Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1638 - Hong Ye’s Problem, Yet Another Life-and-death Challenge Letter

“That’s what I really wish I could do. But for now, I find it impossible for me to do it.” Qin Qing shook her head and looked at Tantai Lingyan with a bitter smile.

Tantai Lingyan smiled looking at Qin Qing, “Sister Qing, actually, I am not considered his wife. I haven’t promised him yet. For a long time, we weren’t together. Even now, we still aren’t. If you like him, you wouldn’t want to give him pressure. But at the same time, don’t try to make yourself feel wronged as well.”

It’s really obvious that Tantai Lingyan was saying this as a message to Qin Qing. If Qin Qing liked Qing Shui, she needn’t worry about her. Even prior to this, he had always had other women beside him. No matter what, there was no need to worry about her presence.

“He is a devil. I really don’t get why so many good women can become so foolish just for him.” Qin Qing smiled

“Do you feel that you are no longer as smart as before?” Tantai Lingyan had begun saying some jokes now, but she only did it with people close to her.

Though the time the two spent together wasn’t long, they had become really close with each other. Though Hua Rumei and her might be close like sisters, she was unable to act so relaxed in front of her, like when she was in front of Qin Qing.

“Sister Lingyan, do you like him?” Qin Qing asked out of curiosity.

“I don’t know. He is my only friend who is a male.” Tantai Lingyan smiled and said. From her perspective, being friends was the closest she could get with him. Even Feng Xi was less important compared to Qing Shui. But this was a normal phenomenon.

Qin Qing smiled, “Me too. With so many people around the world, it’s difficult to find someone you like. But not only was it difficult for me, I felt that I have fallen for the wrong person as well.”

“That might not necessarily be the case. If you try to look at it from a different angle, things might turn out perfectly for you.” Tantai Lingyan said with a smile.

This world wasn’t the world that Qing Shui used to be in. It’s perfectly normal for a man to have either one wife or many wives. Everything was logical as long as one lived. To them, love wasn’t everything. But without it, their life would turn out to be imperfect.

“I hope so!”

……

Qing Shui was curious about everything which revolved around the Divine Moon Immortal Sect. Not only had Hong Xi prepared him a small courtyard, she even provided them a Spiritual Place to cultivate.

At the moment, Qing Shui was right at the Spiritual Place. He could clearly feel the Spiritual Qi around him drilling its way into his body. Despite this, the effect here still couldn’t be compared to when he was in the realm. However, one thing that’s good about it was that, unlike the realm which could only be used for six hours each day, the Spiritual Place had no limitation, only the condition that the person had to be able to digest all the Spiritual Energy which he absorbed into his body.

Qing Shui couldn’t really care less about the Spiritual Place. Hence, he only went into the place occasionally. In most cases, he would only enter the place where the two girls were residing in order to provide them guidances.

Unlike QIng Shui, the two girls were like fish that were back in water when they were in the Spiritual Place. Their strengths improved significantly. They possessed incomparable body physiques. It felt just like when rain started drizzling across a desert. In an instant, it would all be absorbed by the land.

The two girls would spend the majority of their time cultivating in the Spiritual Place, leaving Qing Shui free with nothing to do. Usually, he would go and help treat Yin Tian’s diseases and move on to read some history about the Divine Moon Immortal Sect in their library.

Qing Shui never inquired anything about the Divine Moon Immortal Sect. It’s just that something happened after a month. One of the princes from the Divine Moon Immortal Sect planned to flirt with Qin Qing and as a result, was seriously injured by her.

This wasn’t considered a big issue to the internal part of Divine Moon Immortal Sect. However, the person who was injured was a person from Hong Clan. Qing Shui had never heard of someone with the surname Hong in his previous incarnation. From what he remembered, this surname never existed. However, in this world, people often come up with whatever surname they could think of. For instance, Mingyue Gelou’s name. Also, Canghai Mingyue.

The person who was injured was the eldest young master from the Hong Clan, Hong Ye. The Hong Clan was a clan that has been passed down for many years in Divine Moon Immortal Sect. The clan had a concrete foundation. Most importantly, the Hong Clan was precisely the clan which had always wanted to replace Yin Clan.

Naturally, seeing that one of their clan member was seriously injured, the Hong Clan wouldn’t let go of this opportunity. They started sending out news that they wanted the person who injured their clan member to go and apologize to them.

