Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-401

AST 401 - The Difficult to Concoct Great Revitalizing Pellet, Elephant Form, The Golden Gigantic Elephant

Qing Shui just couldn’t get why the Xiao Clan had not taken any action. Did they abandon the Yan Clan or did they have an ulterior motive? Qing Shui simply couldn’t wrap his head around this. He was sure that the people of Xiao Clan were still in their residence and weren’t taking any action.

Qing Shui had left the Fire Bird patrolling in the sky since the beginning, especially to monitor Xiao Clan’s movements. The Fire Bird, which had evolved and thus possessing a “Crown”, had gained even better psychic abilities. It could report everything it saw to Qing Shui over a very large area. Qing Shui didn’t know if the other people’s mounts possessed such ability, but history books had mentioned that Beast Tamers possessed this kind of ability. A Beast Tamer who owned a few mythical beasts would possess a wider field of vision, making him best in hunting and fleeing.

This was something Qing Shui had discovered later. It was a pity that he couldn’t achieve the shared vision effects. Otherwise it would have been an extremely formidable skill in his arsenal!

Since the sky was turning dark and there were no activities from the Xiao Clan, Qing Shui decided to go to the Yan Clan tomorrow. He was already physically and mentally exhausted today, especially the latter. After all, it was a grudge he had been holding for 20 years.

The moon in the sky of the Yan City was concealed by the dark clouds. Soon enough, it started snowing heavily as if cleansing away the blood that was shed during the daytime. The end of the year drew near and this was the second heavy snowfall; it had only been a little more than a day in between the two.

In the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

No matter what, Qing Shui would never abandon his cultivation. This was his insurance when it came to establishing his roots in the World of the Nine Continents. In this world where strength was of paramount importance, strength was everything, and it was the insurance to everything.

If the Qing Clan had possessed strength, Qing Yi and the rest of the Qing Clan would not have suffered such hardships, neither would they wouldn’t have to wait for 20 years to come to the Yan City…..

If the Yan Clan had possessed strength, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place…...

Qing Shui was circulating the Ancient Strengthening Technique that was slowly advancing like a heavy mountain. Slowly yet powerfully, it circulated cycle by cycle. The heaviness made him felt like it was as if he was pushing against a mountain.

The Ancient Strengthening Technique was coursing throughout his body, continuously refining his meridians, dantian, bones, and at the same time, nourishing his five organs and six viscera with warmth.

The Yin Yang image in the sea of his consciousness was still rotating slowly as usual, constantly strengthening Qing Shui’s spirit and warming up his body.

The Ancient Strengthening Technique continuously strengthened and toughened up Qing Shui’s body. The Yin Yang image within the sea of his consciousness was sparkling in golden light, nourishing Qing Shui’s body and boosting its vitality and resilience. This was also considered to be another form of Yin Yang balance.

……….

Qing Shui’s opened his eyes when his body slightly shook. His face broke into a small smile. The Ancient Strengthening Technique had entered the 137th cycle and he could feel his body once again being strengthened a little bit more.

Qing Shui really wished that he was at the peak of the Fifth Heavenly Layer and could reach the 199th cycle. It was not like he had never thought about his Ancient Strengthening Technique breaking through to the Sixth Heavenly Layer, it was because he was well aware that it was an extremely challenging task. The Misty Hall’s Palace Mistress was his opportunity in breaking through to the Fifth Heavenly Layer. It was that wonderful dream with a sea of flowers that allowed the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal to level up to the Fifth Level and concoct the Beauty Pellet since then. It was that kind of special occasion that enabled him to breakthrough to the realm of the Fifth Heavenly Layer.

He had no idea of when would he be able to breakthrough to this Heavenly Sixth Layer or even any opportunity that would allow him to do so!

Frenzied Bull’s Strength!

Immovable Mountains!

Nature Energy!

……He circulated everything at the same time in order to cultivate more time efficiently!

Taichi Fist!

Basic Sword Techniques!

Nine Waves Great Golden Buddha Palm!

