Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1165 – Heaven Secrets Academy，Forging the Four Elements Greencloud Sword

“That’s unnecessary. If I really want to kill them, I’ll do it myself.” Qing Shui grinned at the woman who had given him quite a few surprises.

“Why? Do you not trust my ability?” Yan Jinyu flashed Qing Shui an alluring smile.

This was the reason that he forced himself to take her as his real sister. He was afraid that he couldn’t control his lust, so he constantly reminded himself about their relationship. Now that they were sworn siblings, he had clearly aligned himself with the Yan Clan. In any case, he would stand on their side.

“Sis, Yan Clan is the largest clan in Yan City. While Yan City is one of the five largest cities in Great Yu Dynasty. So, how powerful is Yan Clan?” Qing Shui was curious. Great Yu Dynasty was a Late Grade Two Dynasty, and he wanted to know what other powerful clans existed besides the royal family.

“Qing Shui, things have changed. Clans, sects and people who used to be very powerful might not retain their power. On the other hand, there are less prominent groups who might have grown in strength.” Yan Jinyu reminded Qing Shui.

“That’s true. The world is changing every second, just like every one of us.” Qing Shui agreed. There are people who could ride on the tailcoats of others and there are people who can achieve heaven-defying feats. With this large world and its huge population, there were still many geniuses out there. A genius could easily change the entire course of fate and status for his or her clan.

“Yan Clan is indeed a powerful clan in Great Yu Dynasty. Yan City was even once the second biggest city in Great Yu Dynasty. Unfortunately,

Great Yu Dynasty shares its border with Great Virtue Dynasty. Scarlet Flame Region lies between Great Virtue Dynasty and Yan City. Although there is no great war between these two dynasties, there are frequent skirmishes. Within Scarlet Flame Region, there are various strong demonic beasts and cultivators. These cultivators are vile characters from both Great Yu Dynasty and Great Virtue Dynasty who hide in Scarlet Flame Region to avoid people who are seeking them for revenge. They occasionally go to either Great Yu Dynasty or Great Virtue Dynasty to assassinate other powerful and influential cultivators.” Yan Jinyu sounded like she was at her wits end regarding this situation.

“Can’t you organize a group of cultivators to corner and kill them?” Qing Shui could tell from Yan Jinyu’s expression that Yan Clan must have suffered considerable losses due to those criminals as they were the leaders of Yan City.

“Those people are very crafty and stealthy, so they are extremely hard to catch. They always manage to get information about our operations. Once they know that a large group is targeting them, they escape to Scarlet Flame Region. That hot, acrid place is a vast land filled with danger. They have a strategic advantage once they escape into that region. No matter how many people we send, we can’t do anything against them once they get into that region. Over these years, Yan Clan hasn’t improved at all. But the other clans and sects are growing stronger each day. A few clans in Yan City are already planning to take over Yan Clan’s position,” Yan Jinyu said warily as she looked at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui finally knew why this woman wanted him to be her sworn brother so badly. It was definitely because of his forging skills. He was quite receptive to it now as he trusted that Yan Clan would certainly treat him fairly.

“Sis, do you mean that Yan Clan’s position is being threatened now? Did you learn your current skills from your family or from some other masters?” Qing Shui asked with a smile.

“Due to circumstances, I learned my martial arts from Heaven Secrets Academy.” Yan Jinyu seemed to be proud when she spoke of Heaven Secrets Academy.

“Heaven Secrets Academy” Qing Shui only knew about General Manor, but he had no idea what Heaven Secrets Academy was.

“Heaven Secrets Academy was one of the strongest clans in Western Oxhe Continent and was as strong as a Grade Four Dynasty. It existed along with two other Grade Four Dynasties over many generations, occupying a special status between a clan and a dynasty. Heaven Secrets Academy is well-regarded, but I am only considered an above average disciple there,” Yan Jinyu explained briefly.

The continents filled with an unpredictable mix of people of varying talents, it is no surprise that there may be powerful organizations he had never even heard of. Ignoring the meaning of its name, Qing Shui found it fascinating that the strength of Heaven Secret Academy could actually rival that of a Grade Four Dynasty. If a genius like Yan Jinyu was only considered above average, one could only imagine how large Heaven Secrets Academy was.

“Those clans in Yan City probably won’t dare to do anything against your clan. Putting aside the possibility of success, they definitely can’t underestimate your capabilities!” Qing Shui said to Yan Jinyu thoughtfully.

“Yes. Some of the masters in Heaven Secret Academy appreciate my talents. If any one of them decided to sort things out on my behalf, those clans would just disappear from Yan city. That is also something that those clans are afraid of. However, Heaven Secret Academy is open to anyone in Western Oxhe Continent, as long as they are gifted. This means that if a person from another clan gains influence in Heaven Secret Academy, getting the support of the masters there, the whole power structure would totally change.”

“Sis, what about the Royal Family of Great Yu Dynasty?” Qing Shui had been quite curious about this for some time.

“Let me put it this way, members of the royal family are not simple people. Not only do they have martial arts passed down through their lineage, they have other channels of obtaining power. For example, multiple members of the royal family of the Great Yu Dynasty are members of the Heaven Secrets Academy as well. Some of them are even masters there,” Yan Jinyu replied.

“Does this mean that most of the aristocrat clans and royal families have connections in Heaven Secrets Academy?” Qing Shui was quite fascinated with this.

