Chapter 350: Ning Qing and Snow

It is snowing in Yujing.

Meng Chunqiu still keeps his hair long and is draped in a fox-fur cloak, standing on the balcony admiring the snow; seen from behind, he looks like a delicate woman, and if one looks at his face, well, he is indeed a delicate woman, standing there in a way that makes one fear he might catch a cold.

Outside, snowflakes are fluttering, covering the world in white.

Everything seems the same as last year and the year before.

The pity is that the difference is, last year and the year before, he stood here admiring the snow out of boredom, but this year, he only gave himself some leisure time after seeing that it was snowing.

A faint sound of footsteps comes from behind.

Immediately followed by Chen Shu's voice: "Yo! Whose young lady from a noble family is this? How did you run into the boys' Dormitory?"

Meng Chunqiu's heart is very calm.

In truth, he pursues a traditional style, keeping long hair and wearing traditional clothing, pursuing the demeanor of an elegant jade-like young master of ancient times; unfortunately, he was born too handsome—the internet's description of being so beautiful that one cannot distinguish between male and female is exactly what this means—so he is always mistaken for a woman.

However, he has a good mindset; he doesn't get angry when passersby mistake him for someone else, though before he started university, he would still be a little unhappy if people teased him on purpose.

As for now, though...

Chen Shu has thoroughly cured his temper.

"What's going on? This is too dangerous; we have a muscular brute in our Dormitory. Let's run quickly before he discovers you."

"..."

Even Brother Jiang has been implicated.

But Brother Jiang must have been used to it for a long time.

Meng Chunqiu only looks at the icy, snow-covered world outside until Chen Shu walks to his side, leans on the railing, and looks down; only then does he say: "In this scene and setting, besides that line 'Suddenly, like a spring breeze coming overnight, ten thousand pear trees bloom,' does Brother Chen have any other poems?"

"I have to think."

"Mm."

"Unaware that the courtyard frost falls this morning, I suspect the forest flowers bloomed last night."

"Unaware that the courtyard frost falls this morning, I suspect the forest flowers bloomed last night..." Meng Chunqiu repeats it under his breath, savoring it carefully in his heart, "It does have a similar charm to that line about the spring breeze and the ten thousand pear trees."

"It does."

"Our Dayi is full of talented people."

"Isn't that the truth."

"And what is this author's name again?"

"Song Zhiwen."

"Brother Chen has the ability to remember everything he sees."

"Selectively remember everything I see."

"That is also rare."

"Is it..."

Chen Shu looks at the attire of the pedestrians below; most are wrapped in thick clothes, and the few who have some cultivation base at least wear an outer coat, each person stepping out a long string of footprints on the snow, ruining the snow's integrity.

The time is still early, the snow is still spread out, and there are many smooth places, but in a little while, it will all be footprints, and the snow will turn into mud and water.

"Brother Chen, do you want to go play in the snow?"

"I am not going with you."

After saying this, Chen Shu returns to the bedroom, mimics the pedestrians below, digs out a down jacket he hasn't worn in a long time, and puts it on.

"Warm!"

The feeling of winter is suddenly there.

Chen Shu is in a rush to head out.

Ten minutes later.

Ling'an Academy.

Zhang Suannai is still wearing a small tank top; hearing some noise from upstairs and downstairs, she walks to the balcony to look down—

The snow-covered ground downstairs, which was clearly trampled to a mess by a group of girls just a moment ago, has now actually become smooth again.

A man wearing a gray down jacket and a hood is walking in circles on the smooth snow; his hands are in his pockets, he is wearing a mask, no Spirit Power fluctuations can be sensed from him, and the footprints on the snow happen to form a heart shape.

In the middle of the heart, the characters "nq" and "520" have already appeared.

"Boring..."

Zhang Suannai shakes her head.

These students, in the prime of their youth, don't cultivate properly, don't play games, don't fight, yet they love to pull these stunts; if that isn't a sign of a sick brain, what is?

What was this woman's name again?

Niu Qun?

Niqiu?

Niangqin?

