Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 408 - Primordial Demon Refining Furnace

When Qing Shui dipped his Golden Calligraphy Brush into the moon white colored “ink”, a mysterious feeling rose from the Golden Calligraphy Brush into Qing Shui’s hand.

When Qing Shui finished writing about the Divine Arm Clearing and Divine Feet Clearing techniques, he was shocked.

Even though his handwriting was not considered ugly, it was not nice. Yet, when Qing Shui looked at his words now, though they looked the same, the feeling was different. It was as if they were given a breath of air; they were filled with a sort of spirituality.

It could be compared to a man who was not good looking but easy on the eyes, and gradually seemed more charming and charismatic to the point that his looks did not matter. The words that Qing Shui wrote using his Golden Calligraphy Brush had that effect; they seemed to have an added allure.

“This must be why the art maestro is able to draw the Portraits of Beauty. Even though his artistic ability may be unparalleled, his usage of the Golden Calligraphy Brush and the Moonstone Ink Slab cannot be ignored. Furthermore, some of the color pigments used were also from the blood Martial Saint Level beast…”

The plum blossom wine was ready for consumption. It had an added hint of something but it was still glistening clear. As a light mist of sweet smelling odor evaporated, one could feel the refreshing flavors it held.

He made more wine this time and since he decided to give all of it to the Mistress of Misty Hall, he was sure it was much more than that little bit he gifted her previously.

When the time limit expired, Qing Shui left the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. It was late in the night, past 1am. Even those who had night lives would have gone home by now.

Late in the night, even though it was cloudy in the morning, the moon had risen. It shone brightly like a large silver disc in the sky. The moonlight reflected off the ground which was covered with pristine white snow. This made it bright enough to read under the moonlight although it was not as bright as during the daytime.

Suddenly, he remembered the Yan Clan Treasury key that Yan Haoran gave him earlier that day.

Yan Clan Treasury!

“I will consider that as Yan Clan’s compensation to Qing Clan.”

Qing Shui entered the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal and pulled out the odd gold key. It was about a foot long and had spiral carvings. Qing Shui tested it and found that it was extremely hard. It was even harder than diamond. Despite not knowing what material it was made of, Qing Shui was certain that the the key was invaluable.

“Should I take this time to go explore?” Qing Shui questioned himself.

Qing Shui did suspect that it could be a trap and knew that he must be alert as it was very possible that someone would want to harm him at this point. However, he felt that the possibility was very small as the Mistress of Misty Halls was currently around.

Regardless, Qing Shui also had his Realm of Violet Jade Immortal so if he was in any peril, he would be able to use that and his Firebird.

Qing Shui disappeared into the darkness as he jumped out the window. Qing Shui’s speed was already quite impressive now, especially after he had practiced the Black Armored Jumping King Core Qi Method. With the addition to his Soaring Crane Steps which was at Grand perfection stage, he could accelerate to frightening speeds in a short time.

Even so, Qing Shui found that he would be helpless when facing people who were more powerful than him. Martial artists from the Central Continent paid great attention to speed.

If he could reach the Grand Perfection Stage for Divine Feet Clearing or if he could clear his Yongquan acupoint, he can boost his speed greatly.

Even achieving Large Success Stage for his Divine Feet Clearing technique, Qing Shui was unable to clear his Yongquan acupoint. Though the Mistress of Misty Hall was already at the gateway to clear that acupoint, she was probably just a step from clearing that acupoint.

This was why Qing Shui believed that he could use acupuncture to help her clear it more quickly. Ever since Qing Shui discovered the art of “Clearing acupoints”, he also found that the art of Accupoint Clearing was covered in the introduction of Primal Chaotic Divine Needle Technique.

The introduction was short. There were only a few sentences stating that acupuncture could help clear acupoints. The prerequisite was that the person must be very close to clearing the acupoint, but was unable to do so. It was like the acupoint on the Mistress of Misty Hall. He had observed that it had a faint radiance, as if clouds partially covered the moon. Thus, Qing Shui had the confidence to tell her that he could help her clear the acupoint in the morning.

Unfortunately, he did not have any acupoint which had reached this stage. He hoped that after practicing “Divine Clearing Technique”, he would be able to clear his Yongquan acupoint.

Once he came out of the Lai Residence, Qing Shui summoned his Firebird. He flew towards Yan Clan Treasury. Yan Haoran had informed Qing Shui that the Yan Clan Treasury was in the middle of the courtyard where Yan Haozheng lived in the past.

His Firebird’s speed was extremely fast so he reach the Yan residence in the blink of an eye. In the past, it was filled with a ruckus of human activities everyday; it now had a lifeless atmosphere. There was even an indistinct scent of blood left in the air. Coupled with the winter night, it made the place feel eerie.

Yan Clan’s sixth branch lived at another location as only the head of the clan could live in this estate that held the treasury. This Yan estate was the size of a large village. It had pavilions, arch bridges, rock gardens, circular little streams and there was a gazebo every ten meters which were linked by passageways.

Qing Shui landed slowly in the centre of the estate. He spread his spiritual sense and could not feel the presence of anyone. Thinking about it, this was normal as no thieves would come at this point in time unless they wanted to cut their lifespan short.

