Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-788

AST 788 – Children, The Strength of Qing Clan

Qing Shui took the baby from Huoyun Liu-Li’s arms. She was only a little more than three months old. He cradled her very carefully. Her delicate little face was very similar to Shi Qingzhuang. She giggled out loud when she saw Qing Shui. Her laughter was extremely melodious, it was like the voice of a fairy to Qing Shui.

Although it had only been a little over hundred days after she had delivered the baby, a cultivator’s body was very strong. Furthermore, the spiritual qi of this world was abundant, so her body had already recovered completely.

After holding her for a little while more, Qing Shui passed her back to Shi Qingzhuang. He then took the little fellow from Mingyue Gelou’s arms. However the moment Qing Shui held him in his arms, the little fellow shamelessly peed on him.

The few people around started laughing out loud at the scene.

“Goddammit, this brat. How dare he not give me any face? I’ve just returned and this is the gift he gives me for our first meeting.” Qing Shui laughed as he retrieved two jade pendants. He had already prepared these a long time ago. Qing Zun and Qing Yin were given a present when they first met back then, so these two would naturally receive one too.

He put them on the two little babies. This jade pendant was like the lock of longevity* that carried good fortune. Qing Shui unintentionally caught Huoyun Liu-Li staring at him in a daze when he put the jade pendants on the two little fellows.

[TL Note: A lock of longevity is an ornament shaped like a lock that is worn by a child as a symbol of longevity.]

Huoyun Liu-Li immediately blushed when she saw Qing Shui looking towards her. She turned her head away awkwardly. He suddenly realized that this foxy lady had become a graceful lady. She was even more charming than she was before. She had been wishing for a child, but her wish had never come true….

“Let’s discuss about the Baima Aristocrat Clan in a bit. Where are Old Master and the others?” Huoyun Liu-Li told Qing Shui with a smile.

“They’ll be back very soon. I was worried, so I hurried back here first.” Qing Shui passed the little fellow back to Mingyue Gelou with a smile, “Have the children been named yet?” he asked.

“Not yet. We were waiting for you to return and give them a name. The little lass there hasn’t been named either.” Mingyue Gelou answered with a smile. In addition to her dignified and holy face, the motherly expression on her face was extremely breathtaking to Qing Shui.

More than half of her sacredness had been concealed by that crimson mark on her forehead between her brows, but her dignified aura had made it up by a lot. She was unlike Tantai Xuan, whose aura and grace alone were enough to make Qing Shui felt that her sacredness and holiness made her unapproachable.

“Then he shall be named Qing Ming. The little girl will be Qing Yan. Oh right, who is the older one between them?” Qing Shui said after thinking for a moment.

“Oh, this boy is older than the girl by three days.” Mingyue Gelou happily said. Qing Shui looked towards Shi Qingzhuang. She was also smiling happily. Since no one had any objections to their names, the decision was final.

“Qing Shui, about the Eastern Palace Aristocrat Clan….” Di Chen walked to Qing Shui’s side and whispered. Even so, everyone around them could hear her clearly.

Yiye Jiange looked at Qing Shui, while the rest were also cautiously looking.

Qing Shui had returned. Di Chen saw that the expression on his face was very relaxed, so she already had an answer in her heart. She still wished to get a confirmation from Qing Shui himself though.

“Hoho, that issue has been settled and it went quite well too. The Old Ancestor should be able to rest in peace now.” Qing Shui chuckled.

Di Chen was dumbfounded, but she also breathed a sigh of relief in heart. She had stayed at the Heavenly Palace for quite some time. The Old Ancestor could be considered her senior. During her long stay, she had always been very lonely. She would find this old man to talk from time to time.

Qing Shui glanced at Yiye Jiange, she still looked otherworldly as usual. There was a warm smile on her peerlessly beautiful face, yet it was also a smile that would make one feel inferior. No one could tell what troubles she had, but of course he knew that she carried a heavy burden of a blood feud. Even so, he still had no idea what the woman was thinking in her heart at this moment.

After hearing about Qing Shui’s return, people had been coming to the rear courtyard. These people were all from the Qing Clan and were direct blood relatives to him. After seeing so many people come, he decided that they might as well move to the big lounge.

Looking at the people around him, who were all his next of kin and his most beloved people, Qing Shui very warm in his heart. He held Qing Zun and Qing Yin in his arms, but quickly found that his arms were unable to fit the both of them in.

