Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 0135 – Killing Demonic Beast!

Soft jade entering his embrace, that feeling of soft elasticity caused Qing Shui’s mind to go blank. His hands gently embraced the slender waist of Wenren Wu-Shuang.

“You are not allowed to think of other things, or do other things. It’s just hugging only for a second!” Wenren Wu-shuang gazed up, blushing furiously, as she said that.

“I will obey, being able to hug you, and hearing that you are allowing me to hug you, I already feel that the heavens are favoring me. Let me hug you like this every day okay?” Qing Shui lowered his head and smiled at Wu-shuang.

“In your dreams! Every day? Today, it’s just because I know that you are feeling down, and for our safety tomorrow, this sister has no choice but to sacrifice a little.” Wu-shuang lowered her head as she lightly replied, her shyness apparent from her tone.

Qing Shui was extremely happy in his heart. Wu-shuang was not like those promiscuous girls who would easily allow someone to hug her. Today, in order to console Qing Shui, it could already be said that Wu-shuang didn’t dislike him, and even admired him a little. Maybe it was because of him curing her poisoning from earlier that caused Qing Shui to already have a place in her heart.

“Have you hugged enough?” Wu-shuang lightly said.

“No, even if I hug you for an eternity, it wouldn’t be enough. I just want to hug you forever like this.” Qing Shui whispered softly in Wu-shuang’s ear, deliberately making his voice misty.

Wu-shuang did not know how to react when Qing Shui so casually held her. She could not think straight, and not only that, but in her heart an indescribable feeling arose. Despite this, Qing Shui, was already a special existence in her heart. Dependable, relatable, someone like family, yet not family at the same time.

Wu-shuang slightly inclined her head, looking at the handsome man that was embracing her. It was unknown when his clear, attractive-looking eyes had transformed into something more mature and filled with intelligence.

“Lass, I’m good looking right!” Qing Shui extended his hands as he pinched Wu-shuang’s nose.

“Go away, bad little egg, you are not allowed to call me lass!” Wu-shuang extended her hands, attempting to use her fingers to pinch Qing Shui’s nose. But, who could have guessed that Qing Shui would actually open his mouth, and gently suck on her fingers.

“Ah!” Wenren Wu-shuang shouted in shock, as she quickly retracted her hands, glaring at Qing Shui.

“Hehe, all the girls in my village are called lass. There is nothing wrong with calling you that!” Qing Shui continued to tease the already shy Wu-shuang.

“Not allowed, means not allowed!” Wu-shuang unexpectedly laughed, after she finished her sentence.

“Let’s rest early. We will be entering tomorrow morning.” Qing Shui pulled the gentle hands of Wu-shuang as he led her down the mountain to rest.

After a night of cultivation, Qing Shui felt extremely satisfied. As long as there were improvements, then he would feel happy. The Ancient Strengthening Technique had already broken through to 55 cycles of circulated qi a few days ago, and now he had already reached the 56th cycle. Despite this, he still had a long way to go before reaching the 96th cycle.

In the morning, Qing Shui awoke punctually and practiced Tai Chi outside. Not only that, but the basic sword technique forms: the piercing stance (Iaido), tapping stance, and chopping stance. Qing Shui relentlessly practiced them all.

State of perception only occurred when one immersed themselves in countless amounts of training. Just like how Qing Shui attained the Realm of Sword Truths, by spending an astronomical amount of time practicing the same set of movements, he immersed himself within it before he truly arrived at this level. Naturally, he was still enamored of the mysterious realms that came after the Realm of Sword Truths.

Slowly, and seemingly heavily, Qing Shui practiced the Tai Chi stances. It was as though he was pushing against a gigantic mountain using very little strength, almost effortlessly. It felt extremely bizarre.

Wu-shuang opened her eyes as she gazed at the actions of Qing Shui from afar, feeling puzzled in her heart. Qing Shui seemed to know many things, and not only that, but during their interactions Wu-shuang truly felt happy in her heart. This was despite Qing Shui sometimes saying things that made her embarrassed.

