## AST 300 – Heavenly Thunder Slash, Strong Power Of One At The Pinnacle Of Martial King

It was only today that Qing Shui found out that a Qi circulation technique could be so violent, akin to a violent storm. If it was just him alone, it would be hard to comprehend this.

Even if one were to lay their hands on the Heavenly Thunder Slash manual, without someone to provide guidance, it would be very easy for the practitioner to hurt his meridian channels. This is a Qi circulation technique, and could be used with hands-on combat or with weapons, but the prerequisites for the practitioner of the Heavenly Thunder Slash were very high.

Comprehension!

This was something that was very crucial. If one's level of comprehension was very weak, he would be destined to not cross paths with high level martial techniques. Even if they were to lay their hands on them, if one's comprehension was too weak, even if they were to go through tough training for ten years, it would not be able to compare with one day’s training of one with a high level of comprehension. This was the importance of comprehension!

Just with comprehension criteria alone, it would cut off eighty to ninety percent of the people. Those with a high level of cultivation or known as geniuses were all those with a high level of comprehension.

Preservation!

This was a condition which was of similar significance to that of comprehension. With preservation, there was nothing which cannot be done. This saying showed the importance of perseverance. Even an absolute genius would not be able to achieve anything without perseverance. Perseverance was to set a target, and remained persistent while working towards it, facing any hurdles and hardships with courage.

Persistence was the hardest!

Comprehension and perseverance, as well as being born with the advantage, and adding it to hard work in life were important for a practitioner. Qing Shui lacked neither talent nor perseverance. If he did, there would be no way for him to have reached the Obscure Realm with his Basic Sword Techniques.

The Heavenly Thunder Slash's incantation was not very long. On the contrary, it was very short. However, it was difficult to understand. Time passed by gradually during the attempts, queries, explanations, demonstration and circulations. After a period of circulation, he would seek guidance from Cang Wuya.

The sun gradually moved towards the west, and it was then that Qing Shui was able to circulate it a little, but he had yet to reach the level of Qi explosions.

Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li had also grasped it a little; especially Huoyun Liu-Li, who was exceptionally happy when she started to get the gist of it. It might have been because Qing Shui and Canghai Mingyue had learnt it, and now she had learnt it, too.

By the time they completed one more round of practice of the Heavenly Thunder Slash, Cang Wuya had already finished cooking, and the three of them left after having dinner with him.

On the way back, Qing Shui was feeling extremely agitated!

It felt as if he had discovered that there was a girl who was secretly in love with him; a sweet and wonderful feeling.

"I've finally learnt the Heavenly Thunder Slash!" Qing Shui thought to himself happily.

Qing Shui recalled how astonished he was the day he first saw Canghai use the Heavenly Thunder Slash, and ever since then, he had yearned for the day when he could learn it as well. Having an increment of thirty percent to his attack was still quite terrifying.

This day had finally came. When he reached his room, Qing Shui directly entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal!

Heavenly Thunder Slash!

Back then, Qing Shui seemed as if he had merely picked up a little of the skill, but in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, he did not try to hide anything. Instead, he increased his aura. A series of pitter patter sounds came ringing from the bones in his body.

He started to gradually circulate the Heavenly Thunder Slash, and then gradually incorporate it into his Taichi. It was because the slow speed at the start was very compatible with Taichi.

Single Whip!

Incorporated with the Heavenly Thunder Slash, the Taichi Single Whip became grotesque, but Qing Shui did not stop. He continued to perform the Taichi Single Whip under the circulation of the Heavenly Thunder Slash.

One day passed by!

In between, Qing Shui also practised the Ancient Strengthening Technique a few times, but it still remained to be on the verge of breaking through to the 97th cycle, and was at the stage of accumulating experience.

The beginner stage was actually the most crucial, just like the foundations of a building. The reason why Qing Shui had practised the <<Basic Sword Techniques>> the way he did was just because it was the foundation to sword arts.

For each martial technique, Qing Shui would place additional emphasis on the beginner stage, doing his best to study it completely. Like how it is now for the Heavenly Thunder Slash, from the beginner to the familiar stage, Qing Shui had put in a lot of effort and patience.

