Chapter 129: That Thing Called Love

The sunlight gradually grew scorching.

The athletes on the Sports Field were sweating like rain, while the students beside them cheered loudly, shouting until they were hoarse.

Chen Shu rested his chin on his hand and watched carefully, saying to Qingqing at the same time, "Have you noticed that those shouting the loudest are all ordinary students, while those standing on the sidelines unable to open their mouths, yet with eyes shining, are mostly a bit problematic..."

Ning Qing followed his gaze, not speaking.

She was a Secret Sect Practitioner who had already cultivated the first stage of the Heart Dao, so naturally, she could tell.

But she still found it interesting every time; every time she delved into analyzing these people's thoughts, she found it difficult, yet also gained a great deal.

Love is a very strange thing.

If analyzed coldly, it can be very simple; from the perspective of evolutionary theory and physiology, it is nothing more than the effect of hormones, and all the madness and irrationality brought by love are merely for the sake of passing on genes and the continuation of the species. Yet, it is also very complex; the human race always has individuals whose thoughts can transcend instinct, and when thought imparts complexity to love, it becomes very difficult to explain it simply.

It can be precious and dazzling, or it can be ordinary and plain.

Every individual is different.

In fact, most people in love or married are not that sweet; for them, love is just that, how could it be so beautiful and shining?

But love is truly a precious thing; the number of times a person can love someone in a lifetime is too few, perhaps just once, perhaps two or three times. Very few people can love someone continuously; once the quota is used up, it is very difficult to love again.

To put it bluntly, love is not that mysterious; it is very easy to get tired of.

This is determined at the physiological level.

Therefore, meeting the right person the first time is truly not easy.

These people before us are currently in their best years; for them, love is very simple, they can love someone very easily and purely, and they don't even understand why so many people don't believe in love. Perhaps when they get a little older, they will gradually understand, and precisely because of this, they will then be able to better appreciate how precious and happy those who believed in love from beginning to end are.

This is the Wise Human.

The physiological structure and brain mechanisms of Heavenly Humans and Wise Humans are different.

The Wise Human is one of the few species in the natural world that, once physiologically mature, is in a rut all year round and can look for a partner at any time. To put it bluntly, they can conceive offspring at any time; to put it nicely, they can love someone at any time.

Heavenly Humans, however, are like certain rare animals; they have the limitation of a rut, and the rut is very short, with no interest in the opposite sex the rest of the time.

Only during this short period of time can they possibly fall in love with someone.

Only possibly—

After all, humans are animals with advanced thought.

Wise Humans are in a rut three hundred and sixty days a year, yet aren't there many people who are single from birth? Not to mention that apart from this mechanism, Heavenly Humans are much colder in other aspects of personality and desire, and they almost went extinct themselves.

Ning Qing turned her head to look at Chen Shu.

Fortunately, she did not have much Heavenly Human Bloodline in her body and was still dominated by the Wise Human, otherwise, even having grown up with Chen Shu, she was not sure if she could have fallen in love with him.

This was her only time.

If they didn't end up together, she would no longer have the ability to fall in love with someone.

At this moment, she only heard him say, "The weather is really nice."

She whispered in agreement, "Yes, it is."

"Give me your Mobile Phone."

"What for?"

"I want to play with it."

"..."

So Ning Qing took out her Mobile Phone and gave it to him.

This person clicked on the Ancient Cultivation Group and pulled her hand over to unlock it.

The Ancient Cultivation Group had three verification mechanisms: fingerprint, Spirit Power, and facial.

Each time it was opened, two of the three had to be verified simultaneously, otherwise, it would prompt that the version was too low and disabled.

Ning Qing deliberately only scanned her fingerprint and did not input Spirit Power; when he aimed the phone at her face, she deliberately closed her eyes again to tease him, and only when he began to make sounds of dissatisfaction did she input her Spirit Power.

"Hehe."

Hearing this person's mischievous laugh, Ning Qing tilted her head toward him and looked at the phone screen.

