Ancient Strengthening Technique (Portraits of Beauty)

Chapter 372

AST 364 - Body Strengthening Tiger Bone Soup, Cleansing Plum Blossom Wine

The second day, Qing Shui continued to instruct the other members from the Qing Clan at the Qing Clan’s trading company fist fighting and Tiger Form. As for Mingyue Gelou, he already taught her the Bear Form and Crane Form.

Qing Shui did not wish to control her training as his own technique was just a reference for her to practice. How she should train would depend on her, just like how she trained for her Tiger Form. However, Qing Shui was a huge help to her when he bought the folding screen from the southern furniture city, as well as telling her about his realization on the inscription stone at the mountain behind the Heavenly Palace. These things were hard to come by for precious daughters like her. Qing Shui had only described images to her. He also took down the Ferocious Tiger Departing the Mountains portrait for her so that she could see it. Together with the portrait and his description of the images, he was able to let her feel as though she was there at the scene.

Everyone in Qing Clan improved a lot under the effects of the spirit concentrating pills in this half a year. This was all planned by Qing Shui for them to train relentlessly, develop their bodies and undergo impurity cleansing in a span of half a year. Besides the normal training routine, Qing Shui had also prepared another special thing for them.

Body Strengthening Tiger Bone Soup!

The soup was concocted from thousand year Tiger Bone powder with the addition of various condiments and various thousand year herbs. He noticed that his culinary arts was able to make a lot of medicinal soups when he reached the 5th Layer of Ancient Strengthening Technique.

Just like this Body Strengthening Tiger Bone Soup, which is suitable for consumption for Xiantian martial warriors and below, the effects of the soup strengthen one’s body and bones, as implied by its name.

There is a huge difference in the effects between medicinal soup and medicinal pills. However, the most notable difference is that there is no resistance to the pill effects even after consuming the medicinal soup. Moreover, medicinal soups can be consumed for a long period of time. Training speed will be greatly boosted as well.

Qing Jiang and Qing He could not break into Xiantian during this six months, but with the aid from Qing Shui’s acupuncture and Qing He’s Tiger Form training, he was able to feel like they were just in front of the gate to Xiantian by just a foot.

The third generation of the Qing Clan showed great improvement, especially Qing Zi and Qing You. These two had become strong, but it was not clear whether their improvements had something to do with the Body Strengthening Tiger Bone Soup, since it felt like the soup had an affinity for the two brothers.

A person will be able to improve with amazing speed under the effects of both the Spirit Concentrating Pills and Body Strengthening Tiger Bone Soup. Qing You was the second person to break through Martial Commander not long ago, with the first being Qing Bei, the youngest and the only girl in the Qing Clan.

“Brother Qing Shui, did you give special treatment to Little Bei? Why is she improving so fast?” Qing You grumbled at Qing Shui.

“Hehe, I was gone for three years, who do you think was the one being nice to your Mingyue sister-in-law!”

Qing You was silenced by Qing Bei’s chuckling. He had to shut his mouth because the speed of Mingyue Gelou’s improvement was unbelievably fast. However, the Qing Clan had Qing Shui to protect them, but Mingyue Gelou stole the spotlight as she was able to defeat an army of opponents easily.

Mingyue Gelou was an exception, since she was considered a rare genius who appeared once in a millenia, but he was then outranked by a younger Qing Bei, which made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. Moreover, he felt extremely dissatisfied.

However, every time he had a breakthrough, it would always be a step later than Qing Bei. That little brat would become extremely smug because of that and kept showing off to Qing You!

The one that worried Qing Shui most was still his mother Qing Yi. Qing Shui was confident that he would be able to refine a Xiantian Gold Pellet, once he managed to obtain a Demonic Beast’s Core, but how could the matter be so simple when no one could tell when such a rare ingredient would appear.

Qing Shui sighed. He decided to settle unfinished business with Yan Clan before he could prepare to refine the Xiantian Golden Pellet.

