## AST 2170 - The Gap in Strength, The Thousand King Empire left

“So you are the master of the thirteenth king?”

“Well, I suppose you can say so!” Qing Shui said in an indifferent tone.

“I will beat you!” The woman looked at Qing Shui, her eyes brimming with the will to combat.

Qing Shui didn’t say much. Instead, he made a gesture as a sign to tell her to come at him. It took more than a mouth to defeat him.

The woman took out a whip and nodded her head as she whipped it towards Qing Shui. The whip was very agile. It was as if it had a life of its own. It was like a snake or so to say like a dragon. A layer of green aura was surrounding it. This was the rhythm of the wind.

It was no wonder this woman was so confident. She had comprehended the Heavenly Dao and was able to make use of the power of nature. Knowing just this would make her a lot more powerful than the average warriors. However, there was still a huge gap between herself and Qing Shui.

Qing Shui immediately grabbed the opponent’s rope with his bare-hand. A furious look flashed across the woman’s eyes. Never would she have thought that the person opposite her, whom she has looked down on, would be able to grab her rope with his bare hands.

“Let go!”

With an unusual move, the woman rotated her arm and immediately, the whip started to revolve like a screwdriver. The revolving force was very strong and even worse, the whip was made of countless sharp thorns. The combinations of these two made it capable of crushing even steels.

However, the whip stopped revolving when it reached Qing Shui. It was not able to break through Qing Shui’s defense. To counter against that, Qing Shui slightly moved his hand.

Spirited Snake Movement!

Qing Shui took over the whip. Meanwhile, the sky became covered by the whip afterimages. It was a stunning scene which resembled groups of dragons dancing in the sky. The air was filled with constant rumbling noises.

Qing Shui didn’t land his attack directly on the woman. As of now, the woman’s face looked as pale as a paper as she stood in the middle of those afterimages. This phenomenon wasn’t entirely just out of fear. Even though warriors might also fear death, there were certain things which might be even more fearsome than that.

She was the spoiled daughter of the Qian Clan and also a role model for countless men and women. Though she was also aware that there would still be people from her generations who were more powerful than herself, she believed that she wouldn’t ever have the chance to interact with them. She also believed that they wouldn’t have any influence on her life. As far as the environment around her was concerned, she had yet to meet anyone like that. Thus, she had never been struck so hard before.

Qing Shui stopped and moved his sight onto the noble old man sitting on the Thousand King Empire’s side, “Old man, allow me to be your opponent. It will be best if we can get this over with as soon as possible. I have still got things I need to do.”

Absurd! Absurd!

This was the thought of a lot of people at the moment. After all, the old man’s existence was comparable to a deity in the Thousand King Empire, yet now he was being challenged by a junior with such a rude tone.

“You impudent brat! Get off the stage! What makes you think that you are qualified enough to challenge the Old Ancestor!” A younger looking man stood up and said.

“Don’t think that you can act so arrogantly just because you won once!”

“Get off the stage and ask Old Man Xia to come up the stage!”

……

Qing Shui didn’t give any response. Instead, he looked at the old man and said, “I am the thirteenth king’s master. Since you decided to come to the Great Confucian Empire, you should be prepared that you will be challenged by others. Could it be that you happen to be afraid?”

“Hahaha, fine. I will battle you.” The old man slowly walked onto the arena.

“Young man, it may be hard to swallow, but I got to admit that I am unable to see the extent of your power.” The old man said in a strange tone.

Qing Shui smiled, “Your strength is only worth 2 billion Dao Force, it will be impossible for you to be able to see the extent of my strength.”

As soon as the words dropped, the old man felt as if he were just struck by a clap of thunder. He looked at Qing Shui in disbelief, “How are you able to sense my strength?”

What made him more surprised was Qing Shui's tone. What did he mean by "only" 2 billion Dao Force! It was the evidence that his strength of 2 billion Dao Force was just a speck of dust to the youngster.

“Since the both of us are already here, let’s have some fun. Make your move, I will make sure to not hurt you. You can do whatever you want to me. Don’t worry, you won’t be able to hurt me.” Qing Shui smiled as he gestured the old man to make his move.

Though it might not seem like it, Qing Shui was already being very modest. Not only was the old man unable to hurt him, but even if Qing Shui didn’t move, the old man wouldn’t be able to do anything to him. The Parry Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda alone was already enough to counter all the old man’s attacks. In addition to that, it was also capable of avoiding the additional damages which the old man could cause to him.

