## AST 459 - One Year Later!! Divine Grade Heavenly Dan? Upper Dantian

Perception!

It was something intangible, clearer than instinct, and was more reminiscent of a realm in itself. Similar to how some of the strongest cultivators in the World of the Nine Continents had a sense of excellence stemming from their inner self, it was very subtle..

This kind of perception not only strengthened Qing Shui’s Spiritual Sense but could cause his talisman drawings to have their own unique presence, giving rise to his own style akin to Lin Zhanhan’s. The old man hadn’t made Qing Shui imitate his talisman, only guided him on the process of drawing a talisman, and, most importantly, let him obtain his own comprehension from the The Ancient Records of Heavenly Talisman.

Qing Shui stood still and by chance noticed the parchment with the Heavenly Dan!

“How could I forget about this?” Qing Shui felt a sense of affection in his heart, not understanding how could he have neglected such an important item and not train in it.

Hurrying over to pick up that thin yellow parchment, he clearly remembered how the Old Ancestor had said he found it by accident and that whether he was able to train in it depended on his luck.

Since the Old Ancestor said it like that, it appeared this book of Heavenly Dan was no ordinary item. Qing Shui vaguely sensed that this Heavenly Dan was not easy to train in.

Picking up this parchment made of an unknown material, Qing Shui sat down on an armchair in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal !

He slowly opened the parchment in his hand.

“The Dantian is a cultivator’s most important aspect. It stores Qi of Xiantian, and the Qi of Xiantian converges and circulates around the origin; the Dantian is like a body’s ocean, and the meridians are the rivers.”

When Qing Shui opened the parchment, the first sentence he saw was an introduction to the Dantian. However, this was common cultivating knowledge. Qing Shui continued to read, because, till now, he still did not know what the Heavenly Dan was.

“The human’s Dantian is located 3 inches below the navel. It actually has another name, known as the Earthly Dan. The Heavenly Dan is located 3 inches below the Shanzhong Acupoint, which is also known as the Upper Dantian!”

[TL notes: The Shanzhong Acupoint is in between the nipples, on the midline]

Upper Dantian…...

Qing Shui now somewhat understood why the Old Ancestor said that it depended on his luck to have a chance at training in it. It was actually the legendary Upper Dantian Cultivation Method.

Qing Shui was uncertain how to feel at the moment; his luck was actually this good, and the Old Ancestor actually gave him an item that could make the entire World of the Nine Continents descend into war for it.

Qing Shui did not think anymore, quieted his heart, and seriously started cultivation the Heavenly Dan!

…...

A full 4 hours went by. Qing Shui slowly put down the Yellow parchment in his hand. Too many individuals from the World of the Nine Continents would know of the Upper Dantian. As long as they were a cultivator, they would know. This kind of mystical technique was undisputedly a Divine Grade technique.

However, now, Qing Shui knew that there was nothing mystical about cultivating the Upper Dantian. He even knew that the human body could only have one chief dantian, which was the Lower Dantian. The Upper Dantian could only be built on the foundations of the Lower Dantian, so once the Lower Dantian was damaged, the Upper Dantian would be useless as well.

Furthermore, the size of the Upper Dantian and the Lower Dantian was not the same. In other words, the Upper Dantian could be said to be a strong Divine Grade supporting technique

There were ten levels in cultivating the Upper Dantian, and only when one successfully unlocked the Upper Dantian could one be considered to have stepped into the 1st level. The effects were also very simple; each level would increase one’s body strength and defense by 1 million jin, whereas speed and spirit energy would only be increased by a small amount.

“Every level adds one million jin of body strength and one million jin of defense!”

When Qing Shui thought about it, he was frantic; this meant that at level 10, it would add the strength of one country to both his body strength and defense.

This technique may seem very simple, but it was actually very profound. It was not like those techniques where the earlier levels were easy to cultivate. Techniques like this one, where every level was equally difficult to cultivate, were actually the hardest to cultivate.

The Heavenly Dan, when Qing Shui read it, sounded a bit profound, but what Qing Shui appreciated most was the fact that many of the techniques he practiced were supporting techniques. Thus, on the topic of supporting techniques, no one understood it better than him. Based on his intuition and his perception into the Minute Subtlety realm, Qing Shui was able to slowly progress forward on this bumpy road.

Qing Shui was of the opinion that he needed to master this Heavenly Dan. Once it had been mastered, stepping into the World stage would be an unequivocal outcome for him and would even allow him to accomplish it a few years earlier.

Half of the day flew by in a flash. Qing Shui put down the Heavenly Dan book, as this was not something that could be accomplished in half a day. Even researching it was a vexing task, no different from practicing a martial art.

Every single combination could create unexpected results, and thus, in the past, Qing Shui would always meditate first and practice later.

Connecting Fist!

Thousand Hammer Technique!

Saintly hands!

