Ancient Strengthening Technique

AST 343 Fight Again, Legendary-Grade Giant Spirit Divine Fist

Three days have just passed in a flash. Qing Shui did not go to the Xu Family’s place, which meant the deal between him and the Xu Family had been dropped. In the span of three days, the battle between Qing Shui and Xi Ri had become so notorious that everyone knew about it.

The news spread so rapidly that even some of the elders from Heavenly Palace became interested in their battle.

Qing Shui wasn’t concerned about it and continued his usual training, uninterrupted. This time, the battle mostly involved people from the Starmoon Hall, but there was another significance to it.

It was because this battle would decide who was better, the new generation of youths or the old generation. There was a mix of responses that came from the audience; some of them supported Qing Shui while others supported Xi Ri.

It was still very early in the morning of the third day, yet the public square in the Starmoon Hall had already been filled with a crowd of people. It was because everyone knew that the battle between Qing Shui and Xi Ri would begin when the sun is high in the sky. Moreover, this was a battle of life and death.

Qing Shui came to the public square with the intention to do his morning exercise before going to the battle. After all, the time that remained until the actual battle was one hour. But Qing Shui hadn’t thought that the public square would be crowded with a lot of people, especially with a number of disciples from the other halls.

“Qing Shui is here!” Someone shouted excitedly when they saw him.

“Where?”

“He’s really here!”

In an instant, there was a racket. Qing Shui rubbed his forehead, and walked towards a quieter corner to continue training his Taichi Fist.

Some people seemed to approve of Qing Shui’s attitude while others were disgusted by it. Some thought that Qing Shui may be feigning his attitude, and the others thought that he was trying to be calm as well. This was not Qing Shui’s first time behaving this way, after all.

Gongsun Jianyun stood alone in the distance, seriously watching Qing Shui training. Some people were trying to imitate him, but Qing Shui didn’t care about it. He focused all of his thoughts inside his own consciousness.

Three days worth of time may be insignificant to other people, but it was different for Qing Shui who had the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Three days was equivalent to three months of time, and three months of penance.

The 5th layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique had begun to stabilize. The Art of Pursuing, Divine Arm Clearing, and Divine Feet Clearing could still be mastered. The Art of Pursuing, though, had already been developing on the right path.

However, the distance from the Divine Arm Clearing and Diving Feet Clearing was still a distance away from the small success stage. Qing Shui wasn’t disheartened as he thought about it, but he was a bit regretful because it would still only be three days to him. However, to go without the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal? Qing Shui couldn’t stand the thought of it.

He kept practicing his Taichi Fist for the longest time until the quaint atmosphere intensified. It looked simple, but extremely profound.

“Xi Ri is here!”

“Wow, he is really here. Everyone give way!”

There was a commotion amongst the crowd as they automatically made a path for Xi Ri to pass through. Some even greeted Xi Ri as he was passing through.

Xi Ri slowly passed the crowd, his discreet pace seemingly unchanged as he walk towards the centre of the biggest arena. As he walked to the bottom side of the arena, Xi Ri couldn’t help but frown when he saw Qing Shui still training on the other side.

He could not see any of Qing Shui’s concrete achievements, and he didn’t believe that Qing Shui would be more powerful than him because he knew his situation well enough. It would be extremely difficult, or nearly impossible, for someone of Qing Shui’s age from the Greencloud Continent to surpass him. In regards to the defeat of those Sword Tower disciples, who had the power equivalent to the Heavenly Palace Chief Senior Disciple, Xi Ri thought that he could defeat them just as easily.

But he would never have expected that Qing Shui would possess a godly treasure such as the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

Now, he would rather believe that Qing Shui had trained on a technique to hide his breath and presence, or some other techniques that came with this type of ability.

This type of techniques was not rare. Moreover, hiding one’s breath and presence was only effective during a sneak attack. The world of nine continents had always advocated pure martial strength as the ultimate force. Thus, Xi Ri did not think highly of this hidden breath technique.

It was because everything would falter in the face of absolute power!

Xi Ri slowly went up the arena. There he was, alone in the empty arena. Most people below the arena would need to look up if they want to look at him and most people would enjoy the feeling of being looked up to.

Qing Shui punched out his fists one at a time, with each punch heavy as moving a mountain. There was a charm to it that visually impacted others. However, some people were beginning to urge Qing Shui to the arena.

“Qing Shui, go up quickly!”

“Yeah, don’t tell me you’re scared!”

Most of the ones shouting were not from Starmoon Hall. Most of the people from Starmoon Hall did not even made a sound. Twenty years ago, Xi Ri was the best in Starmoon Hall, and he was also Starmoon Hall’s Chief Disciple.

Back then, Starmoon Hall was highly regarded by everyone, as opposed to how it was now. The disciples now were mostly in the same age group as Xi Ri, and some were even way older than him.

Ever since Xi Ri was given the cold shoulder when he tried to pursue the Misty Hall Palace Mistress, he took a huge blow from the rejection. Soon after that, he left Starmoon Hall and had even quit the position of Chief Disciple.

Because of that, Gongsun Jianwu soon became the new Chief Disciple. And around this time, Starmoon Hall had also become the laughing stock of the other eight halls.

