Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 248 – 1-color graded boots, only females can equip it?

After the energy of the Ancient Strengthening Technique he infused into the bell had been depleted, Qing Shui studied the bell again. Sadly, he knew that there wouldn’t be any changes to the effects until the bell leveled up.

Roughly counting, he had already spent 12 days inside his spatial realm, there are still 3 days before he would be ejected out. Qing Shui gazed at all the forging tools and materials he had bought and decided to move them to the blacksmith store.

Before he reached the realm of being able to produce 1-colored graded weapons, he knew that he first had to stabilise his own foundations. And as for the 1,000 years cold steel, Qing Shui had already decided to use it as a material to forge boots.

He would use metal and bones of demonic beasts to forge the framework of the boots, while their skins and fur to decorate their surface. Qing Shui had a feeling that if he used the 1,000 years coldsteel as the base for the boots, only Xiantian-level cultivators and those above would be able to equip it. Those below Xiantian would have no way to bear the terrifying coldness of the qi from the 1,000 years coldsteel.

Focusing his thoughts, Qing Shui decided to think about that later. First, he decided that he would forge an ordinary longsword, a 3-foot Greenedge Sword. In the spatial realm, there were no distractions. Qing Shui could focus every fibre of his being into forging, allowing his hammer blows to be executed to perfection. The clear, crisp sounds that rang out following the blows of the hammer were especially refreshing in the quietness of the realm of Violet Jade Immortal.

Upon the 1,000th hammer blow, a faint golden light glowed. When Qing Shui studied it with his Heavenly Eyes, he couldn’t help but be disappointed. The enhancement effects were the same as the previous weapon he forged, there were no improvements at all.

Without stopping, Qing Shui continued working on the 2nd Greenedge Sword. Although he was disappointed, he decided not to let all this emotions affect his state of heart. This time round, he maintained a pure state of heart, thinking of nothing but working the metal, entering a wondrous state. His heart, mind and body movements were one, only focusing on the current task at hand, refusing to let his anticipation and the pressure of forging even higher enhancement weapons to cloud his thinking. He was so into it that he even lost track of the number of hammer blows.

Abruptly, when that familiar glow appeared, Qing Shui was as though he had been jolted awake. Looking at the finished product, it was noticeably many times better than the first one. Qing Shui activated his Heavenly Vision Technique agitatedly as he studied it.

Strength +120! Endurance +30! Agility +30!

“HAHAHA, 1-color graded weapon!” Qing Shui was incomparably full of joy. He finally succeeded!

Slashing the sword, Qing Shui could feel that his strength was enhanced by about 1,000 jin, a noticeably increase in speed as well as defense, akin to the time when he just ate the endurance-enhancing fruit.

The sword was 3-foot long, and it was about 3-fingers wide, and it weighed around 20jin!

Qing Shui then compared his earlier experiences compared to his forging before.

Qing Shui thought back to his experiences when he had created his first 1-colored graded weapon. Could it be that he had to reach the wondrous ‘forget-everything’ state before he would be able to succeed?

After resting, Qing Shui forged two more swords, but the enhancement effects could only be compared to the sword he traded away yesterday. The enhancements couldn’t measure up to the 1-color sword sword he created today.

Temporarily giving up on forging weapons, Qing Shui decide to turn his attention on to other things like forging armor and boots… For boots, he had all the materials necessary. There was still a little of the Golden Ring Snake King’s skin left in his possession. Since he had a mini breakthrough in the Thousand Hammer Technique, his hands were feeling the itch to try out at forging other items. Consulting the blueprints in his mind, he decided to forge a pair of boots.

Forging a pair of boots was different to forging weapons. For the bottom surface of the boots, Qing Shui first used ordinary forging materials as the base, his proficiency with the Thousand Hammer Technique had already managed to reach 1,005 strikes, giving him even more confidence. For the framework of the boots, Qing Shui couldn’t hammer them if he wanted to mould them in a shape that he wanted. Thus, he activated the Qi from the Ancient Strengthening Technique and he used his Saintly Hands, moulding the form of the framework perfectly.

