## AST 1083 – Five Elements Water Essence, Tantai Xuan’s melancholy

Qing Shui saw the enormous purple lotus envelop Tantai Xuan. This was her Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation. Next, he thought about the purple Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus. He felt that it would significantly benefit her World Cleansing Demonic Lotus.

“It seems that her Violet Lotus Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation is also a powerful existence.” Through its aura, Qing Shui was able to gauge that it was not weaker than his Earth Diamond Bear. It seems that he had learned something new today, apparently demonic beast armor wasn’t limited to demonic beasts.

Looking at the Five Elements Water Jiao King that was getting closer and closer, Qing Shui watched as his previous attacks were countered quite easily by the demonic beast. That was a Spiritual Battle Technique. At this moment, he brandished his sword and charged forwards. Within the Ancient Ruins, he was still quite powerful.

Nine Palace Steps!

The Nine Palace Steps which Qing Shui had trained in the temple had gotten significantly stronger, to the point that there were changes in its nature. Currently, it looked even more enigmatic when used. It’s like Qing Shui was influencing the aura around him.

Sword of Sixth Wave!

Qing Shui’s strength approached 900,000 stars, which was more than enough to defeat the Five Elements Water Jiao King. If the effects of Shield Attack or the 20% chance of doubling his attack activated, he would definitely be able to blow away the mighty demonic beast. The extent of its injuries would be critical if it was not directly slain.

Bang… Bang…

Consecutive loud noises could be heard, causing the water around the lake to spurt up. The water rose at least ten feet, covering the surroundings with water screens. From time to time, a series of roars were accompanied by loud shrieks.

Even without the effects of Shield Attack or the doubling of attack power, the demonic beast was still blown away by Qing Shui’s Sword of Sixth Wave. After all, Qing Shui was still significantly stronger than the Five Elements Water Jiao King.

Subsequently, Qing Shui dodged with his Nine Palace Steps before charging towards the beast once again. Simultaneously, he said to Tantai Xuan, “Go get the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus!”

Previously, when Tantai Xuan saw the Five Elements Water Jiao King charging towards Qing Shui, she had instinctively summoned her Demonic Beast Armor in preparation for battle. She had also noticed that Qing Shui had paid special attention to her purple lotus before appearing to increase his strength significantly as well.

“Is he testing his own strength?” Tantai Xuan started making guesses of Qing Shui’s intention.

She remained stationary and was a bit stunned when she saw that Qing Shui not only managed to attack the Water Jiao King, he even blew it away! But eventually, she still made her way towards the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus.

Roar!

The Five Elements Water Jiao King seemed to realize that someone was getting close to the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus and started to give out louder and louder cries. It even ignored Qing Shui and approached Tantai Xuan.

The effects of Shield Attack appeared in Qing Shui’s previous Sword of Sixth Wave, blowing away the Five Elements Water Jiao King. However, the scene that followed startled Qing Shui.

The Five Elements Water Jiao King suddenly dived into the lake and disappeared. However, Qing Shui knew that something was wrong. In the blink of an eye, he rushed towards Tantai Xuan, who was in front of the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus.

Oh no!

Moving as you wished!

Qing Shui disappeared instantaneously. The ability of the Sacred Jade Divine Stone Ring enabled the user to move to any location they wanted within two hundred li. However, the Five Elements Water Jiao King appeared at almost the same time, opening its mouth to shoot out a dense ‘Water Essence’.

This was the true killing move of the Five Element Water Jiao King.

Five Elements Water Essence was also known as the Aqua Breath. As long as one came into contact with it, the Aqua Breath would automatically burn the person’s weakest point. No matter where it came in touched, it would burn the weakest part of the person’s body.

Qing Shui felt a powerful and dangerous energy. He immediately embraced Tantai Xuan and covered her with his entire body. He cast Divine Protection and instantaneously used the ability of the Sacred Jade Divine Stone Ring again.

