Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 407 - Yan Clan’s Hidden Treasure Given to Qing Shui

Qing Shui laughed as he saw the happiness on everyone’s faces, but deep inside, he still missed Mingyue Gelou very dearly!

Qing Shui did not know when she would return to his side. He considered the necessity of waging a war against the Sword Tower to get her back, but if that ever happened, he would not stand a chance of winning the war. He had too first surpass the 6th Layer of Ancient Strengthening Technique.

Moreover, he wouldn’t wish to cause a massive destruction to both Heavenly Palace and Sword Tower just for this matter. Qing Shui does not have the capacity to let Heavenly Palace to make this kind of sacrifice for him, but even if he did, Qing Shui would never allow it.

There are also quite a number of clans and sects with the strength comparable to Heavenly Palace in the Greencloud Continent! If he made any careless moves, they would be the ones to benefit from the war.

Xiao Clan and Yan Clan were both finished. Although Qing Shui chose not to destroy the entire clan by pulling them up from the roots, the countless crimes these two clans committed had not been forgiven. It was a common practice to be merciless with the evildoers. More than half of the nation wanted a piece of them badly.

In the span of a whole afternoon, the people from Yan Clan shamelessly came to look for Qing Shui numerous times. They wanted Qing Shui to take over their clan so that the hundreds of years of accumulated legacy could be preserved.

It was quite apparent that they were very desperate because they brought the key to their treasure room with them. They would hand over the key to Qing Shui if he agreed to take up control of Yan Clan.

Yan Clan’s wealth was definitely extraordinary. The main branch of Yan Clan was the one responsible in the safe-keeping of the key to the treasure room. Clans and sects have different policies on who got to control the access to the treasure room. The head clan had a stronger control and freedom than the head sect. In a sect, any important matters must undergo the majority of the Elder’s approval before any action could be implemented by the head sect. On the other hand, head clan could only participate in the discussion of the important matters, but did not have the authority to make the final decision.

Of course, there would be exceptions for different clans and sects.

In any case, Yan Clan was one of the top three family clans in Yan Jiang Country. Their wealth, however, was surprisingly the most extraordinary out of the top three clans. With such vast fortune, Yan Clan was very careful not to be taken advantage by other people that easily.

Yan Haoran from the sixth branch had represented Yan Clan twice to meet Qing Shui. Even if Qing Shui refused to acknowledge his Yan heritage, other people would still refused to acknowledge him as part of the Yan Clan. The other branches of the Yan Clan were very interested in securing the treasure room for themselves. However, none of them had the guts to try, even if the opportunity was present. They were what everyone called a “hot potato”.

As the sun began to set, Yan Haoran came to see Qing Shui for the third time. Qing Shui had lost all interest and feelings for him. He only kept them alive because of Qing Qing’s relationship with the Yan Clan.

All in all, this man has given all his love and care for Qing Qing. In Qing Qing’s eyes, he was the grandfather and father to Yan Zhongyue, whom she loved the most. Qing Shui knew he was an unreasonable man, but he did protect Qing Qing once with his life. Because of him, Qing Qing was still alive.

Qing Shui let out a deep sigh!

“What do you want with us? We will leave soon and we will never come back to this place again. If you want me to take over Yan Clan, please just forget it.” Qing Shui said impatiently.

“Qing Shui, I won’t ask anymore. However, the wealth, herbs, ores, and money Yan Clan has accumulated over the years will not fall to anyone else but you. It is of no importance anymore whether or not you admit your heritage as part of the Yan Clan. I am already satisfied to be able to see you in person. Zhongyue will rest in peace as well. I hope you will accept this key, otherwise the treasure will be scattered into the wrong hands. The entire Yan Clan may perished if that happens.” There is a mix of lament and pride in Yan Haoran’s tone.

He exclaimed at the ever changing situation. He was proud of his young grandson even though he would always deny the fact before. As he reached the autumn of life, he began to take things easy and be open-minded about their relationship.

The others kept silent as they looked at Qing Shui. From now on, Qing Shui would be the one making the decisions for everything.

“Zhongyue only has two children. No one else will be able to inherit our treasure.” Yan Haoran seemed to be muttering to himself. He also seemed like he was talking to someone else.

After he was done talking, he forcefully handed a weird spiral-shaped golden key to Qing Shui. As Qing Shui was about to push away the key, Qing Yi suddenly interrupted.

“Qing Shui, just take it!” Qing Yi said with a desolated tone.

Qing Shui hesitated for a while before taking the key. He knew what his mother was thinking about: his father. That man still kept his promise to his mother after all these years. He did not remarry even after he went back to Yan Clan.

Because of that promise, he vowed to never touch the woman from the Xiao Clan even after a few years he had married Qing Yi. And because of his father’s neglect towards the woman from the Xiao Clan, he fell into the Yan Zhongfeng’s trap and lost his life.

Before Yan Haoran was about to leave, he told Qing Shui the address to the treasure room. After that, he took a closer look at Qing Shui, Qing Yi, and the other family members. There was an unspeakable loneliness in his eyes. His back view seemed crooked as he turned around and left.

After Yan Haoran left, the whole room fell into a silence once again. Nobody was happy about acquiring the key to the Yan Clan’s treasure room.

“Qing Shui, I don’t wish to intervene in your matters, but let me say this: I will support you if you plan on taking over the Yan Clan.” Qing Yi said gently.

Qing Shui was baffled for a moment. He couldn’t really tell what his mother was thinking, but he knew how much the central continent thought highly about the origin of one’s family status and bloodline. It would be the wisest choice for him to admit his part of Yan heritage. The benefits were endless as well.