Not to mention, Qing Shui also possessed defensive prowess that was beyond 50 billion Dao Force.

The old man took out his weapon. It was a huge blade with three holes in the middle. It could be considered a decent weapon. Without hesitations, the old man slashed the blade at Qing Shui with mysterious movements.

Qing Shui remained stationary until when the sword was less than an inch away from him. He immediately let out his hand and grabbed not the back side of the sword, but its tip that was supposedly the sharpest point. Seeing that, a helpless feeling immediately struck the old man. Qing Shui let go, “Would you still like to continue?”

“I surrender. I have to admit it is indeed I, who has been short-sighted and got a bit over myself just because I broke through to a new realm. I can promise you to whatever condition you make.” The old man let out a sigh. At this moment, he seemed to have gotten a lot older.

“I do not have any conditions. The Great Confucian and Thousand King Empire were neighbors with each other. Given that both sides have huge lands, there is no need for one to try and invade the other. Hence, my wish is for both empires to advance together and share their experiences with each other.” Qing Shui smiled and shook his head.

“No problem! Sir, in the future, whenever you visit the Thousand King Empire, please make sure to inform me so that I can give you proper treatments.” As of now, the old man didn’t seem depressed at all. In fact, he seemed a lot more at ease.

The Thousand King Empire left. When they left, they seemed a bit gloomy. Meanwhile, Old Man Xia couldn’t wait to pull Qing Shui for a happy meal. After a bit of celebration, Qing Shui departed for the Imperial Cuisine Hall.

……

Without realizing it, a month had passed. Qing Shui was ready to bring the others back to the Northern Emperor Domain.

The girls, on the other hand, made their way towards the Northern Sea from the Northern Emperor Domain. The two weren’t that far apart from each other. However, they were quite a distance away from the Nine Continents Star Ocean Domain.

This time, the girls were making their way towards the deepest part of the Northern Sea. It was only after they established a deep root here would they be able to head off to the Nine Continents Star Ocean Domain.

They immediately appeared at the Northern Emperor Domain and went to the Imperial Cuisine Hall. Nuo Lan was shocked to see Qing Shui and his companions. At this moment, Beihuang Fan wasn’t here.

“Nuo Lan, please help me accommodate the girls. I need to bring them to the Divine Palace.” Qing Shui said.

Nuo Lan nodded as she brought the girls to the upper floor.

Qing Shui, on the other hand, brought along Yin Tong and the others to the Divine Palace. The Golden Battle God was aware that Qing Shui was back. Before leaving, Qing Shui had also told him clearly about what was going on. Thus, when he came out and saw Qing Shui, he revealed a happy smile.

In just a short while, the palace had multiple new battle gods. The Divine Palace had become a lot stronger now; thus, the Golden Battle God was willing to agree even to Muyun Qingge’s request.

The old man understood well that not long from now, the seat of the Palace Lord would be passed on to Qing Shui. As for what Qing Shui planned to do with it, he wouldn’t really care about it. He had a feeling that in the future, Qing Shui would bring prosperity to the Divine Palace.

As of now, the Golden Battle God already planned to hand the Divine Palace over to Qing Shui. However, Qing Shui refused. Though he might be capable of it, he felt that there was still something lacking in his strength. Fortunately, the Golden Battle God was also unaware of how exactly strong Qing Shui was.

On the next day, Qing Shui held the ceremony to celebrate them joining the Divine Palace. Other than Muyun Qingge, the others remained in Divine Palace. Whenever she was free, she would also cultivate inside the Divine Palace. Occasionally, she would cross fists with people inside and share with them her experience.

On the third day, Qing Shui brought along the girls and made their way towards the Northern Sea. Their plan was to try and find a cavern which could contain the Sea King Palace.

There were two ways to locate a cavern. The first one was the most natural way, by finding a cavern with no one in it. The other one was more violent, by intruding an occupied cavern and trying to take it over.

The first method was the best one as it didn’t prove to be a difficult task. After all, there were countless caverns in the ocean, it wasn’t a difficult task to find one. Its only shortcoming was that it might be quite troublesome, as there were a lot of zones that were owned by specific forces down the sea. There might not be anyone in the cavern, but the cavern might belong to certain forces or demonic beasts. Within these zones, no other forces were allowed to show up.