The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 386 - 3-color grade Necklace, Clearing Three acupoints again, Increasing Strength

"Your son has gotten revenge for what grandfather had endured and he has taken it back with interest." Qing Shui laughed heartily. He had already gotten the answer from his mother's demeanor.

Time is a scary thing. In the presence of time, everything turns old and weak. Human emotions were also scary, and twenty years was definitely enough.

When they returned to the Qing Clan, it was already afternoon!

The idling Qing Shui entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

He summoned his Firebird!

Roar!

A clear bird call rang out in the air as the Firebird circled down from the huge Chinese Parasol Tree.

Seeing the Phoenix Crown on his Firebird's head, Qing Shui realized that it was much bigger compared to before. He also felt that the Firebird's strength had risen significantly. Firebirds are a Growth Type of Mutated Beast. Within Demonic Beasts, Growth types are the most valuable because their future growth is unknown. Especially for Mutated Beasts, they are a much more powerful species than Growth type Demonic Beasts.

Qing Shui grinned as he raised his hands to pat the Firebird. He took the necklace from its neck. Even though he was never concerned about it, he suddenly thought about how the necklace on his Firebird's neck was only 1-color graded.

Taking the large necklace off, Qing Shui decided to reforge it. After arming his Firebird these few days, the increment in his Firebird's speed and strength was also a great help to Qing Shui.

Heaven Shaking Hammer!

Once Qing Shui held the hammer, he realized that he had a lot to do. He himself did not have a complete set of armor, bracer, belt, pendant...

Even the Heaven Shaking Hammer in his hand should be reforged again.

Qing Shui shook his head. Step by step, he started forging the necklace. Creating a 3-color graded necklace was already impressive. Ever since the appearance of Frenzied Bull's Strength armor, there hadn't been any other set of armor. Qing Shui felt that due to him practicing Frenzied Bill's Strength, thus imbuing Frenzied Bull Strength during forging, and a "special" seven starred armored vest, this was on the Big Dipper sword. This was the origin of the Big Dipper Sword's name. Thus, Qing Shui was not certain if the once familiar armor and skills were even real.

Clash clash!

His Thousand hammer technique was even more archaic and forceful; its speed looked much slower than before, but each strike was awe-inspiring and natural.

The pinnacle of the Obscure Realm!

Clash! Clash

Two clear sounds rang out. The crisp sound of the final clash was followed with a tri-colored light. Qing Shui could not resist beaming with a satisfied smile.

It was a success!

Qing Shui put down his Heaven Shaking Hammer and observed the necklace that he had reforged!

The speed attribute increased three-fold and the endurance attribute two-fold!

The attributes were simple, but Qing Shui was very pleased. The additional attribute was of minimal help; the main point was that the triple increase in the speed attribute was the most valuable. A few hundred additional jin of defense were pretty useless to a Firebird.

The necklace had changed a lot. Originally simple and dull, its lacklustre appearance was now replaced by a faint mix of three colors, but it still did not glow.

Once again, he called for his Firebird and adorned its neck with the necklace. Upon wearing the necklace, there was an instant glow of the tri-colors as before. The Firebird called out a few times joyously and flew up high into the skies of Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

When Qing Shui decided to reforge his Heaven Shaking hammer, he realized he always used his Heaven Shaking hammer to forge other weapons. However, he did not have the tools to reforge his Heaven Shaking hammer as it was impossible to use a normal hammer to do so.

Qing Shui had no mood to continue forging. As he was preparing to leave, he saw some vermillion fruits. Qing Shui decided to take the opportunity to ferment some vermillion fruit to make wine. In a blink of an eye, he managed to make quite a lot of wine in the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal.

When he realized, there were only four vermillion fruit left.

Vermillion fruits can strengthen the meridian channels and Qi of Xiantian by 1% each. Furthermore, it can be made into wine though its effectiveness will be lowered. Each person can consume a maximum of one hundred of these.

Qing Shui had never given any importance to vermillion fruits. 1% strengthening of the meridian channels and Qi of Xiantian…. Qing Shui muttered to himself twice and paused.

The strength of meridian channels and Qi of Xiantian… Didn't that mean that every single fruit will raise his Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique by 1%? Eating one hundred fruit will inadvertently mean raising his full abilities by one fold….

Even though the increase is one fold of his full abilities, the price was too high. One vermillion fruit only appeared every once in fifty years, so it will take five thousand years to get one hundred fruits. One hundred and fifty years in Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal is equivalent to one year in the real world.

Even so, in real time, it will still take thirty-three years….

He felt that the price was not small, but acquiring it would be better than nothing.

In such circumstances, Qing Shui didn't think too much. He just swallowed one whole fruit!

Almost immediately, Qing Shui felt a warm vital energy welling up in his dantian and meridian channels, coursing continually through his body. 1% strengthening of the meridian channels and Qi of Xiantian is like adding an additional jin to a person who has one hundred jin of strength; it was such a small change that it could not be felt.

However, Qing Shui's inherent strength is very large. If consumed by an average person, there would only be a tiny change in body constitution and a miniscule change in strength. Yet, for Qing Shui, 1% of his strength is equivalent to thirty thousand jin of strength.

That's not small. Not small at all.

Qing Shui consumed four vermillion fruits in a row. He was very content with the outcome. An additional increase of one hundred and twenty thousand jin of strength plus equipment with 70% Frenzied Bull Strength imbuement, 30% Heaven Thunder Slash imbuement and 50% Big Dipper Sword imbuement, it will reach about three hundred thousand jin….

