Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 816 – Thousand Crane Slash, Level of Drawing Bones

Normally, people who cultivated Corrosion Claws would store up a large amount of rotten corpses. Qing Shui felt ill as he looked at the palm that was getting closer and closer. He took out a few needles and channeled his Nature Energy and formidable

Zi-zi……

Ah……

In just a short while, the palm actually decayed. Qing Shui was first stunned before revealing a smile. He never expected for the Nature Energy to be this strong. To think that Grade Six Nature Energy would be able to annihilate sinister presences.

All of the elderly man’s martial arts were concentrated on his hand. Once his hands got crippled, it would basically mean that he was done for. Besides, even if his hands weren’t crippled, his strength wasn’t enough to attract Qing Shui’s attention.

As soon as the others witnessed the elderly man getting crippled, they all turned blank. The elderly man was the backbone of Dan Clan. But now, he was already at the brink of death. For a person who cultivated the Corrosion Claws, once they got damaged from the Nature Energy, not only would both of their hands be crippled, the Nature Energy would even destroy their five viscera and six bowels.

Dan Peng who was laying on the floor looked at everything that happened in disbelief. In his heart, his grandpa was a battle god who had triumphed in every battle. In the Rainbow Light City, as long as his grandpa was present, he could do whatever he liked as Young Master Dan. But now, the battle god himself had fallen, which would also mean the end for Dan Clan.

“Who are you? Let us know whose hand we died in,” Dan Long gritted his teeth and spoke to Qing Shui.

Maybe because he knew that he was about to die, at the moment when he finished speaking, he looked towards Dan Peng who was crawling on the floor, “You caused the destruction of the entire Dan Clan.”

“You useless brat, what’s the point in keeping you?” A slightly younger elderly man screamed with rage. He intended to kill Dan Peng with one slap.

However, Qing Shui straight away killed the elderly man, leaving Dan Peng to turn blank on the spot.

But at this moment, a few people once again came in from outside. Similarly, they were also old men at their sixties. The person taking the lead was an incomparably wise-looking old man. Both of his eyes looked clear and bright, it contained wisdom as well as kindness.

“Mister Qing, welcome to Rainbow Light Country, I just found out that you came now. Sorry for scaring you. Please allow me to lend you a hand,” the leading old man said politely.

“Yan Dao, you ignorant old man, you set a trap for me,” Dan Long glared at Yan Dao and screamed with rage. Before he died, he suddenly leaped towards Yan Dao.

“Without a hand, you’re nothing.” Yan Dao calmly knocked down Dan Long.

Qing Shui looked at Yan Dao and felt more at ease. Even though he has heard negative things about Dan Clan before, he has also heard a thing or two about Yan Clan.

Yan Clan was the second biggest clan in Rainbow Light City. In any case, at least Yan Clan had a better reputation than Dan Clan. Now that they got an opportunity where they could benefit each other, he naturally wouldn’t reject it.

“Alright, sorry for the trouble then, Qing Shui.” Qing Shui smiled and gestured Yan Dao to do as he liked.

“Thank you Mister Qing. If there’s anything which you need in the future, the Yan Clan will definitely serve you well like a dog or a horse,” Yan Dao responded politely.

“Ah, you’re Qing Shui… You’re the patriarch of Heavenly Palace……”Dan Long looked at Qing Shui in shock before staring at the ground with eyes filled with rage. Dan Peng stared at Qing Shui in disbelief. Slowly, his head hit the floor and he died. As that happened, purple colored blood flowed out the corner of his mouth.

The remaining people looked at the group in front of them in disbelief. They were the backbone of Greencloud Continent. Furthermore, the very young man in front of them was the person who had eliminated two Supreme Aristocratic Clans.

That’s a Supreme Aristocratic Clan, a clan which they would never catch up to even if they had patted the horse’s bottom. Their very own clan, when in front of a Supreme Aristocratic Clan, wasn’t even enough to be of any concern. The man in front of them, on the other hand, he had eliminated two Supreme Aristocratic Clans and now, they were even planning to take his women away from him… How was this not considered suicide?

