Ancient Strengthening Techniques
Chapter 14 – Still in vain
Ancient Strengthening Techniques: Chapter 14 - Still Trash
The first stage only required one to be fast, and as fast as possible; up to the absolute speed limit; fast to the stage where one could produce an image after. The Ghost Steps required knowledge of the 9 Directions, 8 Trigram Calculations and the Mystic Gate to confuse the opponent, making it easier for Qing Shui to escape. If one wanted to develop the Ghost Steps to its absolute peak, he would have to combine the knowledge from the calculations and use them together with the techniques from the Ghost Steps.
Time passed, like a white horse flying through a crack, and 5 years had passed. Qing Shui was now 15 years old, and his body grew taller and stronger. There were cold signs in her beautiful eyes, ignoring the entire world as if nothing was worth paying attention to!
Once again, Qing Shui held the trash label. The only thing that was different from the past, was that he was unable to advance any further after breaking through to the 3rd layered sky of the Ancient Strengthening Technique!
Qing Shui was not negative, he faced everything with a calm perspective, ignoring how others looked at him. 2 years ago, he had already cultivated to the 3rd layered peak of the Ancient Strengthening Technique. After that, no matter what he did or how he cultivated, he could not advance any further .. Not only that, even his cultivation of the Blue Lotus Art was also stuck at a bottleneck, at the peak of level 3.
During these 5 years, Qing Shui had suffered psychologically, among the 3rd generation disciples, he was the most dedicated when it came to cultivating. His skill in hidden weapon techniques as well as the Solitary Rapid Fist had soared to frightening heights, with both of them reaching great success stages for both techniques.
Even for the Ghost Steps, Qing Shui had managed to cultivate it to a small stage of success. Although his skill was only at the stage of small success, he had reached the stage of creating the after-image, and could use it to advance or retreat, and combine it with the techniques of hidden weapons and Solitary Rapid Boxing, respectively, this had allowed his strength to surge to an unprecedented frightening level
Currently in the Qing Clan, Qing Zi's eldest grandson had successfully developed the Blue Lotus Art to the next phase of the Martial Warrior, Class 7, almost reaching the peak of Grade 7!
Qing You had already cultivated to the top of Martial Soldiers, Class 7 and Qing Yang to the middle stage of Martial Soldiers, Class 6. For the rest of the 3rd generation disciples who were 13-15 years old, most of them, including Qing Hu had reached the early stages of Martial Soldiers, Grade 5.
Instead, Qing Shui, who was already 15 years old, had only managed to cultivate the Blue Lotus Art to the peak Martial Soldier, Grade 3.
In the daily training sessions, Qing Shui could be considered one of the oldest 3rd generation disciples at the age of 15, and one of the weakest. Originally, at the daily training sessions, there were two 3rd generation disciples named Qing Hui and Qing Chuan who were older than Qing Shui at 1 year and 2 years respectively. However, in the previous year and this year, the two of them had already broken through to Martial Warrior, Stage 6 at the age of 16.
Martial Soldiers, Class 6 was the separating point in the Qing Clan. Those who had been cultivating into Martial Soldiers, Grade 6 and not exceeding the age of 16 had the hopes of the entire clan being put on their shoulders. So in the Qing Clan, as long as one could reach the required level before the age of 16, their status in the Qing Clan would also undergo a change. Even if they wanted to summon rain and wind [1], the entire Qing Clan would also be supportive. Furthermore, these geniuses would be the ones responsible for protecting the Qing Clan's business in the future. Only when the core members of the Qing Clan increased in numbers and strength would their business partners not be so bold as to replace them.
For those who had reached Martial Soldiers, Grade 6 after the age of 16, they would be sent to the city, to be in charge of the various businesses of the Qing Clan. Their cultivation base is usually stagnant, as they can only grow crops during the pause period. Often, they were too busy to cultivate.
Qing Shui was already 15 years old. If another 1 year passed, and he was still unable to breakthrough to Martial Soldier, Class 6, he would be sent out of Qing Village .. Qing Shui knew that his Blue Lotus Art had long been integrated with the Ancient Strengthening Technique. Only when he had a breakthrough in the Ancient Strengthening Technique would his Blue Lotus Art progress. If one wanted him to break through to the tier 6 Ancient Strengthening Technique in just one year's time, that person must be an idiot or was talking in his sleep. The possibility of Qing Shui being sent out of the Qing Village was almost certain.
Although Qing Shui was Qing Luo's grandson, due to his previous constitution, Qing Shui had never seen the world outside before. In the past, he would have suffered from breathing problems and his heart was pounding due to a little strenuous activity, if he had stayed in the Qing Clan after the age of 16, he said, no one will talk about it. Everyone understood the underlying fact that he was an unprocessed piece of trash! But now, it was different, not only had his constitution been better, his cultivation had even reached the peak of Martial Soldier, Grade 3. Sending Qing Shui out was simply something to be expected.
