Chapter 154: Come Watch Me Get Beaten Up

"Qingqing..."

"Mm."

"Qingqing..."

"?"

"Qingqing..."

"Speak."

"Was the match this afternoon easy?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"I want to know."

"I don't know either."

"Take a guess."

"It takes a lot of effort."

"Then use a little less effort."

"I'm not tired."

"That's good then."

"I gave it my all."

"That sounds very tiring... are you lying to me?"

"I don't tell lies."

"Then why did you tell me to give it my all?"

"Perhaps if you finish this match and perform well, you won't have to participate in the next one." Ning Qing felt sorry for him after all and couldn't help but want to help him slack off.

"Really?"

"Mm."

"Qingqing, I love you!"

"..." Ning Qing pursed her lips, acting as if she hadn't heard, but her strides became slightly longer and her pace slowed down a bit; however, walking behind Chen Shu, she couldn't be seen by him, "When will your curse finally be better?"

"Soon, soon. Teacher Lan says there are still a few days left."

"You need to cook a lot of dishes the day after tomorrow."

"Heh..." Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth, "Lazy as I may be, I won't shirk the things I ought to do."

"Mm."

Ning Qing didn't say anything more.

The reason she helped him slack off also included this.

The day after tomorrow was her birthday; cooking a whole table of dishes was very tiring work, and Chen Shu insisted on cooking himself. If he still participated in the competition tomorrow, he would basically have to start being busy from early morning the day after tomorrow. Even without the curse, he would probably feel very tired, right?

How could she bear to let him be too tired?

The two walked into the cafeteria.

Ning Qing walked in front of Chen Shu, took his smart card, glanced at his photo on it, and when it was her turn in line, she swiped the card twice first to pay for sixty cents worth of rice, handed the tray to Chen Shu, and then swiped it once more—this one was for herself.

Then she pulled Chen Shu along to get the dishes.

She really was like a parent.

The kind that takes care of an elementary school student.

Chen Shu watched from behind and felt it was a bit funny, but he quickly wiped the smile away when Qingqing turned around.

Ning Qing looked him up and down, said nothing, and only asked, "What do you want to eat?"

"I want to eat tofu," Chen Shu said, "and the cold-tossed chicken."

"Where is it?"

"Up ahead."

"..."

Ning Qing ordered a tomato scrambled egg and a long bean with minced meat dish, then shoved the card into Chen Shu's hand: "Go yourself, I'm going to find a seat."

"You're not taking me?"

"No."

"Aren't you my parent?"

"You aren't a child anymore."

"Mom, take me..."

"..."

Ning Qing snatched the card back from his hand with a 'swish' and walked forward with an expressionless face.

Chen Shu followed with a smile.

Beep, beep.

Braised eggplant.

Beep, beep.

Cold-tossed chicken.

Chen Shu even had her buy two cups of milk tea before he and she found a table in the corner to sit opposite each other. Eating a bite of rice, drinking a sip of cool milk tea, and then taking a look at Qingqing, who was eating in a quiet and elegant manner across from him—this kind of life was truly comfortable.

"Ah..."

Chen Shu couldn't help but reveal a smile.

However, just then, his Mobile Phone gave a 'ding-dong' sound.

He received the afternoon battle information sent by the school.

Time: 15:00

Location: Martial Cultivation Hall No. 2.

Opponent: Contestant No. 09

If he remembered correctly, Jiang Lai was No. 09.

"Damn!"

Ning Qing continued to eat quietly.

Not long after, Chen Shu received a message from Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai: Brother Chen

Jiang Lai: It seems my opponent is you

Chen Shu: What a coincidence

Chen Shu: My opponent is also you

Jiang Lai: What should I do

Chen Shu: You might as well just forfeit

Chen Shu: I can't be bothered to fight

Jiang Lai: Okay

Chen Shu:...

Chen Shu: I'm joking

Chen Shu: Give it your all, just do what you have to do

Jiang Lai: Brother Chen, what if you get hurt

Chen Shu: You overestimate yourself

Jiang Lai: Okay

Chen Shu thought for a moment, then exhorted him once more.

Chen Shu: Don't be afraid, don't have any reservations; your academy will surely have many teachers and leaders coming to watch you, so perform well

After thinking about it, he changed his approach.

Chen Shu: You give it your all, and I will also perform well

Jiang Lai: Okay

Just then, he received a message from Meng Chunqiu.

Meng Chunqiu: Brother Chen, how did your match go this morning?

Meng Chunqiu: I watched Brother Jiang's match for a few minutes and immediately ran to your venue, wanting to see your match, but why were you already finished?

Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth.

Chen Shu: It's finished

Meng Chunqiu: Did you lose?