When he exited from the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal, not much time had passed in the real world. But once he stepped out of the realm, he heard Shi QingZhuang's voice; she was speaking to his mother.

Qing Shui went downstairs.

"Qing Shui, I heard from your mother that you will be going to the Yan Clan in a week's time," Shi QingZhuang said softly as she saw Qing Shui.

"Yes. You can prepare what you need to bring beforehand. You don't have to bring daily necessities," Qing Shui replied with a smile.

"Yes, I have already brought them. I will be staying here this week.."

Shi QingZhuang's speaking voice was very soft and it made Qing Yi, who was standing nearby, laugh softly. Qing Shui felt a little embarrassed as he could see the slight mockery behind Qing Yi's smile.

"Alright. Have you found a room? Otherwise, I will bring you around to get one."

"No.."

"It is quite late. Qing Shui, please bring QingZhuang to find a bedroom. We can have a meal together in a bit," Qing Yi said. She smiled and left.

In a blink of an eye, five days had passed!

Today, it was already the morning of the sixth day.

Qing Shui was in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal and practicing Back Connecting Fist. With arms weaving through the air, stretching out and pulling back, at first glance, it looked like a caveman chopping wood . However, any expert would be able to see the difference.

The fist technique which appeared coarse was actually extremely refined. Every strike delivered the formidable strength of the body. The Qi from the dantian with the boost of one's back movement, delivered a steady and strong punch, almost showing vigor that could cleave mountains.

It was incomparably strong!

Qing Shui combined Frenzied Bull's Strength, Nature Energy and his impeccable breathing technique as stable as immovable mountains. He integrated this into his Back Connecting Fist. It made his Back Connecting Fist even more aggressive, domineering and sturdy; hinged on a complete opposite concept from the "soft style" of the Taichi fist.

Qing Shui entered a state of selflessness, delivering punch after punch. It had already been four hours. However, he had not even paused for a second during this time.

This was because Qing Shui could feel that the three acupoints, Tianliao, Jianjing and Naoshu, were starting to heat up. So much so that the temperature seemed even higher than fire. The difficulty with clearing acupoints lies in the fact that most people cannot endure such hardship.

Back covered in perspiration, the hair over his forehead drenched in sweat, Qing Shui closed his mouth tightly.

He was near the breakthrough point. Qing Shui could feel the three acupoints pulsating!

…………

Hur!

Qing Shui abruptly opened his mouth. A loud intense gurgling noise emitted from his body.

PU PU PU!

Three loud sounds, as if heavenly music to Qing Shui, exploded out.

They have been cleared!

Within a week, Qing Shui had mastered Back Connecting Fist to ancestor level and he had also cleared the three acupoints that connected the back to the arm!

The instant that he cleared the three acupoints, Qing Shui felt an extraordinary strength from his back racing through the three acupoints to his arm. Suddenly, he felt his arms come together as one body with his back and a discernibly large increase in strength into his arms.

Qing Shui was on the verge of howling with laughter. He will be heading to the Yan Clan tomorrow and he actually managed to clear three acupoints today. Why wouldn't he be happy?!

Under normal circumstances, clearing three acupoints would not stir Qing Shui to this level of happiness.

But the reason was that these three acupoints were special. Clearing these three acupoints, "connecting" Qing Shui's arms to his back. Even though there were more than three acupoints on the meridian channel connecting the back to one's arm, it was extremely important for Qing Shui to clear these acupoints. Before this, Qing Shui had not even cleared a single acupoint within this area, therefore clearing three, even one acupoint would have brought great joy to Qing Shui.

Just as a small river connecting to the large sea through a small brook. As such, by using the large sea as a support, the river will be able to maximize its greatest potential.

His arms were like two rivers; his back and dantian, the sea; and three acupoints: Tianliao, Jianjing and Naoshu were like three brooks!

Clearing the three acupoints strengthened the area between his back and his arm. Furthermore, it greatly elevated the "endurance" and " explosive force" of both his arms.

The cleared acupoints allowed Qing Shui to muster greater strength in his arms and even deliver some of the strength from his back.

Qing Shui slowly gathered the Qi of Ancient strengthening technique within his body, channel it through his back and let it irrigate through his arms. At the same time, he threw out a punch.

BANG!

The explosive noise which hung in the air left Qing Shui laughing contentedly.

The incredible power of the Back Connecting Fist lies here. After clearing the acupoints which connect both arms to the back, Qing Shui intuitively guessed that if all the acupoints in his body had been cleared, he could amalgamate the entire body into a single structure. He wondered how much energy one could deliver like this? The strength of the entire body must be abnormally huge. Will it come to a point when he could deliver his entire body's strength in a single finger tip…...

After washing up, Qing Shui contentedly left the Realm of Violet Jade Immortal. At this moment, he decided to leave for the Yan Clan. Previously, he was actually a little worried, he didn't know why he was worried, but now he was at ease.

Nobody had cleared three acupoints in three generations within the Qing family.

"Brother Shui, I can feel recently that these three acupoints are warm." Qing Bei told Qing Shui while touching her three acupoints.

Qing Shui was surprised. The girl's perceptive skills were quite high. "This is the precursor sign that you can clear the three acupoints. However, you are still some way from being able to do so. More importantly, the process will extremely painful, so it is up to you whether you can overcome that."

"I can!" Qing Bei replied with much determination.

"I will tell you something. If you can overcome it, it will be very beneficial to you. If you do overcome it, I will bring you to another level"