Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 270 One of the Twelve Portraits of Beauty, Divine Bodies

And at that moment, the heavily injured Qing Shui was supported by the two ladies into the concealed cave!

The trio entered carefully. If there were any normal wild beasts, they would be able to sense it. Moreover, Canghai Mingyue was at the pinnacle at Xiantian, so the usual demonic beasts would not be her match. That was why they were not too worried.

The entrance was very small and could only for the three of them to enter at the same time. It would be too small for a fourth person. Once they entered, Qing Shui discovered that the cave was very small. It was a small cave that was shaped like a”z”, with the direction of the final stroke of the “z” character looking in a way where one would be able to see the whole cave.

[1]: Author had used the chinese character “之” which we replaced with z. Other than the dot on top, the strokes of the chinese characters are similar to that of z’s.

There was a thick layer of dust on the ground. It was evidence to show that it had been a very long time since someone or some animal had entered it, since there were no traces at all left in the dust.

“I’ll head in to heal my wounds. Mmmm, I won’t be wearing clothes, so unless something happens, don’t alert me for four hours.” Qing Shui grinned and struggled as he headed inside.

Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li spat as they threw a look of reproof at Qing Shui!

Qing Shui was also afraid that the two ladies would head over since he would be in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. That was why he could only come up with this plan which Qing Shui knew that it would be absolutely effective when there were the two of them. If it was just Huoyun Liu-Li alone, Qing Shui would not guarantee that it would work…

Qing Shui went into the deepest corner, and Qing Shui was happy that there was actually another turn deep inside, so he took a glance in.

“Hmmm?!”

Qing Shui was surprised to see that there was an empty piece of land with a circumference of 2 meters but with the deepest part sunk in. On the spot which sunk in was where underground spring water passes through. To think that such a small spot was a rich land equipped with spring water as well.

However, these were not what had made Qing Shui astonished. Qing Shui saw a painting hung up on the walls. It was a life-sized portrait of a woman and at just one glance, Qing Shui was deeply attracted to the character in the painting.

The lady in the painting was dressed in snow white silk, her hair done up with a snow white hair stick inserted, looking untainted. The lady’s expression was covered up by a snow white silk scarf, revealing a pair of deep, black beautiful eyes which transcends human nature, giving out a majestic aura.

Qing Shui stared at it in a daze for so long that one would be able to finish a cup of tea before he regained his senses. The lady in the painting was really of unparalleled beauty, and just that pair of eyes and her soft and slender posture were hard for one to describe by words. It was a state of extreme beauty.

Qing Shui was admiring the divine beauty of the lady in the painting and at the same time, full of admiration for the divine technique used to create this painting. Such painting techniques were absolutely remarkable.

“One of the twelve portraits of beauty!” Qing Shui suddenly saw a the few words written on top of the painting.

The words were written in bold and vigorous strokes, with a man’s strength but yet a lady’s elegancy. Qing Shui did not know if these words came from a man or a lady.

After looking at the picture, Qing Shui unconsciously recalled of the Ferocious Tiger Departing the Mountains Portrait and the painting of the white crane on The White Crane Spread it’s Wings Curtains. The two of them had brought him great benefits.

However, how would this portrait of beauty benefit him?

Qing Shui walked over and carefully took this painting off the wall, and checked to see that there was no one in the surrounding before he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Qing Shui had been thinking of the fact that his soul was drawn by merely a painting. The more he thought of it, the more terrified he was. If he was facing the real person, and if the person was an enemy, he would have died at least a hundred times.

This was the actual prowess of beauties, to be able to draw one’s soul away. This was what it meant to have unsurpassable beauty, beauty which could cause the fall of countries and cities, which could bring trouble to the country and its people. Femme fatale was insufficient to describe her beauty.

Qing Shui placed this beauty portrait on one side of the majestic screen he had. When he saw the lady in the painting, he was once again deeply attracted by her. That uncontrollable urge made Qing Shui let of a sigh to himself.

He took off his clothes and gradually circulated the Qi of Ancient Strengthening Technique. The immense pain create a dense layer of sweat droplets all over his body.

However, Qing Shui clenched his teeth and hung on. He knew that if he were to let the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique heal his wounds automatically, it would take a very long time. Qing Shui did not have the time to wait.

After 90 cycles, Qing Shui almost collapse, but the effects were tremendous. It was time for the All Aspect Nourishment Soup he had prepared earlier to be put to use.

Gulping down two bowls of the soup, Qing Shui lay on the ground, not moving. The Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique was gradually circulating in his body by itself, yet strongly, as if it would never tire.

Unable to go through any training, laying down on the ground, Qing Shui could not help but threw another glance towards that beauty portrait. That pair of eyes in the painting was so beautifully mystifying, so much so that it was as if the beauty had transcended that of human’s.

That pair of black and deep eyes which transcended human’s beauty was almost like the combination of Canghai Mingyue’s and Yiye Jiange’s eyes. Even that aura it gave out was also the combination of the two’s.