The light was too strong, which was a bit distracting.

She saw this person type—

Zhaoyeqing: I suppose everyone's school is holding a Martial Body meet today, right?

Zhaoyeqing: So boring.

Zhaoyeqing: /Rolling over and rolling back.

Haoran: /Cracking melon seeds.

Ning Qing pursed her lips and said nothing.

One minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

Three minutes passed.

Chen Shu turned his head and said to her, "Look, you're so unpopular. Except for this silly group owner who still has two hundred years before he can ascend to the throne and is idle all day, no one pays you any mind."

"You do it."

"Hmph."

Chen Shu immediately took out his own Mobile Phone.

Qingcai Keke: We are holding one too.

Grandma Always Says: /Your grandpa is here!

Grandma Always Says: You dog Qingcai! Where are you? I'm at the Sports Field, come and fight me!

Grandma Always Says: /Eighty-meter broadsword.

Ning Qing turned her head and stared at Chen Shu.

Chen Shu remained calm and composed.

Ning Qing reminded him with great composure: "The last Personal Disciple of the Sword Sect's Sword Master, the one accepted as an exception decades after taking a closed-door disciple, is Fifth Stage and will likely become the Sword Master in the future; you should think about this carefully."

"I'm not afraid!" Chen Shu said without hesitation, "I have a girlfriend who hasn't started dating yet, and she treasures me so much; she will protect me!"

"She won't."

"Nonsense! She will!"

"..."

Ning Qing couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him and lowered her head to watch him type, using her own Mobile Phone.

Zhaoye Qing: Where are the others?

Zhaoye Qing: Why is no one talking?

Zhaoye Qing: Every school is holding a Martial Body Meet and there are no classes, yet none of you are coming out to spam the group; the Martial Academy's Martial Body Meet is about to start, and I'm so afraid you're all practicing some profound Technique.

Grandmother Always Says: Eh, what's wrong with you?

Grandmother Always Says: Aren't you usually very quiet and aloof? /scratching head

Nameless Person: That's right!

Gate of All Wonders: Blind guess! You've been possessed!

Haoran Zhengqi: /eating melon seeds

Zhaoye Qing: I was busy before and didn't have time to talk, but since the Martial Body Meet is being held these past two days and there are no classes, I'm free.

Zhaoye Qing: I want to hang out with everyone too.

Grandmother Always Says: Oh...

Grandmother Always Says: It's fine, it's fine, which school are you from?

Zhaoye Qing: Yujing Academy.

Qingcai Keke: Yujing Academy?

Qingcai Keke: Hahaha, Grandmother Senior Sister, are you embarrassed? You kept saying you were from Yujing Academy; maybe Zhaoye Qing saw through you a long time ago and was just silently watching you act cool, hahaha, I'm dying of laughter.

Grandmother Always Says: /fatherly strike

Qingcai Keke: /enduring

Grandmother Always Says: You silly person, why do you have every kind of image?

Qingcai Keke: /cough

Grandmother Always Says: Next door, right next to us. How about this, you curse Qingcai Keke a couple of times, and we'll be friends; I'll take you to play later @Zhaoye Qing.

Zhaoye Qing: I think she's quite good.

Grandmother Always Says:???

Qingcai Keke: hhh

Ning Qing looked at him with a numb expression, repeatedly using two Mobile Phones; she must be quite busy, right?

Yet this person turned his head to say to her: "I'm not messing up your image; I'm doing this to help you hide. This way, no one would ever imagine that the user of this account could be someone possessing a Heavenly Human Bloodline."

Ning Qing said thank you with great composure.

It was full of perfunctoriness.

Before long, the little girl ran back. Seeing her sister and brother-in-law huddled together not knowing what they were doing, she didn't feel curious, sat down behind them, hugged her own mini Mobile Phone, and buried her head in playing games.

The fourth day of the Martial Body Meet.

Ning Qing wore a pair of loose, high-waisted shorts, with her light-colored shirt tucked into them; her slender waist was cinched in tightly, making her legs appear very long. Those long legs, which had been kept covered since last autumn, made their first appearance, shining brightly under the sun.

