Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 888 – Five-eyed Lion Wolf King，Hovering between life and death

Receiving the ‘I don’t know’ reply did not worry Qing Shui too much. Sometimes an uncertain reply like that wasn’t exactly bad, just like how his Five-Headed Demonic Spider was not directly answering whether it could or could not defeat that demonic beast. It actually meant that both demonic beasts had about the same strength or perhaps they were on the same level. If so, Qing Shui felt that it was unnecessary for him to feel burdened.

His Five-Headed Demonic Spider stared straight ahead, it stood in front of Qing Shui protecting him well with its body. Qing Shui was extremely proud of it. It indeed lived up to its position as a Martial Emperor, it already possessed an elementary level of wisdom.

Roar!

A loud resounding roar suddenly filled the air. The loud, earth-shaking roar reverberated through the valley, as if many demonic beasts had roared at the same time. It could definitely rival the Golden Jiao’s roar.

Chi Chi!

His Five-Headed Demonic Spider also produced a terrifyingly sharp screech. Qing Shui could already interpret the meaning of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider vocalizations. That was a call to warn off that opponent but the opponent responded with an even more ferocious roar as if it deeply resented the Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

Within a short amount of time, a demonic beast appeared at the mountain peak not far from them. It was a gigantic demonic beast which resembled both a lion and a tiger but Qing Shui was startled when he saw the creature’s head.

That disgusting looking demonic beast actually had five eyes on its head…

There were two pairs of eyes on its side and in the middle of its forehead, there was a vertically oriented large eye. The middle eye was twice the size of the other eyes and it emitted an eerie glow.

Five-eyed Lion Wolf King!

Qing Shui was shocked to his core. At the same time, he saw that this demonic beast which was almost the size of a small hill had a massive wolf-like tail which was almost 20m in length. He could instantly tell this Five-eyed Lion Wolf King was on the same level as his Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

Furthermore, it was only because his Five-Headed Demonic Spider had the breakthrough to the Martial Emperor Grade that it could be classified within the same class as this Five-eyed Lion Wolf King. If it was still in its previous form, it would have been instantly killed by this Five-eyed Lion Wolf King.

Qing Shui happened to also know something about this Five-eyed Lion Wolf King. Just like his Five-Headed Demonic Spider, while his Five-Headed Demonic Spider’s strength corresponded with the number of heads it had, the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King’s strength corresponded with the number of eyes it had. That meant that both their strengths were around the same level but it was difficult to tell which of them was the stronger one. The only thing that was certain was that they were both fearsome beasts that could strike fear into men.

Not even considering the vileness of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider, even bringing up its Corrosive Poison Web technique could cause one to turn pale in fear because it was something that should never be touched. On the other hand, the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King was even more creepy. People referred to those middle eyes that they possessed as the eyes of demons.

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King’s strongest points were its speed and its massive spirit energy. Its vertical middle eye could send out a powerful spirit energy attack which was almost impossible to avoid. It was rumored that an attack could adversely affect a person’s three immortal souls and seven mortal forms or even cause them to lose one of these essential elements, causing total retardation. Despite this, the attack did not have a 100% success rate, it was still affected by the level of spirit energy the opponent had.

It was rumored these overly-eldritch eyes had a great limitation. It can only be used once and after the use of that move, the creature’s strength would decrease by 10% and it will only recover its original stats after 24 hours.

Other than that, it was also a prolific fire-user. Its fire attacks were quite good and it was also strong with close combat, as it was fast and accurate.

There were very few cultivators in the main continent who actually used such spirit energy attacks and not many demonic beasts had such skills but many people lost their lives to such attacks or became mentally handicapped every year. Thus, most people would avoid battling with a demonic beast like that.

It was also said that once an artist reached the highest proficiency at drawing souls through his practice of the art of drawing, he would be able to redraw the lost portion of a person’s soul whether it was a deficit from birth or injury. However, these sorts of acts were against the Heaven’s will and there was no real proof that this was possible.

Qing Shui did not worry for his Five-Headed Demonic Spider. It had five brains and it was not as if it was not powerful. Besides he was also around to help, so they definitely had to get rid of that creepy looking demonic beast as soon as possible.

Roar! Roar!

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King roared loudly at his Five-Headed Demonic Spider. Qing Shui found out from his Five-Headed Demonic Spider through their telepathy that they were in its territory so it was trying to chase them away. Qing Shui could not decide if they should leave but a large mountain was ahead of them. Even risking that he might find nothing, Qing Shui didn’t want to miss any possible spots. He had to look there, if they found any Sky Penetrating Grass which was above 5000 years old, he could end his mission.

Qing Shui communicated to his Five-Headed Demonic Spider and decided to launch a one-hit kill attack, either killing it or maiming it to the point it could not fight. There was still some distance between them so Qing Shui and his Five-Headed Demonic Spider approached the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King cautiously.

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King, lording over all the demonic beasts within its territory, would never back down. Each area had their King Beasts (top tier beasts which were about the same strength). For example, the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King and Five-Headed Demonic Spider were the King Beasts here. For another it might be a Six-Headed Demonic Spider and Six-eyed Lion Wolf King.

