn’t uncovered about the shield?
The stone wasn’t exactly round in shape, yet it wasn’t exactly an oval either. It was more like the shape of a gourd, only gradually slimmer at the ends. The stone was pure violet, much like the color of the Soulshake Bell.
What was this?
Qing Shui was bewildered for a while but continued to use his Heavenly Vision Technique to look closer.
Violet Star Stone!
It was a stone he did not recognize at all. Fortunately, there was a description, so he continued to read it.
Violet Star Stone: A legendary miraculous stone, one of the most priceless stones in the world. It has the ability to allow smiths to advance to another level in the realm of forging by placing the Violet Star Stone into forging materials during the forging process.
Qing Shui’s hand shook as he held the valuable stone. He didn’t know such stones existed in this world. This was essentially godsend to his current problem……
He continued to look at the words below the description, which explained the similarity between the breakthrough in the Art of Forging and breakthrough in power. On a certain level of breakthrough, one must possess an unique or special item to push the breakthrough forward to the next level. This Violet Star Stone was one of the more valuable items that existed in the world, as it could allow smiths to advance to the next level during the forging process with its miraculous energy. The smiths would be able to comprehend the crucial key to the breakthrough of the next level, effectively increasing the level of forging to another level.
Qing Shui recalled that his Ancient Art of Forging had been stuck in the Quad-color for a long time – unable to reach a breakthrough. He finally knew that the Ancient Art of Forging also required an external force to push through the next level, just like the breakthrough of his power. At the same time, he was also wondering if a breakthrough was possible in a circumstance where the external force was absent.
However, he didn’t wish to test his theory as he already had a Violet Star Stone. He had a feeling that the breakthrough would play a crucial role for him and the upcoming battle, because there were two more powerful cultivators from the Sky Prison Sect that he needed to destroy.
Qing Shui put down the precious Violet Star Stone for now. He still wasn’t ready to forge yet due to his condition – his body needed ample rest and recovery. At that moment, Qing Shui finally felt at ease with himself after a brief moment of gloominess.
Even though the wound hadn’t completely healed, he could still do simple cultivation practice, like the Taichi Fist. The Back Connecting First however, was a bit too extreme for his current state. The Golden Buddha Aura Lotus was still in effect, partially recovered in just one and a half days. In three days, he would be recovered for most things.
Three to five days of recuperation was adequate. Qing Shui laid on the ground and recalled his memories about forging. He had already reached a terrifying level of forging after countless times of refining, tempering, smelting and forging artifacts and materials. The Quad-color Art of Forging was still powerful nonetheless.
With so much time to pass, Qing Shui decided to train his fist techniques for the next few days. Then he would enter the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to take a look around. Seeing the demonic beasts roaming the grounds of the realm had left Qing Shui overwhelmed with a sense of achievement and satisfaction. Everything inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal belonged to him – those were his essentials and the demonic beasts were his arms and legs.
Qing Shui passed his time leisurely by drinking some wine and eating good food. He had quite a bit of freedom during his time in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal as well. When he had nothing to do, he would go and view the Portraits of Beauty he had collected. Unfortunately, he could not enter the dream among the sea of flowers as freely as he wished and until today, he still had no clue as to what that phenomenon was about.
Just like the situation with Di Chen, Di Qing and followed by the woman in the crystal coffin, he would always be pulled into the same dream-like state unconsciously. But after he attempted to look at Di Chen’s portrait once more, he couldn’t enter the dream among the sea of flowers like he did the first time. It was the same case for Canghai Mingyue and Wenren Wu-shuang too. Initially, he wanted to communicate with his wives back at home through this method but it seemed like it was impossible to do so.
And so, five days had passed. Qing Shui had already begun his cultivation training on the third day after he felt a bit better. Two days later, his power had fully restored with his strength returning to its peak form. Despite his recovery, he hadn’t started forging with the Violet Star Stone yet.
At the moment, Qing Shui seemed to be in a troubled state. The stone must be inserted into an item during the forging process but what had him frowning with a deep furrow was the choice of equipment for tempering – either the Thunder God or the Big Dipper Sword. The Big Dipper Sword could be used to unleash the Sword of Sixth Wave technique, whereas the Thunder God could be used to unleash a deadly strike on his opponents.
He was a bit indecisive right now because whichever weapon he chose to refine with the Violet Star Stone would achieve a breakthrough to the next level, reaping a greater benefit for the weapon itself. In any case, he would be able to gain a substantial benefit should either the weapon become stronger and more powerful.
After pondering for awhile, he ultimately decided to temper the Thunder God!
Qing Shui used some decent materials from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to warm up his forging skills before starting the tempering process on the Thunder God. Essentially, he intended to temper the Thunder God by quenching it, thus cleansing the impurities from the weapon to avoid unnecessary interference in the later process.
Currently, he was overwhelmed with excitement after he had placed the Violet Star Stone next to the Thunder God. He began using the Primordial Flames and started refining the weapon and the stone by smelting them. The Violet Star Stone would melt away a little but only for a bit. After that, he took a small portion of the melted stone and added the liquid to the Thunder God one drop at a time.
All of that seemed tedious and time consuming because it would require a long period of time for the stone to melt completely. Ordinary blacksmiths would not be able to melt the Violet Star Stone without a special kind of fire to breakdown the composition of the valuable stone.
Qing Shui’s power was still fairly adequate to smelt the Violet Star Stone but with tremendously exhausting effort. The smelting process was also a testament to Qing Shui’s endurance in using the Primordial Flames, which he had continuously done for three days, until the stone had completely melted into liquid form.
When the Thunder God was made to fuse with the liquefied Violet Star Stone, Qing Shui found himself extremely nervous and his heartbeat rose to an abnormal rate. He was afraid that something would go wrong during the fusion – and that his Thunder God would go awry, which could lead to its inability to break through or worse, breaking the Thunder God entirely…..
In such a circumstance of fusing materials to a powerful weapon, paranoia was normal.
The liquefied stone slowly enveloped the Thunder God as it fused into the weapon. Qing Shui expanded his spiritual sense to get a hold of any changes during the fusion. At that moment, he thought he had seen the silhouette of an old blacksmith forging the weapon, with each strike from of the hammer clearly visible inside Qing Shui’s consciousness.
The strength and force instilled in each hammer strike, the form. Everything was distinctive and clear inside his sea of consciousness.
The imagery of the hammer strike flashed clearly into his mind and Qing Shui began to follow the striking form unconsciously, almost an exact copy of the old blacksmith’s movements. With the spiritual sense in its active state and Qing Shui’s retentive memory, he was able to learn the forms exceedingly fast. One could also say that he had inherited the blacksmith’s form through the extraordinary ability of his spiritual sense.