Chen Shu stared at them for a long time, then went with her to the Martial Cultivation Hall.

Today was the Arena competition.

There were a great many people inside the Martial Cultivation Hall.

This kind of competition was indeed very popular.

Although it was not an academy closely related to ancient cultivation like the Martial Body Academy or the Ancient Cultivation Academy, most students at Yujing Academy were still Cultivators. Unless they truly could not open their Spirit Sea due to talent issues, even those studying liberal arts would take an Opening Agent at the appropriate time to become a Cultivator. Plus, there were many individual martial arts enthusiasts inside, so one or two students with super-high combat power, enough to rival Martial Cultivators, would often appear.

Chen Shu finally found two seats and watched others' duels for a while with Qingqing.

Most of the contestants followed the path of Martial Cultivators, while some were Martial Artists who had opened their Spirit Sea, using their Martial Artist bodies for attacks supplemented by Spirit Power, but they had not practiced systematic techniques like Martial Cultivators, and it was unclear if they counted as Martial Cultivators.

Spirit Cultivators were very rare; he ran through several halls and only saw one.

Because they were students and not professional enough, the Arena rules were relatively conservative, and the referees were very strict, often calling for stops, so it could not be considered exciting.

At the same time, the combat power of ordinary Cultivators was limited after all; this had been the same throughout history.

It was mainly due to the blockade of technology and knowledge.

In ancient times, basically all profound Cultivation Spiritual Methods, Spells, and Sword techniques were monopolized by the representative sects of the major systems.

At that time, the gap between ordinary Cultivators—including Loose Cultivators and those from small sects—and disciples of super sects like the Spirit Sect and Sword Sect could sometimes even reach the level of a difference between immortals and mortals—don't look at how they were both Cultivators of a certain tier and walked similar paths, but just like the superpowers and ordinary small countries on this planet, they were both countries on this planet, yet the gap was comprehensive.

Or just like university students, a world-class institution like Yujing Academy compared to ordinary colleges, and then to third-rate colleges, were two different things.

Cultivators from ancient major sects were like gods, while small sects were just ordinary martial arts factions.

When others fought, the heavens collapsed and the earth cracked, and the sun and moon lost their light, while you, after many years of diligent practice, only managed to make the flame you conjured burn a little brighter.

By modern times, the gap had narrowed somewhat, but it was still limited.

The knowledge opened up in modern times was mainly Cultivation Spiritual Methods, the principles of Spell Runes, and basic cultivation knowledge of the major systems. Except for the Spirit Cultivator system, the profound content of other systems remained in the hands of the state and the major sects. If ordinary Cultivators could not join the major sects, they could only follow the path of Spirit Cultivators and use the knowledge opened up in modern times to study Spells in order to rival and surpass the disciples of major sects.

This was the path Chen Shu was currently taking.

That was why the Moon Night Nüxia, who was also likely Fifth Stage, could resolve the superior of a Fifth Stage opponent within twenty seconds.

This morning was the preliminary round, and the contestants were a mess; it was somewhat boring.

Chen Shu didn't want to watch anymore after a while and said to Qingqing:

"Let's go."

"Where to?"

"Let me see... it's still a while before we eat." Chen Shu checked the time, then glanced at Qingqing's legs. "Let's stroll around the Sports Field. Actually, I've always felt that the best youth during university is spent on the Martial Body Association's Sports Field."

"Are you coming back this afternoon?"

"Not coming back."

"Okay..."

Ning Qing pursed her lips, still savoring Chen Shu's sentimental remark just now, as if he had actually attended university once.

"Qingqing?"

"?"

"Can I touch your legs?"

"Are you putting it on my tab again?"

"Putting it on the tab again."

"Your credit limit is limited."

"Just tell me how many times I can touch?"

"Once."

"..." Chen Shu was silent for a moment. "Then what if I carry you on my back for a while longer?"

"Minus two times."