## AST 926 – Raising, Finishing Touch, New Year Is Here

The union earlier was untiring and filled with wild demands. Mu Qing was currently lying in Qing Shui’s arms. The flush on her face hadn’t faded yet. Such a breathtaking sight was visually stunning.

“Are you satisfied?” Qing Shui’s hand lingered on that fair skin that was as smooth as jade.

Mu Qing didn’t say anything and only covered both Qing Shui’s eyes bashfully……

Qing Shui laughed in amusement at her adorable action. He affectionately pulled her into a tight embrace, enjoying the warmth after all this rain and wind.

“Qing’er! What’s your strength now?” Qing Shui asked with a smile.

When they were engaged in the embarrassing act earlier, she discovered that her dantian felt as if it had suddenly exploded. Her strength had improved by leaps and bounds, but then she was very quickly drowned by that wonderful sensation…..

She had only recalled it now that Qing Shui was asking her. She had never expected that her strength could be raised this way. But now that Qing Shui had asked her, Mu Qing looked at him in disbelief after she tried sensing it.

She slowly got up from lying on top of Qing Shui. Since she was completely naked, those perky and delicate breasts sprung in Qing Shui’s face like a pair of rabbits. Her sensitive nipples even brushed the tip of Qing Shui’s nose.

Qing Shui was dazed before burying his face in those soft and fair mounds, greedily breathing in their fragrance.

………

“More than 60 stars!” Mu Qing looked at the man who was riding on top of her. This man was like a tireless wild beast. He didn’t really take a breather from the beginning until now.

Qing Shui was enjoying the pleasure that was highly addictive. He knew that Mu Qing was talking about the increase of her physical strength and cultivation arts. More than 60 stars. She was another step closer to the so-called Martial Emperor realm.

This was beyond Qing Shui’s expectations. Mu Qing’s strength was initially very powerful already. She was even stronger than him before he had broken through to Martial Emperor. However, that didn’t mean that her destructive power was higher than his. But why was her strength raised more than twofold this time……?

Could this have something to do with him breaking through to Martial Emperor?

Qing Shui was a little puzzled, but then he was no longer surprised. When Mu Qing’s strength was raised tremendously, he could feel it. Other than that, his strength had also had a tremendous breakthrough.

Now that his physical strength had also been increased by nearly ten stars, that meant his physical strength had achieved 70 stars in total. Nevertheless, this made Qing Shui feel excited. Although the increase wasn’t as much as Mu Qing, it was still quite a lot.

He just didn’t understand why Mu Qing would receive that much of an increase. It must’ve had something to do with him breaking through to Martial Emperor. Most importantly, Mu Qing’s constitution was quite a rare gem and she could absorb energy. Her speed and ability of absorbing Spiritual Qi were overwhelmingly strong. Both her constitution and beauty were not in the least inferior to the ladies in the Portraits of Beauty. This was also the first time where Qing Shui’s strength increase was less than his partner during a Duo Cultivation.

But Qing Shui didn’t only get an increase in physical strength, his spirit energy also had a tremendous change. Compared to spirit energy, that increase of ten stars in strength was next to nothing.

For Qing Shui, the change in spirit energy this time was a good finishing touch to this phase and a perfect one at that. It kind of felt like bringing a painted dragon to life by drawing in the pupils of its eyes. This made him feel happier than getting his strength increased by 50 stars. The Primordial Flame Ball had been very powerful before, but somehow something was lacking and he couldn’t put a finger on it. It was only now that Qing Shui felt it could display its mightiest prowess. It was just like how standing higher would allow one to see further, while standing at a lower place would hinder one from seeing further. This was a type of realm. Besides his ‘vision’ had also been increased immensely, so the benefit he had received this time was no doubt great.

The brightness of the Yin-Yang Image in his sea of consciousness had increased by one fold compared to before. Its size had only been increased a little but its thickness seemed to have increased by quite a lot, becoming increasingly corporeal

From now on, his spirit energy could be considered a big trump card. He couldn’t tell how many times his spirit energy had been raised compared to when he was in the Crystal Palace. He was wondering if it could match that woman’s spirit energy.

But at least he would definitely not be confined by her again.

Everything happened in just a brief moment. When he snapped back to reality, he carried on doing the most pleasurable thing in the world.

………

After exiting the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation, Mu Qing’s countenance appeared to be slightly unnatural. She excused herself to the bedroom and fled with a red face after throwing a look at Qing Shui.

Qing Shui secretly reminded himself to give her happiness, as he watched her disappearing beautiful silhouette.

He then started to arrange the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation and was able to succeed very easily. He went in there to familiarize himself before coming out again. He stood there deep in thought. The realm of the formation seemed to have a relation to the spirit energy of the person who set it up. If a formation was under the spiritual sense of the person who set it up, then there was a trick to covering it up. Otherwise, the space beyond every gate of the formation was spacious. Attempting to cover it with spirit energy was easier said than done.

The days passed by!

Qing Shui had been very happy for the past few days. During the day, he spent his time with Mu Qing in the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation to raise her strength. At night, he spent his time in her bedroom, holding the woman that all the men in the capital city were infatuated with in his arms and making her writhe in pleasure…..

Mu Qing knew Qing Shui couldn’t stay here for too long, so she had been sleeping with him every night. She wanted to engrave and deepen the mark that Qing Shui bestowed to her, so that it would last in her heart……

New Year had arrived without them realizing it!

New Year was tomorrow and it was celebrated throughout the World of the Nine Continents. New Year should be observed no matter where you were. This was a joyous day to be celebrated. Although it might be celebrated differently in some places, New Year celebrations were virtually the same. Firecrackers and fireworks were a staple.

