Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-1040

AST 1040 – Fair Wind Antiques and Paintings, Coiled Dragon Statue?

Qing Shui could only smile wryly at his mother’s words. Qing Yi also couldn’t hold back her laughter. The expression on her son’s face seemed really helpless.

For Yun Duan to come to the Qing Clan, this was like a permanent home to her. The few women could also look after one another now that they were living together. At the same time, this could also be considered making Yun Duan’s status known. Influential figures naturally knew of this situation and they had nothing to fear about the less influential figures.

Qing Shui was already making preparation to go to the other four continents in the future. So naturally he had to settle the matters here properly before he left. Then there were also the Demon Gate and Buddha Sect!

This was also the reason why Qing Shui had never unleashed his wrath on the Buddha Sect. He didn’t want to make the relationship between them to grow strained. With Little Fatty with him now, he naturally had nothing to worry about.

Over these few days at the Qing Residence, Little Fatty’s strength had increased tremendously once again. Qing Shui’s medicinal pills were to help enhance his strength and stimulate his body’s constitution.

Since Qing Shui could concoct those medicinal pills like the Violet Qi Pellets, naturally he would concoct more to ensure that there were at least enough for the Qing Clan. Even if they couldn’t consume those now, the medicinal pills could be stocked up for future use.

Qing Shui glanced at Yiye Jiange and Di Qing. He hoped that they would be able to join him to the other four continents when the time comes. Yu Ruyan too. He hoped that they would have attained the required strength by that time. However, he could only sigh when he thinks about the remaining time.

He must go this time. If they couldn’t make it this time, they could only wait for another five years. Although the span of five years wasn’t long, it wasn’t short either.

Five years were enough for some things to change. Even if he could leave right away, he was still a little worried. He still had a little more than one year.

In this more than one year, he had to settle the Lion King’s Ridge. He also had to pay a visit to the Ancient Ruins in between before going to the other four continents. If he missed this chance, he’d have to wait for another five years. However, he wanted to go over there as soon as possible because Di Chen was alone and he was worried.

“What are you spacing out for?”

Qing Shui turned around and saw Yiye Jiange by his side. Her snowy white dress and her otherworldly temperament caused Qing Shui to once again be in a daze.

Yiye Jiange reached out and pinched Qing Shui’s waist. Qing Shui had a forced smile on his face while holding on to the delicate finger that was pinching him on his waist. Yiye Jiange only tried to pull her graceful jade-like hand free from Qing Shui’s grasp.

“If we’re not from the same clan, I would have definitely thought that you didn’t need to eat.” Qing Shui chuckled mischievously.

Yiye Jiange’s face was tinted red. “Who said that I’m from the same clan as you, you little pervert.”

She knew it too that Qing Shui was saying that she was otherworldly. Even so, she still felt warm in her heart when he heard this little man. This little man had decided to march onwards to even the Lion King’s Ridge for her sake. Furthermore, it was a decision that he had made since more than a decade ago…

“Master……”

Yiye Jiange instantly knocked on his head. “Do not call me Master.”

When Qing Shui saw Yiye Jiange huffing angrily, he scratched his head. “Little Sister Jiange, let’s go shopping!” He said hurriedly.

Yiye Jiange laughed out loud. Her laughter was so melodious that it was alluring, and she also didn’t know how to react. They were in a very good mood after this banter and she went outside together with Qing Shui. Not too long after that, Di Qing, Canghai Mingyue and Yun Duan who had Qing Yun in her arms joined in too.

With the little lass, there were six of them. Qing Shui took Qing Yun in his arms and they exited the Qing Residence together. The four women were all beauties of the universe. In addition to Qing Shui, who could also be considered a beautiful man and a little princess who looked like a doll, they were quite conspicuous on the streets.

There was almost no one who knew Qing Shui. Average people couldn’t reach to such heights. They could only know some details about him through some special existences in the Fair Wind City. Even if he was going to battle one day, it would be in the high altitude, where ordinary people couldn’t see.