The forging process of the old blacksmith was a meticulous procedure, yet Qing Shui was enjoying himself, as if he was a sponge absorbing water at a ridiculous rate. He was absorbing every single bit of knowledge like a madman, leaving nothing behind.
The forging process inside his consciousness was nearing the end. He had almost completed the process with his eyes closed, with every hammer strike perfectly landing on the Thunder God. Qing Shui was using another Thunder God, he currently had two in his possession.
When the last hammer strike fell onto the Thunder God, a gleaming light of five colors flashed from the hammer as he lifted the forging hammer, which promptly forced Qing Shui to open his eyes. The hammer stopped in mid-air as he stood there looking elated at the newly formed Thunder God.
The Ancient Art of Forging had achieved a breakthrough towards Penta-color, as evidenced by the gleaming of the five colored light emitted from the hammer.
The Thunder God was violet in color, with a subtle layer of violet halo enveloping the weapon. The strong aura and a mysterious power of the Thunder God had Qing Shui’s heart racing as he shivered with excitement.
Currently, the Thunder God seemed like it had a more obstructive force than it used to. Just by the appearance of the weapon, he could tell that the current Thunder God was stronger and more formidable. The aura alone was enough to strike terror to one’s heart.
He couldn’t tell much from observation through with the naked eye, so he quickly activated his Heavenly Vision Technique to analyze the weapon.
Violet Star Thunder God!
“Hmm, even the name’s changed!”
The weapon could triple the user’s power as well a 10% increase to the attack speed. Additional skill: Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt.
Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt: Ability to paralyze opponents for a short period of time.
==
AST 917 – Violet Star Thunder God, Violet Jade Sword, Raging Blow
Qing Shui was very agitated right now, to have his powers increased to three times stronger. Thinking of that golden colored Sky Prison Sabre, it seemed that for a weapon of this level, increase in abilities to be three times stronger was a benchmark.
It should be a standard used by a Martial Emperor.
This increased one’s powers to become three times stronger than what they originally were.
Qing Shui was very happy. He read down to the battle technique it came equipped with, the Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt. This battle technique was very powerful but it was a pity that it didn’t have the paralyzing effect when using it against powerful Peak Martial Saints, let alone those who were early Martial Emperors. Therefore, Qing Shui had not used the Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt battle technique, which was very powerful.
Now that it had leveled up and became a Violet Star Thunder God hammer, he wondered if the Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt could be used once again and if it would have a temporary paralyzing effect on early Martial Emperors.
Qing Shui was full of anticipation. After all, this battle technique was very powerful and when used appropriately, he would be able to kill the opponent instantly.
After a few days, Qing Shui was now exhausted. However, he didn’t rest and instead started to forge after recovering some of his powers. He only used good materials in his forging since he was planning to strengthen his Penta-Color Rainbow Art of Forging.
He used good materials to forge a sword and even added things like violet jade. Although he was strengthening his forging skills, it still depleted quite a large amount of mental effort since he would have to be fully focused. He wanted to strengthen his Penta-Colored stage as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would affect his forging in the future.
After a series of clinks and clanks from the forging, an entire day had passed by. However, it was not finished…
This was very normal. Some weapons would take a very long time to forge and it might even be segregated into a few stages. Therefore, Qing Shui knew that he couldn’t be thinking of forging a few weapons when he had time. After all, the time and energy required were still a lot. He could forge an item once in awhile but now, he couldn’t care about anything else. He needed to strengthen the foundation for the Penta-Colored stage.
Pa!
Suddenly, the sword he was forging shattered. The hammer Qing Shui was swinging stopped in mid-air and he sighed, bringing it down and went deep into thought.
Earlier, the success of the forging of the Thunder God was due to the Violet Star Stone. It was very normal to be failing at this stage. After taking a rest, he started forging once again and continued to fail.
Each time he failed, he would waste a lot of precious materials. Although the materials that went to waste during the forging process could be melted down and reconstructed, there was plenty of wear and tear. Moreover, some of the materials were for one time use only. This was why forging was an occupation that wasted a lot of money. Top notch blacksmiths would waste countless precious materials, many of which were priceless.
After reforging once again, he would give it some thought, recalling the feeling which he had when he was forging, especially that “old blacksmith’s” actions, expression and such. He would then continue to forge again.
It was just that each time, some minor flaws would result in failures. On the next attempt, Qing Shui would try to ensure that the same flaw was not repeated but there would always be new flaws that could appear, causing him to fail again. Qing Shui would then try to fix the flaw…
Unknowingly, a month passed by. During this time, other than eating and resting, he had spent a large majority of his time on forging. This was very crucial and thus Qing Shui didn’t wish to waste the Violet Star Stone.
…
When a stream of five-colored glow appeared, Qing Shui smiled and put down his hammer, looking at the Violet Jade Sword. It was only until that five-colored glow disappeared before he picked it up to take a look. Not far away from him, there was a huge pile of swords that had been wasted.
The sword was three feet in length and two feet wide. It was completely violet in color, exuding a faint violet glow and appearing very beautiful. It was just that Qing Shui felt that it was more suitable for ladies. The main ingredient used was violet jade.
He had succeeded. Qing Shui held onto the Violet Jade Sword fondly and looked at it with his Heavenly Vision Technique.
Violet Jade Sword, increases the user’s abilities to be two times as strong. Additional status, Violetjade Pureheart!
Violetjade Pureheart: Allow one to avoid the effects of toxins and negative statuses. The effect was related to the user’s abilities and spirit energy.
It was no wonder that he had felt a faint cooling aura when he held the Violet Jade Sword earlier. Although Qing Shui could use the Heavenly Vision Technique to check out the stats of weapons, armors and such, most people could only rely on their senses or get a blacksmith’s appraisal.
Senior blacksmiths would be able to appraise the abilities of weapons and armor. Old appraisers would be able to able to estimate the abilities of weapons and armor with their senses if their forging abilities had reached a certain level. Although they might not be able to tell the entire stats, they would be able to tell most of them.
Therefore, when someone got their hands on good items, they would look for old blacksmiths and get their help to appraise. Knowing of their unique abilities would allow them to gain a technique to save lives or kill enemies.
To think that this Violetjade Pureheart had a resistance against poison. As for whether it was fully resistant to all poisons, Qing Shui couldn’t say. Things like jade stones were able to neutralize poison to begin with, let alone the precious violet jade.
It was a pity that this sword was useless to him since he had no need for the Violetjade Pureheart. To be able to create a weapon with the Penta-Colored Rainbow Art of Forging which could increase his abilities to be two times stronger, Qing Shui was satisfied. After all, his forging skills had just hit the Penta-Colored stage and it should slowly increase in the future. Moreover, with his current forging ability, he should be able to forge weapons with battle techniques that had the nature of the materials they were forged from. The Violetjade Pureheart’s violet jade was one example.
