Qing Shui had never felt better in his entire life! It was akin to someone dying of thirst in the desert and suddenly a huge source of water appearing in front of him. This sense of contentment was a type of feeling that resonates with both one's body and soul.
Qing Shui slowly walked out of the basement.
"Mother dearest.." Qing Shui jubilantly called out.
Qing Yi was pleasantly surprised, Qing Shui had only been mediating for a short while. She still had not recovered from the elation she felt when Qing Shui entered the meditative state with ease, and now Qing Shui appeared to have completed his training.
"Mother, I have managed condensed Qi! However, it is very thin, just like a strand of hair."
These words left Qing Yi dumbfounded. Her graceful, jade-like face turned red and her lips started to tremble..
"Qing Shui, quickly give me your hand!" Qing Yi eagerly said.
Qing Shui obediently obeyed, presenting his hands to Qing Yi. Qing Yi extended her own graceful, snow-white and jade-like hands, taking Qing Shui hands into hers.
"Qing Shui, quickly circulate your Qi based on the formula of the Blue Lotus Art."
After awhile, Qing Yi emotionally embraced Qing Shui and kissed him twice on his cheeks.
"Shui'er, you are a genius… a real genius." Qing Shui said with a hint of excitement in her voice. Of course, Qing Yi would only lose her composure in front of her son.
Seeing how happy Qing Yi was, Qing Shui's heart was also filled with warmth. He knew that although Qing Yi usually appeared to be very happy and always wore a smile on her face, she was merely acting strong for his sake. This time though, Qing Shui knew that Qing Yi was genuinely happy from the depths of her heart.
"Mother will be going first to prepare some delicacies for my little genius." Qing Yi said while she patted Qing Shui's head lovingly.
After Qing Yi left, Qing Shui shook his head in helplessness. His actual age was not that much younger than Qing Yi's. However, with his current small body frame, he would have to talk in a way similar to that of a child. He also felt that the praises he received from adults were said in a nauseously sweet manner.
With a mother like this, even if the heavens tumbled down Qing Shui would still be unconcerned, Qing Shui only wish right now was for this woman whom he called mother to be happy.
It may be because of her good mood recently, but she had a much better appetite compared to the past. It was the same for Qing Shui, but he did not know that the actual reason for this was because of his intensive training as well as the fact that he could finally relax and be happy.
"Mother, let me go out to stretch my legs for now. I will join the rest of our clan members for cultivation practice tomorrow."
Qing Shui was blinking his beautiful eyes and smiled at her with a hint of confidence that had been absent until now. He did not believe that he was weaker than the rest of the 3rd generation martial students.
Qing Shui would only show this smile containing a childish countenance in front of Qing Yi.
And everytime Qing Yi saw Qing Shui's beautiful eyes, her memories would dredged up involuntarily, she could not help but become distracted, albeit recovering quickly.
Qing Shui walked out of Qing Mansion and returned to a secret cave he discovered during his time of exploring the mountains. For the past few days, this cave was the place where he had practised the Ancient Strengthening Technique.
The cave was very small, only having the space of a single room. When Qing Shui first discovered the cave, he was filled with excitement and carried the hope of finding some mysterious treasure or top tier martial arts manuals within it. Contrary to his expectations, he found neither of the above. He only found a thumb-sized piece of oval jade pendant after ransacking the cave. The pendant was somewhat worn and tattered, initially he did not want to keep it. However, as he took a closer look at it, he noticed that there was a Yin-Yang symbol inscribed on the pendant! Thus, he decided to keep it. The pendant produced a warm feeling when he touched it.
He was reminded of the Yin-Yang symbol within his sea of consciousness and decided to wear the pendant around his neck, hidden inside his clothes.
After he found it, he would come to this cave everyday and leave after cultivating the Ancient Strengthening Technique. Today was no exception, despite countless disappointment as he struggled to understand the first layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, he would still come back to this cave and cultivate it every single day. The thought of giving up had never crossed his mind.
Previously, Qing Shui was still unable to master the first layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique. There was supposed to be a formation of a flow of Qi, making the Dan Tian become something akin to a whirlpool.
But today, today was different. After successfully condensing the single strand of Qi from cultivating the Blue Lotus Art, a small cloud of mist had formed within his Dan Tian.
Sitting down cross legged, Qing Shui activated the Ancient Strengthening Technique. To his surprise, the strand of Qi which appeared after cultivating the Blue Lotus Art had actually begun to circulate through his meridians and energy channels as dictated by the Ancient Strengthening Technique!
Qing Shui was a little confused.
After circulating the Qi for sometime, that single strand of Qi seemed to have become slightly thicker, the flow of Qi also got stronger.
Could it be that, this was the purpose of the Ancient Strengthening Technique? It needed a catalyst before it could be activated? The strand of Qi from the Blue Lotus Art was the catalyst it needed! That may be the reason why the Ancient Strengthening Technique has different layers.
The Ancient Strengthening Technique could be differentiated into 9 different layers, representing the 9 heavens. In the early stages of the technique, one could temper one's Dan Tian. In the later stages, one could even reach Core Formation!
"Forget it, I will cultivate first and worry about the rest in the future."
Qing Shui cautiously circulate his Qi while closing his eyes. Unknown to him, when his Qi was circulating according to the path of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, when it flowed to his chest the pendant around his neck started to glimmer with faint traces of light. The traces of light were extremely pure to behold, it was not dazzlingly bright, but it was still exceptionally beautiful.
This was not noticed by Qing Shui. While cultivating along the path designated by the Ancient Strengthening Technique, after the Blue Lotus Qi completed a grand cycle of circulation [1], Qing Shui realised that there were now 2 streams of Qi. 1 yellow and 1 blue, converging together in his Dan Tian.
Unknown to him, his Dan Tian had also evolved, forming a whirlpool of Qi. He could vaguely feel that the whirlpool of Qi was constantly revolving. Qing Shui could feel that it was capable of producing immense amounts of energy!
"So my guess was right, the Ancient Strengthening Technique needed a catalyst before it could be activated.. No wonder I previously failed so many times."
The Qi from the Blue Lotus Art was light blue in colour, so that yellow Qi should have originated from the Ancient Strengthening Technique." Qing Shui deduced.
"Finally, the formation of the flow of Qi have succeeded, in the future, I will depend largely on the Ancient Strengthening Technique and the continually rotating symbol of Yin Yang in my sea of consciousness to slowly refine my body and strength to a terrifying stage. At that stage, without the use of any martial techniques and just based on the toughness of my body alone, I should be comparable to an expert."
"I absolutely cannot slack off in my cultivation of the Blue Lotus Art. At the very least, I must reach the ninth Lotus Manifestation Stage." What a pity that the later stages of cultivation methods had been lost. Qing Shui dejectedly shook his head. He felt that Qing Yi should know something about the missing cultivation methods, it was just that she could not tell him at this moment in time.
"Never mind, mastering the Ancient Strengthening Technique is more important than the Blue Lotus Art. After all, I want to train in the Blue Lotus Art as a means of deceiving others, hiding the existence of my Ancient Strengthening Technique."
"Today, I have managed to comprehend the basics of the initial layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, it could be said that it's a good start. I should not overthink things. Like mother said, pride comes before a fall. It will be better for me to take one step at a time."
Only after ending his practice did Qing Shui realise that there was an oily, black layer of filth, emitting an unpleasant smell, excreted from his pores.
Could this be… Impurities Cleansing?