Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 0118 – The Deer Cantering of the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique

“Nine Animals Mimicry Technique?”

The Nine Animals Mimicry Technique was a skill which imitated the method of cultivating of Qi like the nine ancient creatures.

“Mmm, dragon, phoenix, roc, crane, elephant, bear, tiger, ape, deer!”

“Hmmm, these look the same as the five animals of the Five Animals Mimicry Technique!” Qing Shui looked at five of the animals which were the ones he had seen previously in the Five Animals Mimicry Technique.

Could it be that the Five Animals Mimicry Technique was derived from the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique? Perhaps the difficulty of the other four were too high, and too hard to imitate, or maybe the reason was that these animals did not exist?

But the elephant which should not be missed out was still there. Qing Shui was very puzzled, but he decided to go ahead and finish reading for himself!

Qing Shui had only thought about it for a while before he decided to forget about it. There was nothing strange about it. He himself had crossed through to a different dimension, and had even brought along ancient unique techniques. In ancient times, even powerful legendary creatures such as dragons and phoenixes were not dominant, therefore the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique had ended up being a technique that maintained one’s health. It goes on to say that this way of maintaining one’s health was still very important. One must know that the ancient people did take great note of the maintenance of their health!

The Nine Animals Mimicry Technique, also known as the Nine Animals Qi Mimicry TechniqueQigong of the Nine Animals Mimicry, imitated the movements of nine types of animals for defence, attack, and escape!

From the dragon to the deer, Qing Shui roughly read through all of them, and came to understand that there were many similarities between them. For example, the imitation of both the elephant and the bear focused more on being lumbering, yet strong. The older generations had all thought that the elephant was stronger than the bear, and so was its strength. However, that was not the case. It was hard to compare which was stronger. When compared, other than having lumbering movements, the bear also had an ultimate killing move: Ironback Mountain Defense!

“To lift something light as if it were heavy; to lift something heavy as if it were light?” Qing Shui was very puzzled! He decided to think about it at a later time!

The tiger emphasized its atmosphere. The aura of the ferocious tiger coming down from the mountain, as well as the aura of the ferocious tiger after it had entered the mountain. The ape focused on its flexible movements, and the usage of both its arms and legs. The deer’s speed and nimbleness were emphasized with its canter.

Qing Shui carried on and roughly skimmed through the sections for the dragon, phoenix, roc and crane, but these were too profound and would take time to digest and understand. These skills were also not something that one could master in a day or two. What made Qing Shui happy was that using the Ancient Strengthening Technique would allow a better control and mastery of the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique.

This was the fine print indicated under the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique!

“Seems like the comprehension of all skills would have the Ancient Strengthening Technique as the basis, even the culinary art skill!”

“Recipes for medicinal cuisines?” Qing Shui saw something useful at the very bottom. He loved such stuff. He had recipes for medicine, condiments, and now, for medicinal cuisines too.

The recipe for making medicinal cuisine which strengthens the physique!

The recipe for making medicinal cuisine which improves the complexion!

The recipe for making medicinal cuisine which removes scars and moles!

The recipe for making medicinal cuisine which boosts a man’s sex drive!

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“These are really the ways to maintain one’s health!” Qing Shui had turned slightly numb from the continuous surprises that had popped up. But it was good that these things were all for the better.

After reading through all the information, Qing Shui felt bored. After all, he had practiced the skills picked up previously just a moment ago. Maybe he should try to practice one of animals from the Nine Animals Mimicry!

After experiencing a couple of battles with Xiantian cultivators, especially when he had to battle with the Golden Steel Demonic Boar, Qing Shui knew the importance of speed. All martial arts in the world can be counteracted by speed. It was a universal truth!

Finally, Qing Shui decided to practice the deer out of the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique. It was because he only needed to practice the Deer Canter to a low level to be able to raise his own speed by two folds!

20% of the speed of the 4th Heavenly Layer was more than half the speed compared to the state before his breakthrough. It was faster than the speed he had when he took a Agility-Enhancing Fruit. He was very excited.

