Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1243 – Yang Force, Heaven Secrets Courtyard, Palace Lord, Discussion

The Eldest Princess looked at Qing Shui’s serious expression and smiled: “Thank you for your kindness. Even if I do have these kinds of thoughts, I’d only be able to achieve them after many years. There will be a lot of changes as time goes on. Why don’t we just go with the flow?”

Qing Shui didn’t say anything more. He smiled: “I’ll listen to you then, but I will still try my best to help you improve your strength. I know a few medicinal pills as well as acupuncture, which might be of help to you. By then, you might be strong enough to do it. It’s just a matter of whether you want to or not.”

“Alright, this time, you can been considered an enemy of the Saint Child. The brothers in the Fu Clan will definitely think of ways to deal with you. You guys may have seemed to reconcile today, but more things are definitely bound to happen. Hence, you must be careful.” In the Heaven Secrets Academy, the Eldest Princess still knew about the Fu Clan’s personality. Even if Fu Yantian and his brother didn’t do anything themselves, the people behind them would still take action.

The Fu Clan was also a famous clan within the Heaven Secrets Academy. There would be people from Fu Clan in the Elder and Custodian Associations, and past members had been Supreme Elder. Not only that, but Fu Yantian also had hope of becoming the leader of Heaven Secrets Academy in the future. By then, the entire Fu Clan would become even more glorious. Hence, if an enemy were to appear out of nowhere, they would definitely try to kill him by all means.

Actually, the Fu Clan wasn’t the only one who harboured this kind of thoughts. Other forces shared similar ambitions. The Heaven Secrets Academy was a big fat piece of meat that anyone would want to get their hands on. The Eldest Princess was only trying to reveal some of the situation to Qing Shui.

“It will be alright. It’s best if they don’t provoke me. If they do, I will teach them very quickly that doing so comes with a disastrous cost.” This time, it could already be considered that Qing Shui had given face to Headmaster Cao by not cutting off Fu Yanting’s hands. Perhaps, this was face he had needed to give.

Even though he let Fu Yanting off today, there was the chance that he would do it again. There wasn’t really an allotted time to the reconciliation between Qing Shui and Fu Yantian that the old man in purple lion gown had brought. Things were considered to have been solved back then, as long as both parties had come to an agreement at that time. Besides, the old man was aware that the two shared rivalries with each other. Hence, it was impossible for the two to live peacefully together.

A sect’s lords and head, particularly that of a huge sect, would need to go through the baptism of blood. They would need to go through ruthless battles and massacre in order to climb up to a high position. Getting a high position wasn’t impossible to achieve with peace, but one need to make everyone obey, or at least have a majority of people feel fear.

The first thing to do in order to accomplish this was to become much more powerful than all others, to the point that they wouldn’t even have the courage to fight. However, this was easier said than done. There were multiple geniuses in this world. Besides, warriors would also not be able to raise their strength without going through battles and massacres.

Hence, almost all sects in the continents would send their disciples out to gain experience through fighting against demonic beasts or other human warriors. This was really crucial. The sect would even motivate their disciples to battle among themselves, as long as there was no killing.

“I believe that very soon, you will be strong enough to do so. Since you don’t fancy the Breezing Wind Veranda, I will stop forcing you to do it.” The Eldest Princess smiled as she put down the silver fork in her hand.

Actually, prior to this, Qing Shui had been observing her eating for quite some time. She looked very elegant while drinking her soup and eating her food. Furthermore, her movements also looked really natural. Qing Shui really enjoyed this feeling. Halfway through the meal, the Eldest Princess would also lift up her head and look at Qing Shui a few times. However, Qing Shui continued to maintain his natural expression. Within his clear eyes, there were no traces of evil intentions. He only seemed to be stunned by her beauty. Or maybe he did have some dirty though, just that he managed to hide them well.

After all, her pink cherry lips, and that alluring lip line with the pink and fragrant tongue that could be seen from time to time could still cause Qing Shui to imagine some inappropriate scenes. Nonetheless, he didn’t leak out any of those thoughts through his expression.

