The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 900 - Young Master Yin, Yin Yuanjiao, Crushing his hand

The skinny man in embroidered clothes laughed, as he glanced at the leader of the Mu Clan's younger generation, "Nobody within his generation can challenge the Third Elder's supremacy. Everyone knows that Mu Qing is his favorite daughter and even the grandfathers don't dare to interfere with the matters regarding her marriage."

The man did not say a word but looked calmly at the skinny man, his statement was redundant because all of them knew that, they were more interested in what he was about to say.

"But now that it has come to this, we could inform Young Master Yin. Don't you know the Third Elder's personality? The Yin Clan is a large clan, so the Third Elder won't say anything even if he comes. He likes Mu Qing so much but it's a pity she doesn't fancy him."

The skinny man that the others called Fifth Brother smiled and did not elaborate any further, but everyone knew what he meant between the lines. They knew he chose Young Master Yin because the Yin Clan was very powerful and Young Master Yin was also very talented. Even though he was not stronger than Mu Qing, he was still a cultivator with a lot of potential.

On top of that, Young Master Yin was very hot-tempered and was a bit of an egomaniac. He was so conceited that he believed that he was the only one worthy of Mu Qing. He had long since viewed Mu Qing as his woman. For this reason, many people in the capital city avoided getting close to her because they were afraid of him.

When the skinny man brought this up, everyone was 'enlightened'. They definitely could not go over and cause any trouble, neither did they dare to. However, Young Master Yin was the best choice in this situation. If this Qing Shui was unable to defeat Young Master Yin, he would naturally be kicked out of the equation, he might not even get to keep his life.

Even if Qing Shui was a super expert that could defeat Young Master Yin, Young Master Yin's twisted personality meant that he would definitely get all the experts from the Yin Clan to attack Qing Shui. If he couldn't get rid of Qing Shui in an open and above-board manner, Young Master Yin was a man that would take the despicable route to make Qing Shui disappear.

Thus, they were convinced that if they brought Young Master Yin into the picture, they would reach their goal. At the very least, Mu Qing and Qing Shui wouldn't end up together.

……

Dong Yan and Sun Yan drank and chatted with the other old men. All of them were quite comfortable with each other because they had spent two months together, besides the relationship between the Dong Clan and the Mu Clan had always been rather good.

"Dong Yan!" an old man laughed as he drank a large gulp of wine.

"Sir, go ahead." Dong Yan quickly replied.

"Do you know your Third Brother well?" the old man hesitated before asking.

Dong Yan was a little stunned. He knew that Qing Shui and Mu Qing seemed to have something going on between them. These old men were probably trying to find out more about Qing Shui's background.

"I only know that our Third Brother is from the Greencloud Continent. We met him by coincidence and found that our personalities gelled well, thus we became sworn brothers. Thereafter, Qing Shui went to the Sky Penetrating Mountains. Bringing it that up, the time that you all spent with him was in no way less." Dong Yan laughed. There was nothing to hide and he knew no information that needed to be hid.

The old men laughed and didn't say anything else. Actually, they hadn't interacted a lot with Qing Shui. Nothing in particular happened and when Qing Shui and Mu Qing were dealing with the people from Sky Prison Sect, the old men were not there to witness anything.

But, the fact that Qing Shui could venture 300,000 li into the Sky Penetrating Mountain all by himself was ample proof of his capabilities. That wasn't something that anyone could do. Besides, they had watched Mu Qing grow up. A rational woman like her would never make a mistake when judging a person.

……

Qing Shui had an easy time with Mu Qing's family. Mu Qing had brought Qing Shui with her and this was enough for her family members. Mu Fang and Mu Jian were quite direct. Especially Mu Fang, who came across as an honest and straightforward man. However, it was clear that they cared a lot for their younger sister.

Mu Lin was young but was a man of few words. He seemed to dislike talking to others. On the other hand, Mu Xue—Mu Qian's youngest daughter, was very lively. She asked Qing Shui many questions and was very curious about him. This was because Qing Shui was a man that her sister brought home, though their relationship hadn't been explained.

Mu Xue spoke with a bright voice and some of her questions really stumped Qing Shui. The others just smiled and didn't interrupt her. They were also very curious. Luckily, they had their inquisitive Mu Xue to ask the questions in their mind.

"Brother Qing Shui, is my sister beautiful?" Mu Xue giggled at Qing Shui as she asked.

"Beautiful!" Qing Shui answered this easily.

Mu Qing felt a little uneasy sitting beside Qing Shui. Her young sister was eccentric and quick-witted so she was worried that she might dig out the truth.

"So do you like my sister?" Mu Xue looked at Qing Shui with her beautiful eyes.

Mu Qing wanted to stop her younger sister but after Mu Xue asked this question, Mu Qing realized that her heart was thumping very fast. She didn't dare to look at Qing Shui and tried her best to remain calm.

"This is a secret between your sister and myself. I can't tell you that now." Qing Shui said rather mildly with a smile. He felt that he was in a difficult spot and didn't know what to say.

There were no proper answers to that question, as Qing Shui didn't have such intentions. Otherwise, he would have taken the chance to confirm that he liked her. He could only give such an answer for now.

Even though no one pointed it out, everyone felt that it was a little fishy. Luckily, everyone was being tactful, so they didn't ask further. Mu Qing was relieved when she heard Qing Shui's answer but was also a little disappointed at the same time.

