Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 979 – Yan Ling`er Cried, Thousand Crane Slash, Six Lotus Flowers

“Qingqing!” Guo Polu rubbed his head and stood before Qingqing. There was surprise, love, as well as some slight happiness and unease.

Qingqing was wearing a snow white pleated dress and snow white boots. Her beautiful hair was tied up high. With her exquisite beauty, as well as her eyes which were like a pair of Black Treasured Stones, she wouldn’t lose out even if she were to stand amidst Yiye Jiange and Canghai Mingyue. Qingqing didn’t have same the domineering aura that they had, but she had a stubborn and soft disposition.

“You look so foolish!” Qingqing smiled and chided Guo Polu, causing him to be dazed.

“Young Master Guo, isn’t my Sister Qingqing beautiful?” Qing Bei teased Guo Polu.

“Beautiful, beautiful!” Guo Polu said straightforwardly. He was a devoted person and wasn’t one who would flirt around with other ladies. He didn’t even know how to coax a girl and had fallen in love with Qingqing at first sight, falling hopelessly in love with her. Even though she had been in a plight, he had still fallen in love with her. It was also this aspect that made Qingqing touched. She knew about all the things he had done for her. It was just that back then, she didn’t even have freedom.

For so many years, only a few people had truly entered her life. Her father, Qing Shui, her mother, the people from Qing Clan, and then Guo Polu.

Qingqing had even thought of marrying him. At least, if she were to get married, it would have to be to this guy. She hadn’t expected for him to wait for so many years, waiting just for her.

This might be fate. Therefore, this time around, she didn’t resist but was a little happy. It was because she saw that the women around Qing Shui were very blissful. Whenever she thought of Yan City, she would feel very sad. However, this guy had left a deep imprint in her heart.

…

The group headed toward Guo Clan. This was Yan City and everyone could remember what had happened here in the past very clearly. After all, many of them couldn’t forget what had happened.

After the marriage to Guo Clan has been decided, the news spread out in Yan City within a few days time. Some people said that Guo Clan must have accumulated good karma from their previous life. There were also people who said that Qing Clan didn’t judge people based on their background and there were fewer clans who were like them these days.

These words were especially prickly to the ears of the other clans in Yan City. Most aristocrat clans would always try to use their children’s weddings as tools to form relationships. Therefore, when they heard people saying things like this, they felt a little weird.

…

Yan Clan knew of Guo Clan’s wedding when it was decided. Right now, Yan Haoran was the one in-charge of Yan Clan. He was Qing Shui’s and Qingqing’s grandfather, but Qing Shui didn’t recognize him as his grandfather.

Right now, there were many people in Yan Clan’s hall, and Yan Ling`er was around too. Many of them were sighing deeply. Many other people, if placed in the same situation, would do the same as the Yan Clan. However, now that Qing Clan had soared, Yan Haoran would not dare to do anything shameless.

Back then, he had also felt helpless, very helpless. He couldn’t let more people from his sixth branch be killed just for a single granddaughter. Yan Haozheng had lost his mind. However, Yan Haoran was very happy to see that his granddaughter was living the life of a phoenix right now. It was better than her staying in Yan City and leading a tough life.

“I feel that no matter what, Yan Clan would still have to go once to offer gifts and congratulations. After all, you’re still Qingqing’s grandfather and Qingqing knew that we were left with no choice. We aren’t asking for more, but just for quiet and safety. We won’t suck up to Qing Clan. Qingqing was Zhongyue’s child and had grown up in Yan Clan. We let her lead a hard life. This is good as well. We have to start somewhere.” An old man sighed and said as he thought about Yan Haoran.

Yan Clan’s sixth branch was under Yan Haoran, since he was ranked sixth amongst his siblings. Yan Haozheng’s branch had been eliminated by Qing Clan and Yan Clan’s clan head had committed suicide to end the problems between Qing Clan and Yan Clan.

