The Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 968 - Bringing Di Qing Along, The Vast Sea of Love

Qing Shui stood in front of Di Clan but the guards didn't recognize him. As time passed by and the guards had changed shifts for quite a number of times, one of them went up and approached him politely.

"Sir, may I ask who you are looking for?"

Qing Shui found it a little funny. After all, he was Di Clan's son-in-law. It was just that Di Chen had basically not stayed at Di Clan much. After so many years, many of them either didn't know about her or had only heard some news about her.

"I'm Qing Shui. I'm not sure if you've heard of me before." Qing Shui looked at this middle-aged guy with a strong built.

"Qing Shui? Why does this sound so familiar?" the man mumbled to himself.

"Ah, Young Master [1], he is Young Master!" someone behind him shouted out in surprise.

"So it's Young Master! Please come in, please come in!" the middle-aged guy quickly said respectfully. He had heard a lot of rumors about this Young Master. He was like a legendary existence.

Reputation was a good thing. It represented one's identity and status. For example, it was sufficient for him to be recognized as Di Clan's son-in-law. Moreover, Qing Shui had left a legend here after his Ultimate Fight of Life and Death…

Qing Shui smiled and walked in.

There hadn't been many changes to the structure of Di Clan's manor and a group of people walked over after a short time. The one in the lead was Di Fentian, the elder brother of Di Chen and Di Qing.

Earlier, someone had already gone to notify him of Qing Shui's arrival.

"Qing Shui!" Di Fentian smiled, his voice arriving before he did.

"Elder brother!" Qing Shui chuckled.

They patted each other on the shoulders before they headed indoors.

In a building in a side courtyard, a lady with beautiful brows and black shining eyes was exuding a dreamy charm. She was tall and slender, her curves soft but well-rounded. Her plain clothes gave her an elegant charm.

She stood at the railings and look far into the distance little expression on her face. She wasn't a cool beauty. She had an aura that lay between assertiveness and coolness. Her beauty was an ethereal one!

Just then, a lady ran over. "Miss, Eldest Young Master told me to inform you that Young Master is here!"

"Young Master?" Di Qing was stunned.

"Eldest Young Miss' husband, Mister Qing!" The lady who was wearing a maids' uniform quickly said.

"Okay!" After a slight tremble, Di Qing quickly headed for the front courtyard. Although she wasn't running, her speed was faster than her running speed. She quickly disappeared from sight.

"Why is Second Miss so agitated to hear that Young Master is here..." The maid mumbled to herself.

Qing Shui and Di Fentian entered the hall and sat down.

"Qing Shui, Chen`er isn't together with you?" Di Fentian asked calmly and casually. They both knew Di Chen's personality well.

"She isn't. Chen`er has her own things to settle and I have things I have things to deal with too. That's why we're usually not together." Qing Shui smiled and said. He didn't know if this was considered a lie. Right now, he didn't even know if Di Chen was back yet.

Just as Qing Shui was chatting with Di Fentian and the other cousins in the family, the door to the hall was opened again. Di Qing walked in and her gaze immediately landed on the man who she had been thinking of day and night.

Although she hadn't seen him for several years, he hadn't changed much. However, the same couldn't be said for his charms. It was just that the feeling he gave out was still the same. That warm gaze that was looking at her caused her to ignore everything else as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She still remembered the scene of their parting. After these few years, she had thought it through. Her elder sister knew about her feelings and wasn't against it. On the contrary, she was even supportive of her...

Although Qing Shui was astonished, what surprised him was that even though her family members were here, she didn't seem to plan on hiding anything from them. Qing Shui looked around and noticed that Di Fentian didn't seem to be surprised in the least. Together with the others, he bade Qing Shui goodbye and left.

This caused Qing Shui to be a little surprised. However, thinking about it, in the World of the Nine Continents, it was common for sisters to be married to the same person. It seemed that the matter with Di Qing wasn't a secret in Di Clan either. However, he didn't know why all her family members knew about this. Could it be that she said something when she came back?

Only the two of them were left in the hall.

"Qing`er, aren't you afraid that your elder brother will beat me up after seeing this?" Qing Shui smiled and said to Di Qing who was hugging him tightly.

"Why?" Di Qing lifted her beautiful head and looked at Qing Shui without blinking.

"I'm afraid that they couldn't bear to see the two precious daughters of the Di Clan being snatched away by me." Qing Shui smiled as he looked at Di Qing who was now more charming than before.

"Qing Shui..."

Looking at the slightly embarrassed Di Qing, Qing Shui touched her beautiful face. "You look a little pale!"

"I thought that you've forgotten about me. Did you specially made a trip to visit me?" Di Qing looked at Qing Shui with her beautiful eyes.

Qing Shui smiled and nodded. "Of course, I'm here to see our Qing`er."

Qing Shui hadn't expected this step to be taken so naturally. He didn't have such a mentality in the past and he didn't know if this was a good thing.

"Have you been well? I've heard about the thing with Demon Gate." Di Qing looked at Qing Shui with her bright eyes.

"I'm very powerful now... Right, do you want to go back with me to the Greencloud Continent?" Qing Shui smiled and said.

Di Qing smiled and nodded.

"Then you should go and pack up!"

...

Qing Shui stayed in Di Clan for a day. Because of Di Chen, he didn't spend the night together with Di Qing. Di Qing didn't seem to give him the opportunity to do so either. At night, Di Clan put up a feast to welcome him.

