Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 521 - Qing Bei’s Truth Realm, Liu-Li’s Suspicion

“Mingyue, I am so happy!”

Qing Shui embraced her, one of the most attractive women in the entire world of the Nine Continents. He could not quell the sense of pride and satisfaction that suddenly rose in him. Even a woman like her at the level of Martial King could not withstand the exertion of her first time. She laid indolently in Qing Shui’s embrace, with a clouded look in her beautiful eyes. Her face splashed with a tinge of a pink blush could even steal souls.

“Don’t say that,” Canghai Mingyue replied lazily.

Qing Shui was infected by her flirtatiousness. He buried his face between her snow-white breasts and busied himself with a series of frenzied nibbles…

“Fate is really a mysterious thing.” Qing Shui said as he gave a sighing smile.

“Umm,” Canghai Mingyue agreed with a light sound.

“ When I first saw you in Cang Lang Country, you were traveling in the air. So many people were bowled over by your beguiling looks and appearance,” Qing Shui recalled the scene when he first saw Canghai Mingyue.

“Then, were you?” Canghai Mingyue looked at Qing Shui with her hazy eyes.

“Yes, I even reminisce about it now…”

“You are a scoundrel, even you!”Canghai Mingyue lowered her long lashes avoiding looking into Qing Shui’s amorous eyes.

Canghai Mingyue could remember an occasion when he had teased her using puns about his “big bird”. It was still funny to her even now when she think about it.

“He is such a lewd fellow. I was such much more powerful than he was then, yet he even dared to say those words to me,” Canghai Mingyue thought to herself. Thinking about those memories, she really cherished those times.

“Qing Shui, I achieved so many breakthroughs in my strength.” Canghai Mingyue had increased multiple grades. It was incredible to her.

“You were practicing the top-class Duo Cultivation Technique at Misty Hall, you should know what is Duo Cultivation Technique!” Qing Shui eyed Canghai Mingyue playfully.

“Oh, is that really the reason…”

“Isn’t it marvelous? It is such a great experience and it even helped in your cultivation. Why don’t we do it again…”

"Die!” Canghai Mingyue did not wait for Qing Shui to finished his sentence as she bit his arm and covered his mouth with one of her hands…

......

It was almost dawn when Canghai Mingyue urged Qing Shui to leave. Qing Shui engaged in another round of joyous fornication with her. That wondrous feeling left him feeling very content.

When he returned to his own room, Qing Shui entered his Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. He still had two hours before dawn. Qing Shui wanted to make full use of this time. If he were to wait to the last six hours at night, he would have to enter the realm even before the skies turned dark….

He resumed his cultivation. Qing Shui was now spending most of his time on his Ancient Strengthening Technique. A night of Duo Cultivation had brought his 199th cycle to completion.

This cycle gave him quite a significant boost in strength. He gained three million jin in both strength and defense.

Even his speed had increased by 10%!

More importantly, Qing Shui felt that his overall stats seemed to have “firmed up”. This was the greatest benefit that he had received from the Duo Cultivation this time.

It was unfortunate that such benefits were only bequeathed during the “first time”. The benefits would gradually diminish over each subsequent time to the point that it was just like any other cultivation.

It is rumored that Duo Cultivation was invented by an extremely lecherous cultivator. He was extremely gifted but could never escape his daily trysts with women. After a while, he realized that it was quite a waste of time.

Luckily for him, he was a genius. He managed to invent the Duo Cultivation technique. Instead of hindering his progress in cultivation, his “interests” strengthened him.

……

Qing Shui did not practice that nameless Duo Cultivation Technique every day but he practiced it every few days. So Qing Shui only knew that the effectiveness of the technique now. It could advance the Yin-Yang Image in his sea of consciousness. Qing Shui could feel that it could definitely improve. What it needed was exactly that fusion of yin and yang, of heaven and earth. It was one of the most basic energies on earth. Qing Shui also felt that the key to leveling his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal was using such an energy…

It had been two years since Qing Shui had last practiced alchemy. After losing his Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, Qing Shui seemed to have lost everything. It was the reason why his Art of Alchemy had not even advanced a bit in those two years.

Qing Shui had obtained the Alchemy Recipe for Wind Water Primordial Pellet a long time ago but the Nine-Winged Golden Cicada was really difficult to find. Otherwise, Qing Shui would have successfully created it ages ago.

Qing Shui had also almost accumulated enough experience to create Everlasting Pellets. Even though he might fail, he was really curious about the medicinal effects they had.

He had finished using all his Great Revitalizing Pellet. Despite that, Qing Shui was not worried. Over the two years, he had already saved three stalks of Stonegold Phoenix Tail Grass. If he used them, it would be sufficient for almost ten Great Revitalizing Pellet.

Qing Shui had already accumulated some Small Revitalizing Pellets, Five Dragon Pellets, Beauty Pellets, Beast Pills, Endurance Pellets, Tiger Vitality Pills, Spirit Concentrating Pill, etc.

