Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 547 - Their son has grown up, Yu He, Shi Clan

“Grandpa Qing, Grandpa Lin, I want to bring you two over to Green Cloud Continent!” Qing Shui smiled as he told the two old men.

Both Qing Luo and Lin Zhanhan didn’t reject him straight away. They also make any promises. Instead, they looked at Qing Shui with a serious expression as if they were thinking of a way to respond to him.

“Qing Shui, it might be okay if you were the only one outside. The Qing Clan may not be a big clan, but it is still a clan that has more than a hundred members. Furthermore, the outside world isn’t as good compared to the Hundred Miles City. Other than Grandpa Lin and I, there really isn’t anyone else in the Qing Clan who is capable of supporting the clan.” Qing Luo said gently after hesitating for a while.

“Grandpa, you don’t have to feel worried about this. Didn’t you always want the new generation of Qing Clan to be successful? I can just let them all join Heavenly Palace.” Qing Shui chuckled. At present, he was already the Patriarch of Heavenly Palace, it would only be natural for him to let his clan members join Heavenly Palace. In fact, it’s something that the Qing Clan members would really look forward to. This way, it would make them feel more secure.

“Yes indeed, I really hoped that all of the members of Qing Clan will be successful. But the problem is, will you be able to manage all of this?” Qing Luo looked at Qing Shui in doubt. After all, it was the Continent’s Capital he was talking about. Furthermore, Heavenly Palace was also the strongest sect in Green Cloud Continent.

In addition, Qing Luo had looked after Qing Shui since he was a young boy. Even though Qing Shui was already really powerful, Qing Luo was still unsure about his strength as a whole. Even if he was even more powerful, he would still be a child in Qing Luo’s eyes.

“Grandpa, I am the person in charge of Heavenly Palace at the moment. For now, I have the final say in everything regarding the Heavenly Palace. Mother and uncle wanted you to make up your mind. Let’s put it this way, if you can promise to do as I say, I can promise you I will definitely make the entire Qing Clan stronger……”

Qing Shui looked at Qing Luo’s aged face which flashed between surprise and irresolution.

“You have the final say in Heavenly Palace? How old are you? I am aware that there are a lot of elderly men in Heavenly Palace, all of them answer to you?” Qing Luo asked doubtfully after a moment of silence.

“Grandpa, age is just a number. As long as I have sufficient strength, I’m sure that they will listen to me. If you don’t believe me, ask Grandpa Lin.” Qing Shui smiled and glanced towards Lin Zhanhan. Qing Shui was aware that the late Old Ancestor of the Heavenly Palace had looked for Lin Zhanhan before. He was convinced that Lin Zhanhan knew about a lot of things involving him and Heavenly Palace.

All along, Lin Zhanhan had remained silent. He only stood there with a smile on his face. This was a problem of the Qing Clan. Hence, he felt unnecessary to give any suggestions.

Qing Luo only glanced towards Lin Zhanhan after hearing Qing Shui’s words. As of now, it could be said that Qing Luo trusted Lin Zhanhan even more than he trusted Qing Shui. After all, Lin Zhanhan’s age matched up quite well with the amount of experience which he had gained throughout his life.

Lin Zhanhan only smiled and nodded his head.

“This isn’t the first time you talked about this. But, I think Grandpa Lin and I will just stay here. We are already so old, I think it’s better for us to just stay here and enjoy a peaceful life.” Qing Luo declined Qing Shui’s request.

“You and Grandpa Lin have to come. Once you are there, if anyone were to start any business, they would still need you and Grandpa Lin to keep watch of them.” Qing Shui wouldn’t allow a warrior like Lin Zhanhan, who was at the pinnacle of Martial King Grade to remain in Hundred Miles City. It would be such a waste.

“Let’s go to Hundred Miles City first, after arriving, we’ll sit down and discuss this matter, how’s that?” Qing Luo laughed embarrassingly.

“Even if grandpa doesn’t believe me, at least believe in Grandpa Lin!” Qing Shui said bitterly.

