The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 778 - Fei Wuji Who Had His Wish Fulfilled, Pure Gold Dragon-Headed Cane

After dinner, everyone sat down and chatted for a bit. When the sky had turned dark, Qing Shui, Cang Wuya, Fei Wuji, and Bai Gui went back together to their assigned courtyard in the Ye Residence.

The expressions on their faces seemed more relaxed as the matters with the Eastern Palace Aristocrat Clan had been dealt with completely. Fei Wuji remained silent - words weren't enough to express the excitement and happiness he felt in his heart.

Fei Wuji carried this burden on his shoulders for many years. The heaviness he had bore throughout his life was like a big mountain that suffocated him with nightmares almost every night. He would wake up from his nightmares and blame himself for not being to do anything. He even took his regrets and blamed them to God for being unfair. "Why did I do to deserve this?" He had never been enveloped in the warmth and love of his parents since he was young, and on top of that, he was forced to bear this gigantic burden in his life for decades.

Finally, it was settled. He had thought of committing suicide numerous times just so he wouldn't have to suffer from the excruciating pain of bearing this burden any longer. But when he finally saw his dying grandfather, he knew he couldn't just take his life so that he would have the easy way out. Because if there was one person who suffered more than him, it would be his own grandfather.

"Grandpa, did you see the fight? Did you get to meet my parents? The Eastern Palace Aristocrat Clan has finally repaid their debts. You can rest in peace now." Fei Wuji uttered deep within his heart while he looked up to the sky. He believed that his grandfather and parents would be able to hear his words.

At that moment, he finally felt that he would be able to live again. The past years of his life felt worse than living in hell. He tried to forget his past so he could live a better life. As an elder in the Heavenly Palace, he was a cheerful man in everyone's eyes. When someone asked a question about his past, he would choose to ignore it, because he was able to survive until now by doing so.

It was easy to remind himself to forget, but nothing was truly forgotten. The imprint of everything he tried to forget would always be there in the corners of his mind. During his normal daily life, he would seem fine on the surface. But when the quiet night came or when he was alone, all these thoughts would crawl out of his mind. The pain of remembering his past had suffocated his entire mind, body, and soul.

Qing Shui was also exempted from the burden as he was able to calm his mind once more. Even though he did not suffer as much as Fei Wuji did, the responsibilities he bore on his shoulders were heavy as well, much like carrying the debts that would take years to repay. Now that these responsibilities were lifted off from his shoulders, his body felt lighter. Qing Shui felt that the generosity and kindness of the late Old Ancestor of the Heavenly Palace had been repaid partly, because it would never be enough to repay everything he did for Qing Shui. Kindness, however, cost nothing. Fei Wuji was part of his family, so whatever that concerned Fei Wuji was also his problem. After he had finally settled this problem, he hoped that he wouldn't need to think about this matter anymore.

As soon as they arrived at the courtyard, four of them went inside the living room and sat down. The tea cups and tea pot he had prepared earlier were already placed in the living room. Qing Shui got up to pour the tea and served it to his seniors.

"Martial Uncle Fei, your problems have been settled. Remember to uphold what you promised to the Old Ancestor." Qing Shui chuckled with a wide smile. The late Old Ancestor would very much look forward to Fei Wuji's tribute to the Fei Clan through the gesture of burning incense.

"I know. When I get back, I will try to get married as soon as possible. I never had this thought before. Now that I'm free, I should be having a family of my own since I'm not young anymore. And Qing Shui, thank you." cackled Fei Wuji, feeling free at last.

"Martial Uncle Fei, there is no display of gratitude between us. We are a family. We either strive together or fall together." Qing Shui was serious when he said that.

"Alright, alright. We are a family, one whole family." Cang Wuya cracked a smile and laughed. He was happy too. As a disciple of the late Old Ancestor, he was in agony because he wasn't able to let him rest in peace. However, everything was settled in the end. Although he wasn't able to settle the matter himself, he was still more than happy to know that his own grandson-in-law was able to settle it triumphantly, not only for him or for Fei Wuji but for everyone.

Cang Wuya's son had passed away long before he had the chance to marry someone. He had treated Canghai and Fei Wuji as his own children while Canghai Mingyue would always be his granddaughter, the one and only close relative he would ever have.

