Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 790 – The Wondrous Use of the Saintly Hands

Qing Shui woke up early in the morning and walked straight to the backyard. He could sense someone at the backyard even before he had the chance to go outside. The sky had just brightened up slightly, no one in the Qing Residence would be up this early.

Qing Shui woke up much earlier than usual. Huoyun Liu-Li was still asleep after he had opened his eyes. When he got closer, he quickly activated his Spiritual Sense and expanded it towards the backyard. Through his Spiritual Sense, he could see a woman’s form demonstrating her swordplay.

It was Wenren Wu-shuang!

It was still barely bright in the morning and the air was filled with the moisture of the morning mist. He stood from a blind spot and watched Wenren Wu-shuang prancing around in a steady posture.

“I see, she has been very hardworking.” Qing Shui smiled as he continued his observation of the woman practicing diligently. She had an extraordinary talent but that didn’t mean she could neglect her dedication to continue her cultivation for power. When he first met her, she was just a Xiantian martial warrior. At that time, he had thought that being a Xiantian martial warrior was just a dream that seemed practically unreachable.

Back then, Yu Donghao was the only Xiantian martial warrior in the Hundred Miles City, albeit a crippled Xiantian martial warrior. Wenren Wu-shuang was the first person he met whom he had considered a powerful Xiantian martial warrior.

When he thought about it now, he realized that most of his encounters in life were mostly tied with Wenren Wu-shuang. The most profound thing in life would be the relationship between two human beings. Fate could bring two people together from being a couple of strangers to two people on intimate terms with each other.

Both of them had experienced quite a number of obstacles together. There were definitely moments of sadness as well as moments of happiness throughout their journey. Now it seemed that this was the best ending they could ever ask for.

Qing Shui still remembered quite clearly what he said before he had left for the Southern Viewing Continent. He had told Wenren Wu-shuang that she was his woman. She agreed and said the same thing to him too.

After a while, Wenren Wu-shuang stopped her swordplay and turned around, catching Qing Shui looking at her at the far corner. She was stunned for a while, then regained her composure as she walked closer to him.

“You are up early!” Wenren Wu-shuang blushed when she saw Qing Shui. She remembered what happened yesterday during their first meeting after he had came back from the Southern Viewing Continent. The man in front of her had become bolder by the minute.

“Hmm, even now you are still hardworking.” Qing Shui held her by her delicate hands and led her inside the courtyard through the pathway of green grasses.

“I don’t want to be tossed so far away from you.” said Wenren Wu-shuang in a delicate voice.

There was a hint of stubbornness in her soft voice. Qing Shui was quite touched by her words, because he knew exactly what she meant. For a woman to state such a bold statement, she had made clear of her intentions to Qing Shui – she had decided to follow him wherever he would go.

“I’m here, so you don’t have to work so hard. I will always help you in any way I can.” Qing Shui replied with a chuckle.

“I fear that you will resent me for being a burden and then toss me away one day.” Wenren Wu-shuang let out a soft giggle.

“Silly woman, am I that feeble to you?” Qing Shui let out a stifled chuckle, speechless at her foolish thoughts. He then gently grabbed both her hands and faced her, waiting for her reply.

“No, you are a good man.” Wenren Wu-shuang allowed Qing Shui to hold her delicate hands as she gave him a reply.

“I like how you are now. You have become more relaxed.” Qing Shui was pleased to see that Wenren Wu-shuang had learned how to relax herself. Ever since her elder sister, Wenren Wugou, had passed away, she had rarely allowed herself a time of peacefulness or to be cheerful.

“Thanks, I have decided to live better. Elder sister wouldn’t want me to become sad for the rest of my life either.”

Qing Shui was paying attention to her rosy lips and her snow-white teeth as she continued to speak to him. He glanced at her pink tongue next, unconsciously moving forward to her lips and kissed her.

When she saw Qing Shui moving closer to her, she flustered and lowered her head quickly. She felt his breath closer to her face and before she could think of what to do next, her lips were then locked onto his.

The delicate fragrance and the exquisite texture of her lips caused Qing Shui to embrace her suddenly. Before she could react, Qing Shui’s tongue had extended and slithered into her mouth.

