Chapter 369: Senior Ning, You Must Promise Me

"Chen Banxia, how old are you this year again?"

Chen Shu asked this question again at the dining table.

"You don't even remember how old your sister is!" Chen Banxia said in a lecturing tone, very dissatisfied with him, "Look at yourself, is this appropriate?"

"So?"

"22 actual age, 29 nominal age; remember that clearly from now on."

"I have a bad memory."

"Nonsense!"

Chen Banxia rolled her eyes a few times and glanced at the little girl beside her: "Then tell me, how old is Xiaoxiao?"

"12 actual age, 19 nominal age."

"Look at you! What is the meaning of this?" Chen Banxia raised an eyebrow, "You remember hers, but not mine?"

"I remember she is ten years younger than you," Chen Shu explained.

"I don't believe a word of it..." Chen Banxia snorted coldly.

"Brother-in-law really doesn't remember mine," the little girl clarified from the side, "He asks every year... he only remembers Qingqing's."

"That is because Qingqing is the same age as me."

"I don't believe a word of it..."

The little girl kept her head down and said nothing.

Instead, Qingqing, who was beside them, turned over, glanced at him, and asked lightly: "If they aren't the same age as you, you don't remember?"

Fine! I'll stop talking!

Chen Shu picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks.

One cannot talk while eating fish.

Otherwise, one will get choked by a fish bone.

The good news is that Golden Fin Fish are now on the market and being farmed on a large scale, so the price has come down, and Brother Zhang Suannai finally doesn't have to go to Long Lake to scavenge for them.

Chen Shu bought a whole one this morning, weighing several jin, for less than two hundred yuan.

Although it is still not cheap, it can already be called "the swallows that once flew in the halls of the Wang and Xie families have flown into the homes of ordinary people."

After some processing, the surface of the whole fish was fried into a tiger-skin texture; after breaking off a small piece with chopsticks, the meat inside was stark white, and only after coating it in the rich, thick soup and letting it take on the color could one eat it—that is the correct way to eat it.

The flavor is slightly heavy, with a hint of agastache fragrance.

This is the Agastache Whole Fish that Chen Banxia ordered.

Chen Banxia, who was influenced by Chen Shu since childhood, is actually better at eating than Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao. These two sisters have truly trashy tastes; one clings to all sorts of sour flavors, and the other only has potatoes in her life. Chen Banxia is not like them; she can eat anything and loves everything. She loves sour flavors and she loves potatoes, but she usually doesn't order potato or sour dishes because she knows the two sisters will order them, and she must make good use of the precious opportunity to order dishes to maximize the benefits.

After lunch.

Chen Shu was pushing Qingqing on the swing, thinking about the matter of breaking through to the Seventh Stage while pushing, when he suddenly asked Zhang Suannai, who was in a wheelchair not far away: "Zhang Suannai, when do you plan to break through to the Seventh Stage?"

"Hm?"

Hearing this, Zhang Suannai glanced at him, but instantly retorted: "Are you preparing to break through to the Seventh Stage?"

"I'm just asking."

"Oh, oh..."

"I'm asking you!" Chen Shu said helplessly.

"What about you?" Zhang Suannai glanced at him quietly.

"In a few days."

"So fast?"

Zhang Suannai was taken by Surprise; she had worked so hard and only started her breakthrough a few days ago, she didn't expect him to start so soon too.

Could this person have lost his mind just to catch up with her?

"Does the breakthrough you're talking about mean the kind where you take medicine, or the kind where you just try it for fun?" Zhang Suannai asked.

"Try it for fun?"

"Oh, you know what I mean..."

"The kind where you take medicine."

"You must be cautious!" Zhang Suannai reminded him seriously, "This is no child's play. If you start the breakthrough without reaching the promotion standard, not only will there be no success rate to speak of, but it will also greatly hinder your cultivation. It could even lead to damage to your Spirit Sea. I advise you not to be in a hurry and to cultivate and polish for a while longer before talking about it."

"You're even starting to lecture me..."

Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling it was somewhat funny.

"You can at least tell the difference between good advice and bad, right?"

"I have already considered it."

"..."

Zhang Suannai glanced at this person, feeling that he didn't seem to be joking, nor did he seem to be trying to increase her tension or use other schemes and tricks.

This person seemed very serious.

Could his progress really have caught up to hers?

Zhang Suannai felt nervous inside immediately.

"Do you have a Beast Pill?"

"It seems you have one too."

"How did you know?" Zhang Suannai was greatly shocked.

"Guessed."

"How did you guess it?" Zhang Suannai pressed, Chen Shu's "guessed" made her think of her roommate, the goddess.

"Actually..." Chen Shu was silent for a moment, "I am also a Secret Sect Practitioner."

"..."

Zhang Suannai fell silent, feeling that he was treating her like a fool.

"So when do you plan to start the breakthrough?"

"I... hahaha..." Zhang Suannai, who had already attempted a breakthrough once and failed, gave two dry laughs, "In a few days, I'm not in a hurry."

"Alright."

"How about you wait a while before trying to break through?" Zhang Suannai looked at Chen Shu with a bit of anticipation, hoping he would agree, "Once I succeed in my breakthrough, I'll share my experience with you, and it will be easier for you too."

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu looked her up and down: "You wouldn't be afraid of me promoting to the Seventh Stage before you, would you?"

"How is that possible!?"

Zhang Suannai denied it without even thinking, then secretly glanced at Chen Shu's expression to see if he really had that thought.

For a moment, the two looked at each other.

Zhang Suannai considered herself simple and kind, not as deep in schemes as him, so she quietly pulled back the joystick of her wheelchair, and the whole person immediately retreated amidst a slight whirring sound and rhythmic bumping, putting distance between them.

"I'm going back to the dormitory."

