Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 859 – Dong Clan of the Capital City，Sun Clan of Yun City, Brothers？

“Dong Yan, your friends are my friends. Everyone should come over!” Dongfang Third Elder said, smiling back at Dong Yan.

“Alright, alright. You don’t have to be so polite. We’ll just stay here,” Dong Yan laughed.

This time, Dongfang Third Elder did not insist further. He exchanged a few pleasantries with Qing Shui and nodded at Sun Yan before leaving. Even though those were superficial words, he still had to do it for his reputation.

“Bah! That old man really came at the wrong time. He spoiled the fun,” Dong Yan laughed looking at both Qing Shui and Sun Yan.

He did not lower the volume of his voice when saying this, so Dongfang Third Elder who had just left jerked for a moment but did not turn back. Instead, he continued walking while the others around them were stunned. Who was that man? As he even made fun of Dongfang Third Elder, the others could not help trying to guess his identity.

Next, the new couple appeared. Qing Shui looked at the Dongfang fourth generation member, he was clad in a black-colored knight attire as he held the hand of a woman in a white gown.

The man was suave and handsome, displaying the good genes that were passed down through a large clan. Similarly, the woman was very beautiful, even though her face was covered by a silver veil which only revealed her pair of bright eyes.

Qing Shui considered the status of Dongfang clan in Dongfang city and the fact that the man beside him had an established relationship with this clan. He could tell that the man’s background was in no way inferior to the Dongfang Aristocrat Clan. He only thought that the man’s strength was not ordinary; once he realized the man’s status, he felt extremely happy.

“Big Brother Dong, you really know how to hide your identity, as expected from someone from the Dong Clan of the capital city.” Sun Yan flashed an awkward smile to Dong Yan.

“Sun Clan of Yun City.” Dong Yan smiled as he poured a cup of wine.

“Big Brother Dong, so you know,” Sun Yan smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

Thereafter, the two men turned to Qing Shui, looking at him as if to say, ‘Since you know our backgrounds, it’s your turn now.’

“I am Qing Shui from the Greencloud Continent,” Qing Shui said softly.

“Wow, Greencloud Continent. We must be really have some fate. We met even though you’re from such a distant place. That’s great!” Dong Yan’s eyes brightened as he exclaimed happily.

“I am delighted to meet both of you,” Qing Shui said smiling politely. It seemed quite beneficial to have some friends here, even if it was just to pass time.

The matter of fact was that Qing Shui rarely had any free time. Only idle men would feel bored. However, since he had plenty of time in his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, one day did not meant much to him. Other than spending some time in the morning practicing Taichi Fist, he spent most of his time traveling and getting to know some people.

He knew that though he was quite powerful now, he may be nothing in the eyse of some people. He remembered the grace and favors he had received from many people in the past, so he knew the importance of having friends. Unfortunately, he didn’t usually go out to befriend people.

When he first saw Dong Yan and Sun Yan, he already wanted to befriend them. Even more so now, since they were reasonably powerful and their personalities fit with his values.

Qing Shui did not care about their backgrounds as that was not important to him. He was more concerned about how capable they were. Without any talents and capabilities, no matter how rich or influential a person was, they were just good-for-nothings.

“Haha! Great! Since we seem to hit off, let’s be sworn brothers from now on. We won’t conduct any sort of symbolic ceremony but we will consider each other as brothers. Even if we have our disagreements in the future, I will still treat both of you as my brothers,” Dong Yan laughed.

“Okay. We will be brothers. Dong Yan will be our elder brother. Qing Shui, you should be younger than me right, I am 35,” Sun Yan laughed heartily.

“Nice to meet you, my two older brothers. Since we are brothers, may we be brothers for life,” Qing Shui said happily.

Qing Shui was really delighted. This was the first time he felt this way. Even though they did not go through any sort of ceremony, he felt that their bonds were special. Just as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Qing Shui had always known himself to be an easygoing person, it was fairly obvious that Dong Yan and Sun Yan were that way too.

“Come, even though we don’t need a ceremony, I’ll show my sincerity with this cup of wine. Once we drink our cups of wine, we will be brothers for life,” Dong Yan, being the eldest brother raised his cup, announced earnestly.

Sun Yan and Qing Shui immediately followed suit. The three of them lifted their heads and downed the wine. Dong Yan rarely had a serious face, from the time Qing Shui first saw him to now, this was actually the first time he looked serious.

This time, no one dared to underestimate the three weird men. They were definitely some special guests since Dongfang Third Elder acknowledged that man called Dong Yan. This was indeed the attitude that most of the people had towards them. Within the blink of an eye, their impression of these men changed from viewing them as stingy and poor commoners to respectable people of elevated statuses.

Having the thought that those people were a bunch of clowns now made them realize that they were the true clowns.

The head of the Dongfang Aristocrat Clan was an old man of the second generation. He addressed the crowd for a few moments after he came out and proceeded to raise a toast. He announced that it was his grandson’s wedding and urged everyone to enjoy the food and drink.

During that process, many people went up, offering their gifts. This was a good chance to suck up to the clan and there was no way that the people here would miss this chance. Most of the people brought gifts but there were certainly a few who didn’t.

People presented precious herbs, precious stones like jade and agate, sculptures…

“Wow, they actually brought heartgems. They are even black heartgems,” a person suddenly exclaimed.

“Heartgems?” Qing Shui asked, puzzled. He recently obtained a Spirit Channeling Jade, also known as the Heart of Jade Mountain. He wondered if the black heartgem was also an item like that.