Over the year, the Qing Clan’s manor in the Heavenly Palace had expanded quite a lot. Its grandeur and lavishness were quite decent. Although the Qing Clan didn’t want it to be this way back then, they were the Greencloud Continent’s symbol of identity now. After all, they weren’t a reclusive aristocratic clan, so they still had to follow certain customs on the surface.

Qing Shui didn’t particularly feel anything about it. Even a powerful clan like the Tantai Aristocrat Clan couldn’t escape the secular constraints, much less the Qing Clan. Even so, this wasn’t too bad either.

“Liu-Li, tell us what kind of a clan is this Baima Aristocrat Clan.” After Qing Shui took a seat, Qing Zun and Qing Yin came over to him and wouldn’t stop pestering him for something delicious.

Qing Shui always kept it in his mind, so he had prepared quite a lot of Fragrance Fruits as well as some precious roasted meat, fish, or seafood. These were quite similar to the snacks in his previous world, but they were of much higher grade. These were personally prepared by Qing Shui with the best spices and most impeccable ingredients. Qing Shui’s talent was the special methods in his culinary skills. It wasn’t just the two children getting food, he took out a large amount of food and served them on plates for everyone to enjoy.

Qing Shui felt even happier in his heart when he saw how happy they were after eating his food. This was human nature. Many were subconsciously not living for themselves. To put it better, they were influenced by many other people.

This made Qing Shui think of a murderer. A person who lived to kill had no friends and no relatives. There were only two types of people to them – a living person and a dead person. They were cold-blooded.

Qing Shui had thought about a murderer because he felt that they perhaps lacked people who loved them, or people whom they loved. Their heart wouldn’t be so cold otherwise. If their heart wasn’t cold, they wouldn’t be murderers.

“Well…the Baima Aristocrat Clan is said to have hailed from the Central Continent since eight months ago. No one really knows which city they’re from exactly, but they can be considered a supreme aristocratic clan. That’s what people said, so I don’t really know if it’s true. Three months ago, they came to visit and seemed to be quite well-behaved. Elder Ge had politely received them as guests. After they left, he said that they didn’t come here with pure intentions, they were probably here to gauge the strength of Heavenly Palace.” Huoyun-Liu-Li laughed as she explained. Qing Shui had returned, so she no longer needed to worry.

“I think I heard that one of the Baima Aristocrat Clan’s disciples had been killed. Is that true?” Qing Shui smilingly asked.

“Luan Luan killed him. That trash from the Baima Aristocrat Clan had the audacity to act so high-up and mighty even after seeing Luan Luan, but he was instead killed by Luan Luan instantly.” Huoyun Liu-Li huffed.

“Good kill.” Qing Shui laughed.

“Daddy” Luan Luan called out softly.

Qing Shui saw the worry on Luan Luan’s small face. She knew that she might’ve gotten everyone into trouble. After all, she had been hearing a lot of things lately. They all seemed to be discussing about how the Baima Aristocrat Clan was a supreme aristocratic clan and the current Heavenly Palace wouldn’t stand a chance against it, or things like that. Everyone had been comforting her, telling her that people like that deserved to be killed and she shouldn’t feel guilty or worry about it. But she still couldn’t help but to feel that she had caused a big trouble.

“Luan Luan, it’s Daddy’s fault for not being around. Why don’t I bring you to the Baima Aristocrat Clan to slaughter them all? Who do they think they are to be bullying my daughter? Daddy is back now and will get even with them for you, alright?” Qing Shui patted on Luan Luan’s head. The lass was only just half a head shorter than him now and somewhat resembled Yiye Jiange. She also had Yiye Jiange’s temperament and she had already grown into a kingdom-toppling beauty.

“Daddy!” Luan Luan latched onto Qing Shui’s arms and smiled happily with tears in her eyes.

A father’s love was akin to the mountains. Every father was a hero in his daughter’s heart, it was like an enormous mountain to them. Although Qing Shui didn’t have a father in this world, he had one in his previous world. He understood it well, so he had been telling himself to play every role in his life well. He had to be a good son to his mother, a man to the women he loved, and a great father to his children.

Yiye Jiange silently watched Qing Shui from one side. She felt very warm in her heart and she was the only one who knew the emotions she felt in her heart. She had thought that she would spend her entire life in the Skysword Sect, but it seemed like her life was about to change with this man. Regardless of how things would be, she knew that they would still be ten thousand times better compared to before.

