Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 281 Starmoon Hall, Stone Monument Styled Beast Form Fist

“Elder Fei is saying that there are great contradictions in the Heavenly Palace?” Qing Shui asked, feeling that it was unbelievable.

“In fact, there are always great contradictions in any sects. The bigger the sect, the greater the contradictions. While the Heavenly Palace’s nine halls would appear to be united to external parties, but the internal competition is fierce as well. However, this is very normal, and only when there is competition will there be development.” Fei Wuji chuckled, but did not say anything about the crux of the problem.

Qing Shui knew that there was no need to probe further. Walking along the stone steps that were similar to “Misty Hall’s”, they headed up, and a purple hall that was slightly smaller than Lingxiao Treasure Hall appeared majestically before Qing Shui.

The three words “Starmoon Hall” inscribed on the signboard was written by the same person who wrote the four burning golden big words for Lingxiao Treasure Hall. The walkways in the surroundings were filled with black colored stone pillars which would take two people to hug around them.

Qing Shui saw that the color of everyone’s clothes was not the same, but all of them were Starmoon Robes. When they saw Fei Wuji, they would come walk over, and those who were closer would greet and call him Elder Fei!

There was a big square near Starmoon Hall, a place where people would gather to do their training. It was also where they would study, discuss, and have sparring sessions for their martial arts.

There were many arenas laid out in the square, and while they were not very big, there were many of them. Qing Shui saw that there were people having spars in each of them, surrounded by many people who were cheering the participants on. It was bustling with noise and excitement.

“Elder Fei, erm, Martial Uncle, are they sparring?” Qing Shui asked, looking towards the arenas and towards the people in the square who were training.

“That’s right, but this is just normal sparring. The Heavenly Palace emphasizes battle experience, so their training is to continuously go through battles and sparring matches.” Elder Fei chuckled and smiled.

Qing Shui thought about it, and felt that though this method was not new there were not many sects who would utilize it. That was because continuously sparring would result in a large number of injuries and deaths. The price to pay for experience was great.

To battle as daily work was important. In his previous life, Qing Shui already knew that even after learning martial arts for three years, one might not be able to defeat a gangster who had been fighting in the streets for three years.

This was how precious battle experience was, especially battles to the life and death which could allow one to experience great improvements and even allow one to breakthrough their limits, reaching new boundaries, and be reborn.

“Martial Uncle, do all of the Heavenly Palace’s disciples train like this?” When Qing Shui was at Lingxiao Treasure Hall, he had seen for himself that there were also many arenas laid out, but he had not taken much notice of the situation.

“Mmm, basically, yes. However, those with greater aptitude such as Elders and the Palace Lord’s direct disciples would use this method less often.” Fei Wuji said as they continued walking.

Qing Shui was not stupid but knew of the reason for this. For example, a grade 1 Xiantian, or a Xiantian who was of grade 2, 3, 4… no matter how much battle experience the person has, he would not be able to defeat a Martial King cultivator. And another thing they were fearful of was “accidents”.

There was a row of buildings not far from the grounds, and most of them were two storeys high. Many of Starmoon Hall’s disciples would enter and exit. It was where the Heavenly Palace’s disciples stayed.

Under Fei Wuji’s lead, Qing Shui was brought to the registrar to complete his registration. He was now officially a Heavenly Palace’s disciple, and was allocated five sets of clothes, one weapon, and one key!

“Qing Shui, the number on the key is your residence. The place to train would be in the square. For two hours every morning and two hours in the afternoon, there’ll be an elder to teach martial arts. Oh, and if you’re interested in the stone monument martial arts at the back of the mountain, you can go take a look. How much you can comprehend will depend on yourself.” Fei Wuji said indifferently.

“Mmm, Martial Uncle you can go do your work, I’ll take a look myself!”

“Mmm, come to Martial Uncle’s place for dinner tonight!” Fei Wuji grinned and said.

“Mmm, I’ll head over earlier.” Qing Shui smiled, knowing that this was because he had made lunch earlier.

Qing Shui looked at the tag on the key. What was written was block 1000, 2nd floor, room 100!

Qing Shui took the key, clothes and a weapon that did not look bad as he left. The weapon was not comparable to the ones he forged though. This sword was a representation of his identity, symbolizing one’s status as a Heavenly Palace’s disciple. Of course, if one could become a Protector, the weapon one would be allocated would be quite good, and even the clothes would be made of top quality Ice Cicada Silk!

Qing Shui headed towards the rows of buildings which all had two storeys. Qing Shui saw that the numbers marked the buildings. Each row was one block, and he headed for the deepest area.

This was a very spacious residential area. A place where the Starmoon Hall’s disciples rest. Qing Shui did a rough estimation that if there was 1 person for each room, with there being two storeys, each block would house 200 people!

It would mean that the Starmoon Hall would at least have 200,000 disciples. And this was only the number of normal disciples. With nine halls in the Heavenly Palace, it would mean that there were at least 1 million Xiantian experts…

Thinking about it alone made Qing Shui’s scalp itch. What was it like for there to be 1 million Xiantian cultivators? However, considering that this was a great sect who could stand strong in a continent for ten thousands of years, it would not be strange.

After all, there’s an immeasurable population in this world. A city alone would have tens or hundreds of millions of people, and each country had 81 cities, each continent had 81 countries. It was already hard to calculate how many people there were in each continent. Since there were too many and it was too hard to calculate, might as well just leave it be.