The reason was simple. The first time Hong Ye from Hong Clan saw Qin Qing and Tantai Lingyan, he was shocked and he thought he saw two angels who came down from the sky. Hence, his heart was touched by them. Because Tantai Lingyan was cold like ice, Hong Ye felt that it was even more difficult to approach her. Furthermore, he had also heard news that Tantai Lingyan already had a husband.

The Hong Clan’s strength had caused him to be overconfident. Hence, he went up to Qin Qing and Tantai Lingyan thinking that he was elegant and unconventional and said, “Greetings, young ladies, my name is Hong Ye and I would like to be friends with you guys.”

Tantai Lingyan and Qin Qing were talking to each other. They didn’t even bother to look at Hong Ye. Actually, Hong Ye was quite a handsome man. People from aristocratic clans were usually born with a good look. Added on the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi that’s available, it’s fairly common to see beautiful girls around here. But of course, it’s not easy to find one whose beauty could be matched to both Tantai Lingyan and Qin Qing.

“How shall I address you two mistresses? My name is Hong Ye and I am from the Hong Clan.” Hong Ye went in front and stood in the two girls path.

“Go away!” Qin Qing said softly. She sounded really calm. But the deep look of disdain which she showed Hong Ye instantly made Hong Ye feel like a rabbit that got its butt burnt.

“Are you kidding me? Consider yourself lucky that I took a fancy upon you! To refuse a toast only to be drink a forfeit, this is exactly what you are doing! Since I have already taken a fancy on you, don’t even think about running away! Go back now!” Hong Ye charged towards Qin Qing at the moment he finished speaking. He tried to scratch Qin Qing with an enormous image of a claw.

However, he underestimated the two girls. He immediately was heavily injured by the two girls. Because of this issue, the Hong Clan had already sent out words that they knew that the two girls were taken back by Yin Tian and Feng Xi. Back then, there were also people from Hong Clan who were there to welcome them.

The reason why the Hong Clan dared to send out news to Yin Clan was very likely because they sensed Feng Xi and Yin Tian’s strength when they returned. Forget about Yin Tian. For now, he was considered to be a crippled man. As to Feng Xi, they still had their ways of dealing with her. The person who they found the hardest to deal with, to everyone’s surprise, was Yin Cha and the two hereditary guests from aristocratic clans.

However, these weren’t the main problems. The main problems were Feng Xi and Yin Cha. They released their news this time to test the Yin Clan’s reaction. If Yin Clan really handed over the two girls, they would have no choice but to give up on their plot, but they were sure that the Yin Clan would definitely not do as they pleased.

Qing Shui didn’t really have much response regarding this issue. He would be fine so long as the two girls were alright. If it had been the him from the past, he would have most definitely made his way towards Hong Clan. But now, he wouldn’t bother arguing with the juniors from Hong Clan, the reason being that he could sense the undercurrent that’s fluctuating within it. Hence, this issue was just an excuse. Even if there hadn’t been such an issue, they would still used other matters to try and cause the same problem.

Very soon, Feng Xi had already showed up at the courtyard where Qing Shui and the two girls were in. She didn’t look upset. In fact, she smiled upon seeing Qing Shui, “How do you find this place? Have you gotten used to living here?”

Qing Shui nodded, “This place is a nice place with a really good environment.

“Regarding matters with the Hong Clan, I won’t let Lingyan and Qing`Er suffer.” Feng Xi said gently.

“I know. I have faith in Auntie Feng. Tell me if you need any help. You don’t have to act formally in front of me.” Qing Shui knew that if they was to be in a fight, he would definitely be of use to them. With Yin Tian at his current condition, things would seem really bad for Yin Clan.

However, Qing Shui was aware that the Yin Clan still held quite a high status in Divine Moon Immortal Sect. Otherwise, the Hong Clan wouldn’t have remained silent for so many years. It might be because of Yin Tian, who was once outside. If Yin Tian was to recover, it would be futile even if they got their hands on Divine Moon Immortal Sect.

Now that Yin Tian was back, they must make sure that they eliminated the Yin Clan completely. As the saying went, you must eliminate the roots when you cut the weed. The Hong Clan intended to annihilate the entire Yin Clan, even their next generation. Hence, the Hong Clan felt that they could finally make their move. So long as the Yin Clan was gone, no matter how loyal the two guest custodians could be, they wouldn’t be loyal to such a stupid extent. Everyone had their own weaknesses. The Hong Clan was aware of the weakness of the aristocratic clans which the two guests were in.

