Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 842 – Requiem Grass, Arrival At The Central Continent’s Capital

The number of people arriving at the Cloud Adventurer Guild was endless, as were the extravagant beast carriages and horse carriages in front of the guild. Some of the members of the Yun Clan and Cloud Adventurer Guild were stationed near the entrance to greet the guests as they arrived for the banquet.

The banquet only began when the sun was high in the sky. The spoils of war granted by the defeat of the Mighty Tiger Adventurer Guild were exceptional, resulting in a luxurious banquet consisting of thousands of tables in the guild hall. As such, the banquet could cater to both the prestigious and the commoners, with a few hundred tables allocated to the middle classes and the lower classes. Those who had finished their meal would be required to leave to accommodate the next batch of guests……

Even though this procedure had pretty much annoyed the people of status, those feelings would eventually pass. In spite of that, the Cloud Adventurer Guild had gained a good reputation for doing that due to the public’s distaste for the rich and wealthy. Naturally, the distaste for the rich was part of the human’s basic instinct, especially in the case of the poor and those from modest households. Regardless, the Cloud Adventurer Guild had a good reputation to begin with, at least in the Heavenly Beast City.

Qing Shui and Yun Duan walked around and briefly greeted everyone at the guest tables. He refused to do it at first but he needed to remind them of his presence in the Cloud Adventurer Guild, so no one would dare cause trouble.

Qing Shui had received a substantial amount of spiritual energy after consuming the Mysterious Fruit. Not only would the force of his Primordial Flames become stronger, he would also be able to gain more control of his attacks that required an infusion of spiritual energy. If his spiritual energy became stronger, the suppression force of his aura would be greater as well.

Even though he was showing a smile on his face, his overall aura was as intimidating as an unsheathed sword. The sharpness was akin to that of a divine weapon – invincible and forceful.

“Here’s to you, City Lord, for attending our marriage ceremony. Because I have been busy dealing with my personal matters, I have let Yun Duan suffer for a long time. Luckily, she was treated kindly by the City Lord and everyone here. No one will dare to torment her in the future. As capable as I was, there were a few supreme aristocratic clans who had tormented me in the past. However, that is already over, as I have annihilated them completely. I admit that my temper was a flaw – I couldn’t resist the thought of putting them down once they had triggered it.” Qing Shui gulped down a cup of wine after he had finished. He was serious when he said that, yet with a smile to put everyone at ease.

These words didn’t seem excessive or arrogant when they came out of Qing Shui’s mouth. He was going to leave soon anyway, so he thought it was best that he explained his intentions as clearly as possible.

The City Lord was an old man, albeit not that old. He was from the well-known Guan Clan with a history as deep as the Heavenly Beast City itself. The members of the Mighty Tiger Adventurer Clan would never provoke them and vice versa.

The members of the Guan Clan were undoubtedly wise, so they immediately understood Qing Shui’s meaning. Moreover, when Qing Shui mentioned the annihilation of several aristocratic clans by his own hands, there were some who exclaimed in shock, further asserting that Qing Shui was a man to be feared and not to be provoked.

Some of them already knew about Qing Shui’s accomplishments in the Greencloud Continent but had never seen him before until now. It was only through the occasional word of mouth that they were able to learn about the incidents in the Greencloud Continent. They were not particularly concerned with his matters since he wasn’t from the Central Continent. After all, the chances of them meeting him in the rest of their lives were slim to none.

Yet, he was here. And they had finally realized how terrifying and powerful this young man was.

People with the same name were too common in the World of the Nine Continents. Furthermore, this was the Central Continent, one of the continents with the largest population in the entire world. They would have never thought that they would be able to meet the exact Qing Shui they had heard from the rumors. There were only a few who could truly become famous throughout the entire world, after all.

Of course, it was only when Qing Shui mentioned the annihilation of the supreme aristocrat clans that they realized he was the protagonist of the rumors in the Greencloud Continent. Luckily, the Central Continent had the advantage of being situated in the heart of the earth, so they were well-informed of the happenings around the world. This was also the reason why the Central Continent could flourish with various businesses and bustle with visitors, travellers and traders. Moreover, most powerful warriors would gather in the Central Continent to set up a stronghold, signifying their dominance in the world of martial arts.