“My life was saved by him, but everytime I think about it… that naughty bad guy actually touched me there, and after that, he didn’t even show any remorse, and was very open about it. If there’s a next time, would he do something even more…”

“Wu-shuang, how deep is this valley?” After 20-30 li distance of walking, they had frequently encountered various sizes of Golden-Ringed Snakes. However, they had not yet sensed the Xiantian level snake king yet.

“I can’t be certain, but we would need to walk another length of similar distance to reach the Golden- Ringed Snake Fruits. Let’s hope that the snake king won’t be there.” Wu-shuang hopefully spoke as she glanced at Qing Shui.

“Didn’t you say earlier that the fruits were maturing during this period of time, why would the snake king leave during this period. But, you look very adorable when you show your naive side.” Qing Shui held Wu-shuang’s hands as he hurriedly spoke.

“I’m just saying there might be a chance, otherwise, why did I ask you to come with me.” Wenren Wu-shuang pouted, as Qing Shui snickered. He loved this side of Wu-shuang.

“We are arriving soon, be careful!” Wenren Wu-shuang pulled Qing Shui along as she whispered.

Both of them slowly inched forward, as this part of the valley was winding and complicated, they could only see about 10m ahead of them. Moving forward cautiously, they used the valley walls as their cover.

After turning a corner, Qing Shui’s eyes lit up. Nearby there was a stream within the valley, and just after a single gaze, Qing Shui quickly shifted away his eyes.

The Golden-Ringed Snake King!

Qing Shui actually felt shocked as he gazed at that gigantic fellow. The snake king was over 100m long, and had a girth of two to three adults. The color of its skin was a vivid green, and was adorned with golden ring symbols. The glint in the eyes of the snake king seemed to emit light akin to a lantern, causing people’s hearts to turn cold.

The Golden-ringed Snake King was lying on the ground, it’s body weaving intricately. Above its head, there was a half-a-meter tall plant that shone with three types of radiance: golden, vivid-green and silvery-white. Attached to that plant were fist-sized, golden-colored fruits.

Qing Shui knew that this half-a-meter tall plant was none other than the Golden-Ringed Snake Plant. It seemed like if they wanted to obtain the fruits, then they would have to pass through it’s guardian first.

Qing Shui glanced at Wu-shuang. No matter what, she had exchanged blows with the big fellow and still managed to escaped with her life!

“The body of the snake king is as tough as steel essence. Its only weakness is its eyes. However, it can spit out poison, and you also have to be wary of its tail. Ordinary Xiantian cultivators cannot even withstand a single strike from it.” Wenren Wu-shuang spoke, as terror from her past experience could be seen from her eyes.

“You are still afraid? Why did you want to come?” Qing Shui smiled.

“Because you are here with me, otherwise I would have never come back here alone.” Wu-shuang replied very naturally.

“This lass is using me for cannon fodder?” Qing Shui bitterly thought.

“I will attract it’s attention, while you go steal the fruits. Remember to only act after I’ve drawn it away.” Wenren Wu-shuang stared fixedly at the snake king as she lightly spoke.

Upon hearing that, Qing Shui was moved. However, how could he let Wu-shuang take such a risk. Catching hold of Wu-shuang who was about to dash towards the snake, Qing Shui whispered. “Wu-shuang, let me draw it’s attention. However when you grab the fruits later, remember to uproot the plant as well. I have some use for it.”

In Qing Shui’s hands, he had already prepared two goose-egg-sized stones. After casting a reassuring glance at Wu-shuang, he dashed out. At that same instant, Qing Shui kicked a rock the size of a human head over, aiming at the head of the Snake King.

Peng!

The stone shattered, but the Snake King was not even injured. However, a howl of ear-piercing anger could be heard as it’s flexible and muscular body rose to a height of a third of it’s length, standing at 30+ meters tall, surveying Qing Shui before lunging towards him. One must not be fooled by the immense stature of the snake king. It’s movements were akin to the wind, incredibly agile and nimble.