……

It was only past noon. Both Qing Shui and Qing Sha had just arrived in their own courtyard. Upon arrival, they noticed that there was an old man already standing there. It was none other than the old man in purple colored lion gown,. Prior to this, Qing Shui has already heard from the Eldest Princess that the higher-ups from Heaven Secrets Academy would come to look for himself. But he never expected for it to be so soon. On top of that, it was even an old man.

“I came without any invitation. I hope this doesn’t bother you.” The old man revealed a happy smile upon seeing Qing Shui.

“I’m always free. If senior wants to see me, you could have sent someone here to tell me about it.” Qing Shui answered with a smile. He knew that this old man was very powerful. Even though he was unclear about exactly how strong the old man was, he was definitely someone to be reckoned with in the Heaven Secret Academy.

“Why don’t you come to the Heaven Secrets Courtyard with me? There’s something which our lord would like to talk to you about.” The old man in the purple lion gown went straight to the point.

“Alright, little brat, go back into the house first. I will be back soon.”

“Alright!” Qing Sha nodded and immediately went back to the courtyard.

“The little girl has a very heavy pernicious aura.” After Qing Sha left, the old man said softly.

“Yeah, it’s a lot better now. At least now, she is able to maintain her own composure.”

“Yes, she has yet to join the Heaven Secrets Academy, I suppose? I wonder if you intend for her to do so?”

Qing Shui knew that the Heaven Secrets Academy had most likely investigated him regarding some of his background. Hence, he wasn’t really that surprised by it. He pondered over it for a while before answering: “I’m not sure myself. I will ask her about her thoughts later and see if she wants to join. She has a very strange personality.”

The two talked with each other while flying towards the Heaven Secret Courtyard, on an enormous crane which belonged to the old man.

The location of the Heaven Secrets Courtyard was not visible. It was located at a high spot on the periphery of Heaven Secrets Academy. All around, the place was contained within the Nine Palace Fog Formation. It may seem like there was nothing there looking in from the outside, but everything from the outside could clearly be seen from the inside.

“Qing Shui, you aren’t from the four continents, are you?”

“I’m from the other five continents.” This wasn’t really a secret. Qing Shui was also convinced that they already knew about this.

“Five continents. It is said that in the past, the nine continents used to be really balanced and closely connected to each other. Who would have thought for them now to be separated by mountains and oceans?” The old man looked around and said emotionally shaking his head.

“Senior, I wonder if there are any other methods of going back and forth between the five and four continents, other than a few of the Ancient Great Formations?” Qing Shui had always kept this question in his mind. He still wanted to reunite with his family. As it stood, it would take him around ten years just to meet them once.

“It’s said that they have, for example, warriors who’ve reached the False God stage, as well as some legendary Distance Shrinking Rulers. Other than that, there’s said to be other methods in the Soaring Dragon Continent, Dancing Phoenix Continent and Haohan Continent that we don’t know about.” The old man looked at Qing Shui. Qing Shui was from the other five continents, so it wasn’t really weird for him to ask this question.

“Oh yeah, senior, are there any sects or dynasties at the fifth grade across the other three continents?” Upon hearing these ideas, Qing Shui knew that for now, he could do nothing but only listen to them. He could still ask about their grades.

“Yes, of course there is. Even though the Western Oxhe Continent is one of the four continents, the gap in strength with the other three is way too large, even larger compared to the gap in strength between the Western Oxhe Continent and the other five continents.” The old man let out a sigh. The feeling he felt was something which couldn’t be expressed in words.

Even though Qing Shui reckoned that the other three continents should be really powerful. He could even feel it just by listening to their names. Of course, this wasn’t absolute. However, upon receiving an accurate answer, he didn’t know if he should feel excited or gloomy. The other three continents were bound to have the existence of False Gods. Could False Gods be the most formidable existences ever to exist?

“Senior, how strong is a peak fifth grade State master?” Qing Shui took the opportunity to ask this question.

“This isn’t that accurate a guess. It should be around 20 million nimbus, also known as 2 thousand sun.”

“Oh, so ten thousand nimbus is equivalent to one sun. The beginner fifth grade State Masters have strength around two hundred sun whereas those at the peak possess two thousand sun of strength. The gap between the strength of the same grade is indeed getting wider and wider.” Qing Shui said with a smile.