Qing Shui thought about the pellets he had already consumed: Pure Gold Mystic Turtle Core, Greencloud Up-step Pellet, Golden Carp Pellet, Flame Phoenix Pellet…

This made Qing Shui appreciate the fact that in the World of the Nine Continents, there were still many medicines whose effects far surpassed those that he’d created. Qing Shui knew that he still had a lot of room for improvement in terms of his alchemy but he could not help feeling powerless when he thought about the vast amount of experience he still needed.

Over these two years, everyone in the Qing Clan had been using Spirit Concentrating Pills and Tiger Vitality Pills. Qing Shui only consumed one out of the hundred Tiger Vitality Pills that he’d made. The remaining ninety-plus pills were all consumed by others in the Qing Clan.

Tiger Vitality Pills could increase one’s strength by a thousand jin, each person could consume a maximum of ten pills per year.

Qing Shui insisted on creating Spirit Concentrating Pills every day as its demand was the highest. He could also gain experience in his art of alchemy before he unlocked the next available Alchemy Recipe.

He also created more Tiger Vitality Pills!

He created the largest volume of these two types of pills. After all, their demand was the highest.

At the same time, Qing Shui also created nine Great Revitalizing Pellets!

It was difficult to advance his Ancient Strengthening Technique now, it was not like previously when he could gain some increase in strength with each breakthrough. He had reached a bottleneck and he could only continue improving if he managed to overcome it.

The reason that he had reached this bottleneck was because his body could only withstand containing this amount of strength. If he wanted to advance further, he needed to break these chains.

This could be exemplified by a bottle. Once the bottle is full, the only way for it to contain more water would be to think of a way to enlarge the bottle.

Right now, Qing Shui’s strategy was to use his Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique to refine his body while he slowly searched for a way out of this slump. How he wished that he could just suddenly break through…

Talisman Drawing!

He could practice his Blue Lotus Art!

……

Practicing his cultivation after a hiatus of 2 years, Qing Shui focused on his cultivation most of his waking hours, leave only a little time for short breaks and for meals.

Qing Shui practiced like he did not care if he died, just like a person who was rescued from drowning. He practiced intensely from the day before till today in the Realm.

When Qing Shui came out of the Realm, the skies were already brightening. After he woke up and washed up, he walked out of his room, preparing to go outside to practice his Tai Chi Fists.

His Nature Energy had already reached the Grade 3. Qing Shui felt that it brought a lot of benefits. Grade 3 was just a status that Qing Shui estimated based on the amount of strength that he could gain. He did not actually know what the maximum grade was.

As for the Emperor's Qi in his Dantian, it remained the same. It did not evolve. This was not unexpected as the introduction had mentioned that it would not level up. The thing was that no one could remove the influence of the effect of his Emperor’s Qi. No matter who it was, it would reduce their capabilities by 20%.

It was that ridiculously powerful. It is 20% of their overall stats, that is 20% of their strength, defense, and speed.

……

In the courtyard of the Qing residence, there were already a lot of people, they were scattered about. Some of them were practicing Tiger form, some were practicing Back Connecting Fist and there were some also practicing their Tai Chi Fists.

“Brother Shui, please help me look at this!”

Qing Bei requested cutely when she saw Qing Shui. In the two years that Qing Shui had lost his cultivation, Qing Bei rarely got any pointers from Qing Shui. This was because she had not seen Qing Shui for a long time and also because she did not want to provoke him.

“Show me your Back Connecting Fist, you have practiced this for three years.” Qing Shui smiled. He was invigorated by the fact that physical strength and abilities have all returned and because he crossed the final threshold in his relationship with Canghai MIngyue.

“Okay!”

Qing Bei started to show her Back Connecting Fist after a quick reply. Her fist strikes were like steel, they were firm and tough. Each strike was filled with an essence.

Truth Realm!

Qing Shui was amazed by Qing Bei. He suddenly pointed to both her shoulders!

“Continue. Don’t stop! Use every ounce of your strength. Remember your strength should channel through your back, use the strength of your back to power your arms…” Qing Shui reminded.

Qing Bei’s was quite talented in cultivation. She could be considered one of the people with the highest potential in Qing Clan. Qing Shui hit moderately on the three acupoints, Tianliao, Jianjing, Naoshu on Qing Bei’s shoulder.

When he saw that Qing Bei had the faint signs of a breakthrough, he guessed that these were the three acupoints as he had a similar experience.

When Qing Shui hit the three acupoints, he could feel that an abnormally strong wave of Qi Force. Qing Shui used both his hands to quickly guide it. Then pressed on her acupoints and meridian.

Qing Shui then quickly took out his three Gold Needles.

With a flash of primordial flames, a milky white light appeared on the Gold Needles.

