Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 327 - Improvement Made After Two Months, Two Kinds of Xiantian Golden Pellet Alchemy Recipes?

“I will. I definitely will take better care of myself in the future!” Qing Shui lightly spoke, gazing at Huoyun Liu-Li.

The three of them stayed in the room and leisurely chatted. The atmosphere outside was cold, but aside from the exterior warmth from the heat stones in the fireplace, there was also a warmth that came from their hearts.

This world was very different from his previous world. Over here, they had something called a ‘heat stone’, an affordable stone that could emit heat. Many commoners would buy blankets, furnitures, or even clothing with heat stones embedded in them.

Naturally, these were for ordinary people. Because of their Qi, cultivators at the Xiantian level and above wouldn’t fear the ordinary cold of winter. Despite so, Qing Shui was glad for the presence of the heat stones. The atmosphere within the room was very peaceful, sitting there and engaging in a leisure chat while the fragrance of the two ladies drifted to him. The scene was so surreal that it almost felt like a dream.

When Qing Shui discovered that Canghai Mingyue’s hands were within his reach, he sneakily moved his hands closer and closer. For some reason, he could feel his heartbeat quicken. Maybe it was because of her knowing glances, or maybe, he was feeling guilty in his heart for doing such a sneaky thing.

At the moment of contact, both of their hands trembled. Or more accurately, it was their hearts that shuddered. In that instant, Qing Shui could somehow feel that Canghai Mingyue’s heart was pounding as quick as his own.

Canghai Mingyue quickly stole a glance at Qing Shui in panic before shifting her eyes away... Huoyun sat there in a daze. It was unknown what she was thinking about.

Destiny had miraculously bounded the three of them together. What they had experienced turned into indelible marks that were all imprinted in their memories. Qing Shui felt this way, and so did Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li.

Canghai Mingyue didn’t move her hand away, nor did she struggle. Although she had once promised Qing Shui that she would allow him to hug her, Qing Shui didn’t know how she would think or act if she knew that he had a fiancée.

Qing Shui had never once thought about his women sharing him amongst themselves. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, it was because he felt that he was unworthy of it. Thus, he was afraid. This was why he hadn’t formally told Canghai Mingyue that he loved her yet, as well as the fact that he wanted her!

Yet, Qing Shui wasn’t willing to see Canghai Mingyue in the arms of some other guy either. He wasn’t willing to see her becoming the pride of some random guy, even though she could be happier with him. Maybe, this was the trappings of humanity. How complicated.

Qing Shui wasn’t a virtuous saint. There was no way he would be happy seeing the women he loved in the arms of another person. What ‘if you love her, you will let her go’? This was merely something said by losers who wanted a stage for them to exit from. If one could hold on to the woman they loved, there was no way anyone would be willing to give her up.

The second day… It snowed heavily throughout the night and the streets were covered with a blanket of pure whiteness. Since Qing Shui had already recovered, he decided to make his way to the public square for his daily practice.

Most of the disciples from the Starmoon Hall had chosen to stay in. One has to know that, considering the intensity of the snow storm, ordinary martial cultivators below Xiantian wouldn’t be able to take the cold pervading their bodies. As for Xiantian cultivators, it was also quite uncomfortable for them to bear even though they wouldn’t die from the coldness.

Thus, Qing Shui didn’t meet anyone on his way to the public square. The snow was so thick on the ground that it had already covered his ankles. Qing Shui had no intentions to stop. Raising his hands, he stood still in motion until, gradually, the snow falling on him turned him into something like a snowman. Strangely, the snow didn’t melt from his body heat. Rotating his arms and legs in a circular motion, Qing Shui slowly practiced each of the forty-two stances of Taichi. Be it rain or sunshine, as long as he was not incapacitated by his injuries, he would definitely practice it.

Qing Shui had already mastered the essence of ‘slowness’ in Taichi. Occasionally, there would still be people walking around despite the snowstorm, and when they saw Qing Shui covered in snow, their hearts all trembled by his tenacious determination. It was as though he was possessed by a devil, only focusing on cultivation regardless of anything. If his level of attainment didn’t match his efforts, it would be too unfair.