Lai Clan!

Lai Jiutian looked at his son who was becoming increasingly mature. He had never expected that his son had managed to get to befriend such a powerful character. He smiled before saying, “Chusong, remember to bring a big gift on the day of the wedding. Let Qing Shui and his family come stay at our place for two days so that we can play host to him.”

Chusong was very thankful toward Qing Shui. Back then, Qing Shui was the one who had cured his ‘illness’. If he didn’t, Chusong wouldn’t know how he would live. Additionally, how could he explain it to his family? Impotence was worse than death for a guy.

“Mmm, I know what to do!” Lai Chusong nodded and said.

“Then that’s fine. Chusong, when you came into contact with Qing Clan, they weren’t what they are today. What’s important in a friendship is to keep an open heart. Don’t try to suck up to him, it’ll only put you in a bad spot. Let nature take its course, just like how it is for friends.” Lai Jiutian patted his son’s shoulder and said.

…

After staying in Guo Clan, Qing Shui would bring his children out to walk around and buy things. He would carry Qing Yu, and lead the other children, including Qing Zi’s child. Qingqing was around as well. She also wanted to take a look around Yan City.

Although this place held many sad memories for her, it was also where she had grown up and where Guo Polu had grown up as well. Furthermore, it was also the place that Qing Shui had brought her away from.

Qing Zi was around too. Qing Zi was now in his forties and was tall with a muscular build. He was still honest and straightforward, but now he gave others a feeling of maturity. Towards Qing Shui, he really was full of admiration.

“Brother Qing Zi, Changfeng has good potential. You must teach him well. He’ll be able to achieve big things in the future.” Qing Shui smiled and said as he looked at the few kids who were running around.

Changfeng was already over ten years old. Together with Qing Zun and Qin Yin, he was looking around the surroundings quietly while the other younger kids ran around the place, taking a look at anything and everything.

“Qing Shui, when you’re back at home, help me teach him. This lad only listens to you.” Qing Zi laughed and said.

Qing Yan tripped on a piece of brick as she was running and started to fall forwards. Qing Shui’s heart tightened. Although they were a distance away and there were people between them, he had the ability to catch Qing Yan before she fell down.

It was just that he was carrying Qing Yu, and it wasn’t suitable for her to perform the Nine Palace Steps. Qing Shui didn’t know Spiritual Confinement. If he did, he would be able to use it on Qing Yan and she would be fine.

Qing Shui was very anxious and could only rush over quickly.

However, just as Qing Yan was about to fall, a pair of arms grabbed her and carried her up. The lass lifted up her head to see a beautiful lady who was smiling as she looked at her.

“Thank you, aunty!” Qing Yan said happily.

Qing Shui only saw who this lady was after he reached forwards.

Yan Ling`er!

Right now, Yan Ling`er was much more mature than before. Her face was still very exquisite and she now had an additional graceful disposition. When she saw Qing Shui, she smiled and said, “Brother Shui!”

“Sister Qing!”

…

Qing Shui didn’t know what to say, but Qingqing smiled and said, “Ling`er, you came at the right timing. Otherwise, that lass would have fallen.”

After Yan Ling`er exchanged a few lines with Qingqing, she then looked at Qing Shui. In fact, she was slightly older than Qing Shui, but she was used to calling him ‘Brother Shui’. When she looked at Qing Shui once again, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“Brother Shui, I know that Yan Clan did the Qing Clan wrong, and did Sister Qing wrong. We had tried hard before as well, but it was useless. We were even beaten up a few times before. Back then, whoever was found to have given Sister Qing money or other things, they would have their legs broken.” Yan Ling`er sighed and said.

“Qing Shui, they are innocent. They’ve secretly helped me on several occasions as well. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t have managed to wait till you came for me.” Qingqing looked at Qing Shui and said softly.

