## AST 988 – The Powerful Four Symbols Formation, White Tiger Strike

Upon reaching the backyard, he could see several people already preparing themselves for the morning practice, including Guo Polu. In these few months, Qingqing had already become pregnant, which was about the same time as Zhu Qing’s pregnancy.

Zhu Qing’s pregnancy was quite sudden, and Qing Shui had thought he would need at least half a month before she would show signs of pregnancy. He hadn’t expected her to be pregnant, much less this quickly. Qing Shui took out his Big Dipper Sword and began to practice his Combination Sword Technique.

Four Moves! Four Moves!

The Four Moves Combination Sword Technique had the ability to increase his power by 40%, which was also an increase of approximately 60 stars in strength. It wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t insignificant either. The more he accumulated, the more his power would grow. Qing Shui’s overall power was already quite decent even without the add-ons from his weapons and armors.

Diamond Qi, Diamond Protection, Diamond Crossing Rivers, Nature Energy, and State of Immovable as Mountains were all self-generating skills that worked continuously alongside his powers. He couldn’t shake them off no matter how much he tried, so Qing Shui stood there silently without moving an inch of his muscles. Qing Shui’s powers had reached a terrifying number – he had reached the mark of 500 stars in strength.

However, that was only a number based solely on his raw strength. If he activated all of his skills in one go, his powers would reach a mark somewhere close to 700 stars. Nevertheless, Qing Shui was satisfied with his current power. At the very least, he wouldn’t need to fear anyone who would pose a threat to him or his family. No matter who they were, he would have the confidence to win the battle effortlessly, unless his opponent was able to somehow break the regulations of the world.

For now, Qing Shui decided to practice his sword moves without using his full strength. He continued to practice with the intention of fully mastering the Combination Sword Technique. He wanted to do this in order to get a good grasp of his sword moves. At the same time, he attempted to grind the sword moves continuously to reach a higher compatibility with his Big Dipper Sword.

Weapons were considered the second life of martial cultivators. A more powerful weapon would not necessarily be better than a weapon that one had grown accustomed to. It was said that the longer a user wielded their weapons, the more spiritualized the weapon would become, as if they understood the user’s intention. The prowess of the weapon would also increase by a magnitude, but to achieve a spiritual bonding with a weapon would not be an easily achieved feat – at least not as far as Qing Shui had seen. What he heard of the spiritual bonding between a user and a weapon was limited to rumors

In any case, he had already mastered the Four Move Combination Sword Technique for a long time. In the meantime, he decided to attempt to upgrade the technique to Five Moves. He wanted to gauge the rate of increasing the prowess of the technique so he would be able to tell how powerful the sword move had become.

The Combination Sword Technique would become twice as difficult each time he had increased the technique’s sword move to the next level. Of course, it would make sense that the formidable force of the sword move would be doubled as well. Qing Shui looked forward to discovering the strength of the underlying secrets of the technique when the sword move was upgraded to the next level.

A ray of morning light slowly appeared in the east. Qing Shui stored away his Big Dipper Sword and started practicing his Taichi Fist, as per usual. When the sun was completely out from the horizon, he would then begin to strike out his Back Connecting Fists.

The number of Qing Clan members around the backyard was astonishing. Some of them were following Qing Shui and performed the Back Connecting Fists, while the others would follow Mingyue Gelou and performed the Tiger Form. On the other hand, Qing Zi, Qing You, and some of the burly disciples had begun cultivating their Bear Steps in the other corner of the backyard.

Their improvements were exceedingly swift. With the guidance of Qing Shui in their cultivation, they would be able to strive forward marvelously. Qing Shui continued his cultivation of the Bear Steps, while Qingqing continued to cultivate her Crane Form alone. Her Crane Form was far more powerful than Qing Shui’s, and her Soaring Crane Steps had already reached an extremely high level too. Unfortunately, she had to stop her cultivation temporary due to her pregnancy.

Half a year had passed since he had come back to stay at home. The members of Qing Clan were on the right track to the path of becoming stronger. In the first two months, Qing Shui was very busy due to his meticulous guidance with every member of Qing Clan. However, felt more relaxed, as most of them were able to move forward with their martial cultivation by themselves. It was like there was a stair guiding them towards their path. The speed of their cultivation was relatively acceptable as well.

Qing Shui would also take two hours every day to teach everyone the Nine Palace Steps, except for Qing Yu, Zhu Qing, and Qingqing. In half a year, most of them were able to master the Duality Steps. Canghai Mingyue and the others, who were essentially higher leveled cultivators, had already mastered the Duality Steps to the peak of its cultivation. They were currently at the stage of a breakthrough for the Duality Steps as they continued to work hard.

The children, on the other hand, had already memorized the fundamentals of the One Origin Steps, so they were able to demonstrate this move gracefully. Children would be more inclined to learn the techniques that required footwork. Qing Jun and Qing Yin were almost at their breakthrough in the Duality Steps, which filled Qing Shui with endless happiness and pride.

