Chapter 301: Competition Approaches

Song Rentou and Guan Bingxiang are the only two Fourth Stage students in the class. Among them, Song Rentou is a disciple of the Spirit Sect, so he calls Chen Shu "Senior Brother" according to sect protocol. But in truth, Chen Shu is not necessarily an earlier entrant to the sect than him; however, since he is happy to call him that, Chen Shu does not mind.

Guan Bingxiang also entered the outer sect of the Spirit Sect this semester.

Due to their outstanding natural talent and the fact that they have devoted too much time and energy to cultivation and study, these two classmates usually appear somewhat aloof, only becoming well-behaved automatically in front of more formidable big shots.

Chen Shu only joked—

Chen Shu: Don't be afraid, fight head-on. If your strength isn't enough, use more strategies, search for tutorial videos online more often, and if your Spirit Power runs out, clench your fists and go in.

Song Rentou: I'm not very afraid of the fourth-year or fifth-year senior brothers; everyone is Fourth Stage, so it's a fair fight. Even if I can't beat them, I won't lose too miserably. I'm mostly afraid of running into those two classmates who are at the same level as us.

Song Rentou: For example, what if we run into that pig-carrying boy? Senior Brother, you tell me, can we Fourth Stage Spirit Cultivators fight a Five-stage Martial Artist?

From this sentence, it is evident that the cultivators of top sects today still retain a bit of the arrogance of ancient cultivators, truly not taking Martial Artists seriously.

Chen Shu glanced at the person next to him who was earnestly memorizing books, thought for a moment, and typed—

Chen Shu: Use the True Fire Technique more.

Song Rentou: /falls into deep thought

Song Rentou: That makes sense. Although Martial Artists move quickly and have agile evasion, the True Fire Technique has a large range, and the Spirit Power Defense of Martial Artists relies mostly on Runes. Using a wide-range, spirit-corroding True Fire Technique should be able to cause them great damage.

Song Rentou: Understood! Thank you, Senior Brother!

Chen Shu: No.

Chen Shu: Use the True Fire Technique to burn off all his clothes and pants, making him make a fool of himself.

Song Rentou: /dazed

Guan Bingxiang: Then what if we run into Yan Keling from the Life Academy?

Chen Shu: Surrender.

Guan Bingxiang: /falls into deep thought

Chen Shu: Haha, just joking.

Chen Shu: The Martial Body Tournament won't have any life-threatening dangers. With so many teachers watching, it's a rare, safe opportunity for actual combat. Don't miss it.

After a slight pause—

Chen Shu: If you can participate in the off-campus group, you must take the Standard Longsword provided by the competition committee. You can keep it as a collection, or sell it for tens of thousands of dollars each. The main thing is that after your Spirit Power is exhausted, you can still carry the Sword and go up to hack at them.

Song Rentou: Practical experience +1.

Guan Bingxiang: Learned, learned.

Chen Shu: Going to cook.

Song Rentou: Senior Brother cooks for himself? /staring blankly

Chen Shu: Yeah, there are two hungry children in the Dormitory just waiting for their dad to cook for them.

Wang Weixin: In that case, give me one too, roommate.

Zhong Miao: Give me one too, I can call you dad as well.

Chen Shu smiled, turned off his Mobile Phone, and got up to cook.

Jiang Lai consciously came to help him, which was fine; he could do some Cutting Technique and washing work.

Meng Chunqiu had gone out early, saying he would be back by lunch—ever since returning from Qingshan Ridge, for some reason, Brother Meng, who was already diligent, seemed to have been injected with adrenaline again. His Daily Cultivation, physical exercise, and Spell learning basically cycled from morning till night.

It is hard to say if it is good or bad.

The sound of chopping vegetables in the kitchen rang out, making one's heart calm.

At mealtime, Meng Chunqiu returned.

The aroma of food in the room dispelled his fatigue. Putting down his books and pens, he saw Brother Chen busy in the kitchen and Brother Jiang standing by the door watching. Three dishes were already set on the dining table, and at a rough glance, they all seemed to be tofu products.

Only one dish, Mapo Tofu, was something he had eaten before.

After that, two more dishes and a soup were brought to the table, all tofu.

Meng Chunqiu had absolutely no airs of an Imperial Family descendant; he consciously went to fetch a bowl and rice, sat down, and asked, "Brother Chen, why is everything tofu today?"

"I had a meal of braised tofu in Ling'an a few days ago. I thought the taste was okay but not enough, which sparked my idea to make tofu." Chen Shu paused, "Let me introduce them to you. This is Mapo Tofu, which you've eaten. This is Bear Paw Tofu; the texture is very fresh. This is Home-style Tofu, sweet and spicy. This is Pregnant Tofu, which has meat wrapped inside. This is Xishi Tofu, a special version, try it with caution. The last one is Spinach Tofu Soup."

Meng Chunqiu pointed at the Xishi Tofu and asked in confusion, "Why is it called Xishi Tofu?"

"I don't know either."

"How should the two characters 'Xishi' be interpreted?"

"It's a person's name, a peerless beauty."

"Is that so..."

Meng Chunqiu felt this name was very unfamiliar, but he did not get to the bottom of it. Whether in history or in food, Brother Chen was the authority. He just stared at this dish that looked very beautiful: "Why should one try it with caution?"

"You'll know once you taste it."