There weren't many people. Initially, Di Fentian had wanted to call everyone to come back but since Qing Shui and Di Qing were both leaving tomorrow, there wasn't even enough time. Therefore, they could only drop the idea. Moreover, Qing Shui was no outsider. There would be many chances in the future.

Before he left, Qing Shui also left the same set of gifts for Di Clan. Not only Di Clan. Even Nian Clan, Qianyu Clan... Regardless of who they were, as long as they were friends he could share weal and woe with them.

Now that Qing Shui had the ability, he naturally would not forget about them.

Qing Shui and Di Qing left Central Continent on the Fire Bird, flying for Greencloud Continent. Qing Shui thought of how he would be able to reach home soon. This trip had taken him about three years!

Three years. It brought up many emotions within him when he thought of the past three years. These three years were the most crucial years and had changed his destiny. It was only now that he could be considered one of the top notch cultivators in the world.

"I wonder if elder sister is back. It's been a few years." Di Qing suddenly said to Qing Shui.

"We'll see when we get back. Normally speaking, she should be back." Qing Shui knew that not everything would be calm in this world. There would definitely be some ripples around. Therefore, even though he had reached his current strength, he still felt that there was a need to become stronger.

He could already strike out a violent force of 4,200 stars at full power. He was getting close to 5,000 stars. He wanted to see if it was true that 5,000 stars was the maximum. If that was the case, in these five continents, he would definitely become a formidable existence.

As long as he could reach a strength of 5,000 stars, after using his Emperor's Qi to weaken his opponents, they would have a strength of 4,000 stars or even weaker. The difference of 1,000 stars together with his Nine Palace Steps and formations would allow him to really do things the way he wanted to in this world.

He felt agitated just thinking about this. Qing Shui wasn't afraid that he'd be weakened by other people. His Nature Energy was already at level seven and it wasn't that easy to weaken him. There definitely were not many people who'd be able to train a weakening martial technique that would affect him. There might even be no one who could do this. This, at least, was one thing that Qing Shui was confident of.

Nine Continents Steps!

Right now, Qing Shui could naturally use the Nine Continents Steps together with Di Qing. He thought of how there was an indescribable warmth between him and Di Qing now. In the past, she was Huang Qing - a Sword Demon.

Sword Demon Huang Qing. She was Sword Tower's Guardian and even Southern City's Furniture Store was hers. Thinking of the things he had experienced together with her, he now felt very happy.

"What are you thinking about? You look so happy." Di Qing asked when she saw Qing Shui smiling for no reason.

"I was thinking of the days when you were Sword Demon Huang Qing. Back then, you were much more domineering." Qing Shui smiled and said.

"You didn't even give in to me at all. You knew that I wouldn't dare to do anything." Di Qing recalled the past and couldn't restrain her smile.

Back then, Qing Shui was still not her match and they were on opposing terms. Back then, if it was someone else, she didn't know if she would hold back. Moreover, this guy who wasn't strong back then still dared to say some infuriating stuff.

After so many years had passed, they were now basically together. It hadn't been a short period of time. Additionally, Di Qing knew that even if Qing Shui liked her, if she wasn't the one who had first brought it up, he would have kept to himself forever. If she had not let go of everything else, this day would have never arrived. She couldn't really understand this.

"Life is so amazing. To think that two people who are separated by such distances could still get to know each other and eventually grow to love each other." Qing Shui said while full of emotions. Fate was something which couldn't be explained. There was no fixed path and relationships were something that would form when the conditions were right. It was actually something very amazing.

"That's right, it's very amazing. It's a very happy thing too!" Di Qing stood next to Qing Shui and smiled. The strong wind blew up her hair, making her appear really charming.

...

Twenty days passed by very quickly. They set up tents to rest at night and traveled in the day. Qing Shui would enter the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to train at night and later lie on the back of the Fire Bird with Di Qing to chat. Of course, most of the time, he would talk to her about martial arts. At night, he would use the Aroma Concentration Pill. In the morning, they would train for two hours.

During this period of time, although were traveling, Di Qing's abilities had improved very quickly. He hadn't met Di Qing for three years and she had grown stronger by quite a bit and was close to becoming a Peak Martial Saint. However, it was a pity that her strength was less than two stars. After taking into consideration the things that Qing Shui had given her, her strength hadn't even reached seven stars. However, this was considered quite good as it was. This made Qing Shui recall the Portrait of Beauty. He felt that the ladies in the portraits would be able to be quite strong as long as they trained.

Thanks to the Fire Bird's speed increasing and the Nine Continents Step leveling up and allowing it to be used an additional time daily, they drew rapidly closer to Greencloud Continent. On the way, they came across quite a number of demonic beasts and got through them smoothly. Most of the time, they would use the Nine Continents Steps. Qing Shui wasn't in the mood to battle. After all, they came in groups and there was also Di Qing next to him.

Comparatively, the journey between Greencloud Continent and Central Continent was much safer than the journey between Central Continent and Eastern Victory Divine Continent. It could be because Greencloud Continent was much weaker. After all, even Martial Saints would be able to pass by and those who could travel here tended to have their own means.

"Qing`er, how did you pass by this area in the past?" Qing Shui was very curious as well.

NOTE:

[1] We used Young Master here to replace an address for the husband of a daughter of the clan.

If you would like to unlock some [Portraits of Beauties] for the flavor as well as wish to support us, please consider pledging ->Patreon!