## AST 2009 - River of Stars, Qing Shui went up the stage

There weren’t many changes in Beiming Xue’s expression. She said straightforwardly, “Welcome!”

Qing Shui didn’t know which forces the woman who went up belonged to, but he knew that if she dared to go up the stage, it would mean that she was also not an ordinary person. This woman’s flexibility had reached a fearsome level. It was a kind of toughness which could reduce the opponent’s offensive prowess.

The woman didn’t intend to waste her time either. A pair of strange metallic claws appeared in both of her hands.

The metallic claws were around one foot long. They were dark violet by color but yet it retained its brilliance. It was very difficult for a weapon with a dark color to be so brilliant, thus, it was weird, but it was undeniable that this was actually happening to the metallic claws. Other people might not be aware of it, but Qing Shui knew that there was a sinister cold force on the surface of the claws.

This power didn’t all come from the claws, most of it came from the woman’s body. This kind of power could deal a lot of damage to men. However, men also tended to find it very attractive.

By now, Qing Shui had also understood what was going on with the woman. This woman cultivated the Absorption Art. In other words, she raised her strength by absorbing men’s Origin Essence. This wasn’t Duo Cultivation, but it was more effective and more evil compared to it.

The Duo Cultivation was warmer and gentler. It made sure that both sides could receive benefits up to a certain extent. However, the Absorption Art was more sinister. It harmed the other person for self-satisfaction.

The woman moved, her figure was very fast. Furthermore, her movement was also unpredictable. Her speed wasn’t the main point, but it was the way she moved. Qing Shui was able to see through her movements, it was a kind of Demon Fox Movement. She made use of her body’s flexibility to change her position in the shortest amount of time.

Beiming Xue was holding a snow-white long blade. She was like water, though calm, a mysterious strength could be felt fluctuating around her. At the instant she thrust her sword out, the sky turned dark.

Fierce!

Qing Shui was very surprised. He never expected that Beiming Xue’s attacks would be so fierce.

Hong!

The sword landed accurately on the woman’s claws and immediately pushed back the opponent. However, that was all it did. The woman’s face looked a bit pale. As soon as her figure moved, she charged towards Beiming Xue along with nine hollow images of herself.

River of Stars!

Just like before, Beiming Xue stood on the same spot and didn’t move. She slashed down her sword and immediately, the sword images all over the sky combined into a river of stars and drizzled down towards her opponent.

Hong-hong!

The woman immediately got blown out of the platform, with blood dripping at the corner of her mouth. After that, she bowed down to Beiming Xue, “Thank you, Sister Xue, for showing mercy.”

Beiming Xue shook her head and remained silent.

She wasn’t accustomed to the way women’s sects did things. It was the Immortal Fox Palace. Outsiders often described the Immortal Fox Palacas as a group of slutty women, but only people at their level would know about their viciousness and greediness.

Beiming Xue didn’t have a good impression on the Immortal Fox Palace, nor did she want to get herself involved with any of their matters. Hence, she chose not to say anything.

After the demonstration shown by the woman from before, no one had dared to go up to the stage. Anyone could tell that Beiming Xue had yet to go all out. The Northern Underworld Immortal Palace was ranked quite high in the Northern Ice Domain. As of now, it was just the third seat. There was no need for them to fight over it so fiercely and waste their own strength.

Thus, Beiming Xue managed to take down a place with relative ease.

Following on, the Shang Clan went up to a platform. It was a middle-aged man. This time, two warriors went ahead to challenge him, but after seeing both of them being defeated with one move, people came to the realization that the Shang Clan’s hidden warriors were also relatively powerful. After that, no one continued to challenge for the platform.

With that, Shang Clan also took down a place. Four places were gone.

Qing Shui knew that the fights would soon be very fierce. After all, the forces for the first four places were all very strong. No one would stand a chance in taking them down. However, the remaining platforms were a different story, their power differed by a great amount. Thus, when people started fighting over it, things would, without a doubt, get intense.

These forces all followed the rules to a certain extent. Each force would only be allowed to take down a place. Otherwise, things would end up as a fight between two forces. Once both parties exhausted themselves, it would only benefit those slightly weaker forces. Thus, each force mustn’t take down two places at once unless the particular force was enough to suppress everyone who was present. That way, it wouldn’t be a problem even if it was to take down all ten places.

