Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 522 - Di Chen is leaving, Quad-color Art of Forging

“Daddy, I want to go outside to play!” Little Yuchang pouted as she ran towards Qing Shui.

Even though the little girl was young, she was quick and witty. The combination of her little pouty expression and how she phrased her sentence made it obvious that she wanted Qing Shui to bring her out to play.

Qing Shui thought about it for a moment. He did neglect her a little. He had always leave the QIng residence without staying for long until now. During that time, he did not really spend much time with his little girl.

“Okay. Daddy will bring you out to play.” Qing Shui carried her and went outside.

Qing Shui felt that he had quite a good affinity with children. Qing Shui felt odd that even this little girl was so attached to him.

Once they were outside. The little girl protested noisily to be let down. She wanted to walk on her own. Qing Shui placed her down. There were many people on the streets, and everyone greeted him when they saw him. Nobody was jealous of the Qing Clan now, as the distance between those people and them was already too far.

Jealousy is built on distance. If the distance between status is too huge, there will only be admiration. Just as his previous life, if two families are on the same standing, but one got a windfall of 30 thousand or 20 thousand, this could invoke the jealousy of the other.

Other the other hand, those billionaires or the extremely rich, can earn a 10 million a day. But this is beyond normal comprehension or awareness, so jealousy usually only happen when people are aware that their abilities or status are quite close.

Qing Shui smiled as he greeted them. During the lunar new year, the streets were filled with people who were all busy visiting their families and friends.

Suddenly, Qing Shui spotted a person.

Lan Yan`er!

Qing Shui was shocked when he saw her. It took a while before he could confirmed that the lady was actually the girl he had known long ago. The only difference was the girl was now a lady, she was good-looking but she was also an unfortunate woman.

She was supposed to be the concubine of the young master of Heavenly River City. But that young master had a short life, he was killed by Qing Shui even before she moved into his house.

The pitiable Lan Yan`er became a widow. Qing Shui knew that women like her were only playthings for the rich men sons. She could not escape her fate once that that young master laid eyes on her.

When she saw Qing Shui, she did not react. She lowered her head and walked away. A man stood in at a distance, he seemed to be waiting for her.

When Lan Yan`er held on to the arm of that decent honest looking man, Qing Shui consoled himself that things might have ended well for her.

If the incident did not happen, Qing Shui felt that such a proud woman like Lan Yan`er would never have settle down with that sort of man. But things have changed over time, she was no longer like who she was in the past.

Qing Shui thought that this might not be a bad thing of her. If she did marry the young master, she will become a widow sooner or later, but she may not be as fortunate as how she was now.

“Daddy, what are you looking at?”

The little lass who was running ahead actually turned back for him when she saw him lost in his thoughts!

……

Time passed with a blink of an eye. Half a month had already passed. The Qing Clan and Qing Shui were once again back in Hundred Miles City.

In these almost three years time, Qing Shui had totally changed, it extended to his his entire frame of mind.

Qing Shui distributed the Tiger Vitality Pill and Threefold Spirit Concentrating Pill he had manufactured over the days to the members in the Qing Clan. He also gave them fruits, as some of them had not eaten any before, he managed to distribute the fruits to everyone this time.

Even though they were mainly for strength building, Agility Enhancing Fruit was especially useful. Spirit-Enhancing Fruit (also known as beauty fruit) could enhance one’s beauty and stamina.

Qing Shui used the three remaining Vermillion Fruit to brew a large vat of Vermillion Fruit wine. Taking into the account of the abilities of everyone in the Qing Clan, the Vermillion Fruit wine was more effective than just the pure consumption of the fruit. It could strengthen their meridians and and their Qi of Xiantian, it could also modify the nature of their constituencies slightly.

With his Threefold Spirit Concentrating Pill, Qing Shui made a soup which could boost his Qi Force, within it, he added many precious herbs. It was a very effective soup which could help revitalize his body after those daily strenuous practices.

……

“Sister Chen, you are going back to the Heavenly Palace?” Qing Shui exclaimed. Di Chen had already lived with them for three years and Qing Shui had already gotten used to her being around, even though nothing happened between them.

Qing Shui could not define their relationship right now. Are they lovers? But Qing Shui knew he did not even had to right to use this word. Friends? Qing Shui felt that they were a little closer than that. Confidants? Not really. Family? They were still some distance from that.

“You have recovered. At your current strength, no one in Greencloud Continent will be able to defeat you. It is time for me to return.” Di Chen laughed lightly as she looked at Qing Shui.

“Can you wait for just another day? Let me bring you around Hundred Miles City, okay?” Qing Shui hesitated before replying Di Chen.

In front of her, Qing Shui did not even have a semblance of confidence. What Di Chen had did for him had erased all the improper thoughts he had for her. He did not even secretly fantasize about her.

Di Chen looked at Qing Shui for a span of a few breaths. She then nodded. Both of them head east towards the doors of Qing Clan’s Medicinal Store.

