Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 994 – On the Eve of Entering Greencloud Mountain

As Yiye Jiange saw Qing Shui return, her heart burst with excitement. He really exterminated the two Guardian Clans. Just like how he had told her, thinking closely about the details, he had never told any lies. Once he said he would do it, it would definitely get done.

If he could really do it, should she just marry him now?

That was the moment Yiye Jiange blanked out. Until Qing Shui embraced her, she finally realized that the people around them had started laughing at her. Seeing the warm look of her man, her face had become crimson – as beautiful as the rainbow in the sky.

“Sister Jiange, the way you look at Qing Shui, even I am jealous.” Huoyun Lou-Li said as she laughed.

Qing Shui and Ji Yunlang greeted everyone. Qing Shui then went about to hug each of his younger children. But once he saw Yiye Jiange’s expression, his heart suddenly felt pity, so he directly embraced her.

“Daddy hug me, don’t hug other people…”

Qing Shui looked at the clingy Qing Yu and embraced her again. He pampered her a little and pinched her nose lightly. Yiye Jiange also pinched the cheeks of the laughing little girl “Baby girl, your daddy has already embraced you for so long. He only held auntie for a second and you are already not happy.”

Yiye Jiange finally relaxed, the embarrassment that was on her face had disappeared. She happily played with Qing Yu, then everyone took the opportunity to greet Ji Yunlang as they walked towards the courtyard to where they all lived.

Qing Shui’s return was within everyone’s expectation but it was still a happy occasion. There was only approximately ten days left for the opening of the Sacred Land of Panacea, thus they had to live here for a few more days.

The courtyard here was rather big and there was also a very spacious backyard. However, this did not disturbed Qing Clan’s cultivation. Now that everyone was sitting in the living room, they started to discuss some interesting matters.

In a flash, several days had already gone by. These last couple of days, the Qing Clan had been cultivating seriously in the backyard. Basically, their training would span the entire day, which even moved Ji Yunlang. With such hard work, it was impossible for the Qing Clan to not be powerful. Especially given how Qing Shui was their leader.

Qing Shui was also not stingy, he also gave some things to Ji Yunlang so he could also participate. Their relationship was clear between them. An alliance between brothers and a friendship that goes beyond years, where age was not a problem. Qing Shui and Ji Yunlang addressed each other as brothers, while the others had to address him as Elder.

The things that he had given Ji Yunlang were shocking. In the battle between Qing Shui and the Beiming Clan and the Wan Clan, he had already known how strong they were. From such a young age, to had already reached such strength was purely from his hard work. Still, Qing Shui had given some stuffs to help him.

Martial arts and lineage was the basis to every clan and sect. This was something that would not be passed on to people outside of the family. However, Qing Shui had given some of it to Ji Yunlang. He knows it was only a portion but he had already felt that it was incredible. At the same time, he had a better grasp of Qing Shui’s strength and charm.

On this day, the Qing Clan and the members of the General Manor left on birds. There were a couple days left but Qing Shui had decided to wait on the location. Once they knew the time it would open, they would be the first to rush in. Understandably, this was a fate changing opportunity.

The Greencloud step was situated within the General Country’s central mountain ranges. It was surrounded by forests and marshes that were filled with strong beasts. Of course, it was not like that no one had tried to travel into it. But when the Sacred Land of Panacea only opens for one day every three hundred years, and the fact that there was members of the General Manor to guard the gate, only very few people had had the opportunity to enter.

They had attracted some attention along the way. People had to look again when they saw such a strong flying beast. Although it was not far from the General Manor and only would only take half a day’s worth of travel, their travelling speed was a bit slower since there were children with them.

The Greencloud mountain was at the center of a mountain range. It was not very large but the plant growth on the mountain appeared to be very dense, to the point that it would surprise people. The flourishing growth meandered up and down. From a distance, it looked like a huge green dragon.

Qing Shui felt that the mountain was releasing a formless Spiritual Charm, a feeling that he could not describe. Additionally, the rocks on that mountain had a darker shade compared to the other mountains. If one was to take a closer look for a long time, it was as though those rocks were metal.

Qing Shui walked up towards the cliff and knocked on it lightly. When he knocked on it with a bit of strength it had the same feeling as jade. The rocks were rather tough and would only crack if he use some monstrous strength.

A single line of people followed the mountain path forward that was full of twists and turns. Qing Shui held both Qing Yu and Qing Yan, while the other children walked on their own. They would have to get past this bit of harshness to get to where they want to go.

Suddenly a strong, pressuring Qi rushed out. As they raised their head up, they saw a hidden cave entrance just in front of them where the pressure was coming from. Perhaps that was the entrance to the Sacred Land of Panacea?

The line of people entered the cave. Once they were inside, Qing Shui could not help but open his eyes widely. There was a giant hall, and it could not be said that it was really clean but there was not as much dust as one would imagine.

Sixteen giant pillars that would require the strength of tens of people towered at a hundred meters. The embedded pearl that hangs in midair gave off a dim light, it was neither bright nor dark.

Statue! Pressure!

Qing Shui soon realized that there were some strange statues in the surrounding. These statues all had different poses, but the statues’ action was interesting and even carried a trace of pressure.