This time in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, other than spending some time for alchemy, and tempering the Soulshake bell, he spent very little time on his sword techniques and Thousand Hammer Technique.

For the rest of the time, Qing Shui had spent time on cultivating the Heavenly Thunder Slash. This time, Qing Shui once again displayed his inhumane perseverance, spending half a month's time completely on it.

The effect was still quite astonishing. However, Qing Shui discovered the difficulty of the Heavenly Thunder Slash. It was because after the whole half month's time, Qing Shui barely managed to reach the familiar stage.

Having reached the familiar stage, Qing Shui once again incorporated the Heavenly Thunder Slash into his Taichi, even though he could not create Qi explosions, nor did he have the might which was akin to that of two dragons that Canghai had once displayed.

Today after breakfast, he still headed for Cang Wuya's place. Qing Shui had been practising the Heavenly Thunder Slash in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, gaining more familiarity with it the more he trained. However, he also encountered more problems and wanted to seek guidance from Cang Wuya.

Time passed by very quickly, and in the blink of an eye, another two days had passed. Qing Shui trained at Cang Wuya's in the day, and would return to the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to go through tough training at night.

Two days’ time in the actual world was about a month in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. During this time, Qing Shui had finally cultivated the Heavenly Thunder Slash to the familiar stage.

Now when he incorporated the Heavenly Thunder Slash into his Taichi, it no longer seemed awkward. On the contrary, it brought out large surging waves of power from the initially soft rhythms.

Hidden Strength of Waves!

"Qing Shui, this is too much of a blow. To think that in less than three days’ time, you have achieved such a level of familiarity," Huoyun Liu-Li said coquettishly and pouted her lips.

Qing Shui smiled. He had the heaven-defying Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Without it, his progress would not be so perverse that he was unable to explain it.

Canghai Mingyue also looked at Qing Shui quietly. After all, the way Qing Shui was seemed too outrageous, but she was still very happy. Towards her own feelings, she also felt slightly anxious.

Ever since he had agreed to Grandmaster's ambiguous conditions, she felt closer to Qing Shui. While they were close before, there was more between them now.

For the past two days, Cang Wuya had seen Qing Shui's horrifying progress and was even stunned for a short moment. This was a demonic existence and the most talented person he had seen in the past three hundred years.

It was a pity that he did not know that Qing Shui had the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal . If he knew, no one knew if he would be thinking of the same thing. It was a pity that Cang Wuya had only thought about this in his heart, and Qing Shui could only unknowingly accept the compliment.

At night!

In the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, the Qi of Ancient Strengthening Technique was fully focused on circulating the Ancient Strengthening Technique, one cycle after another. Qing Shui could feel the strong prowess of the Qi of Ancient Strengthening Technique in his meridian channels.

That solid feeling was like that of the grinding mill, or even better, the pushing of mountains. It was extremely solid and was unobstructed. After ninety-six cycles, he successfully entered the 97th cycle.

Pa!

That loud crisp sound was like heavenly melody to Qing Shui.

Qing Shui was very satisfied with that moment of progress. To a warrior, there was nothing happier than when achieving a progress in his abilities.

Now, Qing Shui felt that his strength was at about four hundred thousand jin. The strength from achieving the great perfection stage for his Tiger Form and large success stage for his Bear Form seemed to be quite a lot, but it was not that much either. The increment from the Small Revitalizing Pellet was quite good, too.

Qing Shui thought that if he could break through to reach the pinnacle of the 99th cycle, his strength would probably be at least five hundred thousand jin. If he were to add on the set of battle armor he had forged, with Heavenly Thunder Slash's thirty percent increase in attack, and then equip the Heaven Shaking Hammer to get that twenty percent increase in strength...

It would be a strength of close to eight hundred thousand jin!

Qing Shui was shocked by his own inference. Usually, a 1st grade Martial King would have a strength starting from three hundred thousand jin. What would it be like to have a strength of eight hundred thousand jin...