After which, he covered the boots with the snakeskin of the Golden-Ring Snake King as he activated his primordial flames to toughen the leather and melding the base, the framework and the covers together. When the boots were ‘finished’, Qing Shui almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

Overall, the product was symmetrically smooth. The size was just enough for the slender feet of a woman. The scales of the Golden Ring Snake King shone with a gentle gloss, with soft golden light reflecting off the vibrant green of the snakeskin. The snakeskin was further decorated by the golden patterns of the snake king, appearing akin to extremely luxurious goods. The finished product was beautiful, really beautiful. The only complaint that Qing Shui had was that it was obviously for woman. Why would guys need to wear such a beautiful pair of boots? On the contrary, if guys wore it, it’s beauty would surely diminish, not bringing justice to boots at all.

After activating his Heavenly Vision Technique, Qing Shui was dumbstruck. He had to rub his eyes to ensure that he was not seeing things wrongly.

Level: 1-colored graded product. Effects: increment of 10% speed

This was a percentage increase! Just that line of words caused Qing Shui to be stunned, he had never expected that the boots would have such an effect. Not only that, his first attempt in forging boots actually created a 1-colored graded product, how could he not be overjoyed? A 10% increment in speed, if he could create other items such as armors, accessories and belts, wouldn’t he then enjoy an % increment in all his stats?

What an awesome Thousand Hammer Technique!

“Such boots can only be worn by women with perfect feet such as Huoyun Liu-Li, Zhu Qing and Shi Qingzhuang.” Qing Shui decided right there that he would never sell them to guys who’s smelly feet would only defile his creation.

Looking at the time, he decided once again to create another pair. Shrugging off his tiredness, he focused the entire fibre of his being into forging again…

Ding!

The appearance and enhancements of this second pair of boots was exactly the same as the first pair. After which, in his mind, the beautiful smiles of Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li appeared, followed by Yeqing Han. Even the memories of their ‘duo-cultivation’ flashed in his mind. A warm smile appeared on Qing Shui’s countenance.

“It’s been quite a long time since I last saw them.” Qing Shui sighed.

Involuntarily, he thought of his mom, the members of his clan, Mingyue Gelou as well as the little lass Yu Chang, Shi Qingzhuang, Yu He, his goddess master, Luan Luan, Wenren Wu-shuang and Zhu Qing…

Thinking of them, he realised that he had already came a long way from back then. But yet, he was still so far from reaching the peak, there were still many things for him to do. Cultivation is a never ending path, filled with potholes and dangers, if he truly wanted to be the master of his own destiny, he had to relentlessly move forward!

After which, he exited his spatial realm as he laid on his bed, quickly slipping into his dreams.

It was a dreamless night!

The next morning, when he arrived at the blacksmith store, it was already close to noon. Qing Shui placed the newly forged weapons up the racks. The weapons he forged in the spatial realm was 1-color graded. This was why he needed to place these weapons of different grade on a new shelf, signifying that it was not for sale, only for trade. The two pairs of beautiful boots were placed there as well.

These kind of boots that required one to channel Qi into them and in turn, increased the speed of the user was naturally the most suitable for cultivators. However, if an ordinary human was able to take out stuff that had an equivalent value wanting to exchange for it, Qing Shui wouldn’t reject them too.

“Mister, do you only accept trades for this pair of boots?”

Qing Shui raise his head as he saw what looks like a young married woman from an extremely wealthy clan. She didn’t seem to have any cultivation, so Qing Shui felt that the probability for for her to bring out an item that could cause his heart to itch was almost nil.

“Yup, only for trade.” Qing Shui nodded his head, as he continued forging a golden-coloured framework for a new pair of boots. The young married woman stood there contemplating for half a day before eventually leaving unwillingly. Maybe she knew that she wasn’t able to take out any items of equivalent value to trade and thus, she had no choice but to give it up.

After which, several people came into the store and wanted to buy the pairs of boots. Naturally, they were all women, and some even had their husbands or boyfriends coming together with them. Some of them even wanted to Qing Shui to name his price. Regardless of the cost of the boots, they seemed determined to buy it.

Listening to the arrogant tone of their words, Qing Shui could only smile as he replied something that caused everyone to shut up.

“1 billion taels of gold… ”