Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-1568

AST 1568 - Third Palace Lord Jin Liyu Immortal Demon Demon Essence? Myriad Existences Reverting to Origin

The two quickly dove into the Ice Ocean Domain’s depths. Qing Shui was currently confused, having suddenly gained insight into the Paragon Heavenly Technique just like that.

The Paragon Water Flight was still a passive ability, with zero consumption, becoming a part of his innate abilities.

This gave Qing Shui more confidence in dealing with the issue of the Sea King’s Palace, as he swam after Muyun Qingge.

Seeing that perfect, alluring figure and stature stunned Qing Shui.

It was impossible for him to activate the Nine Continents Steps under water, but with the Water Shield, he swam next to Muyun Qingge, grabbing her hand as they instantly travelled a hundred thousand li down while she gasped in shock.

Qing Shui immediately let go of Muyun Qingge’s hand and looked around, they were already at the deep part of the ocean, a depth of a hundred thousand li. The water pressure here was already exceptionally terrifying, even the random fishes seen around here were extraordinary.

Qing Shui did not feel any discomfort being down here, but if it was before, he would definitely have been affected.

Qing Shui suddenly saw a massive stream of water rush towards his location, and within it was an alligator-like beast similar to those from his previous life, only magnified many times over.

Just as Qing Shui was about to react, he saw Muyun Qingge release a water sigil, causing the giant beast to flee with its tail behind its legs, fearing for its life.

Upon seeing this, Qing Shui felt increasingly certain that Muyun Qingge was the mysterious existence that he assumed her to be, but held back his curiosity, as he knew that Muyun Qingge would naturally tell him when the time became ripe.

At the deep end of the sea, a world surrounded by endless water, the air here was fresh and clean, with an abundance of spiritual qi. It seems the wonders of the underwater world had yet to be explored.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Muyun Qingge smiled.

“It was enjoyable, but you are still the prettiest view around.” Qing Shui himself had not an inkling where his boldness stemmed from, for him to have actually tried to tease Muyun Qingge.

Qing Shui immediately regretted his decision, since he had once seen her in the nude before, even touched her. If they merely had a simple relationship of being normal friends, it would have been a good and easy-going compliment.

But now the atmosphere became a little gloomy instead, Muyun Qingge was wracked with awkwardness, lightly saying: “Let’s keep moving, there’s still a large distance to dive before we arrive at the Sea King’s Palace.”

Qing Shui awkwardly rubbed his nose, before following after Muyun Qingge.

They continued to encounter many terrifying, powerful water beasts, each one stranger than the next, each one fiercer than the next, but thankfully the duo could deal with all of them, sending them running.

The deep sea was truly unmatched in its dangers.

The underwater world was not as radiant as the outside world, more like a moonlit world at night. There were even some luminous Star Grass, floating mountains and glowing fish…...

This was beyond Qing Shui’s understanding, as in his previous life, the world beneath the sea’s surface was bound to be pitch-black. But the world here was bright, comforting him.

Qing Shui began to feel as though the surroundings were only getting brighter, as his night vision was already exceptional, but his Paragon Water Flight enabled him to adapt perfectly to water, and his vision only got better with time.

He felt as though he was on land, or even more comfortable here than on land, much like how aquatic creatures naturally felt.

Once he noticed the various majestic, palace-like structures, Qing Shui realised that he had arrived at the Sea King’s Palace, and then they passed through a barrier into a gigantic space with fresh air and absolutely no water.

Then Qing Shui saw an earth-shattering sight.

Countless massive shrimp-like creatures, with bodies towering over at ten meters and human-like features appeared.

Shrimp Soldiers?

Such ferocious and awe-inspiring Shrimp Soldiers?

Apart from the Shrimp Soldiers, there were Kappas, Mermen and even Octopus men…

The underwater demon race was a massive race. There were countless species underwater, even the vicinity of the Sea King’s Palace was populated with countless varieties of high-grade aquatic species, each varying in size, with some as large as a tiny mountain, with some as small as a child.

After entering the space devoid of water below, there were many demons who closely resembled humans, some even looked identical to humans, with only a few scales on their faces.

After entering the formation-world, one could not see the boundaries of the world within. This was not merely the bottom of the sea, but a completely isolated space with its own mountains and forests...

This was the Sea King’s Palace, one of the Ice Ocean Domain’s Sea King Palaces, the one which Muyun Qingge belonged to.

The prospect of finally reunite with Jiange excited him, as it had been at least ten years since their separation…

This was a boundless cluster of palaces!

“Palace Lord!”

“Palace Lord!”

……

The host of demons that saw Muyun Qingge hurriedly saluted in respect, but she casually waved her hands signalling them to drop the formalities, as she led Qing Shui through the palaces, towards the most awe-inspiring palace.

The palaces in the cluster only got bigger the further back it was situated, indicating the noble positions of their owners, giving rise in Qing Shui a newfound curiosity, as he scanned his surroundings throughout the journey.

