Chapter 259: The Flower-Planting Temple

Chen Shu did not get the answer he wanted from the Vice Sect Master.

The Vice Sect Master stated that he was merely an unremarkable Vice Sect Master, that this was a decision made by the gods, and that not only him, but even his master, the Sect Master of the Spirit Sect, might not necessarily know why. He then expressed his envy of Chen Shu in a subtle manner, telling him to work hard and not let the gods' trust go to waste.

Chen Shu extracted a point of suspicion from his words—

It seemed that the Saint Sons and Saintesses in history did not have this mark; it was something unique to this generation.

Because, given the history and the sect culture of the Spirit Sect, if every generation of Saint Sons and Saintesses had this mark, it was unlikely that the Vice Sect Master would be unaware of it.

Of course, it was only "unlikely."

Reality often leans toward the direction with lower probability.

However, this question could be confirmed right now, and Chen Shu naturally would not keep it bottled up inside or play the part of a detective.

So, he asked it directly.

Facing his question, the Vice Sect Master was slightly surprised: "How did you figure that out?"

"My father is a historian; there are always some unknown contents hidden in inconspicuous phrasing and words," Chen Shu said modestly. "However, judgments made using this method are usually proven wrong in most cases."

"You were right this time."

The Vice Sect Master looked at him, a hint of a smile appearing at the corners of his eyes: "This is indeed the handiwork of the gods of this generation."

"Does it have any additional effects?"

"You will be able to experience it soon." The Vice Sect Master paused. "I have also studied it; I suspect it might be a wisp of origin essence separated by the gods."

"Origin essence? Can origin essence be separated?"

"That is why it has never happened before."

"Understood..." Chen Shu nodded. "So, what exactly is its use?"

"You have already experienced the benefits of Divine Power in Nanzhou, haven't you? It is the source of Divine Power and should be purer and more powerful than Divine Power itself. It is just that the Spirit Power Quality of an Intermediate Cultivator cannot activate it yet. I speculate that perhaps the Spirit Power of too low a quality differs too much from it, and thus cannot produce a reaction with it. Perhaps only after reaching the High-Tier can its function be awakened."

"Oh..."

Chen Shu dragged out the long tail of his tone, but he didn't ask for the reason; that would just lead the question back to the start, and the Vice Sect Master would not know the answer to that either.

A mark formed from a wisp of origin essence...

Chen Shu pondered, his doubts growing more and more.

First was the issue of the Saint Sons and Saintesses.

Historically, not every god came from a top-tier sect, school, or the Imperial Family of a great nation. Even for the gods born from these top-tier powers, not every one of them had served as a Saint Son or Saintess before becoming a god. Only when a god from a top-tier power was in their later years, and happened to discover someone among their descendants or the sect's juniors who possessed supreme talent and excellent character, and determined that this person was undoubtedly their successor, would they set it down, saying, "This person is the Saint Son of my sect; everyone should treat them as usual, but don't go too far, for they will succeed me in the future"—that is what it meant.

And the succession of gods occurs roughly every thousand years.

Therefore, flipping through the history of major top-tier sects, the average interval between the appearance of Saint Sons and Saintesses is at least 1,500 to 2,000 years or more.

If you expand the scope to the whole country, it is estimated that it would take several hundred years for a Saint Son or Saintess to walk the world.

In ancient times, this status was quite extraordinary.

But what about now?

Wholesale?

And almost all in the same generation.

This actually linked back to a question Chen Shu had a long time ago.

That is the problem of geniuses.

Take Zhang Suannai for example; she might be a bit silly, but her talent is truly beyond question.

Although talent does not necessarily dictate final achievement—many geniuses eventually fade into the crowd, and many with ordinary talent have shone with light like the sun—but in terms of talent alone, many who eventually ascended to the God Altar might not even compare to Zhang Suannai.

Someone like her, if placed in ancient times, should not appear even once in several hundred years.

Considering the modern population growth and the physical improvement brought by the development of the era, as well as the popularization of cultivation so that geniuses are not buried, in any case, there shouldn't be so many contestants with talent similar to Zhang Suannai appearing in the same era.

They are even around the same age.

Now that these people all uniformly possess the mark, it is hard not to associate it with the intervention of the gods.

And this seems very reasonable.

Look—

The Ming Sect does not have such a genius in this generation, and coincidentally, the Ming Sect has lost its monopoly on the position of Martial God in this generation.

Chen Shu was deep in thought while walking back with a few books in his hands.

The war was won, the gods were idle, had nothing to do, so they researched a new method together and used it uniformly?

And the purpose?

It seems to be to let these people quickly reach the Ninth Stage.

Still that same question—

The purpose?

Chen Shu frowned.

Could it be that the gods finally won this war, were exhausted in mind and spirit, and all wanted to abdicate, so they cultivated a bunch of successors?

That doesn't make much sense.

If they wanted to abdicate, there were always successors.

Perhaps not as suitable as the un-matured Zhang Suannai, but it's not like it was completely impossible.

Are the gods' standards too high?

Moreover, there was no need to unify the timing.

For the thousands of years of confrontation with the gods of the other world, gods have been born one after another, never at a unified time, so there is even less need now.

Or...