He then forged another two swords that were almost exactly the same. It was just that one of them was slightly wider. Qing Shui was now assured. His Penta-Colored Rainbow Art of Forging has been stabilized and so had his heart.
There was still time. He planned to spend the majority of the rest of his time on the Nine Palace Steps and on using the Violet Star Thunder God.
Qing Shui’s physical strength was at 60 stars. With the enhancement of the Diamond Qi, Diamond Protection and Diamond Crossing Rivers, it had reached 120 stars.
Under the effects of the Nature Energy, Unmoving Like A Mountain, Frenzied Bull’s Strength, Heavenly Thunder Slash, Shield attack and the Heavenly Talisman, he was able to reach a strength of over 1,000 stars just by holding a Violet Star Thunder God.
With just a Thunder God, his abilities could just barely reach 1,000 stars.
The Combination Sword Technique was only powerful when he was using sword techniques. “Using the hands in place of a sword” was too restrictive. Qing Shui was now very satisfied. Holding onto the Violet Star Thunder God, Qing Shui had a feeling that he would be able to smash a hole in the sky.
What made Qing Shui disappointed was that when he held both the Violet Star Thunder God and the Big Dipper Sword, he realized that only the special effects of one of the weapons could work. Qing Shui had initially thought that if each of his weapons could increase his abilities by three times, he would be even more powerful. Back then, when he got both Thunder Gods, only one of their effects could be used. Right now, his wish was smashed. At the Martial Emperor level, it seemed that many things have to be reassessed as one’s powers seemed to be increasingly dependent on that of his physical body.
Another thing which Qing Shui was most concerned about was that the Violet Star Thunder God didn’t only increase his attacks to be three times stronger, even his attacking speed had increased by 10%…
Qing Shui kept thinking about the Raging Blow. Some time was needed for him to perform this skill and it was a bit slow. Although it was not overly slow, when Martial Emperors fought, their speed would be fast as lightning and being just a little slow would make it hard to perform the Raging Blow.
The Raging Blow could be said to be very slow but it was only 10% slower. Qing Shui was well aware of this. Therefore, he was very agitated now. He wanted to be sure if his estimation was true. If he could perform this Raging Blow in battle, it would be different. This was a powerful killing move.
Qing Shui didn’t stop cultivating the Raging Blow. This was the most violent battle technique amongst those for hammers in a battle. To him, it felt like it was the combination of all of his powerful hammer techniques.
The time taken to cultivate this Raging Blow was not short. However, given that he had the Raging Blow, the Raging Blow could increase his attacking prowess to be two times as strong as before.
Qing Shui felt that it could make his attacks to be at a strength of 2,000 stars. This was why he was experimenting. If it couldn’t be used, he could only suppress it and wait for a chance when he could utilize it.
Thousand Hammer Technique!
Qing Shui gradually performed it with the current Violet Star Thunder God. The huge power up allowed the battle technique to be as if coated with a layer of divine protection. The current Thousand Hammer Technique would definitely be able to astonish many.
Raging Blow!
When Qing Shui suddenly performed this domineering attack, a pitch black hole appeared where the hammer’s head was at. There was also a thunderous explosion…
Its speed was acceptable but still a little slow. However, it was slightly slower. Qing Shui was very agitated. As long as he planned it out well, it could still be used. The price to pay for the strong prowess was that it was a little dangerous.
The increase in speed by 10% had a large effect. Even if he didn’t use the Raging Blow and chose to use the Thousand Hammer Technique instead, the increase in speed by 10% was still considerably powerful.
The three Violet Jade Swords he forged had no additional enhancement to the user’s speed.
Next, although he focused primarily on cultivation, Qing Shui still forged two scythes which had the same attributes as the Violet Jade Sword, completely firming his foundations for the Penta-Colored stage.
He was in no hurry to smelt and refine the Big Dipper Sword. One reason was that Qing Shui could only get the enhancement from one weapon. Another reason was that he had planned to use that wolf’s fang, but yet didn’t wish to use it so casually. He wished to wait a little longer. He was afraid that the Big Dipper Sword would also end up increasing his prowess by two times. However, with the wolf’s fang, Dragon-Headed Cane and others, it should be more powerful.
Seeing that it was about time, he left the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.
It was not yet dark and should still be in the late afternoon. After washing up, he changed into a set of clean clothes. His injuries were completely healed but it would still take some time before the scars faded.
The rays from the sunset shone into the hall from the windows. Walking to the hall, Qing Shui suddenly felt that it was very good to be alive. Even the sunlight was an enjoyment.
He took out wine from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, pouring some for himself as he sat on the couch. Suddenly, his mind was calm as the sea. It was a sudden change to his state of mind.
He knew that his mental state had improved, just like a child’s mind turning into that of an adult. He knew that this was brought from the improvement in his cultivation.
It was only now that Qing Shui was considered to have entered the Martial Emperor realm mentally.
Even a ray of sunlight could cause one to go through a slight emotional change and thus result in a spiritual breakthrough. Qing Shui knew that this was related to the previous battle, of having his life put on the line. It was the recollection and after seeing the light from the setting sun, that he had attained a breakthrough.
The setting sun is a beautiful sight but the night is coming.
“Your injuries have yet to recover, you can’t drink.”
A graceful and attractive voice rang out. Even after having heard it so many times, Qing Shui still felt that this was an enjoyment. He opened his eyes to see the beauty standing next to him, looking at him appearing to be both happy and reproachful.
AST 915 – “Lord Of Nine Palace”, Kill!
Qing Shui took advantage of the battle that allowed the Nine Palace Steps to improve rapidly into the Lord of Nine Palace realm.
It was only then that Qing Shui was deemed the rightful owner of the ‘Nine Palace Steps’. He was finally able to truly grasp the quintessence of the Nine Palace Steps, a feat that thrilled him. After all, the Nine Palace Steps was undeniably strong.
“Path of Sky Prison!”
A black silhouette-like halo flashed from Tianyu Liangyi’s body, a subtle gleam of golden light bursting outwards towards the surroundings. Next, his golden pupils shot a light at Qing Shui that locked him down fiercely.
“Sky Prison Bloodbath!”
A flicker of a silhouette flashed across Qing Shui with an instantaneous force that could slice the heavens apart.
Qing Shui’s pupils constricted as he tried to move out of harm’s way. However, when he attempted to do so, he realized his movements had been slowed down considerably. He knew that this was due to Tianyu Liangyi’s odd eyes. Moreover, his opponent seemed to have his strength boosted by multiple levels – his aura felt distinctly different than before.
“Qing Shui, move quickly! He’s burning his life force to increase his power and try to kill you! Move away quickly……” The old man from the Mu Clan shouted as he threw a bunch of Crystal Demonic Beast Cards at Tianyu Liangyi to delay for more time.