“I hope that you don’t mention Yan Clan to me in the future. I don’t wish to hear it.” Qing Shui looked at Yan Ling`er and said calmly before reaching out his hands to take Qing Yan from her hands.

Tears quickly trickled down Yan Ling`er’s face. She took a look at Qing Shui before she quickly turned and ran off.

No one else said anything, and even Qingqing was silent. Back then, Qing Shui had already found Yan Clan unforgivable for abandoning their mother, and they even put a blade against their grandfather’s neck…

Someone had already paid the price for all of these things, a terrible price. Qingqing looked at Qing Shui. The anger he felt was also partially because of the hardships she had been put through in Yan City.

“Father is dead. If father was still around, it might be different if mother were to step out!” Qingqing sighed helplessly.

She reached out her hands to carry Qing Yu, letting Qing Shui carry Qing Yan.

“Qing Shui, can you never forget Yan Clan? The people in Yan Clan who deserved to die are already dead.” Qingqing asked softly.

“Unless that person comes back to life.” Qing Shui hesitated a little before he said with great determination.

Qingqing fell silent. She knew who Qing Shui was referring to. It was their father, Yan Zhongyue!

Yan Ling`er’s appearance caused Qing Shui to lose a lot of interest in shopping around and they returned after a short while. Qingqing’s and Guo Polu’s wedding banquet was to be held in two days. Although they had decided on a time in Qing Clan previously, it was only a rough estimation and it would still be dependent on when the members of Qing Clan arrived.

They would be issuing wedding invitations during these two days.

After returning, Qing Shui found time to enter the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

The flowers, grass, and even the pond in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal had all been surrounded by Qing Shui’s Spirit Gathering Formation. This would not only hasten their growth, but would also allow them to gain spiritual intelligence. However, Qing Shui’s mastery of formations was still quite low and he would be spending most of his time now studying them.

His main focus would be the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation. The other members of Qing Clan had also started to study about formations. Qing Zi and some other people would only learn the Duality Minutest Formation, how to survive in formations, as well as the Five Elements Minor Formation.

Currently, Qing Shui could only learn five formations. He didn’t know if it was because he would only be able to learn the remaining formations after reaching a certain level of mastery, or if there would be some special formations which would pop up.

His progress in the Tiger Form had increased a lot and his Roc Form had also reached a bottleneck. He hadn’t reached the large success stage for the Roc’s Might and there no new battle techniques had appeared. Therefore, right now, he still needed to cultivate the Heart of Roc, Roc Spreading Wings, and Roc’s Might.

The Elephant Form seemed to be mainly supporting techniques. There were also killing moves, but it shouldn’t Form Transformation. He hadn’t expected that the Tiger Form would be the first to Form Transformation. For this period of time, Qing Shui had managed to cultivate the Thousand Crane Slash to the large success stage. However, he hadn’t used it before and he hadn’t spend much time cultivating it either.

The other thing was the Blue Lotus Art. Qing Shui had been constantly cultivating this, but he hadn’t discovered any great killing prowess from it when he used it against high grade cultivators. It could be because he hadn’t reached a high enough mastery. With the tremendous change to his spirit energy, Qing Shui could now control the six golden lotus flowers with great mastery.

However, he could only use them as hidden weapons right now, from quite a good distance away. In the past, there was someone in Qing Clan who had managed to reach the 9th Lotus Manifestation Stage. Qing Shui felt that these golden lotuses which were the size of big basins could be used as more than hidden weapons and shields.

Compared to using them as hidden weapons, Qing Shui felt that they were better used as shields. These lotuses were controlled by spirit energy and would move wherever he willed them to. He could instantaneously create six barriers to defend himself from his opponents.

It was only recently that six lotuses had appeared, and he was only recently able to control them with ease. Right now, what he needed was more practice on his control. His spirit energy was many times stronger than before and it didn’t take much effort for him to freely control the six lotus flowers. He felt that this time around, he would be able to fully grasp control over them in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.