Ancient Strengthening Technique

The whole journey took roughly three to four days. After that, Qing Shui returned to the Imperial Cuisine Hall, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw Nuo Lan. Though she wasn’t sure of what was on Qing Shui’s mind, she chose to not ask about it. Nevertheless, she could more or less figure out that his trip had been dangerous.

“You’re back! Is everything solved now?” asked Nuo Lan, a little smile on her face.

“Yes, everything is fine now.”

“Ah, so you and Young Mistress Bei Huang are finally together now.” Nuo Lan forced her smile even more.

“Together? What do you mean by that?” Qing Shui asked, confused.

“Didn’t you go out with Young Mistress Beihuang? I thought that there is something going on between you guys.” Nuo Lan knitted her brow, feeling confused obviously.

Qing Shui shot a speechless gaze at Nuo Lan. He suddenly realized that before he had made this journey, Nuo Land had asked casually if she could have been of help to him. It turns out she came up with the assumptions that he had gone on a date with Beihuang Fan. It was understandable, as he had mentioned to her before that Beihuang Liefeng had shown interest in him marrying his daughter.

“I have gone with her for a bit of treasure hunting since she knows where the treasure is.” Qing Shui shook his head.

“Treasure hunt? I would have gone with you if I knew about the occasion beforehand. But would I end up bothering you guys instead?” Nuo Lan sneered at him, laughing at her own misunderstanding.

If you had been there, I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of Beihuang Fan verbally, Qing Shui said to himself.

Qing Shui kept a little smile on his face as he answered, “How is that possible? It’s not like you don’t understand that woman. She isn’t interested in men.”

“See, I told you so! So that’s how it is! She isn’t interested in men!”

“Nor is she interested in women either,” Qing Shui followed up.

“Hmph, you need to make sure to complete your sentence next time. Then what does she like?” Nuo Lan shot a glare at Qing Shui.

“I don’t know, everything is normal about her. The only problem about her is that she has yet to come across a man whom she would like.”

“That’s true. Women like her would definitely bring the downfall of a nation, resulting in the suffering of others. It’s not that easy to get her attention. Thus, you should already feel proud of yourself.” Nuo Lan looked at Qing Shui seriously.

“It’s not like she likes me. What is there for me to be proud of?” Qing Shui shook his head and said.

“You don’t know women. Perhaps, maybe even us women don’t understand ourselves. The only thing which I know about Young Mistress Beihuang is that she has never been with a man longer than the time needed to make a tea. Thus, you should already feel happy with what you got,” Nuo Lan smiled and looked at Qing Shui after her reply.

“Is that so? Alright then, let’s stop talking about this. I am already a person with a family.” Thinking up to this point, Qing Shui felt that he might as well let things go. All 12 of the Portraits of Beauty belonged to him now, he should’ve felt blessed enough to have that. Meeting them was a kind of a blessing which he gained for himself since his previous incarnation. It was better to quit while he was ahead. Since there were countless beautiful women in this world, there was no way he could possibly take all of them for himself; nor would he be able to look after every single one of them at the same time.

“Alright then, if that’s what you wish. How did the treasure hunt go this time?”

“Two Hearts of Spiritual Beasts and a set of female clothing, as well as this battle technique. I gave Beihuang Fan the female clothing and one of the Hearts of the Spiritual Beast. I plan to give the remaining one to you since it won’t be of much use to me.” Qing Shui passed the Heart of Spiritual Beast to Nuo Lan.

Nuo Lan smiled, “What’s wrong? Are you scared that I may get mad?”

“No, it’s not like you are a narrow-minded person. Besides, you aren’t my wife either, what is there to be mad about?” Qing Shui said in a firm tone.

“Hmph, is that so? If that’s the case, I guess I’ll have no choice but to be yours. Otherwise, I feel like I would have disappointed you,” Nuo Lan said and smiled, as she took the heart from Qing Shui’s hand.

Deep down, Qing Shui felt a bit reluctant to give it to her. After all, he felt that this thing would still be of use to him. Nevertheless, he wasn’t too depressed about it. Though he couldn’t deny that this thing would be of use, to high-graded demonic beasts, there was a limit to which it could help them grow.