Even though Qing Shui could evade Tianyu Liangyi’s attack the first time, he realized it was quite difficult to do the same given his current situation. The second blade was coming his way, and this time it was undodgeable. Time seemed to pass slowly, but this had all happened in under a minute.
Qing Shui retrieved his Poison Dragon Dagger and promptly swapped to the Violet Gold Divine Shield.
Shield Attack!
Godly Armor Shield!
Divinity Protection!
With a stomp on the ground, Mu Qing, who had been coming to his aid, was swiftly swept back by the aftershock of the force.
Bang!
Chrriikkk……
A sharp and uncomfortable noise pierced through the air as Qing Shui was bashed backward, blood gushing out from his body. The Violet Gold Divine Shield had been shattered completely, but the fist-sized violet stone had been knocked loose, rolling to the far side of the battlefield.
A nasty cut appeared from his stomach to his chest, blood spewing from the opening, almost deep enough to reveal his inner organs. Qing Shui could feel his life force draining vigorously from his body as well.
With no time to lose, he quickly took out a piece of the Golden Buddha Aura Lotus and devoured it like a madman. As soon as he ate it, a blinding stream of light enveloped his vital organs like a protective shield, acting as a cork to prevent his life force from draining from his body.
While enduring the extreme pain of his gaping wound, he tapped a few acupoints on his body and applied the Jinchuang Powder to his gash. He used the beast skin of a Martial Saint level beast as a ‘bandage’ and wrapped it around the wound. The skin bandage being stained quickly from the blood oozing from the cut.
All of this happened within two breaths of time.
“How can this be? How is it possible?” Tianyu Liangyi was in shock, albeit for a moment. Qing Shui had settled his wound very quickly, but Tianyu Liangyi realized he had missed an opportunity to kill his opponent during the two breaths of time Qing Shui had taken to mend his wound.
Tianyu Liangyi’s life force was still draining away, because the ‘Path of Sky Prison’ was one of no return. Once the ability was unleashed, he could only use his killer move to try and annihilate his opponent at the price of his death. He was ready to die along with everyone else in this battle.
However, his killer move hadn’t been able to kill Qing Shui successfully. He needed just a little bit more to kill him – it would’ve been enough if it hadn’t been for that damned shield. Tianyu Liangyi wielded his sabre once more and rushed towards Qing Shui with the unwillingness to give up.
The previous assault had been his most powerful one, but Qing Shui had possessed that miraculous shield to defend himself from getting killed by the invincible force of the former could shield himself against his assault this time. Although he couldn’t unleash a force quite as deadly as he did previously, he could still inflict heavy damage on Qing Shui. As long as he could take him out, nothing else really mattered to him.
Descending Heaven Talisman!
Fiery Golden Eyes!
Emperor’s Qi!
At this point, Qing Shui decided to use everything, as he faced his opponent who possessed a powerful ability. However, Qing Shui’s debuff abilities were more frightful, to the point of stopping Tianyu Liangyi completely in his tracks after being hit with the weakening abilities. Tianyu Liangyi turned pale, but after stopping for a brief moment, he continued to rush towards Qing Shui with his sabre in hand.
He couldn’t accept the turn of events and was more than determined to fight Qing Shui, despite already sealing his fate to death. The Path of Sky Prison was a one-way ticket to death, so he was prepared to die for his cause.
This time, Qing Shui evaded Tianyu Liangyi’s attack in a calm fashion. The sabre attack was the same one as before, yet the force of the attack had weakened drastically compared to the previous strikes.
If he could evade this attack, it would mean that Tianyu Liangyi would die without successfully being able to kill Qing Shui. The killing move was certain to kill Qing Shui if it landed, but even so, he had not succeeded. Supposedly, no one could match up to his formation techniques, but apparently this was not true, as he looked at the formation that had been set up by the young man in front of him.
He had failed by the hands of a formation technique. This young man had created a formation he could never figure out. He had been careless, and that led to his defeat, because he had taken lightly his opponent’s formation in the beginning of the fight……
Perhaps this was his miscalculation, but he would never die peacefully knowing that it had been his fault all along.
“I won’t accept this!”
Tianyu Liangyi tilted his head towards the heavens and roared loudly. There was a hint of feebleness and regret in his voice as he exploded, his body shredding into pieces before vanishing from the air.
Qing Shui watched Tianyu Liangyi as he vanished from the air. He finally felt a sense of relief after knowing that he had defeated Tianyu Liangyi, a man deemed too dangerous in this world. If Qing Shui didn’t have the Golden Buddha Aura Lotus at that time, he would have died more than a few times already.
The fight had ended, and his intense spiritual and mental fatigue began to crawl back.
“Qing Shui!”
A soft sensation wrapped around his hand as a celestial-like voice rang out. He turned his head and, to his surprise, Mu Qing was standing by his side. Her expression of shock and deep concern immensely imprinted onto Qing Shui’s mind.
She didn’t care if she was tainted with the blood on his hand……..
“I’m fine!” Qing Shui chuckled while holding onto Mu Qing’s hand. At that moment when he had been struck by Tianyu Liangyi’s deadly attack, he had seen this woman coming towards him without hesitation. He didn’t know what to feel back then, but she had indeed leaped towards him during the battle. Perhaps in that sort of situation, he had thought that only his mother or his wives would risk their lives for him. After all, being able to risk one’s life for another required an immense amount of courage……
The old man and the members of the Mu Clan were already surrounding Qing Shui to check on him. When they saw Mu Qing holding hands with Qing Shui, they couldn’t help but let out a few chuckles. It was only then that Mu Qing realized that she was holding Qing Shui’s hand and immediately released her grip.
As Mu Qing lowered her head, she could see Qing Shu, whose blood was everywhere on his body. Without hesitating, she held onto Qing Shui’s hand once more and said, “How is your wound?”
“It’s fine, I’m an alchemist myself, you know.” Qing Shui let out a few laughs.
“I will go with you and tend to your wounds” Mu Qing said as she bit her lips, feeling the blood rushing to her face intensely.
The other members laughed teasingly as they left to tend to their own matters after realizing Qing Shui was fine . There were many things that needed to be done, including looking after the number of casualties from the Mu Clan.
Qing Shui gave them an abundant supply of Jinchuang Powder to treat the injured members.
“Qing Shui, this is something precious that fell out from your broken shield. Keep it for next time, when you need it most,” said the old man from the Mu Clan as he handed Qing Shui a violet stone.
Qing Shui didn’t expect the Violet Gold Divine Shield that he had used for years had shattered and broken. He received the stone from the old man, and with one glance, immediately threw it into his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to keep it safe.
At least something had been left from the broken fragments of his shield this time. Last time, there had been no remnants from the Lunar Silk Garment whatsoever when it had been torn apart. In any case, he still felt bitter as he remembered the Violet Gold Divine Shield being shattered into fragments.