Xinan Country Medicine King Clan!

“Elder Xing, junior martial brother, senior martial brother Li, senior martial brother Yan, and senior marital brother Fang had all died, even senior martial brother Qian has been crippled!”

A tender young man knelt in front of a big and burly well-dressed old man and cried.

“What?”

A powerful old man who was just sitting on an armchair suddenly stood up. He gave the kneeling young man a sharp glare.

“Those who were going towards Hundred Miles City besides martial brother Qian who was crippled, they are all dead. They have been killed!” The tender young man trembled as he spoke.

“Who did this, in the whole Cang Lang Country of the Greencloud Continent, and in a small Hundred Miles City, who dares to kill my Medicine King Clan’s men, who, tell me who did it?”

Elder Xing had a face full of white beard and a head full of white hair. The rim of his eyes were full of redness as well. He had a lot of disciples even until this age, but there was no one on Earth who could master his “Crippled Yang Sword” to the highest realm. 

This was because they didn’t possess the “Crippled Yang Bone” const.i.tution, but he never knew that after long years of searching, Situ Shang was the one with the “Crippled Yang Bone” const.i.tution. He was the one he had been looking for all this time.  

Although his martial prowess was currently extremely weak to the extent that it was embarra.s.sing, Elder Xing knew that Medicine King Clan would not be afraid to take him in. By using some special medicinal pills and remedies, the Elder believed that in a short amount of time, Situ Shang will be able to master the basics. The Elder was also confident that he would be able to master “Cripple Yang Sword Technique” to the highest realm.

So he did not hesitate when he accepted Situ Shang as his Last Core Disciple. And the thing that made Elder Xing happy was the fact that Situ Shang’s t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were busted by someone else, so when he knew about it, he laughed out loud uproariously. The Heavens were helping him.

This was also because those with Cripple Yang Bone const.i.tution were the best candidate to master the Crippled Yang Sword Technique. If one was able to castrate himself before he reached Xiantian during his training period, it would yield a better results and show faster improvements.

But no one dared to take the risk since that is the lifeforce of every men. It was more important than life itself. Also, the Living Dead Human Flesh White Bone herbs were still very scarce in the world of nine continents. It would be too difficult to depend on one’s own power to achieve limb regeneration because only Martial Emperor, which was a cultivation higher than Martial Saint, would be able to do so.  

It had been a long time since the Martial Emperor existed in the world of nine continents. Except for the other eight continents, there wasn’t even a Martial Saint in the Greencloud Continent. However, no one had ever heard of a Martial Emperor, not even a Peak Martial Saint. 

The Elder saw Situ Shang as an opportunity granted by the G.o.ds. He was the ideal candidate for the elder to pa.s.s on his mantle, as well as the ideal disciple to carry the whole Medicine King Clan on his shoulders.

Before he allowed him to enter Xiantian, he prepared a “Yang Revitalizing Pellet” just for him! Everything had already been prepared, the final step was to just wait for Situ Shang to break through to Xiantian.

But now he had been slain and died inside the Hundred Miles City that had no Xiantian existence. What’s more unacceptable was that he died alongside a Peak Xiantian martial warrior and an 8th Grade Xiantian……….

Was fate mocking him?

“Senior martial brother Li, senior martial brother Yan and junior martial brother were all slain by a young guy named Qing Shui from the Qing Clan. Senior martial brother Fang, however, was similarly slain by a young man in the Abundant Heaven City. After a thorough investigation by senior martial brother Qian, they were all slain by the same man.” The tender young man s.h.i.+vered intensely, but he was able to continue.

“Elder Xing, that Qing Shui guy also said something. I don’t know if I should say it.” The young man paused for a while before he said that. He bowed while s.h.i.+vering as he said those words.

“Say it. You know the consequence of keeping things from me.” Elder Xing was ghastly pale, his tone sounded impatient.

“That Qing Shui guy said, if we don’t restrain ourselves, then there is no need for Medicine King Clan to exist anymore!”