The response which Feng Xi gave to Hong Clan was that the people from Hong Clan had offended Qin Qing and Tantai Lingyan. She also hoped that the people responsible would apologize to them.

However, the Hong Clan fought back by saying that the people from their own clan weren’t in the wrong. What’s wrong about knowing new people? Was it necessary to go so far as to inflict such heavy injury upon them? He was already so heavily injured, and yet Feng Xi still expected him to go and apologize to two people who were in perfect health.

The people from the Hong Clan further added on by saying that they were all members of Divine Moon Immortal Sect, and it was unnecessary to lay such deadly hands on one of their members. Though the Hong Clan’s disciple might be wrong, he had only said it after Qin Qing and Tantai Lingyan accused him.

Actually, a lot of people felt that the people from Hong Clan wasn’t being unreasonable sending out the Life-or-Death match. On the contrary, more of them felt that the Hong Clan was in the right position to do it. This was because Qin Qing and Tantai Lingyan weren’t members of Divine Moon Immortal Sect, but dared to act so arrogantly.

Just like this, after being deadlocked for half a day, the Hong Clan immediately sent out a Life-and-Death Challenge letter. Furthermore, it was one of the most dignified kind of life-or-death matches. Since things couldn’t be solved verbally, they decided to go with the simplest and most effective way, having a Life-and-Death challenge.

The Life-and-Death challenge wasn’t just about the final battle between Hong Ye and the two girls. The person declaring the life-or-death match was the Hong Clan. In other words, the people from the Hong Clan would be the ones battling in it. They challenged the girls. Since the girls were the one who bullied the people from Hong Clan, they would need to take responsibility for it.

There were two outcomes for a life-or-death match, as the name implied. Whether the loser survived was up to the winner. The winner had the right to choose whether to let the loser live or not.

Furthermore, it’s the person’s choice whether to accept it or not. But if they chose to reject it, the person who sent out the challenge letter could still choose to battle them forcefully.

This was the cruel part about this world. But one thing that’s worth noting was that a life-and-death challenge letter could only be sent out if two clans held grudges with each other. Alternatively, they could also wait until they confirmed that the grudges which they had with each other couldn’t be solved. Only then would they send out the Life-and-Death Challenge Letter. Otherwise, the letter itself would have become a reason to perpetrate outrages. The Life-and-Death Challenge Letter letter must consist of morality to a certain extent. Otherwise, the person sending it out would receive punishments from the people in the martial art world.

In this world, the so-called law didn’t exist. However, every area would have particular clans or sects in charge of watching over them. With that, they could ensure that everything within the area they were in charge of was functioning in order. If a clan wanted to do things out of hand, they would need to make sure that they were stronger than the particular clan or sect watching over the area. Even with that being the case, sometimes, it could be futile as there would be another force above the particular clan watching over them. It was basically a system of different layers of overseers.

Though the Life-and-Death Challenge Letter was sent out to the two girls, it was now in Feng Xi’s hand. Actually, no matter who received it, it’s the same. The Hong Clan wanted to fight for justice for Hong Ye. Similarly, the Yin Clan wanted the same for Tantai Lingyan. The only thing they were wondering was how they should fight this Life-or-Death match. It’s a must for them to accept the challenge.

Both Yin Tian and Yin Cha were with Feng Xi. They all had heavy looks when they saw the Life-and-Death Challenge Letter. This way, even if the Hong Clan were to separate their guests, if the Life-and-Death Challenge Letter went smoothly,the Yin Clan would be considered finished. The Hong Clan had their methods to eliminate Yin Clan. After all, there were very few the members in Yin Clan.

“Mother, how are we going to fight this match?” Yin Cha felt that this was quite a thorny issue.

Feng Xi looked at the Life-and-Death Challenge and thought for a while, “They may be the one who sent out the challenge letter, but they are letting us decide the way to fight.”

Yin Tian knew about Feng Xi’s plan. It must be something to do with Qing Shui. Even he himself had now put all his hope on Qing Shui. Without Qing Shui, he really didn’t know how he was going to win this match. Even at this very moment, he couldn’t come up with a good overall strategy for the match.

“There are a lot of people from Hong Clan. All along, they have always wanted to replace our Yin Clan. They have waited for this opportunity for a long time.” Yin Cha explained slowly.

Deep down, Yin Cha knew that the return of his parents this time had made the Hong Clan decide to put their all into the fight.