Ancient Strengthening Technique: Chapter 23 – Questions about Martial Grades

“Very well, let me see what that ancient old man taught you!” Qing Yi laughed as she readied her stance for battle.

In fact, Qing Shui had always been extremely puzzled, why was it that Qing Clan’s 3rd generation eldest grandson, Qing Zi, was already considered to be at the “peak” when his cultivation was only at 8th Grade Martial Warrior. In comparison, Qing You at 18, whose cultivation was at the peak of 7th Grade Martial Warrior was considered a genius.

While the 2nd generation of Qing Clan had broken through to 8th Grade Martial Commander, and some had even broken through to the 9th Grade. Qing Luo’s cultivation was at 10th Grade Martial Commander, but he was already over a 100 years old.

Although Qing Zi, who was already 25-26 years old was considered as the leader amongst the 3rd generation, he had yet to step into the Martial General realm. Even if he broke through to the Martial General realm in 5 years and Martial Commander realm in another 10 years of time, he would at most be able to reach the realm of 1st Grade Martial Commander at the age of 40+ . In comparison, the current 2nd generation members who were 40 years of age or older, had at the very least already cultivated to the realm of 8th Grade Martial Commander!

Clearing his mind of distractions, Qing Shui knew that his speculations were right! There was definitely some complications with the cultivation of the 3rd generation. Either that, or the members of the 2nd generations were all peerless geniuses whose talents exceeded even Qing You!  How could there be so many geniuses within the Qing Clan? How very suspicious.

Because of the sparring session, Qing Yi brought Qing Shui to the backyard of the Qing Mansion. This backyard belonged to the Qing Clan. Situated within it was Qing Yi’s house and practice chamber. Other warehouses were also located in it. The backyard was extremely spacious, with 10 meter high walls surrounding it in all four directions. Far off in the distance there were a few black dogs, the size of a bull, lazily lying there, gazing around with vigilance, giving off the appearance of guarding something. These dogs were named Moriyama Tiger Mastiffs, they were similar in appearance to the Tibetan Mastiff of Qing Shui’s past world, albeit much bigger in size, as well as being much more muscular and ferocious!

Sadly, in this world, there were many animals and wild beasts with traits which far exceeded these dogs. Therefore, the mastiffs could only be used as guard dogs in the Qing Clan. Any ferocious beasts that wandered past, could easily slaughter these seemingly oversized Moriyama Tiger Mastiffs for dinner. After all, these Mastiffs only looked deceptively strong, they were no match for any beast with true might.

All these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, after which he looked at Qing Yi who was already prepared, Qing Shui then also entered into his opening stance. To demonstrate his intent, Qing Shui struck out with a single fist. As he struck out, just using his bodily strength, without the aid of his inner Qi, this seemingly slow strike actually caused a gentle wind to be generated around his fist. Containing tyrannical might, his fist travelled in the direction of Qing Yi.

“Ai!” Qing Yi was thunderstruck. Hints of terror and awe flashed past her eyes. Qing Yi knew, just by looking at that single punch. This strike… this strike of his… actually contained power far beyond that of a 6th Grade Martial Warrior!

Qing Yi wasted no time, she summoned her internal Qi and extended her right hand speedily in Qing Shui’s direction, trying to catch Qing Shui’s fist as it neared.

“Keke” Qing Shui laughed slightly, just when his fist was about to come into contact with Qing Yi, he shifted the direction of his attack with breathtaking speed. Qing Shui’s originally tightly clenched fist relaxed as he extend out his index and middle finger, forming the shape of a sword [1] as he swiftly stabbed at the Shao Shang, Yu Ji, Tai Yuan, Lie Que acupoints [2] of Qing Yi’s right arm.

Akin to a frozen statue, Qing Yi stood there mutely in shock! She discovered that her right arm was completely devoid of strength, and was filled with numbness!

She would never have expected that Qing Shui had mastered such a terrifying technique, capable of locking the acupoints and breaking the energy channels of the opponent. Confusion rose in Qing Yi’s heart. This sort of martial arts, although powerful, is extremely difficult to train in. After all, it requires the practitioner to have a profound knowledge about the positions of all the distinct meridians, energy channels, and acupoints. Those who successfully mastered this were doubtlessly heaven-shaking geniuses with a will many times stronger than ordinary people. After all, one would be required to expend exceedingly tedious effort in order to master this technique. The practitioner had to take the reaction of the opponent into account. The speed, the amount of strength and angle of attack. All of these had to be calculated in a millisecond!

