The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 584 - Qing Shui's power, Grade Three Martial Saint

Qing Shui sat beside Canghai Mingyue on the bed. She was showing a poised side of her beauty as she cradled her children lovingly in her arms. A young mother would always show her prettiest side of herself to the world, regardless of her physical appearance. There was an unrelenting happiness in her gentle smile - it was the loveliest expression she has ever shown.

"Mingyue, I will go make a bowl of soup for you. You need to replenish the nutrients in your body." Qing Shui stood up and pecked Canghai Mingyue on the cheek. Then he looked at two of his children and gave each a peck on the cheek as well.

"Okay!"

After he went out of the room, he noticed that everyone was busy cooking food. Naturally, they had to cook as quickly as possible because they hadn't eaten for almost the whole day. So after making sure that Canghai Mingyue had given birth safely, everyone went to the kitchen and started cooking for the family feast. Moreover, Canghai Mingyue needed some food to replenish her health as well.

Huoyun Liu-Li's smile slowly widened as soon as she caught a glimpse of Qing Shui walking over to the kitchen. She had a complicated expression on her face that Qing Shui found difficult to discern.

"Why did you only let sister bear your children if you like kids so much?" Huoyun Liu-Li whispered to Qing Shui while pulling him closer.

"Do you want to bear my child then?" Qing Shui smiled as he looked at Huoyun Liu-Li blushing in embarrassment.

"I don't want to! And who wants to bear your child, you big meanie. Qingzhuang is willing to bear your child. Why don't you go find her and make one." Huoyun Liu-Li bolted before Qing Shui could say anything.

Canghai Mingyue's pregnancy was beyond Qing Shui's expectation. He didn't plan on making any of his women pregnant, especially during these few years because his cultivation base was still in an unstable condition. He was also concerned that his loved ones would suffer the most should something bad happened to him.

Because of that, no one was remotely pregnant even with the time spent with Qing Shui. He planned to have children once he had managed to break through the realm of Martial Saint, as well as gaining the capability of fully protecting himself. Moreover, he would have more time to spend with his women by giving them his love and undivided attention, as well as the warmth of being a whole family.

However, he didn't expect Canghai Mingyue would be pregnant with two of his children this soon. On top of that, he didn't expect that the birth of his children would lead to the successful breakthrough of the Sixth Heavenly Layer of Ancient Strengthening Technique too. His newfound strength alone was a conclusive indication that he had managed to break through to the realm of Martial Saint.

Qing Shui told the others that he would be in charge of making the soup for everyone. He took a turtle imbued with an ample amount of Spiritual Qi from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal as the main ingredient, and added a few medicinal herbs to concoct a large pot of Turtle Soup .

Qing Shui scooped a portion of the soup into a bowl and told the others to take the rest if they wanted to drink the soup. With a bowl of soup in his hands, he made his way to Canghai Mingyue's room. She seemed lethargic while cradling the sleeping children in her arms.

Qing Shui set the bowl down on the table and then proceeded to gently place the babies on the bed next to Canghai Mingyue. After that, he picked up the bowl, sat on the other side of the bed and said, "Mingyue, you can have a rest after you finish this soup."

"Let me do it myself." Canghai Mingyue quickly offered when she saw Qing Shui scooping out the soup with the spoon for her.

"We are wife and husband. There's nothing to be embarrassed about." Qing Shui laughed as he teased Canghai Mingyue.

Qing Shui fed Canghai Mingyue one spoonful at a time until she finished the soup. As he kept feeding the soup to Canghai Mingyue, he pondered about his life when he came to the World of Nine Continents. He would have never expected that an alluring woman such as Canghai Mingyue could become his woman and bear his children…. In general, he felt quite content with his current life.

The Turtle Soup was proven to be effective as Canghai Mingyue had regained a healthy complexion on her face after finishing the soup. Qing Shui put a blanket on her as she laid back on the bed.

After a few moments, Qing Yi and the others came in to check on Canghai Mingyue. Qing Shui watched Canghai Mingyue slowly drifted off to sleep before he went back to his room. The moment he entered his room, he went straight into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to continue his cultivation. Qing Shui realized that he needed to re-schedule the time to enter the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal soon to fit around his current new life.

As soon as he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, Qing Shui began to sense his own powers. He could tell that the strength of his body had improved by multiple folds. However, the details of his strength was still unclear.