…...

Qing Shui practiced rapidly, alternating between the moves as though only skimming the surface of their motions

Heavenly Thunder Slash!

As it was before, the Heavenly Thunder Slash was still in the Truth Realm. However, with the addition of 30% increased strength, it was still pretty good, but it’s a shame the Frenzied Bull’s Strength he had comprehended shortly after eclipsed that with an effect of 40% augmentation in strength. What was even more perverse was the Frenzied Bull's Strength Set that he invented.

Just the Frenzied Bull's Strength alone already added 70% to his personal strength, so it was an unexpected harvest from an unintended action, but this gave him another supporting technique to increase his strength.

The might of the Upper Dantian came from the effects of increasing the body’s strength. Techniques were a method of raising one’s strength, and cultivating in such techniques was like cultivating the body. Martial skills, however, were the method to increase the efficiency of the strength the body possesses.

Cultivation Techniques were much more precious than martial skills, because it was harder to train in cultivation techniques. However, once you have grown stronger and are more proficient, it would be easier to comprehend the martial skill, leading to an increased training speed.

Martial Skills will, more or less, exhibit the strength of the cultivation techniques; the more it is capable of drawing out, the stronger the martial skill. Furthermore, it can also raise its strength as a result of armor and weapons. If we add on Medicinal Pills with their temporary effect, one would capable of reaching a higher level of strength.

They can even weaken the opponent and achieve the effect of simultaneously strengthening the user!

Cultivation techniques could be separated into main techniques and supporting techniques, just like Qing Shui’s Ancient Strengthening Technique. It was for cultivating Qi of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, which made it a supporting technique.

The Blue Lotus Art of the Qing Clan counted as a main technique, as it could even make use of your body’s strength and be used as a martial skill. Although the Ancient Strengthening Technique was a supporting technique, the Tiger form, Bear form, Elephant form, Ape form of the Nine Animals Mimicry Technique that he learned later counts as main techniques.

Basically, in the World of the Nine Continents, as long as you are not a fool, no one will cultivate a pure supporting technique because everyone has limited energy, unless of course the supporting technique is really strong.

If the Heavenly Dan in front of him was such a king of supporting techniques and if others find out about it, he would probably lose his life; this kind of thing, wherever it is, would be high in demands, to the point where people would kill for it.

The strength of a technique and its cultivation difficulty were proportional; the stronger the technique, the harder to cultivate. Although the peak of the technique would cause one to be envious, the number of people who could persevere to that stage were few.

Therefore, to a cultivator, the best technique was the one that was suited to oneself, but in the presence of the epitomical techniques, the number of people who could give it up are little, because humans could never be satisfied.

Following that, Qing Shui started cultivating Medicinal Pellets, Threefold Spirit Concentrating Pill Recipe. He had not expected that he already had all the ingredients; the medicinal herbs he had collected aplenty previously had not been used yet.

The chief ingredient had been changed, but Qing Shui fortunately still had it, although it could only be used for a little while more. After that, it could only be used to cultivate the Twofold Spirit Concentrating Pill. The bottle of Sixfold Spirit Concentrating Pill from the Old Ancestor had not been used yet. Qing Shui intended to use it when he cultivated the Heavenly Dan, as the effects should be better then.

…...

Time flew by really fast, and Qing Shui had already been back in the Heavenly palace for a year!

A year’s time flew by in a blink of an eye.

“Daddy!”

When Qing Shui arrived at Cang Wuya’s place, he saw a little girl running over, and behind her was a Golden Rabbit, hopping towards Qing Shui!

“Girl, where is your Mother!” Qing Shui asked as he carried up Yuchang, who was now 6 years old.

[TL note: 丫头 - Girl, an affectionate way of called a young girl]

“She is cooking, Aunty Liu-li and Aunty Mingyue will be coming over soon.” The young girl said, giggling and hugging Qing Shui’s neck.

Qing Shui looked at the Stonegold Rabbit King running in circles around him. During this period of time, it was mostly monopolized by Little Yuchang; when the young girl saw it, she insisted on playing with it.

Qing Shui brought Yuchang into the living room! He saw Cang Wuya carefreely drinking tea, enjoying it. When he saw Qing Shui, he smiled and invited Qing Shui to have some tea.

“Qing Shui, do you really intend to go to Flowerfruit Mountain?” Cang Wuya asked as he sipped his tea.

Qing Shui nodded his head: “I intend to go in the next few days.”

Qing Shui had been thinking about that treasure map, up till now. Since snatching the treasure map in the Southern City, Qing Shui now finally had the confidence to preserve his own life in Flowerfruit mountain, and thus he wished to go take a look. If he could get some unexpected harvest, then maybe he could achieve his goals sooner.

