Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 1987 - The genius of the Lang Clan who suffered a lot of hardships

On the third day, just as the treatments ended, a group of people came. There were about sixty of them and they were dressed in luxurious clothes. The person taking the lead was a man with a youthful look. He was standing on a spot not so far away while looking at Qing Shui.

“So, that brat was the one who wounded our “genius” Clan Head. And he even ended up giving this entire manor to him!” The young man had a mischievous smile hanging on his face.

Qing Shui lifted up his head to take a look at what’s happening. He could already hear them even if he didn’t intentionally mean to do so. By now, he could basically confirm that they were from the Lang Clan. He just didn’t know the purpose of their visit today. Nevertheless, he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be anything good. From the things which these people were saying, Qing Shui was also able to figure out that they didn’t really share a good relationship with the Clan Head Lang.

As Qing Shui moved his sight onto the group of people, he realized that the young man was looking right back at him. The man had very large pupils, which caused him to look very strange. As he was looking at Qing Shui, he revealed a smile on his face.

As soon as these people arrived, a lot of patients left. Some of them among the group even kicked out the patients without a single hesitation. Seeing that, Qing Shui had no intention to stop them. He wouldn’t mind taking care of these ignorant people a bit later.

“Dear physician! I would like you to help me diagnose my illness as well!” The youthful man sat down in front of Qing Shui.

“Alright, it seems that you are very ill indeed.” Qing Shui said in a casual tone.

“Well then, help me diagnose it!” The young man put his hand down on the table right in front of Qing Shui, but from time to time, he would look at Qing Ci. Occasionally, the expressions which Qing Shui despised could be seen flashing through the young man’s eyes.

“The free treatment has ended!” Qing Shui shook his head and said.

“Doesn’t matter. I am rich. In any case, I am sure I have enough money to get my illness diagnosed.” The youthful man said. He didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Actually, it doesn’t only require money to get treated here.” Qing Shui shook his head and looked at the young man with a serious expression.

“Don’t you treat illnesses with the sole purpose of earning some cash?” The young man became confused.

“Who made up such rules that treating illnesses is for earning money? I don’t lack money. Please leave. I have no intention to treat you.” Qing Shui waved his hand.

“Since you have already started running your business, there should be no reason for you to push your customers away from your store. Could it be that you are looking down on me, the young master from the Lang Clan?” The young man had an unsightly look on his face. He was hurt by the fact that Qing Shui didn’t give him any face and embarrassed him in public.

“Hahaha, Young Master Lang? Is that something which can be eaten? Give me a reason why I shall think highly of you.” Qing Shui smiled. Everytime Qing Shui ran into people like this, he would feel like slapping them in their faces. People like this tended to often act all high-and-mighty just because they had good backgrounds. There was truly no other way to describe them, other than the word brainless.

He still dared act this way even after his clan head just got beaten up. Could it be that this person was actually more powerful than the clan head himself?

“Alright, I will praise you for your guts since you dared to blackmail the clan’s head for the house of the Lang Clan in a huge city. Now, I am going to give you a chance for you to hand over the house back to me and get the heck out of this place immediately!” The young man looked at Qing Shui and sounded like he was giving him orders.

Meanwhile, Qing Shui was very entertained by him. In any case, Qing Shui’s mood tended to brighten up by meeting stupid people like this. He couldn’t help but wonder if without the Lang Clan’s protection, would this brat immediately end up being beaten up to death by other people?

Nevertheless, Qing Shui also knew that the people who came today were no ordinary people. Even this good-for-nothing spoiled brat would also be an expert at the very least. Somehow, he seemed to be more outstanding than Clan Head Lang. Hence, Qing Shui could tell straight away that this brat must have wanted to acquire the position of the clan’s head from the Clan Head Lang. Him being a good-for-nothing brat was all just an act for him to achieve his goal.

Qing Shui was truly upset about what happened right now. If the brat was really craving for the position of clan’s head within the Lang Clan, he could have just confronted Clan Head Lang himself. Why did he have to do more than what was required and look for Qing Shui instead? Could it be that he wanted to show his strength to the people of Lang Clan by acquiring back the house, which Clan Head Lang had just lost? It was people like this, who never hesitated to put other people at risk just for their own benefits. They were the one whom Qing Shui despised the most. The current Clan Head Lang was exactly this kind of person. Could this be some sort of heritage passed down within the Lang Clan?

“Hey you, do you think that it will be very exciting if you act like a spoiled brat first before suddenly turning into a genius? Do you find a lot of pleasure in these sudden changes? Has anyone ever told you that you would die a meaningless death if you were to perish today? That way, you wouldn’t have been able to prove to other people that you are a genius. Or perhaps, if I cripple your cultivations today, will you also find a lot of pleasure in it?” Qing Shui stood there and said in a calm tone.

