Chapter 289: Zhang Suannai is Invincible Under Heaven

Late February, the spring air is gradually warming.

Chen Shu received two Feixin messages.

Wang Weixin: Big Boss

Wang Weixin: The Martial Body Meet is happening again this semester. The time hasn't been set yet, but it's about the same as our freshman year. Do you want to sign up for anything? By the way, I asked, and since you participated in the off-campus group last time, you automatically have the qualifications to sign up for the off-campus group this time.

Chen Shu looked at the messages, pondered for a moment, and decided not to go bully people in the on-campus group.

He really has been too busy lately.

But he still has to sign up for the off-campus Arena tournament.

It probably wouldn't do not to sign up.

The champions from the previous two sessions are not at Yujing Academy, so the school leadership would certainly lose face. Even if he didn't sign up, someone would come to persuade him. At the same time, this is also a competition between the disciples of the same generation from various top sects. The Spirit Sect might not say anything, but they would likely hope he goes to show off a bit. Previously, due to the state's control over Spells and the slow start of Spirit Cultivators, Spirit Sect disciples haven't had a highlight moment at the Martial Body Meet for many years.

So he began to type a reply—

Chen Shu: I'll sign up for the off-campus Arena tournament.

Wang Weixin: Okay.

Wang Weixin: Are you signing up for the on-campus one?

Chen Shu: I won't.

Wang Weixin: Okay.

Wang Weixin: Good luck, Big Boss. It's all up to you.

Wang Weixin: /hands a cigarette to Big Boss

Chen Shu: /hands tea to Big Boss

After chatting back and forth, Chen Shu closed his Mobile Phone and walked out of the room.

Jiang Lai was sitting quietly on the sofa, his whole body covered in bandages, and the exposed skin had many bruises and small wounds. He was watching the news.

Chen Shu actually quite admires him—

This person uses a Mobile Phone produced at least ten years ago. He bought it who knows how many years ago, and it wasn't even new when he bought it. For all these years, he has only upgraded the processing power once via a Crystal Chip. The screen has been cracked since his freshman year; he told him to go get it replaced two years ago, and he still hasn't. He almost never plays with his phone; he doesn't scroll through short videos, read novels, or listen to music. Watching the news is already considered relaxing for him.

A miraculous person.

Chen Shu walked over, sat down beside him, and glanced at the wounds on his body. Knowing that he had gone to spar with Yan Keling for the first time today, he asked, "Did Yan Keling do this?"

"Mm..."

The voice was a bit slurred.

"How does it feel?"

"She is so strong..."

Jiang Lai turned his head and said to Chen Shu, "Even without her requesting the descent of a Spirit Contract target, I still couldn't beat her."

Chen Shu took a sip of water, not at all surprised.

Although it is said that a Fifth-stage Martial Artist implies a combat power comparable to an ordinary Fifth-tier Practitioner, there is still a big difference between the two.

Not to mention whether there is any padding in the certification process for Martial Artist ranks, even if there isn't, it is only equivalent to an ordinary practitioner. And since this is a certification process, regardless of whether one is a martial arts genius or someone with mediocre aptitude, unless they deliberately hid their strength and didn't get certified before, their combat power theoretically doesn't differ much when they just pass the certification; they have all just crossed that line. It's just that a martial arts genius will reach this line at a younger age, and their subsequent progress after crossing the line will be faster, and they will go further in the future.

Practitioners are different. Even just having promoted to the Fifth-tier, the difference in strength between a genius and someone with mediocre aptitude is huge.

Furthermore, there is a massive gap between top sects and ordinary sects.

Yan Keling is clearly a genius.

It's hard to say about the sect bonus; the Imperial Sect's combat power mainly relies on the Divine Contract Secret Technique, and they themselves are just at the level of a large sect, but in any case, they are stronger than Martial Artists.

Chen Shu thought that since he was the intermediary after all, he opened Feixin again to ask Yan Keling.

Chen Shu: My roommate has been beaten into a mummy by you.

Yan Keling: What is a mummy?