"Qing Shui, rest early tonight." said Cang Wuya when Qing Shui stood up to make his leave after a few moments of idle chat.

"Mm, you too. Prepare to pack up, we will be leaving in a few days." Qing Shui said with a smile. He missed Shi Qingzhuang and Mingyue Gelou at home. But he shouldn't go back too soon, not before they had given birth to their children first.

"Mm, we don't have much to pack. We can leave anytime." Fei Wuji flashed a grin towards Qing Shui.

Qing Shui then returned to his room and looked at the time. It was almost time to go into the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. He left the Diamond Gigantic Elephant outside of the courtyard despite the peaceful situation at the Southern Viewing Continent. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to set up some kind of defensive system to protect them while they were asleep. At least it was better than nothing.

When he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, the first thing he did was to look at the items he had acquired from the fight instead of the usual cultivation. The artifacts he had gotten were the Jade Dragon Battle Saber, the Jade Dragon Dagger, and the Dragon-Headed Cane used by the Old Ancestor of the Eastern Palace Aristocrat Clan. Qing Shui acquired the cane when he clutched it under his armpit after he had used the Saintly Hands move. After that, the old man tried to save himself but he exploded instead, leaving the cane behind for Qing Shui to snatch away.

He marvelled at the weapons he had stored in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. There was a blood red giant saber and a Thunderbolt Spear, as well as the recent acquisition of the Jade Dragon Battle Saber, the Jade Dragon Dagger, and the Dragon-Headed Cane.

These were all considered as his most treasured artifacts amongst his collection. The artifacts he had acquired a long time ago seemed worthless now. However, he decided to keep them for now and give them away to those who would need them. These would be considered divine artifacts for those martial warriors who were at a lower cultivation realm.

Qing Shui took another look at his collection. He wouldn't be able to use some of them as they didn't catch his interest. The Pure Gold Dragon-Headed Cane, however, had gotten his attention. He picked it up and observed the cane. It wasn't the most valuable artifact he had seen, but it was still valuable nonetheless.

The cane felt warm to the touch, not too cold and not too hot, which felt comfortable. It felt as if he was holding the hands of an adoring beauty- he didn't want to let go off it.

"Great stuff!" Qing Shui came up with a conclusion that the cane was a great artifact based on his sense of touch. After that, he activated his Heavenly Vision Technique and analyzed the cane. It wasn't long before he was able to get an understanding of the cane's ability.

Pure Gold Dragon-Headed Cane!

The Pure Gold Dragon-Headed Cane was forged using the purest gold in the world. It contained a miraculous and powerful ability that could increase the user's power by three times. It could resist the negative effects that would disrupt the consciousness of the user.

"No wonder he was able to resist the Thunderous Beast's Violet Lightning Strike. So it was the work of this Pure Gold Dragon-Headed Cane." He took another glance at the cane with miraculous ability. It was already an extremely valuable artifact based on its ability.

"Three times increase of his power" Qing Shui thought. He tried to make a calculation based on this information. The old man's power had dropped to a little bit more than four stars after being inflicted with the weakening effects and that was before he had wielded this cane. However, when he took out this cane, it had inevitably increased his power to about the strength of nine stars.

Now Qing Shui had realized why his defense of the strength of seven stars was ineffective against the old man and why the old man was able to wound Qing Shui severely. Even if the old man's power didn't exceed nine stars, it should be at least on the mark of eight and a half stars.

Indeed, this was a great artifact. However, Qing Shui didn't know how to use a cane. Violet Gold Divine Shield? Qing Shui knew how to use the Shield Attack. Thunder God? He knew how to use the Thousand Hammer Technique. Big Dipper Sword? He had already mastered the weapon. But the cane? Qing Shui really had no clue on how he should use it.

He initially thought of just wielding the cane instead, without ever using it to increase his power. Unfortunately, that theory was a bust. Typically, battle armors or battle skirts must be equipped on the wearer's body in order to activate their abilities through the use of the Qi of Xiantian. The same would apply for the weapons. If one were to hold a weapon without mastering it, the ability of the weapon would not be activated. Qing Shui was fortunate enough to be able to use the Thunder God efficiently because he had already attained a considerable mastery on his hammer skills, which was almost on par with his sword skills back then.

