## AST 541 - <Critical Damage, A Critical Attack? Nine Winged Golden Cicada>

The power of seven countries combined, the defense of ten countries, the speed that was equivalent to seven countries, and the absurd restorative ability that was greater than ten countries combined!

He could feel himself getting stronger, and he gained a sudden surge of self-confidence. The growth of his strength was able to bring forth a delicate change to his mind and body.

Confidence could be said to be one of the qualities of a successful man. It could also be described as a special and powerful aura!

Qing Shui caught a glimpse of his Golden-Ringed Battle Armor displayed at one corner. He felt that it was about time to change his armor, since that armor was a bit too heavy to wear, albeit convenient at times. He then looked at the garment he was wearing, which was given by the Old Ancestor during Qing Shui’s ascension to the position of Patriarch of the Heavenly Palace.

The Lunar Silk was a legendary material that was as rare as the Martial Saint Beast Skin from Qing Shui’s Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Because of its rarity, Qing Shui decided to continue to wear the garment for the time being. He also planned on using the Art of Forging to refine the garment to a quality of his standard.

He had already acquired previous experiences from forging a few pieces of garments before, so it was quick for Qing Shui to make refinements to his current garment. It was unusually successful during his first try on the current garment because the Art of Forging required skills and precision to be able to successfully forge a new garment or refine an existing garment. However, he was able to refine it smoothly and easily this time.

When the quad-colored lights gleamed from the garment made from Lunar Silk, Qing Shui grinned at his accomplishment. The lights indicated that he had succeeded in refining his garment!

The garment’s defense had been increased by 40 percent, which could only be applied to the areas the garment could protect. The overall speed and overall attack had also increased by 10 percent. It was also tough, resistant to ordinary water and fire, and it also had an additional skill called ‘Critical Damage’!

Critical Damage: The breaking of the opponent’s defense would be increased by 20 percent! If the opponent has a higher rate of defense than the user’s rate of damage, then the user’s attack would ignore half of the opponent’s defense while consuming twice the energy for activation.

A critical attack?

Qing Shui was stunned as he observed the additional ability of the Lunar Silk Garment. The garment that symbolized the ‘status of the Heavenly Palace’s Patriarch’ had acquired a new ability that left Qing Shui’s mouth agape for quite a while.

This skill has the ability to ignore 20 percent of the opponent’s total defense, and it was able to ignore half of the opponent’s defense if they had a higher defense than the damage from his attack…..

“What a perverted, crazy, and astounding skill!” Qing Shui said in a daze. Those fearless people with thick armors and extreme confidence in their defense better hoped that they would not bump into him, otherwise, they would need to turn their arrogance down a notch.

Qing Shui liked it the more he looked at the garment. Not only was the defense increased by 40 percent, the attack damage and speed were increased by 10 percent as well. However, the Frenzied Bull’s Strength ability was lost in the process.

Qing Shui hesitated for a while. The Golden-Ringed Battle Armor could increase 30 percent of his attack when equipped, while the Lunar Silk Garment could increase 40 percent of his defense and only has an increase of 10 percent to his attack. Moreover, if Qing Shui equipped the garment, he would gain a rare increase of 10 percent on his speed as well.

More importantly, Qing Shui was greatly impressed by the usefulness of the Critical Damage skill!

“This is only one piece of the garment. Hmm, there is still hope…..”

Qing Shui was getting excited and proceeded to refine the boots!

He had already selected all the necessary materials for the refinement of the boots. For the fur, Qing Shui decided to use the fur from the wind elemental tiger from back then. And for the framework of the boots, he had his eyes set on the metal obtained from the Treasure Map.

He had two metal piles - one blue and one black. Qing Shui felt that the blue metal was more suitable for the boots than the black metal!

It was the purest kind of blue, much like the color of the sky. Qing Shui could sense the dexterous Spiritual Qi around the metal, but he still couldn't figure out a way to grab a portion of the metal from the pile.

The metal was only one cubic meter in size!

Finally, Qing Shui figured out the most foolish but the simple method to grab the metal!

He used primordial flames and smelted the blue metal, which slowly turned the metal into a liquid form. Qing Shui stopped when he had collected enough for the refining!

The next step was to hammer the collected metal!