When a practitioner increased by one grade, his powers would be one fold stronger. Take for example the Martial King. Starting from grade 1, a grade 1 Martial King practitioner would have a strength of three hundred and fifty thousand jin, a grade 2 Martial King would have seven hundred thousand jin of strength, a grade 3 Martial King would have one million fifty thousand jin of strength, a grade 4 Martial King would have one million four hundred thousand jin of strength... and a grade 10 Martial King would have three million five hundred thousand jin of strength...

The strength of a grade 10 Martial King state would still be just the basic strength alone. If there was precious medicinal pill or equipment added, considering that a person at that level tended be equipped with good weapons and armors which and would also have had taken quite a large amount of medicinal pills, the person's strength would be simply outrageous.

Back when they had came across the old blind chap who was a grade 7 Martial King , just a brush had almost cost him his life. And it was when his physique had been tempered by the Ancient Strengthening Technique to be sufficiently strong.

That strength was too scary. The strength he thought about was under the condition when not much precious medicinal pill had been taken. Qing Shui recalled that there were no Martial Saints in the Greencloud Continent, but there were many of those who were at the pinnacle of the Martial King level. Qing Shui guessed that each of them would have an increment in their strength by one fold or more.

Their strength were at least at seven million jin...

What was seven million jin like? Qing Shui was dazed. Probably a small mountain would be flattened with just a punch. That strength was too horrifying. It was the prowess of one at the pinnacle of Martial King level.

At that moment, Qing Shui thought more about the prowess of medicinal pills, armors and weapons. To lay their hands on divine weapons, people would fight till they break their heads, or even go bankrupt.

In the world of the nine continents, strength was everything.

Alchemy, Ancient Art of Forging... Qing Shui realized that he was too blissed. If he managed to concoct the Great Revitalizing Pellet and the Beauty Pellet, these two types of medicinal pills would be able to increase Qing Shui's powers by fifty percent.

It was a pity that it was something that was so near yet so far. That gloomy feeling made one feel very helpless!

Suddenly, he saw that the Golden Sore Ointment he had been concocting for so many days had already piled up. He bottled it up in porcelain bottles, and realized that there was actually about one thousand jin of Golden Sore Ointment.

The next day, Qing Shui gifted them to Cang Wuya, Fei Wuji, Canghai Mingyue and Huoyun Liu-Li each with about fifty jin of it. This medicine was especially effective for external injuries, and was exceptionally mysterious. It was targeted for external injuries!

Qing Shui gave some to the two ladies, and got them to keep some for themselves, but they can give the remaining to other people to get favors!

In fact, even reputable clans and families would need such medicine since there would be endless injured members daily.

The next day, Fei Wuji approached Qing Shui and asked, "Qing Shui, do you still have a lot of these? How much do you have? Starmoon Hall can buy them all from you."

"Martial Uncle, I don't have much of them, and would only have about fifty jin each month, but it costs quite a lot. They require a small amount of one thousand year medicinal herbs, and these have been my accumulated stock for a few years now," Qing Shui answered and smiled. The Heavenly Palace is a major sect, and the Starmoon Hall should have quite a lot of medicinal herbs.

"How about this: you list down all the medicinal herbs that you need, and whenever you're free, you can give us some. As for the payment, you can decide. What do you think?" Fei Wuji offered and chuckled.

"I won't need any payment, but I'll still provide fifty jin every month in exchange for the experience I accumulate for alchemy," Qing Shui replied, not blushing at the very least.

After insisting a few times, Fei Wuji let Qing Shui have his way. Qing Shui wrote down the names of a few medicinal herbs and even listed some of them which were required for the Five Dragon Pellet and the Great Revitalizing Pellet.

Even if they did not have them, Qing Shui would be able to come up with some excuses. After all, the impression he had given them was demonic enough. What with the mysterious fruits, seasonings...

Qing Shui did not write down the Beauty Fruit since Old Master Cang also knew about it. After all, the old man was still considered an alchemist. Qing Shui now knew that the Old Master was just a half-baked alchemist and had only tried it due to interest.

"Qing Shui, I still have two prescriptions here, and I have the medicinal herbs as well. It’s a pity that this old man had not been able to concoct them successfully. These prescriptions are considered quite good, so I'll let you have them!"