Yiye Jiange and Canghai Mingyue was already an astonishment for Qing Shui; they were the most beautiful women he had ever came across and he could not imagine that there were women who were more beautiful than them.

However, there was this portrait right in front of him, with a pair of beautiful eyes which would let all ladies who claimed to be beauties die from shame!

That wonderful figure was not much different from Huoyun Liu-Li’s and Canghai Mingyue’s; so when Qing Shui saw this painting, he had initially thought that it was of Canghai Mingyue. That pair of eyes and aura had a 50% similarity to hers.

One of the twelve portraits of beauties, which meant that there were eleven other of such portraits. When Qing Shui picked up this painting earlier, he noticed that it was actually done on beast parchment, and it felt was much stronger than the Golden-Ringed Snake King’s. The two were simply incomparable!

Therefore, Qing Shui guessed that it was made from a demonic beast was at least of Martial King level. This made Qing Shui came to the inference that the one who drew this painting either had exemplary martial techniques or had came from an extremely wealthy family. However, sometimes even if one had money, one might not be able to buy such stuff.

This painting was very beautiful, but Qing Shui did not know what use it would bring!

After taking a break, Qing Shui continued to clenched his teeth, circulating the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique. This time around, it was obviously less painful than the previous time, and the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique’s golden speckles continued to repair Qing Shui’s damaged body.

Just like that, each time after Qing Shui took a break, he would cultivate one round of the Ancient Strengthening Technique. The Ancient Strengthening Technique’s strength lied in that it strengthened the physical body, tempering the muscles and bones, and even its ability to heal wounds were not much worse off than any miracle medicines. So long as the practitioner had a breath left in him, he would not die.

Repeating the cycle as such for one day, Qing Shui’s serious injuries had already healed by 20%. Qing Shui had already started to train other martial techniques. He did not wish to waste the time he had in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal for this visit.

A few times when Qing Shui had came across danger or when he was fighting off enemies, especially when he was fighting off stronger enemies, he had mostly relied on needle-typed items. He had depended on the Gold Needles earlier, and now, he was even equipped with the Coldsteel Needles which had cold poison on them.

The first time the Gold Needles were used, was when he had killed a Xiantian; and now the Coldsteel Needles had crippled the old blind chap who was a great expert. While it could be said that he was resorting to trickeries, Qing Shui knew that the cold poison definitely would have a tremendous role to play.

Soaring Crane Steps!

Qing Shui washed all the Golden-Ringed Battle Armor, helmet and boots… and then set them aside to dry. He started to repetitively practiced the Soaring Crane Steps as he discovered that there was still much room for its growth. Furthermore, the greater his mastery of it, the better one would be able to save energy expenditure. It had led to Qing Shui having the determination to practice the Basic Sword Techniques.

Time passed by very quickly, and Qing Shui’s injuries had already mostly healed. He headed to his bed and changed into a clean set of clothes. However, unintentionally, he saw the back of the painting.

“There’s words!”

Qing Shui recalled how when he had removed it off the wall outside, and how he was so attracted by the lady in the painting that he did not manage to check the back of the painting. And after he entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he did not rolled up the scroll, causing him to only discover that there were words at the back after he had spent almost half a month in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Qing Shui rushed to take a look at that few rows of words. The handwriting showed that they had came from the same person who had written the words in front!

There were a total of twelve of such portraits, and was completed by the Art Maestro, Jiang Di after he had ventured the world of the nine continents for three hundred years and had seen all the beauties in the world. Each of these paintings were completed after Jiang Di had met the most outstanding beauties and fused them in the paintings!

Seeing this, Qing Shui finally understood. There was no way that there would be a lady so beautiful. At the same time, he was also shocked that this Master Artist was actually at the maestro level. His painting technique could be said to have reached the highest peak.

Although these twelve beauty portraits was created by combining traits of various beauties all over the world and not drawn with reference taken from just one lady alone, with there being so many people in the world, it was not impossible for such a beauty to exist.

The twelve portraits of beauties depicted twelve different types of extreme beauty, unparalleled beauty of the generation, with unsurpassed beauty, beauty which could cause the fall of countries and cities, beauty which could bring turmoil to a country and its people, beauty which was extremely charming to the bones, beauty which transcended human, beauty which expressed intellectual and grace… were all included, but none of them could sum it all up.

The beauty portraits was not only pleasant to the mind and to the eyes, the painting technique could even see through one’s exterior to see through to the muscles and bones. The ladies in the twelve portraits all had divine bodies, and had exemplary qualities. Each of them was a tremendous treasure.

Seeing this, Qing Shui fell into a daze. To think that a beauty portrait which he thought could only be used for letting his lewd imagination run wild would have a such a layer of conception. Qing Shui could not help but think of Qinghan Ye, think of that wonderful Duo Cultivation dream. He did not know if the Nine Yin body was included as one of the divine bodies.