Although Qing Ming was a bit weird, he was similarly interested in techniques that required footwork. His mastery of the technique was comparable to Qing Jun’s mastery of the technique, and he was able to demonstrate the Back Connecting Fist and Solitary Rapid Fist to the level that Qing Shui had wanted in just half a year.

Children would always have the habit of comparing with each other, which was why Qing Jun and Qing Yin would try their best in the cultivation of their skills. Qing Shui initially wanted Qing Yin to focus solely on the Taichi Fist, but he had never thought that the little girl would be extremely competitive, so he allowed her to learn the Solitary Rapid Fist too. In any case, cultivating the Solitary Rapid Fist would be beneficial for her cultivation in Taichi Fist, so it was a win-win situation. Additionally, Qing Yin had a passion for drawing, so he would also spend some time to teach her the fundamentals of drawing every day. So far, he had taught her about the drawings of the Hundred Forms of Tiger and Heavenly Talismans.

Ever since Qing Shui came back from the Skysword Sect, he never went back again and continued to stay at home until now. His life was substantial, and he enjoyed every moment of it. Because of his constant presence at home, he was able to get along with the children much better. This was far too different from the time that Qing Yu had refused to let him hold her when he first came back. The situation had changed for the better as she would always look for him to play every single day.

He quite enjoyed the attention he received from Qing Yu. Aside from the twins he had with Canghai Mingyue, he was basically absent when the other children were born. He didn’t even know that Huoyun Liu-Li was pregnant for the extended period of time he was away from home……

Because of that, Qing Shui was determined to be there when Zhu Qing would give birth to their child, and planned to be there until their child turned one year old. Although he was planning to do just that, he couldn’t guarantee that it would be possible as many things could happen in between his child’s birth and growth.

Qing Shui would also take two hours every afternoon to practice some of the formation techniques with the members of Qing Clan. They would work together to form the Five Elements Minor Formation until they were already proficient enough to do so. If they were to encounter opponents of the same level, they could use this formation to strike down their opponents.

Moreover, Qing Shui was able to learn two more formations just recently, and they were the Four Perfections Formation and the Ten Paramitas Formation!

Four Perfections Formation was also known as the Four Symbols Formation. This was a type of death formation that stood in correspondence to the position facing the eye of formation towards the Core Qi, allowing the user’s power to soar exponentially. It also allowed the user to the gain advantages in both offense and defense.

According to the legends, the Four Symbols Formation was a formation passed down from ancient times. The formation was said to be based on the four constellation symbols of the spiritual creatures that comprised of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. The four symbols together would complete the sky ecliptic and each quadrant would contain seven stars. These stars were also known as the seven constellations. Moreover, in order to complete the Four Symbols Formation, 28 people were required to instigate the formation at the same time.

However, Qing Shui took a deeper observation at his own Four Symbols Formation and deduced that he would only require four people to perform it. Whether this was an improvement or an incomplete formation, he had no clue. However, based on what he could see, this formation seemed to possess an incredible power that could obliterate his opponents effortlessly.

Each of the four people required for the Four Symbols Formation would be assigned to stand at the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. After the formation was completed, the offensive and defensive ability of the four people would be boosted rapidly, simultaneously increasing their resistances to the five elements as well. According to the legends, if the cultivation of the completed Four Symbols Formation had reached the peak level, the silhouettes of the Four Symbols would rise up to assist in the battle. These silhouettes could unleash a prowess unlike what anyone could imagine.

Qing Shui continued to observe the Four Symbols Formation and could not help admire the formidable forces of the four mythical beasts. After all, it would be extremely difficult for one to reach the peak of the cultivation of this formation, but this was not something Qing Shui would bury his mind into, at least for the time being.

Four people were required to activate the Four Symbols Formation – which was easier said than done. Qing Shui couldn’t think of or even find four suitable people at the moment, but he really wanted to experiment with this formation to see what kind of power he could unleash with the combined forces. As he was thinking about the formation, a sudden thought popped into his mind, which caused Qing Shui’s lips to curve into a smile at the corner of his mouth.

In ancient times, the Four Symbols Formation was represented by the four holy beasts. Instead of humans, each holy beast corresponded to their own cardinal direction: north, south, east, and west. Because of that, Qing Shui was instantly reminded of his own demonic beasts – Diamond Gigantic Elephant, Fire Bird, and the Five-Headed Demonic Spider.

The Diamond Gigantic Elephant possessed the ability of the Dragon Elephant Force, so it would be reasonable to think that it had the dragon’s bloodline flowing within its body. The Fire Bird was as clear as day, but the Five-Headed Demonic Spider was still up in the air – he couldn’t tell which mythical animal it could associate with. The two reasons he chose these three demonic beasts was because firstly, they were the strongest among the rest; and secondly, he could communicate with them telepathically. In a sense, he could coordinate with them to create a better result, and the three demonic beasts he had chosen were already remarkably strong at this point.