Qing Shui executed his mastered Free-Spirit Steps, nimbly sidestepping and advancing forward, while the tail of the snake king smashed against the walls of the mountain valley and dust permeated the air.

“F*ck.” Qing Shui glanced back at the area of collision. The walls of the mountain valley were totally destroyed from the impact. He wondered if his body would be able to take a strike from the tail of this big fellow.

Qing Shui tightly clutched the two goose-egg-sized stones in his hands, as he saw a huge object whistling through the air, and sprinted away as the gigantic rock hurled by the snake exploded into pieces.

Ever since Qing Shui had survived the attack from the mutated boar demon, he had prepared simple hidden weapons on his body. These goose-egg-sized stones were an example of that. He had specially prepared thick stones with jagged edges for use.

Qing Shui was preparing to use his hidden weapons when abruptly the huge head of the snake lunged over. Its speed was comparable to an arrow that had explosively left its bow. While it was lunging towards him, it spat out droplets of a sticky poisonous liquid towards Qing Shui.

“F*ck this!” Qing Shui cursed as he quickly retreated, dodging. Although Qing Shui had broken through to the 4th Heavenly Layer, and enjoyed a 10x increase in his various stats, he didn’t have the confidence that he would be immune to the poison of the snake king.

The instant the poisonous mist dissipated, the Free-Spirit Steps of Qing Shui were executed to their limit, as his body transformed into a mirage. He shot out the two stones in his hands at a crafty angle, with a speed as fast as lightning.

“Hiss!” A howl of ear-piercing volume resounded out, as the body of the snake king writhed and spasmed about in that small space. Qing Shui, who had no space to maneuver, was explosively sent flying, and smashed against the wall.

A human-shaped hole was formed when Qing Shui crashed into it!

Qing Shui, in that midst of that scruffle, saw that one of the eyes of the snake king had been blinded. The reason for its frenzied movements earlier was because of this injury.

Qing Shui cursed again, the scenario was very similar to his previous experience with the white headed inky jade condor, but this time round he only managed to wound one of the beast’s eyes. As Qing Shui appeared, he was directly seized, coiled and crushed by the immense body of the snake king, hanging motionlessly in the air.

That immense body of the snake king seemed to have totally covered up Qing Shui, only leaving his head and two of his arms hanging outside of the coil. This result happened only because of Qing Shui’s relentless struggle.

The bones of Qing Shui emitted cracking sounds under the pressure. If it was some other cultivators, even if they were at the Xiantian level, their bones would have been pulverized long ago!

The maw of the snake king snapped open, as it’s pearly white fangs glistening with poison emitted a putrid smell as it lunged towards Qing Shui.

Qing Shui at this moment, against all expectations, calmed down. Just an instant before the snake king bit down, Qing Shui’s left arm shot out and wrapped around that thick tongue of the snake king, pulling it aside violently.

The terrifying strength of Qing Shui wrenched the tongue of the snake badly. Not to mention the snake tongue, but if he had the leverage to attack the head of the snake king, then he would also be able to deal massive damage to it with his more than 200,000 jin strength. What a pity that he was barehanded, just like a tiny needle pricking the thighs of a human, he had no way injure the snake much.

As the head of the snake king was violently pulled downwards to the side, the remaining good eye of the snake king appeared before Qing Shui. With no hesitation, Qing Shui directly shot out his right fist, punching straight into it.

The ear-piercing shriek of the snake king once again resounded! In the same instant when Qing Shui fist was inside the eye of the snake king, he forced his fist further in in order to reach the brain of the snake king! Willing the grey-colored, primordial flame to appear, he shot it towards the brain of the snake king, burning it from within.

The tightly constricting body of the snake gradually loosened, and after a few spasms, it became motionless.

As Qing Shui exerted his strength, struggling out of the body of the snake king, he saw the tearstained face of a beauty: Wenren Wu-shuang, who was standing nearby, staring at him!

“Lass, I’m good looking right!” Qing Shui extended his hands as he pinched Wu-shuang’s nose.