Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1145 – Taichi Golden Qi, Grand Opening, Could He Become World Famous?

On the next day, Qing Shui woke up really early. He lived in the last courtyard at the corner. After waking up, he immediately started practicing his Taichi Fist there. As of now, Qing Shui could pull off his Taichi Fists perfectly without any extra thoughts, so much so that he even felt like he wasn’t really focusing when practicing them. He wasn’t actually performing any particular techniques. Instead, he was just moving his hands around gracefully.

The Taichi Fist had once again entered another state. Even though it looked like it didn’t consist of any techniques and seemed to be unthreatening, if the thought of attacking someone was to ever cross Qing Shui’s mind, the fist itself would instantly turn into a mighty killer move.

With a taciturn technique, using the weak to defeat the strong, conquering brute strength with softness, initiating attacks only after the enemies made their move. Killing the opponent was just something that could be done in a fraction of a second.

Slowly, Qing Shui practiced his Taichi fists. He could feel a faint Golden Qi surrounding himself. It was very faint, so much so that one would think that it was just an illusion. It was something that could only be seen when one really concentrated to look at it.

Taichi Golden Qi!

Qing Shui at this moment revealed a very carefree expression. His face was filled with a very relaxing smile, no one would actually be able to predict the techniques which he practiced were so deadly.

Fish in Water!

What Qing Shui was currently doing was mixing both his Taichi footwork along with the footwork which he just learned. His movements looked elegant and agile. Each of his movements were accompanied by a very fierce and dominant aura. Despite this, it felt as if Qing Shui could immediately retreat backwards if he wanted to. Qing Shui at the moment felt like a very agile feather.

The sun had slowly risen. Qing Shui stopped practicing. After eating some food, he went out with the intention of going to Divine Weapon Street. He wanted to see if he could open his store today since he had already more or less organized the place yesterday. There were very few weapons inside. Furthermore, they were all ordinary weapons. The reason why this was the case was because they were all made of ordinary quality materials.

By the time Qing Shui arrived at the blacksmith store, the store was already open. The front of the store was very clean. This was the Divine Weapon Street, even the front door as well as the interior parts of the store would be clean. In comparison, the only dirty places were the fabricating and forging stations.

As soon as Old Man Wang saw Qing Shui, he hurriedly approached him, “Mister, please come!”

“Old Man Wang, today our shop is opening. Please let me go and hang the shop sign first! Please help me spread the carpet on the floor as well!” Qing Shui smiled as he passed him a red carpet.

Qing Shui had observed other blacksmith stores had a carpet. It looked really classy or at the very least, it made people feel comfortable to have a carpet on the floor. Hence, he also made up his mind to use a red carpet on the day his shop opened. He made it himself. The material used to make it was the beast leather of a red demonic beast.

They finished up all of that fairly quickly. Everything in the blacksmith store had been replaced with new things by Qing Shui. They had new forging stations. The Jagged Sword, Bluebronze Sword, Bluebronze Axe as well as pitchforks were also exhibited in the store. They were obviously a lot stronger than those displayed in the past.

Qing Shui had quite a few of these things. He found them unusually suitable to be displayed here. In any case, he would just think of them helping the store look better stocked. All of the weapon racks here were also new.

Qing Shui left behind quite a lot of forging materials in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. He also had a lot of weapons and armor which he had made while practicing forging in the past. He didn’t really need them but at the same time, it also felt a bit wasteful to throw them out, hence, he has always kept them within the realm. Considering that he had accumulated a huge pile of them, this would be the most suitable time for him to use them as displays.

Back in Southern City, he used to be a blacksmith for quite some time. Hence, he was incomparably skilled in doing all of this.

On the other side of the rack, he also displayed some Golden Medicinal Salve and other medicinal pills. They were all of the best quality amongst the low grade medicines. By the time he finished all of this, it was almost noon.

Old man Wang and his grandson also gave Qing Shui a hand with sorting out the stores. As he saw all of these newly displayed weapons and armor, the old man came to realize that he was really far off this young man in terms of forging weapons.

Despite his family being generations of blacksmiths, they were all only ordinary blacksmiths. Never would they be able to forge the quality of weapons that were currently being displayed. He looked at his own grandson and thought of him as his only hope in the future. His grandson was already considered to be in great luck to be able to meet such a young man and be his disciple here. He found his decision to stay behind the most sensible decision he could have made. Even if his grandson was to only learn a tiny bit, it would still benefit his life forever.

Back when Qing Shui was in the five continents, these weapons could be sold for sky-high prices. Hence, he felt that he still needed to sell them for quite an expensive price here, only with the exception that it was within range of how much someone could afford.

Qing Shui labeled every one of their prices as five hundred gold. Of course, it was also another option for the customers to exchange something for it. Similarly, the price was negotiable. With more gold, he could use it to make Golden Extract Essence. However, the amount of gold needed to extract Golden Extract Essence itself was already an astronomical number.

Old Man Wang’s hands shivered as he watched Qing Shui labeling all the prices. He felt that some people would buy all of those weapons immediately as soon as they saw them. Even though there were a lot of poor in the country, there were still a few that were rich. The only thing was that obvious was that these weapons were something the poor wouldn’t be able to use.

All of Qing Shui’s weapons looked beautiful and sturdy. They were the best grade weapons among the low rank warriors. The market was still really huge. His goal was to make a name for the Firecloud Blacksmith Store.

Di Chen knew about this blacksmith store. If he really managed to make a reputation for the store in the Great Yu Dynasty, would things be able to finally get into her ear? Would she come and pay a visit?

After that, Qing Shui continued thinking. If he was to make himself well-known, would it help to make Di Chen recognize him? He became absent-minded for an instant. But after that, he was more clear about what he should do in the future.