This formation-world was akin to a natural formation. It required the energy from crystals to exist and served as a natural barrier, and by now, he had already seen many existences that uncannily resemble humans, some even had the aura of humans.

Muyun Qingge did mention it before, that the Sea King’s Palace did have some humans, who were typically experts that were driven to a corner, and their less outstanding offspring, that could only exist down here.

“The Palace Lord has returned!”

A deep, powerful voice rang. Qing Shui curiously veered over, where he saw a young man, a stout figure, incisive eyes, a tightly closed mouth and an upright posture.

Qing Shui could not tell if he was human… but the hint of aura uncharacteristic of humans in his body was much greater than Muyun Qingge.

“Yu Lang, I trust there were no problems in my absence. Did the Sea Dragon Palace and the Vicious Shark Palace make any moves?” Muyun Qingge said and smiled.

Qing Shui could detect that this man was very strong, and though he seemed young, his real age should be at least more than ten times his own.

The lifespans of demons was already terrifyingly long. Each demon here was likely to have gone through millennia of cultivation, as they would have existed for countless years without their own consciousness, and this time could not be calculated.

“We’re still holding the fort. The Sea Dragon Palace and Vicious Shark palace had attacked several times, but with the leadership of the Second Palace Lord and the Third Palace Lord, our defense held through, causing them to retreat voluntarily.” Yuliang quickly said, as he followed behind Qing Shui and Muyun Qingge.

Qing Shui knew that there were three Sea King Palaces in the Ice Ocean Domain, and that the other two should be the Sea Dragon Palace and the Vicious Shark Palace. He could guess the controlling faction of the other two Sea King Palaces.

Sea Dragon, was a powerful existence; they belonged to the race of true dragons, while the Vicious Shark Palace purplexed Qing Shui... could it belong to the Shark race? Sharks did not only refer to just sharks, but was a group of terrifying existences,

Vicious Shark Palace’s power probably stemmed from a group of vicious sharks, though Qing Shui was only guessing. But, with his basic understanding, to be able to match the power of Sea Dragons, the Vicious Sharks would probably be far from simple existences.

“En, I got it, do not slacken off on their training.” Muyun Qingge said.

Yu Lang nodded before backing down, without ever asking about Qing Shui’s identity, showing that although he had a considerable status, it was far from being qualified enough.

Qing Shui was curious towards everything, when suddenly a powerful aura swept the area, and a handsome young man appeared before him.

“The Palace Lord has returned!”

Qing Shui looked at this man seriously, he was no different from ordinary humans, his aura not at all inferior to Muyun Qingge, eyes brimming with confidence, with a hint of lust as he stared at Muyun Qingge.

But his expression was still genuine!

“Third Palace Lord has exited secluded meditation.” Muyun Qingge lightly said.

“En, I’ve been out for three days, this sir is?” He smiled at Qing Shui as he asked.

“He is Qing Shui, he is here to help us overcome our crisis.” Muyun Qingge answered smilingly, Yiye Jiange and Qing Shui’s relationship was a secret only she knew, the Third Palace Lord had no idea.

“Welcome, welcome, I am Jin Liyu.” The man said.

Qing Shui did not dislike this man, nor did he have any good impressions, but he smiled as he greeted him.

“Palace Lord, I’ve arranged for a banquet, Qing Shui can come along!” smiled before leaving.

Qing Shui was displeased, this sentence spoke volumes about his unwelcoming of Qing Shui, to actually tell him to come along, but Great Official Qing was a magnanimous person, plus he could immediately tell that this Jin Liyu liked Muyun Qingge.

“This guy‘s name is truly strange.” Qing Shui smiled as he looked towards Muyun Qingge.

“This isn’t strange at all, he’s a naturally-born spiritual carp that swallowed a stalk of Amber Grass to have become this powerful.” Muyun Qingge laughed.

“There are countless fantastical events in the boundless world, why does it seem like he is no different from humans.” Qing Shui smiled.

“At this level, there really are no differences from normal humans, the human race’s specialty is its high intelligence and awareness, but the spiritual beasts at this level, already have intelligence and awarenesses equal to humans. They could be considered human themselves.”

Qing Shui could accept the carp spirits; this world’s demon beasts would become more intelligent the stronger they grew. For example, he could now mentally converse with his own demon beasts, they could not be considered to be pure beasts given their intelligence.

The legendary Xianxia worlds of his previous life, Immortals, demons, spirits, most of them were beast-related, such as the Great Roc Immortal, the Fox Immortal and the Deer Immortal…

Qing Shui was easily able to adapt here; at this level the physical form didn’t matter, strength was absolute.

“Many of the peak False God experts that I know of are Immortal Demons, and all of them can change forms; they are already used to the mannerisms and habits of humans. Humans only need tens of years to be used to the world, while demons have thousands of years to accustom themselves, hence they are not much different from humans.