After that, the young man was dead silent as he s.h.i.+vered with great intensity!

“Step down!” Finally, Elder Xing said in a lowly voice!

The young man immediately retreated as if he had been pardoned from a great crime!

“Hundred Miles City, Qing Clan, Qing Shui. Martial warriors with at least Martial King Grade will be able to kill off my Peak Xiantian disciples. Qing Clan’s secrets are indeed deep. He is definitely not an idiot to possess such cultivation and be able to say those words. Then there is only one conclusion, if the Qing Clan is not as strong as they seemed to be, then they must have a stronger support behind them.” Elder Xing thought silently. 

Elder Xing was short-tempered, but not stupid. He could precisely sense the potential danger within. This time, he was able to sense the severity of the problem, but he didn’t understand why. Xinan Country was already the strongest and largest country in the Greencloud Continent, and Medicine King Clan was Xinan Country’s strongest and largest clan. Could it be that the pa.s.sing generation of the old clans or sects in Greencloud Continent cities were Qing Clan’s pillar of support?

………...

“Second uncle, are you prepared?”

In a private room inside the Qing Clan, Qing Shui asked Qing He.

“Yes, I’m ready. It doesn’t matter if I do not succeed. I had never thought that I could break through to Xiantian even though I have been training really hard for it.” Although Qing He said he was prepared, his tone sounded excited and nervous.

“Don’t be nervous, second uncle. Relax your mind, just drink a cup of wine first!”

Qing Shui took out the Plum Blossom wine he had prepared earlier and poured it out for Qing He!

In an instant, the subtle plum fragrance and a bizarre refres.h.i.+ng scent that smelled like musk and sandalwood filled the air. The smell enabled a person to feel relaxed and carefree, as well as soothed the muscles and bones.

The Plum Blossom wine was clear and transparent, but slightly thicker than water. It was the most pure white plum color. Although the wine did not have magnificent colors, it had the the purest clarity.

Qing He stared at this cup of plum blossom wine. He felt an extraordinary sensation from the wine!

“Second uncle, quickly drink the wine, it should help with your breakthrough to Xiantian!”

Qing He quickly drink the wine when he heard Qing Shui’s words!

“Second uncle, perform the Blue Lotus Art, as well as the Tiger Form I have taught you. Just keep performing it and try not to think of anything else. Remember, think of nothing else!”

Normally to surpa.s.s Xiantian, it would require to achieve enlightenment at least once to cleanse the body. Qing Shui wanted to use the Plum Blossom wine to cleanse the bones as to regulate his spiritual power. Although it wasn’t as close compared to achieving enlightenment, he still had his miraculous acupuncture on his sleeves.

Qing Clan’s Blue Lotus Art wasn’t complete, but Qing Shui noticed that the incomplete Blue Lotus Art worked well with his subsidiary techniques during the time he came back to Qing Clan. Even though there was no variation of change like his own, at least he didn’t have to use the rejected Blue Lotus Art.

Together with Qing Shui’s acupuncture and the Saintly Hands, as well as his mystical awe-inspiring energy, Qing Shui hit on Qing He’s body without fail. Qing He’s hundreds of acupuncture points had all been hit.

Although Qing He became dizzy from all the hitting from Qing Shui, he was able to maintain his condition under the effect of Qing Shui’s golden needle.

A blob of dark grey stuff that resembled oil slowly appeared on Qing He’s skin that released an unpleasant odor!

“Still a distance away from enlightenment!”

Qing Shui remembered that his body had also discharged black oily substance from his body when he reached an enlightenment. It was the same when he reached the 4th Layer of Ancient Strengthening Technique as well. It looked like the effect from cleansing Qing He was barely enough.

He wasn’t even sure whether he could make Qing He reach Xiantian this time, but if he could, then he could use the same “fake enlightenment” technique and golden needle acupuncture as well as the Saintly Hands to reach a similar effect for others in his clan in the future.