“Qing Shui, I will not deter you, but you must be careful. Flowerfruit mountain is one of the famous spiritual zones; Peak Martial King demonic beasts can be seen everywhere, some even form groups and roam around, while the most important thing is that the intelligence of the demonic beasts in this kind of spiritual land is higher than that of those elsewhere.” Cang Wuya said softly. He knew that once Qing Shui made his decision, he would not change it.

“En, old man, don’t worry. I still have some confidence in preserving my life!” Qing Shui stated and smiled.

“En, then, in this case, spend a few days with Yuchang, Liu-Li, and the others!” Cang Wuya laughed.

Yuchang had already disappeared somewhere!

“Right, this time when you go out, beware of the Sword Tower, especially the Tan Clan. Given your Fire Bird combined with your current strength, you should be fine, but it does not hurt to be careful.” Cang Wuya took a sip of his tea and reminded Qing Shui.

“Gramps, don’t worry. It is easy to lose them.” Qing Shui thought about his Fire Bird. It had already reach the 3rd level of Martial King in strength, but its flight speed and endurance greatly exceeded those of the same level as it. Furthermore, Qing Shui had the Soulshake bell and the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

The Soulshake bell had been continuously refined by Qing Shui and had finally reached the 5th level.

Qing Shui nodded his head. He had been too busy during this period, even to the point of neglecting the girls around him.

At this moment, Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li came in. They first happily greeted Cang Wuya then Qing Shui and, after that, went into the kitchen to help Mingyue Gelou.

It had been a year since Mingyue Gelou came to stay at Cang Wuya’s place. The two girls also spent a lot of time here, to the point where you would find them visiting at least two out of every three days.

When Cang Wuya had nothing to do, he would train the 3 girls. Mingyou Gelou had already became a Honorary Disciple of the heavenly palace. However, she was personally trained by Cang Wuya, and if others knew about it, they would vomit blood. A Honorary Disciple was actually being personally trained by the Supreme Elder.

“Qing Shui, I am now a 7th level Xiantian. Sister Mingyue is a 1st level Martial King, and Sister Gelou is a 3rd level Xiantian!” Huoyun Liu-li happily told Qing Shui as they ate their dinner.

“Hmm, not bad!” Qing Shui laughed!

“Of course it is not bad, the mistress gave us Sixfold Spirit Concentrating Pills. Qing Shui, why do you think the mistress is so good to us?’ Huoyun Liu-Li looked at Qing Shui in suspicion, but her eyes had a trace of mischief.

“I do not know!” Qing Shui directly said.

“I do not know why, but the mistress seem to be interested in you.”

…..

“Qing Shui, can you bring me along when you go to Flowerfruit Mountain?” After eating, Huoyun Liu-Li asked, sitting beside Qing Shui while sticking tightly to him.

If he brought just her along, Qing Shui felt that he would have eaten her up. Too bad it was too dangerous this time, so Qing Shui shook his head in rejection without having to give it that much thought.

“Just stay in the Heavenly palace and train well. In the future, when I become strong enough, I will bring you around the Nine Continent.”

Although Huoyun Liu-Li enjoyed bickering with Qing Shui or provoking him when she had nothing to do, she knew when it was appropriate to do so and could only nod her head helplessly.

“Then you must be careful. Remember, you promised to bring me around the Nine Continents.” Huoyun Liu-Li looked at Qing Shui with eyes full of worry.

Qing Shui reached out and pinched Huoyun Liu-Li’s cheeks. He thought about how many times he had caused her to cry, the last time being when he was scolded by a crowd all because of a woman. That led Qing Shui to feel very touched, because she was the closest one to him in his heart.

“Didn’t you like this for a while? Here, it’s for you!” Qing Shui took out the Interspatial Silk Sachet he received a year ago and gave it to Huoyun Liu-Li.

“It’s an Interspatial Silk Sachet! Qing Shui, you’re the best! Here! Have a kiss!” Huoyun Liu-Li happily hugged Qing Shui and planted a kiss on his cheeks.

Qing Shui really wanted to kiss her back, but with Canghai Mingyue and Mingyue Gelou around, he could only resentfully shake his head! This feeling of being c*ckblocked...

In the afternoon, Qing Shui went back to his own place because he needed to make plans.

One year’s of time was actually more than 30 years of time to Qing Shui. His Ancient Strengthening Technique had already reached to 179th cycle, as he had expected.

His body had increased by about 2 million jin of strength, each breakthrough of the Ancient Strengthening Technique increasing his strength by leaps and bounds.

Right now, Qing Shui’s body strength had reached the strength of 1 country, and he could finally be considered equal to the old demons of the Heavenly Palace and the Sword Tower. Furthermore, Qing Shui felt that he had come close to the cusp of the Heavenly Dan’s first stage within this one year of training.

Although Qing Shui was leaving for Flowerfruit Mountain in a week, this week of time was equivalent to a little more than 8 months to him, enough for him to raise his strength even more.