What kind of shitty name is that...

Zhang Suannai turns and walks back into the room.

Her little roommate looks up at her, keeping a straight little face, and asks: "What's going on down there?"

"Oh."

Zhang Suannai answers quickly: "Some boring man is confessing to a woman in the snow, drew a heart, with 'Niu Qun 520' in the middle, tsk tsk, every year when it snows, you can see plenty of these moronic behaviors... don't you think it's moronic?"

"Moronic."

The little girl nods in agreement and continues watching TV.

At this moment, the Mobile Phone nearby rings once.

The little girl subconsciously reaches out to touch it, realizes it is her sister's, suddenly seems to think of something, and stares blankly at her sister with her head tilted up.

Ning Qing picked up her Mobile Phone.

Chen Shu: Come out and look quickly.

Chen Shu: I am downstairs from you.

"..."

Ning Qing pursed her lips, glanced at Zhang Suannai, got up, walked to the balcony, and looked down.

A person wearing a down jacket was waving at her.

He was standing in the middle of a heart shape; above it were the two pinyin letters "nq," and below it were the three numbers "520." Many girls in the Dormitory building had come out to the balconies, looking down and pointing, whispering among themselves; those words drifted into her ears.

Ning Qing could not help but reveal a smile.

Immediately after, Zhang Suannai, the little girl, and Taozi appeared beside her one after another. The two of them leaned on the railing, while Taozi poked her head out from between the railings, and they all looked down.

Seeing that the person was actually Chen Shu, the two had different expressions.

"Tsk tsk."

While feeling awkward, Zhang Suannai also twitched the corner of her mouth, thinking that he was indeed worthy of being a silly vegetable, with silly behavior.

Not to mention how silly this behavior was, Qingqing was not an ordinary girl; as cold and aloof as she was, how could she be moved by such childish tactics?

Zhang Suannai grinned and glanced to the side.

"Eh?"

Qingqing was actually smiling?

Zhang Suannai was stunned for a moment, then looked at Xiaoxiao beside her, subconsciously seeking an ally: "Hahaha Xiaoxiao, it turns out that silly guy is your brother-in-law."

The little girl frowned as she looked at her, without hesitation: "You're the silly one!"

"What? You were just saying 'silly' a moment ago."

"You're slandering me!"

"??"

At such a young age, she was actually so fickle.

Zhang Suannai shook her head and sighed.

At this moment, Ning Qing's Mobile Phone rang again.

Chen Shu: Come down quickly to play.

Thus, Ning Qing ignored the two people beside her, just gave Taozi a light kick, then put away her Mobile Phone and returned to the room to change clothes.

Currently, she was experiencing "Surprise."

The so-called "Surprise" is an emotion triggered by an unexpected event, including both pleasant surprises and shocks. The main difference between a shock and Fear is that one stems from the unknown and suddenness, while the other stems from the known and careful thought.

Chen Shu clearly knew that she usually sealed her abilities while experiencing the "emotion of Surprise," which was why he pulled this stunt.

"Childish."

Ning Qing's smile deepened a little more.

A few minutes later.

Ning Qing walked out from the stairwell entrance.

Imitating Chen Shu's attire, she also wore a down jacket, a long white one, paired with light gray leggings underneath and a pair of somewhat old snow boots. The snow boots were bought for her by Chen Shu many years ago; this outfit was the only one that matched this wintry snowy weather.

Taozi took small steps, following behind her, with a body of soft long fur and azure eyes, like an elf in the ice and snow.

"Morning, Mr. Chen."

Ning Qing stood still in front of Chen Shu.

"Morning, Secretary Ning."

Chen Shu said with a grin, then looked at Taozi: "Morning, my future little cat-girl."

"Woof~"

"Let's go."

The two and one cat walked outward along the snow. From the girls upstairs who hadn't seen the confession scene came sounds of disappointment, and two figures, one big and one small, were still leaning on the balcony railing, watching them walk away with longing eyes.

"Are you here to help me with my cultivation?"

"Pretty much."

