## AST: Chapter 44 – Coming of Age Ceremony

After witnessing Qing Shui’s flawless victory over Situ Bu Fan, Qing Luo was momentarily rendered speechless, but he managed to recover. Glancing at Situ Nan Tian standing there with a stony expression on his face, standing there laughing awkwardly, every time Qing Luo thought of the words Qing Shui said after he exited the arena, he would involuntarily cringe. “I’m only at the 3rd Grade of the Martial Warrior Realm. As everyone knows, I’m trash when it comes to cultivation. I only managed to win simply because I have more brute strength than others.”

Wasn’t this equivalent to Qing Shui slapping the faces of those who had participated in the competition earlier? However, Qing Luo loved it. This is how a man should be! Strength decided everything, only with sufficient strength would one have the authority to speak.

Situ Nan Tian wanted to find a hole and hide his face. Even after thousands of calculations, no matter how he calculated, never did he expect himself to miss out on the fact that this trash, Qing Shui, could defeat Situ Bu Fan! Only now did he know that the “trash” that was ridiculed by everyone in the Qing Village was actually their hidden ace. Shaking his head, he sighed “Qing Luo… Ah, you cunning old fox.”

What Situ Nan Tian didn’t know was that Qing Luo was also kept in the dark regarding the true strength of Qing Shui!

Initially, Situ Nan Tian’s plan was to bring along Situ Bu Fan, who had already broken through to the 3rd Grade of the Martial General Realm to fully suppress the Qing Clan’s members. Who knew that, the opposite occurred instead, turning the Situ Clan into a joke of such huge proportions that it may even be spread to Hundred Miles City.

After the battle concluded, Qing Shui became the youngest expert of the Qing Clan. Using only a single move he knocked the 3rd Grade Martial General, Situ Bu Fan into unconsciousness. What kind of strength did he really possess? At the bare minimum, to be able to do as he did, his level of cultivation should be at least a grade or two higher than Situ Bu Fan.

While he had had his share of the limelight, Qing Shui knew that trouble would soon follow. Firstly, let’s not talk about other things, just merely the questioning of his family alone would give him a headache. Luckily, Qing Shui had long anticipated that there would be a day like this, and had made preparations for it. The lies which he unwillingly fed to Qing Yi earlier in the year would be the light leading him out of this tunnel.

After Qing Shui came down from the stage, he could see the expressions on the 3rd generation clan members ranging from awe, surprise, respect and even worship. In the past, the 3rd generation clan members would always looked up to Qing You, admiring his muscular frame and unruly strength. However, only now did they discover that the “trash” in everyone’s eyes was a person that vastly surpassed what they had always known to be the epitome of strength. A person that silently endured their harsh words and torment, hiding his true strength until there was a reason for him to no longer do so. How could they not help but admire Qing Shui?

Everyone in the Qing Clan knew that Qing Shui had always been expending all his efforts to the point of disregarding food and drink, all for the sake of improving his cultivation. Despite this, he had always been labeled trash. If he didn’t work hard enough, and his strength was low, then people would say that he was nothing but a lazy bum. If he had worked even harder, but with no improvements to his cultivation, people would only say that he is dumb and stupid. Truly, strength was everything. Weakness meant that no matter what he did, he would always be in the wrong.

When compared to the 3rd generation clan members, the 2nd generation and Qing Luo had only felt a deep sense of shock with regards to the prowess Qing Shui had displayed. A person who possessed strength, yet he was willing to be labeled trash. He spent years after years enduring painstaking cultivation to temper himself, and withstanding the loneliness and as well as suffering the sarcastic remarks and gossiping of others. A 15 year old youth actually had the mental fortitude to bear all of that?

After Qing Yi saw Qing Shui, she rushed over to embrace him in a hug. To think that this child of hers had the strength all along, yet chose to endure it. Her child had really grown up. She knew that the reason why Qing Shui had expended so much efforts on cultivation was because previously, no matter what he tried, he had been unable to cultivate! Now that the heavens had given the chance back to him, of course he would grab it.

What Qing Yi didn’t know was that, the true reason of why Qing Shui strived so hard was to seek redress for her! A redress for being driven out of the rightful home of her husband! If she knew it, that Qing Shui’s efforts were only for herself, she would probably be dumbstruck.