He waited until the metal had hardened before he started hammering it. Qing Shui used all his force and hammered onto the metal numerous times until he saw a light glowing from it.

He compared the small piece of metal he had hammered with the big pile of blue metal. Qing Shui was very satisfied because of the improved quality of the small piece of blue metal.

After he compared it, he smelted the blue metal again to reform its shape. Using the Thousand Hammer Technique, he started hammering the metal into place with full concentration, and then proceeded to cover it with the wind elemental tiger fur.

After another successful round of refining the boots, he felt extremely pleased with himself. He was indebted to his Quad-color Rainbow Art of Forging for the success he had with the refining of his garment and boots.

Feeling anxious yet excited, Qing Shui used his Heavenly Vision Technique and analyzed the boots!

The speed had been increased by 40 percent, the overall defense was increased by 10 percent, and the overall attack was increased by 10 percent. Additional Skill: Flickering Light Passing Shadow!

Flickering Light Passing Shadow: The original speed would be doubled instantaneously. This effect will last for the duration of fifteen minutes. The skill can be used once per day!

He couldn’t contain his excitement because this would be the first time he had seen this battle skill since he forged a pair of boots for Qing Qing. Ever since then, this skill had not appeared whenever he tried to forge weapons and armors.

Qing Shui looked at the boots that could double the speed of the user in a flash for fifteen minutes. This dignified pair of boots would be perfect for kill-and-run and for escaping dire situations.

The boots had a great tenacity skill that was absent in this reformed state. However, Qing Shui didn’t feel upset, but he was happy that the attack damage of his garment and boots had been increased by 20 percent. If he was able to gain an extra 10 percent for the attack damage, he would be able to compensate for the loss of the Frenzied Bull’s Strength ability from the garment.

Although he knew about the Flickering Light Passing Shadow skill when he forged new garments for the ladies and his mother last time, he did not think that the skill would reappear in his boots. However, not only did he manage to get the skill again, it was also one of the greatly anticipated battle skills he had always wanted for himself.

Most importantly, the boots were reformed with the metal he had found from the Treasure Map which made him extremely satisfied.

Since he had refined his garment and boots, he figured he might as well refine other things while he still had time!

Helmet!

Qing Shui still wanted to use the blue metal for the helmet. Although the metal was only one cubic meter in size, it was extremely durable due to its high density. Moreover, he only used a small portion of the metal, which was about the size of a walnut…..

The materials and method used for the helmet were similar to the materials and method used for the boots. As expected, the forging of the helmet was also a success.

Qing Shui realized he had more successes than failures because of the circulation of his Ancient Strengthening Technique. Moreover, his alchemy skills had also improved, despite the difficulty in mastering it. He would almost always succeed in refining the medicinal pills no matter how low the success rate was.

After a brief flashing of the quad-colored lights, everything went back to normal. The internal skeleton of the helmet was also made with the blue metal, which was covered by a beast leather for protection.

Qing Shui decided to use the skin from the Golden Armored Violet Crystal Beast as the leather for the helmet. There was also a hint of blue light shining through the glistening yellow surface of the helmet.

Nonetheless, Qing Shui was calmly observing the stats of the helmet.

The defense of the helmet was increased by 40 percent, which could only be applied to the head area. Moreover, the overall attack and overall speed were also increased by 10 percent.

“I did it!”

Not only was he able to make up for the loss of the Frenzied Bull’s Strength, he was also able to increase some of the defense and speed of his skills as well, especially the Critical Damage and Flickering Light Passing Shadow skills.

The Critical Damage skill would require a high amount of Qi from the Ancient Strengthening Technique. The user was only required to imbue their weapons with twice the Qi of Ancient Strengthening Technique in order to activate Critical Damage. However, for this to work, the user was also required to wear the Lunar Silk Garment.

Qing Shui was in dazed. He quickly wore the Lunar Silk Garment, and in an instant, he could feel a ‘Sharp Qi’ overwhelming his body.

He clenched the Big Dipper Sword tightly in his hand!

Swish!

With one strike of his sword, Qing Shui could feel the ‘Sharp Qi’ circulating his meridians. However, there was no reaction whatsoever!

Swish!

Qing Shui struck again with his sword. This time he used twice the energy to strike with the sword. Strangely enough, the Sharp Qi inside his meridians flowed out with the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique.

