Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 301 Two medical prescriptions, the prescription to awake the talent of the beast

”Qing Shui, I have two medical prescriptions and some ingredients for it,” Cang Wuya said while walking back to his room to retrieve the prescriptions for Qing Shui. ”It’s a shame that I’m still unable to refine them successfully. But it is a good prescription, so I’m giving it to you!”

Qing Shui looked at the beast parchment with anticipation. The temptation of the prescription was still very irresistible. Once refined to a certain degree, the medicinal pill would have the restoration ability that was even better than those of the divine weapons.

The strength of the medicinal pill lay in the personal improvement and consumption where, in normal situations, the pills cannot be lost easily. However, the divine weapons were different; they would get one into trouble by attracting envious people, or worse, there would be impending massacre.

Still, Qing Shui took the prescriptions from Cang Wu Yi and responded, ”Thanks, old man!”

Having received the prescriptions, he knew that the bond between him and Cang Wu Yi would be unbreakable now.

Qing Shui knew that the prescriptions were definitely not too shabby. Although Cang Wu Yi’s refining skills were not polished, his vision and outlook on things were still considered great. If Cang Wu Yi was able to regard these prescriptions as ’good’, then they were definitely of the highest quality.

”No problem. These prescriptions aren’t that bad, but the chances of failure are quite high. Even regular pharmacists have fifty percent chance of refining success.” Cang Wu Yi chuckled. ”So even if there’s a one percent success rate, it’s considered pretty good. Also, even if you have the necessary ingredients, you still won’t be able to prevent this kind of failure.”

Qing Shui opened up the prescription and saw two unfamiliar medical terms on the parchment!

The effectiveness of the pill can increase a beast’s full power by ten percent. Each beast can only consume at most five pills at a time, which will enable a ten percent chance to awaken and increase one’s combat talents.

It was considered exceptional to be able to awaken ten percent of the full power, in addition to possessing the same effectiveness of the Small Revitalizing Pellet on human beings. What’s more, it was also regarded one of the top pills amongst the 1st level of King Grade. Most importantly, one person was able to consume five pills at a time, which contained more than half of the full power.

Even though Qing Shui was already pleased with the statistics, he was more interested in the awakening of the combat talents.

Combat talents! Qing Shui was no stranger to that. Every species of any beasts possessed some kind of combat talent. For example, the bear species, once they had awoken their natural ability, the power and defense will immediately double, or increase more than that.

The combat talent of the Panther-type Beasts is speed. Once the talent was awoken, their speed will immediately double or more. This, however, still depended on the nature of the beast itself.

No matter what kind of beasts they were, once the talents are awoken, their overall power could be boosted to a higher level. They might even master some of their finesse to a greater degree.

In an instant, Qing Shui thought about his own Firebird and its talent, whether it used fire element to increase the fire damage, or will its powers be awoken by the Phoenix Blood.

He got excited as he thought about the Firebird’s Phoenix bloodline. Will it one day be reborn as a Phoenix if the Firebird awoke his bloodline?

But then, he thought, the chances are one percent, similarly to how five pills will only have five times of one percent. Suddenly, Qing Shui pondered on whether the one percent awakening of combat talents after consuming five Beast Pills really did exist.

”Forget it, I will think about it after I have refined those pills. Let’s see the next page of the prescription,” Qing Shui contemplated. ”However, this is really something. The Beast Pill is most definitely better than those pills of 2nd Level of King Grade. What is this second page about?” Qing Shui thought as he impatiently open the parchment.

Concentrating Spirit Pill prescription: one thousand-year Fleeceflower Root, one thousand-year Tigerbone Powder one thousand-year Bear Gall, three thousand-year Turtle’s Blood, Seven-Leaf Lotus , Azure White, Eight-Edged Lotus Leaf, White Frost Nectar, Purple Leaf Flower , one thousand-year Fu Ling , one thousand-year Ox gallstones!

This pill allowed practitioners to double their practice speed in just twelve hours!

”What the...” Qing Shui started as he nearly swore his heart out. To him, pills with this kind of attribute could easily compare 1st or 2nd Level of King Grade and any other higher grades to those of trash.

Most importantly, these pill did not have any limitation. Each pill allowed the practitioners to undergo two days’ worth of exercise in a span of one day, which was enough to defy the order of nature.

