## AST 1174 – Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation’s Second Form, Within the Nine Palace, He Was the King!

The Wood Vines from the Five Elements Divine Refining Technique was the best skill which Qing Shui was cultivating. It had the strongest defense and posed the greatest threat.

Of course, the Tidal Cloud Waves Seal’s Monstrous Wave was also very powerful but it wasn’t as fast as the Wood Vines nor was the control as good. This spirit energy battle technique seemed to have a life of its own. This was the most amazing part of it.

Right now, Yan Jinyu felt as if she had never known Qing Shui before…

From the appearance and disappearance of the old men, the time taken was the time for a few breaths. They weren’t as easy to deal with as chopping up vegetables!

Yan Jinyu was overwhelmed with joy and surprise. She felt that when she was with this young man, she would feel at ease for some reason. It seemed that her senses were still quite good. Meeting Qing Shui could be considered a lucky encounter for her.

The eyes of the man dressed in white, Wu Clan’s Young Master, were filled with astonishment. He couldn’t believe that the few old men from his clan and from Yang Clan had died so quickly. What level of cultivation was required to be able to kill the few of them within the time for a few breaths?

He couldn’t help but feel a cold chill, let out a shout and want to make his escape. The old man next to Yang Yicun let out a cold snort and said, “Trash!”

With a wave of the old man’s hand, half the head of Wu Clan’s Young Master had become a bloody mess. The latter died just like that without able to let out a single grunt.

The old man looked viciously at Qing Shui, his gaze like that of a venomous snake. A faint hint of red light in his eyes gathered to become a formless sword shadow and with a flash, shot out toward Qing Shui.

Spirit energy, Bloodsword of Will！

Qing Shui didn’t dare to be careless. He circulated the Heart of Roc and the nebula in his consciousness gathered together, turning a majestic spirit energy into a five element wall shield, blocking before him.

A ripple scattered out before Qing Shui and disappeared into nothingness.

Qing Shui’s abilities caused the old man to be shocked. It was because the old man was also very proud of his battle techniques using spirit energy. The Bloodsword of Will from earlier was considered a move that even ordinary grade two State Masters might not be able to receive so easily. Of course, that was if they weren’t State Masters who specialized in spirit energy.

If the old man were to know that Qing Shui’s spirit energy had reached a strength of about 4,300 nimbus and he could neglect 70% of the spirit energy attacks, he might just cough up blood.

“Young man, you do have some capability. I’m surprised. But you will still die!”

The old man said this and slowly took out his weapon. It was a green colored staff engraved with some strange and old 符文s. The images on it formed a small, gorgeous green snake. What was amazing was that the snake’s head seemed to be no different than one that was alive. It was like the head of a real snake. It was about the size of a fist but exuded a cold and eerie feeling. The entire staff seemed to be extremely strange, exuding a strong and cold killing intent.

Seeing that the old man had taken out his weapon, Yang Yicun glared at Qing Shui, “Lad, if you get down on your knees, kowtow to me 300 times and cripple your own cultivation, I can spare you your life!”

Yang Yicun was now harboring great hatred for Qing Shui. Wu Meng was dead and so were two powerful State Masters from Wu Clan. His clan had also lost one State Master. They were talking about a State Master level cultivator. If his clan were to hear of this, he would definitely be in great trouble. The more he thought about it, the angrier he felt. If it wasn’t because he was scared of Qing Shui, he would have torn Qing Shui into pieces like he did to other people in the past.

Yan Jinyu continued to remain calm and wasn’t unsettled by the situation. Qing Shui had only seen her slightly surprised expression before. Right now, she continued to appear graceful and peaceful, just like how she was when he first met her. However, she would occasionally look in his direction.

When Qing Shui saw that the old man excelled in spirit energy, he calmed down. However, a cultivator whose cultivation had reached the level of a grade two State Master was definitely not to be underestimated. Even if his spirit energy was powerful, he could be even stronger physically.

