Chapter 234: You Are My Anchor

A crescent-shaped, inward-curving steep cliff enclosed a small, secluded beach, and the sea waves pushed a few small conch shells to Chen Shu's feet.

Chen Shu took off his clothes, wrung the water out, and then put them back on.

Ning Qing stood to the side, watching him quietly.

"Secretary Ning."

Chen Shu asked Qingqing very kindly: "Do you want to take off your clothes and wring them out? I can help you take them off."

Naturally, he did not receive any reply.

Chen Shu did not mind and continued to turn his head to look at the cliff.

The cliff was not high, about several tens of meters; for an ordinary person, it might be an impossible situation, but for a Cultivator, it was almost effortless.

However, looking from this angle, the cliff was composed of dark gray stone walls, with not a blade of grass growing on them, which inevitably made him think of Nanzhou Island—that was the only island on this stretch of the Frigate's shipping route, and also a Zhan Lue Wu Qi target range for major nations.

Chen Shu had seen it on the news at least several times; Dayi's Zhan Lue Wu Qi were launched from its own territory, traveled ten thousand miles, and landed on Nanzhou Island.

Furthermore, there were no other islands near Nanzhou Island.

It was precisely because of this that it became a target range.

And it was a shared target range.

At least in his past life, the target ranges for intercontinental missiles of major nations were not shared; each had its own.

Chen Shu was very worried about this.

But seeing Qingqing's face, which remained indifferent as always, his heart calmed down quite a bit.

"I'm going up to take a look."

After Chen Shu finished speaking, he walked toward the cliff.

The height of several tens of meters, though steep, was not smooth, having been carved into different shapes by the sea waves. After a brief inspection, Chen Shu found a few leverage points; using the Ling Chi Principle combined with a Martial Artist's physical fitness explosion, a single jump easily covered ten meters or so, and he was up in a few moves.

Above was a lush tropical jungle.

Verdant and thick.

Chen Shu lowered his head, his gaze traveling from near to far.

The rocks were covered in bird droppings, and in the distance grew coconut trees, tall arbors, and ancient vines; many seabirds were startled by him, taking flight in a great mass.

At the end of his line of sight was a volcano; the volcano, covered in green, had clearly been dormant for a long time, and strange beasts with massive bodies flew in the sky, their cries echoing from afar, forming a visually stunning picture.

It was truly an undisturbed land beyond the world.

And on the right, separated by a wall from the secluded beach they had arrived at, was an endless coastline, the light white sand shining brightly under the sunlight.

This was definitely not Nanzhou Island!

"Could it be..."

Relying on his rich historical knowledge, Chen Shu instantly thought of a term—

"Nanzhou?"

The Nanzhou that was recorded in ancient texts but later proven not to exist, being merely an island.

Chen Shu had wondered about this before, because some records preserved from the Yu Dynasty period even mentioned that Nanzhou was inhabited; why did it later become an uninhabited island full of saline-alkali land, lacking Spirit Power, and devoid of vitality?

He used to think it was caused by war.

After all, no matter how big Nanzhou Island was, it was still just an island; if there were a Ninth Stage battle, it was entirely possible for it to be destroyed.

As for now...

Chen Shu suppressed the doubts in his heart and leaped down in one bound.

He landed steadily.

Chen Shu looked at Ning Qing: "This is not Nanzhou Island."

"Mm."

"Is this Nanzhou?"

"I don't know." Ning Qing said indifferently, "There is unknown interference here, I cannot glimpse anything; I can only glimpse you returning to Dayi, and from this, I judge that you are not in much danger here."

"Will it take a long time?"

"That is why I came to accompany you."

"Emmm..."

Secretary Ning's sweet words are so natural.

Chen Shu digested this for a moment before asking: "Doesn't this count as changing the trajectory of how things run?"

"The impact is not large, it is within a controllable range."

"What if the impact is large?"

"I would still have to come."

"... So if the ship hadn't been attacked, or I hadn't come here, it would have caused a great impact on the original trajectory of the world's prediction."

"Very large."

"Then which one has the larger impact?"

"My cultivation is not that high." Ning Qing glanced at him indifferently, "But at least the sinking of the Dayi warship has a great impact on the future."

"Okay..."

It was my narcissism.

Chen Shu scanned this secluded beach once, then turned to look at the cliff: "Let's leave here first, then find a place to settle down, and wait until later to slowly examine this place."

