Ancient Strengthening Technique

338 - Qing Shui’s State of Minute Subtlety

She could never forget when Qing Shui spoke out, "Goddess?", "Demon?"

In any case, he was the first person who gave her “feelings”. She realised that she had difficulty putting the feelings she had towards him into words. Especially the look in his eyes that made her unable to manifest her killing intent.

The most important of all, she discovered that Qing Shui was an unexpectedly humble young man. But little did she know that the “flashiest” person in the Heavenly Palace as of late was that very same Qing Shui.

And it actually made her curious about his future. This unimaginable feeling was simply outrageous, even to herself!

Even the deepest hate cannot stand the test of time. It was fair to say that Qing Shui had opened the window of her heart.

All the efforts rested in Qing Shui’s hand, the very same hand that fondled her lady bosoms.

“I still stand my grounds. Do not think about that, ever. You are still not my opponent for now.” The Misty Hall’s Palace Mistress thought about how flustered she was from being fondled by those invisible hands every time and also the beautiful sea of flowers that appeared in her mind. However she had not been able stop him by delivering the same slap again like she did for the first time. She could only watch helplessly and feel everything……...

Qing Shui smiled wryly. He had finally understood why men were unwilling to have a strong woman as their partner. In the world of the nine continents, to have a stronger woman than yourself basically means that you can forget about keeping concubines. But of course, powerful clans were exceptions. Even so, anyone would still feel uneasy as no men would want to feel weak in front of their partners.

“You won’t kill me.” Qing Shui said lightly.

“Okay, I’m leaving. Oh, and remember what I said!” It was rare for the woman to use a slightly relaxed tone to speak with him. She stood up and was about to leave.

“Wait!”

Qing Shui stood up.

The lady only looked at Qing Shui emotionlessly and didn’t say anything.

“Actually you’ve been an extremely great help to me. I would like to give you something. I’ve actually been thinking about it but I didn’t expect to meet you or expect that there’s actually such a great beauty like yourself in the world of the nine continents. I might leave soon, so I am wondering if I can pass them to you now.” Qing Shui organised his words and spoke nervously.

The lady silently looked at Qing Shui for a while before she gave him a slight nod!

This nod made Qing Shui extremely happy, to the point where he would cry happy tears. He felt so lowly of himself. To be this happy just because someone accepted his gift……...

At least for now Qing Shui didn’t have any other intentions towards her, because he knew that he wasn’t worthy enough.

It was a sincere gratitude. Qing Shui was one of those typical people to return kindness in tenfold. Besides, her accidental assistance to Qing Shui this time had been bothering Qing Shui. Now that he had met her in person, he’d feel uneasy if he didn’t express his gratitude.

Qing Shui quickly returned to the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. He packed two of each varieties of fruits, then also the remaining few Small Revitalizing Pellets, Five Dragon Pellets, Endurance Pellets and some other Medicinal Pills he had concocted. He even included one Beauty Pellet that was just freshly concocted.

Then finally he saw the cauldron of plum blossom wine. Qing Shui specially filled about two jin of it in a smaller cauldron. The small cauldron that was fully filled was the smallest type of cauldron that he had forged before.

Among the many spices in the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal, Qing Shui had also packed quite a few of them. He estimated that they were enough for her alone to use for a very long time. Eight or ten years would not be a problem.

After he exited the realm, he discovered that he had already filled up more than half of the brocade pouch. This did not include those few types of medicinal pills and the plum blossom wine. Qing Shui silently scolded himself as being lowly again and was about to leave the room.

But he stopped and took up a pen to quickly scribble some notes about the effects and usage of spices and a few types of medicinal pills!

When he came back out again, the lady was still waiting there. She turned around to look at Qing Shui as soon as she heard his footsteps. Her beautiful eyes were filled with suspicions because of the brocade pouch he was carrying that was about the size of a small gunny sack.

“What are you giving me?”

Perhaps Qing Shui had realised something, and he handed the sack over in embarrassment. To let a lady with the beauty that can topple empires to carry such a big sack was…

“What’s that in the little cauldron?” The lady wasn’t looking at anything else nor accepted the sack from Qing Shui. She was just staring at the exquisite bronze cauldron in Qing Shui’s hand.

Qing Shui guessed that perhaps it was because she thought that the small cauldron was beautiful or maybe because only this small exquisite cauldron was the most precious among all the things in her eyes. Qing Shui smiled wryly and passed the the small cauldron to her.

Two jin of plum blossom wine and an additional two jin of the bronze cauldron totaled up to only four jin. It was very light. Not to mention the fact that this lady, whose beauty was akin to the Goddess of the Ninth Heaven, was way stronger than Qing Shui. She would have no problem with a bigger cauldron, much less this small one.

Perhaps she could guess what were the other items, or perhaps items that were deemed precious in the eyes of ordinary people were worthless to her. Or perhaps it was just a simple gesture and she would only accept this small cauldron. But maybe she really didn’t expect him to be able to offer her something that would pique her interest.

“Why don’t you open it and have a look!”

The lady raised her head and took a glance at Qing Shui before she accepted the small cauldron!

She gently opened the lid. Qing Shui observed the slight hesitation in those hands!

