Chapter 149: I Want to Grow Taller!

The end of March.

Yujing still had thunderstorms from time to time.

"Brother Jiang."

"What is it, Brother Chen?"

"Your Rune is finished."

"Finished?"

"Yes."

Chen Shu handed him a Crystal Disk and cautioned, "This Rune is even more complex than the previous ones. Some of the Runes are not commonly seen. You had best have the Engraver practice it a couple of times before they start, to avoid mistakes; otherwise, if you have to re-engrave it, you will suffer for it."

"Alright."

Recently, due to his excellent performance, Jiang Lai had been cooperating more and more deeply with the Arena boss, who had promised to provide him with an Engraver for free and pledged to keep it confidential.

This was still quite trustworthy.

There were risks, but perhaps they were even lower than the risks of finding Engravers separately outside; relatively speaking, it was a more worthwhile choice.

Then Chen Shu began to introduce the Rune to Jiang Lai: "You can carve it anywhere you like, but you must arrange the release guide lines on your arm. When you activate it, it will draw a large amount of Spirit Power from your body, and your fist will blast out a high-penetration Sword Qi released in a cone-shaped area. Martial Artists of the same rank will find it hard to resist, and perhaps even a Ming Sect Martial Cultivator or a Buddhist Sect Martial Monk known for their defense would be injured if hit."

"The quantity and power of the Sword Qi depend on the Spirit Power you input, which is to say, it will grow stronger as your rank increases and your internal Spirit Power improves."

"Right now, your full-power strike has about sixteen Sword Qi."

"However, if you use a full-power strike, it will truly drain all the Spirit Power from your body."

"Furthermore, it will drain at least one-third of your Spirit Power."

"The closer you are, the more concentrated the Sword Qi and the greater the power. The farther away you are, the more scattered the Sword Qi, and there will be a possibility of dodging it."

"You must pay attention to this."

"But the direction of each Sword Qi released upon activation is fixed, not random, so even if the opponent is far away, you can still make the Sword Qi hit them by judging their position."

"The direction and angle of the Sword Qi release are things I have calculated. Within about five meters, the blockade of sixteen Sword Qi makes it almost impossible for a human body to pass through. At this distance, unless the opponent is outside the attack range, they are guaranteed to be hit."

"You can explore the specifics yourself."

On the Martial Artist Arena, small-area attack Runes are actually very popular.

Because Martial Artists are usually very agile, extremely skilled at dodging, and have fast reactions, the vast majority of attacks in the Arena miss their mark.

Given similar excellence in Rune design and structure, and the same input of Spirit Power, a single-target attack Rune is naturally more powerful, but a small-area attack Rune can ensure that in a duel between opponents of the same rank, the opponent is hard-pressed to dodge and will basically be forced to take the hit; once injured, it becomes very easy to gradually fall into a disadvantageous position.

Chen Shu had also researched this personally.

Moreover, this set of Runes is an area-of-effect attack at long range, and is equivalent to a single-target attack at close range.

If more than a dozen Sword Qi hit the same person, I am afraid no Martial Artist of the same rank in the Arena could withstand it. Even Jiang Lai himself, who had also engraved the Defense Rune designed by Chen Shu, would be unable to withstand it.

This Rune is too extreme.

Jiang Lai, however, seemed quite satisfied as he listened, and only asked after hesitating for a moment: "Brother Chen, have you named it?"

"Sword Qi Fist."

"That name is alright."

"Right?"

Chen Shu grinned and smiled: "I also designed its appearance, using a template from the internet. I see quite a lot of people using this template; it's the one with a broad Sword in the middle and blade-wings on the left and right. It's quite good-looking, though so many people use it that it looks a bit cheap. However, I think it suits your usual personality quite well: low-key."

"Oh, that one!"

"How is it?"

"Pretty cool."

"Anyway, you should hurry up, have the Engraver work some overtime, and try to finish the engraving before this month is out so you can get familiar with it; you'll be able to use it at next month's Martial Body Meet."

"Alright."

"I wonder if there will be any rules for this year's Martial Body Meet."

"We'll know in April."

"I'm heading out."

"Alright."

Chen Shu walked to the balcony; it wasn't raining outside, and he looked up at the sky, where there was no sign of dark clouds gathering, so he left and went downstairs. Qingqing's little motorcycle was parked with a pile of bicycles, sheltered by a rain canopy.

Ten-plus minutes later.

Chen Shu pushed open the gate of the small courtyard directly.

What came into view was his sister-in-law, who came running over to open the door for him.

Seeing that he had opened the door himself, the young girl slammed on the brakes and stopped, standing in place, staring at him with a slight frown.

"Hello, Xiaoxiao."

"Brother-in-law, you don't even knock on the door anymore!"

"Too lazy to."

"That's rude!"

"Then I'll knock next time."

"Good!" the young girl then said, "Hello, brother-in-law."

"..."

Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth and walked past her.

The young girl turned around and trotted, overtaking him to get in front, then stopped, feet together, standing very straight, head held high and chest out, waiting on his path like a guard:

Chen Shu was completely bewildered.

He saw the young girl squinting at him, trying her best to stretch her neck: "Brother-in-law, have I grown taller?"

Chen Shu: "..."

I feel like I could tell a lie.

But it's not really necessary.