Qing Shui’s appearance had allow Starmoon Hall to become glorious once again, especially after he single-handedly defeated the best, nine young men from Sword Tower. He even killed two of them and made the rest surrender. This allowed Qing Shui to put Starmoon Hall in a more glorious position than it was when Xi Ri was still there.

However, the battle today was more of an internal conflict between the two men. Moreover, this was also the battle of life and death for the two best men of Starmoon Hall in twenty years. A lot of people were excited and worried.

This was a battle that was hard to come across. For most people, it was a big privilege to witness such a battle to the death. However, they did not wish to see an outcome where both of them were defeated and wounded.

This was, after all, the battle to the death. The force of bonding was most important and necessary for the grand sects. Heavenly Palace’s force of bonding fell under the jurisdiction of Heavenly Palace itself. Just like the battle between Qing Shui and the men from Sword Tower, if the battle occurred outside of the Heavenly Palace, the force of bonding lay with the Heavenly Palace.

But if it occurred within Heavenly Palace—for example, during the battle between every hall in the Heavenly Palace that occurred once every five years—the force of bonding would fall under every hall. Thus, Heavenly Palace would act as a ‘grandfather’ while the halls would act as the ‘father’. The disciples in each hall will be known as ‘children’!

The people urging for battle were mostly from the outside halls!

“I think he’s scared. After all, Xi Ri was the former Chief Disciple for twenty years. He had good qualifications and he started out as a Martial King Elementary Stage cultivator. Twenty years have passed, even if Qing Shui is super talented, it is still impossible to be that godly,” said one of the refined young man wearing the Stayday Hall clothing.

“Brother Shao is right!”

“Don’t tell me he’s waiting for the seniors to mediate the situation!”

…………………..

Those who purposely made the discussions in the loud voices were all from Starday Hall. A lot of people could see that something fishy was going on, since everyone knew that Qing Shui was the one who made a big fool out of Starday Hall last time.

Just then, a few elderly men and middle-age men walked into the public square. Only then did Qing Shui calmly stop training and slowly walked towards the arena.

There was a crowd already circling the arena when Qing Shui was training in a secluded area in the far end. As he walked towards the arena, Qing Shui realized that Fei Wuji and a few elders from the Starday Hall were here too.

Qing Shui gazed around the area, and was shocked when he saw a few of Heavenly Palace Elder-level people from far away.

There were a lot of protectors in the Heavenly Palace as well. One of the requirements to being a protector was to possess the power of the peak of Xiantian. The administrators of the Heavenly Palace were Palace Lord or Mistress, Elder, Law Enforcer, Protector, Thousand Martial Elder, and Hundred Martial Elder!

Qing Shui spotted the two ladies as well. Beside them were two more pretty women that Qing Shui has never met before. They had the same graceful disposition and slender body. When they saw Qing Shui, they gave him a wink.

“Do they know me?”

Qing Shui greeted Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-li somewhat depressingly. Of course, Qing Shui didn’t forget to flash a gentle smile at the two beautiful ladies that was obviously from the MIsty Hall.

“Qing Shui, come on. Defeat him and I will introduce to you these two pretty ladies after that.” Huoyun Liu-li’s voice was loud enough to shock the nearby crowd in the area.

“Liu-li, looks like your relationship with him is not as ordinary as we think.” The girl on the left smiled as she said gracefully.

Qing Shui greeted Fei Wuji, then walked towards the arena.

Qing Shui didn’t think that there would be such a huge crowd today. There were obviously a lot more people surrounding the arena today than the other day during the fight with Sword Tower.

Qing Shui also came up empty-handed, since he had seen Xi Ri walked up to the arena empty-handed earlier. Qing Shui wasn’t afraid to fist fight with opponents of higher training, much less fighting with Xi Ri, who was apparently even weaker than himself.

As Qing Shui went up to the arena, Xi Ri stood up straight. In an instant, he showed his gentle demeanor, which silenced the crowd surrounding the arena.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense on the arena. A lot of people could instantly feel a strong pressure in the air.

“Xi Ri’s Gigantic Spiritual Suppression has improved greatly!”

“Ah, so Xi Ri was learning the Giant Spirit Divine Fist!”

………….

“My kung fu style is by using my fists. If you are using a weapon, please go and bring it.” Xi Ri warned Qing Shui when he saw him coming up empty-handed.

Whatever it was, his words sounded pleasant to Qing Shui’s ears. Qing Shui could tell that he was, at least, a straightforward and open-minded man who followed a set of principles whenever he did his business.

Qing Shui nodded his head silently. He clenched both of his fists, indicating that he would use them to fight as well.

At the same time, when Qing Shui clenched both of his fists, he was filled with great power. He then let out a gigantic thunderous roar that echoed around everyone’s ears.

Their powers clashed and Xi Ri abruptly cried out as well!

The piercing cries seemed as if it could almost penetrate through Qing Shui’s roars!

After he let out a piercing cry, Xi Ri’s body suddenly became burly and strong. It was as if he became a force that could tear down a sturdy wall.

As his body grew larger, his arms became massive and thick, like the size of a grown man’s bulky legs. The arms are at least one-third from his original size. Both arms glowed in a golden light.

A pair of humongous fists, which looked extremely invincible, were rushing rhythmically towards Qing Shui’s direction.

“This is the Legendary Grade, Earth Element: Giant Spirit Divine Fist!”