Qing Shui's overall strength had increased roughly by four times after the upgrade to the Sixth Heavenly Layer of Ancient Strengthening Technique. His overall energy had reached to the strength of 120 countries, and his overall defense had reached the strength of 150 countries.

Just then, Qing Shui soared towards the sky and hovered in the air. He was able to walk normally as if he was going up on a flight of steps. The air beneath his feet felt solid, much like the solid ground on earth.

Martial Saint, he had finally reached the realm of Martial Saint! The Sixth Heavenly Layer of Ancient Strengthening Technique was in fact the realm of the Martial Saint!

He could feel a strong destructive force inside his body. Qing Shui quickly wore his armor and equipped his weapons to get a sense of the level of his terrifying power.

Assessing and evaluating one's power was a common thing to do in the World of Nine Continents. It was one of the things that Nian Feng's grandfather had taught him to do when he reached the realm of Martial Saint. Qing Shui would be able to measure the level of his strength as a Martial Saint based on how much power the uncommon weapons and armors could endure.

Without hesitation, Qing Shui quickly equipped everything he had. This would let him observe the endurance of his forged equipments from the energy of a Martial Saint. Common decent weapons would still break apart within a few moves by a Martial Saint. Only a few divine artifacts or weapons that mimicked the divine weapons would be able to endure the powers of a Martial Saint warrior.

Boom!

The bracelet on his wrist exploded!

Boom!

His belt exploded as well!

It was the same for his helmet. When he thought about it, it wasn't unusual that his bracelet, belt, and helmet had exploded because his strength had become increasing powerful than before. Following his helmet, his body armor frayed very quickly and exploded off his body after a brief moment of equipping it.

Everything had an expiration date, including the lives of human beings. The more powerful he was, the faster the the armors frayed. At the same time, Qing Shui could feel the energy imbued in the boots depleting rapidly.

"No wonder all Martial Saints I have seen were wearing plain simple clothes and wield no weapons. They didn't do it because it was cool, but because the armors and weapons were useless for their power. Regular armors are fine as long as they aren't infused with a terrifying Qi of Xiantian."

Qing Shui was elated to see that his Violet Gold Divine Shield and the Big Dipper Sword were all right. Because of that, he felt that his Big Dipper Sword was extraordinary and more unique.

Qing Shui was able to reach the strength of 330 countries with the combination of strength from the Nature Energy, the Immovable Mountains, Heavenly Thunder Slash, Diamond Qi, Frenzied Bull's Strength, Shield Attack, as well as the energy akin to the strength of 120 countries. With the strength of 330 countries, he was able to reach the pinnacle of Grade Two Martial Saint level.

Moreover, Qing Shui could easily reach a terrifying strength of 540 countries if the effects from the Violet Gold Divine Shield, Big Dipper Sword, and Heavenly Talismans were to activate. In this case, he would be able to reach the pinnacle of Grade Three Martial Saint effortlessly.

Qing Shui was extremely pleased with himself. Even if there was an opponent of Grade Four Peak Martial Saint with the strength of 800 countries in the Residence of the Sky Tyrant King, Qing Shui's Emperor's Qi and Diamond Gigantic Elephant's Vajra Subdues Demons could easily weaken their opponent's strength by 240 countries.

Qing Shui was dumbfounded. He used to resent the 20 percent weakening effect oof the opponent's strength because he considered the amount too little. However, he finally understood the tyranny of the Emperor's Qi after realizing that its effect would apply regardless of anything. The immoral Emperor's Qi was impossible to avoid, and impossible to dispel once the battle had commenced.

He could weaken his opponent's strength by one level of Martial Saint with just the Emperor's Qi. Qing Shui was stupefied completely….

With that said, martial warriors of the Grade Four Peak Martial Saint would be left with a strength of 560 countries when facing Qing Shui and his Diamond Gigantic Elephant….

Qing Shui couldn't help but let out two wild roars towards the sky. Never in his mind did he think that he would be able to challenge a Grade Four Martial Saint after he just had a breakthrough. Qing Shui might even be able to defeat even a Grade Four Peak Martial Saint with his current strength.

Tiger Form!

Qing Shui flashed out his palm with intense force. A black ghastly apparition appeared from the base of his palm and let out an astounding tiger roar. After that, he continued flashing his palms in an alternating motion like a madman. Every move he made was becoming stronger, much like the gradual suppression of a falling mountain. His attacks were as sharp as a knife. It was as if he could tear the sky apart with his bare hands.