Suddenly, he remembered Mu Fengyang’s words. He had been told that a Grade One Martial Emperor was known to possess the strength of 100 stars without depending on external powers or effects. Somehow Qing Shui was able to understand what he meant because once a cultivator broke through to Martial Emperor, they would not be able to depend on power from outside sources. The weapons and armors of a Martial Saint wouldn’t be able to handle the might of a Martial Emperor. At the same time, lower grade gemstones and medicinal pills with temporary effects would lose their usefulness and purpose as well.
Most powerful cultivators depended on their fists in a fight, using no weapons to inflict pain on their opponents. Ordinary weapons would not be able to endure the ruthless power of a Martial Emperor, and the only weapons that could match up to such power were divine weapons of myths and legends. Clearly, these formidable weapons were not easy to find either.
Because of this, special metal materials and extraordinary blacksmiths would be sought after by many cultivators as they grew in power. After all, weapons with formidable abilities were necessary and crucial when one reached the realm of a Martial Emperor.
It would be easy to acquire a weapon for a powerful Martial Emperor, but getting a weapon of daunting power would not be an easy feat, especially for lower-level Martial Emperors. Divine armors and defensive artifacts were scarce in number. Although the amount of materials in the World of the Nine Continents was considered abundant, blacksmiths who could forge such precious materials were few in number.
He looked at the giant golden sabre nearby and immediately kept it for himself. Mu Qing then quickly pulled him away to tend to his wounds, followed by a row of cheers from the young people in the Mu Clan. As the laughter accumulated, Mu Qing began to hasten her footsteps as she dragged Qing Shui along with her.
Qing Shui remained silent, as he allowed Mu Qing to pull him into her building instead of his room.
Mu Qing’s face was flushed red. She didn’t know what to feel, and she suspected that some members of the Mu Clan would think that the two of them were in some kind of intimate relationship……
This building belonged to Mu Qing, so on most days, no one would come unless they had urgent business with her. Most of the time, there would only be cleaners coming by to tidy up the place when she wasn’t around.
The decorations inside the building were simple and elegant. Landscapes and portraits, as well as calligraphy were hung across the walls. Coincidentally, the decorations in this building were pretty much the same as those in the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Qing Shui almost doubted himself when he first entered the building with Mu Qing.
“Let me treat your wounds” said Mu Qing. She immediately grabbed a medical kit for Qing Shui as soon as she entered the room.
“You know about medicine?” Qing Shui showed interest in her skill, as he smiled pleasantly towards Mu Qing.
“I’m not a very good alchemist and I’m still an early stage physician, mind you.” Mu Qing replied with a laugh.
Having some basic medical ability was common in the World of the Nine Continents. Most of the population were martial cultivators who would periodically get injured, so knowing some general medical knowledge was basically a necessity. Sometimes, they could even save their own lives when treatment was needed immediately.
“I’m okay, so it’s fine!” Qing Shui smiled.
“Even so, I need to clean your wounds and cover them up. You lost so much blood, so there’s no way you’re fine” said Mu Qing with an insistent tone. When she first saw his wound, she was taken aback by the severity of the cut. The blade had cut too deeply into his skin, and for Qing Shui to be alive after receiving such wound was a miracle. Having assured herself that he would remain alive, her heart calmed down and was becoming bolder by the minute…….
“Let me do it myself!” Qing Shui said quickly.
“Just let me bandage you up.” Mu Qing spoke softly as she gripped the medical kit tightly.
Qing Shui was persistent at first, but eventually nodded his head and remained silent. He could feel her fluctuating emotions and kind intentions. Mu Qing had decided to tend to his wounds, but would not bother him with unnecessary things after that. She only wanted to hold on to her memories with him a bit longer by helping him with some things for his sake.
Qing Shui loosened his bandage and took off his bloodstained clothes. Mu Qing wasn’t embarrassed as she looked at the horrible wound on his topless body. A man was baring his well-defined body in front of her, his bare shoulders finely chiseled against the realistic structure of his refined muscles, yet all she could see was the exposed wound on his chest.
==
AST 916 – Violet Star Stone, Penta-color Ancient Art of Forging Technique
Looking at the bloody wound, she took up a fresh towel and submerged it in a bucket of warm water with a natural motion, yet in a way as if she had never treated a wound before. She then took the wet towel and cleaned the blood surrounding the wound and proficiently applied medicine to the wound. After that, she unwrapped a new roll of bandage and began re-wrapping the treated wound with the bandage.
Qing Shui’s wounds had actually healed up for the most part but the surface still appeared scarred and pulsing with blood. The wound was healing from the inside toward the outer skin. It would take a little bit more time for the surface to seal up into a scar. The Golden Buddha Aura Lotus was quite miraculous in nature but even miracles would take time to act despite it only being briefly.
Qing Shui glanced at the woman fixing his wound with the bandage while having her head lowered. She was a woman of desirable beauty and he felt quite close to this beauty not in a sense of distance but spiritually. He didn’t feel this way because she was tending to his wound, but because of the accumulated effort she had displayed over the course of their interaction from when they first met each other.
Sometimes it would be easy to be touched just by simple gestures.
“Miss, I’m going to rest. You should rest early too,” Qing Shui said as he casually put on his clothes. She had to go back anyway and he had planned to go into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to recover in the meantime, because he was worried that the two old demons would come back for him sooner or later.
Even so, it would take a few days or possibly a few weeks for them to come back!
“Rest well then. Be careful of your wounds. I will call you when dinner’s ready,” Mu Qing said softly, as she glanced at the lethargic expression on Qing Shui’s face.
He nodded and left the building after that. Mu Qing watched his back with an indescribable feeling as he walked away, unsure of what to feel of the current situation.
Qing Shui returned to the building opposite of hers, closed the doors and locked himself in his bedroom before entering the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.
For the following days inside the realm, he intended to recuperate slowly and quietly while cultivating his skills to pass the time. When he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, the first two things he could see were the violet stone and the golden Sky Prison Sabre he had thrown in earlier.
Qing Shui approached the items and sat on the ground. He held the giant sabre in his hands, determining the materials used to forge this weapon to be of high quality through a brief moment of analysis. A weapon of upper quality was naturally powerful, which explained why the sabre was able to shatter his Violet Gold Divine Shield quite easily.
The Violet Gold Divine Shield was an ancient artifact and now the shield was no more. Qing Shui used to think that the Violet Gold Divine Shield would never break but it seemed he was wrong. He couldn’t quite believe that the shield had actually shattered – the reality seemed hard to comprehend for now.
Qing Shui quickly used the Heavenly Vision Technique on the sabre!
Sky Prison Sabre: Weapon forged from the extraterrestrial meteorites with the ability to triple the user’s power.
A great weapon indeed!
