Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 887 – Stocism of an Immortal，Within 300,000 li

At that time, Qing Shui left without even turning his head because he did not want to die and must not die. In addition to that, the woman had not intended to kill him. Even though she had attacked him twice, he was only injured. She definitely possessed the ability to kill him off each time. This meant that the woman had already spared him.

Even though they were now in a sort of shared conscious space, their thoughts were honest and they were really interacting with each other. Qing Shui felt a little awkward facing the woman in front of him. He did not know what to say. Besides, he did not feel like talking once he saw her cold expression.

The woman looked at Qing Shui coldly, knitting her beautiful brows. She seemed a little puzzled as she looked at her surroundings, then she looked at Qing Shui again. A slight relief quickly appeared in her pair of alluring eyes.

“Why are you here?” the woman asked.

This was the first time Qing Shui had heard her voice. With attractive icy features which could bring Qing Shui to bow down and pray to her, her voice was similarly devoid of any emotion. It was like the voice of an immortal, speaking directly into one’s soul.

“I have no idea. I don’t think this is reality,” Qing Shui shook his head and replied.

The woman turned away, casting her glance away from Qing Shui. Qing Shui looked at her jade-like legs which floated about three inches above the ground.

She continued looking around with in mild bewilderment, gliding around the place before she spoke again, “How did you enter this place previously?”

Qing Shui wasn’t surprised by her question. He slowly explained, “Through a treasure map that I have somehow obtained. I was looking for treasures.”

The woman was stunned for a moment but she relaxed her brows slightly and said softly, “I am not sure how you are able to enter this place and even bring me here. But I know that you are controlling this. Don’t ever think about this again. I don’t want to see you. I’m afraid I can’t fight the urge to kill you.”

This was the first time he heard this woman using a slightly gentle tone but he did not expect her words to be so bland. Well, now he could confirm that the woman did intentionally spare his life previously.

“Why didn’t you kill me that time?” Qing Shui hesitated for a moment, before asking.

“No reason. Killing you was too easy,” the woman replied coldly, knitting her brows together again.

Qing Shui did not pursue the question further, he had nothing to present to her. He shook his head and said, “How did you end up laying dormant there? How were you poisoned so badly? How long were you there for?”

Qing Shui stated his questions not hoping to get any answers because he knew that woman would not tell him anything. Anyway, he did not really care what the woman thought of him so he asked what he wanted. From the start, the two of them had no intention to really interact, so if he tried his luck maybe he might even find out some hidden secrets or information about the Central Continent.

Qing Shui’s words seemed to remind the woman about something. The poison in her body was really potent, otherwise she would not have fallen into such a deep slumber but this man managed to cure her. When she remembered what happened, she felt a little uneasy so she did not continue thinking about it.

“These are not questions that you should ask. There are things that you should not know right now. Just cherish what you have and continue living well.” the woman disappeared with a flash after she finished her sentence.

Qing Shui was shocked when he heard what she said. He did not expect her to say those words so he couldn’t really come to terms with it. Furthermore, she could easily withdraw herself from this state.

Qing Shui suspected that using the Portraits of Beauty as a medium, he could interact with the woman in the picture through his consciousness. Could it be that the Art Maestro’s art reached the level of drawing souls?

Perhaps such a phenomenon would only appear when one reached that level but that did not explain a very crucial detail. During the Art Maestro’s time, these women were not even born.

Could it be that the Art Maestro drew these drawings from his past experiences? Could he have compiled these drawings with his knowledge of skeletal structures, physiognomy and other research? Putting aside people who genuinely looked alike, Qing Shui found it rather impossible that a drawing could look so much like an existing person. How does this explain how the Portraits of Beauty could create a divine connection? Why are the people he has met match the women in the Portraits of Beauty. Was it pure coincidence?

There were many things which simply could not be explained and could not be understood. There are millions and millions of coincidences in the world and not all resulted in something. But Qing Shui was convinced that the Portraits of Beauty could definitely create a divine connection!

After the woman disappeared, Qing Shui also disappeared from that space and returned to his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. He poured a cup of plum wine on his Jade embedded Tigerprint Table for himself and downed it. He felt extremely pleased. After that, he made himself some fish stew and turtle soup.

Even though the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal was also covered with earth, it was different from true reality. There was no dust in the realm and it was filled with Spiritual Qi. This part of the realm was like a room, he was standing on expensive mahogany flooring and the room was filled with many extravagances: his ‘Magnificent Mountains and Rivers’ screen, Eight Deities Mahogany Table, Jade-embedded Tiger print table, Hu Wei Imperial Tutor Chair, cabinets and much more. They were all pretty good pieces of furniture which he had gotten from Southern City Furniture Store to add to his collection.

This was like a large room which was formed by a combination of large screens which only left a two meter wide entrance. The ‘room’ was huge, he had a bed and he placed many of his valuable herbal embroidered cases and rare ingredients in there as well.