Actually, it was more about being happy to see it snowing, wanting to experience this first snow of the year with her, wanting to tuck her hands into her pockets, wanting to share the beautiful scenery of this icy world with her, and wanting to build a snowman with her.

As for the snow graffiti, it was just a whim.

"You really put in the effort."

"Of course, your cultivation speed directly affects when I can see you in a tight-fitting camisole dress, so I can't be careless." Chen Shu followed her line of thought, paused, and then asked, "Is it effective?"

"It is."

"That's good."

"Then you..."

Ning Qing's gaze flicked upward, eyeing the down jacket hood he was wearing, and the snowflakes were sliding away to the side before they even touched the hood:

"Why are you wearing the hood?"

"It's too silly." Chen Shu grinned and said honestly, "I'm afraid of being recognized."

"Then that really is a grievance for you."

Ning Qing's expression returned to indifference, and she continued walking forward.

Beside her came Chen Shu's exclamation: "In the blink of an eye, it's almost finals again."

Ning Qing pursed her lips and ignored him.

Chen Shu, however, didn't care at all, leaned closer to her and said, "Qingqing, let's go traveling this winter break?"

"Where to?"

"Let's find a place near Yuanzhou."

"?"

"How about Yuanxi?"

"Whatever you say is fine."

"Shall we build a snowman?"

"Sure."

The two stopped by the side of the road and scooped up snow with their hands; during this, Chen Shu stuffed snow into Qingqing's collar, and then he turned into a snowman.

Chen Shu's improvement of the Tracer Technique was complete.

As planned before, the current Tracer Technique's offensiveness and penetration were significantly weakened, the projectile became more fragile and larger in diameter, making it easier to collide with and explode upon contact with enemy attacks, while the single-shot power was reduced as appropriate to increase the quantity that could be fired at once. At the same time, he endowed it with Spirit Sensitivity, so that even if it did not collide head-on with an enemy attack but merely grazed past, it would trigger an explosion. Finally, he modified the Main Combat Rune Group of the Tracer Technique, causing the core characteristics of the Tracer Technique to change; the current explosion would have stronger destructive power against Spirit Power structures.

At this point, it was basically a perfected defensive interception version of the Tracer Technique, only it had not yet achieved automatic interception.

He could already begin to integrate it into the Thousand Machine Art.

However, if he were to give it to Mao Xiansheng, it would need to be modified further.

First, it had to be weakened; the core technologies of Yiguo and the Spirit Sect could not be leaked, and it only needed to meet Mao Xiansheng's usage requirements. Additionally, there is a difference between Spells used by people and Spell Rune Groups used to manufacture modern weapons, so targeted adjustments had to be made.

The snow had not stopped for these past few days.

About a week later.

Chen Shu was focused on tinkering with Spells in the Dormitory, and Meng Chunqiu, who had come to ask him questions, stood blankly behind him, watching his computer screen.

On the screen was a complex and massive Spell structure, with the framework already filled with dense Runes. He recognized most of the Runes, and none were confidential or profound, but the way these Runes were combined left him completely bewildered.

"..."

Meng Chunqiu fell into a long silence.

It was not until Chen Shu pressed the save key that Meng Chunqiu asked blankly: "Brother Chen, what is this?"

"A Spell."

"What Spell?"

"Tracer Technique."

"Tracer Technique?"

Meng Chunqiu widened his eyes: "I also learned the Tracer Technique; why is the Tracer Technique I learned not this complex?"

"Oh, this is a Spirit Power Secondary Cannon modified from the Tracer Technique, to be sent to an internet friend."

"No wonder..."

No wonder he didn't see any profound Runes.

Meng Chunqiu shook his head.

Immediately, he gasped, once again making his own contribution to global warming—

He had originally thought that after studying bitterly for so long with the private teacher invited by the Imperial Family from the Spirit Sect, combined with his own natural talent, he was already considered quite excellent; clearly, he could not compare to Brother Chen, but the gap shouldn't be that large. However, looking at it now, Brother Chen's level in Spell Runes was simply despair-inducing.