Qing Shui stared at the giant sabre for a good minute before he sighed heavily. The Thunder God could only double his power at most and it was considered his most powerful weapon to date. Unfortunately, the Sky Prison Sabre was unsuitable to use, at least in Qing Shui’s case.
Not everyone could use the Sky Prison Sabre that could gain an increase to the user’s power and have their power quadrupled in an instant. One must raise their sabre mastery to a certain degree, as well as having a perfect compatibility with the sabre before using it in battle…..
Much like the Dragon-Headed Cane and the simple ‘stick’ he had acquired from the Flowerfuit Mountain, Qing Shui could only analyze these weapons but not use them as his main weapons. He could however use them in another way, which was to dismantle the weapons and use them as materials for tempering his own weapons.
The Sky Prison Sabre was forged from meteorites but to Qing Shui, the material of the weapon itself was nothing more special than any other meteorite he had seen. Unless he had planned to give it to someone else as a gift, Qing Shui could smelt the weapon and use it to forge new equipment or temper it with the other artifacts.
Qing Shui took another look at the Sky Prison Sabre but ultimately decided to put it aside for now, as he currently didn’t have the capability to smelt the weapon into forging materials. It was a bit unfortunate to smelt such a powerful weapon into forging materials in any case.
After that, he picked up the warm violet stone that was the size of a cobble. This material was left by the Violet Gold Divine Shield when it shattered. It was the first time he had really felt the stone when he held it in his hand.
However, he wasn’t quite sure why there would be a stone inside the Violet Gold Divine Shield. Could there be more secrets that he hadn’t uncovered about the shield?
The stone wasn’t exactly round in shape, yet it wasn’t exactly an oval either. It was more like the shape of a gourd, only gradually slimmer at the ends. The stone was pure violet, much like the color of the Soulshake Bell.
What was this?
Qing Shui was bewildered for a while but continued to use his Heavenly Vision Technique to look closer.
Violet Star Stone!
It was a stone he did not recognize at all. Fortunately, there was a description, so he continued to read it.
Violet Star Stone: A legendary miraculous stone, one of the most priceless stones in the world. It has the ability to allow smiths to advance to another level in the realm of forging by placing the Violet Star Stone into forging materials during the forging process.
Qing Shui’s hand shook as he held the valuable stone. He didn’t know such stones existed in this world. This was essentially godsend to his current problem……
He continued to look at the words below the description, which explained the similarity between the breakthrough in the Art of Forging and breakthrough in power. On a certain level of breakthrough, one must possess an unique or special item to push the breakthrough forward to the next level. This Violet Star Stone was one of the more valuable items that existed in the world, as it could allow smiths to advance to the next level during the forging process with its miraculous energy. The smiths would be able to comprehend the crucial key to the breakthrough of the next level, effectively increasing the level of forging to another level.
Qing Shui recalled that his Ancient Art of Forging had been stuck in the Quad-color for a long time – unable to reach a breakthrough. He finally knew that the Ancient Art of Forging also required an external force to push through the next level, just like the breakthrough of his power. At the same time, he was also wondering if a breakthrough was possible in a circumstance where the external force was absent.
However, he didn’t wish to test his theory as he already had a Violet Star Stone. He had a feeling that the breakthrough would play a crucial role for him and the upcoming battle, because there were two more powerful cultivators from the Sky Prison Sect that he needed to destroy.
Qing Shui put down the precious Violet Star Stone for now. He still wasn’t ready to forge yet due to his condition – his body needed ample rest and recovery. At that moment, Qing Shui finally felt at ease with himself after a brief moment of gloominess.
Even though the wound hadn’t completely healed, he could still do simple cultivation practice, like the Taichi Fist. The Back Connecting First however, was a bit too extreme for his current state. The Golden Buddha Aura Lotus was still in effect, partially recovered in just one and a half days. In three days, he would be recovered for most things.
Three to five days of recuperation was adequate. Qing Shui laid on the ground and recalled his memories about forging. He had already reached a terrifying level of forging after countless times of refining, tempering, smelting and forging artifacts and materials. The Quad-color Art of Forging was still powerful nonetheless.
With so much time to pass, Qing Shui decided to train his fist techniques for the next few days. Then he would enter the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to take a look around. Seeing the demonic beasts roaming the grounds of the realm had left Qing Shui overwhelmed with a sense of achievement and satisfaction. Everything inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal belonged to him – those were his essentials and the demonic beasts were his arms and legs.
Qing Shui passed his time leisurely by drinking some wine and eating good food. He had quite a bit of freedom during his time in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal as well. When he had nothing to do, he would go and view the Portraits of Beauty he had collected. Unfortunately, he could not enter the dream among the sea of flowers as freely as he wished and until today, he still had no clue as to what that phenomenon was about.
Just like the situation with Di Chen, Di Qing and followed by the woman in the crystal coffin, he would always be pulled into the same dream-like state unconsciously. But after he attempted to look at Di Chen’s portrait once more, he couldn’t enter the dream among the sea of flowers like he did the first time. It was the same case for Canghai Mingyue and Wenren Wu-shuang too. Initially, he wanted to communicate with his wives back at home through this method but it seemed like it was impossible to do so.
And so, five days had passed. Qing Shui had already begun his cultivation training on the third day after he felt a bit better. Two days later, his power had fully restored with his strength returning to its peak form. Despite his recovery, he hadn’t started forging with the Violet Star Stone yet.
At the moment, Qing Shui seemed to be in a troubled state. The stone must be inserted into an item during the forging process but what had him frowning with a deep furrow was the choice of equipment for tempering – either the Thunder God or the Big Dipper Sword. The Big Dipper Sword could be used to unleash the Sword of Sixth Wave technique, whereas the Thunder God could be used to unleash a deadly strike on his opponents.
He was a bit indecisive right now because whichever weapon he chose to refine with the Violet Star Stone would achieve a breakthrough to the next level, reaping a greater benefit for the weapon itself. In any case, he would be able to gain a substantial benefit should either the weapon become stronger and more powerful.
After pondering for awhile, he ultimately decided to temper the Thunder God!
Qing Shui used some decent materials from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to warm up his forging skills before starting the tempering process on the Thunder God. Essentially, he intended to temper the Thunder God by quenching it, thus cleansing the impurities from the weapon to avoid unnecessary interference in the later process.
Currently, he was overwhelmed with excitement after he had placed the Violet Star Stone next to the Thunder God. He began using the Primordial Flames and started refining the weapon and the stone by smelting them. The Violet Star Stone would melt away a little but only for a bit. After that, he took a small portion of the melted stone and added the liquid to the Thunder God one drop at a time.
All of that seemed tedious and time consuming because it would require a long period of time for the stone to melt completely. Ordinary blacksmiths would not be able to melt the Violet Star Stone without a special kind of fire to breakdown the composition of the valuable stone.
