## AST 297 - The Lost Gongsun Jianwu

Qing Shui gradually realized another formidable use of the spirit energy - Attention Diversion; that was to divide the attention for two tasks, or even three, four tasks…...

Qing Shui thought about the enormous amount of spirit energy needed to reach the 9th Lotus Manifestation Stage. Then it hit him - he was now at the 4th Layer of

Ancient Strengthening Technique and at the same time at the 4th Level of Blue Lotus Art.

The most important thing now was that four lotus flowers had manifested. Perhaps this ever changing Blue Lotus Art advanced together with the Ancient Strengthening Technique? Then to reach the 9th Lotus Manifestation Stage would mean that he needed to cultivate to the 9th Layer of the Ancient Strengthening Technique……...

As soon as he thought about this Qing Shui couldn’t help but smile wryly. Not that he never thought of cultivating to the 9th Level of the Ancient Strengthening Technique, but he had only fantasized about it a little. After all, reaching the final few layers would be as difficult as climbing up to heaven.

Fortunately, Qing Shui did not aim too high for now. That target was too far away so for now, he only aimed to reach to the 5th layer to fulfill his mother’s wish. It was about time to settle the twenty years of debt, along with the interest. Even the interest alone should be quite a lot.

He tried his best to control the two golden lotus flowers, and was becoming more used it. On top of that, Qing Shui also kept increasing the amount of power he was pouring in. The power and the speed stirred up also gradually became faster, even the golden halo on the golden lotus flowers were glittering from the “divine power” that was poured into them.

With two golden lotus flowers, Qing Shui realized that the distance he could control was increased to four meters.This made him quite happy. He wondered if the distance would increase along with the number of lotus flowers.

But he didn’t really experiment with it. For now, he just wanted to control the two golden lotus flowers well first. These kind of “things” cohered by the “Qi of Xiantian” had good offense and defense power, even on the same level as some false divine weapons. Just that it had large consumption, so it wouldn’t last long. So the importance of Divine weapons came into play.

If it was a fight between the strong and the weak, then one could just directly cohere a bunch of divine weapons to vanquish the weak instantly. After all, not much Qi of Xiantian should be depleted within such a short time. However, it would become trouble if time dragged on.

He let the last two golden lotus flowers vanish into the air. Qing Shui was already prepared to completely give up on the Blue Lotus Art at first. It was out of his expectation today that his Blue Lotus Art would transform. He would consider this a pleasant surprise.

Next, Qing Shui practised his alchemy with the Golden Flint Iron Cauldron. He had already accumulated about one-third of experience lately without realizing it. But Wind Water Primordial Pellet still needed about 330,000 points of experience. This amount of experience was a little more than the Beauty Pellet from last time.

The Small Revitalizing Pellet that he had been synthesizing was still the 1st level of King Grade Medical Pills. Judging by the effects, the Great Revitalizing Pellet and Beauty Pellet should be 2nd level of King Grade Medical Pills. It was too bad that he couldn’t synthesize them in such a short time.

Medical Pills of 10th Level King Grade were capable of doubling the cultivation of cultivators. Then what about those of Royal Grade? Could it raise it by a few folds? And what about the following Emperor Grade, Saint Grade and Divine Grade?

Could it be that the Saint Grade Medical Pills were able to let humans instantly be reborn as God? Qing Shui quickly shook his head after that. He had a hunch that even the ingredients needed for Emperor Grade Medical Pills were rare, let alone the Saint Grade Medical Pills. They could even be legendary herbs, which had been heard of but never seen before.

There was a medicinal field in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal specially for Qing Shui to use for his alchemy. That field was just right for Qing Shui’s usage cycle. By the time he had used up the last patch, the patch which he gathered from in the beginning would have been restored. So he could use them in circulation.

For alchemy, Qing Shui only practised synthesizing the Golden Sore Ointment, along with the Small Revitalizing Pellet and the Endurance Pellet once in between. Perhaps it was due to high experience and proficiency, he was able to synthesize two extra pellets. These extra pellets had the same medicinal properties as the originals.

These were specially for Cang Wuya and Fei Wuji!

On the continent, there was a drug resistance theory which stated that frequent usage of any type of medicine could cause drug resistance. The better the quality, the greater the resistance.

Just like how two Small Revitalizing Pellets can be ingested while only one Great Revitalizing Pellet can be ingested. Qing Shui guessed that for pellets like the Great Revitalizing Pellet or higher graded medicinal pills, a person could ingest only one pellet in a lifetime.

The main point was that they were hard to synthesize. The amount synthesized in a single cauldron was estimated to be very little, and on top of that, the failing rate was extremely high. Thus, every pellet was extremely valuable.

On the very next day, Qing Shui went to the public square for his morning practice. This time there were even more people, and they all greeted Qing Shui warmly, even the men. Qing Shui responded with a smile, but he already knew the reason.

“Don’t tell me that this Chief Disciple has to be forced to his position?”

Qing Shui didn’t want to position himself at the mouth of the storm. Many had fought hard for this Chief Disciple position, but they all had a background and he couldn’t even scale up to them now. Although he was under the care of Cang Wuya and Fei Wuji, he didn’t want to owe them too much, especially on personal favors.

Qing Shui gave away the Tiger Bone Liquor recipe and the Small Revitalizing Pellet as presents. These were all his repayments, and he was still repaying. Repaying Cang Wuya for teaching him the Cloudmist Steps, Heavenly Thunder Slash and also Divinity Protection. Whether or not he could repay all of them, he’d still try his best to.

