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?