“Alright, I am just kidding.” Nuo Lan put the heart back in Qing Shui’s hand.

Qing Shui grabbed her hand again and smiled, “I mean it when I say that it’s for you. I have many good things with me here. Keep it with you. I will be more relieved once the little fox becomes stronger.”

Nuo Lan blushed. She didn’t know if what he said was meant for the Nine-tailed Spiritual Fox or her. For a moment, she also felt that it was a bit hard for her to argue back. She felt as if her heart wavered for a moment when she looked at Qing Shui’s charming eyes, feeling like water was about to drip down of them.

Seeing her expression, Qing Shui got a bit agitated. He couldn’t wait to move in front and swallow her whole. That urge he felt caused his body to once again undergo some changes. At the moment when Nuo Lan saw Qing Shui’s ‘lil bro’ stand up, she turned around and left.

Qing Shui revealed a bitter smile as he cast his eyes down on the erected part of his body. There was no doubt that this woman was very enchanting, to the point of being able to make him feel restless with just one look.

Qing Shui entered the realm. By now, the only thing which remained from the treasures was the Stellar Transposition. Without further delay, he took out the book and started learning it.

Since it only had one page, it didn’t take that long for Qing Shui to learn it.

Very soon, Qing Shui began putting it to use. He circulated the qi across his body. And with his bones as the foundation, he slowly drew out his strength and unleashed a golden seal in the air. It was an attack which resembled a whipping motion. Qing Shui was immediately stunned as soon as he unleashed it. The attack had the power of 5 billion Dao Force, which was well beyond Qing Shui’s default strength of 3,1 billion Dao Force, not taking the additional boosts provided by his supplementary abilities into account.

Furthermore, since this attack was capable of overcoming the opponent’s defense, despite having the power of 5 billion Dao Force, the attack could still cause considerable damage once it landed on the opponent.

Since he only just learned it, his proficiency in this technique was still fairly low. This battle technique was somehow related to his own defensive prowess. Thinking up to this point, Qing Shui recalled that he still had one Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda of Defense. It was capable of raising his defensive prowess by 20%. After a moment of hesitation, Qing Shui made up his mind to let it recognize him as its owner.

His body was filled with an abundance of energy right away. It felt as if he had put an armor onto himself, but yet he didn’t feel any sort of weight or restraints push down on his body. Like usual, he was still able to move with ease.

By now, Qing Shui’s defensive prowess was around 40 billion Dao Force. He had already established connections with three of his treasure pagodas, the Parry Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda, the Pagoda of Violence as well as the defensive treasure pagoda... The Parry Heavenly Fate Treasure Pagoda was used mainly to parry against damages caused to the owner, whereas the Critical Strike had a chance of doubling the amount of damage caused to the opponents. The defensive pagoda served the purpose of raising the owner’s defensive prowess by 20%.

For the time being, Qing Shui no longer had any extra treasure pagodas left with him. He was also not sure if he could get another one to recognize him as its owner, as there was a limit.

After sensing his defense getting stronger, Qing Shui once again used the Stellar Transposition. Just as he predicted, he was able to cause even more damage than before.

Following on, Qing Shui would use the Stellar Transposition once every few minutes and tried to investigate and get a grasp of the technique little by little. As time passed, Qing Shui slowly began to realize how much power could be drawn forth from the Stellar Transposition. By now, he was able to unleash an offensive prowess at a minimum of 10 billion Dao Force and at a maximum of 40 billion Dao Force. Throughout this one month, Qing Shui had unleashed the Stellar Transposition countless times, and there was only one time when he had been able to unleash his offensive prowess at the same level as his defensive prowess. This had agitated Qing Shui for quite a while.

Thus, by now, Qing Shui had also gotten a grasp of what it was. Rather than mastering it, it should be said that he had advanced in one of its realms. His attacks usually ranged around 13 billion Dao Force. Therefore, for the time being, Qing Shui could still be counted as unfamiliar with the Stellar Transposition. However, the ability alone, which enabled him to annul up to 13 billion Dao Force of the enemies’ defense in his attack, was already very terrifying.

Just like this, Qing Shui continued to cultivate until it was the time to leave the realm.