Suddenly, they could hear footsteps from outside. One of their guards came over to the hall and reported, "Third Elder, Missus, Young Master Yin is here."

Mu Qian and his family frowned. Other than Qing Shui, everyone present knew of Young Master Yin's personality since he came over more than a couple of times. The Mu Clan and the Yin Clan were also on good terms.

Mu Qian hesitated for a moment, then he smiled and said, "Let him in. Since Qing Shui is here, they should be introduced to each other."

Qing Shui smiled without saying a word, but Mu Qing frowned, looking rather helpless.

"That annoying man always bothers my sister, his skin is even thicker than the city walls," grumbled Mu Xue.

"Xue'er, don't say such things," her mother quickly stopped her. Even though she sounded as if she was rebuking her daughter, she had a pleased expression.

A man entered the hall. Qing Shui was quite surprised when he saw Young Master Yin. He was tall, muscular and almost a head taller than himself. Qing Shui had grown taller by an inch over this time, he was not short— being about 1.8m. However, the man in front of him was about 2m tall.

The man was fit and well-built, with a sort of sunshine boy look. His features were well-defined and he had a wild charm about him. This type of man was very attractive to some women.

"Third Uncle, Aunts, you are all here!" the man greeted Mu Qian and his wives.

"Yuanjiao, you're here." Mu Qian smiled.

"Yes, I heard that Mu Qing is back, so I came over," the man gave a simple smile.

Unexpectedly, this sharp-looking man could actually give such a simple and honest smile. Even Qing Shui didn't feel that this man had any visible flaws.

Mu Qing did not respond, nor did she even give the man a glance. The man did not seem unhappy about that, as if he was used to such a treatment. Qing Shui remained silent as he observed the situation. It was very odd, he felt as if he was a bystander watching a show.

"So, you're Qing Shui. I am Yin Yuanjiao. Nice to meet you," the man turned over to Qing Shui and smiled and even extended his hand out.

"I'm Qing Shui. Nice to meet you too!'

Qing Shui shook the man's hand. When he held the man's hand, Qing Shui didn't try to pull his hand back because he knew that the man wouldn't let go.

Qing Shui could feel an abnormally large amount of force from the man's hand. This man had huge hands which made Qing Shui's hand seem relatively small.

Qing Shui looked at Yin Yuanjiao. This man had contempt in his eyes, as if he viewed Qing Shui as a clown. Yin Yuanjiao's temper rose because he didn't want to see any other man close to Mu Qing.

Yin Yuanjiao sneered as a golden glow came from his hand and he wrapped his hand around Qing Shui's hand entirely. Rashly, due to his overwhelming emotions, Yin Yuanjiao decided to crush Qing Shui's hand.

Mu Qian acted like he didn't notice but Mu Qing looked at Qing Shui, feeling a little worried. Yin Yuanjiao felt like killing Qing Shui on the spot when he saw Mu Qing's expression.

Yin Yuanjiao increased the force he was exerting.

Qing Shui looked at Mu Qian. He didn't know what this 'Third Elder' was planning, but Qing Shui was starting to hate this man in front of him. Since everyone acted this way, he decided that he will let the 'Third Elder' clean up the mess later!

Qing Shui squeezed his eyes shut and he channeled force to his hand!

Crack....

Oh…

Bone-chilling sounds of consecutive cracking sounds rang out, suddenly mixed with painful cries.

Qing Shui let go of that large deformed hand. At the same time, Yin Yuanjiao's other hand tried to quickly hit Qing Shui.

Qing Shui went with the flow and blocked that blow!

Crack!

Another round of bone-cracking sounds filled the air...

The people who were present were quite shocked. They were well aware of Yin Yuanjiao's strength. He was considered quite powerful among the younger generation. It was already shocking that Qing Shui could crush his hand, but no one expected that a mere block from Qing Shui would be strong enough to shatter the bones in Yin Yuanjiao's arm!

That arm was totally crippled. Qing Shui was about to hit Yin Yuanjiao's head with his palm, which would certainly kill him, but Mu Qian quickly stepped in and stopped Qing Shui, "Stop! Show him mercy…"

Mu Qian didn't know what to feel. He only wanted to see how Qing Shui would react but this outcome was completely unexpected, even though his goal was reached.

Qing Shui didn't plan to kill Yin Yuanjiao; he knew that Mu Qian would stop him. It was also clear that in truth, the Mu Clan and the Yin Clan weren't really on good terms.

The reason for the tension between the clans was due to the matter between Yin Yuanjiao and Mu Qian. Yin Yuanjiao had begged the Elders to go to the Mu Clan to help get Mu Qian betrothed to him.

The Yin Clan was a large aristocratic family which had the same status as the Mu Clan. Besides, Yin Yuanjiao was quite talented, so a connection through marriage was a good thing for both of them. A marriage would help consolidate the position of both families. The Yin Clan had requested to set up a marriage between Yin Yuanjiao and Mu Qian but it ended badly, with the Yin Clan losing face.

The Mu Clan actually rejected them. If a request for marriage was set up between two large aristocrat families, they were usually not rejected. Children in such large clans usually didn't have the freedom to chose their marriage partners. They were usually used as tools to create alliances between clans.

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