It was awesome!

After a round of Tiger Form, Qing Shui felt extremely satisfied because he had enjoyed every moment of it. It was also the first time he had felt an unlimited energy surging inside his body, which was both unbelievable and gratifying.

Thousand Buddha Palm Imprint!

Qing Shui was capable of displaying the strength of a Martial Saint when he used Thousand Buddha Palm Imprint before he had a breakthrough. When he tried to use the technique as a Martial Saint, he could feel that there was more substance in the gleaming golden palm imprint than before. There was also a wave of abstruse and mysterious energy on top of the gleaming light as well.

He wielded the Big Dipper Sword once more and displayed the 'Basic Sword Technique' immediately. The technique that was once considered the strongest had doubled in strength and damage. However, it was still considered weaker compared to his Tiger Form and Thousand Buddha Palm Imprint.

Despite that, Qing Shui would never give up on the Basic Sword Technique because it was the only one that could increase the power of his weapons. As long as the weapon was able to withstand the Qi of Xiantian of the Martial Saint level, it would perfectly amplify the user's energy in the body without fail. Moreover, the Big Dipper Sword was an unusual sword to begin with. It wasn't as mythical as he thought it would be, but it shouldn't be too far from a Divine Artifact either.

Taichi Fist!

Back Connecting Fist!

…….

There was undoubtedly a huge change in his techniques after he had broke through to Martial Saint. This would be a good example to explain the difference between a 'technique' and 'skill'. A skill could be improved only when the technique has been strengthened. It had the same logic to one who did not continue their cultivation in the art of wushu - without the basic of a technique, a skill would be useless and impractical. Any scheme would be useless against the absolute mastery of a technique.

Although a Martial Saint would not be able to endure a lengthy flight for a period of time, he would be able to travel at the speed of a flying beast of the same level for a short amount of time by increasing his speed by multiple folds. Travelling via flying would rapidly consume the Qi of Xiantian within a period of time. For this reason, a Martial Saint would always require a flying beast to travel around without wasting their energy and Qi of Xiantian.

The next few moves he tried were Saintly Hands, Primal Chaotic Divine Needle Technique, Primordial Flames, and Hidden Weapons…. All of them had undergone a substantial change. This was due to the Ancient Strengthening Technique in his body being significantly stronger than before.

The Ancient Strengthening Technique served as the foundation base for all the other techniques Qing Shui had. So it was natural that these techniques were also significantly improved as the Ancient Strengthening Technique became stronger.

The Fourth Level of technique did not manage to break through to the Fifth Level. Qing Shui used to think that the Heavenly Pellet technique was ungodly. Now however, it seemed useless. For every level he surpassed, he could only gain one million jin worth of energy in his body. Because of that, Qing Shui did not feel like wasting his time cultivating the Heavenly Pellet technique.

Even if he could gain a bundle of energy with the strength of one country, he would still only gain the energy worth the strength of ten countries when he reached the Tenth Level. Anyhow, it wasn't very exciting because for every level he gained, he would only acquire the overall energy with the strength of one country, which was mediocre in a sense.

However, Qing Shui wasn't the type to give up that easily. He continued on because he also felt that the technique wasn't as simple as it seemed. He wasn't sure about its potential yet. After all, this was the legendary Upper Dantian most people were talking about.

After a while before the time was up, Qing Shui came out from the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Then he went to Heavenly Palace and invited Cang Wuya, Fei Wuji, and Di Chen to his family feast. Qing Shui didn't plan to invite the others for the time being.

Cang Wuya was elated when he was told that Canghai Mingyue had given birth to two children. With no time to spare, he and Fei Wuji immediately went to the Qing Residence to check on Canghai Mingyue. Qing Shui didn't follow because he needed to stop by to Misty Hall to look for Di Chen.

Qing Shui managed to meet Di Chen once when he came back last time. It was at that time when he came to tell her that he had sent Di Qing back home, and after a bit of casual chatting, he went back home. Now all he could think about was Canghai Mingyue and his babies.

"Qing Shui!" Di Chen called out to him as soon as she reached the foot of the mountain where the Misty Hall was.

"Sister Chen, Mingyue had given birth to two babies today. Come with me, we are having a feast at the residence later." Qing Shui smiled.

Di Chen was surprised. She flashed a smile at Qing Shui and said: "Congratulations, let's go right now!"

……...

