## AST 258 – A Woman Is Still A Woman After All, The Amazing Soaring Crane Steps

“Yueyue, don’t worry. Come, let Elder Brother give you a hug…”

Qing Shui didn’t even complete his sentence before Canghai Mingyue abruptly flung herself into the embrace of Qing Shui, collapsing and convulsing in his embrace. Qing Shui could only stand there in shock.

Initially, seeing how depressed Canghai Mingyue was, he had wanted to let her relax. But who would have thought that this would happen. Looking at the shaking Canghai Mingyue in his embrace, Qing Shui’s heart grew numb.

Regardless of how strong or how outstanding, she was still a woman, bound by the emotions of humanity. She knew things would not be as simple as what Qing Shui said, and just thinking of the probability that something would happen to her parents caused her heart to be in chaos.

She didn’t want to appear that weak in front of her parents, and even less let them worry about her. In front of Huoyun Liu-Li, she was the master and wouldn’t possibly break down in front of her. But today, when she met Qing Shui, underneath his warm and comforting words, she saw a shadow of her father. Unable to bear the aching pain in her heart any longer, she embraced Qing Shui, wanting to give vent to all her emotions.

Qing Shui didn’t continue talking, knowing the intensity of the pressure she was feeling. Such a way of venting your feelings wasn’t too bad. He reached out with his hand and gently rubbed her back, helping her to relax.

Canghai Mingyue tightly clutched Qing Shui, as her body continued trembling in his embrace. Underneath the constant motion of Qing Shui’s hand on her back, sounds of sobbing could be heard as he felt a biting sorrow in his heart.

“Yueyue, everything is okay, nothing bad will happen.” Qing Shui gently consoled her, whispering in her ears.

Lifting her head, the expression on her exquisite face was akin to raindrops on a pear blossom. The dark and endless depths of her eyes misted over, filled with tears and redness. She would have never imagined herself collapsing into his arms like this…

Qing Shui was only half an inch away from the beautiful countenance of Canghai Mingyue. A faint lavender like fragrance drifted into his nose, and he really felt like kissing the unique and sexy cherry lips of Canghai Mingyue. However, seeing her sorrowful look, he immediately suppressed his desires and hugged her even tighter.

Tightly embracing the soft and supple Canghai Mingyue gave him an erection. And under the bashful look on Canghai Mingyue’s face, Qing Shui also blushed.

Seeing what Qing Shui looked like, Canghai Mingyue involuntarily laughed, as she pinched Qing Shui’s face before pushing him away. Qing Shui hugged her too tightly and she could still feel an iron rod pushing at her tummy from below.

“Thank you, I will never forget you in this lifetime.” Canghai Mingyue smiled. That resplendent smile shook Qing Shui’s senses, and he took a snapshot of it with his brain, imprinting it in his memory.

What did she mean by that? Did she have a premonition that they wouldn’t be able to evade this calamity?

……………………………………………

He felt extremely free now that he didn’t go to the blacksmith store. Walking back to his residence, Qing Shui initially wanted to go up to the second level, but he suddenly decided to go to the place where he does his daily morning practice. “I might as well practice my skills more.”

Crane Form!

He had already perfected the small success stage, but still had yet to break through to the large success stage despite his constant practice of the Crane form.

Activating the Crane’s Qi and executing Crane Steps, Qing Shui felt slightly distracted in his heart. He involuntarily thought of Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li. After some time, he suddenly heard a commotion and turned his gaze over.

Qing Shui was thunderstruck by their beauty as he looked at Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li who was currently walking over. The two ladies were equipped with the ‘golden battle skirts’ and the jade green battle boots, leaving him stunned with their imposing beauty.

Such height, with long jade-like legs, as well as the faint smile and the elegant aura they had, caused Qing Shui to almost drool as he stared at their hips gently swaying with the wind.

“Qing Shui, didn’t you want to see sister Mingyue in her battle attire? She’s beautiful right!”

“Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful….”

Huoyun Liu-Li was speechless!

Canghai Mingyue shifted her gaze to Qing Shui, as this was already the 6th time he mumbled the word beautiful. “Enough, look at the dumb expression on your face, where would there be people praising others like this?”

Qing Shui chortled, before coming to his senses. Since they knew that Qing Shui was practicing, them being here indicated that they wanted Qing Shui to give them pointers, as they too also wanted to enhance their strength as much as possible.

Even when practicing the ugly and clumsy looking bear form, when the two beauties executed the technique, Qing Shui almost had a nose bleed. Who would have thought that the bear form in their hands would actually be able to exhibit such grace and poise, totally different from the time when he had practiced it in front of Luan Luan, and got shredded into pieces by the harsh words of his daughter.

Sometimes, Qing Shui would guide them, and bodily contact was unavoidable. Keeping a straight face, Qing Shui suppressed his desires and guided them professionally. After that, he demonstrated the perfect stage of the Tiger Form and Deer Cantering, as well as the Crane Form which was at the peak of the small success stage.