As the distance between them narrowed, Qing Shui’s heartbeat sped up because he still felt uneasy about his opponent’s unique eye. After they reached the right distance, Qing Shui summoned his Thunderous Beast.

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King paused when it saw the Thunderous Beast and a sinister glint flashed past its five eyes.

Qing Shui could tell instantly that his opponent was extremely vigilant and was about to make a move. Qing Shui immediately commanded his Five-Headed Demonic Spider to attack.

At the same time, his Thunderous Beast launched its Violet Lightning Strike!

Violet Lightning Strike could disrupt the opponent’s attack!

The Violet Lightning Strike was a very quick attack, while his Five-Headed Demonic Spider had already activated its Flying Spider Silk, boosting its own speed by five times. It rushed directly at Five-eyed Lion Wolf King

It was fast!

Extremely fast!

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King immediately faced his Five-Headed Demonic Spider head on. Qing Shui felt somewhat relieved because he had an indescribable panic previously when he looked into its middle eye.

Violet Lightning Strike!

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King was actually targeting Qing Shui and the Thunderous Beast but the speed of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider forced it to react to the Five-Headed Demonic Spider instead. When there was still some distance, the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King spat out two red fireballs.

Suddenly, it was struck by the Violet Lightning Strike!

It was paralyzed!

Descending Heavens Talisman!

At the same time, the effects of Qing Shui’s Fiery Golden Eyes and Emperor’s Qi came over the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King.

Poison Silk Entanglement!

Corrosive Poison Web!

The Five-Headed Demonic Spider was so quick that even the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King could not keep up with it at all. Previously, the potential of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider was limited by its speed. Now, after its metamorphosis, his Five-Headed Demonic Spider’s weakness became its strength so it became incredibly powerful.

Even though this was the first time that Qing Shui used this tactic, he managed to coordinate the attack of his Thunderous Beast, his Five-Headed Demonic Spider and himself. It worked perfectly at restraining their opponent. Now, the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King was already trapped by the web of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

Cackling sounds accompanied the appearance of a blue glowing light as the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King howled in pain.

The poisonous web of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider was really quite formidable since the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King was unable to tolerate the pain, not even taking into account that Qing Shui had lowered its overall stats.

This outcome was not beyond Qing Shui’s expectation. He thought that it should be quite easy to get rid of this Five-eyed Lion Wolf King when he came to know that its ability was about that of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider but it was still that middle eye that made him wary.

The Five-eyed Lion Wolf King continued its cries of pain while his Five-Headed Demonic Spider continued to add more Corrosive Poison Web as a strand of spider silk as thick as a human’s arm wrapped tightly around the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King’s body.

The ear-piercing cries continued as Qing Shui also commanded his Thunderous Beast to continue attacking.

Just as Qing Shui looked at the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King’s large malevolent-looking head, noticing that eye in the middle, that eye suddenly emitted a resplendent light. That magnificent light stunned Qing Shui for a moment.

Qing Shui knew that things were turning against him. Just as if a large ‘Sky Sword’ had pierced into his sea of consciousness, he felt as if his sea of consciousness was about to be split in two. That fearsome energy and that feeling as if it had reached his soul scared Qing Shui.

That large sword formed of spirit energy continued attacking. Qing Shui bore with the intense torture and began channeling his own spirit energy to defend against it. However, he realized that this horrifying Qi from the sword was not something he could withstand at his current level.

Now, Qing Shui was really afraid. What if he became mentally handicapped because of this or even died? That would be such a waste…

He didn’t wish to die so he activated everything he had. However, that Qi from the sword was really beyond him, he simply could not defend himself against it.

Qing Shui’s spirit energy was quite strong but the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King was a Martial Emperor which specialized in such attacks.

Qing Shui did let down his guard but he did not expect that the Five-eyed Lion Wolf King would attack him instead of the Five-Headed Demonic Spider which had caused him the most damage. That attack which could only be used once, actually fell upon him…

Qing Shui found that there was nothing he could do, he pushed his Ancient Strengthening Technique, Nature Energy, Immovable mountains… to their limits.

Even with him using all the techniques he could, he was only able to slightly reduce the speed of that Qi from the sword. If this continued, he would be rendered useless once that Qi from the sword reached his Niwan Palace, he would just become a person without any consciousness.

Niwan Palace was right in the middle of a person’s sea of consciousness, its existence was most important. Qing Shui looked towards it and realized the position of his Yin-Yang Image. Qing Shui found a slight glimmer of hope when he saw his Yin-Yang Image whirring rapidly.

The ancient and profound Yin-Yang Image rotated with a desolate aura, heavy and strong, it possessed an inexpressible strength. Qing Shui felt himself calming down as he focused on the Yin-Yang Image.

The sword continued getting closer and closer. Qing Shui no longer attempted to resist, allowing it to continue slashing. Qing Shui did not know what to feel. Everything was blank. There was no fear, rather it was a type of empty void, just like that in Buddhist scriptures. Without any desire or want, as if death was unimportant or rather he was enlightened.

He was enlightened by the fact that he no longer had any control over survival. He had tried his best so he gave up on everything and found himself hovering between life and death once again.