It’s just that at the moment when everything was in motion, Qing Shui felt a pure energy forming a protective barrier around the woman in his embrace. All of these happened in a flash. Only now did Qing Shui feel the soft and fragrant body of the woman in his embrace.

He had not intended to take advantage of her. Previously, he had confidently told her to go and take the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus. He would never have thought that things would turn out like this. He instinctively went to save her. This was a kind of responsibility as he wasn’t sure if she was capable of protecting herself. Even though she had mentioned before that she had no problems protecting herself, at that instance, he didn’t have the time to consider whether he should save her or not.

Qing Shui quickly let go of her. “I’m sorry!”

Tantai Xuan was a bit stunned and didn’t say anything. Instead, her beautiful eyes looked at Qing Shui without blinking, as if she wanted to see through him. She saw that his eyes were clear. They had a trace of embarrassment but didn’t seem to have any other notions.

“I believe you!”

Her voice sounded really beautiful. However, Qing Shui didn’t quite get what she meant. He rubbed his nose embarrassingly. “Wait till I beat this huge guy unconscious before you go to take the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus.”

Qing Shui left but Tantai Xuan was still dazed. Currently, her emotions were in a mess. When Qing Shui suddenly hugged her, she had even thought of killing him. However, for a reason unknown to herself, she didn’t do that. She, who had never spoken encouragingly to males, currently felt as if she had toppled over a Five flavored bottle.

(TL note: Five Flavored bottle meant a bottle which contained all five flavors: Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy)

She believed that if she didn’t so happen to really need his help, they wouldn’t have interacted much and at most would have greeted each other. Currently, she was already regretting coming to the Ancient Ruins.

On the other hand, Qing Shui was also feeling a little depressed. If he knew that she had such strong means of protecting herself, he wouldn’t have embraced her. However, the deed had been done. In any case, the situation was special and he believed that the chances of them meeting in the future were slim and there wouldn’t be any complicated feelings between them.

Perhaps because of its powerful Water Essence Attack, the Water Jiao King didn’t intend to hide. Instead, it looked at Qing Shui arrogantly. As Qing Shui looked at the Water Jiao King, he couldn’t help but be angered by it.

This was just too wretched. Let’s just see who is better at playing dirty…

Qing Shui similarly stopped lying low, immediately using the Buddha Form Reveal and swung his Big Dipper Sword.

Great Golden Buddha Palm!

Confinement!

This time, there was a huge gap in their strengths and the Water Jiao King was immediately grabbed by Qing Shui’s Great Golden Buddha Palm. In front of absolute strength, all techniques were futile. At this moment, Qing Shui wouldn’t sit still and do nothing.

Thunderous Beast!

Thunderbolt!

At the moment that Qing Shui swung his left hand, a Primordial Flame Ball smashed towards the Five Elements Water Jiao King.

After only a few blows, the Five Elements Water Jiao King was already on its last breaths. However, if he stopped, the Five Elements Water Jiao King would recover and heal at a terrifying rate.

It possessed the water element of the five elements and it was the king when in water. Even though it wasn’t the legendary Water Dragon King, the blood of the Water Dragon King still flowed inside its body. It was naturally terrifying in water.

Unfortunately, it ran into Qing Shui. At this moment, Tantai Xuan was already absorbing the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus. It was just as Qing Shui had assumed, Tantai Xuan had transmitted a message to Qing Shui. She told him to not kill the Five Elements Water Jiao King because she wasn’t able to absorb all of the Ten Thousand Years Demonic Lotus.
……

“How’s it?”

After a few hours, the pair sat on a hilltop. Qing Shui watched the clouds in the distance as he asked.

Even though the clouds in the sky were gaseous, they still exerted an enormous pressure. The waves of clouds were thick like smoke, covering the entire sky. It would even cause people to feel panicked and constrained.

“It’s ok, this is my only harvest from the Ancient Ruins.” Tantai Xuan sounded relaxed when she said that.

