Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 0124 – The Arena at the Wedding Banquet (1)

Who to invite?

Qing Shui was thinking as he walked. “Grandpa handed this task to me. How many people do I know? Forget it, it’s a jubilant affair, so the more the merrier.”

In his previous life, Qing Shui did not have any hobbies except for calligraphy. While he was not too old, there was a touch of vigor which was not suitable for his age. To think that he would be able to put it to use today.

“I’ll ask mother first to see what I should do for the people they were close with, and if he would need to send them the wedding invites himself.” Qing Shui had wanted to return to his room, but decided to head to the lounge instead.

Seeing that his mother and 3rd aunt were in the lounge, Qing Shui brought up the topic of the wedding invites!

“Oh, that… we will invite the guests we want to invite respectively!” Qing Yi chuckled.

Qing Shui was gloomy, but that was good as well. Just as Qing Shui was preparing to leave, Qing Yi called him back. Qing Shui looked at Qing Yi, puzzled.

“Qing Shui, do you know that there are certain regulations in Hundred Miles City? For example, even getting married has some regulations of its own!” Qing Yi said somewhat pessimistically.

“Regulations? There are even regulations when getting married?” Qing Shui looked at his mother in surprise.

“There has always been a custom when one gets married in Hundred Miles City, which is to set up an arena. On the day of the wedding, the groom’s family needs to set up an arena, and accept any challenge from anyone who steps up. Anyone from the groom’s family can step up to defend, but if all of them were to lose, then they would lose all their face.” Qing Yi looked at Qing Shui worriedly.

“Hmmm? There was such a rule?” Qing Shui felt surprised. A wedding was a joyous affair, but they had to take to fighting somehow. It really was a world which revered the strong.

“That’s right. Actually it was only a means for the youngsters to have some interactions. But this time around, the Qing Clan has been in the limelight too much. I’m afraid that there will be people who would be up to no good in the shadows, and the arena is the biggest loophole they can utilize. The arena is only set up for the weddings for families which practice martial arts, and anyone can take part. These are the rules. While one should take care not to go overboard, but it is also normal to have accidental injuries or even death. Both parties cannot blame or take revenge!”

On hearing this, Qing Shui also frowned, but soon he broke into a smile. “Mother, don’t worry and just place your trust in your son!”

“Since grandpa had delegated this task to me, it shows that he trusts me. I must definitely do well. Thank goodness that I’ve broke through to the 4th Heavenly Layer, if not I would really feel uneasy!” Qing Shui gave it some thought as he prepared to write wedding invites.

A Wedding invitation was a means to show respect to those who would come to send their congratulations. It was a solemn issue, so no matter how close they were, there was a need to send a wedding invitation. The higher the status of the person, the greater the importance of the wedding invitation.

“Mmm, I really don’t know many people, including Old Master Yu and Yu He, the Wenren sisters. As for the Situ Clan, Shi Clan, Xiang Clan, and the other people from Yu Clan, I will leave it to uncle and the rest!” Qing Shui gave it some thought as he held the brush.

“Shall I send one to Firecloud Blacksmith’s Huoyun Liu-li as well?” Qing Shui thought about the mysterious lady who had given him the Gold Flint Iron Cauldron.

“Regardless of whether she’d come or not, I guess I’ll send her one. After all, she was someone who had given me great help. In addition, this lady was mysterious and secretive, and I can’t help but think about her. ”

In a grand mansion in Heavenly River City!

“Are you going to let our son die just like that? As Heavenly River City’s City Lord, you can’t even protect your own child. Now, the murderer who killed your son is still out free. Don’t you feel that you’ve lost the right to be a father?!” A charming married woman pounded on Gongyang Xuantong as she cried out.

Gongyang Xuantong could only keep the bitterness to himself. Even though he had did his best to hide the news from his wife, she still managed to find out.

