The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 855 - Golden Buddha Temple, Heart As Clear As A Mirror, Surpassing Epiphany

"Sister, look at how beautiful these few little fellows are. I'm afraid that I'll have an ugly baby."

Huoyun Liu-Li laughed, mostly joking about it.

"Our Liu-Li is such a beauty, how would you have ugly baby?" Canghai Mingyue teased her from one side.

"Even if the baby is ugly, it's still my child. If he dares to hate it, I'll make him pay," Huoyun Liu-Li laughed too after finishing her sentence.

"Aunty is so beautiful!" Qing Yin stood on her tiptoes and told Huoyun Liu-Li.

Huoyun Liu-Li bent down to scoop Qing Yin up. "Little lass has such a sweet mouth, unlike that big meanie at all."

"That big meanie?" The little lass stared at Huoyun Liu-Li in curiosity.

"I'm talking about Qing Shui. Remember, Qing Shui is a big meanie," Huoyun Liu-Li said cheerfully.

"Oh, Daddy is a big meanie," Qing Yin's voice was a little unconvinced as she stared at Huoyun Liu-Li.

Canghai Mingyue stood at one side speechlessly before quickly taking Qing Yin back into her arms. "Lass, don't listen to your Aunty. Your Daddy treats you best. He's not a meanie."

"Sister, I was just teasing the child!" Huoyun Liu-Li chuckled.

"Children are gullible. If they start calling Qing Shui as Big Meanie........"

Huoyun Liu-Li laughed. "Alright, alright. I'm not going to teach her that. But I'm very curious to see what would happen. Qing Shui would definitely blow his top."

The Qing Clan basically didn't go out. The only time they went out was for cultivation. Over the past half a year, their cultivations had been growing rapidly and steadily, especially the third generation and Luan Luan.

Qing Qing had also been improving very fast. Her Four-eared Macaque had also surprised everyone. Although it didn't really increase in size, its strength had been increasing like crazy everyday.

The most tragic one would be Huoyun Liu-Li's Golden Jade Rabbit. It was small in size and very gorgeous-looking. The few children had been pestering her to see it most of the time…...

Qing Shui didn't really know everything that was going on in the Qing Clan, especially about Huoyun Liu-Li's pregnancy. If he knew, he would definitely be exhilarated because he knew Huoyun Liu-Li wanted a child of her own very much.

He had arrived at a city called the Golden Light City by now. He had stopped over here because there were many 'Buddhas' here.

He didn't know why, he seemed to be very fated with 'Buddha'. Not only that, he kept feeling that Buddha and bald heads were inseparable....

The Golden Light City was a city located in the middle of the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, slightly closer to the eastern part. The city was especially flourishing. Legend had it that people who passed here would receive Buddha's blessings, so this place became a bustling city. This city was also more famous in the entire Eastern Victory Divine Continent.

Qing Shui remembered about the unnamed divine cultivation art that he had once gotten and there was a monk in it. Then also the Nine Waves Great Golden Buddha Palm and the Thousand Buddha Palm Imprint that he had been cultivating. Other than that, an enormous Buddha image had appeared a few times during Qing Shui's life and it seemed like he was the only one who could see it.

He was at the heart of the Golden Light City. Two or three monks dressed in kasaya robes were seen on the big streets from time to time and some of them had a staff in their hands.The most important figures in the Golden Light City were monks.

The Golden Buddha Temple! The most distinctive existence in the Golden Light City.

Qing Shui had only heard some rumors after he came here. The Golden Buddha Temple was said to be a branch of one of the Buddha Sects in the Central Continent. The members of the Golden Buddha Temple possessed powerful abilities and were definitely the most powerful in this Golden Light City.

The place that Qing Shui was heading towards now was the Golden Light Temple!

The Golden Light Temple was situated at the summit of the Jinluo Mountain. The Jinluo mountain was the biggest mountain range in the Golden Light City. Besides, many people visited the Golden Buddha Temple everyday. Most of them went for the sake of getting some Buddha aura on them.

They went there to offer a stick of incense and also make some donations to the temple.

It was almost noon by the time Qing Shui arrived at the Jinluo Mountain. The enormous mountain summit shimmered in gold under the sunlight, creating an illusion of a golden mountain to people.

He looked at the flight of stone steps that was about ten metres wide and winded upwards. Each stone step was less than one foot high. But every flight of stone steps led up to about five or six metres before the next one.

Looking around, he saw many people were making their way towards the Golden Buddha Temple. These stone steps were very safe, even for ordinary people to climb and incidents of loose stone steps would definitely not happen. The 'Buddha Nature' was evident even in just the stone steps. It seemed like there was a reason behind the reverence of many people.

"Big Brother, you are also going to make a wish?"

Qing Shui looked towards the source of the voice and saw a tall youth asking a slightly shorter man.

The two of them weren't really good-looking and Qing Shui also couldn't sense any martial techniques on them.

"Oh, seems like you are also going to?" The shorter man appeared to be a little older than the taller man.

"That's right. I really have no other choices so I can only come to make a wish. I heard that the Buddha Light Temple is very effective and the magic power of the Great Master here is boundlessly powerful," the taller man said helplessly yet hopefully.

"According to other people, this Buddha Light Temple will distribute some 'Divine Water' to people who make a wish. It is said that this 'Divine Water' is especially effective," the shorter man added. He seemed to have come for that 'Divine Water'.