The more flourishing a place was, the louder the firecrackers would seem to be and the more brilliant the fireworks would be. Qing Shui was a little speechless when he saw the firecrackers and fireworks that the Mu Clan were preparing. They were actually the size of an adult. These were definitely not allowed at all in his previous world.

Although New Year was coming, some people of the Mu Clan never stopped their cultivation. But Qing Shui did as he pleased. However, he wasn’t interested in going out, because he still had to instruct the people of the Mu Clan.

Mu Qing looked at Qing Shui apologetically. They continued doing this until evening, before everyone stopped and went back home to freshen up. It was only now that the whole year had truly passed.

“Qing Shui, I haven’t walked around the city’s big streets for a very long time. Let’s go together!” Mu Qing smiled when she found Qing Shui.

“Sure!” Qing Shui agreed. He wasn’t going to stay much longer and he couldn’t bring Mu Qing along with him when he left. So Qing Shui would agree to anything that Mu Qing asked for.

A happy smile appeared on the faces of the other people from the Mu Clan, as they watched Qing Shui and Mu Qing’s retreating figures. The experienced people in particular could sense something going on between them, but they only had a little suspicion. It would be a wonderful thing if their suspicions were true.

Ever since he arrived in this city, this was officially his first time going out in the streets. Qing Shui basically wasn’t worried now even if he left. With the current strength of the Mu Clan, if someone tried to swallow them now, they wouldn’t be able to get away without getting a few of their teeth busted.

There were invincible powerful cultivators in the Mu Clan. It was also only a matter of time before Mu Qing set foot into the realm of Martial Emperor. It probably wouldn’t take too long for someone with her gift. By the time Mu Qing became a Martial Emperor, her strength would already be terrifying if she was only relying on her Formation Techniques and Four Phases Steps in their current realm.

It wasn’t like Qing Shui didn’t want her to achieve the Nine Palace Steps realm, but he felt like it would be a difficult feat to achieve. The Four Phases Steps seemed to have already hindered her. This realm probably required a very long time to research and polish. The fact that Qing Shui’s Nine Palace Steps was able to attain the large success stage had a close connection with his Ancient Strengthening Technique.

The Four Phases Steps must not be underestimated. Its prowess and profoundness were able to strengthen one’s battle capabilities by a lot. With Mu Qing’s current strength, she would be able to handle an early Martial Emperor cultivator with a strength of over 100 stars.

The big street was extremely lively now that it was nearly New Year. Some stores weren’t really closed up completely because most of the owners lived inside the stores. Although things didn’t sell off too fast during New Year, that was instead actually advantageous to some stores like inns and snack stalls……

Some stores that sold accessories and jewelry would also thrive better than usual during this period of time. Qing Shui only bought some little trinkets at some vendors stalls. These people lived on the bottom rung. Qing Shui had chosen to shop here rather than those luxury stores, because he didn’t fancy any of the stuff sold in those huge stores.

The stuff there was expensive and the merchants were very cunning. Most importantly, Qing Shui didn’t want to contribute any money to them, because the stuff sold there was inferior to the ones that Qing Shui forged himself. Besides, those cheap trinkets sold at the vendors stalls intrigued him more instead.

They also reminded him of the old madam from the Mo Clan. He was acquainted with her because of her small vendor stall. The precious Nine Continents Boots was a gift from the old madam, as well as the Nine Palace Pendant that was worn by Di Chen.

So, Qing Shui would rather shop at the street stalls with goods laid out on the ground. He was even willing to pay extra for the good stuff rather than to shop at those luxurious stores. Qing Shui and Mu Qing were currently buying some small trinkets from one of the vendors stalls. Mu Qing looked extremely happy while holding some of the stuff that Qing Shui had bought for her.

As long it was something from Qing Shui, she’d be happy to receive anything.

“How can you buy this kind of stuff from these trashy stalls for the capital city’s number one beauty?”

A disdainful voice was heard after Qing Shui passed the money to the old woman who sold him the stuff.

If the person didn’t mention ‘the capital city’s number one beauty’, Qing Shui wouldn’t have guessed that the person was talking about him. But now, he knew. He was sure that the previous statement was directed at himself.

Mu Qing frowned and was about to say something before Qing Shui pulled her hand and slowly turned around. He saw a frosty youth that was in his thirties but definitely didn’t exceed forty years old. He was very good-looking and exuded a sharp yet effeminate aura. His lips were a little thin, causing him to appear somewhat unkind.

There were four people behind him, two youths and two elder men. When Qing Shui laid his eyes upon this youth, he was also shocked. This youth’s strength was actually not in the least inferior to Mu Qing’s current strength.

This capital city actually had another figure like this? Qing Shui was very surprised. It seemed like the strength of this big city truly shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Qing Shui, they are from Poison Mountain Stockade,” Mu Qing reminded him from one side.

Poison Mountain Stockade was a powerful sect in this region. As its name suggested, this was a sect that used poison. One would know that this sect must be very powerful just by looking at this young man.

When Qing Shui saw the youth, he understood why he could be this calm and collected. He was currently in the limelight of this region in the city and didn’t expect that someone would still come to pick a fight with him. It seemed like there were many who wanted to use him as a stepping stone.

However, Qing Shui was hesitating now because the two elderly men behind him were also of Martial Emperor grade. It was very normal for this Poison Mountain Stockade to have a few Martial Emperors. After all, they were a famous big sect in this region. But they were all early Martial Emperors. This had also allowed Qing Shui to identify the current common strength. They were usually around Grade One and Grade Two Martial Emperor. Cultivators that were able to reach Grade Two Martial Emperor were all top-notch powerful cultivators.