This was their first time coming out in the Fair Wind City. They weren’t really planning to buy anything. They just wanted to feel the atmosphere around here. But the little lass in his arm would want this or that occasionally. Qing Shui would buy anything she requested.

Qing Shui always felt that he had fallen a little short of this little lass’ expectation as a father. Yiye Jiange and Di Qing had thrown a few glances at Qing Shui. The sight of him holding his daughter was especially harmonious and pleasant to look at.

It was needless to talk about Yun Duan. Canghai Mingyue was also looking at him with a smile. Without realizing it, this man had been subtly changing over all this time.

Fair Wind Antiques and Paintings!

Qign Shui saw the signboard that suspended in front of the enormous building. This building had caught his attention because it looked very simple. This caused it to stick out like a sore thumb among the other vibrant and beautiful buildings.

The words on it were done with vigorous brushstrokes. They appeared to be simple yet impressive. He could tell that this was the work of a great expert at just the first glance and it seemed to have some age. This was probably a long established store.

When Qing Shui came to this world, he was very interested in antiques and paintings. He was interested in finding some magic treasures. He had no knowledge of antiques and calligraphy paintings but he had powerful spiritual sense, so he’d still come in and take a look around since he happened to stumble across these.

“Let’s go in and have a look!” Qing Shui smiled at the other few women.

After the women nodded, Qing Shui led them inside with little lass in his arms. The inside of the shop was very wide. It was about 30 meters in length and width. This Fair Wind Antiques and Paintings store had five floors.

The moment they went in, they were assaulted by the scent of books and scrolls. Qing Shui was very fond of this kind of scent. It was kind of like the fragrance of books.

There weren’t a lot of people in the spacious hall. The area of a thousand square meters seemed very empty, with only a few dozen people. A few guards stood at the entrance and there were also a few guards in the middle of the store.

The guards were all Peak Xiantian, and there was also an Early Martial King among them. This made Qing Shui felt that the Fair Wind Antiques and Paintings might have some interesting things.

Since the store name had ‘Fair Wind’ in it, this most likely implied its relation to the ‘government’. It seemed like this place had some connection to the City Lord of Fair Wind City.

The first floor was probably filled with the most substandard objects. He was looking at the variety of items. Each of them appeared to be very old fashioned. There were sculptures of demonic beasts, household utensils, furniture, calligraphy paintings……

They were of different sizes and colors. If these items were brought over to his previous world, they would be priceless objects. It was a pity that they could only be average objects in the World of the Nine Continents, with very little collection value.

Objects of more than 1,000 years could be easily found here. They were nothing special even if they were above 1,000 years old. A Xiantian cultivator could live for about 500 years. Cultivators above Martial Saint level had the lifespan of more than 1,000 years.

So these ‘antiques’ of 1,000 years old didn’t hold much value. He went along the side of the store, taking his time to look at those strange sculptures of demonic beasts. Some of them were made out of bronze, gold, silver and stone…

Qing Shui scanned them with his spiritual sense and discovered that they were nothing of interest. Some of them had faint Spiritual Qi on them, but they didn’t pique his interest. So after scanning them, he switched his target to the flight of stairs that led to the second floor.

Qing Shui signaled the few women with his eyes and then went upstairs with the little lass in his arms.

The stairs were made out of violet colored wood. This type of Violet Pearwood was above 1,000 years in age and was stronger than ordinary steel. He could feel how solid it was by stepping on it. It didn’t make any hollow thumping noises that could be heard when stepping on ordinary wood.

The moment he reached the second floor, he sensed that the Spiritual Qi here was more intense compared to the first floor. There were also guards here, but the weakest of them was Early Martial King while the strongest among them was Grade Six Martial King. Through the increase in strength, Qing Shui could tell that the objects here were more precious than the first floor.