Qing Shui continued to suck on her tongue until she had ran out of breath before releasing her from his embrace. He let out a smile as he looked at the shy woman in front of him. There was an indescribable satisfaction within his heart. He promised himself to give her all the happiness in the world and never let her go for the rest of his life.

Wenren Wu-shuang kept her head lowered even after she was released from his embrace. Her ears were visibly red from her shyness. It was attractive and enthralling.

“You are very beautiful.” teased Qing Shui as he lifted up Wenren Wu-shuang’s chin.

“Ah, get over yourself. Don’t leer at me like some kind of playboy.” Wenren Wu-shuang gently pushed away Qing Shui’s hand. The subtle red on her face had already faded away.

“Don’t you feel good about it?” Qing Shui looked at Wenren Wu-shuang with a teasing smile.

“What do you mean ‘feel good’……” Wenren Wu-shuang halted her words when she realized what Qing Shui was talking about, which caused her to clench her fist together and hit Qing Shui angrily.

“Wu-shuang!”

“What!?” When she saw an immediate change of serious expression on Qing Shui’s face, Wenren Wu-shuang gave a quick reply as she waited for him to speak.

“I want another kiss…..”

“Go to hell!” Wenren Wu-shuang shot an angry stare at Qing Shui before she continued, “I’m tired. I’m going back to rest.”

As she began walking away, she let out a soft giggle and blinked sweetly at Qing Shui. She was quite flirtatious and attractive, in addition to her elegance, which could enchant any man she desired.

After she had left, Qing Shui began his morning training with the reluctance to part with the lips that he had tasted earlier.

Wenren Wu-shuang had become alone ever since her elder sister had passed away. She had no known blood-related family in this world but she had gained a family that loved her as much as a blood relative would. After spending so many years in the Qing Clan, she had considered the members of the Qing Clan as the most important people in her life.

Taichi Fist!

Back Connecting Fist!

After a while, the members of the Qing Clan began to arrive in a continuous stream. Most of the members who gathered around were of the third generation of the Qing Clan. The ladies would sometimes practice their martial arts with them but sometimes they would stay at their own courtyard and practice on their own. Mingyue Gelou was a regular with the members of the Qing Clan but lately she had to skip her practice with them because she needed to focus on taking care of her child.

After Qing Shui had finished his morning practice, he glanced over to Qing You and saw him drowned in his own thoughts. But a few moments later, he would continue his practice on the Tiger Form.

Qing Shui’s eyes lit up and saw an opportunity to flash across beside Qing You, who was in the middle of demonstrating his Tiger Form. When Qing Shui had shifted towards Qing You, he quickly struck a Tiger Laceration move at Qing You with a force slightly greater than he could handle.

At first, Qing You was shocked by the sudden apparition but calmed down when he realized that it was actually Qing Shui himself shifting to his side. Qing You knew quite well of Qing Shui’s good intentions, so when he saw the attack laid unto him, he knew that Qing Shui was trying to assess his battle techniques or to give him some useful pointers.

Qing You infused all his might onto his Tiger Form without restraint. He knew Qing Shui would not hurt him, so he decided to counter his attack to the best of his ability without any concern of actually hurting Qing Shui.

Saintly Hands!

One of Qing Shui’s palm had successfully blocked all of Qing You’s attacks while the other had occasionally struck a little bit of his Ancient Strengthening Technique into Qing You’s body. The points on the body that he had struck were mostly acupuncture points that he had intended to seal.

Chengling Acupoint!

Taique Acupoint!

……..

Qing Shui had practically memorized every meridian of the human body to a terrifying level – the flow of each meridian, their behavior, the structure of the nerve branches….. So with that knowledge, he continued to penetrate a bit of the Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique with the Saintly Hands into Qing You’s body while slowly blocking some of the unnecessary nerves temporarily. The body was like a river, if the smaller branches had been blocked, the water would gradually be forced to flow towards the main river. Not only would the water level increase, the speed of the water flow would become faster and stronger. This was the theory that Qing Shui had gone with, hoping to assist Qing You in a breakthrough to the realm of Martial King.