Qing Shui continued practising his taichi fist. He was working on the conception so he didn’t put in much power, as it was more on the posture. Regardless, it was still quite a sight. Qing Shui closed his eyes and moved according to his own feelings.

“Look at how well his punches are, way better than my Iron Fist. Such soft movements….” a man with a moustache murmured in admiration.

“That’s right, don’t underestimate his softness. It’s something that not even a Grade 10 Xiantian cultivator could withstand. I can already feel the pressure from above,” someone immediately chipped in.

……………………………………………..

Qing Shui was speechless. He could faintly hear all these words. Such was human nature. After they had witnessed how he defeated Gongsun Jianyun with a single blow, even effortlessly pulling a few punches would earn some flatteries from the others.

The light from the morning sun shone on the field and on Qing Shui’s body. He indulged in the “vitality” of the morning sun. That was the scent of “living”, a strong and healthy scent.

Qing Shui took a long and shallow breath before he exhaled slowly, as if to expel all the waste and some other negativities from his chest.

He even felt the pores on his body slightly open. The feeling of absorbing energy from the morning sun was wonderful. Although there wasn’t any obvious effect, it certainly lifted his mood.

The morning was turning late gradually. Many were already walking towards the area around the arena in the center because there would be a continuation in the talk about the next ten movements of the “Heavenly Palace Sword Art”.

After Qing Shui saw the Elder lecturer, he slowly walked towards the seats nearer to the arena.

“Let us learn the next ten movements in the Heavenly Palace Sword Art today. I shall demonstrate the first twenty movements one round again to help everyone refresh their memory.”

The demonstration by the old man was not too fast, but the combination of vigor and strength was just right. Although he was gesturing, Qing Shui could still feel the vigor in it. The next ten movements obviously had a more powerful stance than the first ten, and they were even a little more violent.

The old man started to explain the next ten movements after he demonstrated a round of the first twenty movements. He slowed down the speed of his explanation, and would even sometimes repeat some details twice or thrice.

Qing Shui earnestly digested, listened and watched. As expected, the stance of the Heavenly Palace Sword Art was increasingly powerful towards the end. But Qing Shui was happy, because not too much effort was required for him to learn this sword art due to the Tiger Form. This made him decided to take some time to observe the tiger carvings on the stone monuments again.

This time it took a complete four hours to explain the ten movements. He had said that he would only repeat once, but now he kept on repeating.

“What a nice Elder, he’s so responsible!” Qing Shui chuckled.

In the end, the old man continuously put on the demonstration three times and even explained everything patiently!

“Alright, everyone try to familiarize them and have a discussion. We will continue the rest again in another ten days.” The old man slowly came down from the arena after finishing his sentence.

After he had left, the people below the arena started to leave alone or in groups of three or five. They started to practise while everything was still fresh in their minds. Qing Shui was no exception.

Like the old man, Qing Shui restrained his Qi stance because for now he still relied on using concept. Average people around him would feel like he was only practising his form. Although it looked like the real thing, it was lacking the stance. However, people with better potential would be able to feel the difference.

The old man who hadn’t gone far looked at Qing Shui in surprise, the shock in his eyes was not concealed. In the end, he left with a smile.

“Qing Shui!”

Qing Shui was surprised to hear this familiar voice!

He turned around and saw Gongsun Jianwu standing in a distance looking at him, smiling. Her dimples were like flowers on her cheeks. As usual, she was in a black flowing dress, her curvy figure was smoking hot especially the size of those delicate breasts and the curves of her perky buttocks. They made Qing Shui’s mouth go dry.

“What is it?” Qing Shui looked at the beautiful face which could seduce like a fox spirit. That smile could make a man worked up. Although Qing Shui ostracized her, he couldn’t deny the fact that he was sexually interested in her.

Hearing Qing Shui’s curt response made Gongsun Jianwu feel a little uncomfortable although her expression remained the same. “Thank you for holding back last time,” she said happily.

“You’ve thanked me before,” Qing Shui said indifferently. Although he yearned to have sex with this kind of woman, he refused to get involved with this kind of “bad woman”.

“Can’t we be friends?” Gongsun Jianwu asked sadly. Her voice was not loud, but it was still audible to people around them.

The power of gossip was scary. A few of the people looked at Qing Shui and Gongsun Jianwu in shock and left hurriedly.

“Friends?” Qing Shui was surprised. From the moment he had beaten up the third son of the Gongsun Clan and broke Gongsun Jianyun’s shoulder on the arena, Qing Shui had never thought about getting involved with any members of the Gongsun Clan.

The surprised tone of Qing Shui sounded more like a mockery in Gongsun Jianwu’s ears. At that very moment, many people nearby were looking in their direction.

“Sorry to bother you,” she smiled and turned around to leave. Her silhouette looked a little lonely. Qing Shui’s mouth moved but he didn’t say anything in the end.

He sighed and continued to practise the Heavenly Palace Sword Art that he had learnt today. His feelings however, were in a bit of a mess. All he could think about was that lonely silhouette of Gongsun Jianwu’s when she was leaving.

Her silhouette was a little like Mingyue Gelou and also a little like Shi Qingzhuang. Even the extraordinary Yiye JianGe had moments like these. However, that strong silhouette from the Yan City was even more desolated, isolated and soul piercingly lonelier than hers.