Chen Shu: /falls into deep thought

Chen Shu: So, how does it feel?

Yan Keling: So Martial Artists can also be this strong.

Chen Shu: Are you complimenting yourself?

Yan Keling: /confused

Chen Shu: He was beaten quite miserably by you.

Yan Keling: No!

Yan Keling: Although I won, I also won very miserably!

Chen Shu: Is this sparring partner suitable enough?

Yan Keling: Too suitable!

Yan Keling: His combat experience is very rich. I only fought the first match and learned so much!

Chen Shu: Martial Artists and Martial Cultivators have some combat techniques and experiences that are interchangeable.

Yan Keling: /mm-hmm

Yan Keling: It's just a pity that he will definitely need a long time to recover from his injuries, otherwise I would want to schedule another match with him next week. The Martial Body Meet is coming up soon, and I want to at least be able to beat Senior Brother Qingdeng and Senior Brother Zhong Miao.

Chen Shu: Don't worry, based on my experience, his minor injuries will be fine in two or three days.

Chen Shu: Then I'll tell him.

Chen Shu: Brother Jiang is a person with very thin skin who doesn't want to trouble others. If you are much stronger than him and he feels he isn't of much help to you, he will feel very embarrassed and might even stop looking for you because of it.

Yan Keling: /dazed

Yan Keling: Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother!

Yan Keling: /cupped-fist salute

Chen Shu: You're welcome.

Chen Shu closed his Feixin and relayed to Jiang Lai beside him: "Yan Keling just told me that you're very impressive, that she learned a lot of combat experience from you, and that once the Martial Body Meet arrives, she's going to use the experience she learned from you to beat you up."

"Really?"

Jiang Lai, however, let out a sigh of relief.

"Really."

Chen Shu revealed a smile: "She also said, get your injuries healed quickly, heal up before fighting; finding a Fifth Stage sparring partner outside right now is truly too expensive."

"Okay!"

Jiang Lai's tone was firm.

At this moment, the news was broadcasting again about Qingshan Ridge and the sword pigs.

The sword pigs around Yujing were once again overflowing, with incidents of them coming down the mountain to trample and eat crops and injure people occurring frequently; every year near the Hunting Festival, it was nothing but these news reports.

Chen Shu turned his head and asked: "Did you go to Qingshan Ridge to catch sword pigs last year?"

"I went."

Jiang Lai felt a bit embarrassed; fortunately, there were a few bandages wrapped around his face like armor, covering up some of his awkwardness: "It's just that I caught them for seven days, and only caught a dozen or so; they are too hard to find, and they run too fast..."

"Are you going again this year?"

"I'm going... Brother Chen, are you going?"

"I'm going, let's team up."

"You're still going?"

"I'm going." Chen Shu looked at him in confusion, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Didn't you join the Spirit Sect..."

"Does joining the Spirit Sect mean I can't go?"

"The Spirit Sect... has subsidies, right?"

"That's true, but no one ever complains about having too much money." Chen Shu felt it was strange, "And don't you think this is fun?"

"Then this time..."

"Same old rules, a fifty-fifty split."

Chen Shu said before he could, and then without waiting for his reply, added: "I have a premonition that this time you're going to carry until your legs go weak; how much money we make depends on your speed at carrying pigs... anyway, I'm not carrying them, that thing reeks to high heaven."

"..."

Jiang Lai was silent for a moment, then nodded:

"Fine!"

"It's settled then!"

Chen Shu patted his backside and went to the balcony to catch the breeze.

After joining the Spirit Sect, he certainly wasn't short on money; not only were there subsidies, but his own contribution points could also be exchanged for money, but hunting sword pigs was indeed fun, and he could easily earn a large sum of money, so why not take it. As for the share he gave away, he would just consider it support for the orphanage; anyway, he didn't feel bad about spending easy money. And Brother Jiang had indeed put in the labor, so it was deserved.

Zhang Suannai had also just signed up for the Martial Body Meet.