She had came such a long way without realizing it. She had only realized now that everything she had was closely linked to this man. In other people’s eyes, she was even a wife to him. Their daughter had already grown into an adult.

All this had taken a form without any of them realizing it. They had known each other for fifteen years. Although they didn’t interact much, they were very familiar with each other. That subconscious familiarity was an indication of what he had said – they were already closely related.

Qing Shui scanned around to check. Many people’s strength had once again improved tremendously. Although a year was like a finger snap to cultivators, especially those above the Xiantian level, sometimes a year could also be life-changing.

Over this one year, Di Chen had attained Grade Five Martial Saint Beginner level from Peak Grade Four Martial Saint. Yiye Jiange, Canghai Mingyue and Mingyue Gelou had actually reached Grade Two Martial Saint from Grade One Martial Saint. Their improvements over this one year could be considered amazingly rapid. Or perhaps it was because they had broke through the initial bottleneck, since they were already at Peak Grade One Martial Saint. It seemed like their innate talents and those medicinal pills were effective. Before Qing Shui left, he had left quite a lot of medicinal pills for them.

Huoyun Liu-Li was still a Peak Martial King, but her strength had been increased by almost a country. Her pace was considered very fast, more so god-like.In the Qing Clan, the people here all seemed to be a little special, so their speed of growth could only be considered as decent.

Qing Bei was already a Martial King Grade Two now. When Qing Shui left, he had promised to help her breakthrough to Martial King. Now that she had entered the realm of Martial King, her strength had been growing steadily.

Qing Shui was a little puzzled when he saw Luan Luan. He initially thought that she would breakthrough to the Martial Saint level, but it seemed like she was still a Peak Martial King. Although, it could be said that she already had a foot in the Martial Saint realm. Qing Shui expanded his senses and smiled. It wasn’t that easy to breakthrough to Martial Saint. Besides, people would usually require some sort of special object to breakthrough. It seemed like Luan Luan had no need for that and Qing Shui was certain that it would be two months at most before this little lass steps into the realm of Martial Saint. She’d be a twenty year old Martial Saint cultivator….

Shi Qingzhuang didn’t seem to be very fast in her cultivation. She was a Martial King Grade Three for now. Qing Shui had decided to give her some special treatment in the future.

There was someone who had greatly surprised Qing Shui, it was Wenren Wu-Shuang. She had only just became a Martial King Grade Nine when he left, but now she was already a Martial Saint Beginner level. The Qing Clan had gained yet another additional Martial Saint cultivator. At the same time, Qing Shui sighed in admiration. The innate talent of the lady on the Portrait of Beauty was indeed very formidable.

The strength of the other disciples in the Qing Clan had also improved by quite a lot, but they weren’t as powerful as Qing Bei. Qing Hu was now a Xiantian Grade Six. Qing You was a Peak Xiantian who could step into the realm of Martial King any time now. This fellow had been waiting for Qing Shui to assist him in breaking through.

Qing Hui had been raised to Xiantian Grade Seven from Xiantian Grade Six. Qing Zi, Qing Shi… well it couldn’t be helped. The Qing Clan lineage was this way, they never had very spectacular innate talents. Qing Shui was the reason why they were able to achieve their current results.

“Lass, let me give you a present. You will definitely like it.” Qing Shui smiled as he retrieved some Crimson Pellets of the Nine-Headed Moon Wolf’s core which he had set aside. He remembered that Luan Luan had tamed ten Earth Devouring Mice when he left. As long as they were fed these powerful Crimson Pellets, their strength would no doubt advance by leaps and bounds.

Luan Luan accepted the porcelain bottle that Qing Shui had passed to her and looked at him in curiosity, “Daddy, this is?”

“There are fifty Crimson Pellets in there. Let your ten Earth Devouring Mice ingest up to two pellets, and two pellets for your Heavenly Fire-Armored Rock Bear too. This thing is extremely precious. Save it for your most precious demonic beasts and let them eat only two at most. Go now, and you will know what I mean.” Qing Shui smiled.

Luan Luan’s eyes lit up. The things that Qing Shui gave her would naturally never be inferior. For him to say it was good, it would naturally be even better than what he claimed. She happily gave Qing Shui a hug before she left.