One must know that cultivators usually absorb the spiritual qi of the Heaven and Earth by quenching essence into their bodies, flesh and bones, the eight vessels energy channels and meridians, and the organs.

However, the speed and mass by absorbing the Aura of the Heaven and Earth for every person was different. Some may be fast and some may be slow during training. Those with high perceptions will be able to absorb the essence much faster and with purer quality. However, those with low perceptions can only absorb the essence slower and with low quality, thus extending their practice time.

In any case, not all was lost. If one’s perception was low, one may be able to invest more time to reach and accumulate purer and greater amount of quality than others.

Qing Shui instantly felt joyous. Other people might take advantage of this pill to double their practising speed, but the time they spent during in a day was only equivalent to two days’ worth of time.

Qing Shui, however, was different from them as he had the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. If the Spirit Concentrating Pill allowed it, Qing Shui would be able to defy the balance of nature. He had already surpassed the original time by fifteen fold. This time, he would be able to double that amount.

Thirty fold...

One day would be equivalent to one month. Qing Shui got fired up just thinking about this ridiculous concept. It was just like cheating in a game.

”Hey, old man. Since the success rate for this type of pill is so low, will this medicine even distribute throughout the mainland?” Qing Shui felt that even though the pill was precious, it still had low refining success. There were a lot of valuables in the mainland, as well as an abundance of rich people buying them. It wouldn’t be a surprise that pills that could triple or quadruple the speed would be available in the market, much less the ones that could double the speed of training.

”Yeah. Although they are valuable, you can find them in the mainland, but the supply depletes quickly. Back in my day, I used to practise my refining using these pills, only succeeding once or twice out of the one hundred attempts. After a while, I learnt to just take those ingredients to the Medical Pill Sect and exchange them for the pills.” Cang Wuya laughed as he reminisced.

Qing Shui now understood why there would be Martial Kings that were relatively young. If a forty-year-old man practised for thirty years, but in the span of those years he was able to consume pills that could quadruple the effect of a Spirit Concentrating Pill, then he would have already finished nearly two hundred years worth of training.

He thought he was able to defy the order of nature just by acquiring the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, but it seemed Qing Shui did not have enough outlook and perspective of the world. This prescription allowed him to view the world in a wider aspect.

”But old man, wouldn’t that mean this Medical Pill Sect you mentioned has a much higher success rate in refining Spirit Concentrating Pill?” Qing Shui felt that the Medical Pill Sect’s main job should be about refining pills, but he began to develop a new perspective on those people who could refine pills.

They were able to use significantly less time to finish what other people could do in a lifetime of strenuous training. This was what they would call ’Grinding a chopper will not delay the work of cutting firewood’.

”Well, Medical Pill Sect is a big faction in the Greencloud Continent, comparable to the Heavenly Palace. They are well-known for their medicinal pills, even though their job revolves around refining pills. Also, they don’t participate in the issues between factions. Like us old men, Medical Pill Sect is well hidden inside the Greencloud Continent,” Cang Wuya replied as he pondered for a while.

”The Spirit Concentrating Pill they refined, just like the one in your hands, has about fifty percent success rate. Basically, in between two times of refining, you will succeed at least once.”

At last, Qing Shui was able to learn about the powerful side of the medicinal pill today. There was no doubt saying that the Medical Pill Sect was hidden in the deeper part of the continent. After all, being a big faction with an abundance of medicinal pills, strong opponents are bound to exist.

Originally, the chances of joining the leapfrog challenge were slim, but if he added up all the medicinal pills, armor, weapons, and especially the abnormal temporary medicinal pills, the challenge would not be a problem. The only problem was the ugly side-effects from consuming those temporary medicinal pills.

”Tomorrow when Martial Uncle Wuji comes, he will take these two ingredients for the medicinal pill. I will give you one hundred of these, which will suffice for days. If you finish them, you can come and find me.” Cang Wuya laughed cheerfully.

”Old man, the medicine refining technique that I have learnt doesn’t seem right.” Qing Shui thought really hard before he asked Cang Wuya. ”Is it possible to instead use some of the live ones, or those that just died with roots a short while ago, that way the refining success would be higher?”