"You make the decision."

"Then I'll carry you up."

"I can go up myself."

"Are you sure you can?"

"If you want a hug, you can just say so."

"……"

Chen Shu walked up without a word, scooped her up by the waist, climbed the cliff again, and only then set her down.

Ning Qing lowered her hands from his neck, and while gazing at the volcano in the distance, she said indifferently:

"Mr. Chen is truly thick-skinned."

"Aren't you quite cooperative yourself?"

"Where are we staying tonight?"

"Secretary Ning changes the subject quite naturally."

"?"

"Let's stay on that beach over there; there are too many snakes and insects in the forest." Chen Shu looked at the beach to the side, which was quite high; as long as they stayed away from the sea, unless there were huge waves again, it should be hard for the night tide to reach this position, "You can also watch the sunset by the beach and find seafood to eat."

"Fine."

Ning Qing's tone remained indifferent: "I want to eat razor clams with pickled peppers and cold-dressed lemon fish."

"We'll see."

"Let's go."

"Wait—"

Chen Shu pursed his lips and smiled, took out his Mobile Phone, opened the camera, aimed it at the massive volcano covered by tropical jungle in the distance, and pressed the shutter button.

"Click!"

The two walked together toward the beach in the distance.

The sun in the distance was gradually approaching the sea level.

It was already late autumn, but this place remained warm, with only a hint of coolness at dusk, like the climate of spring or early autumn.

The two walked to this endless beach, found a good spot, and decided to rest here for the night.

Chen Shu first took out the Spirit Power Stove and all the cooking utensils, placed them to the side, and said to Qingqing:

"Keep these here, I'm going to catch some razor clams."

"Have fun."

"……"

He didn't know what this woman was talking about.

Chen Shu, at any rate, had walked onto this beach with the serious mindset of "searching for food."

There were quite a few razor clam holes on the beach.

Chen Shu had wanted to imitate the method from short videos, using salt to trick them out, but he didn't seem to have much salt with him, so he had to settle for the next best thing: using a tiny bit of Thunder Method to stun them before digging them out—this was a simpler, more convenient, and faster method, but it lacked Spirit Soul.

"Sigh……"

Half the fun was gone.

But as the number of razor clams in the basin grew, each one exceptionally plump and beautiful, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of satisfaction.

This feeling was very novel to him.

Chen Shu returned happily, shaking the razor clams in the basin at Qingqing: "Look, a full harvest! Am I impressive?"

"……"

"I'm going to break off two branches to let them spit out the sand."

"We have chopsticks."

"I'm using branches!"

"……"

Chen Shu went off on his own to break off two pieces of branches, found a basin and filled it with clear water, poured in salt, placed the two branches inside to act as a base, and then poured all the razor clams into a colander and placed it into the water basin to keep them from sinking to the bottom.

"Perfect!"

Chen Shu said in his heart.

Ning Qing watched him with an expressionless face.

This person had run off to catch fish again.

Before long, he returned carrying a fish and asked: "How much drinking water did you bring?"

"Do I have to say 'not much' for that to be the answer you want?" Ning Qing glanced at him, "So you can make a seawater purifier yourself."

"So how much is it exactly?"

"Enough for drinking and eating."

"What about washing up?"

"There's a high probability there's fresh water on the island."

"That won't do."

Chen Shu frowned; he still had to make a seawater purifier.

Ning Qing rolled her eyes at this.

The sunset was beautiful.

Cooking smoke rose on the beach.

"Sizzle!"

The pickled peppers were poured into the hot oil, releasing a pungent aroma; white smoke rose, and there was the human touch of cooking on the deserted island.

A dish of razor clams with pickled peppers.

A dish of steamed and cold-dressed lemon fish.

Two bowls of white rice.

The light on the beach gradually dimmed, and the temperature turned cooler.

Chen Shu used an Earth Movement Spell to condense the sand into a table and stools; they would not collapse before the Spirit Power dissipated. The two sat on the same side, facing the sunset, and began their first dinner since arriving in this strange place.

"It's so quiet here."

"Mm."

"How long are we going to stay here?"

"Don't ask me; I am only here to accompany you. When to leave or when to stay depends entirely on you."

"Oh..."

Chen Shu nodded, understanding.

In the World Prediction Line itself, he was supposed to have come here alone; Ning Qing had forcibly changed the original trajectory by relying on her ability to predict, which would more or less cause some impact on the World Prediction Line, so she wanted to minimize this impact to allow the World Prediction Line to adjust itself more quickly.