At this moment, Qing Shui had his eyes close. Each and every one of his movement emphasized the essence of slowness. The snow on his body was already an inch thick but it was as if Qing Shui was unconscious of the fact. He was totally immersed in an inner state of his own, and even the biting coldness of the chilling winds felt warm and comfortable to him.

Gradually, his Taichi stances generated gusts of wind, albeit still moving at a slow speed. Beautiful clouds of snow flew about in spirals, mirroring his movements. Qing Shui had actually raised his Taichi to the level of ‘as one heart’s desire’, where his movements were free of disunity and moved in accordance with his heart and intent.

As he slowly exhaled a stale breath from his lungs, the snow on his body melted away.

After these two months, Qing Shui’s cultivation had stabilized at the peak of the 4th Heavenly Layer. Currently, he only requires a spark of insight to breakthrough. In his spare time, he would go to the library to peruse the manuals and books in there.

There were many peak Xiantian-Grade Cultivation Arts, especially at the 4th to 6th level, but Qing Shui couldn’t be bothered about these at all. Over the past two months, he had scoured the place many times but he still couldn’t find the last volume of the [Basic Sword Techniques].

This caused Qing Shui to be slightly disappointed, yet he didn’t waste his time. Two months in the outside world equated to over five years in the spatial realm. Regarding the ten new sword moves that he had learned, he mastered them to the Obscure Realm, the same level as the earlier strikes from the first volume of the [Basic Sword Techniques].

Pierce, Divide, Hack, Sweep, Pull….

During these two months, Qing Shui had completely mastered the essence of the strikes recorded. For him, he had always paid serious attention to a ‘one move kill’, destroying his enemies with a single strike!

As his Ancient Strengthening Technique reached a bottleneck, Qing Shui instead focused his attentions on his other skills such as forging techniques. With his efforts, it was only a matter of time before his hammer technique also reached the Obscure Realm.

What made Qing Shui especially happy was that when he forged an armor piece during these few days, he had actually reached 1,900 hammer strikes. As long as he could achieve 2,000 hammer strikes, it would have meant that his ability in forging had reached the 2-color graded realm. If that was the case, when he forged a set of armor or even more pieces of the Frenzy Bull Armor Set, they would have an increment in his enhancement effect. Qing Shui’s eyes glowed with a brilliance when he thought of that.

Everytime Qing Shui looked at his Heaven Shaking Hammer, he would be reminded of his Big Dipper Sword. That extraordinary looking sword didn’t have any enhancement effects but Qing Shui guessed that there must be a profound secret hiding within, it was just that he hadn’t uncovered it.

Also, in terms of alchemy, Qing Shui’s experience bar had increased from one-third to ninety percent full in the span of two months. Qing Shui didn’t know whether the Wind Water Primordial Pellet was a 2nd-level King Grade Medicine or a 3rd-level King Grade Medicine…

As for the Beauty Pellet, Qing Shui kept it with him and was not planning to consume it for now. He was currently preparing to concoct one of the most difficulty pellets in the entire world - the Xiantian Golden Pellet!

The Xiantian Golden Pellet’s recipe wasn’t uncommon. Back then when Qing Shui asked Cang Wuya about it, it only took a short while before he had learnt of the recipe.

However, after reading through the recipe, Qing Shui discovered that the reason why it was one of the highest difficulty pellets to concoct was because of its low success concoction rate - 1/1000 times.

Qing Shui still remembered what Wenren Wushuang had told him regarding the ingredients needed. The most important thing was the inner core of a demonic beast, as well as some extremely valuable herbs that has an age value of at least 1,000 years or more.

Qing Shui wasn’t that worried about herbs but he knew that there were two different alchemy recipes for the Xiantian Golden Pellet. The one Wenren Wushuang told him was belonged to the lowest grade with a success rate of only 1/10,000. Even after the pill was successfully concocted, the person that ingested it would only have a third of chance to break through to the elementary Xiantian realm.