Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1155 – Yan Yangzhao, Friends, Broken Sword, Divine Casting Force

The people from Bai Clan left. Although many people were astonished, there were even more who felt regretful, as they had all wanted to see the battle between Qing Shui and the old man or against some other people. They wanted to see how monstrous this young man was.

Qing Shui landed, called out to old man Wang and his grandson and returned to the Firecloud Blacksmith Store directly. Today’s events were a false alarm. He had initially thought that he’d be forced to leave the place.

The tremendous increase to his strength allowed him to defeat Basic Sword Techniques easily. The opponent’s strength was 50% more than what he had expected. What had pleased him even more was that he had been able to obtain victory even though he had not unleashed his full prowess. Moreover, what he used was the Basic Sword Techniques.

Looking at old man Wang and his grandson, Qing Shui felt that he needed to speed up. He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to stay here for long and he didn’t want to get them involved either.

Stone had shown great progress in his hammer techniques. Qing Shui knew that his talent was average and whether or not Stone would be able to progress fast would be determined by his level of perseverance. Or in other words, whether he had the “pure and innocent heart of a newborn”.

Not long after Qing Shui returned back to his blacksmith store, someone entered. Qing Shui looked over the moment the person entered because he felt that this person had a very strong aura. He should be someone who was only one step away from attaining the level of the lowest grade State Master.

This man appeared to be very young, his face wearing a faint smile. However, on the first look, Qing Shui was sure that this person was from the same clan as Miss Yan. It was because they looked so much alike and also because of his cultivation.

Qing Shui felt that he had been defeated. The powerful cultivators in the four continents would be considered young if they were within 100 years of age. Rumor had it that State Masters had even longer lifespans. As for how long their lifespans were, he had no idea.

He had already encountered a few young people who had surpassed him. They didn’t look that old either. The legacies and blood lineages of these great clans were truly outstanding. He also knew the reason why they had political marriages as well.

The people from the aristocratic clans wouldn’t be able to get married to ordinary people. Even if they did, it would be just as concubines and they would try not to have kids. It was because the superior lineage wouldn’t be continued by this means but of course, this wasn’t something absolute.

With regard to the political marriages in great clans, whether or not there was love between both parties were irrelevant. The most important thing was the blood lineage and legacy. Moreover, the genes from clans were outstanding and their descendants tended not to be ugly. Therefore, it was all for the best as well.

Regarding the inheritance of blood lineage and martial techniques, one would only be able to unleash the prowess of the clan’s martial techniques legacy when they had inherited the clan’s lineage. This caused most of the descendants to be great talents. They were given the best conditions and as for how far they could go, it would be dependent on their determination, perseverance and comprehension. This was also why powerful clans could stay at the top for several thousands of years or even over ten thousand years.

It wasn’t as if every single child, who had inherited the clan’s legacy, would be top notch experts. If that was the case, the clan would be unrivaled if they were to have a few more kids. It was still subject to the individual’s level of comprehension and the opportunities they encountered. A person wouldn’t be able to attain success in becoming an expert just by having an advantage. It would still be subject to a combination of various factors.

Qing Shui stood up and looked at the man who was walking toward him. He was a very handsome man and Qing Shui couldn’t tell his age. He couldn’t even tell who was the older one between him and Yan Jinyu.

“Mister Qing!” The man smiled, cupped his hands together and greeted Qing Shui.

“You know me? I’m sorry, how do I address you?” Qing Shui could only guess that this guy was related to Yan Clan, but he couldn’t really be sure. Sometimes, people who were totally unrelated to each other could appear to look alike as well.

“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Yan Yangzhao. Yan Jinyu is my younger sister. You should still remember her!” the man quickly said to Qing Shui.

Qing Shui was stunned. This person was really from Yan Clan. He wasn’t sure why he had gotten involved with so many powerful people of late. Before he knew it, he had already come into contact with them.

The reason the guy was here shouldn’t be for other things but for his forging skills!

“Hello, Young Master Yan. I apologize for being disrespectful!” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“Mister Qing, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. I felt close to you the moment I saw you. You can just call me Yangzhao,” Yan Yangzhao quickly said.

Qing Shui wanted to say it once again that there are no free lunches in this world and people who tried to ingratiate themselves for no reason were probably only doing so for their own interests. However, he recalled how he had already said this to Miss Yan previously, he smiled and said, “Then you can just call me Qing Shui!”

“I heard from my younger sister that there’s a new blacksmith master in the Divine Weapon Street who is very powerful. I couldn’t help but come to take a look!” Yan Yangzhao smiled and said.

“Brother Yan, I don’t think your only reason to come is just to take a look, right?” Qing Shui smiled and said. Now, he didn’t mind getting involved with Yan Clan and it was better to get involved with Yan Yangzhao than Yan Jinyu. At least, to outsiders, he wouldn’t appear to be like a gigolo…

“Brother Qing Shui, I’ll be frank with you. My sister holds you in high esteem. I have never seen her praising someone so much before. I happened to come by a broken weapon and although I’ve brought to many blacksmiths, they weren’t able to mend it. When my sister mentioned you, I couldn’t help but come…” Yan Yangzhao smiled and said a bit awkwardly.

“Brother Yan, I thought that you were really here to get closer to me. Ends up that you’re here to get closer to my forging skills.”

