Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1842 - Minor Emperor Pellet

Since they were only small fry, Qing Shui didn’t bother with this matter any longer.

The sky was already dark when Qing Shui returned to the Sacred Mountain with Sheng Jun. And though it was miniscule, there was still a difference between day and night in this underwater world.

“Have a good rest!” Sheng Jun bid her farewells before leaving.

Qing Shui saw her off before returning to his courtyard. She seemed to have changed and Qing Shui could feel the concern in her last sentence. It was obvious, but he didn’t think much of it before. Even though he could feel her concern now, he thought he was mistaken.

Qing Shui shook his head, he was here for the Vampiric Empress. It was time to discard these thoughts since there were too many women in this world. It was impossible to have them all...

As his thoughts cleared, he was relieved and entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Though cultivation was monotonous, his strength was steadily increasing, on the other hand, his progress in alchemy had returned to a tortoise-like crawl. The Reborn pellet had already been unlocked, but he had no way of refining it.

He didn’t even care to look at what would come next after the Reborn Pellet was unlocked, but it was the Minor Emperor Pellet!

There was no description, except for the name and a ridiculous amount of experience required, but Qing Shui knew that this Minor Emperor Pellet was likely better than the Reborn Pellet, given that it was unlocked after the Reborn Pellet. He was curious as to what kind of effects it had and if there was a Major Emperor Pellet.

He gave up thinking about it, the ingredients for the Reborn Pellet could only be found slowly and what was critical to Qing Shui was his cultivation. His foundations were exceptionally solid, he always took it step by step and adding on his fortuitous encounters and various treasures, he felt like the heavens had treated him well.

Nine Yang Body, Nine Yang Dragon Soul, Divine legacies, and a few Paragon arts, and even the Demonic Beast treasures…..

This was how he gradually broke free from the destiny of being unable to cultivate, finding his sister and father, making his mother’s dreams come true. This was Qing Shui’s pride.

Of course, there was also all the women and children in his life. Every one of them had become an integral part of his complete life, even losing a single part would make him feel like dying.

……

The next day, Qing Shui left the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and it was already bright outside. He had grown accustomed to life under the sea and did not feel stifled, perhaps he owed to his Paragon Water Flight.

After walking out of his courtyard, he sensed a fluctuation, someone was cultivating. Qing Shui didn’t even have to look to guess that it was Sheng Jun. He had woken up to practice and exercise. He knew that Sheng Jun wasn’t practicing some supreme art, just absorbing some natural qi to consolidate her foundations.

Moving to the backyard, Qing Shui saw Sheng Jun practicing a sword dance, as elegant as an immortal, with a light and spirited sword movement. The sword was the head of a hundred soldiers, it was used by gentlemen. It didn’t have the overbearingness of a saber or spear and didn’t have the viciousness of a dagger, but it had a natural air of righteousness about it.

Qing Shui was immediately shocked, this sword art was similar to the Empty Brilliance Sword art he knew. The Empty Brilliance Sword Art was derived from the Empty Brilliance Fist, which was the softest fist arts in the world.

Perhaps she trained in the Empty Brilliance Fist, but they definitely didn’t share the same name, it would be too much of a coincidence otherwise.

“If soldiers and trees are too brash and brittle, they will get exterminated and broken apart. Hardness is weaker than softness. There is nothing softer in this world than water, but strong and powerful experts would still find it difficult to win against it. Using weakness to trump strength, using softness to counter hardness.”

The Empty Brilliance Fist was similar to the Taichi Fist, they both walked upon the path of softness.

There were countless diverging paths in martial arts that lead to one result. Qing Shui was not estranged from this. Sheng Jun quickly noticed Qing Shui, nodded her head in greeting and continued her training.

Qing Shui hadn’t seen a sword dance in a long while and having such a beauty perform it was soothing to the eyes, so he decided to stay at the side and watch. It was not a common sight to see and beauty attracted people easily.

“Was it nice to watch?” After a while, Sheng Jun completed her sword dance, as she had begun long before Qing Shui arrived.

“En, it’s passable.” Qing Shui smiled.

“What do you mean passable, could there be anyone with a sword dance even more beautiful than mine?” Sheng Jun smiled.

Qing Shui smiled, wanting to say that though it was indeed hard to find people better than her, there were a few who were at her level. Witnessing the sword dance, Qing Shui suddenly thought of an old acquaintance.

The girl called Sword Dance, at the Gongsun Clan.

He could only smile bitterly, it had been many years. Some people were destined to only be passing travellers, without leaving too many marks.

“You do have quite a bit of confidence.” Qing Shui smiled at this unparalleled woman.

“The woman who was with you last time was very beautiful.” Sheng Jun smiled.

This change of topic came out of nowhere. Qing Shui felt like this was too surreal.

“You are also very beautiful.” Qing Shui praised.

“Compared to her?”

Qing Shui knew she was asking about Muyun Qingge and was shocked, “Is this a woman’s natural instincts? Why do you like to compare so much?”

“You can’t answer me, can you?!”

“This is actually easy to answer, my woman is the most beautiful. I have faith in my own eyesight, or else why would I pick her.”

“Men only like women for their appearance.” Sheng Jun sighed, seemingly very disappointed.

“All people share the love for beauty. Your need to compare with others actually shows that you also love appearances, unless you’d rather be ugly.” Qing Shui smiled, pulling the question away from context.

Sheng Jun shook her head, “Let’s not talk about this, you were looking at my sword stances, were there any mistakes?”

“No, but once you see my dance, you’ll be able to see why.” Qing Shui stretched out his hand.

Sheng Jun handed him her Three Feet Steel Edge.

Qing Shui practiced the Taichi Sword art, but it was slightly different from his previous life. His speed was neither blindingly fast nor overwhelmingly slow, but emphasized on the softness. With both hardness and softness, carrying an indescribable elegance, yet containing a monstrous power.

This was a strange feeling and was a visually appealing image, but it was the use of the sword that was the most shocking.

Sheng Jun could see clearly, her eyes were sparkling. The sword art Qing Shui practiced was not better than hers, but he was at a higher level of insight. He had trained in the sword for ten years, although he was rusty and had used the Golden Battle Halberd most of the time, Qing Shui’s insights into the sword were hard to match.

After a while, Qing Shui stopped with an easygoing expression on his face. His body tinged with elegance, while he looked at Sheng Jun, “How was it?”

“Great!” Sheng Jun replied honestly.

Qing Shui returned the sword to her.

Sheng Jun directly asked, “Could you tell me how you use your strength so precisely?”

Sheng Jun knew that since he was showing her, he wouldn’t be miserly and maybe even had thoughts of teaching it to her.