Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 719 – Medicine Sect, Yuan Su’s worries, A Transient Guest

“Chen`er, get ready, we’re going back to Green Cloud Continent in a few days.” Qing Shui was holding Di Chen’s hand in front of the window when he said that. After seeing Di Chen and rubbing their heads together, the two managed to ease down each other’s concerns. Before this, he even felt the urge to ‘swallow’ Di Chen down.

This place was different from Ice Cold City. Here, the room would be really brightly lit by the sun after noon. In comparison, that place always had hazy weather. Qing Shui felt that this place was much better. After all, he still couldn’t get used to living under those kinds of conditions for a long period of time.

“Alright!” Di Chen nodded at Qing Shui with a smile.

“Are you feeling reluctant to leave this place?” Qing Shui could tell that Di Chen didn’t really miss this place as much. That’s why he asked her this question.

“No I won’t, as long as you don’t leave me.” Di Chen turned to the side as soon as she finished speaking. Qing Shui noticed that her earlobes were slightly pink.

“How could I bear to do that? You’re my beautiful wife.” Qing Shui grabbed her soft hand.

“Scoundrel!”

Di Chen came here with the intention to solve the issue that has been weighing heavily on her heart for a long time. Now that she managed to resolve it, even though she had finally acknowledged her father, it had still been many years since she moved out of her house, it was impossible for it to feel the same as when she was small.

On the second day, Qing Shui went to the Medical Prescription Chamber.

Only to find that Yuan Su was no longer there. However, the old man told Qing Shui that if he wanted to see her, he could go to the Alchemist Sect.

Alchemist Sect was also located in the Seven Stars City, so it would only take a while for Qing Shui to go there. After hearing the old man’s words, Qing Shui decided to go there once. The reason why Yuan Su left words for Qing Shui was because she still cared about him. She wouldn’t mind Qing Shui going to look for her.

Alchemist Sect was still a huge sect in Seven Stars Country. After Qing Shui asked around, he proceeded in the direction of Alchemist Sect. He was able to locate the Alchemist Sect merely by relying on the air temperature. Not long after, a village-like vast area came within sight.

Qing Shui could tell that this was the place where Alchemist Sect was located. Because Alchemist Sect would choose locations that were close to the mountains, lakes and forests in order to plant medicinal herbs. Additionally, it would also need to be a vast flat land.

This place was close to the border of Seven Stars City. Alchemist Sect was located in a manor not far from here. It was a manor that was around ten Li wide and everyone in it were people from Alchemist Sect.

Alchemist Sect could be considered one of the richests sect in Seven Stars Country. Furthermore, they had pretty good relations with most people. Basically, other than Ten Thousand Poisons Sect, no one would dare to pick on Alchemist Sect. Hence, the Alchemist Sect’s position in Seven Stars Country was the firmest.

There were two rows of guards in front of the main gate of the manor with at least twenty of them in each side. Past the main gate were stone steps. The manor was about ten meters above the flat land.

“Sir, who’re you looking for?”

It might have been because of Qing Shui’s appearance and aura, a middle-aged man among the guards approached him and asked him politely.

“I’m here to look for Young Lady Yuan Su.” Qing Shui smiled.

“May I know your surname?” The man looked into Qing Shui’s eyes and asked him cautiously.

“My surname is Qing!”

“Oh, Mister Qing, young lady has left instructions to take you to her in person if you came!” The man smiled politely. Qing Shui could sense that Yuan Su’s position in Alchemist Sect seemed to be especially respected.

Qing Shui was stunned yet again. He nodded his head and walked into the Alchemist Sect with the man. Deep down, he also suspected that Yuan Su must have predicted that there would be a day when he would come to meet her, Thus, she had instructed many people, such as the old man from Medical Prescription Chamber and the guards from Alchemist Sect, to take note of news about him.

The interior of Alchemist Sect was quite luxurious. This was the place where the highest ranking individuals from Alchemist Sect lived. Qing Shui could tell from the position of the buildings.