“Qing Shui!”

“Yes!” Qing Shui responded as he turned to face Di Chen who was beside him.

“What plans do you have for the future?” Di Chen walked beside Qing Shui, her beautiful face was covered by a satin scarf.

“I want to explore the entire Nine Continents!” Qing Shui replied after some thoughts.

“Mingyue must have been with you.” Di Chen said as she glance back, there was a teasing glint in her eyes.

Qing Shui blushed. “Sister Chen, how did you know…”

Qing Shui did not feel that there was a need to lie in front of her, he was just feeling a little embarrassed.

“Her Mystic Art cultivation was taught by me, so I can tell.” Di Chen replied with a simple sentence, with no intention to delve deeper.

Qing Shui did not know how to respond, so he fell silent for awhile.

“Oh, yes. Actually, I should tell you. Liu-li actually knows what happened between you and Mingyue.”

This sentence startled him. Qing Shui suddenly realized that his interactions with Huoyun Liu-li had significantly reduced over these few days. It was as if she was avoiding him...

Realizing that he even tried to hide it from her, Qing Shui suddenly felt guilty for acting this way to her.

“Thank you!” Qing Shui thanked Di Chen.

……

“Sister Chen, what plans do you have, or wishes?” Qing Shui asked offhandedly. It was a rare chance, he did not even have the opportunity to ask in the past.

Di Chen gently shook her head responding to what Qing Shui said. “I guess you should have heard about me. I only wished to get their admiration in the future.”

Qing Shui was a little surprised by her answer but quickly understood. Di Clan and the Residence of the Sky Tyrant Lord are large clans in the Central Continent. To better establish and survive in the world of the Nine Continents, they had formed an alliance. Di Chen was the bargaining chip between them. Of course, she wanted to infuriate people from both clans. She wanted to show that she, just a bargaining chip, was stronger than both the clans combined. It was ridiculous for them to use her like a low value bargaining chip and the Residence of the Sky Tyrant Lord did not even have that clout….

Qing Shui did not say a word but he remembered that deeply.

“You will. Your wish will come true in the future.” Qing Shui said to Di Chen.

Di Chen smiled wordlessly at Qing Shui. The beauty of her exposed face was like like a resplendent star that exist even during the day, her beauty was so transcendent that it made everyone feel inferior.

……

When Qing Shui entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he did not do much. He just took out his Martial Saint Level Demonic Beast skin. He had gotten it from the Interspatial Silk Sachet that Feng Shamo from the Feng Clan possessed.

Qing Shui brought Di Chen around today because he wanted to do something for her. For nearly three years, she must have been the loneliest person here. Perhaps, it was her nature or perhaps she was already accustomed to that.

Qing Shui wanted to used his current skills to create an everyday wear for her, just like the fox fur coats. Qing Shui took out that snow white, moonlight-like demonic beast skin. It was as thin as a cicada’s wing but it had a high quality texture.

Qing Shui got the idea after observing the full white dress that Di Chen wore. He actually planned to use the skin three years ago, but had forgotten due to the many events that happened.

Qing Shui only remembered this when Di Chen announced that she was leaving. This made him feel like he had to do something for her.

A clear image of Di Chen appeared in his mind. Qing Shui used his Golden Calligraphy pen to draw out the cloth pattern as he thought of that perfect body figure. He then started working on it.

After dealing with much complications, Qing Shui finally manage to trim the thin by firm demonic beast skin correctly. He started tempering with the skin...

Such everyday wear was actually more troublesome to make than an armor. He had to use both his hands for the entire process. The Ancient Art of Forging was really amazing. But the fact that he was rebirth in this world made it easy to accept anything else.

He took one day for tempering, three days for crafting and five days for refining using his Qi force.

……

He used thirteen days, with the addition of his rest and sleep, plus time he used to regain strength using his Ancient Strengthening Technique, he used half a month in total.

He was even kicked out of the Realm once, but he returned at the later part of the night.

His creation of the dress went very well. Qing Shui could feel that he was very successful. Nothing more can be asked for its exterior and more important when he succeed a quad-color light shined.

Quad-color light!

Qing Shui’s Thousand Hammer Technique went up a level, his Ancient Art of Forging followed suit. Even though Qing Shui had created the dress, fur coats, boots are things like that hammering with his hands or fingers, the skills were still from his Thousand Hammer Technique.

Qing Shui was quite satisfied with the outcome. He could not resist using his Heavenly Vision Technique. There was no name, just the attributes.

Defence +40%, Speed +10%, Attack +10%. Added ability: Protection!

Protection: Latent ability, auto-activated. When an external force reach a lethal level, auto protection was be activated. Unaffected by the injured state of the wearer. The user will be invulnerable to attacks for 15 mins. This effect could be used once a month.

Qing Shui was speechless. It was perversely powerful. Quad-color level skills could alter the attributes and provide a insanely powerful ability!