The Deer Canter had a unique method to channel Qi. The deer was agile, nimble, and did not require much energy. Qing Shui followed the method to channel his Qi as it was written. He channeled the Qi from the Ancient Strengthening Technique into his two legs, passing by the Zhuyang Ming energy channel, Zhutai Ying energy channel and the Zhutai Yang energy channel…

Qing Shui assumed a stance, and closed his eyes to sense the changes to his body. When the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique passed by the Zhushao Ying channel of the Yongquan Meridian, he suddenly felt a gush of surging force as well as strength, and then his body shot out with a speed that was like an arrow which had been released.

He tried it a few times, moving to and fro at very fast speeds. However, it was as if he was not in control of his body when he moved, as he felt clumsy and awkward. After a few times, he stopped, closed his eyes, and tried to dash between the right and the left!

Time passed by unknowingly as Qing Shui’s busy figure continued moving about. When he finally stopped again, a satisfied smile hung on his face.

“This is so hard to train, but I have finally gotten the knack of it!” Qing Shui smiled as he exclaimed, and grabbed a turtle from the pond to make soup!

Seeing the turtle soup made him think of Shi Qingzhuang. She had once said that she would look for him to drink his turtle soup, but he had not seen her since then.

The turtle soup suddenly turned tasteless as Qing Shui thoughts were filled with the figure of the cool beauty standing in front of him. He had to spend all his efforts training fanatically to rid his thoughts of the beautiful figure, but once he stopped, he could not help but start to miss her.

He got the hang of using the Deer Cantering, but to be able to reach a state where his speed was doubled still required a lot more practice. However, Qing Shui was certainly not in any hurry. He had the technique, he had the time, what was there to be afraid of?

When Qing Shui was forcefully kicked out, it was already late at night and a deadly silence filled the air. Qing Shui was not sleepy, and thus stood up and exited the tent.

Looking at the clear moon hanging in the night sky, his thoughts flew back to his previous life. He was the youngest son at home, with two older brothers before him. His family’s financial situation in the countryside was still manageable. Both his parents were working, and his brothers had started their own families. His eldest brother also had considerable success in his career.

He was the only disappointment of the family. He entered a third rate university after graduating from high school at the age of 18. He was obsessed with internet games all day, and somehow got himself a girlfriend, but managed to break up in less than a month. While the girl was gentle and pretty, back then, he would rather spend all day in front of his computer instead of spending time with her.

It was just that he did not expect himself to come to the world of the nine continents before the first semester of his university life had ended. “My parents must be sad to have lost me. But thank god that people in the countryside have bigger families. There’s still the two brothers above me to be filial to our parents! ” Qing Shui sighed.

He silently prayed to the vast starry night sky, wishing his two brothers happiness, and wishing that she would be able to find her own happiness.

He had been under the care of his parents, and under the protection of his brothers in his previous life. While he did not have a father in this life, Qing Shui had his 18 years of experience, as well as a mother who loved him the most. He was satisfied. His memories of his previous life were also slowly fading away!

In this life, Qing Shui only has his mother as his closest blood kin. Thinking about the Yan Clan, Qing Shui had decided long ago that it was considered a must to go there. Regardless of who it was, he would pay 100 times back to those whom his mother was indebted to. However, he would pay 1000 times back to those who had bullied his mother, even if they were the family of the father who he had never met before!

“Mother, just wait a little longer. Your son is already making preparations!” Qing Shui raised his head, and took a deep breath!

The next day, after a simple breakfast, they set off on the road again. Qing Shui saw that the suppressed atmosphere from the encounter with the Golden Steel Demonic Beast the day before had slowly dissipated, especially Qing Bei, who had started to chatter non-stop again.

Qing Bei was already at the peak of 8th Grade Martial Warrior, and was recognized as a little genius in Qing Clan not just in name, but in reality as well. Because Qing Bei had also performed well previously, Qing Luo had given two of the four Strength-Enhancing Fruits to Qing Bei, which allowed her to be unparalleled amongst those in the 7th grade.

“Brother Shui, what exactly is the level of your standard now? They said that you killed the Xiantian Bai Zhong, is that true?” Qing Bei’s curiosity started again.

Qing Shui felt slightly helpless as he looked at that big pair of puppy dog eyes. Qing Bei had liked to hang around him since they were young. She had grown up prim and proper with elegance, her body had matured, and the proportion of her figure was just right. Coupled with her exquisite face and a pair of big and pretty eyes, she was quite the little beauty!