The other metals, violet jade, smithing table, etc. were placed outside on the earthen ground. This was because they would not be affected by any contact with ground and it was not suitable to have them in his ‘room’.

Thinking about the divine connection he shared with the woman, he contemplated about how power determined everything in a world. For this world, martial prowess determined everything. As long as one had strength, one could obtain everything.

Conversely, money just becomes an accessory. That is not to say that money was not important since one needed money to support their cultivation. Even though there were many precious items and treasures that can’t be obtained even with massive amounts of money, money could buy a person many medicinal pellets, techniques and whatnots. Especially for beginners, there was a stark contrast between one who was rich and one who was poor.

Qing Shui immediately thought of Sun Yan. His body constitution was very unique. He could absorb the essence of gems and other such items to boost his cultivation. There should be a limit to his ability just like other forms of techniques, he probably could only absorb a limited amount of Spiritual Qi from these things before it reached a saturation point. He would probably have to utilize it or process it before he could continue absorbing another batch.

This was how his cultivation reached such levels even at his age.

If he did not have the backing of his family and his family did not have the money to support him when he was just starting out, then he wouldn’t have been able to reach such success in the present day.

When he returned, he decided to go to the Dong residence to look for Dong Yan. He did not know if he would find Sun Yan there with Dong Yan, since his grandfather’s birthday celebration was over.

Then, there was that woman from Mu Clan. Qing Shui did not know if that was his luck or curse with women…

Romantic relationships were the hardest to fathom and so intangible. They would suddenly befall a person, like a miracle. Then, when it was gone, one could not obtain it even if they tried their hardest.

Two people in love was a beautiful thing, just like how people would reach immortality to be with the ones they loved until old age. It was true, that sort of feeling when one feels joined at the hip with one’s lover, the telepathy… these were all indescribable feelings. That was when both parties in a relationship could nobly do anything for each other…

……

After he ate some food, he started his training. His training list was now extremely long but he managed to do each of them orderly and sequentially. From talisman drawing, drawing, upgrading weapons and practicing his various techniques…

Not forgetting the Roc Form and Crane Slash!

Qing Shui was serious and hardworking when he trained. There was no one to disturb him in his realm so he could put all his focus on training. That was also the reason why his training was so effective.

For a person to get such conditions in the outside world, they would need to isolate themselves. It may appear very easy but it was not because people had their lives to live and they were not always presented with the opportunity to do so.

On the second day, Qing Shui brought along his spider again. This time round, Qing Shui did not sneak around like before but proceed boldly and searched hard every time he reached a different mountain range.

Even though it was as if Five-Headed Demonic Spider had formed a new consciousness, it was still very familiar with the surroundings and had a lot of knowledge about the place, so Qing Shui always checked with it for updated intel.

He was now already accustomed to the immature-sounding voice of his Five-Headed Demonic Spider. He probably would be unable to adapt to his Five-Headed Demonic Spider if it still retained its previous appearance. Now its body was half its previous size and more importantly its pair of green flowing eyes were now a beautiful silvery white so it already looked much better.

This time, he was much quicker. Within half a month, he almost broke 300,000 li!

Throughout his journey, he did not meet anyone else but they met many demonic beasts, none of which dared challenge his Five-Headed Demonic Spider but instead fled for their lives. Qing Shui felt quite pleased when he saw such reactions…

As they headed deeper, Qing Shui could feel a growing sense of pressure. It was a sort of panicky feeling that came from within his soul. Luckily, he had his Nature Energy which he activated to the maximum degree and most importantly he had his Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

300,000 li was actually quite a short distance to Qing Shui but this was the longest time he used to cross this distance after he became powerful. He could actually use his Nine Continents Steps Effect to progress forward by 100,000 li each time but he did not want to miss any mountains so he took half a month to cover that distance.

Suddenly, within his sea of consciousness, Qing Shui heard his Five-Headed Demonic Spider’s immature-sounding voice. It warned him that there was a powerful demonic beast near them.

Qing Shui’s heart dropped. Throughout this half a month, he had met many demonic beasts, many of which could have easily killed him but once they saw his Five-Headed Demonic Spider, they just gave up and escaped with their tails between their legs.

However right now, this was the first time that his Five-Headed Demonic Spider actually warned that there was a powerful demonic beast near them. How powerful must another demonic beast be for his Five-Headed Demonic Spider to acknowledge its power? Qing Shui suddenly felt apprehensive but somehow also a little excited.

His Five-Headed Demonic Spider could basically kill him off in seconds, thus that demonic beast nearby should also be able to do the same. Even though he had his Five-Headed Demonic Spider this was still a very dangerous situation.

Qing Shui hesitated for a moment and asked his Five-Headed Demonic Spider if it had the confidence to defeat that demonic beast but it replied with an ‘I don’t know’…