So Chen Shu smiled and nodded at the little girl, then ignored her gaze and admired all the flowers in the courtyard, finally looking toward the corner of the yard—the green onions and garlic sprouts there had grown quite well, though the cilantro hadn't grown very tall, but that seemed to be small-leaf cilantro, a variety that doesn't grow tall by nature.

Could stir-fry some garlic sprouts with Twice-cooked Pork...

Chen Shu squatted down and calculated this.

Behind him came Qingqing's voice: "I want to drink Sour Radish Old Duck Soup."

Chen Shu turned his head at the sound.

Qingqing had arrived behind him at some point, and a white cat was following her; correspondingly, the little girl was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is my sister-in-law? Where did you take my sister-in-law?"

"Is it your sister-in-law again?"

"If not her, then whose sister-in-law is it?"

"Not yet."

"Tch..."

Chen Shu couldn't be bothered to pay her any mind and stood up to walk into the house.

Ning Qing followed him with an expressionless face, repeating in a low voice: "I want to drink Sour Radish Old Duck Soup."

"That's too much trouble," Chen Shu said without looking back. "I'll stew it for you when your birthday comes, but you guys aren't allowed to order so many dishes this time. Last time, it was because you guys ordered all the dishes that my beloved Twice-cooked Pork didn't get a chance to make an appearance."

"I've decided to invite Zhang Suannai to come along." Ning Qing observed his expression.

"Sure!"

"Are you looking forward to it?"

"Looking forward to what?"

"You think that kind of scene would be very interesting." Ning Qing withdrew her gaze indifferently and said again, "She can eat quite a bit, so we can add two more dishes."

"..." Chen Shu was silent for a moment. "So that's her true purpose?"

"Then let's have stir-fried meat slices with pickled peppers tonight."

"Why are you so greedy all of a sudden?"

"It's been a long time since I've eaten food you cooked." Ning Qing's voice was so soft that Chen Shu could only just hear it.

"Did you take out the Sword pig meat I told you to take out to thaw?"

"I took it out."

"That's good then." Chen Shu sighed involuntarily as he spoke. "As expected, I'm not your boyfriend who isn't dating you at all; I'm just your cook."

"I can afford a cook."

"Then if I cook for you, you give me a kiss."

"Impossible."

"See! I'm just a cook!"

Chen Shu shook his head and walked into the kitchen, poking the Sword pig meat in the sink with his finger to confirm it had finished thawing.

In fact, Sword pig meat is not suitable for freezer storage; it is best eaten fresh. If stored for too long, the loss of texture is secondary; the speed at which the Spirit Power contained in the meat dissipates is ridiculously fast, disappearing in just a few days.

But there was no help for it; that Sword pig was too big.

After hiring a butcher to slaughter and divide it, Chen Shu gave most of the meat to the villagers down the mountain, keeping only some good cuts or parts he liked.

Such as ribs, pork belly, tenderloin, pig trotters, brain, kidneys, and so on.

Even so, it still filled the Dormitory and Qingqing's freezer section to the brim.

It might take until next month to finish eating it.

The Spirit Power in the Sword pig meat now had already dissipated completely, but it still retained quite a bit of its texture, and no matter what, it was still better than ordinary pork.

Chen Shu silently calculated what dishes to eat tonight, what to eat tomorrow, what to eat after that, and what to save for Qingqing's birthday.

For instance, the brain definitely had to be saved.

Tofu with Brain was one of Chen Shu's best and favorite dishes, and besides, Zhang Suannai was coming too; guests are guests, so he had to nourish the guest.

Then tonight would be simple.

Stir-fried meat slices with pickled peppers, which is what Qingqing loves to eat.

Pull some garlic sprouts to stir-fry some Twice-cooked Pork, which is what he loves to eat.

Stir-fry some shredded potatoes with pickled vegetables, which could please the sister-in-law's appetite and also cater to Qingqing's appetite.

Mince the rest into meat filling to boil a tomato meatball soup.

Chen Shu sighed long and hard.

Dinner time.

The little girl picked up her plate, shoveled the last bit of potatoes into her bowl, then picked up the bowl and shoveled it all clean in one go.

Just as she was about to put down her chopsticks, she saw there was still a basin of soup nearby, with golden oil floating on the bright red tomato base, and snow-white meatballs faintly visible; the little girl hesitated for a moment, but still picked up the soup spoon.

Scoop half a bowl of soup, then scoop one meatball.

This was today's source of nutrition.

Recently, she had been persisting in consuming nutrition.

Although she didn't know why, her brother-in-law seemed to think she hadn't grown taller, but this method was definitely correct.

It must be that she hadn't persisted long enough.

Growing taller wasn't a matter of a single day or night, and growing a little bit wasn't that easy to see; as long as she persisted, wait until next year when she would unknowingly go from one meter?

The little girl thought while chewing on a meatball.

After eating the meatballs, he lowered his head to drink the soup.

It was sour and very appetizing.

"I'm finished!"

The little girl was the first to put down her chopsticks; after speaking, she stood up straight away, walked to the living room to sit down, and picked up the Rubik's cube to play with it by herself.

A few minutes later.

The brother-in-law also left the table and walked straight upstairs.

Listening to them talk at the dinner table, it seemed that the brother-in-law's decryption of that previous ring had reached the final step, and he needed to borrow the elder sister's study to use it.

The elder sister was clearing the bowls and chopsticks.

The little girl could see nothing and hear nothing, knowing only how to play with the Rubik's cube, so naturally, she would not go to help.