Young Master Lang trembled. No one ever knew about his true strength. This included even his own clan members, as his martial techniques enabled him to completely hide his strength. Nevertheless, he didn’t know that Qing Shui had his Heavenly Vision Technique. As a matter of fact, Qing Shui had only noticed it by accident. Initially, he also thought that this man was just a good-for-nothing spoiled brat. In fact, his reputation as a spoiled brat had spread far away across the city. Only he himself knew that he wasn’t spoiled. All along, he had dreamt of a day when he could finally hold the Lang Clan within his grasps.

This time, he saw a glimmer of hope when Clan Head Lang was defeated. If he could use this incident well, for example, reacquiring the manor which the Lang Clan lost, it would make Clan Head Lang so ashamed that he wouldn’t be able to show his face around. By then, he would also no longer have the face to continue sitting on his current position. Even if he insisted on remaining as the clan’s head, by then, he would also have a lot of ways to kick him off from the position.

But now, he realized that things might not be as simple as he thought. This person who was capable of defeating the clan’s head seemed to be very mysterious. To think that he would be able to tell that he had decent cultivation with just one look…… He didn’t know what ability his opponent had, that he could see through it. For a moment, he became hesitant. He feared that the things which Qing Shui mentioned before would become reality. That way, it would be like a person who suddenly received an exceptional battle technique and became the strongest warrior, but then died all of a sudden in the next moment. Until the end, no one could yet witness him as a formidable warrior, nor would his name be remembered across the whole world.

At the moment when Qing Shui saw his look, he could already tell that it was all he could get in his entire life. The more he got, the more he would lose. He was so worried about his personal gains and losses, to the point he lost his heart as a warrior. Without the heart of a warrior, it would be very hard for him to continue breaking through in his entire life.

“You have already lost your heart as a warrior. In your entire lifetime, knowing contentment might lead to a happy end for you. It’s not that bad a thing to be a powerful rich person. If you continue to hop around the area like how you are now, the likely outcome which awaits you would be that of a grasshopper at the end of autumn. You won’t be able to jump around for long. For the time being, I don’t feel like killing anyone. If it had been in the past, you would have been long dead.”

As of now, the face of Young Master Lang was no different from dead ashes. He knew that Qing Shui was right. If this was truly the case, he would have been doomed for his entire lifetime. It was no wonder that his progress had halted for the past three years. It was perfectly normal for him to progress slowly at the level he was now. However, it was abnormal that he hadn’t even made the slightest progress in his cultivations. Breaking through would be like walking a thousand steps. Even if he didn’t make any progress in those three years, it would still be fine as long as he advanced by eighty to a hundred steps. In any case, this could still be considered as an improvement. But since he was not taking even one step forward, this was an abnormal situation. It was just as Qing Shui said, he could no longer go any further in his cultivations. Unless he had a stroke of luck, there was basically no more chance for him to advance forward.

Unless there was still one more hope, which was to defeat the person in front of him.

This was the most convenient method and also one with the most hope. If he truly managed to defeat Qing Shui, it would overthrow all the things which he said before. That way, he might be able to slowly rediscover his heart as a warrior and relight his warrior’s spirit.

In an instant, a fierce battle intent emerged from his body as he looked at Qing Shui, “I would like to challenge you!”

For many people, they would start to fall apart once they lost again and again to the same person. This state of mind would constantly bind them and ever since then, it would be very difficult for them to see any more improvements in their strength. If one ever hoped to break through this situation, the only way to do it, would be to defeat the opponent whom they were losing to. However, this would also be very hard to do, as their victory must be just and honorable. Since it was a match against a stronger opponent, it wouldn’t be such an easy task, to win without any tricks. Added on that their strength was already at a stagnant point, under normal circumstances, it would be very tough for them to rediscover their heart as a warrior.

“A life-and-death match. No one rests until one of us is dead. Do you dare accept this challenge?” Qing Shui smiled and asked. As he was speaking, a formidable aura and confidence emerged from his body.

Young Master Lang once again trembled. He immediately lost more than half of his furious battle intent from before. Suddenly, he also came to the realization that he had lost his chance. All of a sudden, it felt like everything around him turned grey. As his strength increased, his mindset had also been influenced by it. Actually, the things which the fake spoiled brat did, was no different from that of an actual one. However, he had already lost himself from the pleasure he felt as a spoiled child. Slowly, he began to worry that he might lose everything.

Heroes stood in solitude and he couldn’t bear feeling lonely. He had long lost his heart as an expert. In other words, he lost his heart of a warrior to continuously strive for greater height.