Each row of buildings were at least 10 meters long, and 1000 rows would be 10,000 meters. It was fortunate that while Qing Shui seemed to be walking casually, his speed was quite fast. It took him only fifteen minutes to travel 10,000 meters.

The height of the terrain was different. Qing Shui looked at the “1000th” building. The buildings here were all independent, so Qing Shui went straight to look for room 100, which was all the way inside.

While it was 2 storeys high, there was an independent stairway to the 2nd floor. The buildings here were all made from mountain rocks. Heavenly Palace Mountain was filled with spiritual energy, and even such “Heavenly Palace rocks” were good materials for construction.

Stepping up to the 2nd storey, Qing Shui opened the door to find out that the place was very spacious and sufficient for a whole family. Qing Shui recalled seeing some ladies who did not seem like Heavenly Palace’s disciples on the way here. Some of whom were holding kids in their arms or, holding their hands and taking a walk. Those were actually the disciples’ family members. However, Heavenly Palace encouraged male disciples to get married with female disciples. Not only would the genetics be good, but the children they gave birth to would also have a strong sense of belonging to the Heavenly Palace.

He walked into a living room which was 100 square meters large. There were three bedrooms, two kitchens, two toilets and a balcony! Qing Shui took a look and saw that all the furniture and fittings were all brand new.

After taking a casual look, Qing Shui was done. Misty Hall was the only one in the nine halls with only females. There were both males and females in the other 8 halls, and Lingxiao Treasure Hall’s female disciples were even more than the male disciples, the strongest one of them all was a lady as well. Even the other halls’ disciples would address her as Eldest Martial Sister, and her status in the Heavenly Palace was second only to the Elders. That was because she was also the Heavenly Palace’s Protector, and was Lingxiao Treasure Hall’s Palace Lord’s direct disciple!

Qing Shui recalled Fei Wuji’s words earlier that there were stone monument martial arts at the back of the mountain. Since Fei Wuji had said it, the martial arts there would definitely be beneficial. Therefore, Qing Shui planned to use his remaining time to check out the place.

The back of the mountain was not very far away. Qing Shui followed the considerably wide path, and managed to find it after asking two people for directions. It was an area which seemed like a rocky quarry.

An enormous monument stood there, at a height of 5 meters and a width of 3 meters. There were about 1000 people around. It was as if that there would always be people there. Before each stone monument, there were a few people, some leaving, some heading over, some with joy, some with disappointment, some holding on hope.

Qing Shui did not expect that there would be so many people. How could such open martial arts be top quality ones?

Qing Shui knew that ordinary disciples would not be able to learn Heavenly Thunder Slash and Divinity Protection since the Heavenly Palace regulated that it wasn’t accessible for disciples who were below Martial King level. Qing Shui felt that the Heavenly Palace was trying to hide the good stuff, only passing such martial arts to direct disciples and important members of each hall.

Qing Shui walked onto the small paths made from pebbles and rocks. Each of these paths would pass by a stone monument, connecting like a gigantic spider web.

When Qing Shui saw the first drawing, he was shocked. It was a deer. On the stone monument, there was a huge deer running and jumping about! The detailed inscription gave a very majestic feeling. Qing Shui felt that the carving skills of this person was the same as the painting skills of the person who did the beauty portrait. They both attained the acme of perfection. It was too bad that there was not a single word carved on the stone monument.

When Qing Shui, who had reached the great perfection stage, first saw it, he immediately felt the true essence behind this carving. Those agile four limbs and harmonious running rhythm, and even the flow of vital energy and blood as well as the posture.

At that moment, Qing Shui noticed that his Deer Cantering which he had faced slow progress in was suddenly brought to greater heights. He had long sensed that the great perfection stage was the end, and to Qing Shui it was as if he had just opened a brand new door.

His Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique circulated automatically, and it was now circulating according to the Deer Cantering technique in his Dantian. Gradually, Qing Shui followed the style on the stone monument and practiced. It was a feeling, to imitate the expression. Qing Shui knew that such Beast Form Fist required one to roughly imitate the form and the most important stage was to imitate the spirit.

To imitate the spirit, he must first imitate the form. Only after comprehending the form of the Beast Form Fist would one then be able to gradually be led into its spirit, just like the reaching the stage of its true essence.

Qing Shui sensed that his Deer Cantering had entered a mystical stage. It was a very strange feeling, like a strong man was looking at a young kid. Qing Shui knew that this was an improvement, a raise in his boundary.

At that moment, Qing Shui knew that his speed had increased by another 20%. He did not know what there was after the great perfection stage though. Ultimate perfection stage?

Qing Shui then went on to the second drawing. It was still that of a deer. This was a jumping deer, a deer which was at a cliff. It gave the feeling that it was not jumping off the cliff to die but was trying to jump across it.

The momentary explosive outburst of energy from the moment the deer jumped was clearly presented on the drawing. Qing Shui was overjoyed. With the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique, and with this Deer Cantering which had exceeded the great perfection stage, he now realized everything was falling into place, and he was brought to even greater heights.

“Just a deer drawing? What martial arts is this? Learn to run like a deer? Learn to jump like a deer?” A young man who was looking at the deer form mumbled.

When Qing Shui saw that surprised and disdainful expression, he really wanted to say, that’s right, the idea is to get you to learn to run like a deer, to jump like a deer!