“There are a large number of aristocrat clans and royal families in Western Oxhe Continent. They don’t necessarily have to join Heaven Secrets Academy. They could also join the two powerful Grade Four Dynasties. The royal families of those Dynasties actually allow people to pledge their allegiances to them. It is a win-win situation where they serve these dynasties and get their protection in return.”

Now Qing Shui had a clear picture of the situation. The principle that people would always make use of each other would never change. Just as with other places, the connections between the clans and sects here are extremely complex yet the key to success was the influence one’s clan could derive from their network. An obvious example of this was Yan Jinyu. If she was influential in Heaven Secrets Academy, Yan’s clan position in Yan City would always remain, they could even be independent of the royal family.

“Qing Shui, even though we are sworn siblings. I will never involve you in Yan Clan’s troubling matters. Don’t worry.” Yan Jinyu looked at Qing sincerely, almost as if afraid that Qing Shui would mistake her intentions.

Under normal circumstances, one would naturally suspect her intentions as she brought up the issues facing her clan right after she and Qing Shui became sworn siblings. Luckily, Yan Jinyu was more powerful than Qing Shui so to others that was barely a possibility.

“It’s okay. I understand you, sis. I won’t hold any prejudices against you. This is normal to me. I will make some food and we can head for the Inner City tomorrow.” Qing Shui did not think too much about it, perhaps because he was very confident in his abilities. At least, he felt that it was quite easy to survive most attacks now. He decided he would just react to the circumstances. The most important thing for him now was to interact as much as possible with the circle of powerful people in this continent. He wanted to become stronger as fast as possible.

Qing Shui went into the kitchen to prepare some food without expecting that a woman of Yan Jinyu’s status would step forward to help. She did, however, follow him into the kitchen, but he didn’t say anything as he started cooking.

“Can you cook? Why don’t I do it?” Yan Jinyu stood by the door looking at Qing Shui.

“Alright, you can go ahead!”

Yan Jinyu was speechless but since she had already offered, she had no choice. It wasn’t that she was entirely useless at cooking but her cooking skills were just average. She threw a bitter glance at the smiling man. She found that he was quite brash, but she didn’t dislike that.

Qing Shui did not stay idle. He helped her prepare the ingredients. When Yan Jinyu smelled the fragrance of the food she cooked, she was surprised. She couldn’t believe that she could actually create such delicious smelling dishes.

But, she was intelligent, so she quickly found out that the fragrance was from the spices. There weren’t any special spices used but the odd thing was that these spices were especially fragrant. It was unusual that a person like her who could only make sure that her dish was fully cooked could actually make dishes that smelled this good.

She did not ask Qing Shui about it. This man had too many secrets and perhaps that was even the reason which led to her requesting a man to be her sworn brother for the first and only time!

Qing Shui and Yan Jinyu sat at the table and had their dinner. Yan Jinyu smiled after her first taste of the food, “I haven’t cooked for a long time. I can’t believe I can make something this good. This is food is even better than that made by imperial chefs.”

“I didn’t expect you can cook this well too.” Qing Shui added casually.

“As if!”

……

Qing Shui entered his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal at night. He practiced his martial arts for a few days and then he took out a Greencloud Stone. This was going to be the first time Qing Shui was going to try to create the Four Elements Greencloud Sword from his memory.

Yan Jinyu gave him more than ample raw materials, though that did not impact his work much.

Qing Shui first forged the blade of the sword. The Four Elements Greencloud Sword’s blade was slightly wider than the average sword and should be made by a mix of Greencloud Stone and Thunder Rock. He had Thunder Rocks with him, but they were not of the best quality. The Thunder Rocks he saw at the Ancient Ruins were the best but unfortunately he had not obtained them previously.

He could only make do with the slightly inferior Thunder Rocks now and reforge the sword next time if he found better Thunder Rocks in the future.

The blade of the sword was relatively easy to forge. He had to create an alloy of Greencloud Stone and Thunder Rock. Thunder Rock had a very high melting point, so he wasn’t very confident that he could melt it down. If he really failed to melt it by conventional means, he would use his Nine Yang Golden Body which was at large success stage or Heart of Roc which was already perfected. Perhaps, it would work that way.

It took three full days before the Thunder Rock showed signs of melting. It was then that Qing Shui felt that it was not a bad choice to use these slightly inferior Thunder Rocks because he might not be able to melt them if they were of a higher quality.

He mixed the Greencloud Stone with the Thunder Rock, other materials and Celestial Stone. He did not use the Celestial Stones that Yan Yangzhao gave him previously and this time Yan Jinyu also gave him some.

It took exactly nine full days before he successfully melted the entire mixture! Nine full days!

After another nine days, he finally finished the structural form of the blade of the sword though this was well within Qing Shui’s expectation. Qing Shui felt a little emotional because he knew that he was going to create a sword that was comparable to his Big Dipper Sword or even better!

Looking at the blade, he started to hammer it with his Violet Star Thunder God. This process was not very long but it was crucial as the blade of a sword determines its strength.

Hammer once, twice…until he couldn’t even remember how many times he had hammered the metal. He did not really care about the number of times he hammered because he enjoyed the process and he felt an impulse to just continue hammering. Each time he hammered on the blade, he felt a comfortable feeling all over. It was like taking a warm bath under the sunlight of winter or like the old tree slowly budding again…