Lang Clan went up the platform. Qing Shui once again saw Lang Clan’s Clan Head. He still remembered very clearly in his head since he was almost the same as before. He also didn’t improve much in regard to his strength. However, a thin camel would still be bigger than a horse. Even though Lang Clan’s Clan Head’s strength could still be improved, he still had his clan’s force to support him. Added on that he had the connection established from his marriage with the woman from the Shang Clan, he was barely able to take down a place.

Only five places remained. Everyone was getting anxious. Or rather, they were starting to get impatient.

“Qing Shui, do you think that we should take down one or two places?” Yu Xixuan asked Qing Shui.

“Will they allow us to take down two places?” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“They won’t know. I am from the Jade Fragrant Restaurant whereas you are from the Imperial Cuisine Hall. I can definitely take down a place if I go up. These people will not dare to challenge me seeing that I am from the Jade Fragrant Restaurant.” Yu Xixuan smiled and said.

“Alright then, why don’t you go and take down a place? I am going to stay here and wait for a while. Don’t worry, I will definitely be able to get myself a place.” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“Alright then, let me go and take down a place.”

At the moment Yu Xixuan finished speaking, her figure moved and she immediately appeared on one of the platforms.

“Ah, she is from Jade Fragrant Restaurant. What shall we do?”

“Yeah, if we beat her now, we won’t be able to enjoy good food anymore. It’s likely that she will stop dealing business with us.”

“You are actually worried that you might beat her? Do you really think that no one has had their eyes set on the Jade Fragrant Restaurant? Look at the eyes of the big forces around you. This woman isn’t someone you should provoke.”

……

It was a surprise to Qing Shui that no one fought over the place with Yu Xixuan. He thought that a lot of people would fight for it.

Qing Shui had underestimated the woman’s ability to feed men’s stomach. The majority of people here had been to Jade Fragrant Restaurant before to eat their food.

When only four places remained, it was as if it had become daytime. A lot of people started going up the platform. Some unlucky ones lost in wheel battles. It was indeed quite an upsetting thing that could happen to them.

Very soon, yet another two platforms were taken down. Almost 70% of the remaining forces had taken part in the battles for the last two places. Most of the warriors who fought, were the strongest warriors of their sects. Once they lost, it was unlikely that they would continue to fight over the platform. It would only add more people to their injured lists.

There were still two places left. Qing Shui right away went up to one of them. He didn’t know if the Imperial Cuisine Hall could share the same luck as Jade Fragrant Restaurant.

“Imperial Cuisine Hall, Qing Shui. Is anyone interested in fighting me?”

The Imperial Cuisine Hall had quite a reputation. It was special mostly among ordinary men and also quite popular among the aristocratic clans, but at the end of the day, it hadn’t been long since it was established. There weren’t many people who had truly been benefited from it. Nevertheless, it was undeniable that its name had spread out far across the area. The only problem was that a lot of people still felt very suspicious about Qing Shui’s unusual medical expertise. Towards an existence that was under so many suspicions, there was no need to hold back against him.

“I would like to cross fists with you. I have heard that you possess unusual medical skills. Is that true?”

The person who went up the stage was a young man. He gave off a feeling that he was a very careless man. Qing Shui could tell that his lower body wasn’t steady. He was dressed in white clothes and was holding a fan, giving people the impression that he was very outstanding and elegant. Qing Shui didn’t like it. He wasn’t used to seeing this kind of men. He kept having the feeling that the person was being very vain and was even a bit perverted.

“I think it’s just alright. Oh, I forgot to tell you. We have a saying back in our place, it’s that a physician doesn’t kill people with his knife. Be careful now, or else, you will lose in a very pathetic way.” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“A physician trying to kill people? What a joke. For a physician to not attend to his patients but instead come to fight, this is called not focusing on his job!” A man said in joy.

Qing Shui smiled. He realized that this person wasn’t as annoying as he thought. Despite how he dressed or boasted himself, it was still his freedom to do so. Even if he wasn’t accustomed to people like this, it didn’t mean that they wouldn’t exist. There must be a reason for their existence, so much so that Qing Shui felt that there would be a lot of women willing to die for boastful men like this.