Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)

AST 752 – The Box In His Possession, The Benefits of The Ability, The Arrival At The Southern Sea City

When Qing Shui finally acquired the box, he didn’t waste any time and quickly stored it in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Then, he proceeded to call back his Jade Emperor Bees and ran outside with the others. Everything happened only for a brief moment.

Although Cang Wuya and the other men were shocked, they were pleasantly surprised as well. They ran out and quickly followed Qing Shui outside then mounted onto the Fire Bird. The Fire Bird also quickly flew towards the south for safety.

When they were finally out from the shrine, Qing Shui finally let out a deep sigh of relief. Although no one had the ability to get the box from this shrine, it did not signify that the item was allowed to be taken away. Naturally, if someone were to notice that the box was gone, it would rouse the attention of powerful warriors and they would definitely try to find out who took the item.

Because of that, Qing Shui decided to leave the place as fast as he could. A lot of people were forced out by the Jade Emperor Bees awhile ago, but it wasn’t certain that no one didn’t see him took the box.

“Uncle, you are so awesome.” Ye Yan exclaimed in joy after they had flown out to a safe distance.

“Yan ‘er, don’t tell anyone that I got the box. If you do that, you and I will be dead for sure.” said Qing Shui as he smiled at her.

“Mm, I understand. I will not tell to a single soul.” Ye Yan bit her lips for a while before she said in a determined tone.

“Qing Shui, do you think they will find out that we took the box away?” Cang Wuya was happy yet worried at the same time.

“Unless someone saw us taking the box at that time, they wouldn’t be able to find out what we did for now. They might find it out in the future, but it’s not certain yet. After all, we only stayed there for a few moments, so no one might have noticed us there.” Qing Shui shrugged it off with a laugh, as if he wasn’t worried at all.

No one inquired what the box contained. Qing Shui was currently not interested to open the box right now because it wasn’t the best time. All he could focus on at the moment was to leave the Wolf Fang City as fast as possible.

……..

“What? The box in the Divine Wolf Shrine is gone?”

In the southwest corner of the Wolf Fang Country, an old man in a decorated manor stood up as he shouted in disbelief. The old man was of 60 years in age, but his age didn’t show through his well-proportioned physique. The yellow silk garments on his body gave off an air of nobility and gentleness.

“Yes, I came to tell grandfather first when I have received the news.”

The one who reported about the missing box was a man on his 40s. He had more or less the same facial features as the old man he addressed as his grandfather. Both of them were handsome nonetheless, and both gave off a strong fierce aura from their demeanor. The man in the 40s was seemingly shocked as well when he reported the news to the old man.

The old man pondered for a bit before he started speaking: “Any news from the Yang Clan, the Huang Clan, and the Dong Clan?”

“They seem to be doing their investigations as well. We have found out some people who went to the Divine Wolf Shrine, but there are those who have already left the place on a flying beast. We have ordered a lockdown on the city and also closed the city gates. They will proceed with a strict investigation throughout the city. A small air force team had been dispatched as well.” The younger man bowed as he relayed the proceedings of the investigation to the old man.

“I suspect that we might not be able to find out who stole the box from the Divine Wolf Shrine. The thief must be someone with the strength of a Peak Martial Saint. It must have been very easy for that person to steal the box like that.” The old man said as he sighed.

“Grandfather, the allied clans all have Peak Martial Saints. You are a Peak Martial Saint as well.” The younger man seemed to disagree with his grandfather’s opinion.

“Indeed, our clan and the allied clans do have Peak Martial Saints, but all of us have only barely touched the Peak Martial Saint realm. We are considered the weakest in that circle, so if meet another Peak Martial Saint, all we can do is retreat.” said the old man as he maintained his calm disposition.

The younger man went silent. His grandfather was one of the best in the Wolf Fang City. If he said it was impossible, then it was impossible. In any case, no one had been able to take away the item stored at the Divine Wolf Shrine for many years, despite the participation of a few powerful Peak Martial Saints. Because of that, everyone had a fixed assumption that the item could never be taken away regardless of those who want to take it.

