Chapter 153: Why Is It You

Beep, beep, beep.

The dormitory door opened.

Zhang Suannai was sitting on the sofa; hearing the sound, she abruptly raised her head and greeted the two with a radiant face: "Xiaoxiao, Qingqing, you're back?"

Ning Qing only glanced at her once.

Xiaoxiao, however, nodded and gave a hum of acknowledgment.

Zhang Suannai looked at the little girl with a smile, feeling that the little girl was indeed cuter: "Was the Martial Body meet at Yujing Academy fun?"

"Fun."

"What did you see?"

"Big sister said you followed us."

"……"

An awkward expression appeared on Zhang Suannai's face, and she silently retracted the judgment she had made earlier.

At the same time, she couldn't quite figure it out; her tracking skills could be called perfect. It was already incredible enough that Ning Qing had discovered her last time, so why was she discovered again this time when she had learned from the previous lesson and specifically stayed several hundred meters away from them?

Zhang Suannai had just wanted to explain a few words when she saw Ning Qing walk straight into her room, seemingly completely indifferent to this, looking aloof to an unreasonable degree.

How could someone so aloof fall in love?

How could such a person go to watch a man practice Archery? Endure him putting his hand on her shoulder? And then go out to eat with him afterward?

Zhang Suannai was completely baffled.

Fortunately, it was already the fifth day of the fourth lunar month today, and Ning Qing's birthday was the tenth; she had invited her to her house for a meal. Zhang Suannai had even specifically asked, and besides herself, Chen Shu and Chen Shu's sister would be there, and Chen Shu would be cooking in person.

When the time came, with her own wit, she would know at a glance.

Zhang Suannai had already begun to look forward to it.

And that person's cooking skills seemed to be very good...

Gulp.

……

The eighth day of the fourth lunar month.

Zhang Yunyan looked at the calendar on the wall.

It was still stuck on the first day of the fourth lunar month, and the two characters for "Huai Xu" were somewhat eye-catching.

He took out his Mobile Phone to take a look, then calculated on his fingers; he dabbed a bit of saliva on his hand, counted seven pages in one go, and tore them off in one motion.

Today was the day the internal school Arena competition began, and his opponent for the first match was a freshman junior.

Seemed to be named Chen Shu?

Admittedly, Yujing Academy was a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers abounded and geniuses emerged in large numbers; one shouldn't look down on any junior. But he was a senior after all, and the vast majority of students only opened their Spirit Sea when they entered school as freshmen; as long as his luck wasn't bad, he would ultimately have the advantage against a junior.

Moreover, Zhang Yunyan had previously spent time in the laboratory and had run into a big-shot senior; under that senior's guidance, the Impact Technique, for which he hadn't held high expectations, suddenly possessed immense power, which also gave him great confidence.

Handling the first match shouldn't be much of a problem, right?

Even his roommates said he was lucky; drawing a freshman junior in the first round was practically a free win.

He himself had only intended to join in the fun, because the department said that participating would earn credits, and what he pursued was merely not being defeated instantly by others.

But now there was hope of passing the first round.

After passing the first round, the credits would double.

Come to think of it, that senior was truly amazing; his foundation in Rune principles was too solid, and he was also helpful, gentle, and easy to talk to. Every time he went to trouble him, he would point out his problems, and every time it was right to the point.

If he won this match, he must treat him to a meal.

Thinking this way, Zhang Yunyan went out with a nervous heart after eating breakfast in the cafeteria.

He arrived at Martial Cultivation Hall No. 4.

Zhang Yunyan waited nervously.

Although he knew the internal school competition was basically for entertainment and the intensity of the first round was very low—even if one got injured, it would only be a minor injury—he still couldn't help but feel nervous.

Finally—

The broadcast overhead announced: "Martial Cultivation Hall No. 4, contestant number 34 Zhang Yunyan, contestant number 12 Chen Shu, please come to the Arena to prepare."

Zhang Yunyan took a deep breath and walked forward.

The opponent walked up from the other side.

The figure looked a bit familiar...

When the opponent raised his head, Zhang Yunyan saw his face and was suddenly stunned.

"Senior Chen, why is it you?"

"Ah? Why is it you?"

"I was just saying..."

"Haha, what a coincidence..."

"Senior Chen, did you go to the wrong place?"

"I'm afraid not..."

"Isn't my opponent a freshman junior?"

"Isn't this a coincidence..."

"Ah? What do you mean? Are you a freshman?"

"Ah haha... By the way, what year did I tell you I was in?" Senior Chen scratched his head, "I forgot."

"You didn't seem to say..."

"Haha..."

"……"

Zhang Yunyan's expression was extremely colorful.

He never expected to run into the senior brother he respected, who was warm-hearted and had been a great help and inspiration to him, right from the start; even less did he expect that the Chen Senior Brother he had been calling for so long was actually only a freshman.

"So, what do we do now..."

"It's fine, isn't this just an exchange?" Chen Shu yawned, frowning as if he were in a difficult position. "Fighting anyone is an exchange anyway. It's perfect; I can see what shortcomings your Impact Technique still has, and then you can improve it later."

"Okay."

While they were talking, the referee entered the Arena.

The competition rules were read aloud.

The match began immediately.

Zhang Yunyan was a Third-stage Cultivator and only a sophomore. If he had opened his Spirit Sea only after enrolling, reaching the Third-stage in less than two years was considered a very good speed anywhere. After mastering a decent Impact Technique, he also possessed a certain level of combat capability.

However, in this competition, he still belonged to the group that was just "joining in the fun."