The place had mountains and waters. It was a beautiful scene. All of the things here made Qing Shui feel like he was in a market. He followed the middle-aged man, as he walked past the fake mountains and stone forests. They only came to a stop when they reached a quiet inner yard.

The buildings and brocade houses stood tall in the yard. This was a place with a brocade house. The area of Alchemist Sect was filled with faint medicinal aromas. This was also part of the reason Qing Shui managed to locate it so easily. He used his spiritual sense to sense the place with the thickest medicinal aroma.

“Mister, it’s here. Why don’t you go in yourself? The young lady left word before that you can walk in as soon as you get here.” The man left after he finished talking to Qing Shui.

Qing Shui walked into the small yard. As soon as he stepped in, a thick medicinal aroma rushed into his nose. Qing Shui knew that these were the aromas of different medicinal herbs blending together into one. When there were a lot of medicinal herbs, medicinal aromas like this would arise naturally.

Qing Shui didn’t try to be quiet, nor did he make any noise. He slowly walked toward the brocade house. Previously, Qing Shui was observing the surroundings. He could see medicinal herbs all around Alchemist Sect. However, those he managed to see were only up to a few hundred years old, at most. The things which Yuan Su gave him in the past were most likely not from here.

The door of the brocade house was left ajar. Qing Shui gently pushed it open. The first floor was yet another main hall. The main hall was filled with lots of furniture which was arranged neatly. The furniture looked really colorful too. It seemed she had no particular preference when it came to choosing color, unlike Huoyun Liu-Li who liked purple and Shi Qingzhuang who had red as her favourite color.

Qing Shui looked around. Just before he went up the stairs, he heard light footsteps coming from upstairs. The person who Qing Shui saw as he raised his head was none other than Yuan Su.

Yuan Su turned blank as soon as she saw Qing Shui. After that, she smiled: “You’re here!”

Qing Shui observed the woman who was in a light blue colored dress. She looked extraordinarily beautiful. Canghai Mingyue’s kind of beauty was more towards having a magnanimous and disdainful feeling. It was a kind of aura that repelled anyone near her. It didn’t actually feel cold, yet it made people not dare to get close to her.

Yuan Su too had a bit of this kind of aura. It just didn’t feel as unique as Canghai Mingyue’s. She possessed a kind of elegance similar to that of Hai Dongqing. She was like an ordinary person, yet she possessed a kind of aura which belonged to the strong.

“Yes, how have you been?”

Despite what Qing Shui said, he was still shocked with Yuan Su’s change. To think that she would have already become a Martial King in merely a few months time.

Qing Shui thought about her unique physique and then the medicinal pills. He suspected that her seniors must have left behind a lot of good stuff for her. Also, the unique technique she used for her cultivation. Even though it was quite shocking to have these kind of achievements, with all of this Qing Shui was able to accept it. For now, anything was tolerable to Qing Shui because he had seen weirder things.

“Alright, sit down!” Yuan Su smiled as she told Qing Shui to sit down on the couch in the main hall while she sat opposite Qing Shui.

When Qing Shui met Yuan Su, he didn’t really know what to say to her due to the things which had happened between them. Even though Qing Shui tried his best to avoid thinking about it, there were some things which would still appear in your mind even if you didn’t want them to.

“Congratulations on your huge leap in strength.”

Qing Shui was aware that she has also found out about the things in Cold Ice City. He smiled: “Thank you, you too, congratulations on having a significant improvement in your strength. Now, you can finally try to refine medicine for yourself.”

It’d be better off if he hadn’t said it because as soon as he did, it reminded Yuan Su of the scene back when Qing Shui was treating her. For a moment, she had a complex expression on her face. She looked really unnatural.

“Thank you, is there anything that you want today?” Yuan Su tried her best to not think about it and smiled.

Qing Shui rubbed his nose. He knew that he has said the wrong thing but spoken words were just like spilled water, he might as well just be straightforward.

“Do you have the medicinal herbs used to refine specific kinds of medicinal pills here? I want the kind that’s still growing. Their age doesn’t matter, you can also give me their seeds.”

