The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1451 - Zhan Yu and Hua Rumei's Grand Wedding

Qing Shui set out to go back to the Demon Lord Palace. He wanted to eliminate the Soaring Dragon Organization as soon as possible. With that old man around, he would never rest peacefully. Even though they had the old men of the Great Yan Dynasty around, there was still the fear of being careless, that was why he wanted to resolve this matter quickly.

This time around, he was already quite familiar with the Demon Lord Palace. His power had increased a lot since the last time he was here. He benefited the most from the Ancient Ruins expedition. Not only did his power increased tremendously, his beast taming skills had also increased a lot. Most importantly, he had obtained the Golden Battle God Inheritance.

With the Nine Continent Steps being unusable, Qing Shui sat on the Fire Bird's back and cultivated the Divine Truth Hearing Technique - he had nothing else better to do anyway.

He made quite a progress during the few days he cultivated it at home. It could be considered as a small achievement but making another breakthrough would be difficult. Now, he could easily hear anything within a thousand-mile radius. It was a small accomplishment, but not quite perfection.

A thousand-mile radius range was already very good, but still far away from what Qing Shui desired. When completely mastered, the Divine Truth Hearing Technique could allow one to hear every sound in the Nine Continents. It might sound exaggerated, but it was still unknown how many stages were left. Cultivating the later stages would also not be an easy task.

The Divine Truth Hearing Technique gave Qing Shui an edge during battles. As the saying goes, keep your eyes focused and your ears alert, hearing was just as, if not, more important than sight.

Qing Shui could now increase his battle power if he closed his eyes and used Divine Sense with his hearing. Of course, combining those two with his sense of sight would increase his power a lot more.

As he arrived at the Demon Lord Palace once more, everything felt different somehow. It felt as if many people in the palace had become friendlier. The Medical Pavilion was an exception, to Qing Shui, it was the most comfortable place in the first place. Most of the people here were old people and would not be envious of Qing Shui's abilities. Instead, they always tried to help him, especially the old monster.

As for the Battle Pavilion and Secret Service Pavilion, they were the strongest of the 12 Earthly Branches. Even the elite among the thousands of warriors and the Demon Boss Zhan Yu were quite familiar with Qing Shui.

Even the Vice Palace Lord Hua Rumei had become Qing Shui's sister. Additionally, a rumor was going around that there was something going on between him and the Demon Lord, though no one knew if it was true.

Many people started greeting Qing Shui. He greeted back and made a turn towards the Medical Pavilion. Everyone knew that Hua Rumei and Zhan Yu were going to get married soon.

This was a joyous event in the Demon Lord Palace. Plus, they insisted to wait for Qing Shui's return to witness their marriage. This just goes to show how important Qing Shui's position was in the palace.

When he arrived at Hua Rumei's manor, he noticed that Tantai Linyan was also there. As soon as she saw him, Hua Rumei lunged at Qing Shui and gave him a merry hug, "You're finally back!"

"Oh boy, you're so excited to get married?" Qing Shui chuckled and replied.

"You're asking for a beating aren't you? Teasing me like this. By the way, how's your family?" Hua Rumei laughed and said.

Qing Shui understood what he meant and nodded, "They're doing very well!"

"Then, you can finally relax. This thing has been bothering you for decades after all."

"Yeah, I feel much relaxed now, but there are still some things to be done. After sister's wedding, we will set off for the Yan Dynasty and make a base there to wipe off all other opposing forces, if not I'd still be restless."

Tantai Lingyan stood there silently. It was then that Qing Shui noticed they had not greeted each other. He smiled and said, "Can you exchange a few words with me, as to satisfy my vanity?"

Tantai Lingyan was confused,"What?"

Qing Shui touched his nose, "Are you happy that Sister and Brother Zhan are getting married?"

"Of course I'm happy!"

"Then, would you tell me why you're happy?" Qing Shui felt bold to be asking this question.

"Isn't it worthwhile to be happy for two people in love?" Tantai Lingyan stared at Qing Shui.

"You believe in love?" Qing Shui laughed when he asked this, he felt as though he had said this before. He sounded like a con man, and plus there were in a church......

"What is love?" The woman hesitated and said as she looked at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui was surprised. He had never expected for her to ask this question. He smiled and said, "Everyone has different thoughts about it. How about I tell you these few lines, 'Our days of wine and roses, make it hard to say farewell. Till the boundary between worlds, till the end of time, till death do us part. As youth slipped past us each dawn, I wondered if the moon seemed as chilly to you too. Across the mountain, so close yet so far you are. Oh, how I wish the Blue Bird would watch over us.'" Qing Shui shamelessly quoted this old poem.

"I've never felt that way before," the woman said bluntly.

"Pfft!" Hua Rumei burst out laughing.

Qing Shui awkwardly touched his nose and said again, "A day without you, is like spending three years apart."

"Nope!"

"No matter how rough it gets, for you, all is worth doing."

"Till death shall we part, you will always be in my heart. Give me your hand, let us walk till the world's end."