“The further you progress, the wider the gap. Actually, by the time one reaches this level, they only present themselves based on the grade of State Master he’s at. Even this is just a vague concept. It is all based on the strength which you sensed from your opponent. This is because these were all set many years ago, and it has already changed a lot in many places.”

While talking, they had already arrived at the Heaven Secrets Courtyard. After passing through the Nine Palace Fog Formation, Qing Shui realized that he could pass through it as much as he liked with his Nine Palace Step.

“Do you find this formation really easy?” A gentle yet dignified voice came through.

Qing Shui lifted up his head and saw an old man in a gold dragon gown standing on a spot not so far away from him. It was as if the old man appeared out of nowhere. However, even the current Qing Shui was unable to sense any aura from the old man’s body.

The old man looked elegant and dignified. He possessed an aura which resembled that of a king. He was the headmaster and head of Heaven Secrets Academy. He might not be the strongest warrior, but he was the person in control of Heaven Secrets Academy. The warriors more powerful than him would normally not show too much concern towards the Heaven Secrets Academy unless it was about very important matters.

“That’s not it… It’s just that I find it a bit familiar.” Qing Shui said hurriedly.

“Here, have a seat. It has been a long time since I last talked to a young man. How many years has it been? I have never been this curious about a young man.” The old man asked both Qing Shui and the old man in purple lion gown to sit down.

“I’m the headmaster of Heaven Secrets Academy, but I hope that you won’t overthink this. I don’t harbor any bad intentions towards you. It’s just that seeing a prodigy like yourself appearing here, we were hoping that you could use our name, the Heaven Secrets Academy.”

“Senior, I don’t really get what you mean?” Qing Shui had a lot of secrets even his own close relatives didn’t know about, let alone outsiders. He also didn’t plan to share them with others. If he was careless with it, he might endanger himself, with the risk of being killed.

“It means that wherever you go in the future, we hope that you will go as a representative of Heaven Secrets Academy. In the future, if it’s fine with you, we hope that you can help raise the level of our Heaven Secrets Academy.” The old man looked at Qing Shui and said seriously.

“I am not that capable. There are way too many people more powerful than me in Heaven Secrets Academy. Even some of the youngsters are more powerful than me.” Qing Shui revealed a bitter smile and shook his head.

“Haha, you are still acting dumb in front of us. We know that you have secrets, but we also won’t ask you about them. Deep down, you actually don’t see that highly of the Heaven Secrets Academy. But you also have an ambition deep in your heart. For example, one day, you will overtake the Heaven Secrets Academy.” The old man said very confidently.

Now, Qing Shui knew that these experienced old men were much more powerful than those psychiatrists from his previous incarnation. He said helplessly: “I don’t dare to think so.”

“Alright, we won’t force you to do it, nor will we be so stubborn towards this matter. Everyone in Heaven Secrets Academy is really free. Even if an agreement doesn’t end well, we won’t really mind it. All we hope is for you to help the Heaven Secrets Academy within your own capability. This is also for the future development of Heaven Secrets Academy. Of course, we won’t let you suffer unnecessarily. For example, you can suggest any conditions you want. As long as it’s something we can do, we will help you out with it.” The old man sounded really relaxed. He was unusually friendly when he spoke.

“I promise, also, I will stay as a disciple of Heaven Secret Academy, as a member of Breezing Wind Veranda.” Qing Shui felt that he was not in an appropriate position to negotiate, nor did he find it necessary to do so. He felt that very soon, the Heaven Secrets Academy would know that he had the assets to do so. It would have been enough if he mentioned that he was a member of Breezing Wind Veranda. The old man was a very experienced man, he would know Qing Shui’s thoughts even if he didn’t mention it.

“It’s good to be young. Little brat, you’re a genuine person. Don’t worry, we will give the Breezing Wind Veranda our biggest support. If the situation allows it, in the future, you might even have a very good chance of taking over Heaven Secrets Academy.” The old man revealed a happy smile.

“Well then, thank you.” Qing Shui knew that the old man was only making empty promises right now. If Qing Shui were to make these into reality, he would still need to rely on himself. However, he wasn’t really worried about this.