When the two ladies executed the crane form, it was obvious that they weren’t proficient with it at all. They resembled a pair of baby white cranes trying to learn how to fly. Qing Shui’s spirit senses could clearly feel the breath and aura of the two ladies changing.

His spiritual senses underwent yet another improvement. Maybe it was because of him duo-cultivating with the Nine Yin body of Qinghan Ye.

Those who are too deep within, would never be able to see as clearly as the one observing from the outside.

Qing Shui unconsciously began practicing the Crane Form, integrating it in his attacks. The concept of “leaving wounds as the sabre passes” felt extremely clear to him. For the first time, he felt an unprecedented fluidity in his attacks.

The two beautiful girls halted as Qing Shui suddenly executed the crane form. His silhouette was like the drifting clouds and flowing water, dancing about beautifully.

Qing Shui finally understood the essence of the crane form, involuntarily thinking of the hanging curtain of the White Crane as it spreads its wings, emulating the posture of an actual crane.

Naturally, the circulating qi gushed around his body. Producing qi while exhaling qi, an unceasing continuous cycle. Qing Shui applied the insight to his soaring crane steps as his silhouette became more and more blurry.

The two ladies only saw Qing Shui’s silhouette shuddering on the spot, but his body didn’t seem to move from it’s original spot. The more Canghai Mingyue watched, the more she realised that there was something wrong. She felt that Qing Shui had already moved many times in the instant they blinked, instead of just shuddering on the spot like this.

Widening her eyes and focusing all her attention, she managed to catch glimpses of Qing Shui appearing in front of her, then moving back to his original spot in the blink of an eye. This speed of his compared to her father, didn’t lose out in the slightest. Not only did she catch glimpses of Qing Shui, she could feel that he took the chance to touch her boobs as well. At this moment, Canghai Mingyue finally discovered that her heart was changing, she had already started to have an unending tolerance for this particular man.

Qing Shui gave an awkward smile knowing that he had been spotted, and in the blink of an eye, he shifted and returned back to his original spot.

Soaring Crane Steps!

Qing Shui also didn’t expect that he would manage to breakthrough to the large success stage of the crane form. His body weight lightened by 20%, and that increment in speed naturally also increased his power by a marginal factor.

The most important thing was that his crane steps had already been upgraded to the soaring crane steps, and under the condition of an increase of three times energy exhaustion rate, he could instantly boost his speed by three times. Although the consumption rate was insane, Qing Shui didn’t complain. He was a firm believer that speed was invincible.

After the breakthrough, Qing Shui felt extremely happy, and guided the two ladies up till noon. The tired ladies glared at Qing Shui. Qing Shui didn’t even pause to let them have a rest throughout the entire morning. From the Deer Cantering Technique to the Crane Form, fully drawing out their potential and exhausting them, doesn’t this fellow know how to cherish girls?

Looking at the sheen of perspiration on their faces, Qing Shui laughed, ignoring their looks of complaint. After which, in order to hasten their mastery, he switched to the Tiger Form and attacked them for real. Naturally, before any of his attacks landed, he would change his fist to a light pat, not forgetting to take advantages of their lithe bodies…

The skies also gradually darkened, and the two ladies went for a bath and change of clothes. Qing Shui also went to prepare for his shower. With the Soaring Crane Steps in his arsenal, he was more confident.

Let the wind and the rain come, he wouldn’t shy away. Thinking of that purple-robed middle aged man as well as the blind old ancestor of the immortal sword sect that wanted to hurt Qing Shui. he was filled with a seething fury. If he had mastered this soaring crane steps earlier, he would have definitely crippled that middle aged man.

“How good would it be if there isn’t a time limit in the Violet Jade Immortal Realm.” Qing Shui sighed, followed by a bitter smile. He shouldn’t be as greedy as a snake trying to swallow an elephant. He should be content with just having such a heaven defying artifact already.

Standing alone in his room, aimlessly doing nothing, he reflected on his memories. He missed his mom, wondering what she was doing now. A mother would unceasingly worry about her son even if he was 1,000 miles away, and it was the same for him. Qing Shui wanted nothing more than to rush off straight towards the Hundred Miles City.

After which, he thought of his fiancee, Shi Qingzhuang, wondering if she’s living well in the Torrid Fragrance Valley. It had been 2 years since he last interacted with her and he couldn’t help feeling that she had grown increasingly colder.

No wonder it was said that there was nothing that could withstand the test of time. Regardless of how impactful, how awe-inspiring and glorious something was, after 10 years, 100 years, 1,000 years, or 10,000 years, it would be buried within the endless river of time that was named history.

The rainbow after the storm. Qing Shui wasn’t afraid of the incoming tempest, but rather, he was anticipating the beautiful rainbow that would come after that!