Art of Pursuing!

…………………

Qing Shui practised the cultivation arts that he needed to practise one after another. He had never slacked off on them. He just spent more time on the Ancient Strengthening Technique since it was the most fundamental to Qing Shui.

He then slowly circulated the Ancient Strengthening Technique towards both of his hands. Soon enough, his hands turned slightly translucent. He was currently cultivating Saintly Hands.

He could feel the spiritual qi flowing in both of his hands at this very moment. It was of utmost importance for the Saintly Hands to possess such great power and flow of spiritual qi. Cultivating the Saintly Hands was all about circulating the Ancient Strengthening Technique according to the circulation route to warm up and moisten both hands. All he had to do was keep this cultivation art activated.

Since the first time he activated the Saintly Hands, there hadn’t been any changes. Now, they became warm and moist. They were accompanied by a sheen of translucent colour. Ever since his Ancient Strengthening Technique broke through to the Fifth Heavenly Layer, the spiritual qi of the Saintly Hands had also turned stronger.

Although Qing Shui had never felt any breakthroughs from it, there was an obvious significant increase in its power. This was satisfying enough for Qing Shui, since all he cared about was the increase in strength rather than breakthroughs. As long as his strength continued to grow, it didn’t matter if he attained any breakthroughs.

Breakthrough only occurs in situations when one couldn’t advance any further, and they were necessary for further improvements. Just like the Ancient Strengthening Technique, if one could not attain a breakthrough at the peak of the Fourth Heavenly Layer, then his strength would not be further increased no matter how hard he cultivated.

………...

Primal Chaotic Divine Needle Technique!

Alchemy!

………….

There was still a lot of time when he was done with his cultivation. After Qing Shui had some food and rested, he walked around the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. He felt extremely content when he saw the lush medicinal herbs growing everywhere. They should be about 600 years old now. The passage of time within the realm had been enhanced a lot after the realm was upgraded to the Fifth Level.

In another two years or so, these medicinal herbs would be 1,000 years old. Qing Shui became excited at the thought of how much this field of 1,000 years old medicinal herbs would be worth…...

He had even planned out the patches for 2,000 and 3,000 years old medicinal herbs…...

He only needed to sort them out layer by layer for his own usage after that. Over the past few years, Qing Shui had managed to collect quite an amount of medicinal herbs from here, since the land within the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal was vast enough. As long as he found anything valuable that didn’t exist within the realm, Qing Shui would transfer them in there. Who knew they might come in handy some time in the future.

The amount of fish species in the pond had increased, and Qing Shui’s vision was blurred from the varieties of them. There were more colourful fishes, prawns, turtles, crabs, and clams after the realm achieved the Fifth Level. He even saw a water snake flashed quickly across the coral reefs.

The gigantic Nine Petal Lotus that sat in the middle of the pond had a height measured from the bottom of the pond all the way to the surface, stretching out in the air. Brimming with vitality, it caged the entire pond within its surrounding and enhanced the growth of all living things within the water.

The second Flower of Life had also blossomed, and the third flower bud had appeared. However Qing Shui knew that it still needed about another two years before it would blossom.

The Flower of Life was overflowing with vitality. It was a miraculous flower underneath the Heavens. With a single flower blossomed, it would be able to boost the vitality and raise the qualities of plants within a radius of 100 meters by 10%

An increment of 10% in quality was equivalent to a year’s worth of maturation. For a 1,000 year old medicinal herb, a 10% increment in quality would be an additional 100 years of maturation!

With two flowers blossomed, it would be able to boost the vitality and raise the qualities of plants within a radius of 200 meters by 10%......

With five flowers blossomed, it would be able to boost the vitality and raise the qualities of plants within a radius of 500 meters by 10%......

With six flowers blossomed, it would be able to boost the vitality and raise the qualities of plants within a radius of 600 meters by 20%......

…………………...

With nine flowers blossomed, it would be able to boost the vitality and raise the qualities of plants within a radius of 900 meters by 50%!