From the north, a faint halo that was quite hazy could be seen. Qing Shui’s sharp senses could feel the spirit energy moving. That must be the seal.

“Qing Shui, this is the entrance to the Sacred Land of Panacea. Though it is still sealed, it would open exactly at noon after a couple of days. After 24 hours, the seal would close again.” Ji Yunlang said to Qing Shui with a smile.

“Oh, let me go see, what’s so special about this seal?” Qing Shui said with a smile.

“Rumor has it that this seal was made by someone who had a strength beyond Martial Emperor.” Ji Yunlang said with a laugh as they walked towards the halo.

Beyond Martial Emperor?

Qing Shui was shocked when he heard about someone who was beyond Martial Emperor strength. He didn’t know many things about Martial Emperor. All he knew was that the strength of a Peak Grade Five Martial Emperor was around 5000 stars while a Peak Grade One Martial Emperor was about 1000 stars. For someone with a strength beyond Grade Five Martial Emperor, he wouldn’t know how many stars it could be. He expected no one knows within the five continents since the strongest in the five continents were all Peak Grade Five Martial Emperors.

The feeling of an invisible resistance would get stronger the closer they were. There was no way of moving any closer about five meters from the seal, just like a child that was being pushed back by a strong man.

Qing Shui still could not advance another step even after he used his strength to the max of his abilities. This was a result he expected. Shaking his head, he decided he would not try again. It probably required breaking the laws of heaven and earth to break this seal. Even people who were from the surrounding areas were unable to break the seal. They could only use the strength of about 5000 stars here.

Since he could not enter now, he would have to wait for another three days. Qing Shui took the opportunity to look around in the hall and to familiarize with the surroundings since he had nothing better to do.

Several members of the Qing Clan and the General Manor went out to hunt. He had carried some dried foods in the Interspatial Silk Sachet. However, everyone wanted to have some game meat, especially the children. Members of the General Manor could not allow the Qing Clan to go by themselves, so they went with the others.

There were several smaller inner halls within the surroundings of the main hall. Only the north side didn’t contain one, the other sides all had one for a total of three. In the end, the ladies set up tent in the last inner hall while the men gathered just outside.

Although the inner hall was small, it still had adequate space. Qing Shui helped his mother and women to properly tie down the tents. The female members of the Qing Clan took over a different inner hall and the female members of the General Manor had taken over another one. The other one was left as a spare.

Soon, the people that had gone out to hunt had returned with two wild boars, several musk deers, wild mountain rabbits and mountain goats. These were some nice game meats since the land didn’t lack in beasts. Men and women of the World of the Nine Continents could eat meat every day. Martial artists do not get fat because of their constant cultivation. Only the wealthy who lacked practice would turn obese.

Of course, there were people that chose to be vegetarian. Eating plain and lightly was not bad either since there was no shortage of wild legumes, vegetables, herbs, etc. Nutritional value of the vegetables was also substantial so it all depended on the person’s interest.

This time they only added some ordinary seasoning. However, since Qing Shui and the Qing Clan had decent cooking skills, a sweet barbeque fragrance permeated the entire area.

The General Manor side was doing well too, their roasted meat was just as good. They traded meats with each other after they had finish roasting. People surrounded the fire and ate their food together as some people discussed about blood boiling topics. Everyone had a smile on their face.

Qing Yu ran around between Qing Shui, Qing Yi and several of the women.

Two days went by in a blink of an eye, but the seal showed no changes. Ji Yunlang had said that the seal would only be released only on the specific day. Even if there was still a minute left before it was to be released, it would still not have any changes.

Qing Shui was curious about the seal, but he could not grasp what was behind the it. The Spiritual Qi within the Sacred Land was also a mystery of nature. Just like how the Spiritual Qi was unevenly distributed amongst the nine continents, it was not rare to have treasured location to appear at random.

Today was already the third day. If everything went smoothly, at noon the seal would be release. Thus, everyone who waited was especially excited. They were aware about the benefits of entering the Sacred Land of Panacea. Going inside was already equivalent to one year’s worth of continuous cultivation. On top of that, there were rare medicinal herbs and treasures in there. It was all up to chance whether one of them will obtain it.

Qing Shui embraced Qing Yu and chatted with Ji Yunlang.

“Qing Shui, if you enter don’t head forward blindly. There will only be one day of time, within ten miles was the safe zone. Within the safe zone there is basically no danger. However, beyond the ten miles perimeter, there is no more guarantees. Only one day of time, you must exit before tomorrow at noon.” Ji Yunlang repeated his words to Qing Shui making sure that he was actively listened.

“Brother, your last entry, how far did you get?” Qing Shui asked while laughing.

“Five hundred miles, there’s no limit of strength in the Sacred Land. Beasts with strengths of 5000 stars could appear, so please be careful.” Ji Yunlang said with a bit of fear.

Qing Shui could tell from Ji Yunlang’s expression that he must had met such danger before. Else, it would have been someone in the General Manor who had a brush of death with a beast, probably over 5000 stars in strength.

Qing Shui thought about his Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. Within it, there were also beasts with over 5000 stars of strength. Thus, the Sacred Land having it is also possible. Looks like within that Ancient ruin, there could also be beasts with strength of over 5000 stars.