Saintly Hands!

Nature Energy!

Pu Pu Pu!

The three needles were on Qing Bei’s Tianliao, Jianjing, and Naoshu. Each of them was not even one inch deep but were vibrating rapidly.

Hu!

Qing Bei punched again. A faint light suddenly appeared around her body.

Pa pa pa!

Three clear bright sounds rang out.

Qing Bei stood blankly until the light faded. She then danced around with her arms in surprise, looking at Qing Shui.

“Brother Shui. This Back Connecting Fist is so special. I feel that my strength is much greater, I don’t know how to explain this…” Qing Bei described to Qing Shui joyfully.

Qing Shui was more than familiar with this feeling which came from clearing acupoints. It was very beneficial especially when it comes to Back Connecting Fist, the three acupoints on the shoulders were the most useful.

Qing Shui was also very surprised that Qing Bei could actually reach the truth realm for Back Connecting Fist in merely three years.

After that Qing Shui started on his Tai Chi Fist. He would miss the best timing if he delayed any further. Everyday, there will be a violet qi rising from the east, but one is only able to absorb so much in a day, so it was important to accumulate this.

Qing Shui only stopped when the sun fully rose.

“Brother Shui, let’s go and eat. Everything had been prepared, the others are already there,” Qing Bei said as she held Qing Shui’s arm.

Qing Shui patted Qing Bei. Even though Qing Bei was already an elegant beautiful woman she was still very sticky and acted like a child in front of him.

……

The Qing Clan ate together during these two days. Everyone was extremely happy because Qing Shui had recovered. His previous condition was a total devastation to the Qing Clan.

“Qing Shui, Mingyue said that she is not feeling well today. You should see her.” Qing Yi said to Qing Shui casually.

“Okay. Don’t wait for me. All of you can start eating first.” Qing Shui greeted the others and left with a plate of food.

“Qing Shui. Wait for me. Let’s go together.” Huoyun Liu-Li laughed as she stood up.

“Alright!” Qing Shui agreed.

Two of them headed towards Canghai Mingyue’s room.

“What’s wrong with Sister Mingyue? She was alright yesterday.” Huoyun Liu-Li asked puzzledly.

“We will know when we get there…”

Qing Shui felt a little guilty when he said that. He originally wanted to “eat” Huoyun Liu-Li. But as fate would have it, he “eaten” Canghai Mingyue…

Canghai Mingyue’s door was unlocked. Huoyun Liu-Li gently pushed it open. Qing Shui followed behind Huoyun Liu-Li and noticed that Canghai Mingyue had already woken up. She was standing at the window looking out. She only turned when she heard movement.

“Sister, Qing Yi said that you were not feeling well, how are you?” Huoyun Liu-Li asked with concern.

Canghai Mingyue eyed Qing Shui strangely. To Qing Shui, her expression was very complex, but she quickly lowered her blushing face.

“Do you have a fever?” Huoyun Liu-Li pulled one of Canghai Mingyue’s hand, as she felt Mingyue’s forehead.

Once cultivators reach the Xiantian level, they basically did not get headaches or fevers. Huoyun Liu-Li, however, could feel that Canghai Mingyue’s face and forehead were very warm.

Of course, Qing Shui knew what was going on...

“I’m a doctor, let me see.” Qing Shui chuckled.

Canghai Mingyue looked up to face Qing Shui when she heard what he said. When Qing Shui spotted her action, his heart raced. This was a wonderful feeling between a man and a woman.

Qing Shui pressed on a few acupoints on Canghai Mingyue’s back. Just like that, he helped soothe her mood and reduced her anxiousness.

“Let’s eat something together!” Qing Shui placed the plate of food on the table and called the two women.

Huoyun Liu-Li looked at Canghai Mingyue slightly suspiciously. She could feel that there was something different today but she could not guess what it was.

There was an awkward atmosphere around the three of them, this was the first time this had happened. Huoyun Liu-Li looked at Qing Shui again but discovered nothing new.

Canghai Mingyue did not usually speak much, and even now she did not speak a word.

After dinner, Qing Shui advised Canghai Mingyue to rest and then he left with Huoyun Liu-Li.

“Qing Shui, did you realize something? Sister Mingyue’s expression has changed a little. She have the same look as Sister Gelou when she looked at you.” Huoyun Liu-Li did not look at Qing Shui, instead, she acted like she was mumbling to herself.

Qing Shui could feel that this woman was very scary. She had actually almost got it right!

It was the third day of the Chinese lunar new year. The Qing Clan residence was filled with festivities. From the young to the old, men or women, everyone was wearing their newest and most beautiful clothes. They were all wearing their most brilliant smiles.

They stopped what they had been doing throughout the year. For this one month or so, they ate well and dress well, doing nothing much.

“Daddy, I want to go outside to play!” Little Yuchang pouted as she ran towards Qing Shui.