Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 795 – Preparation, Refining Poison Weapons, Jade Dragon Dagger as Weapon Core

Now that the others knew about Di Chen and Qing Shui’s relationship, they were very happy about it. Qing Bei had actually secretly given Qing Shui a thumb-up, both amusing and embarrassing Qing Shui.

Qing You also looked at Qing Shui and secretly gave him a thumbs-up as well. The other members of the Qing Clan’s third generation also congratulated Qing Shui. This was the difference between the Qing Clan and other clans. Qing Shui could casually communicate with the Qing Clan’s third generation and they were all close and comfortable around each other. In other clans, those of the younger generation would be fighting and scheming against each other, putting on fake personalities and viciously seeking opportunities to backstab others.

Of course, Di Chen could see the interactions between Qing Shui and the others. She gave Qing Shui an angry glare before exiting the room, yet she didn’t really seem to be very upset because she still smiled at the others. She was just feeling so awkward that she didn’t know how to stay for any second longer.

“Qing Shui, hurry and go check up on Sister Chen.” Canghai Mingyue urged him at the side.

“Brother Shui, hurry up and go. Even sister-in-law is asking you to go.” Qing Bei chuckled.

Qing Shui laughed mischievously then exited the room, excusing himself from the others. Regardless of the reason, he should go for the sake of saving Di Chen’s face. After all, this kind of thing was pretty embarrassing for her.

Qing Shui walked out through the big lounge’s door to the sound of everyone’s laughter. He then continued in the direction of the rear courtyard because he had a hunch that Di Chen would definitely be there.

The moment he entered the rear courtyard, he spotted Di Chen’s silhouette not too far away. She stood as if between Heaven and Earth, fully dressed in snow white. Her extraordinary grace would make one feel as if she was very far from reach. Her out-of-this-world figure appeared to be a little lonely, but really more hard to approach.

Qing Shui shook his head. This was his inner-most heart from his previous life acting up. He now could be considered a very confident person, but somewhere deep down inside, he still felt a humble insignificance. He would only exude a strong confidence when he was protecting the people by his side during battles. He still needed to breakthrough. Only when his physical strength was powerful enough could he truly stand in front of them.

Qing Shui was well aware that he only barely deserved to have everyone around him. Then again, deserving or not deserving in relationships didn’t matter as long as the two people could be together harmoniously. Such thoughts only came to Qing Shui because his ladies were simply too outstanding, each of them like a heavenly fairy that had descended to the mortal world.

He quietly walked to her side and glanced at her to see if she was angry. Her face was still faintly tinted by red. “You’re angry.” Qing Shui pointed out with a laugh.

“No. Why would I be angry?” Di Chen glanced back at Qing Shui and gave him a small smile.

“I saw you go out and thought that you had gotten angry.” Qing Shui smiled back at her.

“Are you afraid that I’d get angry or is it that you don’t wish to see me angry?” Di Chen asked him softly.

“I can’t bear to see you angry.” Qing Shui said gently, as he pulled her jade-like hand.

Di Chen didn’t resist and let Qing Shui pull her. She gave him a side glance. Although the times they spent together were relatively short, his figure in her heart was always so clear and distinct. She knew that she’d be involved with him for her the rest of her entire life.

At first, she had only thought that this man was very unique. She was fond of his personality because he wasn’t the least bit arrogant and willful like those disciples from aristocratic clans. Most importantly, there had been the wonderful dream among the sea of flowers that had happened twice. On top of that, during the second time……

The wonderful dream among the sea of flowers was not real, yet it surpassed reality. Those feelings she felt were directly connected to her soul. She would never be able to forget them as long as she lived. Although they weren’t really together in reality, a lot had happened between them and her heart was already with him. Otherwise she wouldn’t allow him to bully her this way.

“You are mine.” Qing Shui pulled Di Chen as they slowly walked in the rear courtyard. His voice was soft yet certain.

“What are you talking about?” Di Chen huffed. Her melodious voice sent a shiver down Qing Shui’s spine. He turned his head to the woman who was like an immortal that had descended to the mortal world.