Right at this time, a group of people came into the blacksmith store. There were eight of them. The clothes they wore looked like those that belonged to rich men. Every single one of them looked really proud of themselves.

“Old Man Wang, why did you change the shop sign? To be honest, this shop sign really captured my attention. This was the first time I ever saw such a nice sign. Eh? Everything here looks so new,” The young man taking the lead chuckled.

He was almost the same age as Qing Shui. On top of that, he looked handsome and had long and thin eyes. His brows were sharp and his nose was tall. He was standing with both his hands clasped behind his back.

“Young noble Bai, the shop is already sold. I am only working here,” Old Man Wang responded politely with a smile.

“It sold? Didn’t I tell you that I wanted it? Why did you sell it to someone else?” The man looked at Old Man Wang and said in a displeased tone.

The people behind young noble Bai were all smiling and looking around casually.

“Ah, to think that a broken sword like this would actually cost five hundred gold…… Go and get t!”

“Yeah, it costs five hundred gold……”

……

Young noble Bai overheard the conversation. He forgot about Old Man Wang and looked towards the weapons rack. All of the objects there cost five hundred gold. Five hundred gold wasn’t really anything in young noble Bai’s eyes. It was just that just a while ago, the things here were all weapons that cost around ten silvers. On top of that, very few people would buy them. But now, everything immediately got raised up to five hundred gold.

At a corner not so far away, Qing Shui melted down the iron which he got before. At the moment, he was hammering it. Since he had nothing to do, he would treat it as practicing his Thousand Hammer Techniques by first making them into Tempered Metallic Essence.

“Old Man Wang! Who’s the current owner of this shop?” Bai Riyi asked Old Man Wang with his brows knitted.

“It currently belongs to Mister Qing over there.” Old Man Wang pointed at Qing Shui who was still hammering the iron.

Bai Riyi switched his sight to Qing Shui. He saw him hammering the iron. At the moment when Qing Shui was doing that, the hammer in his hand somehow made people felt really bizarre. It was really mysterious.

He took up one of the weapons in the rack and in an instant, got stunned by it. After that, he shouted, “Third Brother Yang, you guys should go out first.”

The few people who were originally still chattering immediately walked out when they heard what Bai Riyi said.

“Young master, what’s wrong?” A man who looked slightly older walked towards Bai Riyi and asked softly.

“Stop asking. Third Brother Yang, make all of them shut up and not say anything stupid. I should have been more strict with you guys.”

“Alright, I will make them stop.” Third Brother Yang quickly walked out.

Bai Clan which Bai Riyi was in was quite a large clan here. At least it was considered one around this area. It wasn’t something which Ma Clan could stand up against. Bai Riyi held quite a decent position in his clan. It was just that by normal regulations, it was impossible for him to gain the position of the clan’s head. He had decent cultivation, but he wasn’t the best. Also, there weren’t any powerful individuals supporting him from behind. It was still early for his generation to take over the clan’s head. He on the other hand, he was considering looking for a helper.

He observed the hammer which Qing Shui was holding. There was a very profound feeling to it. To think that one would be able to achieve this state despite being so young… And also from those weapons, he could feel that this young man was no ordinary person. In the past, he used to be someone who didn’t give the least bit of concern towards blacksmiths.

Ding-ding……

Clear yet depressing noises could be heard constantly. The noise got transmitted quite far away. Bai Riyi was just standing there and observing the figure quietly. It took a long while before he retracted his gaze.

And at this moment, there were already a lot of people in the shop. Most of them were discussing the shop. There were guys and girls and also mistresses from rich families. Among them, there seemed to be quite a lot of wealthy people as well.

From time to time, surprised voices would be heard. Three weapons had already been sold. On top of that, quite a few accessories had also been sold. Old Man Wang’s face was filled with smiles. He ended up as the cashier here.

Merely a few of these weapons had already cost more than his store. A lot of people moved their gazes to Qing Shui who was forging metals. Qing Shui also managed to hear a few comments from them. His hand almost began to shake when he heard them.

“That blacksmith looks really handsome and young. He must be really strong!”

“Yeah, he looks so handsome when he forges metal. Who knows if he would also be this handsome in bed. He looks so much better compared to those young masters that have their eyes above their heads.”

“Sister Lang, you are so unrestrained. Look at him, he is so steady and calm. His eyes look really nice. Stop watching. I feel like I will fall for him if I continue watching.”

“We get it, Miss Yu. As if it you haven’t fallen for handsome men multiple times,” the woman speaking from before laughed.

“Hehe……”

The girls laughed as they walked out of the store. By the time they reached the entrance of the store, they glanced back at Qing Shui with seemingly reluctant looks.

By the time Qing Shui put down the hammer in his hand, it had already been two hours. He stepped forward. Similarly, Bai Riyi approached him and said with a smile, “Mister Qing, nice to meet you, I am Bai Riyi.”

Qing Shui looked at the man with a smile and shook his head, “Nice to meet you, I am Qing Shui. What are you after? It’s written all over your face.”

(功利目- meant someone was thinking about the benefit one could bring forth to them. With that being the purpose, approached the person for the advantages.)

Bai Riyi was stunned. An unnatural look flashed across his face. After that, he gave an awkward smile: “I just want to be friends with you.”

“Why me? Why not Old Man Wang?” Qing Shui calmly looked at Bai Riyi. He was still smiling.

It was the first time Bai Riyi felt so passive standing in front someone almost his age. He didn’t know that Qing Shui had secretly released a formless spiritual pressure.

“I….I….”

“Is it because Old Man Wang couldn’t help you with what you need? I told you everything was written very clearly on your face. If Old Man Wang was to say something similar about being friends with you, what would you do?” Qing Shui looked at Bai Riyi. He didn’t like people like this. If it was not due to circumstances, he would not mix with people like this.