## AST 282 – An Exquisite Lady, Heavenly Palace Sword Art

However, Qing Shui put it out of his mind after thinking about it for a few moments. If it were not for his Nine Animals Mimicry Technique, just looking at the sculptures, he would have known that it was a type of Beast Form Fist martial arts that could be cultivated.

The next tens of monuments all had depictions of the deer. The details were all finely sculpted, extremely exquisite; Qing Shui still carefully contemplated the monuments, immersing himself in enjoying the art. Time passed by, and it was already sunset by the time he ‘woke’ himself up.

He then hurried to Cang Wuya’s residence. Fei Wuji was there as well, as Qing Shui hurriedly offered his greetings. It was needless to say that the dinner was prepared by Qing Shui. The taste of the food he prepared could already be described as heavenly wonders. Cang Wuya, Fei Wuji and the two girls sampled each of the dishes and were extremely satisfied with them. Other than that, he also left many taste enhancing ingredients for them.

Doing so indicated that there would be a period of time in which he would not be coming here, so he decided that he wanted to finish reading the inscription stele first.

Returning to his residence, as usual, Qing Shui spent four hours training inside his spatial realm. When he was in it, he studied the portrait of beauty once again, sighing as he took note of how vivid the portrait was, especially the eyes and the smile, so vivid as though it was alive. After training, he channeled his efforts into alchemy, stabilizing his Obscure Realm foundation of the Basic Sword Techniques, and his Taiji Fist also unexpectedly broke through to the Obscure Realm! Taiji encompassed both hard and soft, the ability to use the laws of softness to counter the ‘hard’ force of others; it would be of immense help to him in the future.

Training was always extremely tough in the spatial realm, but it was time well spent. One ounce of hard work equated to one ounce of reward, causing Qing Shui to feel joy every time he felt himself powering up. Thinking of his mom, the Yan Clan, his goddess master Yiye Jiange, how could this level of training be considered arduous?

After all, one could not achieve wealth and glory without first undergoing trials and tribulations!

On the second day, when Qing Shui went to the public square for his daily morning practice, he realized there were already almost over ten thousand people there doing the same thing as him. Luckily, this public square was big enough. Not only that, there was also an elder from the Heavenly Palace conducting the morning practice.

The Elder gestured and as they saw that, the disciples in the public square stopped what they were doing, falling silent. This was truly a great sect indeed. Qing Shui couldn’t help but be impressed, at the very least the Starmoon Hall was united and unity was strength.

“Everyone look over here. Today I shall explain the concepts of our [Heavenly Palace Sword Art]. Pay close attention, I shall explain and demonstrate it once.” The Elder’s voice was soft but had a penetrative power and resounded throughout the public square.

Upon hearing the [Heavenly Palace Sword Art], Qing Shui knew that the Heavenly Palace possessed many consummate techniques. After all, skills on the level of the Heavenly Thunder Slash and the Divinity Protection weren’t something everyone would have the chance to learn.

“There are thirty-six moves to the [Heavenly Palace Sword Art], so don’t underestimate this. This is a Xiantian Heaven level technique and is only a single step away from the legendary tier.”

Hearing the words of the Elder made Qing Shui want to laugh. After all, the old man was right. Xiantian Heaven level techniques were only a single step away from the legendary tier... but the step was akin to the distance between Heavens and Earth.

Qing Shui immediately focused when the Elder explained and demonstrated the swordplay. After all, he only knew sword moves from the basic sword techniques and the sword of third wave. Even that couldn’t be considered as having mastered any complete set of sword techniques before. A Xiantian Heaven level technique was already incomparably precious. After all, legendary and god tier techniques were as rare as phoenix feathers and kirin horns.

“The [Heavenly Palace Sword Art] is also known as the Falling Thunder Swordplay. The sword techniques within this set of swordplay would borrow the might of thunder to power it. It’s said that when one practises this to the peak, they would be able to summon lightning and thunder from the skies, electrocuting their opponents with the aid of Heavens. This set of swordplay was created by our founder, but ever since he passed away, no one has managed to break through to the realm of summoning lightning and thunder.”