Chen Shu did not defeat him immediately, but instead forced himself to perk up and spar with him for a few minutes, letting this contemporary college student—who in all likelihood had never fought with Spells before—adapt to the feeling of fighting others with Spells, adapt to the use and coordination of Spells, and also get familiar with the casting of Spells.

It was an exchange, after all.

A few minutes later.

The referee announced: "Winner, Number 12, Chen Shu."

Although Zhang Yunyan had lost, he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.

As he walked off the stage, his expression was complex, but he still cupped his hands toward Chen Shu: "Many thanks for the guidance, Chen Senior Brother. I'm truly sorry."

Chen Shu waved his hands repeatedly: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it..."

"How should I address you from now on?"

"Whatever you like is fine."

"Then I will still call you Senior Brother."

"Don't you feel awkward?"

"The one who has attained the Daoist path first is the senior."

"That works too." Chen Shu grinned, revealing a smile. "I'll call you Senior Brother too."

"Good."

Zhang Yunyan leaned in again: "Chen... Senior Brother, are there any other problems with my Impact Technique?"

"Emmm... I feel like your Impact Technique isn't unleashing the power those core Rune groups should have. You should check your Rune group and see if you've made the same mistake I used to make—some Runes are conflicting."

"Rune conflict?"

"You don't know about this concept yet, right?"

"I don't..."

"You'll learn it later."

"You really seem like a true senior brother..."

"Ahahaha..."

"..."

At this moment, the recorder came to find Chen Shu and asked if he still wanted to participate in the next round. Under the torture of the curse, Chen Shu still gritted his teeth and chose to participate.

Truly a person of great perseverance.

The Zhang Senior Brother beside him was still waiting for his answer.

Chen Shu thought for a moment: "To tell you the truth, I recently contracted a type of curse that makes me very lazy. How about we wait until the curse passes, and then I'll explain it to you in detail? You should be able to find me in the laboratory; I'll be going there often later."

Zhang Yunyan stared at him with a strange look.

"What's wrong, Zhang Senior Brother?"

"Chen Senior Brother, it seems I've also contracted this curse of yours."

"..."

"Alright, alright, Chen Senior Brother, see you later."

"Zhang Senior Brother, see you later."

Zhang Yunyan's figure gradually moved away.

Chen Shu withdrew his gaze and then walked toward Qingqing, who was watching not far away—as his first match, Qingqing, acting as his guardian, naturally had to be present.

Just as he approached, Chen Shu sighed.

"Sigh..."

To indicate his mental state.

Qingqing, however, seemed not to hear him; she only looked at him indifferently and asked, "Do you know that person?"

"He is a junior brother of mine in his sophomore year."

"..."

"Sigh..." Chen Shu sighed again and said to her, "I originally planned to make it a quick battle and get off the stage early, but I didn't expect to run into him. This afternoon, I must finish the fight within thirty seconds."

"How many more matches do you have to fight?"

"I don't know, you guess."

"Too lazy to guess."

"Did you get cursed too?"

"..."

"Tch!"

Chen Shu began to calculate.

The number of people signed up for the Martial Academy Group's Arena competition wasn't high. For instance, in the Ancient Cultivation Academy, as far as Chen Shu knew, only about ten people had signed up in total. The number of people signed up for the Martial Cultivation Academy should be higher, totaling around several dozen.

However, most people are just here to join in the excitement.

At the same time, after each match, even the winner does not automatically enter the next round; instead, they decide voluntarily whether to continue, as this competition does, after all, carry a certain degree of danger.

Many people, after participating in the first round, have already obtained their academic credits and had their fun, so even if they won, they will not participate in a second round.

There are also those who won but sustained relatively heavy injuries, making them unable to participate in a second round.

Or perhaps they feel very exhausted after fighting, whether due to excessive worry, Surprise, or because the gains were significant and need to be digested; this kind of mental fatigue is difficult to recover from quickly using external forces, so they might not participate in the next round either.

Therefore, the number of people will drop very quickly.

Perhaps only a dozen or so people will participate in the second round, or twenty-something at most.

Only a few, or perhaps ten or so, will participate in the third round.

Perhaps after finishing the third round, or at most the fourth, Chen Shu can give up, as he will already have obtained the qualifications to participate in the off-campus competition.

What is the point of fighting and killing; watching others fight and kill is what's interesting.

"Ah..."

Just thinking about these things is so tiring.

A thought of giving up arose.

Fortunately, in order not to affect normal teaching, the school has compressed the competition time to be very short; as long as your injuries are not severe, they can be repaired on the spot, and they will provide you with special potions to restore your physical strength and Spirit Power to their best state, so you can finish one match in the morning, immediately fight a second in the afternoon, and even fight a third in the evening. Solving all the tiring and annoying things at once is better than having them scattered.

Anyway, it is just an internal school exchange, and it is not as professional as a professional Arena.

The ranking in the internal school competition is not that important either.

The focus is on exchange and improvement.

Winning or losing is not very important.

Even if you want to participate in the off-campus competition, winning or losing is not important; as long as your performance is brilliant, even if you lose, the teachers will recognize your strength and allow you to sign up.

Glancing over, Chen Shu caught sight of Qingqing's braided pigtails, so he reached out and grabbed one, deciding to let her drag him along.

The moment the braid went taut—

"Smack!"

As expected, he received a slap.

Ning Qing turned her head, frowned, and stared at him: "Don't you think it hurts to pull it?"

"..."

Chen Shu's expression was blank.

But walking is really tiring.

Seeing this, Ning Qing pursed her lips helplessly, walked behind him, reached out both hands to press on his shoulders, and just like that, pushed him forward.

"Are you going to see your roommate?"

"Do you want to go?"

"I can go with you."

"Forget it, too lazy to go."

"Then let's go eat."

"Alright, Secretary Ning."

"Smack!"