Chapter: 988 (1/2)
AST 988 – The Powerful Four Symbols Formation, White Tiger Strike
Upon reaching the backyard, he could see several people already preparing themselves for the morning practice, including Guo Polu. In these few months, Qingqing had already become pregnant, which was about the same time as Zhu Qing’s pregnancy.
Zhu Qing’s pregnancy was quite sudden, and Qing Shui had thought he would need at least half a month before she would show signs of pregnancy. He hadn’t expected her to be pregnant, much less this quickly. Qing Shui took out his Big Dipper Sword and began to practice his Combination Sword Technique.
Four Moves! Four Moves!
The Four Moves Combination Sword Technique had the ability to increase his power by 40%, which was also an increase of approximately 60 stars in strength. It wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t insignificant either. The more he accumulated, the more his power would grow. Qing Shui’s overall power was already quite decent even without the add-ons from his weapons and armors.
Diamond Qi, Diamond Protection, Diamond Crossing Rivers, Nature Energy, and State of Immovable as Mountains were all self-generating skills that worked continuously alongside his powers. He couldn’t shake them off no matter how much he tried, so Qing Shui stood there silently without moving an inch of his muscles. Qing Shui’s powers had reached a terrifying number – he had reached the mark of 500 stars in strength.
However, that was only a number based solely on his raw strength. If he activated all of his skills in one go, his powers would reach a mark somewhere close to 700 stars. Nevertheless, Qing Shui was satisfied with his current power. At the very least, he wouldn’t need to fear anyone who would pose a threat to him or his family. No matter who they were, he would have the confidence to win the battle effortlessly, unless his opponent was able to somehow break the regulations of the world.
For now, Qing Shui decided to practice his sword moves without using his full strength. He continued to practice with the intention of fully mastering the Combination Sword Technique. He wanted to do this in order to get a good grasp of his sword moves. At the same time, he attempted to grind the sword moves continuously to reach a higher compatibility with his Big Dipper Sword.
Weapons were considered the second life of martial cultivators. A more powerful weapon would not necessarily be better than a weapon that one had grown accustomed to. It was said that the longer a user wielded their weapons, the more spiritualized the weapon would become, as if they understood the user’s intention. The prowess of the weapon would also increase by a magnitude, but to achieve a spiritual bonding with a weapon would not be an easily achieved feat – at least not as far as Qing Shui had seen. What he heard of the spiritual bonding between a user and a weapon was limited to rumors
In any case, he had already mastered the Four Move Combination Sword Technique for a long time. In the meantime, he decided to attempt to upgrade the technique to Five Moves. He wanted to gauge the rate of increasing the prowess of the technique so he would be able to tell how powerful the sword move had become.
The Combination Sword Technique would become twice as difficult each time he had increased the technique’s sword move to the next level. Of course, it would make sense that the formidable force of the sword move would be doubled as well. Qing Shui looked forward to discovering the strength of the underlying secrets of the technique when the sword move was upgraded to the next level.
A ray of morning light slowly appeared in the east. Qing Shui stored away his Big Dipper Sword and started practicing his Taichi Fist, as per usual. When the sun was completely out from the horizon, he would then begin to strike out his Back Connecting Fists.
The number of Qing Clan members around the backyard was astonishing. Some of them were following Qing Shui and performed the Back Connecting Fists, while the others would follow Mingyue Gelou and performed the Tiger Form. On the other hand, Qing Zi, Qing You, and some of the burly disciples had begun cultivating their Bear Steps in the other corner of the backyard.
Their improvements were exceedingly swift. With the guidance of Qing Shui in their cultivation, they would be able to strive forward marvelously. Qing Shui continued his cultivation of the Bear Steps, while Qingqing continued to cultivate her Crane Form alone. Her Crane Form was far more powerful than Qing Shui’s, and her Soaring Crane Steps had already reached an extremely high level too. Unfortunately, she had to stop her cultivation temporary due to her pregnancy.
Half a year had passed since he had come back to stay at home. The members of Qing Clan were on the right track to the path of becoming stronger. In the first two months, Qing Shui was very busy due to his meticulous guidance with every member of Qing Clan. However, felt more relaxed, as most of them were able to move forward with their martial cultivation by themselves. It was like there was a stair guiding them towards their path. The speed of their cultivation was relatively acceptable as well.
Qing Shui would also take two hours every day to teach everyone the Nine Palace Steps, except for Qing Yu, Zhu Qing, and Qingqing. In half a year, most of them were able to master the Duality Steps. Canghai Mingyue and the others, who were essentially higher leveled cultivators, had already mastered the Duality Steps to the peak of its cultivation. They were currently at the stage of a breakthrough for the Duality Steps as they continued to work hard.
The children, on the other hand, had already memorized the fundamentals of the One Origin Steps, so they were able to demonstrate this move gracefully. Children would be more inclined to learn the techniques that required footwork. Qing Jun and Qing Yin were almost at their breakthrough in the Duality Steps, which filled Qing Shui with endless happiness and pride.
Although Qing Ming was a bit weird, he was similarly interested in techniques that required footwork. His mastery of the technique was comparable to Qing Jun’s mastery of the technique, and he was able to demonstrate the Back Connecting Fist and Solitary Rapid Fist to the level that Qing Shui had wanted in just half a year.
Children would always have the habit of comparing with each other, which was why Qing Jun and Qing Yin would try their best in the cultivation of their skills. Qing Shui initially wanted Qing Yin to focus solely on the Taichi Fist, but he had never thought that the little girl would be extremely competitive, so he allowed her to learn the Solitary Rapid Fist too. In any case, cultivating the Solitary Rapid Fist would be beneficial for her cultivation in Taichi Fist, so it was a win-win situation. Additionally, Qing Yin had a passion for drawing, so he would also spend some time to teach her the fundamentals of drawing every day. So far, he had taught her about the drawings of the Hundred Forms of Tiger and Heavenly Talismans.
Ever since Qing Shui came back from the Skysword Sect, he never went back again and continued to stay at home until now. His life was substantial, and he enjoyed every moment of it. Because of his constant presence at home, he was able to get along with the children much better. This was far too different from the time that Qing Yu had refused to let him hold her when he first came back. The situation had changed for the better as she would always look for him to play every single day.
He quite enjoyed the attention he received from Qing Yu. Aside from the twins he had with Canghai Mingyue, he was basically absent when the other children were born. He didn’t even know that Huoyun Liu-Li was pregnant for the extended period of time he was away from home……
Because of that, Qing Shui was determined to be there when Zhu Qing would give birth to their child, and planned to be there until their child turned one year old. Although he was planning to do just that, he couldn’t guarantee that it would be possible as many things could happen in between his child’s birth and growth.
Qing Shui would also take two hours every afternoon to practice some of the formation techniques with the members of Qing Clan. They would work together to form the Five Elements Minor Formation until they were already proficient enough to do so. If they were to encounter opponents of the same level, they could use this formation to strike down their opponents.
Moreover, Qing Shui was able to learn two more formations just recently, and they were the Four Perfections Formation and the Ten Paramitas Formation!
Four Perfections Formation was also known as the Four Symbols Formation. This was a type of death formation that stood in correspondence to the position facing the eye of formation towards the Core Qi, allowing the user’s power to soar exponentially. It also allowed the user to the gain advantages in both offense and defense.