Chapter 274

Ling'an Academy, girls' Dormitory.

A cartoon was playing on the living room TV, the sound effects rising and falling, but Zhang Suannai sat just one meter away from the television, eyes closed and heart focused on cultivation, seemingly completely undisturbed.

Beep, beep.

The Dormitory door opened.

Zhang Suannai opened her eyes instantly and turned her head to look.

Before seeing anyone, she heard the sounds first.

The one patting off the wind and snow with rhythmic thuds was surely the older sister; the one hopping in place to shake off the wind and snow was the younger sister.

Zhang Suannai had gradually figured out the differences in the sisters' personalities—

The older sister was quieter, not just on the surface, but in her heart as well; she was more indifferent to the affairs of the world, leaning more toward the Heavenly Human she imagined. The younger sister was much more lively, with more hobbies and little interests, more fidgeting and little ideas, and she would lie—she loved to lie.

This was what Zhang Suannai believed.

Two figures, one tall and one short, walked in one after the other.

Zhang Suannai remained sitting cross-legged on her cushion, tilting her head, her black-and-white eyes fixed on them.

The older sister said nothing and did not look at her, walking straight through the hallway beside the living room back to her room. The younger sister, however, came to the living room, set down Taozi, and while brushing the snow off its body, looked at her with confusion and seriousness.

"Sister Suannai, what are you doing?"

"Cultivating!"

"Sister Suannai, you're cultivating so diligently this semester."

"I've pulled myself together!"

"?"

"I am no longer the salted-fish Suannai I used to be." Zhang Suannai sat on the floor talking to her, and because the sofa was higher, she had to tilt her head up slightly, "I've thought it through; I want to strive for success and become a diligent genius so that I can live up to my peerless talent."

"..."

The little girl blinked after hearing this, tilted her head, and asked again: "Then why do you always cultivate in the living room?"

"I can only see you guys in the living room; I'm not used to it if no one is moving around in front of me."

"And you keep the TV on."

"I need to hear some noise; I'm not used to it without noise."

"You're so weird."

"Why is there so much snow on Taozi?"

"Because on the way back just now, Brother-in-law and I buried Taozi in the snow." The little girl paused, "It was so much fun."

"By the way—"

Zhang Suannai suddenly remembered something, so she leaned forward and asked the little girl closely: "How is your brother-in-law's cultivation progress now?"

Upon hearing this, the little girl became instantly vigilant.

"What do you want to do?"

"Just asking."

"Not telling you!"

"Why?"

"You won't even tell me why you're asking."

"I'm seeing if I have a ninety percent chance of beating your brother-in-law, or a ten-out-of-ten chance."

"What do you want to do?"

"Beat up your brother-in-law."

"..."

The little girl stared at her and shut her mouth.

Afterward, no matter what Zhang Suannai said, the little girl remained silent, focusing only on cleaning the snow from Taozi's fur. Once it was clean, she picked up the remote from the coffee table and changed Zhang Suannai's cartoon to the documentary she had been watching before.

"History of the Sword Sect Split"

Zhang Suannai was a bit confused: "Didn't you finish watching it?"

"Watching it again."

"Don't tell me you're thinking of joining our Sword Sect?"

The little girl just gave her a silent look, not saying a word.

Zhang Suannai, however, kept talking to herself, her mouth like a machine gun, rambling about how the Sword Sect's standards for recruiting disciples were strict, how the talent requirements were high, how she could help her pull strings, how the Sword Sect would be hers sooner or later, and all sorts of nonsense.

The little girl ignored her completely.

Bored, Zhang Suannai had no choice but to return to cultivation.

Actually, she was under a lot of pressure too.

She was already a senior now.

Chen Shu and Qingqing were already juniors.

The last academic year had been almost entirely skipped, and the Martial Body Meet would soon be a thing of the year before last, which meant that the inter-school Martial Body Meet would be held again next semester. At that time, as a senior and the previous champion, she would either have to be like the group leader and not compete, or if she did compete, she absolutely had to win the championship.

Her only opponent was Chen Shu.

Although she insisted that her talent was peerless and the best in the world, she had to admit that that person's talent was barely comparable to her own.

Modern Spirit Cultivators had the bonus of the modern Spell system, which was ridiculously strong, and the Sixth Stage was exactly when the Spirit Sect Spirit Cultivator started to exert their power. What if she wasn't in a good state, or was in a bad mood, or just... what if she lost?

Zhang Suannai could not accept that result.

Yet she couldn't not compete.

That silly group leader only stopped competing because she had advanced to the Sixth Stage in her fifth year, leading her peers and feeling there would be no more opponents. But now that she knew there was an opponent, it was impossible for her not to compete, and making excuses wouldn't work either.

Not only would it not work, she didn't want to.

Sword Sect Disciples crave a fight.

But they must also ensure they can win.

Zhang Suannai closed her eyes; the noisy television and Taozi crawling back and forth on her legs helped her calm her mind quite well.

……

The end of the term was approaching.

Brother Meng and Brother Jiang had become busy again.

Chen Shu, on the contrary, had become very idle.

Because just yesterday, he had completely integrated "Rising with the Wind" into the Thousand Machine Art and it had run perfectly during testing; he had also finished reading the three prerequisite theory books for studying "Spirit Body," and the official study materials had not yet arrived; suddenly going from extremely busy to extremely idle, without any transition, he was quite unaccustomed to it.