That was all Qing Shui needed to instill fear on the troublemakers. Doing so would prove to be disadvantageous, as destruction would pursue those of the great. In order to deflect himself from such disaster, Qing Shui had planned to hasten his progress towards the achievement of greater power.

The only things that brought him comfort were the advancement of the Heart of Roc towards the large success stage, his poisonous beings, poison beasts, poisonous weapons and the perfect synchronization of his demonic beasts. Essentially, he had nothing – and no one- to fear.

However, whenever he thought about the woman in the crystal coffin, he would become helpless. In the face of absolute power, he was impotent – retaliation was futile.

Spiritual Confinement?

Then it hit him, perhaps that woman was able to use the Spiritual Confinement on him, restricting his efforts to counter her attack. Was she a Spiritualist? Or was that part of the ability of a Martial Emperor?

The Spiritual Confinement could be considered a powerful assault ability that could attack the mind of any living being. This attack wasn’t as simple as a suppression force being released by a person of high power against a weak warrior but more like the sensation of being restrained by a pair of invisible, formless hands.

Now that he had greatly enhanced his spiritual energy, could he stand a chance against the Spiritual Confinement of hers?

Wild imaginings began to form in his head as he continued to conjure various speculations.

………..

The banquet lasted from the afternoon until late evening, when all the guests had left the hall in the Cloud Adventurer Guild. It was only then that Qing Shui and Yun Duan were allowed to leave and go back home. When they were back, Qing Shui realized the furniture inside their home had been swapped with new, giving the whole room a fresh atmosphere and outlook.

Nevertheless, this was an auspicious sign. Inside the newly furnished room, he glanced at Yun Duan beside him – she was wearing a long white dress that complimented her slender waist and her delicate body figure.

“Duan`er, let me hear you say ‘husband’.” Qing Shui quickly picked up Yun Duan when he saw the sky almost turning dark as the dusk set in.

“Ah, what are you doing? It’s still daylight outside…….”

“Who said we must do it at night?” said Qing Shui as he locked his eyes on the woman whose tears were almost rolling down her delicate face.

Yun Duan was shocked but quickly buried her face in his chest. Qing Shui had become increasingly insatiable as they made love with each other almost every night until a few hours before dawn. According to him, that was the only way to assure the success of her pregnancy.

……….

The next day was Qing Shui’s departure to the Central Continent’s capital. Yun Duan held him tightly as she sent him out to the entrance.

“Can’t bear to let me go? I will come back for you soon.” Qing Shui gently patted Yun Duan’s back and smiled.

“I will always wait for you. Be careful when you’re out there alone.” Yun Duan was teary-eyed as she forced herself to reveal a smile for him.

“Don’t worry about me. Take care and don’t forget to cultivate your strength. No one will come and cause trouble anymore. I hope the Cloud Adventurer Guild will progress to become a greater and better guild for everyone.”

……….

After they waved each other goodbye, Qing Shui mounted his Fire Bird and flew up into the air heading east at a fast pace. The view of Yun Duan and the members of the Cloud Adventurer Guild became distant, until they had disappeared completely from the horizon.

Nine Continents Steps!

According to Yun Duan, the Central Continent’s capital was located in the middle of the continent, slightly closer to the eastern region. Based on his calculations, he would be able to reach there within two months or so if he continued at the same speed and without rest.

The Central Continent was much larger in contrast to the other continents in the world. Despite the straight path towards his destination, there was still a long way before he could reach the capital. Even with a significant boost to the current speed and the Nine Continents Steps, he would still have a hard time calculating the exact time he required to travel through the entire Central Continent while mounted on his Fire Bird.

Donghua City!

A month later, Qing Shui had finally arrived at a place called the Donghua City, situated in the Eastern Park Country. This city could be considered the heart of the Central Continent as many people would gather here for various activities. Powerful warriors were rumored to be stationed in the heart of the Central Continent, not necessarily in the capital but usually somewhere nearby.

Throughout his journey, Qing Shui felt inner peace with himself – perhaps due to the surge in his power. He felt at ease travelling to unfamiliar places, unlike his past self, where he would constantly become insecure once he had stepped into the outside world.