“Can you tell me about the other Four Continents?”

“I can only tell you that they are practically boundless. The spiritual energy there is more abundant than in the Five Continents. Moreover, there are no restrictions from the laws of Heaven and Earth. They have countless supreme aristocratic clans and ancient sects are everywhere. There are imperial courts and dynasties but they are still ruled over by sects. Of course, there are still exceptions but I’m not clear on the details either. You will find out for yourself when you’re there.” Tantai Xuan explained slowly after thinking for a while.

Qing Shui didn’t question her any further. Tantai Xuan had already given him a lot of information with her previous sentence. Dynasties and imperial courts, they were all systems from a long time ago. It’s just like the General Clan in the Green Cloud Continent, which was a remnant from imperial times. This meant that imperial courts still existed in the other Four Continents.

“Qing Shui, I’m leaving now. I will appear again when you’re headed for the other Four Continents.” Tantai Xuan turned around and glanced at Qing Shui.

“Take care of yourself! Goodbye!” Qing Shui smiled and nodded.

As Tantai Xuan left, her thoughts were in a mess. It wasn’t just because Qing Shui hugged her because of his strength. In terms of martial arts, she had always been really confident in her skills. There was no one at her age who was stronger than her. Even in the five years she had spent in the Four Continents, she had rarely come across people of a similar age who were stronger than her. However, this man who was once really weak and fragile in her eyes had now turned out to be so strong…

Qing Shui was instead thinking about Di Chen. It has been so long, how has she been over there? Every time he thought about it, he would start feeling worried. Very soon. Very soon he would finally be able to go look for her. In the past, his strength was barely enough. But now, he already had the Nine Continents Mountain and he was also able to head over to the other Four Continents with his own strength, so it shouldn’t pose too much a problem to him.

……

“It’s almost time, shall we return?”

As soon as they exited the ravine, Yu Ruyan looked around and said to the others.

Fattie wasn’t far from them and was examining the surroundings.

“It’s time to head back. It’s better to reach there earlier and not delay in heading out.” Yiye Jiange said with a smile.

“Alright then, let’s head back. Who knows if Qing Shui has already gone back yet?” Yu He smiled and asked when she saw that the exit of the ravine was not far away.

“Probably not. I suppose he would wait until last minute before exiting. For all you know, he might still be in there.” Di Qing said while shaking her head.

“When we’re out of the ravine, let’s head back immediately. We don’t need to be too fast since we have more than enough time.” Wenren Wu-shuang said as she walked to Luan Luan’s side.

As soon as they got out of the ravine, they saw a wide field. A light breeze brushed their faces but they were all shocked, especially Yiye Jiange and Luan Luan.

There were more than ten people in the distance. Furthermore, there were tents with the symbol of a male lion on them.

Lion King’s Ridge!

Even though Yiye Jiange has never once forgotten about them, when they suddenly appeared in front of her, she still felt a bit nervous. If it had been her past self, she might have felt scared, however, it was now more of a nervousness. It seemed like she still hasn’t fully prepared herself for this day.

Since these graceful and elegant young women appeared all of a sudden without wearing veils to cover their face, they were immediately noticed by the people from Lion King’s Ridge.

Among them, 80% were elderly men. There were also a few who seemed like they just reached middle age. Judging from the way they’re dressed, they seemed to have important positions in Lion King’s Ridge.

“I’m not leaving. Don’t look at them, don’t talk either.” Yiye Jiange said softly. Without saying anything, the others changed directions and returned to the original route.

“Wait! Ladies, please hold your steps!”

Suddenly, a tall and lofty middle-aged man from Lion King’s Ridge stood up and said. The gold gown on his body made him looked really noble. In terms of physical appearance, he actually looked quite handsome and had deep eyes. Because of the aquiline nose he possessed, he somehow gave people the impression that he was fierce and brutal.