Chen Shu: I won

Meng Chunqiu: You actually won?

Chen Shu:?

Meng Chunqiu: Ah, no, I'll come to see you in the afternoon

Chen Shu: Guess who my opponent is?

Meng Chunqiu: Who?

Chen Shu: Brother Jiang

Meng Chunqiu: Then I must come even more

Meng Chunqiu: I will tell Brother Jiang to go easy on you

Chen Shu:...

This fool, he wanted to come and watch him get beaten up.

Chen Shu turned off his Mobile Phone and then said to Qingqing: "My opponent is Jiang Lai from our Dormitory, the one you've met."

"Mm." Ning Qing stared at her food tray, "Is there still another one in your Dormitory?"

"That one is a weak scholar."

"Oh."

"Sigh, how annoying."

"Good luck."

"Is there a reward?"

"You can sleep in my bed the night after tomorrow."

"Great!"

Chen Shu made up his mind.

Jiang Lai was a bit dazed.

He never expected that his opponent would be Brother Chen.

Since returning from Qingshan Ridge, Jiang Lai no longer thought of Brother Chen as just a weak scholar; at the very least, he knew Brother Chen was a Fourth-tier Practitioner and at least possessed a powerful Modern Lightning Technique, capable of defeating a herd of Sword pigs with over a dozen beasts alone.

This was already very impressive.

As for just how capable Brother Chen was in a fight on the Arena, he still couldn't be sure.

Although Chen Shu's spells have immense power and a few Thunder Methods can knock down a Sword Pig, this is the inherent characteristic of a Spirit Cultivator and also the weakness of a Sword Pig; high spell power does not necessarily equate to strong combat ability.

Jiang Lai's opponent this morning was a Fourth-tier Spirit Cultivator, yet the final victor was him.

Spells like the Thunder Method were extremely domineering in ancient times and are perfectly suited for dealing with beasts like Sword Pigs because they lack Spirit Power Defense, but the Thunder Method is not very effective against modern defense spells—not to mention other Cultivators, even just for Jiang Lai, the Defense Rune engraved on his body, which was designed by Chen Shu, also possesses extremely strong resistance to the Thunder Method.

Jiang Lai is a veteran of the Arena.

Rationally judging, if Chen Shu only knew that one Thunder Method, he feels it is unlikely that Chen Shu could beat him. But if one were to say that a person like Chen Shu, who can design so many top-tier Martial Artist Runes, only knows this one Thunder Method, he would not believe it no matter what.

Jiang Lai remained silent and did not speak.

Chen Shu is also a cultured person, refined and polite, and has taken good care of him; originally, he really intended to concede, but after Chen Shu said that, he thought about it and it made sense—in fact, winning or losing is not what is important in this match.

We shall see when the time comes.

First, I will give it my all; if I discover that Chen Shu cannot hold on, then no matter what, I must pull back—I cannot injure Chen Shu, nor can I let Chen Shu lose too miserably.

Three hours passed quickly.

Two fifty-eight in the afternoon.

Jiang Lai was already standing in the Arena, loosening his muscles and bones.

Opposite him, Chen Shu stood calmly.

The referee read the rules as usual.

"Dang!"

The sound of the gong and drum rang out.

The duel officially began.

The onlookers below suddenly became excited, much like the spectators at Jiang Lai's Underground Arena, shouting loudly.

Meng Chunqiu was also standing in the crowd; he was here to watch Brother Chen get beaten by Brother Jiang.

Not far away stood the leaders, coaches, and teachers from the Martial Cultivator Academy's Martial Artist Department and the Traditional Cultivation Academy; Teacher Fu Jia and Teacher Shi Qian were among them. There were also some classmates from Chen Shu and Jiang Lai's class, all cheering for them.

Ning Qing stayed away from the crowd, watching quietly.

On the Arena—

Jiang Lai had already rushed rapidly toward Chen Shu; his strength was great, and coupled with the assistance of the runes, he erupted with extremely fast speed in an instant.

His figure almost left behind afterimages.

How does one defeat a Cultivator with the body of a Martial Artist?

Jiang Lai had been pondering this question for several years.

Different Cultivators have different methods of response.

Today, facing Chen Shu, a Spirit Cultivator, his only choice is to rapidly close the distance to Chen Shu and fully utilize his rune abilities to first launch a storm-like attack on Chen Shu, defeating him before he has a chance to counterattack.

But how can one rapidly close the distance?

Jiang Lai activated the function of the auxiliary rune within the Sun and Moon Rune from the very beginning; every step he took on the ground was aided by a counter-force. Now, his ability to flexibly use this rune can support him in performing such precise operations.