However, the item was abruptly taken away by an unknown person. Of course anyone would feel uncomfortable knowing that the box that was always there was now gone. Not only that, they would also develop the notion that they must take it back just for themselves. This was the nature of humans.

Just then, someone came in and said: “Sir, the members from the Yang Clan, the Huang Clan, and the Dong Clan have come to see you for an urgent matter.”

“Let them wait in the living room. I will go soon.” The old man was startled by their sudden arrival, but he had finally managed to curled a smile in the corner of his mouth. He knew what the urgent matter was, because it could only concern the stolen box from the Divine Wolf Shrine.

“Ye ‘er, let’s go and take a look.” The old man gave a smile to the younger man.

“Yes, grandfather.”

Inside a large living room, there were three seemingly venerable elderly men of endless vigor waiting in silence. When the old man appeared, one of the slightly heavier elderly man quickly lashed out: “Old Bai, how are you still calm? The box in the Divine Wolf Shrine has gone missing.”

“Old Dong. What’s gone is gone. We couldn’t take it even when it was there in the beginning.” The old man retaliated, feeling extremely annoyed.

“Old Bai, you can’t say such things. That item has been in the Divine Wolf Shrine for so many years, even during the time when our forefathers were still alive. Moreover, that item was the symbol of our Wolf Fang Country, how can we allow someone to steal it away?” said the other elderly man with a similar long yellow robe.

“Yes, Old Huang is right.”

Bai Yushu looked at the three of them and laughed: “Then tell me what we can do. We don’t have any leads, so where on earth can we find this strong Peak Martial Saint who took the box away?”

“Strong Peak Martial Saint?” The three elderly men exclaimed in shock.

“Isn’t that the case? We couldn’t even take it with our current abilities, and neither could the previous few who tried to take it. Logically, for someone to snatch the box with ease, it must be a high-levelled Peak Martial Saint.” Bai Yushu said in rational tone.

“Well, we didn’t have any information initially, but now we have two. First, a group of people riding on a giant red bird had killed the members of the Cai Clan in the Tianyuan Country before the box incident happened. Second, these people have stopped by at the Divine Wolf Shrine only for a few moments. Also, none of them came out immediately when a bunch of large poisonous bees appeared inside the shrine. It was after a few moments when everyone had came out that they appeared for a brief moment and left immediately. When someone went inside to check the situation later on, they discovered the box was already gone.” Old Yang relayed the information he received casually.

“That means the box was taken by the people riding on a giant red bird.” Bai Yushu was surprised. He didn’t think that they could gather the information about the thieves this fast.

“That should be it. We should go check it out. Perhaps we might be able to apprehend these people.” Old Dong let out a few chuckles.

“Do you think we can take them down on our own?” Bai Yushu frowned. It would require a lot of effort in order to take down the thieves, but he didn’t want to take such a big risk. Even though the content of the box was extremely tempting, some things were not worth the trouble. Not all things would be beneficial once they had them in their possession.

“We should check it out. Despite being considered as the weakest ones in the Peak Martial Saint level, we are still four Peak Martial Saints anyway. If our opponent is stronger than us, then we will let him leave. If he doesn’t have the capability to match against us, then we will take back the box for our country. What do you think, Old Bai?” said Old Huang after a he took a few moments to ponder for an answer.

“Alright, but we must not be reckless about it.” Bai Yushu gave a stern look at the three of them.

The three elderly men naturally agreed to Old Bai’s proposition. The Bai Clan was the strongest amongst all of them, which was why they had made most of the decisions before it was carried out.

……..

Qing Shui and his company had rushed towards the south as they rode the Fire Bird in an extremely fast pace. The gate of the Wolf Fang City peeked at the horizon, and just when Fire Bird was going to speed through towards the gate, a couple of flying beasts suddenly appeared and surrounded the Fire Bird to prevent its escape.