It was just that this little girl still hung on his arm as she had done when she was younger, or even begged him to carry her on his back like he had done when they were younger. Qing Shui would reject it every time, but her matured body would always make him feel awkward whenever she did a ‘sneak attack’, and jumped up on his back.

Still, Qing Shui felt as if he had been avoiding the little girl!

“Do you believe that I’m a Xiantian cultivator now?” Qing Shui chuckled.

“I don’t believe it!” Qing Bei shook her head in affirmation.

“Haha! I do not believe it either!” Qing Shui grinned.

“Brother Shui, you are really annoying. Then, did you kill that Bai Zhong?” Qing Bei pouted her lips and asked.

That was how a world which revered the strong was like. A young girl who was not yet of age asking you naturally if you were the one who had killed the other person. If it was in his previous life, it would have been totally different, but now it was considered very normal. The environment really created the type of person living in it!

“Would you believe it if I said that I killed him?”

“I don’t know!”

“Do you believe it?”

“I don’t believe it, but it’s not that I don’t not believe it either!” Qing Bei said gloomily.1

Five days later, they reached their destination, the southern mountain range!

The air here was clearer and fresher than any other place. It was really the feeling of the great nature, to the extent that one could sense the Qi from the Heavens and Earth clearly in the surroundings. No wonder the area could produce medicinal herbs in abundance.

Standing at the foot of the mountain range while gazing at the mountains which were so tall that they went into the clouds, they saw a wide mountain path winding and leading upwards, and houses were situated on the two sides of the mountain path!

The people here called the area the stronghold of the southern mountain range, and made a living mainly by hunting, as well as gathering medicinal herbs. The carriage led by the Metallic Bull Beast followed the winding path, and headed upwards. While the slope was not very steep, the winding path was very long, so the speed at which they scaled was acceptable. There was no other way, the mountain range was too vast!

Maybe it was because they had came here before, or that there would often be people who would visit to purchase medicinal herbs, but they got a lot of them very quickly. There were a number of medicinal herbs which Qing Shui could not recognize, but he had come across the rest in books before.

If there were medicinal herbs in the household, then they would negotiate the price and buy them, if not, they would continue to ascend. It was good that medicinal herbs were very light, so they could load them in the carriage directly after the purchase.

Their carriage was pulled by two Metallic Bull Beasts, and there was a separate carriage for loading the medicinal herbs!

Qing Shui felt that the scene was very familiar. It was how it was like how one went out shopping in the various streets in his previous life. Qing Shui felt very much at ease in the presence of the kind-hearted people living in the mountains! Qing Shui did not like the nobles who dressed up flashily, had their eyes appearing atop their head, and looking down on the poor just because they had some money. They stunk!

They soon reached halfway up the mountain, and had started heading back down the path they came from. As the mountain was too high, it was not suitable for residency any further uphill. Therefore, they could only head back, and prepare to scale another mountain!

When they reached the other mountain, Qing Shui did not see much difference from the previous one. Each mountain had accommodations for about the size of an average village, about 2000 households. The bigger households had about ten odd people, while the smaller ones had at least five to six members! These mountains had even been modified to be suitable for residency. There were even stone doors at the entrances to prevent wild beasts and ferocious beasts from entering at night!

Not long after Qing Shui and company entered the mountain, they heard shouts from debating voices in front of them. The path was blocked!

Qing Shui was curious, so he got off the carriage and walked over. The group of people in front had gathered around a young fatty. He probably weighed at least 300 jin. However, his round body looked very toned, and was not merely filled to the brim with fat. There was a sense of childishness on his face. It was just that this fatty was on his last breath, lying there, breathing out more than he could take in! The people gathering around were all having their own conversations, and Qing Shui overheard some of their conversations.

“This is really sinful, sinful!”

“Heaven does not have eyes, Little Pang is really so pitiful!” An old man could not help but say.

“What’s so pitiful about him? Why would someone who had cursed their parents and siblings to their death be pitiful? He should long be dead!” A pretty married lady of about 30 odd years old stared at the old man and said harshly!

“Sigh!” The old man let out a big sigh!

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“Mmmm, there’s still a chance of saving him!”

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1: (ED: My old English teacher would kill me for leaving such an atrocious double negative like that alone, but it’s what the author wrote. SMH)