A ray of light about a meter long seemingly sliced the air in half!

“I see!”

Qing Shui could feel that the Sharp Qi inside his meridians had dissipated completely. Despite that, the Sharp Qi converged once more in a slow pace and flowed back into his meridians.

“I see, the Critical Damage skill cannot be used consistently in one go. I need to wait for the Sharp Qi to reach a certain degree before I can use it again.” Qing Shui grinned as he put away his Big Dipper Sword.

He was also pleased that the seed that resembled a flame had sprouted in four and a half years time. The sprout was three inches in height, resembling a flock of flames atop the seed. It was beautiful but eerie.

The first three Flowers of Life had finally blossomed. These flowers had the ability to accelerate the growth of all the plant species in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal by 30 percent.

However, the fourth Flower of Life was only showing signs of imminent blossom. But for the flower to blossom completely, it would required a much longer time!

After that, Qing Shui went ahead and forged a belt! Unfortunately, the ‘Surging Blood’ ability was absent in this belt. He was happy nonetheless because he had gained something else instead.

The overall defense had increased by 10 percent.

It may not have been a great ability, but the increment could be considered a great advantage. A 10 percent increase of his defense was equivalent to the defense of one country…...

Qing Shui proceeded to harness his cultivation in a nonchalant manner, especially during his Heavenly Pellet cultivation. After half a year of cultivation, he had finally reached the fourth level of Heavenly Pellet.

The upgrade of each level of ‘Heavenly Pellet’ would only increase the energy by one million jin. Moreover, the cultivation of the pellet was quite difficult. Because of that, Qing Shui felt that the increment in strength was too little. However, the upgrade came without a price, so he decided he should take whatever he could from this cultivation technique.

Qing Shui felt a change inside his body as the ‘Heavenly Pellet’ had a breakthrough to the fourth level. He felt that the current ‘Heavenly Pellet’ was seemingly communicating with his Lower Dantian. Due to this, Qing Shui was full of anticipation as he cultivated to the next level of the ‘Heavenly Pellet’.

……..

The next day, Qing Shui was cultivating his Taichi Fist as usual in the arena. The red sun was rising slowly, basking the surrounding with bursting vitality.

Qing Shui stopped his training and stood there for a while delving into his own thoughts. He was considering whether he should bring his family from the Qing Clan to the world outside their residence; allowing them to expand their social skills and meet new people!

However, he was distressed because he didn’t know where he should bring them - the Heavenly Palace or the Greencloud Continent!

“I should go back and discuss with them about this!”

Qing Shui shook his head. He decided to go back home within the next two days. In any case, he was just a Patriarch in name, and he would not be involved in meager matters that regarded the Heavenly Palace.

It has been months since Qing Shui had officially become the Patriarch of Heavenly Palace. In a sense, he was the spiritual embodiment of the Heavenly Palace - he was a man who would be playing the lead role in guiding his people to glory.

The role of the Starmoon Hall had been changing constantly. Misty Hall also seemed to be appearing in public functions more often than usual.

He took a glance on the key that the Old Ancestor had given him. It had already been six months since he had last entered the Treasury Room to see what the Old Ancestor had left for him.

Qing Shui skipped his meal and slowly headed towards the direction of the Heavenly Palace Treasury. He was greeted courteously by a number of disciples from the Heavenly Palace along the way.

Qing Shui had gotten used to being addressed as ‘Patriarch’ by a lot of people. Since he could never get rid of this form of address, he figured he should accept the reality of being addressed with such an esteemed title.

“Patriarch!”

Two Supreme Elders assigned to guard the Treasury were in the midst of playing chess. When they saw Qing Shui approaching, they panicked and quickly stood up.

“Elders, there’s no need to panic!”

Qing Shui grinned as he approached the elderly men. The elders had very little to do except guarding the entrance to the Treasury. After all, order was properly maintained in the internal sectors, and the surrounding areas were protected by the Heavenly Palace Guardians as well.

Qing Shui felt strange as he entered the Treasury once again. He felt that way because he was now the highest ranked individual in the Heavenly Palace…..

“Patriarch!”

Everyone who saw Qing Shui bowed as they greeted him!

Qing Shui smiled and nodded as he walked straight towards the Treasury!