He didn't even want to scroll through short videos anymore, and he couldn't find anything else to do.

Review?

Impossible.

He wasn't those two guys, how could he possibly review.

He could pass the exam even with his eyes closed.

Even if he didn't pass, it wouldn't be a big problem; he hadn't taken the exams for the previous two semesters, and didn't he still attend school as usual?

"Knock, knock, knock."

There was a sound of knocking on the door.

The Meng-Jiang duo turned their heads instantly, looking at the door, then looking at Chen Shu.

Chen Shu felt helpless and had no choice but to stand up and head to the door.

About half a minute later, he returned holding a bouquet of flowers and tossed it at Brother Jiang.

"Another little rich lady has sent you flowers."

"……"

Jiang Lai's face showed embarrassment, and he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

For some reason, a few days ago, Jiang Lai's personal information had been leaked, and those fan-girls of his were something else. They could roughly be divided into two types, big and small; the younger fan-girls would have people send flowers every day, while the older ones were much more realistic—car keys, house keys, cash, and hotel room cards had all been sent.

"It seems that from now on, whenever we go out to eat, Brother Jiang, you will have to wear a mask," Chen Shu said. "Fortunately, I still have quite a few masks in storage."

"Wouldn't it be very strange to wear a mask on the street?" Meng Chunqiu asked, looking up.

"Brother Meng, that is where you are wrong; wearing a mask is a good habit... What if you have an infectious disease? If you walk around without a mask, wouldn't that be intentional poisoning?"

"That seems to make some sense."

"Why don't you just give in, Brother Jiang? Brother Meng and I will pick a thinner, younger rich lady for you."

"……"

"Tsk tsk tsk!" Chen Shu looked at Jiang Lai's gradually reddening face, shook his head, and recited, "In youth, one doesn't know the value of a rich lady, and mistakenly takes martial arts as a treasure."

"……"

Jiang Lai buried his head in his book, not saying a word.

Meng Chunqiu smiled and said to Chen Shu, "Brother Chen, if you wanted to, with your appearance—although not too outstanding, it is no weaker than Brother Jiang's—and as for your talent and strength, they are also passable, you could also find a rich lady. It just depends on whether you can bear to part with your childhood sweetheart who looks like a fairy."

In his mind, Chen Shu automatically replaced his words with "extremely outstanding appearance" and "brilliant talent," and shook his head, saying:

"Brother Meng, that is where you are wrong."

"How so?"

"I am a person with lofty ambitions; naturally, I want to find a rich lady to live off of, but Brother Meng, you are wrong about one thing: you have misunderstood the nature of a rich lady."

"Please enlighten me."

"A rich lady is just rich, it doesn't mean that on top of being rich, she has to be old, fat, and ugly to be called a rich lady. Don't look at some girls and think that just because they are young, beautiful, gentle, and cute, they have nothing but their looks; in fact, they are also rich ladies."

"……"

Meng Chunqiu and Jiang Lai looked at each other.

Damn it, he managed to show off.

Chen Shu checked the time, stood up straight, and sighed, "You guys continue reviewing; I'm going to take my Moral Cultivation exam."

"Wish you success."

"Brother Chen, be careful not to fail."

Two warm blessings came from behind him.

Chen Shu grinned, telling them not to worry while walking out of the Dormitory.

Moral Cultivation was the first exam to be taken, and basically, no one would fail unless someone missed the exam.

Chen Shu found that the more idle he was, the lazier he became; the more time he had, the more he wanted to procrastinate, and the less he wanted to do anything. Conversely, when he was busy, he would be exceptionally diligent, and when time was tight, he would show a different mental state. It seemed his Dao of the Salted Fish had improved once again.

After finishing the Moral Cultivation exam, there were no more classes.

Chen Shu received the study materials for "Spirit Body," two very thick volumes, divided into upper and lower parts, with dense text and Runes inside that gave one a headache.

After struggling with his Lazy Cancer, he came to the basement of the Ancient Cultivation Building and began to read and study.

Now, the laboratory under the Ancient Cultivation Building could no longer satisfy his needs for Spell testing, but the Spirit Body was not an offensive Spell; it was just that because it was closely related to the Spirit Power in the Spirit Sea, there might be Spirit Power leakage during the study process, which would cause some minor problems if he were outside.

The content in the book was so profound.

Such books would normally not be leaked; even Inner Sect Disciples could only study them within the sect, or even under the guidance of their teachers.

Chen Shu was an exception.

However, in his view, even if these two books were leaked, it was unlikely that anyone would be able to learn them.

One didn't even need to think about other systems besides Spirit Cultivators; there was no way they could learn it. Ordinary Spirit Cultivators would also find it hard to understand without having read the first three books. Even someone like Chen Shu, who had a deep understanding of Runes, Spells, and the Spirit Cultivator system, and had read the previous three books, was a bit confused for a moment. The main purpose of the blockade should be to prevent foreign forces and overseas organizations from cracking it.

Fortunately, Chen Shu could also ask the Vice Sect Master for advice.

The Vice Sect Master was his friend on Feixin, and when he sent the books over, he specifically reminded him to communicate with him if there was anything he didn't understand.

Chen Shu did not dare to cultivate recklessly on his own either.

It was already the twelfth lunar month.

The formal final examinations had also begun one after another.