It was a little more narrow here compared to the first floor, but there were a lot more people on this floor. Other than their collection values, antiques and calligraphy paintings could form a type of ‘Ancient Qi’ that could bring great benefits to some cultivations. Sun Yan for one could absorb the Spiritual Qi in precious stones. Hence, many people wished to get their hands on something valuable because antiques with Spiritual Qi were very rare. There were many useless Qi. It was also very difficult to sell them to suitable buyers. Although the profit was great, it was difficult to earn.

Qing Shui took a look at the objects with Spiritual Qi on them first, but then discovered that none of them were really useful. He shook his head. Just when he was about to leave at the end, he instead discovered something that didn’t really stand out.

It was a coiled dragon carved out of jade stone. The craftsmanship was quite exquisite but unfortunately, there wasn’t even the slightest trace of Spiritual Qi on it. The only thing about it was that it was quite beautiful to look at, slightly impressive and magnificent. On top of that, the dragon carving was quite vivid and lifelike.

Coiled Dragon Statue!

Qing Shui picked up the thing that looked neither like jade nor stone. But he smiled. It was about a foot long and was vivid and lifelike. Even so, it could only be considered as an attractive item. However, attractive things were abundant in the World of the Nine Continents. This was nothing special.

“Lass, is this attractive?” Qing Shui chucked at the lass in his arms and smiled at her.

Qing Yu was touching it with her tiny hands, as she happily agreed that it was attractive.

Just then, a middle aged man approached them from the counter. “Sir, how can I help you?”

“How much is this jade stone?” Qing Shui casually asked.

“Well sir, you really have a fine taste. This is the Coiled Dragon Statue. There’s only one in our store. The owner has specially ordered that this Coiled Dragon Statue is to be sold to only the destined one……”

“That’s enough, just tell me how much this stone is worth. I don’t have all day here. My daughter is quite fond of it so I’m thinking of buying it for her to play with.” Qing Shui told the middle-aged man while looking at the little lass. These salespersons made sales with their mouth. They could convince people that black is white, especially in this kind of antique stores. Although he didn’t know much, he knew that these people were sly.

Qing Shui could only guess about this Coiled Dragon Statue. He wouldn’t be surprised if there was only one of this Coiled Dragon Statue in the store because many things here had only one in stock. For things like these without any Spiritual Qi, no one would pick them up even if they were strewn across the streets.

Even Qing Shui himself couldn’t be sure of this Coiled Dragon Statue so this middle aged man standing before him was definitely only blabbering on mindlessly.

“Well, I’m going to give you a 20% discount. That’d be 1,000 taels of silver!” The middle aged man said in a serious tone.

If this was an authentic Coiled Dragon Statue, like the one that Qing Shui had in his mind, he wouldn’t mind paying 1,000 or 10,000 taels of gold or even more than that. 1,000 taels of silver was nothing to Qing Shui. However, it was still necessary to haggle when making purchases.

Just like now. If people said 1,000 taels of silver and Qing Shui agreed to it, then the other party would definitely think that they had sold it with a too low price. Then they might find an excuse to not sell it, or sometimes even if the buyer offer higher price, they wouldn’t want to sell it.

“200 taels!” Qing Shui said, without even batting an eye.

In fact, that Coiled Dragon Statue would be sold at 100 taels if it was another buyer. But he could tell that Qing Shui and the women by his side weren’t average people through their temperament and aura.

“900 taels. I can’t go lower than that!” The middle aged man said with a smile.

“Boss, if it wasn’t for my daughter touching it, I wouldn’t even want this. 300 taels!”

Qing Shui’s reason almost made the other few women laughed out loud. The cheeks of that middle aged man across him twitched.

“The little princess is as fair as a jade. So adorable. For your daughter, I shall offer it at 800 taels.” The middle aged man spoke through his gritted teeth, seemingly with great pain.

The few women behind Qing Shui laughed. They couldn’t hold it in anymore. The owner was indeed quite amusing.

Qing Shui bought it with 600 taels in the end!