“Shui gege, you are so powerful. I too, can’t stand the nauseating actions of that pretentious prick, Situ Bu Fan. Suffering from the delusion that he is the strongest in the world. He simply stinks of arrogance! But now, it’s great! Shui gege actually crushed him with a single move, and even caused him to spit out blood. Even if he recovers, all his face and pride will be gone.” Qing Bei gleefully spoke, as if she was the one that had defeated Situ Bu Fan. She excitedly chattered away as the smile on her face only got wider and wider.

“Haha talk about yourself. Xiao bei, you better wait for Lan Yan`er to find you. You actually caused her to suffer such a disgrace.” Qing Shui laughed, as he interrupted Qing Bei’s ceaseless chatter.

Qing Shui knew that there was bound to be an “interrogation session”. Soon after, as expected, under the gaze of Qing Luo, Qing Shui once again fed the lies about the ancient old man in the mountains that he had once told Qing Yi, to the rest of the members from the 2nd generation. Although they were still somewhat hesitant to believe in him, the results he had displayed earlier couldn’t lie. After all, seeing is believing right? Furthermore, Qing Shui was famed for expending untold amounts of effort in his cultivation!

Even so, they still had doubts as to why Qing Shui was still unable to break through the 3rd layer of the Blue Lotus Art. After discussing it for sometime, they could only conclude that Qing Shui’s body was unsuitable for cultivating the Blue Lotus Art.

After the battle, the name Qing Shui resounded throughout the whole of the Qing Village, and became the example of the younger generations. Initially, when Qing Shui was labeled as a trash, he had been very low profile and no one would even look twice at him. Now that he was famous, suddenly everyone realized how exquisite looking his features were. For the past few days, Qing Shui discovered that there were plenty of people which he was not acquainted with coming forth to speak to him. There were even plenty of females in the village that cast shy glances at him. All of this caused Qing Shui to be at a loss as to whether he should laugh or cry. In addition to that, there were plenty of proposals for marriage being brought out, however, they were all rejected by Qing Shui. What he wanted now was to quickly reach the XianTian realm. After that, how would he be worried about not being able to get a wife?

During the 10th day of the chinese new year, Qing Shui and the rest underwent the coming of age ceremony. The ceremony was of paramount importance in the world of the nine continents. Only after the ceremony would they be legally considered adults. Marriage, having children, setting up a family and starting your own career, all that could only be condoned after one had gone through the coming of age ceremony.

The things to note during the ceremony were very simple, one simply had to bow to the heavens, the earth and their ancestors before it was concluded. Alongside Qing Shui, there was also Qing Shan and Qing Shi undergoing the ceremony with him.

Qing Shan did not like cultivation, so he would be send out to the Hundred Miles City to conduct some of the businesses under the Qing Clan. Qing Shi on the other hand, was passionate about cultivation, but unfortunately his talent was limited, and had only reached the 4th layer of the Blue Lotus Art at the age of 16.

Before this, everyone had thought that the three of them would be sent to out of the village to help in the Qing Clan business in the Hundred Miles City. Never did they expect that Qing Shui was like a shining gem fallen from the stars.

Especially Qing Luo, he felt that the situation had happened too fast, as if it was surreal. Initially after the Situ Clan caused humiliation to the Qing Clan, defeating Qing You of the same age with only a single move, never would anyone have thought that the trash of the family actually jumped out and turned the tables back on the Situ Clan! At that moment, Qing Luo was still lost in shock, unable to believe his eyes.

“Ah, happiness usually occurs at the most unexpected moments.”

—-

The coming of age ceremony ended quickly, now that everyone knew of Qing Shui’s potential, how would the Qing Clan sent him out to merely run their businesses?

Contrary to everyone’s expectation, Qing Shui actually volunteered himself to go to the Hundred Miles City and help Qing Yi. Facing plenty of objections, with Qing Yi included. Qing Shui did not relent. Once he had decided on something, Qing Shui would rarely change his mind. In the end, he had to mix lies together with truth, and told Qing Luo that his cultivation had reached a critical stage and it would probably help if he went out to experience new things…