“I still feel like I am dreaming. God is indeed caring towards me to let such a gorgeous woman like you fall in love with me.” Qing Shui linked his hands with those of Di Chen. He stood across her as he gazed into her eyes, enjoying the atmosphere around them.

“You are the best and most outstanding man I know. Qing Shui, I, Chen’er, like you!” Di Chen laughed softly.

As if her words were imbued with magic, Qing Shui’s confidence instantly swelled and his vanity greatly satisfied. He wasn’t going to think about whether she was speaking the truth. He was greatly enjoying the moment and really liked what she had told him.

As the saying goes, ‘behind a successful man, there is a great woman’. This woman had been a great influence on his present success and had even played a decisive role at times.

The tales of ‘Storming the Crown For A Beauty’[1], ‘Loving the Beauties More Than Jiangshan’[2] and ‘Setting Fire To Fool The Feudal Princes’[3] from his previous world had shown how influential a woman could be. These women could cause the downfall of a country and thus cause its people to suffer. If they could encourage their men to follow the right path, the ending of the stories may have been very different.

stormed crowns for a femme

Qing Shui gently embraced her and felt very warm. He indulged in the warmth of her body and that feeling of soft ecstasy. However, she had made clear that she wouldn’t allow him to touch her until after she broke through……

Qing Shui had no idea to what level she wished to breakthrough to. She didn’t speak much due to the embarrassment from back then, so Qing Shui didn’t ask any further because he knew the reason anyway. Sometimes, he just ached for her. He wanted her so badly because he loved her.

Di Chen gently wrapped her arms around Qing Shui’s neck. Their bodies and their hearts were tightly pressed together. She could feel his strong heartbeats.

“How are you planning to take care of the Baima Aristocrat Clan?” The two snuggled up to each other for awhile before Di Chen gently pushed Qing Shui away.

“There’s no other way but to wipe them out. They will just become a potential threat if we let them stay.” Qing Shui would be very decisive when it came to such things.

“So we’re waiting for them to come?” Di Chen looked at him.

“Since nothing too alarming is happening, we shall just wait. They will come.” Qing Shui had initially planned to leave for the Baima Aristocrat Clan. However, since nothing was happening right now, it was better to wait for them to come instead. Besides, if he missed the Baima Aristocrat Clan on his way there, the consequences would be too horrible to even contemplate.

If he stayed here to wait for his opponents to come, Luan Luan would also be able to help him. Qing Shui estimated that dealing with the Baima Aristocrat Clan this time wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Then again, not everything would always go as planned. He needed to have a fallback plan and to keep killing techniques with him.

There were only three Five Colored Poison-tempered Frosted Iron Balls and a few poison-tempered Coldsteel Needles left. These were not enough. Since he still had some time, he decided that he ought to make some preparations.

Unexpectedly, no one bothered the two of them when they were in the rear courtyard. They had been there for quite some time now. Di Chen felt that it was about time to return, so she pulled Qing Shui towards the front courtyard.

Anyways, Qing Shui was the person who had the final say about the Baima Aristocrat Clan. If there was going to be a battle, only Qing Shui and at most Luan Luan would fight. Di Chen and the rest wouldn’t be able to intervene now.

Luan Luan was already the second highest ranked figure among the Qing Clan now and she was elated about it. She knew she had been able to reach her current strength so soon because of Qing Shui and she was extremely grateful to be his daughter.

Noontime came about very soon. Ever since Qing Shui’s return, everyone basically took their meals together at the same time and then go off afterwards. Qing Shui was no different. He returned to his own bedroom and entered the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal.

He was about to prepare for the next battle. He had relied on poison and Hidden Weapons Techniques to eliminate the Zuoshi Aristocrat Clan and the Eastern Palace Aristocrat Clan. On top of that, he had the bizarre primordial flames. If he only had his own physical strength to rely on, eliminating those clans would’ve basically been a pipe dream.

Regardless of the methods, there wouldn’t be any issues as long as he could win and survive. Poison-using sects could be found in almost every city in the World of the Nine Continents and poison had thus gained a very important standing. After all, there were a countless number of unusual plants in the World of Nine Continents and the poisonous ones were definitely not few. This contributed to the large number of poison cultivators.