In fact, under the enhancement of the runes, Jiang Lai's current strength is already approaching that of a fifth-stage Martial Artist—that is, close to a conventional Fourth-tier Practitioner from twenty years ago; as long as he gets close, his win rate against an ordinary Fourth-tier Practitioner is very high.

In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two was closed.

Immediately, there was a Spell Barrier.

This barrier was still more than three meters away from Chen Shu.

"!"

Jiang Lai gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and charged straight at it.

Without a weapon, he could only use his body to ram it.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound rang out.

The Defense Barrier teetered, yet it held on.

Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised.

Because the Fourth-tier Spirit Cultivator he met this morning had also set up a Defense Barrier, but he had broken through it very easily; now, the force he was using was much stronger than in the morning, yet he had actually failed to break through.

Jiang Lai was suddenly alert; a powerful wave of Spirit Power was surging from the front.

It was like his own Impact Rune.

Jiang Lai did not hesitate; while retreating to rapidly open up the distance, he also activated the Impact Rune on his back and threw a punch.

"Boom!"

An invisible, massive force collided outward.

A massive force also surged from the front.

In that instant, it was as if a Object Spirit Hongguang Mini had collided head-on with a fully loaded heavy truck; he lost quite cleanly.

"Snap!!"

The impact Jiang Lai unleashed was easily shattered, and at the same time, the impact force surging from the opposite side still carried immense power as it struck his body.

"Swish!"

Jiang Lai slid back a long distance.

Fortunately, the Defense Rune on his body blocked most of the shock for him; otherwise, after taking this hit, he feared he would have coughed up blood immediately.

"This won't do!"

Jiang Lai quickly realized that this would not work; relying on a Martial Artist's crude runes to oppose a Spirit Cultivator's perfected spells is unrealistic, and relying on a Martial Artist's weak Spirit Power to compare with a Spirit Cultivator's pure Spirit Power is also unrealistic—not to mention that the runes on his own body all came from Chen Shu's hands; he had absolutely no qualification to compare with him by relying on runes.

But what if he didn't rely on runes?

In the eyes of a Cultivator, wouldn't a Martial Artist just be flesh and blood?

Jiang Lai saw Chen Shu's calm expression opposite him, and only then did he realize that he had always underestimated him; Chen Shu likely possessed talent in this regard no weaker than the direct descendants of those top sects.

At this point...

Jiang Lai felt that he could only use his ultimate move; if he could shatter Brother Chen's Spiritual Barrier with a Sword Qi Fist, then there would still be a sliver of a chance.

At the same time, he had already sensed the violent Spirit Power fluctuations ahead and the electric arcs faintly dancing in the air.

Faster!!

Jiang Lai instantly charged forward again.

Relying on his Martial Artist Spiritual Sense, he dodged in advance several times, avoiding the red lights flying over like cannonballs; the terrifying energy contained within the red lights made his heart palpitate, and the massive explosion that followed also made him tremble, but he could not care about these things, charging straight until he reached the front of the Spiritual Barrier.

He threw a punch!

"Boom!"

Full firepower.

Sixteen streaks of Sword Qi were blasted out.

"Bang!"

The Spiritual Barrier shattered in response.

Almost simultaneously, a dense swarm of Sword Qi appeared ahead, at least a hundred streaks, the white light gathered together blindingly bright.

Each streak was more solid, harder, and faster than the Sword Qi he had unleashed.

"!!"

Jiang Lai's pupils constricted; he hurriedly activated his Defense Rune, while twisting his body and utilizing the auxiliary functions of the Impact Rune to perform various high-difficulty maneuvers, attempting to weave himself through the dense swarm of Sword Qi.

It must be said, his combat talent was truly strong—

Even at this moment, he remained calm, still able to capture the subtle perceptions provided by his Spiritual Sense and make the correct reactions accordingly.

The arena was silent.

The onlookers all held their breath, watching the figure tumbling in the air above the Arena.

In the end, Jiang Lai successfully avoided the vast majority of the Sword Qi, but several streaks still struck his body, breaking through his Spirit Power Defense, while the force of the Sword Qi also caused him to lose his balance while in mid-air, falling to the ground.

The electric arcs in the air suddenly became violent.

Jiang Lai was completely submerged by the electric light.

"Boom!"

Endless electric light flooded the entire Arena, outlining the shape of the Defense Barrier.

The Arena turned into a glowing hemisphere resting on the ground, the light incomparably intense; for a moment, the onlookers squinted their eyes and opened their mouths wide, not daring to imagine what the venue would look like now if not for this Defense Barrier.

The electric light soon dissipated; the lights in the venue were still on, yet people still felt as if it were dark before their eyes, only gradually adapting after a few seconds.

Jiang Lai was already kneeling on the ground, unable to stand up.