And there was no way for her not to come.

It was also possible that the World Will was on a higher level, and in the World Prediction Line, she was meant to come all along; the prediction line knew how she would choose.

It was unclear which one it was.

This thing was truly too complex.

After finishing the meal.

The two changed into clean clothes and sat side by side on the beach, both pairs of legs stretched out straight, gazing at the streak of fiery red on the horizon.

Chen Shu couldn't help but ask Qingqing: "When you Secret Sect Practitioners reach a High-Tier, you know everything that will happen around you; do you find it boring?"

Ning Qing turned her head to look at him: "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't."

"How so?"

"Those who find it boring will find it boring, and when one feels it is boring, it is boring; other than that, it is not."

"Speak properly."

"It has to do with one's mindset."

"Elaborate."

"Prediction is not a personal experience, just a feeling. I don't know how other Secret Sect Practitioners are, but for me—" Ning Qing paused, "some things that are inherently boring, having already known they would be so, and then having to get up and experience them once more, is very boring. But some things are not boring; they are beautiful. Even if I predict that they will happen this way, it does not affect their beauty. I only start looking forward to them in advance; the process of looking forward is beautiful, and experiencing it in person after looking forward to it is also beautiful, making it even more beautiful."

"So that's how it is..."

"Our peering into the prediction line is not a passive ability, but an active one. In most cases, we can only peer into an accurate future when we actively touch the World Prediction Line. Of course, even without relying on the World Prediction Line at all, we can guess and predict things around us based on our own abilities, but this ability is essentially the same as a normal person's thinking; you can choose to think about it, and naturally, you can also choose not to."

"Then do you ever think about changing it?"

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't."

"When do you?"

"When I want to change it, I do; when I don't want to change it, I don't."

"..." Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth, "I thought you would consider changing the disturbance to the prediction line."

"I do, but in essence, disturbing the prediction line is just a cost. If we didn't do it for fear of disturbing the prediction line, it can only be said that the value of doing so was not worth the cost of the disturbance."

"So complex."

"It's not that complex. Predicting the future is essentially a form of calculation. For Secret Sect Practitioners, a more common method is to use the results of the World Will's deduction, which is the World Prediction Line, or one can deduce it oneself based on the information one possesses. But in fact, everyone has the ability to predict the future; for example, sometimes you can predict what you want to eat for lunch tomorrow—isn't that a form of prediction? When tomorrow comes, you can act according to your prediction, or you can change your mind on a whim; the impact is not significant. And the future me is also me; the decisions she makes are the decisions I make. The reason the future me chooses to do so is necessarily because this is what I want. I sometimes correct it, but I rarely make mistakes. Most of the time, I follow the original trajectory, which means..."

"Means what?"

"It means that whether it was the past me or the me who has already glimpsed it, in both instances of contemplation, I concluded that I should make this choice."

"I see..."

Chen Shu muttered to himself, then thought for a moment and said: "I've seen in the Spirit Sect's records that High-Tier Secret Sect Practitioners are even more indifferent than gods."

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

"Part of the reason is that they are born indifferent."

"And the other part? Is it influenced by the Secret Sect System?"

"Yes."

"You won't be like that in the future, will you?"

"I won't."

Ning Qing's voice was very steady: "You are my anchor."

A night breeze began to blow by the sea.

The waves were a bit noisier than during the day, swallowing the beach layer by layer, and the sea had no end in sight. Although the sky was already dark, the clouds overhead still caught the sunlight from below the horizon, turning into a gentle rosy red.

A bonfire burned slowly, occasionally emitting a faint crackling sound; as the firelight flickered, shadows pooled in the footprints the two had left on the beach.

"So I'm a lump of iron, then..."

"You've been holding that in for a long time, haven't you?"

"Haha..."

"The stars are beautiful tonight."

"It's the end of the month, there's no moon!"

Chen Shu leaned back and lay down on the beach; the sand, scorched by the sun during the day, had gradually cooled down, soft and fine, with dense stars shining brightly overhead.

Soon, Qingqing also lay down.

The two lay shoulder to shoulder.

"How about we stay here forever?" Chen Shu asked the girl beside him casually, "Have a bunch of kids and annoy you to death."

"..."

"Say something, you were quite talkative just a moment ago."

"Nonsense."

"Emmm..."