“Hehe, your mother has already suffered a lot. Regarding this incident, I still hope that your mother will be the one to decide. I can help you convince her. This way, she will be able to expand her horizons towards the outside world. And also, that little Qing Bei brat.” Qing Luo explained slowly as he looked at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui finally kept quiet.

Qing Shui accompanied Qing Luo and Lin Zhanhan in Qing Village for almost half a day. After that, the three of them rode the Fire Bird back to Hundred Miles City.

As of now, all the people from Qing Clan was considered to have reunited. Of course, if Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li were to be included, it would be a different story. All the original members of the clan were present.

“Today, since everyone has gathered here, let’s all talk to each other about the future of the Qing Clan, I believe that everyone is already aware of what this meeting is about, I just want to go through it again.” Qing Luo smiled and said.

“Where is Qing Shui? Everyone has seen it, he dedicated thousand of times more hard work than a normal person. It can almost be said that he has done something even billions of people can’t accomplish. He wants to let everyone go to an even bigger and wider place to start anew.

When Qing Luo talked up to this point, he stopped. After that, he glanced towards Qing You. Everyone else remained silent and didn’t say anything.

“Qing You, do you want to join Heavenly Palace? Do you want to go to Green Cloud Continent?” Qing Luo asked as he looked at Qing You with a smile.

“I don’t want……” Qing You responded submissively.

“Damned brat, you with your usual tricks again, keep it to yourself. Be straightforward and answer me. Brother Qing Shui has the authority to let you into the sect. If you don’t say anything, there is a high chance that he will leave you behind in Hundred Miles City.” Qing Luo laughed and accused him.

“Yes, I… I am willing to……”

Qing Shui smiled as he approached him. He was holding Qing Yi’s and Qing Qing’s hands: “Mother, your son is all grown up, this time, he has really grown up.”

It was such a simple sentence, yet it instantly left Qing Yi in tears, Qing Qing also couldn’t help but tear up. The other members of Qing Clan also felt incomparably sad.

It has been so long, around ten years, ten years since the coming of age ceremony. Throughout these years, everyone in Qing Clan had known almost everything about Qing Shui’s hardships through Huoyun Liu-Li and the girls. Especially the life which Qing Shui lived during the three years when he was crippled, it was something which all of them witnessed themselves.

……

Everyone from Qing Clan knew that Qing Shui would always say one phrase, “No pain, no gain”.

“This time, you have really made up your mind!” Qing Yi shouted out loudly with tears of joy.

“Your son has really grown up!”

It’s not the first time Qing Shui had said this, but this time, it truly made the people present feel incomparably sad. At present, Qing Shui was already twenty-seven years old.

The last time he had said this was when he just turned into an adult. After ten years, Qing Shui once again said the same thing. This time, he could finally say it proudly because he felt that he was finally qualified to say so.

“Qing Shui, when we’re there, we can’t just slack off like how we used to. Both your uncle and auntie, as well as myself, are no longer capable of improving our cultivation levels. However, we were already content with our achievements. Why don’t we continue our medicinal business in the Green Cloud Continent?” Qing Yi smiled while looking at Qing Shui.

“Sure!” Qing Shui responded with a smile. It’s not a bad idea to start a medicinal business. Not only did he have the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he had even snatched away a lot of treasures from Yan Clan Treasury, Crimson Gang, Sword Tower and Demon Beast Sect. He had collected quite a huge fortune, this way, he would be able to help expand the medicinal business of Qing Clan. After that, he could pair it up with his own Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to get more precious and rare medicinal herbs.

Qing Shui’s medicinal herbs in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal were superior in the sense that the thousand years medicinal herbs were divided into batches. Hence, Qing Shui could take out some from each and every batch. He didn’t necessarily need to take out a lot of it. It was just to exchange for other precious medicines.

That was how things were decided. Qing Shui told them they would leave after three days to give them some time to pack up. On the other hand, Qing Shui was thinking of making an enormous carriage.

It’s impossible for such a great quantity of people to all ride on the Fire Bird. Hence, Qing Shui set his sight on the enormous Diamond Gigantic Elephant. Since there were so many people and things, Qing Shui was thinking about how big the carriage needed to be.