Chen Shu couldn't help but fall into a conspiracy theory—

The reason why the gods haven't returned after winning the war is because they cannot return, trapped in place by some factor, so they worked together to research a method that can allow the world to produce peerless geniuses in batches and let the geniuses grow rapidly... Besides letting the geniuses grow rapidly, this mark has another function: to build a channel when the gods need it, allowing the gods to return to the human world by borrowing the bodies of these geniuses.

Thinking of this, Chen Shu was already feeling a bit chuunibyou.

But it still didn't make sense.

There were at least two points that didn't make sense.

First, the contemporary Sword God is a man.

Oh, the Sword Sect? That makes sense then.

They just play a bit loosely.

Second, it is hard to imagine these deities doing such a thing, and furthermore, having to send a dream to verify one's character before choosing someone is truly unnecessary.

This is not even as reasonable as the previous speculation about a unified abdication.

Out of trust for these big shots who are willing to endure loneliness to protect the world and have stood in opposition to the deities of the other world for a thousand years, Chen Shu temporarily set his doubts aside, and by this time he had already walked to the gate of his small courtyard; the creaking sound of opening the door calmed his heart.

"Hiss... hoo..."

A deep breath, casting aside distracting thoughts.

It was truly unnecessary to add extra trouble for himself.

He could discuss this topic in the group another day; perhaps he could get an answer from the successors of these serious top-tier sects.

If he couldn't get an answer, he would just trouble them instead.

Either way, he would feel happy.

Chen Shu picked up the broom and began to sweep the courtyard.

Not only did he have to sweep the courtyard, but he also had to tidy up the house; once he left tomorrow, he didn't know how long it would be before he returned.

July 18th.

Chen Shu boarded a flying car and returned to Yujing.

The first thing to do was naturally to head to Qingqing's small courtyard; this woman seems cold and aloof, but is actually petty, otherwise she would say he didn't come to see her first.

Chen Shu complained in his heart while pushing the door to enter the small courtyard.

Qingqing was inside fussing over flowers and plants.

She was wearing a pure white T-shirt, cotton shorts, and slippers, a very casual summer home outfit, as if she could lie down on the bed and sleep at any time; this simple attire, however, still accentuated her graceful figure, and her legs were white and long.

"Qingqing!"

A smile instantly bloomed on Chen Shu's face:

"Did you miss me?"

"So-so."

"That's truly heartbreaking..."

Chen Shu closed the door properly and walked closer to Qingqing.

Ning Qing, who had originally been in a bent-over posture with her butt stuck out while pruning flower branches, immediately changed her posture to a squat.

"?? What are you..."

Chen Shu felt both shocked and disappointed: "Is this the trust that should exist between childhood sweethearts???"

Ning Qing looked back at him, too lazy to say much, and continued doing her own thing.

Having been away for more than half a year, although Xiaoxiao had done as she said, she hadn't done it well. Especially since the summer in Yujing is very hot, while no flowers had died of thirst, several had been waterlogged due to improperly arranged irrigation facilities, leaving behind several deep pits. The other flowers also hadn't grown well; long-term lack of care meant some flower types that naturally love to grow wildly were now a miserable sight, and at the same time, due to insufficient fertilizer and pests and diseases, almost every plant had many blind branches.

Ning Qing had returned and applied medicine, and after a dozen days, the pests and diseases were basically under control.

But she didn't rush to prune the blind branches; instead, she increased water and fertilizer to let these blind branches photosynthesize to obtain more nutrients and support the plant's recovery. After squeezing out all their remaining value, she decided to prune them today.

At the same time, some branches and leaves growing inward or crossing each other also had to be pruned; they were hard to reach by sunlight, eating without working, and easily became a cradle for pests and diseases.

Chen Shu saw her bring in the large trash can placed at the courtyard gate; every time she pruned some branches and leaves, she would casually toss them into the trash can, and that large trash can was already nearly full, filled with branches, leaves, and withered flowers.

"Qingqing, have you advanced?"

"..."

"Asking you."

"Don't want to answer you."

"Asking you!" Chen Shu urged, "Answer quickly!"

"No."

"Hurry, hurry!"

"..."

Ning Qing glanced at him again, grabbed a pile of blind branches she had pruned, and threw them at him.

The blind branches immediately scattered and flew toward Chen Shu.

"Hoo..."

A gust of wind blocked them and carried them into the trash can.

"No."

Ning Qing finally answered, her voice very soft.

"I knew it!"

Chen Shu couldn't help but grin and said again: "Let me tell you, advancing with a Beast Pill is so painful, I almost died from the pain."

"The Secret Sect can seal off perception."

"No, I'm not at ease; I still have to watch over you."

"..."

Ning Qing rolled her eyes, too lazy to say more to him.

The Refraction Bubble in front of her had grown a strong shoot that shot straight into the sky, still carrying several flower buds, yet she showed no mercy and decisively extended her shears.

Crack! The strong bamboo shoot snapped.

"Tsk tsk."

Chen Shu clicked his tongue as he watched: "Secretary Ning is truly willing to sacrifice; even I feel a pang of heartache watching this."

Secretary Ning merely glanced at him indifferently, her voice cold and pleasant as she said: "A temporary suppression is for a better blossoming in the future."

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu could not help but scratch his head.

Sarcastic.