This must be the courage that stemmed from being a highly skilled warrior.

Qing Shui’s overall appearance was far from a standard martial warrior. From the public’s perspective, he was nothing more than a handsome and attractive man wearing a set of embroidered clothes, garnering attention wherever he went, particularly from those of the opposite sex. In fact, Qing Shui seemed more like a scholar than a martial warrior from the way he dressed.

Even though martial arts was the primary focus in the World of the Nine Continents, scholars were still considered important figures amongst all practitioners. Some had successfully gained insights into the Dao solely with their knowledge of words – progressing from a scholar to a Dao cultivator. A scholar would be able to become a powerful warrior just by depending on their writing brushes, paper and ink stones. Speaking of which, Qing Shui was instantly reminded of the Realm of Drawing, which could be one of the ways a scholar was able to gain an insight to the Dao.

Donghua City was the capital city of the Eastern Park Country. Even though there was nothing significant in the that country, it was still part of the 81 countries in the Central Continent. Nevertheless, Donghua City was considered the superior city among others in the Eastern Park Country.

When he lifted up his head, he could see a large arena nearby. Qing Shui decided to stop by this city for a while before continuing his journey. There was still quite a distance from here to the Central Continent’s capital anyway.

This wasn’t the first time Qing Shui had seen an arena situated on a wide street. The arena in the Martial God Street in the Southern Viewing Continent was much larger than this one and it was significantly elevated as well.

Since he knew no one in this part of the city and no one would recognize him, Qing Shui decided to approach the arena to have a look. Just then, he noticed two middle-aged men sparring with each other using swords. They seemed to be engaged in a heated fight as they locked their swords without a hint of distraction.

However, these two were not as strong as Qing Shui was – they had just reached the early stage of the Martial King realm.

Not far from the arena was a restaurant, so Qing Shui went in and filled his stomach with some food. After that, he went to the neighbouring medicinal stores and auction houses with the goal of finding the Sky Penetrating Grass.

Throughout his journey, he would go into various cities to find the herb as long as the city was flourishing with businesses and commerce. He would go into the largest auction houses and medicinal stores to inquire about the medicinal herb. Although he could find some medicinal herbs he required for other alchemy recipes, Sky Penetrating Grass search was, however, to no avail.

This time was no different. However, he was able to retrieve a special herb for a remarkably low price.

The Requiem Grass!

Even though the supply of the Requiem Grass was scarce in the World of the Nine Continents, not many would use it for medicine refining. This was due to the rumors of it having a vicious effect on human beings. However, the Requiem Grass still had its uses, so most medicinal herb companies would usually keep a few in stock for a few years – or ten years even if none could be sold. Essentially, the smaller stores would not keep this kind of herb as it was not profitable in any way.

Requiem Grass was hard to come by, so Qing Shui bought them all straightaway.

…….

Before he knew it, one month had passed. After asking for directions a few times, the Central Continent’s capital was finally visible to his sight. He knew he was almost there when he saw three golden calligraphy words labelling this “Central Continent’s Capital” on a large wall surrounding the city.

Qing Shui would be awestruck each time he saw those grandiose words on the wall because they didn’t seem to be the work of a mere scholar. However, for that same reason, scholars were considered important in the World of the Nine Continents, albeit not as important as martial warriors.

The wall of the Central Continent’s capital was moderately sized – it wasn’t quite as tall as he had imagined. However, the capital’s wall gave off an ancient yet dignified aura much stronger than that of the other cities. Qing Shui followed the crowd of beast carriages and went straight into the capital.

Business operations would always be the most flourishing near the gates of every city due to the interaction between the merchants and the visitors. Because of that, Qing Shui chose to walk on the grounds with the other visitors and beast carriages, instead of flying above in the sky towards the inner capital.

After he had entered the gates, Qing Shui realized there was a formless suppression force surrounding the entire city. From the gates towards the inner city, there was a straight, wide street paving the path towards countless cross-sections of area. The streets were paved with green stones that were arranged in the pattern akin to the scales of a carp, which gave him a feeling of indescribable splendour and magnificence.