As for the pulling force of the Diamond Gigantic Elephant, it was not something to be worried about. As long as the carriage was tough enough, it wouldn’t be a problem even if it was to pass over mountains ridges.

Qing Shui believed that he was capable of doing this.

After three days!

The people in Qing Clan couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw a carriage in front of the Qing Clan’s Medicinal Store.

It was more than thirty meters long, five meters wide and five meters tall. It had ten large wheels. There was barely any gap between the wheels.

The Diamond Gigantic Elephant was the most suitable one to pull this enormous carriage. The elephant itself was already ten meters long and four meters tall.

The process of making this carriage had also given Qing Shui a headache. This was because it not only had to be tough, it still needed to be able to resist shockwaves. Luckily, Qing Shui knew about springs. With Qing Shui’s ability, the shock absorption function of the springs made by him would definitely be top quality.

The last thing which made Qing Shui anxious was the wheels. The axles for the wheels were already done. It’s the outer rim which Qing Shui was concerned about. Qing Shui had to put the long journey into consideration. In any case, the Diamond Gigantic Elephant had insane strength, don’t mention about pulling one, even pulling hundreds of these carriages wouldn’t be a problem for the Diamond Gigantic Elephant.

Eventually, Qing Shui decided to use some three thousand year old Nanmu Trees to make the enormous wheels.

Qing Shui made the Diamond Gigantic Elephant pull it. After trying it a few times, he felt unusually good. It might be because he had used a lot of springs in the creation of the carriage, which in turn gave it a huge advantage. After all, Qing Shui’s skills in his Ancient Art of Forging was close to perfection.

The carriage itself was made from the Quad-colour Rainbow Art of Forging and was already able to resist shockwaves to a certain extent. It also had the function of providing a speed boost. This was the bizarre part about the Ancient Art of Forging.

The carriage at the back was really large. They brought along some essential items and precious medicines from the Qing Clan’s Medicinal Store. After all, it’s not that there weren’t any poor people in Green Cloud Continent, but there also wouldn’t be any peak Martial King warriors running back and forth along the streets. Across the World of the Nine Continents, no matter where it was, all places were still mostly populated with commoners. After that would be warriors of Houtian Grade. There were only very few people who were able to achieve Xiantian Grade.

Luckily, the carriage was huge enough. Basically, they had already brought along everything that they could bring with them.

This carriage may be huge in the Hundred Miles City, but when compared to carriages in the Green Cloud Continent, it would only be considered average.

“Mother, I will be heading to the Shi Clan for a while!”

Qing Shui informed Qing Yi before leaving.

“Go, it would be best if you could bring Qingzhuang along! Don’t feel hurried, if we can’t make it today, there is still tomorrow. One or two days don’t really matter, finish all your things first.” Qing Yi answered after thinking for awhile.

“Right!”

Qing Shui took a peek at Wenren Wushuang. After such a long time, she was already like a blood-related sister to Qing Qing. It’s just that she was becoming more and more distant from him. This made Qing Shui feel sad and happy at the same time.

While he was happy that she could get along well with his mother and sister, he was sad because he missed the old Wushuang.

Qing Shui greeted them. After that, he proceeded towards Shi Clan, the clan that was nominally ruling the Hundred Miles City.

Not long after he went out, Qing Shui ran into a person. For a moment, Qing Shui froze in shock. So did the person.

Yu He!

She was wearing a white and plain garment. Besides the bulging part which was supposed to bulge, she had gotten thinner, causing her to look a bit more beautiful. Her clear and attractive pupils contained a kind of unsolvable complexity.

When Qing Shui saw her, he felt a bit guilty, to the point that he even felt a bit diffident. During the two times he came back, he hadn’t looked for her even once. Qing Shui didn’t know if she was aware that he had come back since he hadn’t visited her.

“Sister Yu! How have you been?” When Qing Shui said this, he sounded a bit unnatural.

“You are leaving again!” Yu He responded with a humble smile.

Even though she was smiling, it still made Qing Shui feel a bit uneasy and cold. For a moment, he felt as if something went missing in his heart.