He soared up into the sky immediately, as high and as far as he possibly could away from the Qing Residence. The members of the Qing Clan had finished their morning practice, so all of them went straight into the building to have breakfast together. When he had reached a certain altitude, he called out his three demonic beasts into the sky immediately.

Qing Shui had been researching the Four Symbol Formation for a while, and he had learned that the keys of the formation was the placement of position and the technique to prompt the formation. This was just a trial for now, so he allowed the Diamond Gigantic Elephant to fulfill the role of ‘Azure Dragon’, the Fire Bird as ‘Vermilion Bird’, the Five-Headed Demonic Spider as ‘Black Tortoise’, and himself as the ‘White Tiger’ – the striker of the formation.

It was as if everything had been arranged for Qing Shui to take the position of the White Tiger. Each position had its advantage, even though the power of every participant would be boosted, each of them had their own unique specialty. For example, the position of the Black Tortoise would receive an enormous boost to their defense, rendering the defense of the participant in that position extremely powerful. The position of the White Tiger would increase the attack power of the participant tremendously, while the position of the Vermilion Bird would increase the spiritual energy by an exponential amount. Lastly, the position of the Azure Dragon would increase the speed and movement by an extravagant rate.

The Azure Dragon represented the east, White Tiger on the west, Vermilion Bird on the south, and Black Tortoise on the north. Qing Shui stood on the west and allowed his demonic beasts to assume their respective positions. However, nothing really changed after each of them took up their positions in the formation.

This was normal as the each position was difficult to arrange for their respective role. It wouldn’t be called a Four Symbols Formation if all they needed to do was stand in any directions without consideration to the formation. The Four Symbols Formation was laid according to the fundamental positions of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation or perhaps the Nine Palace Steps as well.

It was only when Qing Shui thoroughly mastered the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation that he was able to discover the Four Symbols Formation, which was brought from the foundations of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation itself. Any future formations would essentially refer back to the foundations of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation.

The positions of Nine Palaces, the eye of four directions!

This was basically the layout of the Four Symbols Formation. Qing Shui then drove the Core Qi and forced it into the center of the formation, which would formally initiate the Four Symbols Formation. Once initiated, the power of the four representatives would be boosted exponentially.

Qing Shui began testing the prowess of the Four Symbols Formation, as well as the teamwork between himself and his demonic beasts.

Three of his demonic beasts were ready at their respective positions.

It was a good thing that he had the ability to telepathic communicated between his demonic beasts because he was able to control them quite easily. He then began driving the Core Qi towards the middle of the formation and coagulated its energy, which was then quickly spread towards the four directions of the formation.

It took just a moment – probably around two to three breaths of time or less – for the powerful energy to spread from the center to the four directions and enveloped him and his demonic beasts.

At that moment, Qing Shui could feel his powers increasing to a terrifying level, whether it was his speed, strength, or defense – his overall power had increased. However, he wasn’t sure how much he had gained, but he had a vague sense that his damage power had been doubled. After all, the White Tiger position was set as the main striker of the formation.

This was indeed a powerful formation. The formidable force of the Four Symbols Formation was quite good. Qing Shui shifted his body and began moving. He then used his telepathic communication to command the other demonic beasts to move and began an offensive stance.

He realized that the Four Symbols Formation would remain as it was as long as they remained on the positions of the Nine Palaces. All of the sudden, Qing Shui switched his position with the Five-Headed Demonic Beast. He discovered that his speed was not as fast as before, and his power was inferior compared to the moments when he was at the White Tiger position. However, he could felt like his body had been equipped with a thick layer of battle armor when he stood at the Black Tortoise position.

Qing Shui endured this sensation but quickly realized that his overall power had been increased as well. However, each position would only increase certain attributes by a large amount. Qing Shui happily switched around positions while practicing the formation with his demonic beasts. They cooperated well with one another and he found that Fire Bird and Diamond Gigantic Elephant were already at their appropriate positions. Both of them had received a great boost to their power. Moreover, the Diamond Gigantic Elephant was able to unleash its Instantaneous Diamond Evasion, Mighty Elephant Stomp, and Ferocious Diamond Attack multiple times in a row without any problem.

Even though the Five-Headed Demonic Spider did not have the distinct Black Tortoise bloodline, it still had an unbelievable defense that made the spider seemed like a small mountain. Moreover, the Corrosive Poison Web and the Poison Silk Entanglement would work well with the ‘Western White Tiger’ and ‘Eastern Azure Dragon’.

Qing Shui was tireless and continued to experiment with the formation until afternoon. In between his trials, some of the members of the Qing Clan passed by but decided not to disturb him when they saw the seriousness in his expression.