If Qing Shui had been born and brought up in the world of nine continents, he would not have hesitated to take over the Yan Clan. However, Qing Shui was different than that. He was extremely adept in the cultivation of techniques. One of his lifelong wishes was to become the best martial artist in the world of nine continents on his own strength. Taking over the Yan Clan wasn’t his priority in the first place.

Moreover, Mingyue Gelou was still waiting for him to arrive at the Sword Tower!

Although Yiye Jiange never mention anything to Qing Shui, he decided to take her along to the Lion King’s Ridge for as long as 20 years. However, the path he will take would not be easy….

“I know you want the best for me, but I don’t need Yan Clan anymore. We will see where fate lead us!” Qing Shui laughed at he looked at Qing Yi.

…..

As the night fell, Qing Shui went into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

The first thing he needed to do was to brew some Plum Blossom Wine for Misty Hall's Palace Priestess. Qing Shui looked at the vast field of white 100-year plum blossoms. These plum blossoms only exist in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

He picked some of the plum blossoms and add it to the brew mixture consisting of precious ingredients, condiments, ⅓ of “Peach of Immortality”, 1000 year medicines, and most importantly, the 5000-year Golden Flesh LingZhi.

Qing Shui has several versions of brewing Plum Blossom Wine when he first started until now. He used to add very little medicinal herbs into the mixture, but ever since he has the capability of obtaining various herbs, he improved his brewing method by adding more instead.

A drop of blood from the Golden Medicinal Turtle, blood of the 1000 year Clam, as well as the Golden Pearl Essence from the Clam’s mouth….

Of course, Qing Shui could not brew his signature Plum Blossom Wine without the Bronze Cauldron and the primordial flames. The process of brewing Plum Blossom Wine was about the same as the process of refining medicinal pills. Both of them consumed a lot of energy as well.

The brewing took about 3 days to complete. Luckily, the brewing took place in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

In actuality, the real process of brewing would only take one whole day. The wine would be broiled consistently with the primordial flame for the next two days. Qing Shui would always stop supervising the Bronze Cauldron after one whole day, then proceed to cultivate his training while waiting for the Plum Blossom Wine to complete.

“Oh right, the Acupuncture Point Clearing Art from Misty Hall’s Palace Priestess.”

Qing Shui hastily took out a few pages of paper from the inner pocket in his chest. These were the silver colored pages made from first-class beast leather.

Qing Shui felt excited as he realized the significance of the acupuncture points to a human body. If he could clear most of the existing acupuncture points in his body, especially the “Yongquan Point” in the middle of the foot….

He halted his train of thoughts and opened the pages.

The title written on the page seemed common!

The title reads: “Acupuncture Clearing of the Four Limbs”.

Qing Shui thought hard about it. Actually, he thought that was no different than his Divine Arm Clearing and Divine Feet Clearing. The names might be different, but they were essentially the same.

Qing Shui went blank as he continued reading. He noticed that when the Divine Arm Clearing and Divine Feet Clearing were combined together, they made a complete version of the “Acupuncture Clearing of the Four Limbs”.

He couldn’t understand why Misty Hall Palace Priestess would have such a mastery as this one. Qing Shui thought that his mastery was one of a kind, but as it turned out, the world of the nine continents was much deeper than he initially thought. He might be able to experience a lot more wonders of the world after all.

Qing Shui had already memorized everything after reading just once. If he could remember the Yin-Yang image embedded deep inside his consciousness, then he could remember anything he had read or seen. After he took another look of the page to gain a deeper understanding and impression, Qing Shui began to cultivate the “Acupuncture Clearing of the Four Limbs” throughout his entire body. Both his arms and legs were linked together for this cultivation, unlike Divine Arm Clearing and Divine Feet Clearing together, which he had to cultivate separately. Either way, both of these methods had its advantages and disadvantages.

Perhaps due to Qing Shui’s completion of the Divine Arm Clearing and Divine Feet Clearing, he was able to become adept in the “Acupuncture Clearing of the Four Limbs” very quickly. Basically, Qing Shui was able to cultivate the Acupuncture Clearing of the Four Limbs successfully on the first round. However, it would take a few days for the clearing to take effect.

Qing Shui continued to cultivate this technique until he had completely familiarized with it. He stopped after a few rounds and rested for a while. After that, he prepared himself to make a copy of the Divine Arm Clearing and Divine Feet Clearing deep inside his consciousness.

Since he couldn’t find anything to write with, he simply used Art Maestro’s “Golden Calligraphy Brush” and the Moonstone Ink Slab to write them down.

Qing Shui was only able to take a good look at this Moonstone Ink Slab for the first time since he didn’t get to see it clearly last time. The ink slab had a lot of small grooves on the inside. Then, he realized these grooves were made to hold different colors of ink.

There was also a tiny pestle on the Moonstone strip, as small as the size of a thumb. Qing Shui knew right away that it was used for grinding ink, albeit a bit different than in reality.

Qing Shui poured a bit of water into one of the grooves. He recalled having prepared a pen and ink beforehand in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, but he couldn’t find them. It seemed Qing Shui had to prepare extra in the future in case he needed them.

After he had poured the water, Qing Shui started to grind the ink. Slowly, the ink turned to a moon-white color. Qing Shui could sense a faint Spiritual Qi emanating from the ink which tickled something in his mind, but he had no clue what it was.

There were still some beast parchments left. Who knew the “ink” he grinded would be a light moon-white shade. He took out a beast parchment with a deeper shade to test the ink!

He dabbed the bristle of Golden Calligraphy Pen into the ink. The bristle was made from the hairs of the Martial Saint level weasel beast. Qing Shui felt that this pen might be the Art Maestro’s weapon of choice.

After he had dabbed the moon-white “ink” on the bristle of the pen, a weird sensation suddenly flowed from the Golden Calligraphy Pen onto Qing Shui’s hand.