With ten flowers blossomed, it would be able to boost the vitality and raise the qualities of plants within a radius of 2,000 meters by 100%......

The Flowers of Life were also known as the Flowers of Eternity. The petals would never wither away. The first blossoming required 100 years, the second blossoming required 200 years, the third blossoming required 300 years…… the ninth blossoming required 900 years, and the tenth blossoming required 2,000 years!

The Flowers of Life was a miraculous flower underneath the Heavens. Directly consuming the first flower would extend the human lifespan by 10 years.

Directly consuming the second flower would extend lifespan by 20 years.

Directly consuming the third flower would extend lifespan by 30 years.

Directly consuming the fourth flower would…...

Directly consuming the ninth flower would extend lifespan by 90 years.

Directly consuming the tenth flower would extend lifespan by 200 years.

Only one Flower of Life could be consumed per person. Regardless of which flower it was that blossomed, one could only consume one flower from any of it.

………….

This miraculous Flower of Life had medicinal properties akin to the Great Revitalizing Pellet, and it reminded him of that pellet. Qing Shui was skeptical about the effects of this second level King Grade medicinal pill. He had a feeling that this “Great Revitalizing Pellet” might not have the effects of increasing all strengths by only 20% as its grade usually allowed, but even more than that or with additional special effects.

It was a pity that he had yet to gather all the ingredients in the recipe of the Great Revitalizing Pellet. Which resulted in the current effect of the Great Revitalizing Pellets not being able to rival that of the miraculous Flower of Life.

The usual bowl sized, pinkish-red flower of the “Peach of Immortality” had once again blossomed. This flower would not wither for a hundred year and Qing Shui had already got bored of looking at it. For now he was just hoping that the peach would ripen soon.

He also noticed that the Plum Blossoms in a distance had blossomed, looking like a field of untainted pure white snow. His Plum Blossom Wine was just about to be used up so he planned to brew more after he had settled this incident.

Remembering that he still needed to go to the Xiao Clan tomorrow, Qing Shui decided to cultivate once more.

Back Connecting Fist!

Over this period of time he had become more familiarised with the Back Connecting Fist Technique. Although he hadn’t been able to clear more acupoints, the energy that flowed from his back to both of his arms had increased more.

With his Divine Arm Clearing Technique that had attained the Great Perfection Stage, he was able to clear many acupoints on his arms. Their endurance and explosive power had already achieved a very terrifying level.

It’s important to know that most cultivators were unable to fully utilise the strength in their bodies. To be able to use 80% of the entire strength within one’s body is considered a very high amount, on the condition of being empty handed.

It would be a different story when a divine weapon was equipped because that could allow one to exert an exceeding amount of strength in one’s body. For a Sword Technique cultivator, the difference between fighting empty handed and fighting equipped with a powerful sword was the difference between Heaven and Earth.

When he was done with Back Connecting Fist Technique, he suddenly remembered that the Elephant Form among the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique could be cultivated too. However, he never got the chance to. He planned to study it as much as he could since he still had some time.

Submerging into his sea of consciousness, Qing Shui searched towards the Elephant Form. There was only one word that could describe his search...

Distracting!

There were so many things among the Elephant Form, but he pressed on. After all, the Elephant Form was one of the most powerful last few mythical beasts in the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique.

In his previous world, the elephants were one of the largest animals on land. It had been said that there was a trace of dinosaur’s bloodline in them. The largest elephant ever recorded in his previous world was about 10 meters in length and 4 meters in height, weighing around a whooping 15,000 jin!

In the World of the Nine Continents, there were also quite a number of mythical beasts of the elephant species, and their body were much more sturdy and tough. They were mostly found in the “Forest of Mythical Beasts” towards the northern part of the continent, among the Giant Beasts Mountains.

Just like the Golden Gigantic Elephant of the continent, they had the length of about 30 meters long and the height of 9 meters. Their entire body were tough like diamond and could pierce through a mountain. Known as one of the most powerful mythical beasts, their strength was at least a Martial Saint level.