Too bad he wasn't able to use such a powerful weapon as the Pure Gold Dragon-Headed Cane. He thought about tempering the weapon after the Ancient Art of Forging had reached the Five-Colored level. But it would not be easy to do so, because tempering an artifact was known to be harder than forging one by another level. Aside from tempering an artifact through the methods of forging, he could temper the artifact with various type of weapons and armors to fuse into one artifact. However, a main mold must be presented during the tempering process - in which it would take the final form of the mold. If successful, the power of the mold would be boosted. If unsuccessful, the mold would remain the same but the artifacts would disappear forever.

Despite that, he looked forward to the tempering of his weapons and armors. He had been wanting to experiment all the artifacts with various materials such as the wolf fang and whatnot.

Now it was time to cultivate his techniques!

Thousand Hammer Technique!

Back Connecting Fist!

Blue Lotus Art!

……….

The Ancient Strengthening Technique had reached another peak and another bottleneck, which meant that he couldn't reach a breakthrough for the time being. Even so, he was looking forward to it. The 1st to the 3rd Heavenly Layer were considered the Elementary Stage Realm, the 4th to the 6th Heavenly Layer were considered the Intermediate Stage Realm, and the 7th to the 9th Heavenly Layer were considered the Expert Stage Realm.

Even though this, relatively speaking, was a general outline of each levels, it was an accurate explanation of the Heaven Layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique. Only when one had reached the 7th Heavenly Layer would they be considered to become one of the true powerful martial warriors in the world.

Qing Shui had already known that it wouldn't be easy to break through the 7th Heavenly Layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, so he decided that he should not force himself to push through it hastily. Besides, being hasty would not bring immediate success, so it was best for the breakthrough to occur naturally. Generally, the cultivation base of a martial warrior would only become progressively difficult as the levels went higher. By the time Qing Shui had reached a higher level, he discovered that the World of the Nine Continents was full of wonders. There were still a lot of things that he didn't understand or comprehend.

Base on his current cultivation base, he was considered to had reached the peak of the Greencloud Continent. But beyond the continent, there would be a lot of martial warriors who could surpass him effortlessly. The path of the cultivation was a rough one - those without a resolute willpower and stamina would never be able to succeed.

Qing Shui then turned his attention towards the demonic beasts inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. They were constantly growing in a relatively fast pace. In due time, they would become his trustworthy partners of exceptional abilities in the battle and they would continue to grow into demonic beasts of phenomenal strength. Truth to be told, he hadn't encountered yet a single heaven-defying medicinal pills during the refinement of medicines for the stronger demonic beasts. He didn't know whether he should be happy or disappointed about that.

"Perhaps in the future there might be one. It's not all bad that I can make medicinal pills to strengthen my ability. If I keep getting medicinal pills to strengthen the demonic beasts instead, I think I might as well vomit blood." Qing Shui chuckled. Human beings would never be satisfied with what they had. Only when they had lost everything or was about to lose everything, would they realize how fortunate they had been all this time.

……...

The next morning, Qing Shui already gotten up very early. He decided to train his Taichi Fist and Back Connecting Fist in the courtyard. The Nature Energy seemed to had already reached the peak of its level, and he was able to feel his Taichi Fist and even the State of Immovable as Mountains progressing as he continued to cultivate these techniques. On top of the advancements, there was the Minute Subtlety as well. It had been a routine for Qing Shui to cultivate his Taichi Fist every morning, regardless whether or not there was a battle such as the Fight of the Ultimate Life and Death.

After he was done cultivating, he noticed Ye Guyan who stood at the far corner as she looked at him. Qing Shui let out a smile and walked towards her. She replied with a smile as she waited for him to come over. When she stood in a far corner, Qing Shui felt as if she was a brilliant firework in the sky, he had a feeling that he would be distraught if she were to slip away from this world.

"Qing Shui, let's go eat. Everyone is on their way to the dining area." Ye Guyan expressed herself with a beautiful smile.

The warmth of her smile felt extremely comfortable to his heart. He smiled and nodded: "Then let's go together."

"Alright."

The two of them walked alongside with each other towards the hall at the slowest pace possible.

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