“Brother, the black heartgem he spoke about is just a high level gem. It is not a true heartgem. A genuine heartgem is way better than his,” Sun Yan said mildly. His voice wasn’t loud but many people still heard him.

“You are all freeloaders! What gives you the right to criticize others?”

The middle-age man who had presented the ‘heartgem’ turned to looked at the three of them.

“Funny. See how he reacts once somebody points that out.” Dong Yan smiled gently.

Being in the middle of the conflict, the head of Dongfang Aristocrat Clan quickly stepped in to diffuse the situation, “Okay, okay. We kindly accept your gift. Thank you Brother Ling Hu. Brother Dong Yan is a friend of ours, that is why he is here to attend our banquet. Please don’t hold anything against him.”

“Brother Dongfang, you well know that these people are freeloaders. Who the hell are they anyone? What gives them the right to criticize my gifts. Ling Hu Clan isn’t large but we can’t let others bully us.”

The middle-aged man was visibly angry. Anyone caught in such a situation would also feel angry. Besides, Ling Hu Aristocrat Clan was also quite influential, they were not really inferior to the Dongfang Aristocrat Clan.

“Could you allow me to take a look at that heartgem of yours? Anyway, it is just a stone. If you don’t dare, then that proves my point.” Sun Yan smiled calmly, not showing any anger.

“I have nothing to hide! I sure would like to see how you would turn it into just a stone.”

The middle-aged man did not back down since he was in front of so many people. The people from Dongfang clan brought out the black heartgem, which was the size of a baby’s fist and presented it to Sun Yan.

The members of the Dongfang Clan were curious too. Even though, they did not believe that the Ling hu Clan would do something so preposterous, considering the advancement of the Ling Hu Clan over these few years, there were certainly some disagreements between both families.

This boiled down to the fact that the influence and power of Ling Hu Aristocratic Clan had risen over these few years, this would explain why they might do this. However, everything was just conjecture at this point because they hadn’t reached the situation where they would have a go at each other.

Sun Yan held the black heartgem. He channelled his strength to his palm and within a split second the heartgem was smashed into bits. It was now clear to everyone that only the exterior of the ‘heartgem’ looked the part, whereas its interior was merely stone…

This time, everyone was stunned. For a brief moment, everyone remained silent. All of them stared blankly at the remnants of a stone that was in Sun Yan held in his hand.

“Brother Dongfang, this…this… Please believe me, it’s not fake…”

“Fuck it! This is clearly a stone and you still want him to believe you?!” someone scolded out loudly.

……

The middle-aged man could no longer make any more excuses. The facts were right in front of everyone so there was no use explaining. Sun Yan smiled to the man from Ling Hu Clan saying, “Even if you didn’t have a gift, there was no way the Dongfang Clan would have chased you out. But, bringing a stone to deceive them…DId you mean to show your disdain towards the Dongfang Clan by such a despicable act? Do you think the members of the Dongfang Aristocrat Clan are idiots?” Sun Yan said sternly, condemning the act.

Qing Shui now knew the true personalities of his two new friends and he could only be impressed by their methods of dealing with the matter at hand. They slowly revealed their hand, giving no leeway for the opponent to escape.

Even that member of the Dongfang Clan did not know what to say. He basically just stared at the middle-aged man.

“You must have done something!” The middle-aged man retorted, looking at Sun Yan.

However, everyone just looked at him like he was an idiot because they’ve never heard something that absurd— no one could turn a genuine heartgem into plain stone.

In the end, he could no longer stand being there. He turned and bowed to the head of the Dongfang clan, “Brother Dongfang, you must believe me. I’ll leave for now.”

“What a shameless man! He still wants Dongfang Aristocrat Clan to believe him.”

“He dared to criticize others when he is the shameless one.”

“How could Ling Hu Aristocrat Clan do this? Dongfang Aristocrat Clan doesn’t even need your gift. Even if you don’t have something that good, you can just bring something. That would be better than bringing something fake.” More and more people started discussing even though not all members from the Ling Hu Clan had left.

“They should leave. If it was me, I would just kill myself on the spot.”

“I say, Ling Hu Aristocrat Clan is so rich, why would they be so stingy?”

……

In the end, all the members from Ling Hu Clan left hurriedly.

“Thank you, brother. I’d never expect that the members from the Ling Hu Clan would actually do that. We did not expect people to bring gifts but we were definitely disappointed that people would actually try to deceive us like that,” the middle-aged head of the clan said to Sun Yan and the people around them.

“Dongfang Fourth Elder, you don’t have to feel this way, just let it be. They must have their reasons for presenting a fake item like that. After all, it is not like they’re poor, so perhaps they found it difficult not being able to bring something decent,” Sun yan sighed, shaking his head.

“Dongfang Fourth Elder, this is a gift from the three of us. We hope that you don’t resent it. We are poor, that’s true,” Sun Yan said without changing his expression as he brought out a small carved jade sculpture. The craftsmanship was incomparable, it was a sculpture of a couple, representing the couple’s perfect pairing.

“We wouldn’t. This is more important. We will thank you on the behalf of our Ye’er,” Dongfang Fourth Elder replied happily.

The banquet lasted into late afternoon and people started to bid their farewells.

Qing Shui, Dong Yan and Sun Yan also stood up and bid their farewells as Dongfang Third Elder and the others sent them off.

“Brother, please help us pay for the fare, we don’t have enough money…”

“This beast carriage belongs to Dongfang clan, the ride is free,” Dongfang Third Elder said with a grimace.