Cang Wuya faced Qing Shui after he had thought about it and said, ”I can let you try. The essential ones are not suitable to be grown here. You need to dry them under the sun. But the half-dead ones with the roots intact can still be used.”

”Thank you so much, old man.” Qing Shui showed his gratitude towards Cang Wuya.

When Qing Shui went back to his place, he read the prescriptions for Beast Pill and Spirit Concentrating Pill repeatedly. As he thought about refining the pills tomorrow, he got excited. He wondered whether his refining success rate would be the same as before.

His Primordial flames and Golden Flint Iron Cauldron should be a bit better than the Medical Pill Sect. Qing Shui felt that his refining skills couldn’t be any worse than other people’s.

Nowadays, when Qing Shui saw a hanging picture of the beautiful lady in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he was reminded of that mysterious Palace Mistress of Misty Hall.

No matter where he was, Qing Shui would often unintentionally hear the Palace Mistress of Misty Hall’s conversation. Her words were breathtaking and flattering, exchanging around marvelously.

Both Cang Hai Ming-Yue and Huoyun Liu-Li’s arrival had been a topic of discussion, but what surprised Qing Shui was that Cang Hai Ming-Yue was more inferior to the Palace Mistress of Misty Hall. Palace Mistress of Misty Hall was always wearing a veil and only revealed a pair of eyes with unparalleled beauty. That rumored extraordinary yet cold demeanor only elevated her mysterious beauty.

But there were also rumors about a horrible scar or birthmark on the Palace Mistress of Misty Hall’s face, and that was the reason why she wouldn’t show her face to anyone. As a result, most people thought that Cang Hai Ming-Yue was the most perfect one.

Veil-wearing Huoyun Liu-Li and Gong Sun Jian-Wu became two of the most alluring women in the Heavenly Palace. A lot of people were guessing about the existence of a scar on Huoyun Liu-Li’s face, but it was just a discussion. Still, that perfect body and manner, especially those erotic eyes that could soften any man’s heart, would not be able to lose to that of Cang Hai Ming-Yue in the slightest.

Everytime Qing Shui thought about it, he wanted to see the Palace Mistress of Misty Hall – the lady who had been a topic for many. But he was embarrassed to ask the two ladies about her. In the end, he gave up the thought of wanting to see the Palace Mistress of Misty Hall.

Even if he could go and see her, he still couldn’t do anything about it. This was a man’s common sickness. Even though a woman didn’t belong to him, he still wished to just look at her, regardless of whether he was going to look at her innocently or with dirty thoughts. He still had a remarkably strong urge to see her.

Taichi Single Whip!

Qing Shui was still able to use Taichi Punch to fully deploy Heavenly Thunder Slash, a move that had already entered the ”Familiar” realm with its movements as effortless as flowing water. The rhythms grew stronger with both arms moving in between each flow, occasionally letting out a few soft blasting echoes.

With each numerous deployment and feeling, Qing Shui’s Heavenly Thunder Slash rapidly increased in speed, but he was still unsatisfied. However, he could feel that he would be able to get a breakthrough.

Qing Shui felt that he needed more time to be able to reach the Truth Realm even with the help of the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. If he was able to refine a Spirit Concentrating Pill, then he would have about thirty years of time until the end of next year.

That was enough. Qing Shui laughed as he thought about it. He wanted to know whether he could use Ancient Strengthening Technique to break through the 5th Heavenly Layer. Thirty years seemed very long indeed, but for practitioners, it was only a moment.

“Bang!”

It was loud and clear. Every move from Qing Shui’s Taichi Punch emanated a strong echo, not like the blasting noise from the Taichi Punch he practised in the Obscure Realm.

That was Qing Shui’s Thunder Slash power!

”Boom!”

Qing Shui laughed when he heard the apparent explosion. This formidable and immense explosion could only be caused by his Taichi punch technique.

Taichi Single Whip!

”Haha, I can’t believe I caneasily reach the Fluent Realm so easily. This is much faster comparing from the Beginner Realm to Familiar Realm. This must be the foundation result.”

The next day, Qing Shui did his morning exercise as usual, but this time he was practising on his Taichi Punch. With his front facing the rising sun in the east, his movements were natural and flowing, like a shadow following relentlessly.