Chapter 294: The Cultivation Bitch

Chen Shu: How much longer does your Chong Nu last? My dear Qingqing.

Qingqing: Can't take it anymore?

Chen Shu: How could that be?

Chen Shu: This is a limited edition, the experience is so good; even if you cultivate for another half a year, I would still find it fun.

Qingqing: Consider yourself lucky, you aren't lying.

Chen Shu: I never lie to you.

Qingqing: Lie +1.

Chen Shu: /embarrassed

Chen Shu: So how much longer?

Qingqing: It ends tomorrow.

Chen Shu: I really hate to see it end.

Chen Shu: This sentence isn't a lie, right?

Qingqing: Hmph.

Chen Shu: Send one more!

Qingqing:?

Chen Shu: That hmph, hmph one more time.

Qingqing: /smile

Chen Shu: Hurry, hurry, it's too cute.

Qingqing: Hmph.

Chen Shu: /giggle

After teasing Qingqing for a while longer, he slowly walked back to the Dormitory.

The Dormitory was empty.

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu couldn't help but sigh.

Ever since Brother Meng started working hard, he had felt like an empty-nester; most of the time, he was the only one in the Dormitory.

Chen Shu sat on the sofa, thought for a moment, and opened the Ancient Cultivation Group.

Qingcai Keke: The Hunting Festival is coming up again.

Qingcai Keke: Is anyone going to play?

Zhong Miao Zhimen: I'm not going.

Qingdeng Gufu: Same.

Nainai Zongshuo: You still have the heart to participate in the Hunting Festival?

Seeing this, Chen Shu found it a bit strange.

Qingcai Keke: Why wouldn't I?

Nainai Zongshuo: Didn't you sign up for the Martial Body tournament?

Nainai Zongshuo: /puzzled

Qingcai Keke: I did.

Nainai Zongshuo: Then shouldn't you be working hard on your cultivation right now, practicing Spells day and night, and training for combat? You're still running off to participate in the Hunting Festival?

Qingcai Keke: Why? /blank

Nainai Zongshuo:?

Nainai Zongshuo: Your opponent is me! Are you not nervous at all?

Nainai Zongshuo: /puzzled

Qingcai Keke: Nope.

Qingcai Keke: Could it be that you're very nervous?

Nainai Zongshuo:...

Nainai Zongshuo: Of course I'm not nervous!!

Nainai Zongshuo: How could I be nervous? Hilarious!

Nainai Zongshuo: I haven't even put you in my eyes at all!

Chen Shu couldn't help but smile.

He had long heard from Qingqing and Xiaoxiao that starting from last semester, Zhang Suannai had changed her usual lazy ways, starting to work hard at cultivation every day, trying to hinder them from watching TV in the living room every day, and walking back and forth on the balcony doing strange movements, claiming it was to gain insight into the Sword Dao.

And now she says she isn't nervous...

"Haha..."

Chen Shu was amused and typed—

Qingcai Keke: Then you must be going to the Hunting Festival, right? You can earn quite a bit of money.

Nainai Zongshuo: I'm not going.

Qingcai Keke: Why?

Nainai Zongshuo: I have no interest in money.

Qingcai Keke: /smile

Nainai Zongshuo: Then aren't you not preparing for the Martial Body tournament at all?

Qingcai Keke: Not really.

Qingcai Keke: Maybe if the school organizes training at the end of this month or next month, I'll go follow along and train a bit.

Qingcai Keke: Could it be that you have started preparing?

Nainai Zongshuo: Not at all!

Nainai Zongshuo: Of course not!

Nainai Zongshuo: Then what do you do every day?

Chen Shu, who had just finished practicing "Spirit Body" in the underground of the Ancient Cultivation Building, replied without hesitation—

Qingcai Keke: Nothing to do every day, attending classes, playing, scrolling through short videos, coaxing my girlfriend who isn't in a relationship yet, chatting, video calling. Sigh, I feel like being so idle is a bit bad, too decadent.

Qingcai Keke: What about you? What are you doing?

Qingcai Keke: It couldn't be that even though we are all in the same group and getting along harmoniously, you are actually working crazily hard every day just to beat us up in the Arena, right?

Ba Kuai Fuji De Meinü: /embarrassed

Nainai Zongshuo: How is that possible!??

Nainai Zongshuo: I am also very idle every day!

Nainai Zongshuo: Besides, with my ability, wouldn't winning the championship be easy for me?

Qingcai Keke: Then since you are so idle, why stay at school instead of going to the Hunting Festival?

Nainai Zongshuo: I want to play games in the Dormitory!

Qingcai Keke: Really?

Nainai Zongshuo: Could it be fake?

Qingcai Keke: That's good then.

Zhong Miao Zhi Men: Wonderful!

Zhong Miao Zhi Men: Since the group owner is not here, let me start things off.

Zhong Miao Zhi Men: /eating melon seeds

Qingdeng Gufu: /eating melon seeds

Ba Kuai Fuji De Meinü: /eating melon seeds

Zhaoye Qing: /eating melon seeds

……

Zhang Suannai stared at her Mobile Phone, her expression grave.

