Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-1964

AST 1964 - No effect? Here for the marriage proposal?

“Hey, have you managed to refine it?” Hai Dongqing asked in amazement.

It seemed that Hai Dongqing also knew about the Opportunity Pill. Yuan Su must have told her about the prescriptions.

“Yes, I was just done refining it and then I thought I might want to see you. Seeing that my Qing`Er is so lonely. I really feel like eating you at least once every day for these two days.” Qing Shui chuckled.

“Silence! You naughty brat!” Hai Dongqing blushed and said.

However, she still took the Opportunity Pill from Qing Shui and swallowed it.

Deep down, Qing Shui was a bit worried. Hai Dongqing was very powerful. She was also one of the women on the Portraits of Beauty. With Qing Shui’s assistance, she also managed to achieve the Sixth Level Divine Grade. The gap between the sixth and seventh level Divine Grade was very huge. The time needed to ascend would also be longer. The difference between those two grades wasn’t something which could be made up by mere numbers.

Furthermore, the difference between the early, mid and late-stage of the seventh level of Divinity was also very huge.

Qing Shui quietly sensed Hai Dongqing’s changes. Even though Hai Dongqing might possess great physiques, Qing Shui still couldn’t help but feel worried. After all, the pill focused solely on one’s luck. He wasn’t sure if it was really so mysterious. But then, the fact that Qing Shui would appear in the World of the Nine Continents was already mysterious enough.

“Hmm… I feel something!”

Qing Shui could sense changes taking place within Hai Dongqing’s body. It was very quiet, almost as if nothing was happening on the outside. If it wasn’t for Qing Shui’s agile Spiritual Sense, he wouldn’t have been able to even feel it.

Hai Dongqing opened her eyes. Qing Shui was a bit confused since he couldn’t tell precisely what benefits Hai Dongqing had gotten.

Hai Dongqing revealed a faint smile on her face and looked at Qing Shu, “My innate talent has been increased and my strength now is twice its former. Plus, I received an ability which allows me to hide my strength.”

Now Qing Shui knew why he was unable to detect her strength, so that was the case. Her strength and her innate talent had both increased. It was even better than an immediate strength increase. It was like a question of cardinal number, the bigger the number was, the bigger its final result would be. The smaller the cardinal number, the smaller its change would be. One’s innate talent was just like a cardinal number, which was why innate talents played an important factor in one’s strength. For the same amount of hard work, the one with better innate talent would surpass those at his level.

Hai Dongqing’s strength was doubled; however, she was still unable to ascend to the Seventh Level Divine Grade. She could feel that she was almost there. It might be just a matter of time until she broke through.

“Qing Shui, have you used it? What did you get?” Hai Dongqing asked curiously.

“Not yet.”

Hai Dongqing stunned and asked carefully, “Did you refine too much of it?”

Qing Shui knew what she was thinking and proceeded to say, “Not much, just enough for the family to use.”

Hai Dongqing smiled, “Why don’t you take one now? I am curious to know what abilities you will get.”

Qing Shui nodded. He took it without hesitations.

An indescribable refreshing feeling started flowing through every part of his body like a wave of clear spring. After that, he stopped feeling anything momentarily. The only thing he felt was the comfort through his entire body. He waited for a long time, and yet there wasn’t a single reaction.

It had been longer than the time it took Hai Dongqing to feel the changes in her body. If it wasn’t because of the waves of clear spring flowing through his body, Qing Shui might even begin to wonder if there was no effect.

Qing Shui looked at Hai Dongqing, “I didn’t receive anything…..”

Even Qing Shui himself was at a bit of disbelief when he said this. However, this was how the Opportunity Pills were, very mysterious. As the time passed, the clear spring-like feeling also disappeared, and Qing Shui had yet to feel any changes. Since it was like this, there was no way for Qing Shui to run away from the truth, the truth that he received no benefits from the Opportunity Pills.

If he was to forcefully come up with a benefit, it would be that he could now feel a clear and refreshing feeling across his body.

“Maybe the effects will only be revealed in the future.” Hai Dongqing tried to comfort Qin Shui.

“It’s ok, I have already received numerous benefits. The Opportunity Pill relies greatly on one’s luck. Let’s go and see what happens to the others when they take it.” Actually, Qing Shui was feeling a bit depressed about it. Despite his pitiful luck, he wasn’t really that sad since getting the Heavenly Fate Vicious Treasure Pagoda on his return this time was already a huge surprise to him.

