Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-1168

AST 1168 – Heavenly Secrets Pill, Qing Shui’s Opportunity, The Area of Yang City, Spiritual Sense Locked On

Qing Shui controlled the outrageous thought in his mind. He felt that it was the right decision to become sworn siblings with her. At least for now, he could use this reason to erase some of his inappropriate thoughts toward her.

Men are born to be amorous. Beautiful ladies would always be a fatal weakness for men, especially for a capable man. Capable men would never have a shortage of women and would frequently meet ladies who they would fall for.

Sometimes, falling for someone can be very simple. Just by the clothes the person was wearing, a single gaze, voice, a simple action, a disposition, how a person carried himself or herself or even an expression. There were countless possibilities.

Amongst the ladies Qing Shui knew of, there were those who had made his heart beat faster but yet they were only considered friends. Qinghan Ye, Ye Guyan, Long Lingyun…

Qing Shui even felt that he basically had no interactions with them anymore and if there were no accidents, their paths might never meet again. Liking something new was an instinct. Qing Shui didn’t approve of liking new stuff and discarding the old and he wouldn’t dislike the old either, especially when it was applied to people. The longer people got to know each other, the closer they would get and the more they would consider each other family. Family ties was something that couldn’t be cut off. Only beasts would throw away old partners after they have taken a liking to new ladies. For his own women, he would try his best not to take a liking to someone new.

“I’ll give you this. This was something given to me by my teacher. It’s the Heavenly Secrets Pill. Each pill will increase your physical strength by one nimbus and only one can be taken each year, with a maximum of ten per person. It doesn’t increase a lot of strength but I hope that you won’t despise it. Compared to what you have, your Elder Sister doesn’t have much to give you.” Yan Jinyu handed Qing Shui a small porcelain bottle that was the size of a fist.

Qing Shui was so agitated that he trembled. The Great Yu Dynasty really had good stuff. Increase one’s physical strength by one nimbus was considered little?

Qing Shui had his seven-colored pellet, Arhat Rosary Beads, Buddha Image, Nine Continents Mountain… but other people only had their weapons and Demonic Beast Armor Manifestation. The increase brought by their martial techniques was comparatively lesser, especially when compared to Qing Shui’s seven-colored pellet.

None of them knew how powerful Qing Shui’s seven-colored pellet was. For every increase of one nimbus of strength others would receive, Qing Shui would get eight nimbus worth. If he were to take into account other factors, it would be even higher. Qing Shui’s physical strength would actually include what he got from the seven-colored pellet since it was something passive and permanent, increasing over seven fold additional physical strength.

Therefore, Qing Shui’s physical body as very strong. As his cultivation increased in the future, it would get even stronger. This was how terrifying the seven-colored pellet was. However, Yan Jinyu didn’t know about that. After all, to her, increasing one nimbus or several nimbus of strength a year was nothing much. However, Qing Shui had the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. It was just a pity that each person could only take up to ten pills and gain ten nimbus of strength from the pills. Qing Shui was very excited. If he wasn’t mistaken, there should be ten pills in this bottle and he would be able to let his strength increase to 20 nimbus very soon…

Qing Shui received it, “I like this very much. I shan’t stand on ceremony with sister then. Have you already taken ten of it?”

“I have. This is considered a benchmark in Great Yu Dynasty. Only those who are Grade Five Martial Emperors or higher are allowed to take it. In Great Yu Dynasty, after we’ve taken the amount we require, we can use the rest to exchange for other useful items.” Yan Jinyu smiled and said.

As expected of a large faction. The things which they could bring out were different. To Yan Jinyu, an increase of one nimbus worth of strength was nothing. This went to show that Great Yu Dynasty should have better things.

However, to Qing Shui, getting an increase of one nimbus worth of strength was a huge amount. Even with the breakthrough he attained with the Hexa-color Rainbow Art of Forging, he had only gotten an increase of two nimbus for his physical strength.

“Then I shan’t stand on ceremony either. This thing is very precious to me and if I were to choose, I’d rather choose the Heavenly Secrets Pill over the Four Elements Greencloud Sword.” Qing Shui said happily. This lady was really a bearer of good tidings to him.

What Qing Shui didn’t know was that the Heavenly Secrets Pill was also very valuable in the Great Yu Dynasty and Yan Jinyu had only taken one. This was what her teacher had given to her and this bottle was the reward for attaining Grade One State Master level. And she had given it to Qing Shui…

Qing Shui sensed that this medicinal pill was very powerful. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said what he did to Yan Jinyu. He felt that the Great Yu Dynasty could compete with a Grade Four Dynasty. Moreover, after what Yan Jinyu said earlier, Qing Shui didn’t give it much thought and just felt that it was quite little for a person to only be able to take ten of them.

Seeing that Qing Shui liked it, Yan Jinyu felt very happy as well. She had really wanted to give Qing Shui something. After all, even a Grade Two or Grade Three State Master would like this sword a lot. At their levels, a weapon was quite important for a State Master level cultivator.

“Mmm, oh right, Qing Shui. I still have some Greencloud Stone here. It’s probably not enough for another sword. This sword was also forged from Greencloud Stone. Can it be smelted?” Yan Jinyu suddenly thought of something and brought out some things, showing them to Qing Shui.

Qing Shui’s eyes lit up. The Greencloud Stone was considered quite a precious material and he was still troubled over the fact that there weren’t sufficient materials for him to forge the Big Dipper Sword. With this, it should be about enough!

“Since it’s not enough to forge another sword, I’ll take it!” Seeing that Yan Jinyu was really giving it to him, Qing Shui didn’t stand on ceremony.