"Oh, fair maiden, I can't get you out of my mind. One day without you, makes me lose my mind."

"The pearls you gave, return them I must. Why didn't we meet before I gave away my heart?"

Qing Shui kept on blattering, while the woman kept shaking her head......

"Qing Shui, is this a love confession?" Hua Rumei seemed to be triggered now.

"I'm helping her to find a direction towards love......" Qing Shui laughed and said. He had already achieved his objective anyway.

His objective was simple, to say as much as he can, especially things regarding man and woman relationships.

……

Three days later, Zhan Yu and Hua Rumei's wedding was held at the Demon Lord Palace, with Qing Shui as the marriage witness. One thing that disappointed him was that there were no groom's mate and bride's mate, otherwise, he could have been the Demon Lord's partner for at least once.

Zhan Yu and Hua Rumei's relationship had been going on for a long time and many people had witnessed them growing together. Watching them finally getting married was a pleasant thing for most people.

In the Main Continent, many practiced polygamy. However, most people as remarkable as Hua Rumei did not, but women like her were rare to begin with. Outstanding men never lack women, many of them dump their exes and find a woman like Hua Rumei to finally settle down with just one partner.

Qing Shui could never become a man like this. Of course, he did not think that what he was doing was a good thing and instead he felt ashamed of himself. He felt that love was selfish but he already had so many women, and there seemed to be a tendency that the numbers would increase.

Topics like this, he could not discuss it with the Demon Lord, and who knows when he would be able to. He wondered if she would accept a his "concubine". Even now, Qing Shui's women seem to be getting more independent. Princess Zhang took over the Heaven Secrets Academy, Di Chen leading the Lotus Sect, Yu Ruyan, Yehuang Guwu and Tantai Xuan watching over Putuo Mountain in Hainan.

The Demon Lord's name was Tantai Lingyan and the surname Tantai was very rare. Qing Shui once asked the Demon Lord and the answer he got was that there were too many people in the World of Nine Continents, even the surnames like Tantai had a lot of members. The Tantai Family had branched out a lot since ancient times. It would not have been strange if they turned out to be family members millions of years ago.

In the past, no one would even care about surnames since there were too many people with the same surname. The number of people in the World of Nine Continents was too big, too many people had the same surnames. Qing Shui had only asked it on a whim.

The wedding was quite merry. There were no outsiders, only members of the Demon Lord Palace.

The Demon Lord showed up for the wedding. Qing Shui shamelessly stuck with her and she did not say anything as if he was not there. However, the shameless would always make his presence be noticed no matter what.

The day had passed by quickly. The newlyweds went back to their rooms and the other people also left.

"Shouldn't you be going back? Why are you still following me?" Tantai Lingyan looked at Qing Shui.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Two days later, we're setting out for the Yan Dynasty." Qing Shui smiled and said.

"En, okay!"

"We don't need to bring along too many people, just a few of us would be enough. It would be better for the others to hold the fort at the Demon Lord Palace, including the Grand Elders." Qing Shui was not that worried about the Demon Lord Palace, the formation here was very solid. With Demon Lord Elders like the Grand Elders and the old monster here guarding, the Demon Lord Palace would be safe.

"Okay then!" Tantai Lingyan nodded after some thought.

"By the way, you can try cultivating this if you're free, it'll help a lot." Qing Shui handed over the Divine Truth Hearing Technique scroll to her and left without saying anything else.

Bewildered, she stared at Qing Shui as he walked away. Before this, she told him that she felt tired, it was the first time she had said such things to others. Her weaknesses were always kept secret. She never complained her loneliness to anyone, not even to Hua Rumei.

She could more or less guess Qing Shui's feelings towards her but she never even considered it before. She had never looked at men that way before either. To her, even Zhan Yu only had this little connection with the Demon Lord Palace, if anything else, it would be his relationship with Hua Rumei.

It was not that she looked down on men, just that she never had the heart nor the mood to consider those things. Sometimes, she even wondered if she was a normal woman, someone like her who did not even look forward to love yet had always felt lonely. Maybe that loneliness was the only thing that proved her existence as a human, as a woman.

Ever since she left the Crystal Palace, she had never felt the desire to come back and look for Qing Shui nor look for other men. This was how cold she had always been, sealing her heart and herself away, for the past 20 years.

Even now, this man would always pop up in her mind. She did not hate him, nor did she like him. He was only someone that she was closer to than everybody else.

Maybe, this was the turning point. She turned around and walked back towards her own manor. Her soul sighed, not sure if she was sighing for herself or for Qing Shui.

Two days later, they took off. This time, there were only four people; Qing Shui, Tantai Lingyan, Hua Rumei and Zhanyu. Jin Ci had to stay at the Demon Lord Palace, Hua Rumei made sure that he did. Coincidentally, his cultivation was almost complete.

Jin Ci let out a sigh of dismay as he knew Hua Rumei's intentions. Even though he knew all too well that he had no chance at all, all he could do was bury his feelings and lock them away in the depths of his heart.