Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)

AST 0091 – Evolution of Ghostly Steps

Qing Shui tightly hugged the soft and yielding body of Shi Qingzhuang. Looking at the redness that flushed her cheeks, her fairy-like appearance caused shivers in his heart. Women were so beautiful, so delicious.

Qing Shui did not know if it was true for other women, but for Shi Qingzhuang, a fragrance was exuded from all the pores of her body; even her perspiration was emitting a light fragrance.

The Emberlion Steed was galloping along the small pathways. Qing Shui continued pressing his manhood into Shi Qingzhuang while tightly hugging her from behind, letting the motions of the Emberlion Steed drive them into pleasure. On and off, Qing Shui would fondle the soft mounds of Shi Qingzhuang, grabbing them with increasing strength as the moans of Shi Qingzhuang got louder and more intense.

“We have arrived at the city gates, so you can get down now. Remember, unless I look for you voluntarily in the future, don’t come looking for me of your own accord. This way, it’s better for both you and me.” Shi Qingzhuang stopped the horse, as she lightly whispered. The hints of the earlier exertions could still be seen from the pinkness of her cheeks.

Qing Shui continued hugging her waist, as he leaned his head over giving Shi Qingzhuang a peck on her lips before dismounting the Emberlion Steed. “Woman, I will take responsibility for this. If you face any troubles, just tell me, I will do my best to help you resolve any and all troubles!”

The downcast gaze of Qing Shui was filled with an iron-like determination. His clear eyes were filled with traces of love as he stared into the eyes of Shi Qingzhuang. Maybe, Shi Qingzhuang could feel the sincerity of Qing Shui’s statement as well. She did not take offense when Qing Shui used the word “woman”, when referring to her. Her only response was lightly nodding her head, before riding away.

That beautiful silhouette gradually got further and further, and finally disappeared from his sight.

It was already afternoon when they had returned back to the city. When he walked past the city gates, the eyes of the guard flickered with a weird light. However, the guard took no actions to stop him as Qing Shui entered the city. Damn, he remembers me? What a good memory.

Walking towards the direction of the Qing Clan, Qing Shui was sighing at how miraculous fate could be. Today, randomly, he and Shi Qingzhuang both lost their virginity to each other. Now that he thought about it, it only happened because of a series of interconnected coincidences. Could it be that from today onwards, his luck was changing for the better? Rolling deep in wealth as well as embracing beautiful women.

Actually, Qing Shui had another thought in his mind. He intended to smash the fiance of Shi Qingzhuang, Situ Bufan to a half-dead state. At the very least, he wanted to cripple the lower body of Situ Bufan, causing him to be unable to procreate.

As he thought of this, Qing Shui suddenly shuddered, wasn’t he too vicious? Then again, thinking of what Situ BuFan did, and what would have happened if he had succeeded caused Qing Shui’s momentarily change of heart to revert back. To deal with scum, why does he still need to care if his methods were vicious or not.

After returning home, Qing Shui went straight to the Hundred Medicinal Gardens. The plethora of herbs planted in the garden were all emitting a vigorous sense of vitality, markedly different from before. Qing Shui previously had watered them with the water he obtained from the crystal pond back in his spatial realm. This resulted in a vigorous Qi being emitted from the herbs. With regards to this, Qing Shui disregarded the puzzlement and suspicions of others by acting hazy about it. Luckily, they didn’t really question it too much. After all, good things were much easier for others to accept.

The days passed by freely. Qing Shui, other than designating a fixed amount of time to cultivate, he spent the rest of his time wandering the streets, looking for treasures. The main things he looked for were spiritual herbs. After all, just by slightly activating the Qi from the Ancient Strengthening Technique, he would be able to sense the vitality emitted by the herbs. This would enable him to easily judge the value of the herb.

The majority of scarce and precious herbs would usually emit a vigorous sense of vitality. This fluctuation caused by the sense of vitality could be easily be detected by the Qi from the Ancient Strengthening Technique. Hence, Qing Shui would visit the other medicinal stores during his free time in hopes of procuring rare spiritual herbs.

During the night, Qing Shui would cultivate in his spatial realm, practicing all the techniques he knew. Ancient Strengthening Technique, the Ancient Flames of Yin-Yang, the Primordial Needle techniques, Ghostly Steps, Solitary Rapid Fist and lastly, his skills in alchemy!

As for Alchemy, Qing Shui still couldn’t practice it unless he had sufficient ingredients to experiment on. What surprised Qing Shui the most, was that his escaping technique, the Ghostly Steps, had evidently increased a great deal in speed. After all, after he ate the agility-enhancing fruits, his speed had doubled! The shadow of Qing Shui in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, flickered incessantly, giving a sense that he was fading in and out of existence. “Hmm, this improvement vastly surpasses the limits of the Ghostly Steps technique, what is going on?”

Gradually, the speed of his footwork got faster and faster. What was most strange was that given the speed of his movement there was actually no sound or wind being produced. Every step he took seemed to flow naturally, like the waves in the ocean, akin to nature.

The corners of Qing Shui’s mouth widened in an arc, as he let out his laughter.

“Inspiration, that’s what’s important!” Qing Shui smile.

As he experimented with his newly improved speed, during the time when he was utilizing the Ghostly Steps techniques, he was seized by a moment of inspiration and started developing his own style of movement techniques based on the fundamentals of the Ghostly Steps. This resulted in his speed doubling again after including the increase provided by the agility-enhancing fruits. With this twofold increase in speed, it also meant that the explosiveness of his attacks would increase by roughly twofold as well. After all, speed is a form of strength.

“Ai!” Qing Shui exclaimed as he discovered that the Ghostly Steps technique had changed into something called the Free Spirit Steps.

“What the? Level up? But why were there no additional techniques unlocked? The only change was the name itself!”

“Free Spirit Steps it is then. Damn it, it seems useless, albeit better sounding when compared to the Ghostly Steps.” Qing Shui helplessly consoled himself as he took stock of the surroundings of his recently upgraded spatial realm.

The growth of the spiritual herbs transplanted was much stronger when compared to the ones in the Hundred Medicinal Garden. The herbs inside the spatial realm could already be considered to be several tens of years old. Glancing about the garden of herbs, Qing Shui suddenly noticed a plum blossom a few meters away. Suddenly, he was seized by an abrupt longing which manifested in his heart, as he recalled a poem in his previous world.

Plum blossoms lie at the corner of the wall

Enduring through the dark and cold it blossoms

Winter comes and the plum blossoms die

But not before the fragrance from the blossoms thrives

He loved the concept that the poem was highlighting. It doesn’t matters if one dies, as long as they had lived brilliantly. Glancing at the various spiritual herbs in his spatial realm, Qing Shui couldn’t help but to be reminded once again of the Xiantian Golden Pellet. Do I really have to resort to it?