“Sister Yu! Why don’t you leave with me!” When Qing Shui said this, he felt really fraudulent, he even felt that he sounded really powerless when he was saying this.

Yu He’s body trembled: “Qing Shui, I like you, I love you. But I dislike your indecisiveness, do you understand? I would rather live widowed like this forever. When I heard what you said just now, do you know how hurt I felt?”

“Sister Yu…….”

“Qing Shui, if you still have respect for me, then stop talking. I know that you more or less will no longer return to this place anymore after leaving this time. I wish you good luck and a safe journey!”

After she finished speaking, she turned around and left. Drops of translucent tears began falling down from her face.

Qing Shui stood there and blanked out for a long time. Qing Shui felt that the thing that he was worst with were things which involved feelings. The thing that he didn’t understand the most was woman’s hearts. For a moment, he felt really tired.

Qing Shui looked into the direction where Yu He disappeared. He didn’t know what to do.

Shi Clan!

Qing Shui walked into the Shi Clan Household and immediately approached the Shi Clan Old Master.

After seeing Qing Shui, Shi Clan’s Old Master was really happy. After that, he got a few people to inform Qingzhuang about Qing Shui’s visit.

“What’s the matter? I can tell that you are a bit unhappy.” Shi Clan’s Old Master chuckled and asked Qing Shui casually.

Qing Shui shook his head and smiled. He didn’t want to bother Shi Clan’s Old Master with the emotions he felt from Yu He.

Very quickly, Shi Qingzhuang came in. She still wore a scarlet red cloth. When she saw Qing Shui, a trace of joy flashed across her tranquil and beautiful pupils: “Qing Shui!”

Her faint smile lessened a bit of the sadness in Qing Shui’s heart.

“Today, I am here to inform Old Master that I am going to move out for a period of time.” Qing Shui smiled humbly.

“Move out?”

“Yeah, to Green Cloud Continent City. Today, I am here to bring Qingzhuang along.” Qing Shui pulled Shi Qingzhuang who was at his side and looked at Shi Clan’s Old Master.

“Hehe, going to the Green Cloud Continent? That’s great. Qingzhuang, do you want to go with Qing Shui?” Shi Clan’s Old Master chuckled and asked Shi Qingzhuang who was already blushing.

“Grandpa……”

“Alright, Qing Shui is a good kid. Go, Qing Shui, treat Qingzhuang nicely. This child has always been antisocial since she was young. Her attitude now is a result of her parents neglecting her. After all these years, this is the first time I have seen her treating a man like this.” Shi Clan’s Old Master looked at Shi Qingzhuang with a pampering gaze.

“I know, don’t worry!”

“Grandpa……”

“Alright, little brat, it’s not like we’re not letting you come back. You can come back whenever you want, if you have time, come visit us along with Qing Shui.”

“Old Master, this is for you. See it as Qingzhuang and I showing respect to you.” Qing Shui took out two Xiantian Golden Pellet and passed it to Shi Clan’s Old Master. Of course, it was stored in a porcelain bottle.

After leaving Shi Clan, Qing Shui and Shi Qingzhuang rushed towards Qing Clan. As for other people in Shi Clan, they didn’t really meet them. Shi Qingzhuang told him that she didn’t want to see the rest of them.

“Qing Shui, what was the medicine that you gave grandpa? I am really curious.” Shi Qingzhuang continued to allow Qing Shui to hold her hand as she asked casually.

“Xiantian Golden Pellet!”

“Oh, it’s the Xiantian Golden Pellet……” Shi Qingzhuang acted innocent as she looked at Qing Shui.

“Qing Shui, wait for me here for a while!” Shi Qingzhuang quickly rushed back to Shi Clan.

After the time taken for an incense stick to burn passed, Shi Qingzhuang came back. She looked at Qing Shui with a faint smile. There was an indescribable appeal to her smile.

“Thank you!” Shi Qingzhuang smiled sincerely.

“Do we still need to be so formal with each other?”

“Oh! Then I will thank you on my grandpa’s behalf instead!”