This person was about to battle her, yet he didn't feel the slightest pressure. It seemed he knew he had no chance of winning and had simply given up, and he even planned to go to Qingshan Ridge to play afterward... She should take this opportunity to push herself harder and further widen the gap!

……

Puluo, a northern city.

An alley had just been washed in blood. The battle between Cultivators had destroyed houses, walls, and the road surface. The final result was several corpses lying crookedly on the ground, and several soldiers covered in battle armor were scanning their faces to confirm their identities.

A simple Long Sword was stuck in the ground. The Sword body was like a mirror, reflecting the pitted road surface, and a few drops of fresh blood had left a trail.

A tall woman sat on a collapsed wall, her entire face covered by a metal mask, giving off a sci-fi sense of coldness. She looked down at her Mobile Phone, and not a single trace of expression could be seen through the metal mask.

The cleanup of Puluo was also nearing its end.

The Imperial Grandson had not yet woken up.

Whenever she thought of this, she couldn't help but lament her own weakness.

The Royal Court had guarded the Imperial Family for generations, and she had come on this trip as a guard for the Imperial Grandson, yet at that moment, she had been powerless to resist.

The Ninth Stage was too far away, but the Sixth Stage was very close.

"Sixth Stage...

"Fifth Stage peak..."

Zhang Suannai had already advanced to the Sixth Stage, while she had been stuck at the Fifth Stage peak for two years.

Fortunately, she had come to Puluo. After several months of fighting, she had firmed up her own Daoist path and also seen the opportunity for advancement.

Nowadays, only through battle—constant battle, slaughter, crazy slaughter, dancing on the edge of life and death, experiencing the art of battle and slaughter, and feeling the beauty of life fading away and the heavy pressure of death—could she grasp this glimmer of opportunity.

Just then, she received another message.

Master: The operation ends next month. Don't linger in Puluo, come back.

……

March 10th.

Chen Shu was twenty-three years old.

Since today was a workday, some people had to attend classes, some had to go to work, and some had to do parkour at home, so he didn't prepare lunch—he ate with his two roommates at a restaurant near the school, and it was quite good. After finishing his birthday with his roommates, he didn't go to Qingqing's small courtyard until the afternoon.

A few days ago, he bought a little lamb, sent from the northwestern grasslands. It was especially cute, white and soft, with a pink and tender mouth. When it bleated, the "baa-baa" sound was full of milky sweetness. Today, he slaughtered it and skewered it into lamb skewers.

In the evening, he would roast the lamb skewers, eat hand-grabbed lamb, and drink lamb soup.

Zhang Suannai had a confrontation with Chen Shu a few days ago. After the confrontation ended, she specifically used potatoes to bribe the little girl, begging her not to tell Chen Shu that she was practicing hard in the Dormitory every day, and the little girl agreed.

So, as soon as she arrived at the courtyard today, she quietly observed Chen Shu to see if this shameless person was really as he said, wasting his life playing every day.

However, it seemed she couldn't tell anything.

This person kept roasting the lamb skewers there, roasting with great focus, occasionally checking the lamb and lamb soup he was boiling. The only time he was distracted was when he used his Mobile Phone to connect to a wireless speaker to play a song with a strange style, and he even kept it on single-track repeat.

She didn't know what mystery this song held.

The little girl asked him, and he replied that lamb skewers must be paired with this kind of song to be good.

Zhang Suannai quietly went to check it; it was called "kodukbexida," a string of pinyin letters she couldn't understand. When she clicked into the song's comment section, she saw it was almost entirely occupied by readers of some trashy novel.

This person would occasionally howl a few lines, with a strange tune:

"Come, come, come, lamb skewers are here!

"The delicious ones cost money!

"The ones that aren't delicious don't cost money!"

Zhang Suannai felt that he most likely had some sort of serious illness.

However, illness aside, the things this person made were truly delicious. When a large platter of lamb skewers was placed on the stone table, she immediately leaned over, pretending not to know the answer while incessantly asking if she could eat yet, could she eat yet.

"Eat."

Chen Shu went to fetch another platter of hand-grabbed lamb, along with a pot of lamb bone soup in a kettle and a few small bowls.

Tonight was a pure meat feast, Northwest style.

The hand-grabbed lamb was boiled almost entirely in plain water, with only salt, a few sections of green onion, and a small pinch of Sichuan peppercorns added. The high-quality lamb from the Northwest had absolutely no gamey smell; even if you ate it with your hands and didn't wash them afterward, no gamey scent would remain, only a meat aroma akin to the scent of milk.

Chen Shu had boiled the ribs and the neck.

The most delicious part of hand-grabbed lamb is the neck.

The meat on the neck is the most tender and fine, with a rich meaty flavor; the lean parts are soft and palatable, while the fatty parts truly melt in your mouth, never feeling greasy.

A bite of lamb skewer, a bite of lamb neck, a sip of lamb soup.

This kind of life is better than a deity's.

The moon gradually climbed to the treetops.

The charcoal fire was still burning, the courtyard remained filled with swirling smoke, and an incomprehensible song played on repeat. Everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, and Zhang Suannai and Chen Banxia were drunk again.