Qing Shui’s power was still fairly adequate to smelt the Violet Star Stone but with tremendously exhausting effort. The smelting process was also a testament to Qing Shui’s endurance in using the Primordial Flames, which he had continuously done for three days, until the stone had completely melted into liquid form.
When the Thunder God was made to fuse with the liquefied Violet Star Stone, Qing Shui found himself extremely nervous and his heartbeat rose to an abnormal rate. He was afraid that something would go wrong during the fusion – and that his Thunder God would go awry, which could lead to its inability to break through or worse, breaking the Thunder God entirely…..
In such a circumstance of fusing materials to a powerful weapon, paranoia was normal.
The liquefied stone slowly enveloped the Thunder God as it fused into the weapon. Qing Shui expanded his spiritual sense to get a hold of any changes during the fusion. At that moment, he thought he had seen the silhouette of an old blacksmith forging the weapon, with each strike from of the hammer clearly visible inside Qing Shui’s consciousness.
The strength and force instilled in each hammer strike, the form. Everything was distinctive and clear inside his sea of consciousness.
The imagery of the hammer strike flashed clearly into his mind and Qing Shui began to follow the striking form unconsciously, almost an exact copy of the old blacksmith’s movements. With the spiritual sense in its active state and Qing Shui’s retentive memory, he was able to learn the forms exceedingly fast. One could also say that he had inherited the blacksmith’s form through the extraordinary ability of his spiritual sense.
The forging process of the old blacksmith was a meticulous procedure, yet Qing Shui was enjoying himself, as if he was a sponge absorbing water at a ridiculous rate. He was absorbing every single bit of knowledge like a madman, leaving nothing behind.
The forging process inside his consciousness was nearing the end. He had almost completed the process with his eyes closed, with every hammer strike perfectly landing on the Thunder God. Qing Shui was using another Thunder God, he currently had two in his possession.
When the last hammer strike fell onto the Thunder God, a gleaming light of five colors flashed from the hammer as he lifted the forging hammer, which promptly forced Qing Shui to open his eyes. The hammer stopped in mid-air as he stood there looking elated at the newly formed Thunder God.
The Ancient Art of Forging had achieved a breakthrough towards Penta-color, as evidenced by the gleaming of the five colored light emitted from the hammer.
The Thunder God was violet in color, with a subtle layer of violet halo enveloping the weapon. The strong aura and a mysterious power of the Thunder God had Qing Shui’s heart racing as he shivered with excitement.
Currently, the Thunder God seemed like it had a more obstructive force than it used to. Just by the appearance of the weapon, he could tell that the current Thunder God was stronger and more formidable. The aura alone was enough to strike terror to one’s heart.
He couldn’t tell much from observation through with the naked eye, so he quickly activated his Heavenly Vision Technique to analyze the weapon.
Violet Star Thunder God!
“Hmm, even the name’s changed!”
The weapon could triple the user’s power as well a 10% increase to the attack speed. Additional skill: Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt.
Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt: Ability to paralyze opponents for a short period of time.
==
AST 917 – Violet Star Thunder God, Violet Jade Sword, Raging Blow
Qing Shui was very agitated right now, to have his powers increased to three times stronger. Thinking of that golden colored Sky Prison Sabre, it seemed that for a weapon of this level, increase in abilities to be three times stronger was a benchmark.
It should be a standard used by a Martial Emperor.
This increased one’s powers to become three times stronger than what they originally were.
Qing Shui was very happy. He read down to the battle technique it came equipped with, the Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt. This battle technique was very powerful but it was a pity that it didn’t have the paralyzing effect when using it against powerful Peak Martial Saints, let alone those who were early Martial Emperors. Therefore, Qing Shui had not used the Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt battle technique, which was very powerful.
Now that it had leveled up and became a Violet Star Thunder God hammer, he wondered if the Ten Thousand Great Thunderbolt could be used once again and if it would have a temporary paralyzing effect on early Martial Emperors.
Qing Shui was full of anticipation. After all, this battle technique was very powerful and when used appropriately, he would be able to kill the opponent instantly.
After a few days, Qing Shui was now exhausted. However, he didn’t rest and instead started to forge after recovering some of his powers. He only used good materials in his forging since he was planning to strengthen his Penta-Color Rainbow Art of Forging.
He used good materials to forge a sword and even added things like violet jade. Although he was strengthening his forging skills, it still depleted quite a large amount of mental effort since he would have to be fully focused. He wanted to strengthen his Penta-Colored stage as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would affect his forging in the future.
After a series of clinks and clanks from the forging, an entire day had passed by. However, it was not finished…
This was very normal. Some weapons would take a very long time to forge and it might even be segregated into a few stages. Therefore, Qing Shui knew that he couldn’t be thinking of forging a few weapons when he had time. After all, the time and energy required were still a lot. He could forge an item once in awhile but now, he couldn’t care about anything else. He needed to strengthen the foundation for the Penta-Colored stage.
Pa!
Suddenly, the sword he was forging shattered. The hammer Qing Shui was swinging stopped in mid-air and he sighed, bringing it down and went deep into thought.
Earlier, the success of the forging of the Thunder God was due to the Violet Star Stone. It was very normal to be failing at this stage. After taking a rest, he started forging once again and continued to fail.
Each time he failed, he would waste a lot of precious materials. Although the materials that went to waste during the forging process could be melted down and reconstructed, there was plenty of wear and tear. Moreover, some of the materials were for one time use only. This was why forging was an occupation that wasted a lot of money. Top notch blacksmiths would waste countless precious materials, many of which were priceless.
After reforging once again, he would give it some thought, recalling the feeling which he had when he was forging, especially that “old blacksmith’s” actions, expression and such. He would then continue to forge again.
It was just that each time, some minor flaws would result in failures. On the next attempt, Qing Shui would try to ensure that the same flaw was not repeated but there would always be new flaws that could appear, causing him to fail again. Qing Shui would then try to fix the flaw…
Unknowingly, a month passed by. During this time, other than eating and resting, he had spent a large majority of his time on forging. This was very crucial and thus Qing Shui didn’t wish to waste the Violet Star Stone.
…
When a stream of five-colored glow appeared, Qing Shui smiled and put down his hammer, looking at the Violet Jade Sword. It was only until that five-colored glow disappeared before he picked it up to take a look. Not far away from him, there was a huge pile of swords that had been wasted.
The sword was three feet in length and two feet wide. It was completely violet in color, exuding a faint violet glow and appearing very beautiful. It was just that Qing Shui felt that it was more suitable for ladies. The main ingredient used was violet jade.
He had succeeded. Qing Shui held onto the Violet Jade Sword fondly and looked at it with his Heavenly Vision Technique.
Violet Jade Sword, increases the user’s abilities to be two times as strong. Additional status, Violetjade Pureheart!
Violetjade Pureheart: Allow one to avoid the effects of toxins and negative statuses. The effect was related to the user’s abilities and spirit energy.