The members of Qing Clan had better aptitude for martials arts than common folks but were still inferior when compared to those of a genius. However, it was barely enough for the Qing Clan to stand out among other clans despite having consumed medicinal pills and items that were able to increase their cultivation base by a greater amount. Still, Qing Shui was content. It would take a few more generations to continuously change the structure of their genes. He was able to optimize the structure of the genes for his generation, albeit slowly. Changing entirely would be strictly impossible.

Qing You and Qing Bei were the two lowest-graded martial warriors in the Qing Clan. With the help of Qing Shui’s guidance and the consumption of a large amount of medicinal pills, Qing Bei was able to reach the Grade Two Martial King level. Qing You, on the other hand, was a step away from becoming a Martial King. Of course, both of them could not be compared with those of a true supreme clan with their current status.

A subtle red light gradually enveloped Qing You’s complexion. His attack power continued to increase to an extraordinary amount. The other members of Qing Clan stopped to watch Qing Shui striking and blocking with Qing You at the same time. It was quite obvious what was happening right now but they still had a hard time comprehending the sudden situation between two members of Qing Clan.

“Qing You, use all your power to attack me. If you want a breakthrough, you must strive forward.” Qing Shui said calmly without stopping his movements.

His words had a magical effect on Qing You, because in the next moment, Qing You’s aura had increased exponentially to a greater level, causing his eyes to glow with a faint red glint. Power was everything in the World of the Nine Continents. There might be a step difference between a Peak of Xiantian and an Elementary Martial King but the difference was one of Heaven and Earth – the vast disparity was undeniable. Once a Xiantian warrior was able to break through to the Elementary Martial King, the treatment and conduct by the public opinion would change significantly. Most importantly, one could become confident and superior due to the increase in power as an Elementary Martial King, thus paving a path towards the next level with hope and aspiration.

If a martial warrior ceased to cultivate, then the martial warrior would cease to exist.

Shield Attack!

The Qi from the Ancient Strengthening Technique had sealed the less critical parts of the body for the time being to allow the power of the meridians to reach the pinnacle, thus allowing the Qi to attempt the breakthrough of the barrier forcefully. At the same time, Qing Shui had infused the force of the Shield Attack with Qing You’s power and targeted the impact on the barrier.

Failed!

The barrier had only been shaken slightly by the force but did not break.

But it was a sign of a good start. Qing Shui had thought that the method would be effective because Qing You had reached the peak of his current cultivation. Only Qing Shui could perform this method due to the ability of his Saintly Hands to transform the raw power to some sort of Spiritual Qi, which was a conventional method for people of different elements. Otherwise, if he had used a technique of different element on someone with dissimilar element, it would definitely end up as a failure.

Shield Attack!

Failed!

……..

Qing Shui persisted on using the same method on Qing You – after a period of time when Qing You’s power had reached a pinnacle, he would infuse the force of the Shield Attack with Qing You’s power to pierce through the barrier.

Despite the succession of failures for the 20th time, the barrier was beginning to show signs of crumbling after being shaken continuously. The barrier might be able to break successfully after three more attempts.

Qing You was drenched in a puddle of sweat after attempting to break the barrier continuously with a bit of effort by Qing Shui. A cloud of red mist began to form on the surface layer around his body, mixing in with the profuse production of his own sweat.

“Qing You, try your best to endure it. You will reach a breakthrough soon. If you can endure this, then you will become a Martial King warrior. If you can’t, you will keep on being a Xiantian martial warrior forever. If you can endure this, then I will bring you to travel around the World of the Nine Continents.” Both of Qing Shui’s hands hadn’t had a moment of rest since he had started tackling Qing You’s meridian points. Just then, Qing Shui took out three Golden Needles and inserted them into the area around Qing You’s chest

“Ah!”

Qing You let out a loud howl as his body seemed to experience a growth spurt, making him significantly taller. Qing You dashed forward and attacked Qing Shui, who allowed himself to be attacked without the intention to evade or defend himself. At the same time, he performed another Shield Attack and infused its force into Qing You’s body.

Pu!

A sound much like an exploded watermelon rang out in the air. A faint glow of blue light began to emit from Qing You’s body, which signified the starting of the insane absorption of energy that flowed continuously into his body.