Qing Shui studied the movements of the Elder. His stance was like galloping thunder, explaining the crux of the swordplay with every sword move he made.

Two hours later, the lecture ended after the Elder explained and demonstrated ten moves. The disciples then began to put what they had absorbed into practice. Because Qing Shui’s Basic Sword Techniques were at the Obscure Realm, it took only half the effort for him to produce twice the results. Not only that, he had an indelible memory and with his insane comprehension speed, he had already understood the ten moves from the Falling Thunder Swordplay. It was just that his movements and attacks using the set of swordplay weren’t refined enough yet. Despite this, when he executed the movements, he looked extremely impressive.

Looking at the numerous disciples standing in the public square, the majority of them were males, which caused the females in the crowd to especially stand out. Just three females standing alone, it was like a beautiful oasis in a desert. The contours of their bodies, their jet black hair fanning out in the wind, could basically be considered as eye candies.

“Hi!”

Suddenly, a clear voice rang out beside him. Turning his head, Qing Shui discovered a petite and beautiful lady smiling at him.

The lady looked extremely refined, and had a pair of extremely large eyes with pureness radiating forth from them. Her cherry lips when matched together with her straight nose and chiselled features were like a masterpiece of art. She had that girl-next-door look, a stark difference from the celestial beauty of Yiye Jiange, the empire-toppling beauty of Canghai Mingyue, and the charm that people would die for of Huoyun Liu-Li.

“Hi, is there something you need from me?” Qing Shui smiled.

“I’m in awe when I see how you train. Could you give me a few pointers to guide me along?” The pure, crystal-like eyes of the girl gazed adorably into Qing Shui’s eyes.

“Sure, my expertise may be insufficient to guide, but I’m more than happy to exchange pointers with you,” Qing Shui replied.

“Thank you!” The petite girl laughed, flashing a perfect smile, appearing extremely adorable.

Qing Shui watched as the girl practised. From her movements, he could tell that her comprehension level wasn’t bad, just that there were some movements of hers that didn’t flow well together, but there weren’t any other major problems.

Qing Shui demonstrated the set of moves at a slower speed, pointing out the mistakes and guiding her to do better, using his insight from the Obscure Realm, modifying some of the moves. After everything was concluded…

“Thank you, my name is Yan Ling’er, nice to meet you!” The girl happily remarked.

“My name is Qing Shui,” Qing Shui smiled.

“Brother Qing Shui, thank you!” After that, the girl departed, the movement of her figure running off was akin to a butterfly flying away.

Qing Shui rubbed his nose and laughed as he proceeded to the back of the mountains. He kept thinking of the stone depictions he saw, wanting to sense the ‘spirituality of the beast’ within them. Arriving back there, he continued from where he left off and continued trying to comprehend them. Abruptly, as his eyes landed on the sculpture depicting the tiger, he had a huge shock! This was the first time he felt so shocked. Could it be that the carving of the tiger could help him further master his Tiger Form? He had a strong sense that he would be able to gain more insights from this. Shaking his head about, he also noticed another monument with the picture of a snake depicted on it.

“Damn, I better do this step by step, and not aim for the moon so fast.” Qing Shui decided to focus first, trying to gain insights rather than flooding his mind with the depictions of the various animals. The first tiger depiction was of a tiger roaring, as it faced the heavens. Just from this carving, Qing Shui could sense the aura of command and awe inspiring majesty from it, as though it was defying the heavens. Qing Shui stared at it till he felt the blood in his body boiling, and upon the gushing of his blood, Qing Shui sensed a kind of concept, the insights gained slowly, transforming his aura, confidence, and even increasing his powers. He then turned his gaze and observed the carvings of the tiger climbing and descending the mountains, the tiger hunting its prey in the jungle, causing Qing Shui to feel that the concept contained within these carvings were of an even higher level compared to that of the tiger portrait he got in the past. His aura was definitely undergoing a change, albeit just a little. Somehow, he could still improve despite his Tiger Form already reaching the Great Perfection stage.

Then what about the rest of his Forms which still had not reached the Great Perfection level? He didn’t even know how much time would he need to finish gaining insights from these thousands of carvings because he still didn’t know what animal forms were depicted in the carvings on the monuments ahead of him!