Dan Peng straight away committed suicide. In the moment he found out the young man was Qing Shui, he already knew that there was no way out for him today

Yan Clan made their move. Dan Long was dead, Yan Dao went into Dan Clan like a tiger rushing into a flock of sheep. Alot of the people from Yan Clan also turned up today and the place turned really quiet in just a short while.

Under the command of Yan Dao, they cleaned up all the corpses here. They did it so thoroughly that even the bloody smell in the air was covered up with a sweet smell.

“Mister Qing, I will stop bothering you then. If there’s anything that you need, please do inform us,” Yan Dao said politely.

“Mister Yan Lao, I’ll leave everything about Dan Clan to your Yan Clan then,” Qing Shui said with a smile.

With his words, Qing Shui actually meant leaving everything that Dan Clan collected to Yan Clan. Even though Qing Shui didn’t have much interest in Dan Clan’s collection, to Yan Clan, it was still an undeserved fortune.

……

After merely a day of rest, the group once again continued their journey back to Heavenly Palace. Everything here was just a brief interlude on their journey. It was considered a good experience for the three generations of Qing Clan because killing people was something which everyone has to learn.

Every time they stopped at night, Qing Shui would teach them ways to cultivate. Before sleeping, they would also need to take in an Aroma Concentration Pill. During the day, he would also explain to them a thing or two about cultivation on their mounts.

During this period of time, Qing Shui felt really happy. This was because Qing Qing was unusually suitable to cultivate Crane Form. This form was the form which he used the least. There were very few things in Crane Style. There were only the Soaring Crane Steps and Thousand Crane Slash.

Qing Shui had already fused his Soaring Crane Steps with Cloudmist Steps. Actually, his Cloudmist Steps was already no ordinary Cloudmist Steps from a long time ago. He started off with the earliest Ghostly Steps and made his way up to the Free Spirit Steps. After that, he fused them with Soaring Crane Steps before eventually fusing it with the Cloudmist Steps.

For the Thousand Crane Slash, Qing Shui had only cultivated it up to Small Success Stage. He felt that it was not really that useful. It only helped raise attack and speed and it was a waste that its potential for attack was too small. Since he could still cultivate the things further beyond without cultivating the Thousand Crane Slash, Qing Shui had always neglected it. Even at the time when he taught others about the Crane Form, he only made them cultivate the Soaring Crane Steps.

The moment when Qing Shui taught Qing Qing the Crane Form, he never thought Qing Qing’s speed at cultivating to be anything inferior to the time Mingyue Gelou spent on her Tiger Form.

Hence, Qing Shui also taught Qing Qing the Thousand Crane Slash. What made Qing Shui gasped in surprise was that Qing Qing was really hard working. Since the time the incident with the Baima Clan had ended up to now, Qing Qing had told him that both her Thousand Crane Slash and Soaring Crane Steps were already at the Large Success Stage.

Qing Shui was stunned for a moment before being filled with surprise. He gently hugged Qing Qing, “I’ve been panicking about finding a suitable technique for you to cultivate… It seems like there’s no longer any need for this.”

Qing Qing, who was being hugged by Qing Shui, extended her hand and rubbed Qing Shui’s head with a smile. They were blood-related family members, they had the same blood flowing inside their bodies. Both of them were a refuge for the other. In fact, this sister of his had already done a lot for herself.

“Sister, why don’t you practice it? I’ll have a look at it.”

The sky had just gotten dark. This place was a desolate countryside.

“Alright!”

Qing Qing’s figure could be seen rapidly travelling back and forth on the field. Her body movement looked natural and graceful, bringing out the agility of the Soaring Crane Steps. In the mere span of a couple breaths, she gradually thrust out both of her hands like a white crane opening up its wings. After that, she swiftly crossed her hands and threw them out.

Roughly ten palm silhouettes could be seen being thrust out. There may be a lot of needless hand movements, together it seemed as if a weird combination was formed. Each of the the claps was also different.