These people were Supreme Elders and Elders from different halls, as well as those who had acquired the medallion to access the Treasury because of their special contributions towards their respective halls.

The Treasury consisted of multiple levels beneath the ground. The deeper he went, the less people there were. As he reached the second last floor, he saw two elderly men who seemed to have well passed their prime like the Old Ancestor.

“Patriarch!”

Qing Shui gave them a smile: “Good day, Elders!”

These two elderly men were the ones assigned to guard the Heavenly Palace Treasury!

All this time, Qing Shui had been sweeping a few of the valuables around the messy treasury room into his inventory. He didn’t mind the mess because he could easily see pass the random piles of item to find what he needed.

He stood in front of the last black stone entrance and took out a key!

Qing Shui touched the heavy and abnormally large entrance door while observing his key. It wasn’t as big as the key to Yan Clan’s Treasury, and it seemed a bit smaller when he compared the grip of the two keys.

He inserted the key, and following the Old Ancestor’s instruction, he turned the key clockwise five times!

Click clack…..

The heavy door opened!

Qing Shui realized that he wasn’t as excited when he first came to the Treasury. Perhaps he had become stronger, which was why he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic to find items that were not extremely valuable or rare.

This last room was considered small, and was about five meters long and three meters wide. The room was about two meters high from the ground to the ceiling!

In regards to the height of the room, it could be considered as a tiny room. If a tall burly man were to be stuffed inside the room, he would not be able to lift up his head.

As Qing Shui scanned the room, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed at the items stored in the tiny room. There were a lot of weapons and armors, but their quality was much poorer compared to the one Qing Shui was wearing.

Notably, the weapons were extremely weak and uninteresting.The thought of changing his Big Dipper Sword and the Violet Gold Divine Shield had never occurred in Qing Shui’s mind. However, he was starting to consider changing his weapon to the Heaven Shaking Hammer after remembering the destructive force it had brought upon his opponents on the battlefield!

The five-meter long room contained items that were scattered all over the corners. About 80 percent of the room was filled with weapons and armors that Qing Shui would not use. However, he decided to add them to his collection because of the materials used in forging them. Qing Shui had planned to use them as practice materials for future reforming purposes.

An adorned box!

It was a huge adorned box!

Qing Shui opened the box, and the first thing he saw was a green colored core! It was at least 4000 years old!

“Not bad, I can use it to refine medicines!”

Qing Shui decided to take it with him!

And then there was about a dozen jewels inside the adorned box. Most of them seemed to be of the 4th Grade or the 5th Grade and consisted of Black Treasured Stones and Moonstones. The Moonstones were said to be a type of moonstone mineral as well.

He was able to see some precious items after searching for a while. Without any delay, he took all of the jewels and kept them inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

There were a few cores and furs in the room as well. Moreover, he found two alchemy recipes; one was a recipe for the Constitution Nurturing Pill, and the other one was a recipe for the Bone Strengthening Pill. Qing Shui thought that it was a pity since these two recipes only required a few normal medicinal herbs, one type of 1000-year herb - the ‘Snake Bone Herb’, and one type of core from a Tiger demonic beast.

Qing Shui observed the effects and found that the Constitution Nurturing Pill was only able to give a weak consolidation to the body’s constitution, whereas the Bone Strengthening Pill was able to slightly strengthen the foundation of human bones. However, these pills would have a greater effect on children and those who were below the level of Xiantian.

After all that, Qing Shui felt that the items stored in the room had little to no value. He knew he should be grateful for the free items, but the scenario wasn’t as gratifying as he had expected.

Qing Shui remembered the things Old Ancestor had given to him - Flame Phoenix Pellet, the book of <Heavenly Dan>, Golden Carp Pellet….. All of the decent items had already been given to him prior his access to this room.

Qing Shui laughed for a bit and finally opened the last adorned box, which was a cubic meter in size. When he opened the box, he was shocked. After a while, his expression turned happy, and then overjoyed!

The box contained four golden bugs the size of a human head. They were laid flatly on the bottom.

Cicada?

A Golden Cicada!

Just then, he noticed the abnormal number of wings on the Golden Cicada’s body. There was one, two, three….

Nine wings….

Nine-Winged Golden Cicada!