Qing Shui let the others took the Opportunity Pill. He also gave his mother and Qing You a Magic Weapon that could be used by them whose under the Martial Emperor level. Upon receiving the Magic Weapon, Qing You and others were extremely happy. Just like Qing Shui said, these were all Divine Artifacts to them. Its power could be said to have greatly surpassed the Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda.

Upon receiving those magic weapons, their strengths were boosted by multiple times. Many of them knew that in their entire life, they had no hope to achieve the Martial Emperor level. Nevertheless, these things could be considered as the Divine Artifacts in their entire lifetime.

Qing Zun and the others were already warriors at the Martial Emperor Level. Hence, these things were basically useless to them. Yet, each of them still took one with them. To warriors at the Martial Emperor Level, they were still useful. The only downside was the enhancement since it was reduced to 20%. For warriors above the Martial Emperor level, these things could basically be considered useless.

20% of overall strength… 20% of the ability to deflect the enemy’s attacks… Frankly speaking, it was still a very powerful Magic Weapon. After all, Magic Weapons which multiplied strength by folds were all heaven-defying level weapons.

Everyone took one Opportunity Pills. As for children that were too young, they were excluded from taking it. After all, the amount of Opportunity Pills were quite limited. As for the Magic Weapons that he refined, everyone including the younger children was also given one. Since the Spiritual Qis on the Magic Weapon could nurture their meridians, the benefits that they could draw upon it were very significant.

Qing Shui was already satisfied with the effect of the Opportunity Pill. Except for him who didn’t gain any benefits from it, it worked for everyone else. Even the one with the lowest cultivation level also got his talents increased, although it was insignificant. This was the difference between an ordinary person and a genius. An increase of innate talent could be considered as one of the rarest things one could ever receive. To date, no one had raised one’s innate talent from a normal person up to the level of a genius.

Qing Shui’s Acupuncture, despite how heaven-defying it might be, was also incapable of changing one’s luck. The increase of one’s innate talents was also depending on their innate talents prior to it. The less significant it was before, the less boost it would receive.

Both Hai Dongqing and Mingyue Gelou received the most benefits; they got the same outcome. The ones who came after them were Di Cheng and Canghai Mingyue. Luan Luan, on the other hand, also received a boost in her innate talents. It increased by quite an amount, but for the time being the benefits which she got couldn’t be considered as great. Seeing it in the long-term however, the benefits which Luan Luan got could be considered as the best among all of them.

Since Qing Shui’s mother, grandfather and the others knew that they didn’t have much innate talent, they didn’t take it. Since they had already taken the Xiantian Golden Pellet before, they knew that taking the Opportunity Pills wouldn’t really mean anything. Besides, the pills were already short in quantity for everyone, thus, they would rather leave the opportunity to the others.

After three days, Zheng Xuan came along with his parents and Zheng Babai. Zheng Shichang also came. From here, Qing Shui could more or less figure out what they came for.

This time, Qing Shui didn’t stand in front. Instead, Qing Hai was the one to take the lead. Anyone could easily figure out that the Zheng Clan was here to propose marriage. Qing Hai was Qing Bei’s father, meaning that he was the most authorized to speak around here.

Back then, when Qing Shui just came back from the Zheng Clan, Zheng Xuan had come to see him once. In any case, Qing Shui controlled his Demon Lord’s Blood just like how he did with Tantai Lingyan. Though he was the Demon Lord Inheritor, he lacked the kind of corrupt practice. But because of this, he also lost the advantages as a Demon Lord Inheritor to improve his cultivation at a fast rate.

But this was also the best outcome. Faster pace didn’t necessarily mean the best quality. Those achieved everything quickly often resulted in an unstable foundation. Just like the current Zheng Xuan, it would take him about ten or maybe even twenty years to finally stabilize the strength he attained in the past. And this was even after Qing Shui assisted him. Otherwise, he would have died eventually from the dramatic increase in strength or his own tribulations.

At the moment, Zheng Xuan viewed Qing Shui like a God. He was the figure whom he admired the most at the moment. His target of admiration had shifted from the old man from the Zheng Clan onto him.