Chen Shu and Qingqing sat together on the swing.

They had also drunk a little alcohol tonight; it couldn't be called intoxication, just that their emotions were a bit lively.

Ning Qing had already finished her experience of "Chong Nu" a few days ago, and she had been in a very good mood all day today. Chen Shu even thought she had begun cultivating "Chong Xi" again, until he saw a rare trace of worry on her face just now.

Calling it rare was not quite accurate.

To be precise, Chen Shu had almost never seen this emotion on her face.

This had nothing to do with the Secret Sect; it only had to do with her personality.

Even when she was very young—when she didn't bring an umbrella but saw it raining outside during class, or when the teacher rarely checked homework but she had been taken by Chen Shu to catch crabs by the ditch all afternoon the day before, or when her parents were moving to a place further away—she had never been worried. Or rather, perhaps she had been, but she would never show such an expression on her face or in her brows.

"Happy birthday."

A soft voice came from beside him, clear and pleasant; the music full of the smell of lamb not far away seemed to fade.

"Received."

"Shall we have a heart-to-heart?"

"Emmm..." Chen Shu hesitated for a moment before asking, "You aren't cultivating 'Chong You', are you?"

"You guessed it."

"Really?"

"Mm."

"When did it start?"

"This morning."

"..."

Chen Shu was a bit speechless: "Why did you have to cultivate this thing on my birthday of all days?"

"It's suitable."

"How so?"

"Because I think it's suitable."

"How is it suitable?"

"When there is Joy, cultivate Joy; when there is Anger, cultivate Anger; when there is Worry, cultivate Worry; this can greatly increase the efficiency of cultivation."

"Then what are you worried about?"

"I don't want to say."

"No, tell me, hurry and tell me."

"Worried that you are twenty-three, afraid that you won't be able to restrain yourself and will be impulsive, and also afraid that you will keep restraining yourself and be uncomfortable, and I'm also afraid that I won't be able to refuse you, afraid that us being together too early might increase the probability of us separating." Ning Qing leaned her body slightly to the side, resting her head on Chen Shu's shoulder. Her gaze looked to the left, where Xiaoxiao was struggling to carry the drunken Chen Banxia toward the side room. She lowered her voice again, her tone rarely soft, "I want to possess you forever."

"Ha!"

Chen Shu's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but laugh.

But just as he laughed, the person beside him gave him a slap.

Chen Shu didn't mind and continued to laugh.

In fact, the idea that he would sleep with Qingqing just because he turned twenty-three was completely a joke. He wasn't an impatient, hot-headed boy; he had experienced it once before, he knew how to obtain greater pleasure, he knew which process was more beautiful and interesting, and he had enough patience to slowly savor them.

On the contrary, he had once been puzzled for a period of time—

He wasn't in a hurry to confirm his relationship with Qingqing because he wanted to slowly savor the sweetness of this period, but why wasn't she in a hurry?

But it didn't take long for him to figure out the answer.

She had just said the answer again a moment ago.

It was just that Chen Shu naturally wouldn't explain it to her in such detail; there was no need, and it would be awkward. He only asked: "Aren't you a Secret Sect Practitioner? Aren't you very good at guessing? Especially guessing me..."

"Can't you even guess this?"

"We are not gods; the results of peering and guessing are not guaranteed to happen one hundred percent. Regarding you and me, I cannot fully trust them."

"Haha..."

"Don't laugh."

"Emmm..."

At this moment, Chen Shu caught a glimpse of the little girl walking out of the side room. She had just carried Zhang Suannai inside as well. Now she walked out and circled around, acting as if she couldn't see the sister and brother-in-law sitting on the swing. She first turned off the wireless speaker, then extinguished the fire, tidied up the things on the table, and only then walked into the house while holding Taozi.

Qingqing seemed to lean against him a little tighter.

Chen Shu lowered his head and took her hand, spreading her five fingers apart, then spread his own five fingers and slotted them in, one by one.

Fingers interlocked.

Chen Shu then teased, "It's rare to see you like this; I really want to record it."

"I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid of losing you."

"So little confidence?"

"Yes..."

Ning Qing only said in a low voice, "I know I am a person who is beautiful but lacks charm. I am not lively, nor cute, nor gentle, and while a pretty face has great appeal, it is always easy to get tired of, so in front of you, I always seem to lack confidence."

"Tsk tsk..."

"Slap!"

"Ahem." Chen Shu coughed dryly twice, "What I mean is, I couldn't tell."

"I hide it very well."

"Tsk tsk..."

"Slap!"

"Alright."

Chen Shu straightened his expression, stroked Qingqing's hand, and thought for a moment before saying, "I think you might be a bit of a perfectionist. When you are rational, you clearly know that we will definitely make it to the end. Of course, the 'definitely' here is only 'close to one hundred percent' to you, but you still can't help but worry. Actually, this doesn't help with happiness; maintaining a good mood is more important. No matter how high or low the probability is, we will make up for the missing part ourselves. If the World Will's predicted results were truly completely accurate, it wouldn't keep changing its answers."