“Brother Qing Shui, whatever I say now would just sound like excuses but I still have to say that what I said earlier was the truth. You should be able to sense my character. In fact, I feel that we’re a little similar. I believe that we can become very good friends.”

“Brother Yan, my forging skills are not that good. I’ll tell you first, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to fix it or reforge it. I hope that you don’t hold too much hope in this,” Qing Shui shook his head, looked at Yan Yangzhao and said.

“I know. I just want to let you take a look. There’s no harm in that anyway!” Yan Yangzhao smiled and nodded before taking out a longsword which had been broken into two.

The moment the broken sword was taken out, Qing Shui could sense a powerful spiritual Qi coming from it. It was one that was very sharp and appeared to have a holy feeling. When the two chunks of the sword were put together, it appeared to be about four feet long and had the width of a palm. It exuded a faint white light which had a hint of serenity in that sharpness.

It was a pity that the sword had broken in a weird way. It wasn’t that the tip was broken off, nor had it broken off in the middle. It broke about one foot distance from the sword’s handle, making the remaining length too short to be even made into a dagger.

Qing Shui touched the longsword then lifted his head to look at Yan Yangzhao, “This sword was also made from Greencloud Stone. Your sister has been looking for someone to forge weapons with Greencloud Stone.”

“That’s right. This was given to me by my younger sister. She has also been looking for someone who can help her forge a weapon,” Yan Yangzhao smiled and said.

“Brother, with my abilities, I’m not able to help you. I’m really sorry. In the future, maybe I’ll be able to help you when my forging skills have improved,” Qing Shui shook his head and said, smiling.

Yan Yangzhao seemed to be a little disappointed, but he smiled and said, “There’s no need to be like this. This isn’t something unexpected. You’ve already told me earlier not to hold too many expectations in this. It’s fine. I’ll wait for when you’re able to help me fix it.”

Qing Shui looked at Yan Yangzhao’s expression, right down to the finest detail. His spiritual sense was very special and could sense the target’s fluctuations.

This guy was a very sincere person and was worth making friends with.

It would be so even if he didn’t come from an outstanding background. This was what Qing Shui felt. Feelings were very important when people got to know each other. Birds of the same feather flocked together. It was just like what he said, they were actually a little similar, which meant that it was likely that they belonged to the same type of people.

“I can give it a try but I still am not sure that I’ll be able to do it,” Qing Shui gave it some thought and then said.

“Really?” Yan Yangzhao said in surprise.

“I’ll give it a try but I’ll still say the same thing, don’t hold too much hope.” Qing Shui smiled and shook his head.

“Alright, alright!” Although Yan Yangzhao was trying hard to be calm, he was still a little agitated.

Qing Shui took the broken sword and was about to leave when Yan Yangzhao quickly took out a stone and handed it to Qing Shui, “This stone seems to be called the Celestial Stone and it’s said that it can increase the success rate by half.”

If it was the previous time, when Qing Shui had met Yan Jinyu, he wouldn’t be sure that he would be able to forge this sword. However, he had some confidence now. Earlier, he had only wanted to see what kind of person Yan Yangzhao was. Qing Shui used his heart to sense how a person was and external appearances were useless.

Qing Shui received it and said, smiling, “Then let me try and fix it up for you!”

…

Usually, once weapons break, it would be impossible to connect the parts back together. And even if they were re-connected, it wouldn’t be one complete part and energy wouldn’t be able to flow through the sword.

However, there was this technique in the Ancient Art of Forging which allowed him to bring the weapon back to its initial state. However, the process was very stale and boring.

It was because it required a very long period of time. Qing Shui told Yan Yangzhao to come back for it in three days.

Yan Yangzhao insisted on treating Qing Shui to a meal and Qing Shui didn’t reject him. Having a meal together allowed them to become much closer.

“Brother, I’ll go have a talk with Bai Clan. In the future, no one will come to look for trouble with you,” Yan Yangzhao said as he toasted Qing Shui.

“Then I’ll have to thank you.”

“There’s no need to stand on ceremony between us.”

At night, Qing Shui started to forge this sword in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. He was very curious about this longsword which was forged from Greencloud Stone. If he could successfully smelt it, it wouldn’t be hard to forge. However, it would be very hard to raise its quality due to their level of cultivation.

Powerful blacksmiths were the same as alchemists and formation masters. The first condition was for the person to be a powerful cultivator with his own Fire of life.

Connecting a broken sword was even more difficult that smelting it all over again and it could be said that it was several times more difficult. If it wasn’t because there was this technique in Qing Shui’s Ancient Art of Forging, he would rather reforge it rather than agreeing to fix it for him. It would be practically impossible.

Primordial flames and the Nine Yang Golden Flame continued to burn. He slowly channeled the Violet Gold Divine Force into the spot where the sword was broken. The entire sword shone with a luster and exuding a light blue colored glow.

Divine Casting Force！

Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique channeled this energy which he had never used before into the Violet Gold Divine Force. This was an energy he had gotten from cultivating the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, Ancient Art of Forging and the Thousand Hammer Technique. Right now, they were all in the Seven-colored Pellet and would appear when used.

Such energies were meant to be used for fixing the broken sword’s “meridian channels”!

Any blacksmith would be able to reconnect broken swords but it wouldn’t allow the sword to be a single body. It was because the cultivator’s sword Qi and essence wouldn’t be able to flow through the weapon smoothly.

And Qing Shui’s Divine Casting Force was able to let the “meridian channels” of the broken sword flow smoothly!