Her cultivation had been truly diligent lately, so diligent that she felt she was no longer herself, having turned into Zhang Guodong, or Liu Suannai, and her progress was great. Coupled with the improvement in her insights into the Sword Dao after returning from drifting overseas—well, maybe it wasn't caused by drifting overseas, but regardless, her Sword Dao had improved—with this two-way bonus, she had a feeling that she was already invincible in the world, and she really wanted to call that Cao Ci over, one sword to the left, one sword to the right, and hack her to death in two strikes.

Beating a mere Chen Shu, wasn't that as easy as turning over one's hand?

This was indeed her recent goal.

Now it seemed, it was already a sure thing.

As for her roommate, she wasn't worried at all.

First, her roommate had a quiet personality; although she had the Night Person Bloodline, she had never seen her actually fight, though beating her younger sister was a daily routine. Second, with her personality, she wasn't interested in any Martial Body Meet at all; she was only interested in Chen Shu participating in the Martial Body Meet.

Finally—

Although the Secret Sect was mysterious and terrifying, according to her painstaking research, her master had told her over the phone that the frontal combat power of a Secret Sect Practitioner was actually not strong.

Secret Sect Practitioners were cheaters; their methods of killing were mysterious and unpredictable, and no one knew the principles behind them; anyway, they didn't need contact, ignored distance, and even the person being killed didn't know why they had lost their life. And Secret Sect Practitioners didn't need frontal combat power; they could kill anyone they wanted to kill, and as for some common conflicts and dangers in life, they could avoid them in easier ways; they were like gods walking among humans, appearing and disappearing unpredictably; the Low Tier ones tried their best to hide themselves and observe the world, while the High Tier ones manipulated everything from the shadows, rarely having love or hatred, and therefore often didn't come into conflict with people.

In short, this year's championship belonged to no one but her.

As for the school group, naturally she had to go; such a good opportunity to show off, she couldn't miss it.

Working so hard recently, it was time to find some fun.

Zhang Suannai was full of anticipation as she pushed the door open and went out.

Her roommate was watching TV, and the younger sister came out to get water, so the roommate told the younger sister to sweep the floor.

The usually obedient younger sister was exceptionally tough today; holding the cup, her attitude was firm, and her tone was also aggressive: "Why do you always tell me to sweep the floor! Don't you have hands of your own?"

"..."

Ning Qing pursed her lips and said nothing.

A hint of hidden joy flashed in the little girl's eyes as she continued to get water; after getting the water, she didn't rush to leave, but deliberately moved slowly between her older sister and the television, pretending that she didn't dare to walk fast because the water was too full and too hot, turning a blind eye to the gaze her older sister cast at her.

"Move."

"The water is too full!"

"Pretending."

"That's right!"

"Move."

"You don't even use the word 'please'?" The little girl frowned, pointing at her older sister with the finger holding the spoon, "You have no manners!"

"Very good."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yes, so?"

"emmm..."

The little girl scratched her head; this was not what she had imagined.

In the end, she still stepped aside.

Although her brother-in-law had said that these few days were precious, that she should cherish them well and enjoy the pleasure of bullying her sister, her brother-in-law had also said that she must have a sense of proportion, lest she be beaten to death by her sister.

Violence is not absolutely linked to anger; sometimes using violence does not require being angry. For example, those who execute justice, or psychopathic killers—they do not necessarily use violence because of anger or rage; it may be rational, enjoyable violence.

Zhang Suannai happened to see this scene and was very puzzled.

Upon seeing the little girl immediately return to her normal walking speed after passing between her sister and the television, she was even more puzzled, and as the little girl passed by her, she could not help but ask:

"Aren't you afraid that when your sister finishes cultivating this First Tier, she will break your legs?"

"Not afraid."

"Why?"

"It's so much fun."

"What?"

"Bullying my sister, it's so much fun." After finishing, the little girl paused, then egged her on, "You should go try it too."

"I'm not going."

"Why?"

"I'm not stupid."

"If you miss this village, you won't find this shop."

"Not going, not going."

Zhang Suannai shook her head repeatedly.

She would not make the same mistake twice.