Pa-pa-pa……

A series of loud and clear noises was heard. After that, Qing Qing continued on for another fifteen minutes. Only after that did she come to a stop and turn back to look at Qing Shui, “After you helped me perform the acupuncture, I’ve been able to cultivate this faster. At that time, even I myself was scared but slowly, I got used to it.”

“This is great sister, in the future practice the Crane Form! Later on, I’m going to teach you a set of Cloudhand. For now, practice these first. Oh and remember to practice the Taichi Fist every morning and everything should be fine,” Qing Shui said happily. At the same time, he made up his mind to cultivate his Thousand Crane Slash. Previously, if he had been able to execute tens of the palm images, it would definitely have been quite strong. He realized that he really couldn’t neglect any of the techniques in the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique.

Not only would Qing Qing be able to achieve great things with his Crane Form in the future, she even had the Four-eared Macaque. She would become really strong in no time. Overall, Qing Clan was progressing in a healthy way.

As usual, Qing Shui made the Diamond Gigantic Elephant, Fire Bird and Ten Thousand Poisonous Violet Sable guard the night. Qing Shui on the other hand, spent his time cultivating in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and refining medicines.

The recipe of Du Meridian Strengthening Pill would be coming out soon.

Ren Du… As soon as Qing Shui heard the two words, he got excited. So what else would come after Du Meridian Strengthening Pill? Could all eight of the human meridians possibly be unlocked? If that’s the case, it actually wasn’t a bad thing. It’s just that more time would have to be consumed for this to happen.

Now, Qing Shui was already really skilled with his Sword of Sixth Wave. Not only this, the time he needed to prepare it had also been cut down slightly. This made Qing Shui feel really happy. After all, other than Hidden Weapons and poisons, his Sword of Sixth Wave was still a really strong weapon. He could basically kill people at the same grade as him with one move of it.

In unexpected situations, the ‘Critical Damage’ would also be considered a killer move. But now, the defensive boost provided by the cloth was soon unable to catch up. He can only hope his abilities in forging level up quickly.

At the moment, Qing Shui was practicing his, ‘Hundred Forms of Tiger’. Unfortunately, his Levels of Drawing was still at the critical point. One on his legs had already stepped into the Level of Drawing Bones, yet for reasons unknown, he was still unable to break through.

Now, he calmed his mind and stopped thinking about breaking through. Instead, the only thing he thought about was drawing the Hundred Forms of the Tiger well. He wanted to make his drawing look even more real in order for it to possess the most perfect strength and form.

With that being the case, unknowingly, Qing Shui felt as if he was more relaxed when drawing it now, so much so that he had a feeling like he was moving through the clouds and flowing waters. After such a long period of time, Qing Shui’s “Levels of Drawings” was no longer something that could be looked down upon.

Just like this, Qing Shui kept on drawing and drawing as if he had forgotten about time itself. The only thing that he knew was that he felt unusually relaxed. Now, drawing had become something which he enjoyed rather than a mission which he used to always forced himself to do.

He had no idea how long had passed. It felt as if it had just been an instant, yet it also felt like it has been hundreds and thousands of years… At this moment, he smiled and put down the Golden Calligraphy Brush.

It broke through!

Level of Drawing Bones!

After such a long time, he had finally achieved the Level of Drawing Bones. Furthermore, Qing Shui also felt a slight change in his mental state. It felt as if he was now able to look over a lot of stuff, a feeling like he had just grown up and also a feeling of nostalgia. So much so that he didn’t feel as helpless now when he thought about the Lion King’s Ridge. It was not that his strength had increased, it was just that he had become more calm than before.

This was a kind of feeling, a kind of mood. It was just like when one remained indifferent despite whether they were being favored or humiliated. It was a feeling of looking at the flowers in the courtyard blossoming and falling without paying any particular attention to it, looking at the clouds jumbling up together and spreading out.

(TL note: it’s a description in chinese, it’s used to describe how one could remain indifferent and calm no matter what’s thrown to them. And that how quickly they could analyze and adapt to the situations like how clouds could jumble up and spread out from each other)