After all, Qing Shui had long decided to help Qing Yi in her business venture, simultaneously also learning about the medical properties of the various herbs that the Qing Clan possessed. Qing Shui still had high hopes for himself, he still had not achieved Qing Yi's wish, Qing Shui would never leave himself to despair! Although he could not achieve a breakthrough in the Ancient Strengthening Technique, but based on his current strength; hidden weapon techniques, Solitary Rapid Fist, and techniques that even he himself was afraid to encounter - the Ghost Steps, the, it would definitely make his opponent's heart tremble in fear. To be honest, Qing Shui had never held back a 3rd generation disciple in this regard, based solely on the strength of his body alone, without the help of any martial techniques, either, he could already suppress them painfully to the point where one could only call it trampling. The reason why he did not do that was because he knew that it was unwise to reveal his cards early in the game, after all he was still a teenager at the young age of 15.
At this moment,
"Shui gege's". Qing Shui heard a voice calling out to him from outside his palace courtyard.
As the last syllable rang, Qing Bei appeared in his courtyard. Now that Qing Bei was 13 years old, with a small and beautiful face, and eyes that were shining so brightly, Qing Shui could see the hints of beauty blooming on this little girl's face, qing Bei's body was in the early stages of puberty. After all, she was 13 years old, only 3 more to be considered an adult.
Qing Bei was the youngest and only granddaughter in the Qing Clan. Qing Shui's treatment towards her was sincere and from her heart. Despite not being on good terms with the other 3rd generation disciples, in her heart, Qing Shui was very affectionate towards this little cousin of his.
“Xiao Bei, I'm here!” Qing Shui smiled slightly as he waved to greet. Qing Bei could be considered a little genius of the Qing Clan, breaking through to the peak Martial Warrior, Class 5 only at the age of 13. The elders of the Qing Clan were generally very happy with Qing Bei's talent, the only bit of regret they had was that Qing Bei was a woman! In the end, no matter how talented she was, she still had to be married off to an outsider. Even now, at the age of 13, there were already countless applicants pursuing him.
2 years ago, after Qing Shui cultivated to the 3rd layered peak of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, he was unable to break through any further. His intuition told him, if he did not have the chance to meet again; fighting with his life as a bet, or any other battle of enlightenment, in the short term, it would be impossible for him to make a breakthrough! Since he was temporarily unable to make any progress in his cultivation base, during his spare time, he would teach the basics of Solitary Rapid Boxing to Qing Hu and Qing Bei! Qing Shui started teaching them about half a year ago. As the saying goes “He who gained new knowledge by reviewing the old, deserves to be guru”! Among the 3rd generation disciples, Qing Hu and Qing Bei's relationship with Qing Hu could be considered as close as a sibling.
For the rest of the 3rd generation disciples, they rarely gathered together. Especially for Qing Zi's eldest grandson and Qing You's genius, Qing Shui only had the chance to meet them just a few times a year. The same was the case with Qing Yang, Qing Hui and Qing Chuan. Moreover, after one of the 3rd generation disciples managed to break through to the Martial Warrior realm, Class 6, they needed to diligently practice martial techniques in addition to their own cultivation.
It could be said that in the Qing Clan, the path to true power only began after one had successfully reached the realm of a Grade 6 Martial Warrior. Other than this, at the end of each year, those who had broken through to Grade 6, had to spar with fellow 3rd generation disciples who managed to break through, as well as the elders from the Qing Clan. For those who had a cultivation base lower than the Martial Soldier realm, a Cla.s.s 6, could only watch below the stage.
Qing Hu and Qing Bei had spent half a year learning the basics of Solitary Rapid Boxing with Qing Shui. Seeing them, Qing Shui finally realized how lucky he was back then, having an accidental encounter that led to a battle of enlightenment. Now, after half a year had passed, Qing Hu had only memorized 1/3 of the 360 acupoints in the human body, but he was still far from real understanding. In a real fight, he only really understood about the path of attack towards the shoulders, the front of the chest and the head.
Qing Bei was a little better than Qing Hu, after all, the girls were basically more meticulous, she had already managed to memorize the locations of all 360 acupoints of the human body, but during the fight, she had already managed to memorize the locations of all 360 acupoints of the human body, but during the fight, his display of understanding of the attacks of the Solitary Boxing Technique was roughly equivalent to Qing Hu.
“You came alone? Where is Qing Hu? ” Qing Shui curiously asked, as he did not see Qing Hu tagging along. During this past year, every day endlessly, around night time, Qing Hu and Qing Bei would visit Qing Shui together and practice Solitary Rapid Boxing.
"Qing Hu was injured by Lan Yan`er of the Lan Clan, so he couldn't come today." Anger and helplessness could be heard in his voice as Qing Bei shattered.