Following what Yan Haoran said, Qing Shui went to the largest rock structure in the estate. He saw the jarring uneven areas on top and tried to look for the keyhole with the key in his hand.

“It is between two protruding surfaces. There were so many, which was it? They are at the spot behind the sunlight….”

Qing Shui looked at the rock structure and confirmed that it was the secret Yan Clan Treasury he was looking for.

It was only when he searched for the third time that he noticed the position of the two protrusions. It was at a spot outside the reach of an average person.

Can it be that the person who created the mechanism was that tall? Or was it on purpose….

Ker-chak

Qing Shui stuck the key in, turned the key three times to the left and one and a half turns to the right, then repeated and pushed the key an inch further. Then, he made another half turn to the left before he heard the rumbling of moving metal.

“This is some mechanism…”

Qing Shui observed that the interior of the rock structure was made of metal; it was made of a the highest quality black metal.

Qing Shui could see a path sloping downwards. There was a large glowing rock after every third step. After scanning the entire area with his Spiritual sense and finding nothing suspicious, he followed the stone steps downwards.

The stone path was very long, it was about a two hundred metres. Then, he reached a pair of large metallic tar-black double-doors. From its exterior, Qing Shui could tell that it was very thick and probably more sturdy than the previous door.

Seeing the large keyhole, Qing Shui took the gold key and opened the door using the same method as before.

After another series of piercing clicks from the mechanism, the thick doors opened slowly. Qing Shui could see a passageway about ten plus meters wide and thirty meters long. In the centre of the passageway, there was a large pillar at each three-metre point. There was a row of waist-height stone stands on either side of the passageway. There were many dazzling paraphernalia on them and there were even items which shone with a faint glow.

Were these all the treasures that the Yan Clan had amassed over the years?

Qing Shui walked along the pillars at the center of the room as he surveyed the items on both sides.

Weapons, armors, accessories...

The passageway started out with weapons on both sides, then armor and accessories - knives, spears, swords, bows, axes, whips, body armor, helmets, battle skirts, boots, belts, necklaces, earrings and bracers….

Qing Shui did not need any of the weapons now, but he activated his Heavenly Vision Technique and Spiritual Sense. Whenever he sensed anything good, he would throw it into the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. Anyway, he did not lack space. He could even bring back everything here without a problem.

He chose a few good swords, some armors and accessories. They belonged to the Yan Clan’s collection, so they should be of a certain level. There were many suitable weapons for the Xiantian level but much lesser weapons suitable for the Martial King level. There were still some. Qing Shui wanted to bring these back for the three generations in Qing Clan. Since he came out, he wanted to bring some presents for them.

After he chose enough, he decided not to take anymore, but he still scanned each piece of equipment.

“Ah.”

Qing Shui exclaimed in awe as he saw a “thing” covered in dust. He felt a large wave of spiritual energy exuding from it.

He waved his sleeve, blowing the dust away. It was a one meter tall item. It was three-legged and its body was grey. It was the type of pure grey that was like the color of his Primordial Flames.

It looked like a cauldron. As the dust cleared, Qing Shui could see the carvings on it.

A Dragon, a Phoenix, a three-headed dog, a golden bull, a golden elephant, a fearsome ape, a mythical tortoise, a giant beast covered in flames….

The carved images were very small, about the size of a palm, but the vigor and charm of the art was fully expressed.

Qing Shui observed the lifelike carvings. Then, he noticed a word on its other side.

Primordial!

What was that? Qing Shui looked at the “Primordial” on it. He could see that on the other side of the carvings, there was another word but it was blocked by the wall. He did not know what that “Primordial” meant.

He rotated it.

He managed to rotate it but the item was actually upwards of 10000 jin. Why was this item so heavy?

Before Qing Shui could ponder about the weight of the item, he saw the words that followed “Primordial”.

“Demon Refining Furnace”

This is a Primordial Demon Refining Furnace?

Qing Shui’s heartbeat sped up. When he first heard about the existence of Refining Demons, he kept thinking about when he would own a Demon Refining Furnace. He even planned to go to the School of Demon Refinery when he reached the Eastern Victory Divine Continent to get a Demon Refining Furnace. Now there was no need.

At this moment, Qing Shui was extremely elated. However, he suddenly had a thought. Why was the Demon Refining Furnace placed here? It seemed to be untouched for years.

“Ordinarily, there was no possibility that Yan Clan did not know that it was a Demon Refining Furnace. Unless no one had bothered to look at this unremarkable item all these years or no one knew the art of Refining Demons.

After Qing Shui speculated about it for awhile, he put the Primordial Demon Refining Furnace directly into the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. It was not the right time to research about that, so he continued surveying the multitude of fantastic oddities on both sides of the passageway.

After that discovery, Qing Shui did not dare to let anything slip by. Once he felt that the item had spiritual energy, he stored it in the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal.

“Well, gems? There are so many. They are all top grade. I’ll use them for synthesis.”

Qing Shui kept the large heaps of colorful precious gems in the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. He could synthesize them using the Ancient Art of Forging anyway.

“Medicinal herbs?”

“There are even those that are three thousand years old.”

As Qing Shui sighed happily about how the Yan Clan was such an affluent family, he continued storing things into the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. There were really too many valuable items.

“Millennium Amethyst, Canfeng Dewdrops….”