The stone steps stretched on very long and very high. It could be considered a major engineering project. Qing Shui followed the the crowd as he made his way slowly towards the summit.

He been walking for more than two hours and there didn't seem to be anyone dashing or even running because such actions were said to be disrespectful to 'Buddha'. Besides, it also put one's mental state and perseverance to the test.

For cultivators, this was a test of patience. For non-cultivators, this was a test of perseverance.

Could this be considered as asking for direction?

The Buddha Light Temple on the mountain summit finally came into his view after turning about 18 corners on his way. Qing Shui was quite astounded the moment he laid his eyes on the Buddha Light Temple for the first time.

It was an enormous group of buildings, built with yellow colored stones that caused these buildings to emit faint golden light.

There were many houses built from these yellow colored stones on the way but definitely none of them emitted such radiance. Besides, the sun was not around now so this was not reflected light.

"This Buddha Light Temple doesn't look so simple." Qing Shui thought inwardly, while he entered the main hall of this Buddha Light Temple, along with the others.

This was the hall that was open to public. It had about the same size as the main hall of the Cloud Adventurer Guild but there were more pillars here.

Golden Buddha Hall!

That was the name of this main hall. The first things that entered his field of view were the many Buddha statues and crowds. All of the Buddha statues were golden in color and each of them were about the same size. The biggest Buddha statue was the one facing the entrance of the main hall. It had a height of twenty metres while the rest were a lot smaller than it, with a height of only three metres.

There were a few praying cushions in front of each Buddha statue. Many would step forward to kneel and worship. There were also some people dressed in kasaya robes sitting cross-legged somewhere slightly further away in the big hall. In front of them were many people who wanted to have a discussion with them after worshipping the Buddhas. Most of them would receive some fruit or 'Divine Water' from those monks and then leave happily.

Qing Shui observed that the monks sitting there were usually quite old in age.

Many people stood in front of that enormous Buddha statue, perhaps because of its enormous size, it slightly reminded Qing Shui of the Vajra's Glare that he was so familiar to.

Vajra's Glare?

Qing Shui suddenly gained some kind of understanding when he saw that enormous Buddha statue. Or perhaps he should say that it felt like some kind of enlightenment. He stood there dazed, neither making a move nor kneeling.

At this very moment, Qing Shui felt as if he was bathed by sunlight. Every bone in his body, his spiritual sense and his entire body felt indescribably refreshed.

Just at this moment, Qing Shui realized that the Buddha image behind him had emerged once again. He also realized that this Buddha image was very similar to the Buddha statue in front of him, especially the facial features.

Glare!

Vajra!

Qing Shui's heart was as clear as a mirror right now. It was as if his entire body was undergoing some subtle changes. The 'Vajra's Glare' which hadn't been improving and he didn't even know how to cultivate either was continuously growing stronger. It was as if his entire body and bones were being refined tremendously.

It wasn't an epiphany. It was something more than that.

The people around him came and went. Some were giving him weird stares. They were looking at this motionless young man that had a serene look on his face. No one saw the enormous Buddha image behind him.

There was a very special Buddha Statue at the deepest part of the big hall on the right side. It was as tall as an ordinary person and was also the smallest statue here. An old man was sitting cross-legged in front of this Buddha statue. He was an emaciated old man with long eyebrows, dressed in a robe which was a little too loose on him. Right at this very moment, the old man was staring at Qing Shui in amazement from afar. A dark red mark akin to a birthmark oddly appeared above and in between his eyes and it was glowing faintly.

The Buddhist's Third Eye, rumored to be able see through all disguises and terrify opponents to their very soul. This could also be considered a type of spiritual attack. It lowered the opponent's will to fight, losing the desire to continue fighting and thus lowering their strength. It could even damage the opponent's 'soul', sinking them into derangement and imbecility… An ultimate Buddhist Eye could instantly frighten the weak out of their wits.

The old man rose up slowly and then walked towards Qing Shui with a look of disbelief. He walked very slowly and stopped about twenty metres away from Qing Shui. Then he just continued staring at him.

In about 15 minutes, Qing Shui appeared to have woken up from a deep slumber. He had an extremely marvelled look on his face. It was his first time experiencing an epiphany before Buddha, the first time his heart was as clear as a mirror and the first time he felt enlightenment that had caused a transformation within his body.

One fold!

Qing Shui's strength was instantly doubled. Not only that, Vajra's Glare had definitely levelled up too. But Qing Shui didn't even have any intention to check up on it right now.

His physical strength of 5,000 countries in offense had now turned to one star. His defense had also reached 16,000 countries. His spirit energy that had previously been increased tremendously had once again greatly raisen.

He was really lucky this time. It was almost unbelievable to him that his strength would be raised this way. On top of that, it was an immense increase. This made Qing Shui feel so unreal. He turned around to look at the Buddha image that was slowly fading away.

He sensed once again. After confirming that everything was real, he clasped his palms together and bowed deeply towards the Buddha statue. At this moment, that old monk with long eyebrows started walking again to Qing Shui's side.

"Hello, little almsgiver!"

"Hello, Great Master!" Qing Shui had found great pleasure in seeing monks, so he was extremely happy to meet one right now. He was indeed very fated with 'Buddha'.

"Do you mind moving elsewhere to talk? This place is a little unsuitable." The old man looked at Qing Shui with a smile.

"Please lead the way, Great Master!" Qing Shui said after hesitating for a moment.

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