Tan Yueru was not someone who was easy to deal with. Born from the influential Tan Clan of the Heavenly River City, she had pampered her son too much. Under the pampering of his mother, Gongyang Yu had relied on the backing of the Gongyang Clan and the Tan Clan, living a life of ease, and having no regards for any rules and regulations for the past 25 years. He had managed to survive for all these years while those who cursed him, reprimanded him, and those who wished to kill him had all died before him. It was too bad that he had fallen in the small Hundred Miles City, fallen forever.

“Yueru, I feel even worse having lost my son. However, the other party was someone from Skysword Sect. Moreover, our son was killed when he was trying to kill someone else. If we were to lay our hands on him, the Gongyang Clan and the Tan Clan will suffer the wrath of the Skysword Sect.” In merely a month, the hair at the two temples of Gongyang Xuantong had already started to grey.

“Skysword Sect, hmph, you really think that Skysword Sect will raise their wrath against the Gongyang Clan and the Tan Clan for an insignificant person who’s dead?” Tan Yueru looked at Gongyang Xuantong coldly.

Gongyang Xuantong was very doting towards his beautiful wife who was very much younger than him. She was not only beautiful, but was also very intelligent. Many of his troubles would be easily analyzed thoroughly with merely two or three words from her.

“There’s already news that Qing Clan’s eldest grandson will be getting married on the 8th of next month. On that day, I want that chap to die. As for Yu Donghao, I want him to suffer a fate worse than death. I want him to see his femme fatale granddaughter die right in front of his eyes.”

————

“Brother Shui, brother and Little Fatty are fighting with Situ Bufan!” Qing Shui had only just completed the wedding invitations when he saw Qing Bei rushing in in a panic.

“Got into a fight? Who has the upper hand?” Qing Shui felt that it was not a big issue. While the two of them may not be able to win against Situ Bufan, they would not lose out to him by too much. It wasn’t bad for youngsters to have occasional fights now and then.

“I don’t know, all of them had bruises all over.” Qing Bei strangely calmed down after seeing that Qing Shui did not panic.

“How’s the shopping coming?” Qing Shui asked casually.

“We were done with it in the morning. Yanfei sister-in-law is also in Hundred Miles City, so we went together. Sister-in-law is very pretty. Brother Shui, your future wife should be very pretty too, right?” Qing Bei grinned and said.

“You’re already calling her Yanfei sister-in-law. You guys seem to be very close.” Qing Shui smiled. He directly filtered off what the little girl had said. If he were to start answering, there would be no end to it. He recalled the appearance of the woman that Qing Zi would be marrying, a pretty face and a hot figure. He figured that Brother Zi would have a good time every night. He would have to ask Brother Zi what it feels like…

“Alright, if they wish to fight, just let them be. It’ll be alright. Take these wedding invites, together with the invites in the lounge, and look for Qing Yang, Qing Shan and Qing Shi to deliver them with you. Oh right, where’s Brother Zi?” Qing Shui passed the few wedding invites he wrote to Qing Bei.

“Brother Zi is all cuddly with sister-in-law these past few days, nurturing their feelings. He doesn’t have to do anything but to wait for the day sister-in-law is married to him.” Qing Bei chuckled and left with the invites after saying this.

Qing Shui knew that when it came to a wedding, there were many issues that would be better off being handled by the seniors. Of course, if he was to announce his abilities as a Xiantian cultivator, his status would be even more suitable.

While it was very busy in the day, Qing Shui still had sufficient time to cultivate, especially to practice alchemy. It was because the prescription for the Five Dragon Pellet would be accessible soon. This was even after Qing Shui had rested for some time. His plan was to make all the prescriptions accessible first before he headed out to look for herbs.

He would need to search for and purchase the ingredients required for the culinary skills, and herbs for the for the medicinal recipes. He would also need to find their seeds, or ways to transplant them to the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal in the future to save himself the trouble!

Time passed by very quickly. Unknowingly, there were only 3 days left before Qing Zi’s wedding!