Yuan Su stunned and nodded her head when she heard what Qing Shui said: “Follow me!”

She led Qing Shui and walked out of the brocade house towards the backyard. Her backyard was completely filled with medicinal herbs. It was approximately one fifteenth of a hectare in size. The medicinal herbs here were all transplanted here by other people. The medicinal herbs were aged around two thousand years.

“They’re already here, go and have a look for yourself. If you need any of them, just take them right away.” Yuan Su smiled as she pointed it out for Qing Shui.

Qing Shui nodded his head and immediately went in. He didn’t show any formality. Furthermore, he felt that he had become quite distant from Yuan Su. Every time they were alone together, they’d feel awkward really easily.

Qing Shui didn’t take any extras. He planted at most three of each species. When he walked out of the medicinal herb’s backyard, Yuan Su passed Qing Shui a few seeds: “For medicinal herbs at this age, their seeds are the most cheaply-priced. This is because no one can wait up to a few thousand years unless they have some kind of heaven defying catalysts.”

“Thank you!” Qing Shui said politely.

“Let’s go, I want to bring you somewhere.” Yuan Su smiled.

Even though Qing Shui felt puzzled, he still left with Yuan Su. After that, they summoned a yellow bird. It was barely able to let two people ride on it .

Qing Shui looked at the verdant and lush grass below his feet. This was Alchemist Sect. Along the way, they received attention from some people. A few of them were elderly men with considerably powerful strength. But now, Qing Shui no longer paid as much attention to them as he used to.

But these people stopped reacting as soon as they saw Yuan Su. They looked more relieved. This further convinced Qing Shui that Yuan Su must have had a unique position in Alchemist Sect.

The place they were flying around was the middle mountain in the medicinal herbs farm. It wasn’t a fake mountain. Normally, there would be abundant spiritual energy on the mountain, this was also part of the reason why the founder of Alchemist Sect chose this place.

Medicinal herbs covered the mountain. Here, the age of the medicinal herbs were distinguished like a pyramid. As one went higher up the mountain, the medicinal herbs they encountered would also be relatively older. Right now, Qing Shui was looking at Yuan Su with a puzzled look. He could sense something was wrong.

She seemed to be settling a debt.

Qing Shui and Yuan Su walked up the top of the mountain with complicated feelings. Throughout these three months, Qing Shui felt that a lot of things had changed but even he himself wasn’t really sure what had changed. Besides, he wasn’t really close with Yuan Su. Nevertheless, he could still sense the change in her attitude.

“Is there something wrong?” Qing Shui asked gently.

“No!” Yuan Su’s eyes looked weird.

“Tell me, I can feel it.” Qing Shui replied.

“Can we stop meeting each other in the future?” Yuan Su said slowly after hesitating for a while. She wasn’t looking at Qing Shui when she said that.

“I understand, let us return!”

“I am totally out of options. I really want to forget about the incident because if I don’t, I will never be able to make any breakthroughs in my technique. Seeing you will remind me of the things that happened that day……. I really want to forget about it.” Yuan Su let out a sigh and said.

“You don’t have to feel burdened by it. I understand how you feel. I will be going back to Green Cloud Continent in a few days. I don’t know when the next time I’ll set foot on Seven Stars Country will be.” Qing Shui didn’t really care much about it. This incident had been bugging her for a long time.

“Qing Shui, I’m sorry!” Yuan Su said sorrowfully.

“There’s nothing to worry about, it’s alright! Let’s go back.”

“No, you have to go to the mountain top to look for a few things that you like. If you don’t I’ll feel really bad.” Yuan Su bit her lips and said.

“There’s no need for that. If you still insist on me doing so, it just means that you really can’t forget about it.” Qing Shui smiled before turning around and walking down the mountain. Qing Shui didn’t have any particular feelings for Yuan Su. She was also a life changer. Without her, his trip to Central Continent would have turned into a tragedy.

He should thank her!