A refreshing and delicate fragrance wafted out instantly and quickly filled the whole room. Just the smell of it alone was invigorating and even brought slight comfort to the five viscera and six bowel organs of the body.

The lady stared at it for a very long time before she put the lid back. When she raised her head she saw Qing Shui looked at her with anticipation, as if waiting for her evaluation.

“This is very nice……”

Qing Shui: “....................”

The lady left. After seeing these items she actually gave Qing Shui face and accepted everything. There was some hesitation initially. Perhaps after she remembered that this man had taken a big advantage of her she accepted all of them and summoned her mount to carry them away.

As the Palace Mistress of the Misty Hall, the mount of the lady was actually a Blue Luan, a mutated beast. On top of that, it was also a mythical beast of the “Phoenix Crown” grade.

What a coincidence! Qing Shui had the impulse to release his Fire Bird. After all, her mount was almost an exact copy of his, except for its colour. But his Red Luan’s “Phoenix Crown” was not as big and the aura that it exuded was slightly inferior than the Blue Luan.

In the end, Qing Shui didn’t release his Fire Bird. For once the lady finally nodded at Qing Shui, her face was veiled except for her unique eyes!

“You are not allowed to think about that again……”

Qing Shui recalled the words she said before she left, however there were no more threats at the end of it……..

So she really spoke less after taking something from him………

Qing Shui couldn’t help but to ponder the incident again. He came to the conclusion that the root cause of all this was the Portraits of Beauty and planned not to let his mind run wild again and revel in the memories of that wonderful sensation.

The next day, Qing Shui washed up after he woke up and went to the public square for his morning practice!

After his battle with the people from the Sword Tower, Qing Shui’s rank in his generation was pretty much secured at the highest position without any dispute.

If the gap between their strengths were about the same, there’d be more disputes over it as well as challenges and insulting remarks. However if it exceeded the strength of people of the same age by too much, then nothing but only sighs of admiration and envy remained.

Because this would have made them lost their motivation to surpass him, if anyone mentioned anything negative now, everyone would just see him as a lonely clown putting on a performance.

Just like Feng Wuji. He hated Qing Shui to the bones now because he had been reduced to being the laughingstock of everyone, even if he was the Chief Disciple of the Starday Hall.

He was practising his Taichi fists slowly and felt the nature energy in his body. After his breakthrough, Qing Shui could feel that the nature energy had seemed to become more powerful as well.

When Qing Shui did his morning practice, someone nearby was mimicking his movements. Although his movements were close enough, he was able to capture only the form but not the essence of it. Unexpectedly more people started to join in.

Qing Shui however, was not affected by the external disturbances. He slowly shut his eyes and expanded his spiritual sense. He could sense his surroundings, even the tiny movements and the body parts of the tiny ants on the floor.

“Minute Subtlety!”

Qing Shui opened his eyes in satisfaction. Minute Subtlety was an indistinct concept, not an increase in strength but a type of mental state, which was also an advancement of realm.

Just like in battle, when the realm of ‘Minute Subtlety’ was high, one was able to create precise estimation of the might of the tech of opponents and the damage he would sustain.

“Hello!”

Just when Qing Shui was about to leave, a weak voice travelled to his ears.

He turned around to discover that the owner of the voice turned out to be someone unexpected.

Gongsun Jianyun!

Qing Shui was curious. Why was he looking for him? He had broken his shoulder before so he wouldn’t be surprised if he hated him.

“Anything I can do for you?”

Qing Shui had just comprehended Minute Subtlety, so he was in a pretty good mood.

“I saw you practising your fists here everyday, so I assume you don’t mind other people learning it. Do you mind guiding us a little when you have the time?” Gongsun Jianyun asked in the same weak tone.

Anyone could tell that he was swallowing his pride. It must have not been easy for a young master like him to lower himself down to this level, but Qing Shui could care less about it.

Only that the beautiful image of a lady crossed Qing Shui’s mind, the foxy lady who gave him a talisman before his battle.

“I’ll just agree as a return favour to her,” Qing Shui thought to himself quietly.

“Sure, I will practise half an hour with everyone at the same time daily. Not sure for how long, but half a year at most. As to what realm you all can reach, it will all depend on yourselves. I will teach you everything I know.”

Qing Shui left after that because he still had to visit Cang Wuya to learn another Heavenly Palace’s technique, which was definitely not inferior than the Divinity Protection of the Legendary grade.

Divinity Protection!

It was something Qing Shui had always been yearning for. After all, martial techniques of this kind were definitely perverse. But of course, it would still be meaningless if the difference between the two parties was too great.

It was out of Gongsun Jianyun’s expectation for Qing Shui to agree to this. After he recovered from his astonishment, he yelled “Many thanks!” at Qing Shui’s retreating back.

He wouldn’t know that the real reason behind Qing Shui’s action was because of Gongsun Jianwu and at the same time, Qing Shui could also gain some good reputation for letting go of the past.

Although Qing Shui didn’t really care about these, he still believed that what goes around comes around. This bunch of people were highly favored sons and daughters after all. They might come in handy someday or even appear before him during the most difficult times.

The world of nine continents was very complex. Who knew if there were any experts hidden among these people or if any had unimaginable power within them. On the continent, things that appeared to be powerful on the surface weren’t always necessarily true, because the truly significant existences were usually hidden.