When Qing Shui saw the men on the flying beasts, a smile appeared on his face. He already knew that they wouldn’t be able to easily get away from the Wolf Fang Country, but he didn’t expect that his pursuers would react so fast. However, there was nothing to worry about, so he decided to observe what the martial warriors on top of the flying beasts would do.

“Step aside!”

Qing Shui bellowed softly as he stared at the martial warriors on the flying beasts while he simultaneously released a tremendous suppressing force from his body. This was the dignity of a strong person that could not be trampled easily.

The flying beasts retreated to about 10 li away from Qing Shui after they felt the suppressing force throughout their bodies. As they retreated, some got inflicted with fear and let out a piercing cry.

“Sir, please wait for a moment. We are just doing our duty.” A capable-looking man bowed in front of Qing Shui to signify a gesture of respect.

This was a gesture of respect towards a strong martial warrior.

“I will say this again, step aside.” Qing Shui roared at the martial warriors in front of him.

“Sir……”

Qing Shui commanded his Fire Bird and flew towards the martial warriors riding on the flying beasts. He increased his suppression to the maximum, which had heavily suppressed both the martial warriors and the flying beasts in an instant.

“Sir, have mercy!”

All of the sudden, a giant demonic beast flew by. This butterfly-like demonic beast was golden and gleaming brightly. The voice of the person who talked awhile ago had already reached Qing Shui even before he could show himself.

It was a Golden Light Demonic Butterfly!

If he had the strength of his younger self, he would had considered to show mercy for his opponents. Now that he had gained an extreme amount of power, Qing Shui had somewhat lost his compassion for his enemies. The disparity between his ability and those of the martial warriors was too great. Qing Shui could initiate a split-second kill if he wanted to.

Ultimately, Qing Shui decided to stop his action. Then with a fierce gaze, he turned around to look at the four elderly men.

“I don’t have much time. If you have anything to say, make it quick.” said Qing Shui calmly.

“What a young and promising man indeed. There isn’t much outstanding lads like you in this world. We don’t mean to start a fight with you, we just wanted to meet you, that’s all. If you come by next time, please remember to visit us even for a while.” Bai Yushu showed a smile as he explained politely.

If someone were to admit their defeat, albeit indirectly, then it was wise to let them go. Qing Shui smiled and nodded his head, then flew away with his Fire Bird soon after that.

“Sigh, you see, this young man is the epitome of evil. If we make a move against him today, we will all be killed on the spot. Even if he didn’t manage to kill all of us today, he will definitely succeed next time. Watch and see, he will become famous one day throughout the nine continents.” Bai Yushu sighed as he became a bit emotional.

“It’s a shame that we have to let him go like that. We don’t even know what’s in that box yet.” Old Yang sighed as well.

“Some things can’t be forced. Even if you try to force it, it will be a waste of time, and will cause a lot of trouble for ourselves. When that happens, it will be too late for regrets.” said Bai Yushu.

“Yeah, luckily we didn’t act recklessly today. Think about it, for someone as outstanding as this man, do you think he will have weak supporting forces behind his back?” Old Huang followed up with a deep sigh too.

When they had considered about Qing Shui’s supporting forces, they felt chills down their spines. After a brief moment of helpless sighs, all of them went back to their residences. The incident had concluded without a proper settlement.

In their lifetime, there had been many passing travellers just like Qing Shui – they were neither enemies nor friends. Perhaps in the future, they would never have any interaction with each other ever again.

………

“Uncle, there were so many of them, yet they let us go. You are really awesome.” Ye Yan giggled while she looked at Qing Shui with a happy expression.

Qing Shui smiled, but said nothing more.

After that incident happened, three months had already passed by. Eventually, they could see the Southern Sea Country at the horizon. Qing Shui now knew he had miscalculated at this point, because right now, the Southern Viewing Continent seemed much more larger than the Greencloud Continent.