The family feast mainly consisted of all the members of the Qing Clan. Cang Wuya and Fei Wuji were no exception as a family, so they were also invited. Di Chen and Yiye Jiange were already considered as part of his family, so he didn't hesitate when he invited them for the feast.

Overall, it was a sumptuous feast. Qing Shui did not partake in the process of cooking the feast, but he did offer the the ingredients he had prepared within the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. Qing Shui also took out some treasured wine he had stored in the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal for a long period of time.

The feast lasted for more than two hours!

After that, they had a banquet that lasted for three days. The first day was a gathering consisting of his friends as well as the women's friends. Most of them were members of the Heavenly Palace. The second day was a gathering of the important figures from every hall in the Heavenly Palace. The third and last day was a congratulatory banquet consisting of acquaintances from other sects and clan.

The three-day banquet was a procedure passed down through tradition. There were a lot of people who came to the Qing Residence for the banquet in these three days. The number of people were so high that the front door sill was almost broken from being stepped on countlessly. Most of them only came to congratulate Qing Shui and Canghai Mingyue on the birth of their children and left their gifts before leaving quickly. They couldn't stay because there were no more seats to accommodate them.

No one would dare to challenge the Heavenly Palace because of Qing Shui's presence and the existence of Qing Clan. In regards to his relationship with Qing Clan, he would need to constantly maintain a friendly term with them. Otherwise, if they could not become friends, they should never become each other's enemy at any rate.

There were only a few people whom Qing Shui could count as his real friends. After the incident with the Jin Clan, Qing Shui felt that he would be content with only a few friends in his circle. If a group of friends appeared once you were complacent with life, then it would be meaningless to have such disreputable friends to count on.

Xi Ri was considered one of his friends he could count on. The Gongsun Clan didn't treat him bad, but Gongsun Jianyun should not be considered as a friend at all!

A few of Cang Wuya's friends were men who were passionate and loyal to one another. Qing Shui found it difficult to make real friends with his status as the Patriarch of the Heavenly Palace. As they said, "a friend in need was a friend indeed." It would be easier to find a real friend in times of adversity.

As he pondered deeply, he became speechless when he realized that he only had a few female friends. Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li were already his women, so Di Chen and Yiye Jiange were the only ones he would considered as his close female friends.

Six months had passed by so quickly. Whenever Qing Shui was free, he would go into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to cultivate his techniques. However, he would spend the rest of his time cradling one of his children while supervising the training of the third generation of Qing Clan.

The days were dull and uninteresting, but calming. Meanwhile, Canghai Mingyue was fit enough to walk around the residence without problems. Her health had swiftly recovered from her post-pregnancy state due to her cultivation base and the intensive nourishment to her body for the past six months.

The twins had also grown up fast. Essentially, Qing Shui was able to tell how much they had grown because of the noticeable difference of their form. Now they were capable of recognizing people based on their appearance.

"Little one, look who's coming to see you." said Qing Shui while holding his daughter in his arms. He was looking at the Blue Luan coming towards their direction from afar.

"Here she comes!"

Ever since Canghai Mingyue had given birth to the twins, Di Chen had been coming for a visit once per two days. Qing Shui was more baffled knowing that she had some sort of affinity with little children.

"Mm, dear little girl, let me hold you now."

Di Chen gently took over the little girl from Qing Shui's arms. She then took out an exquisitely tiny bracelet and put it on her wrist.

Qing Shui found that Di Chen's actions while holding the little girl in his arms was exceptionally beautiful. Most importantly, her expression was filled with immeasurable gentleness that could warm a cold heart. When he saw the interaction with his daughter, Qing Shui was suddenly reminded of Di Chen's background.

Her mother had passed away since she was still very young. Right after the death of her mother, her father immediately gave her up for adoption. However, one could argue that she was given to the Sky Tyrant Lord as his fiancee.

In normal circumstances, there would be two reactions when one had been abandoned by their parents. First: They would not want a child ever because they fear that their child would end up like themselves. They disliked the thoughts of their child ending up as an orphan.

Second: They would like to treat their child better by giving them all the attention, love, and care they never had during their childhood. It could be said as kind of wish fulfilment.

Qing Shui remained silent, fearing that Di Chen would recall her painful childhood if he said anything. He wore a smile on his face as he pondered about the Residence of the Sky Tyrant Lord in the Central Continent. It was a place where Di Chen had spent most of her life in.

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