The wheelchair made a turn and drove toward the outside.

Ning Qing was still sitting on the swing, her face as calm as an ancient well, being pushed by Chen Shu to sway; she was perfectly clear about Zhang Suannai's thoughts, yet she did not point them out, only watching her lift the wheelchair over the threshold, sit back on it, and whir away into the distance.

One minute later—

Ning Qing's Mobile Phone vibrated.

Zhang Suannai: I think I forgot my campus card in the sect, is the door lock on your balcony locked, Qingqing?

Ning Qing: Locked.

Ning Qing: The living room floor-to-ceiling window is also locked.

Zhang Suannai: What about the living room floor-to-ceiling window?

Zhang Suannai: /embarrassed

Ning Qing: Come back and take mine.

After sending the message, Ning Qing pressed the screen to turn it off and held the Mobile Phone in her hand; as the swing swayed, the screen automatically lit up again, revealing the lock screen interface—in the distance was a snow-capped mountain dyed red by the morning sun, and nearby was a person holding a Mobile Phone taking a picture.

Outside the door, the wheelchair whirred back again.

After taking Ning Qing's campus card, Zhang Suannai left again; once she walked out of the residential complex, she immediately folded up the wheelchair, switched to swinging her legs, and ran quickly toward the school.

The failure of her official breakthrough attempt using a Beast Pill a few days ago had brought some negative effects, but also many benefits. At this moment, she only wanted to go back quickly to eliminate all these negative effects and digest all these benefits, so that she could return to the Sword Sect at the end of the month to attend her master's three-hundred-and-second birthday, and incidentally, make her next breakthrough attempt.

Being the first Seventh Stage among her peers would undoubtedly be her, Zhang Suannai.

On the twenty-second of the first lunar month, Yujing Academy began its term.

Chen Shu still honestly went to attend his major courses, experiencing his final days of school life; in his spare time, he took turns favoring the Great Blazing Sun Art and several Defense Spells, also pondering the implementation method for the automatic interception of the Tracer Technique, while simultaneously preparing for his Seventh Stage breakthrough.

In between, Brother Jiang had a match in Yujing, and Chen Shu also took the time to go watch it with Brother Meng.

The opponent was a long-established Sixth-stage Martial Artist with many fans; it took Brother Jiang several minutes to defeat him, and there was a suspicion of a fixed match.

Perhaps it was for the sake of the match's watchability, for the sake of the ticket money of the audience masters.

At the end of the month, Zhang Suannai returned to the Sword Sect.

Chen Shu also arrived at the small courtyard.

Ning Qing had tidied up the bedroom she had originally intended for Chen Shu to live in—but which Chen Shu had not lived in—set up a Soundproofing Array, laid down soft cushions, and then placed two meditation cushions and a wooden tea table, turning it into a Quiet Room; even the curtains had been changed by her to a dark color, making the light in the room very dim.

At this time, she was dressed in loose, simple, and elegant clothing, sitting cross-legged in the Quiet Room, seemingly having waited for Chen Shu for a long time.

"Good morning, my dear Qingqing."

Chen Shu sat down and greeted her.

Qingqing only raised her eyes and glanced at him indifferently: "If you are ready, then let's begin."

"Oh! So cold!"

"... What do you want?"

"I've already let you sleep with me, can't you deign to chat with me for a couple of sentences?"

"... Good morning, dear Mr. Chen." Perhaps Ning Qing felt that what he said made sense, so she replied in a low voice, then continued to glance at him, "What do you want to chat about? Chat about who between you and Zhang Suannai would promote to the Seventh Stage first in the original predicted timeline?"

"I can guess that one too."

The Nanzhou cheat had pulled him and Zhang Suannai to roughly the same level, but in the Killing Forbidden Land, the benefits Zhang Suannai obtained were more than his; of course, there was no opening of the Killing Forbidden Land in the original predicted timeline, yet over the past half year, Zhang Suannai had clearly been stimulated and was also much more diligent than him.

"So, if you are ready, then let's begin."

"Alright, alright, alright, thank you for guarding my cultivation, Senior Ning!" Chen Shu put on a respectful expression, though his voice was deliberately dry, then he paused, "If I fall into a coma under the effects of the Beast Pill later, you must feed me a Restoration Pill; if I can't swallow it..."

"I will use Spirit Power to stuff it in."

"You should feed me with your mouth!"

"..." Ning Qing glanced at him, "Spirit Power has made things convenient for the whole world, has it not made things convenient for you?"

"Copying my speech, five yuan."

"Guarding your cultivation, ten yuan."

"..."

Chen Shu fell silent for a moment, not arguing with her, and continued: "If I do something stupid while I am not in my right mind, you must promise me that you cannot use any filming or recording tools to record it, nor can you mock me later; you must act as if you don't know."

"You have quite a lot of conditions." Ning Qing rolled her eyes, her voice low and her tone indifferent, "Someone who didn't know better would think it was me who wanted you to guard my cultivation."

"I will have to guard you later too."

"That would also be you taking advantage."

"You... what kind of talk is that..."

"You can also choose not to follow it."

"..." Chen Shu bowed solemnly to her, "Please, Senior Ning, you must agree to my request!"

"Impossible."

"!"

The refusal was unexpectedly blunt.

Chen Shu had no other choice but to pray to the heavens, then he looked at the items on the coffee table.

A vial of Auxiliary Potion with a Secret Sect formula—for the purpose of breaking through to the Seventh Stage, any Promotion Auxiliary Potion would have a very, very low effect, serving only as a placebo; an Eighth-tier Restoration Pill in a specially made jade bottle, which was specially approved for him by the Spirit Sect; and an irregular Eighth-tier Beast Pill, which seemed to be shrouded in a faint mist.

Chen Shu took the potion and began the breakthrough.