The upgrade of the Fifth Wave to the Sixth Wave had allowed Qing Shui’s strength to forge ahead tremendously. Any opponent weakened to about three stars could be instantly killed by the Sword of Sixth Wave. With the help of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant and the Thunderous Beast, Qing Shui had very terrifying hidden strength.

Hidden Weapons were Qing Shui’s killing techniques. As long as his opponents were paralyzed by the Thunderous Beast, they basically had no chance of survival.

Qing Shui was aware that he had powerful supplementary skills. However, he had a very difficult time breaking through with the Ancient Strengthening Technique. Compared to the others, it seemed like he had yet to tap into this powerful body-strengthening technique. He was looking forward to the Seventh Heavenly Layer because he had a hunch that it would be a major turning point.

Qing Shui wasn’t in a hurry to cultivate because he had to make his preparations first. The Baima Aristocrat Clan definitely had many people who were stronger than him. Still, his defence should be enough when he was under the State of the 7 Stars Armour to last against them. During that time, he must have a killing technique ready.

Poison Weapon!

Qing Shui thought it was time for him to make a poison weapon because he had the main ingredient now – the 10,000 Years Coldsteel. The 10,000 Years Coldsteel could be used as an ingredient to make a poison weapon because of the terrifying cold poison that it contained. If it could be enhanced through the right processes, it would be extremely formidable.

He remembered the Jade Dragon Battle Sabre and the Jade Dragon Dagger and quickly took the latter out. He realized that this Jade Dragon Dagger was very suitable to be used as a mold and could even be used as the poison weapon’s core.

He had no idea what material the Jade Dragon Dagger was made out of. It was about thirteen inches long and two fingers wide. It could considered to be an unusually small dagger and for this exact reason, he decided to use it as a weapon core.

Next, Qing Shui retrieved the Five-Colored Daylily Python’s poison that he had previously stored and started refining it. He was going to make this Five-Colored Poison even purer before strengthening it with the crystals produced by the Crystal Lions.

He took out that big lump of 10,000 Years Coldsteel. This could definitely be counted as a treasure. A 1,000 Years Coldsteel was already considered to be quite a decent item, so the 10,000 Years Coldsteel was basically on the same level as a Moonstone.

Using the primordial flames, he began to smelt the fist-sized 10,000 Years Coldsteel. He slowly melted and purified it. After smelting it for a round, Qing Shui continued to refine the poison.

For the next few days, Qing Shui went through the same process. He didn’t stop until the Five-Colored Poison wasn’t any weaker than those Five-Colored Poison Pearls he had gotten from the Heavenly Palace before. The poison had already almost achieved the right saturation and state. With the help of the crystals produced by the Crystal Lions, the poison was formed into poison pearls. This made Qing Shui extremely happy.

Thirty pearls!

He was fairly satisfied with this amount. This was double the amount of Five-Colored Poison Pearls he had previously gotten from the Heavenly Palace. Clenching his teeth, Qing Shui took out fifteen of them. Since he already had the ingredients, he might as well make a terrifying poison weapon.

Creating a poison weapon first required the core of the poison weapon to be refined. The core must be exceptionally poisonous. Qing Shui decided to take out fifteen Five-Colored Poison Pearls to refine the poison weapon’s core.

This was Qing Shui’s first time refining a poison weapon. He was a little excited and looked forward to the end result.

He placed the Jade Dragon Dagger in the smelting vessel and started to slowly smelt it. Qing Shui didn’t dare to be reckless. He wouldn’t tolerate failure, despite this being his first attempt

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Translator’s Note:

[1] Storming the Crown For A Beauty is a story about Wu Sangui who betrayed the ruling government of that time to the Manchus for Chen Yuanyuan, a famous courtesan in Suzhou.

[2] Loving the Beauties More Than Jiangshan is a poem that was commonly used to mock political rulers who only cared about the beauties and neglected the affairs of their nation.

[3] Settling Fire To Fool The Feudal Princes is a story that is very similar to ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. Except that in this story, King You of Western Zhou lit up the beacon to fool the Feudal Princes for the sake of making his concubine laugh. The story ended with a breach in his capital and his death because the Feudal Princes no longer responded to the beacon, thinking that it was their King’s joke.