It was no wonder that he had felt a faint cooling aura when he held the Violet Jade Sword earlier. Although Qing Shui could use the Heavenly Vision Technique to check out the stats of weapons, armors and such, most people could only rely on their senses or get a blacksmith’s appraisal.
Senior blacksmiths would be able to appraise the abilities of weapons and armor. Old appraisers would be able to able to estimate the abilities of weapons and armor with their senses if their forging abilities had reached a certain level. Although they might not be able to tell the entire stats, they would be able to tell most of them.
Therefore, when someone got their hands on good items, they would look for old blacksmiths and get their help to appraise. Knowing of their unique abilities would allow them to gain a technique to save lives or kill enemies.
To think that this Violetjade Pureheart had a resistance against poison. As for whether it was fully resistant to all poisons, Qing Shui couldn’t say. Things like jade stones were able to neutralize poison to begin with, let alone the precious violet jade.
It was a pity that this sword was useless to him since he had no need for the Violetjade Pureheart. To be able to create a weapon with the Penta-Colored Rainbow Art of Forging which could increase his abilities to be two times stronger, Qing Shui was satisfied. After all, his forging skills had just hit the Penta-Colored stage and it should slowly increase in the future. Moreover, with his current forging ability, he should be able to forge weapons with battle techniques that had the nature of the materials they were forged from. The Violetjade Pureheart’s violet jade was one example.
He then forged another two swords that were almost exactly the same. It was just that one of them was slightly wider. Qing Shui was now assured. His Penta-Colored Rainbow Art of Forging has been stabilized and so had his heart.
There was still time. He planned to spend the majority of the rest of his time on the Nine Palace Steps and on using the Violet Star Thunder God.
Qing Shui’s physical strength was at 60 stars. With the enhancement of the Diamond Qi, Diamond Protection and Diamond Crossing Rivers, it had reached 120 stars.
Under the effects of the Nature Energy, Unmoving Like A Mountain, Frenzied Bull’s Strength, Heavenly Thunder Slash, Shield attack and the Heavenly Talisman, he was able to reach a strength of over 1,000 stars just by holding a Violet Star Thunder God.
With just a Thunder God, his abilities could just barely reach 1,000 stars.
The Combination Sword Technique was only powerful when he was using sword techniques. “Using the hands in place of a sword” was too restrictive. Qing Shui was now very satisfied. Holding onto the Violet Star Thunder God, Qing Shui had a feeling that he would be able to smash a hole in the sky.
What made Qing Shui disappointed was that when he held both the Violet Star Thunder God and the Big Dipper Sword, he realized that only the special effects of one of the weapons could work. Qing Shui had initially thought that if each of his weapons could increase his abilities by three times, he would be even more powerful. Back then, when he got both Thunder Gods, only one of their effects could be used. Right now, his wish was smashed. At the Martial Emperor level, it seemed that many things have to be reassessed as one’s powers seemed to be increasingly dependent on that of his physical body.
Another thing which Qing Shui was most concerned about was that the Violet Star Thunder God didn’t only increase his attacks to be three times stronger, even his attacking speed had increased by 10%…
Qing Shui kept thinking about the Raging Blow. Some time was needed for him to perform this skill and it was a bit slow. Although it was not overly slow, when Martial Emperors fought, their speed would be fast as lightning and being just a little slow would make it hard to perform the Raging Blow.
The Raging Blow could be said to be very slow but it was only 10% slower. Qing Shui was well aware of this. Therefore, he was very agitated now. He wanted to be sure if his estimation was true. If he could perform this Raging Blow in battle, it would be different. This was a powerful killing move.
Qing Shui didn’t stop cultivating the Raging Blow. This was the most violent battle technique amongst those for hammers in a battle. To him, it felt like it was the combination of all of his powerful hammer techniques.
The time taken to cultivate this Raging Blow was not short. However, given that he had the Raging Blow, the Raging Blow could increase his attacking prowess to be two times as strong as before.
Qing Shui felt that it could make his attacks to be at a strength of 2,000 stars. This was why he was experimenting. If it couldn’t be used, he could only suppress it and wait for a chance when he could utilize it.
Thousand Hammer Technique!
Qing Shui gradually performed it with the current Violet Star Thunder God. The huge power up allowed the battle technique to be as if coated with a layer of divine protection. The current Thousand Hammer Technique would definitely be able to astonish many.
Raging Blow!
When Qing Shui suddenly performed this domineering attack, a pitch black hole appeared where the hammer’s head was at. There was also a thunderous explosion…
Its speed was acceptable but still a little slow. However, it was slightly slower. Qing Shui was very agitated. As long as he planned it out well, it could still be used. The price to pay for the strong prowess was that it was a little dangerous.
The increase in speed by 10% had a large effect. Even if he didn’t use the Raging Blow and chose to use the Thousand Hammer Technique instead, the increase in speed by 10% was still considerably powerful.
The three Violet Jade Swords he forged had no additional enhancement to the user’s speed.
Next, although he focused primarily on cultivation, Qing Shui still forged two scythes which had the same attributes as the Violet Jade Sword, completely firming his foundations for the Penta-Colored stage.
He was in no hurry to smelt and refine the Big Dipper Sword. One reason was that Qing Shui could only get the enhancement from one weapon. Another reason was that he had planned to use that wolf’s fang, but yet didn’t wish to use it so casually. He wished to wait a little longer. He was afraid that the Big Dipper Sword would also end up increasing his prowess by two times. However, with the wolf’s fang, Dragon-Headed Cane and others, it should be more powerful.
Seeing that it was about time, he left the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.
It was not yet dark and should still be in the late afternoon. After washing up, he changed into a set of clean clothes. His injuries were completely healed but it would still take some time before the scars faded.
The rays from the sunset shone into the hall from the windows. Walking to the hall, Qing Shui suddenly felt that it was very good to be alive. Even the sunlight was an enjoyment.
He took out wine from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, pouring some for himself as he sat on the couch. Suddenly, his mind was calm as the sea. It was a sudden change to his state of mind.
He knew that his mental state had improved, just like a child’s mind turning into that of an adult. He knew that this was brought from the improvement in his cultivation.
It was only now that Qing Shui was considered to have entered the Martial Emperor realm mentally.
Even a ray of sunlight could cause one to go through a slight emotional change and thus result in a spiritual breakthrough. Qing Shui knew that this was related to the previous battle, of having his life put on the line. It was the recollection and after seeing the light from the setting sun, that he had attained a breakthrough.
The setting sun is a beautiful sight but the night is coming.
“Your injuries have yet to recover, you can’t drink.”
A graceful and attractive voice rang out. Even after having heard it so many times, Qing Shui still felt that this was an enjoyment. He opened his eyes to see the beauty standing next to him, looking at him appearing to be both happy and reproachful.