Qing Shui looked at the old man and knew that he’d definitely take action!

Very quickly the skies seemed to have solidified and the old man made his move. That staff smashed toward Qing Shui without any fancy moves. What that terrified Qing Shui was that he didn’t know how he should dodge this simple attack.

Qing Shui wore a grim expression. The old man did have his own tricks up his sleeves. This attack, with traces of heavenly dao, was something which only grade two State Masters could accomplish.

Yan Jinyu and the old men from earlier were only at Peak Grade One State Master and were close to attaining the level of Grade Two State Master. However, they were still Grade One State Masters after all, unlike this old man who was truly a Grade Two State Master.

Qing Shui had initially thought that the old man excelled in spirit energy and should be slightly weaker in terms of physical martial arts. He now knew that he was wrong. The old man was in no way weaker with his martial arts and the reason he had attacked with his spirit energy from earlier was because regardless if the opponent was strong or weak, they would tend to be slightly weaker in defense against spirit energy and in their abilities to withstand spirit energy.

The old man had initially thought that the Bloodsword of Will would be able to deal Qing Shui a serious blow, but he hadn’t expected the latter to be able to neutralize it with great ease!

Nine Continents Mountain!

Controlling with his mind, the Nine Continents Mountain blocked the old man directly!

Ding!

With a crisp sound, the Nine Continents Mountain was blown away and Qing Shui managed to dodge the attack.

The old man grabbed his staff and swung it again!

Qing Shui was stunned.

A battle armor that appeared to be material, formed on the old man. While it appeared to be thick and heavy, Qing Shui felt that it was definitely very light. That was because it moved like water and air.

Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation!

This was the second form of the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation. Only a Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation which had entered the mature phase would truly take on the form of armor. The next form after this would be a true armor formed from origin Qi. It’s said that at that level, it wouldn’t be much weaker than actual legendary grade armor.

This made Qing Shui feel baffled. Logically, the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation should first take the form of armor before gradually and eventually taking the form of a demonic beast. However, in this world, the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation mostly first appeared as the beast form, before eventually taking the form of armor or a battle skirt, but they would still have a connection to the beast form of the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation. The additional increase in strength and defense would be directly related to the demonic beast the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation had presented when in the beast form.

The old man’s Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation was definitely very strong. However, although the increase in strength when it had taken the form of battle armor might not be higher than when the beast form was in the mature phase, the defense provided would definitely be a lot stronger, both in terms of physical defense and spirit energy defense.

The old man’s earlier attack made Qing Shui feel that he had felt a lot of things. The reason he could dodge the earlier blow was a powerful feeling. It was just like how an ordinary person would feel that they would never be able to jump up a height of several meters.

A light breeze appeared under the old man’s feet with a faint glow. His spiritual sense locked onto Qing Shui. Qing Shui knew that the old man was going to attack Qing Shui aggressively from now on.

Emperor’s Qi!

The powerful Emperor’s Qi weakened 20% of the old man’s strength, causing the old man’s countenance to change. The gaze he used on Qing Shui was very strange and complicated. This was too domineering. The old man had never seen such a powerful weakening technique. Moreover, he had made several attempts but still wasn’t able to negate its impact.

Shadowless Steps!

With a flash, the old man seemed to have disappeared. Qing Shui felt a tight feeling on his scalp as he stepped out with his Roaming Dragon Steps.

Nine Palace Setup!

Qing Shui sent out his spiritual sense and their surroundings entered the Nine Palace. He reached out his hand and grabbed Yan Jinyu, who was next to him. He hadn’t expected the old man’s speed to be so fast.

Within the Nine Palace, he was the King!

Although this wasn’t the first time Yan Jinyu had her hand held by Qing Shui, she still felt a little anxious. She knew that Qing Shui was doing this for her own safety, but she felt that she was in a totally passive position right now.