“En, it appears that it was true when he said that he learnt a technique that would massively increase his strength. This child is full of surprises, the aura that was emanated when he performed that strike was extraordinary. In addition to that, the technique he performed earlier is rarely seen within Greencloud Continent. Qing Shui had actually made used of the moment where Qing Yi had been momentarily surprised to carry out his attack.

Qing Yi was estatic! Her son had actually managed to reach the realm of <<Breaking Meridians and Locking Acupoints>>! If his intelligence was this high, then there might really be the possibility of him becoming an Alchemist!

Common-Ranked Alchemists were actually only a little bit better off when compared with a Medical Doctor. Using mortal fire to concoct pills, with the rate of failure much higher than success, thus the quality of the pills concocted were low but expensive. After all, the pills concocted succeeded only after a multitude of tries. The reason why there were so few alchemists was because of the cost of successfully grooming one, which far exceeded the fortunes of many clans.

“Our Qing Clan does not have sufficient resources to train an Alchemist.” Qing Yi depressedly sighed.

———————

“Mother, are you alright? Does your arm still feels uncomfortable?”, Qing Shui gently held Qing Yi’s right arm, circulating his internal Qi, which originated from the Ancient Strengthening Technique, and quickly, the pain and discomfort on Qing Yi’s arms dissipated.

“Shui`er, you have grown…” when Qing Shui was transmitting his inner Qi to Qing Yi, she could feel that his internal strength was thick and solid. Now, Qing Yi was thoroughly convinced that the story about the ancient old man was true, her son did indeed have a fortuitous encounter! To her surprise, now that she was observing Qing Shui closely, Qing Yi could sense an unfathomably deep aura imperceptibly emanating out from Qing Shui.

“Mother will allow you to leave the Qing Clan, but, you must take care to put your safety above all things. You are not allowed to venture too far and you must come back by the end of the year to participate in our Qing Clan’s coming of age ceremony!” Qing Yi rustled Qing Shui’s hair fondly. After all, she might not get the chance to do so again after Qing Shui departs for his travels.

“Mother, I want to read the <<Continental Medical Annal>> , << 10,000 Herbology Encyopedia>> and  <<Herbal Combination Formula>>. After the year is over, I should be able to help you with your business!” Qing Shui smiled.

“Okay, having more knowledge is always good, mother will support you. Come, let me bring you to the Qing Clan’s Library.”

Hearing that Qing Yi was bringing him to the secretive Qing Clan’s Library, Qing Shui was filled with excitement. After all, the library was only open to those with the strength of 6th Grade, Martial Warrior and above. Thus, he had never been there before.

“Mother, I have a question regarding Martial Grades!” Qing Shui thought of the question lingering in his heart, and decided to ask Qing Yi.

“Just ask, Mother will not hold anything back from you.” Qing Yi smiled.

“Why is it that our Qing Clan doesn’t really have any Martial Generals? Other than a large bunch of Martial Warriors, the rest of the clan are people like yourself with cultivation levels of Martial Commander. What does this imply? Is there some underlying circumstances that caused this to happen?”

Looking at Qing Shui after hearing a question so far outside of her expectations, Qing Yi visibly paled as her heart shuddered. Why would he ask such a question? This kid, his intelligence is inhumane.. far beyond the scope of geniuses!

“Because… of a certain medicinal pill. With the exception of your grandpa and 2nd uncle, if not for that medicine, the rest of the 2nd generation would only be at the realm of Martial General, or at most, the 1st grade of Martial Commander.

“What the…? There was such a miraculous pill out there? From what mother has said, this pill could increase one’s cultivation level by leaps and bounds, forcibly breaking through from Martial General to Martial Commander!” Qing Shui felt that this was too inconceivable. How could there be such a good thing in the world.

“Not only that, if your potential is high, this medicinal pill can even increase your level from Martial General Grade 1, directly to the peak of the HouTian Realm! Even if their potential is low, at the very least, for normal cultivators, this pill would still be able to increase their levels from Martial General Grade 1, to Martial General Grade 10.” Qing Yi explained.

“What sort of pill could that be..?  What pill could be so miraculous to the point of defying the heavens!?”

[1] Sword Fingers: step 1 – clench ur first, step 2- extend your index and middle finger and hey voila,

[2]