Chen Shu placed two small spoons in the Mapo Tofu and the Xishi Tofu. These two dishes were quite tender, and he was afraid Brother Meng wouldn't be able to pick them up, losing Imperial etiquette.

The Xishi Tofu did indeed look very refreshing.

The white, tender tofu was cut into cubes of exactly one cubic centimeter, each cut to the same size, making it look smooth and tender. Besides white, many green and red peppers were added, cut into small bits; the green peppers were Erjingtiao, and the red peppers were Xiaomila.

Green, bright red, snow white, thickened with starch, they did not stain each other, making it extremely deceptive and easy for people to overlook the peppers, mistakenly thinking the flavor was very light.

In fact, it was fresh and spicy, very, very spicy.

Chen Shu watched as Brother Meng picked up the spoon, scooped a spoonful into his bowl, hesitated slightly, and upholding his trust in his culinary skills, scooped another spoonful.

One bite down...

He almost died on the spot.

As a native of Yujing and a descendant of the Imperial Family, Meng Chunqiu rarely ate spicy food. But hindered by the etiquette education he had received since childhood, no matter how spicy it was, he could not spit it out; he could only hold it in his mouth, resisting it with his Third Tier body.

One could see his face and eyes turning red rapidly.

Jiang Lai could not help but ask with concern:

"What's wrong?"

Meng Chunqiu waved his hand, forced himself to swallow it, then hurriedly shoveled down two mouthfuls of rice and picked up his water glass to drink.

Chen Shu's mood immediately became a bit more cheerful, and at the same time, he told him that a Cultivator's body is very durable, urging him to eat more; once he got used to this kind of pain, the rest would be nothing but pleasure and deliciousness. Meng Chunqiu was half-believing and half-doubting, feeling somewhat intimidated by this dish.

Until Chen Shu said: "Brother Meng, life is short, why not give it a try?"

It was the same line used to persuade him to eat durian.

Meng Chunqiu was very susceptible to this approach.

For the next half hour, he struggled against the Xishi Tofu, gradually growing accustomed to the spice level, and actually managed to taste its deliciousness.

……

The Martial Body Meet began.

First was the routine school competition.

The class monitor organized classmates to cheer for their peers, and Chen Shu also went to join in the fun. When he encountered classmates who wanted to earn credits but lacked the strength, he would help them compete in events that didn't take much time; at worst, he would end up like Zhang Suannai, being announced to the entire school one by one.

After that came the Arena tournament.

This year, Brother Meng was exceptionally proactive, always dragging them along to watch.

And it is worth mentioning that Brother Meng also signed up for the Arena tournament, only to run into a senior from the Ancient Cultivation Academy in his fourth year in the first round, where he was beaten miserably.

However, that fourth-year senior was matched against Jiang Lai in the second round.

The scene at that time was too cruel.

A Fourth Stage Spirit Cultivator student running into a Five-stage Martial Artist who could thrive in the Underground Arena—the scene didn't need much description at all; many female students in the audience couldn't help but cover their eyes, feeling as if they were visiting a zoo where someone had fallen into a tiger enclosure and was being mauled by a fierce tiger.

Besides Brother Meng and Brother Jiang, Chen Shu focused his attention on the students in his own class.

The one who performed the best was Song Rentou.

As an Inner Sect Disciple of the Spirit Sect, he surpassed other students just in terms of Spells, defeating two seniors in their fourth and fifth years in a row. In the end, he was defeated by a fifth-year senior from the Martial Cultivation Department.

Guan Bingxiang was not much worse.

What is worth praising is that this young girl had an exceptionally strong will; even when outmatched, she would often fight until the end, until she couldn't stand and had to be sent to the hospital. And she was truly as Chen Shu had said: when her Spirit Power was exhausted, she would clench her fists and charge in; even though the senior had clearly won, he was scared out of half his life by her.

It is said that the young girl's ancestors were a family of military officers.

Dayi learned from the lessons of the previous dynasty, and when educating their descendants, they often placed great importance on spiritual heritage.

Truly living up to the prestige of a military officer.

The final match belonged to Jiang Lai and Yan Keling.

Chen Shu and Meng Chunqiu went to watch as well.

The venue was packed with people at the time, without a single empty seat; the aisles and stairs were all filled with people, and the two of them faced off under the gaze of thousands.

It is a pity that a Martial Artist is, after all, just a Martial Artist.

Chen Shu had heard Jiang Lai say that in normal sparring, even if Yan Keling did not use the Divine Contract Secret Technique, she could still defeat him, though the victory would be quite difficult. This time, whether she wanted to save some energy or spare Jiang Lai's face, she used the Divine Contract Secret Technique, but the entity she requested to descend was not Lord Linjian, but another strange, giant flying beast; it looked like a bird, yet its wingspan was over ten meters, with a long neck and two heads, but no beaks—looking at the heads alone, they resembled a canine.

In short, it looked bizarre no matter how you looked at it.

Brother Jiang, on the other hand, gave it his all without holding back, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle, with techniques and special effects pushed to the limit, ultimately winning the runner-up title.

Next was the inter-school competition.

Chen Shu had signed up, and Brother Jiang and Yan Keling were also among them; in addition, two Fourth Stage classmates from the class also signed up and passed, making it ten people again, just like two years ago, as they began training for the inter-school competition.