Once the Nine Palace Setup was formed, Qing Shui immediately felt that the old man’s speed had reduced by a lot. Within the Nine Palace, the old man’s advantages were all gone. Qing Shui wasn’t afraid to compete with him in terms of speed. Within the Nine Palace, if the gap in abilities between him and his opponent wasn’t overly heaven-defying, he would have the ability to protect himself.

From the old man’s perspective, Qing Shui’s speed when he had Yan Jinyu with him was much faster than himself. This caused him to almost fall over from shock. His Shadowless Steps was something he was the most proud of. The old man took great pride in his spirit energy and his Dragon Staff Technique. However, the one thing he was the proudest of was still his speed. He hadn’t expected to lose this greatest advantage before a young man, especially when the latter was bringing another person along as he moved. This was equivalent to blatantly giving him a slap in the face.

Seal of Xuantian!

Qing Shui raised his Big Dipper Sword!

A huge silver platform appeared in the sky above the old man, deploying a tremendous stagnating force on the old man.

First Level of Xuantian Seal!

Lowering the target’s speed and reaction, causing the target’s speed to be heavily affected!

Clear Heart Art！

The old man swung the gorgeous green staff in his hand, causing a milky white colored holy glow to spread down from the top. With a wave of his palm, a huge green-colored python was called forth and it smashed against the silver platform on top.

Boom!

The silver platform disappeared. The old man looked at Qing Shui. Right now, fury was already rising within him. He was weakened and his speed had been reduced a second time in addition when the initial weakening impact had already caused his speed to be lowered. This made him feel that it was unfair.

Ferocious Snake Leaving the Cave！

The old man’s body brought along a series of afterimages as he dashed toward Qing Shui. With gesture of his staff, a huge green snake dashed out toward Qing Shui. The green snake had a hideous head and a huge body. It brought along a green-colored glow with it, exuded a stench that would make one feel giddy and moved in a z-shaped motion toward Qing Shui.

On the other hand, the old man came over from another side, blocking Qing Shui’s route of escape.

Golden Sword!

A golden sword image smashed out toward the green snake!

Nine Continents Mountain!

Using his consciousness to control the Nine Continents Mountain, Qing Shui kept on smashing the Nine Continents Mountain against the snake!

The prowess of the Five Elements Divine Refining Technique was its instant explosive force. The Wood Vines was the only one which required a little time.

Primordial Flame Whip!

Qing Shui’s Big Dipper Sword spewed out the primordial flame whip and lashed out toward the old man who was dashing toward him.

The old man didn’t reduce his speed. It seemed that the primordial flame whip didn’t have too great an impact when it struck the old man’s body.

The old man excelled in spirit energy to begin with, his Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation had reached the second form and his defense had increased a lot. Even his head was being protected by the Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation. Right now, the old man looked like an old turtle.

Qing Shui was baffled. How was he going to fight?

That green snake had already been smashed into smithereens and he now controlled the Nine Continents Mountain to smash toward the old man.

However, it was a pity that due to their difference in abilities, he could only cause the old man to pause momentarily at times.

It was no wonder the old man was proud of himself. Even if the three old men from earlier were to combine their powers, they wouldn’t even have half the powers of this old man. Even four people of the previous three’s level wouldn’t be a match for this one. Was this the difference between a Peak Grade One State Master and a Grade Two State Master?

After so many repetitions of the same attacks, the old man had a feeling of helplessness. It was because he realized that he couldn’t get near QingShui. He would always be just a little bit away. To cultivators, speed was the most important thing and absolute speed would allow one to attack and defend as they wished.

This was how it was for Qing Shui now. Yan Jinyu was pulled by him and had to experience the terrifying speed he was going through. She had even forgotten that they were in a battle and would occasionally look seriously at Qing Shui.

Golden Sword!

Golden Sword!

Descending Heavens Talisman!

Wood Vines!

…

Qing Shui continued to attack relentlessly, paralyzing the old man. Right now, he could only engage in a war of attrition!