“Come, let’s go grab some food and then make a move!” Yan Jinyu happily tugged Qing Shui’s sleeves and headed for the manor.

The two of them had unknowingly gotten much closer. Of course, a large part of it was due to the fact that they had become sworn siblings. They were friends to begin with but now, they had more interactions. For example, Qing Shui could give this sword to Yan Jinyu, leading her to feel from the bottom of her heart that this guy was very reliable. It was because she knew that Qing Shui’s own weapon wasn’t as good as this one. She could sense it.

She understood well how important a weapon was to a cultivator. She could sense Qing Shui’s true heart and thus could tug Qing Shui’s sleeves, feeling at ease.

Yan Jinyu was still the one who cooked this time around.Qing Shui gave her a lot of the fragrant fruits, making her both happy and worried. She was afraid that in the future, she’d only be able the food that she cooked for herself. She was worried that she would eat too much, not because she’d grow fat but because she didn’t like the feeling of eating a lot.

Yan Jinyu got Uncle Zong to bring them back on the draconic horse. It required quite a bit of time to head to the inner city and even powerful flying demonic beasts would need ten days to half a month.

“Elder Sister, there’s a faster way to head to the inner city but you’ll have to make a little sacrifice.” Qing Shui didn’t wish to waste time on traveling and toward Yan Jinyu, there wasn’t a need to hide anything from her.

“Sacrifice what?” Yan Jinyu looked at Qing Shui, stunned.

“I’ll need to hold your hand. We’re now siblings, you won’t let your imagination run wild, right…?”

“You’re the one letting your imagination run wild!” Yan Jinyu said that and then stretched out her hand with a weird expression. Although she appeared to be calm, her heart was actually very erratic. She hadn’t felt like this before and hadn’t even held hands with her own brother when they had grown up.

“I’ll need both hands…” Qing Shui took one of her soft hands and said.

Qing Shui could sense that she was very nervous. She was the Young Miss to Yan City’s Yan Clan and was extremely beautiful. She should have quite a number of suitors. Moreover, there should be even more people and more talents in Great Yu Dynasty. He felt that she should have a boyfriend or even a fiance. However, she seemed to be very nervous at the moment. It shouldn’t be that bad to be just holding hands. Moreover, they were siblings in name.

Qing Shui took her soft and beautiful hands and leaped into the air. Yan Jinyu lowered her head slightly, as if not willing to meet Qing Shui’s gaze.

Nine Continents Steps!

…

After one Nine Continents Steps, Yan Jinyu looked in surprise at the city under them, then at Qing Shui. She was once again astonished by this guy. He held too many secrets. They did it for another repetitive seven times and although it didn’t bring them to the inner city, they had already covered half the journey.

“Right now, I can only travel this distance within a day. Based on what you say, we should be able to reach there tomorrow. We happen to be above a city. Why don’t we go down and take a look?” Qing Shui smiled and suggested.

“Alright!” Yan Jinyu smiled and then gently drew back her hands.

Qing Shui quickly let go and then the two of them descended. Qing Shui thought of how traveling this way would even save the need to have a flying mount.

Yang City!

Although this was Yan City, there were still some other names for the certain parts of the city. For example, the area they were in was known as Yang City or rather, the area around Yang City.

There were over a thousand cities in Great Yu Dynasty. Other than the imperial city, Yu City, the Yan City was one of the five largest cities in the dynasty. Not only were they powerful, they had a considerably large land size as well.

Every city was very luxurious and over the years, Qing Shui had passed by many cities. He had only passed by them briefly each time and he did the same for Yang City as well, staying for only a day.

“Has Sister came here before?” Qing Shui spoke out casually, as if he wasn’t really asking a question but just calmly making a statement.

“I haven’t. I haven’t been to many cities in Yan City either. However, I often look at maps and stuff. The world is too big and even if I spend my whole life traveling, I might not be able to go to many cities.”

The two of them chatted on their way and time passed by very quickly. Right now, they were just spending some time walking around in Yang City.

Suddenly, Qing Shui had a feeling as if he had been locked onto by a spiritual sense. Even Yan Jinyu seemed to have sensed something similar. He asked softly, “Sister, did you sense anything strange?”

When Qing Shui asked, Yan Jinyu’s countenance changed, “You sensed that too?”

“I’m not too sure, that’s why I’m asking Sister.” Qing Shui said calmly and the two of them continued to walk as they spoke. They didn’t stop nor look around.

“We’ve just arrived here and have traveled in this manner. By rights, we shouldn’t have been followed so quickly.” Yan Jinyu seemed to be unable to understand this.

“Sister, do you have confidence? This person’s spiritual sense seems to be very concealed. The person must not be weak.” Qing Shui followed Yan Jinyu as they went through the crowd.

“The owner of this spiritual sense should excel in spirit energy. In the past, I wouldn’t have confidence but right now, with the sword you gave me, I do. I just don’t know how many of them are there.” Yan Jinyu relaxed her frown.

“Put this on！” Qing Shui took out a Sacred Jade Divine Stone Ring, grabbed her hand and put it on. The moment it was put on, a gold needle in his sleeves pricked Yan Jinyu’s fingertip and blood seeped into the Sacred Jade Divine Stone Ring.

Recognizing owner just through blood was an item of legendary grade. Qing Shui hadn’t planned on giving it to her initially since he didn’t have many of them anymore. He still needed to save one for Di Chen. These things were hard to come by. He had also planned to save a few of them as family treasures in the future…

However, having met such an encounter and this was his sworn elder sister whom he had completed the vows with before the gods, he eventually decided to let her have it for her safety.