Chapter 414: I, Chen, Specialize in Suppressing the Sword Sect

Chen Shu sat before a simple desk, on which sat a computer displaying a vast and complex spell structure, and he was scratching his head in deep thought.

If he had known, he would have brought Taozi along too; that way, while researching spells, he could hold it in his arms, and if he felt troubled, he could pet it, which would help improve the agility of his thinking and dispel irritability... Anyway, Qingqing didn't bring it either, and compared to Xiaoxiao, his priority in its heart was at least ranked second.

"Miscalculated."

Chen Shu shook his head repeatedly and continued to stare at the screen.

The light from the screen was reflected in his eyes, even mirroring the spell structure on the screen.

The inspiration for the Reverse Rune Principle that Chen Shu intended to use on the Tracer Technique came from the Great Blazing Sun Art, but in reality, it had nothing to do with the Great Blazing Sun Art.

The characteristics of the Great Blazing Sun Art are high temperatures and Blazing Sun True Flame, while the Tracer Technique is an explosion; the two are very different. Furthermore, with Chen Shu's current ability, he did not yet have the capacity to dismantle the main independently operating rune modules from the Great Blazing Sun Art, nor did he have any way to graft the characteristics of the Great Blazing Sun Art onto other spells; he had merely gained inspiration during the process of studying the structure of the Great Blazing Sun Art, subsequently enriched it himself, and proved that it was feasible.

The Reverse Rune Principle has no set pattern; every feasible combination of reverse runes is unique, so once this set of runes is created, it will be a new Reverse Rune Group that belongs exclusively to him.

Its power should be significantly improved compared to the previous Tracer Technique, and the intensity of the explosion will increase quite a bit.

However, the Spirit Power requirements will also be much higher.

Chen Shu was now halfway through the spell, and based on his experience, he could already judge that this set of runes utilizing the Reverse Rune Principle had very high requirements for Spirit Power; it would likely require the Spirit Power Quality of at least a Sixth Stage practitioner or higher to make it operate normally, as if the Spirit Power Quality were too low, the conflict reaction would fail to complete.

Therefore, this modified Tracer Technique still could not replace the status of the ordinary Tracer Technique.

Hmm, it could be called the High-level Tracer Spell.

As a representative of modern spells, from another perspective, it wouldn't be wrong to say it is the most excellent spell of the modern era.

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu continued to scratch his head.

If it weren't for the fact that cultivators don't lose their hair, he would likely have lost quite a lot of hair these past few days.

The clock ticked.

The night grew deeper and deeper.

Chen Shu had no choice but to turn off the computer and sit on the meditation cushion nearby to prepare for his Daily Cultivation, yet he couldn't help but ponder.

The business in Yunlai was finished; what was the next step?

He did not want to end the combat for the time being.

There was no such friendly testing environment back home, nor were there such abundant sparring partners. Moreover, Chen Shu had no reason to resist things like responding to the national call and striking against the Mengyue Sect; he still remembered the girl who had jumped off the building back then, and he had even seen it on the internet before, but after some operations by Qingqing, this silly platform had started pushing muscular hunks, hot-blooded Martial Artists, and handsome male Sword Cultivators to him.

But he also didn't want to immediately go to other countries to participate in battles.

He still had to research the High-level Tracer Spell.

After thinking it over, Chen Shu decided to stay in Zhouye City for a few more days, go out to stroll around Zhouye City tomorrow, research spells for a few days, and then go to other places afterward.

He could go back home to rest, but it wasn't very necessary.

Qingqing was in Jiangzhou, and only Xiaoxiao was at home; if he went back, he wouldn't see his girlfriend, and he would still have to cook for Xiaoxiao, which was very troublesome.

"? It's already eleven o'clock?"

Chen Shu was startled and hurriedly closed his eyes to cultivate.

Thoughts by day, dreams by night.

Before going to sleep last night, Zhuang Baicha's mind was full of the expression on that kid named Chen Shu when he returned to the room; he always felt that the expression was full of deep meaning, as if telling him that he knew he was faking it and was perfectly clear about what he was thinking inside, but was just deliberately playing along with him, waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

Thinking of this, cold sweat almost broke out.

In the end, he kept telling himself in his heart that perhaps he was just overthinking it, and only after managing to convince himself did he fall asleep in peace.

Yet in his dream, for some reason, everyone knew his true nature and knew what he was thinking in his heart, greeting him with feigned respect every day, while actually turning around and snickering in their hearts, laughing at him for being an idiot.

They were even secretly gossiping behind his back.

"Hah..."

Zhuang Baicha woke up directly, gasping for air.

High-level Practitioners rarely dream; the last time he had a dream was when Sixth Senior Sister said she was going to break his legs. It had been too long since he had dreamed, so much so that after he woke up, he was dazed for a while before he could distinguish between the dream and reality.

"..."

Zhuang Baicha fell into a deep silence.

Immediately, he took out his Mobile Phone to contact Junior Sister.

Zhuang Baicha: Damn it, Zhang Suannai

Junior Sister:?

Zhuang Baicha: Why the hell didn't you tell me you had a good friend in Yunlai too? And one I see every single day!

Junior Sister: What good friend?

Zhuang Baicha: That guy surnamed Chen

Junior Sister: Which one?

Zhuang Baicha: Chen Shu

Junior Sister: Oh, him

Junior Sister: Just a Spirit Cultivator

Junior Sister: What's wrong?

Zhuang Baicha: Did you tell him about me?

Zhuang Baicha: /jumps up to slap you in the face

Junior Sister: No

Junior Sister: What's wrong?

Junior Sister: /confused

Zhuang Baicha: 23""

Zhuang Baicha used concise language to describe to her the conversation between Chen Shu and himself last night, as well as that meaningful look. Of course, he did not tell her that he had been unable to sleep all night because of it and had even had a nightmare.

Junior Sister: /falls into deep thought

Junior Sister: You were tricked, he was bluffing you.

Junior Sister: Based on my understanding of him, this person is insidious and cunning, full of bad intentions, and specifically counters our Sword Sect.

Junior Sister: Seventh Senior Brother, did he make your mental state nearly collapse, keep you from sleeping all night, and even give you nightmares? I advise you, next time you encounter him, as long as your Spiritual Sense gives an alarm for no reason, quickly raise your vigilance.

Zhuang Baicha:???

Junior Sister: Did I guess right?

Junior Sister: /observes in secret

Zhuang Baicha: /Zhang Suannai throws her head back and lets out a long howl

Junior Sister: /the underwear thief is hung at the mountain gate

Zhuang Baicha: I am going to tell your good friend.

Junior Sister: I suppose very few people know that the Sword Master's seventh Personal Disciple offended a big shot of the Ming Sect in his early years and was locked up and abused, right? Also, the fact that the Sword Master's Personal Disciple has been stealing his senior sister's underwear for a long time could also make the news, right?

"Bang!"

Zhuang Baicha threw his Mobile Phone aside and ignored her.

He rolled over and got out of bed.

Without washing his face or brushing his teeth, maintaining the purity of a High-Tier Sword Cultivator, he pushed the door open and walked out directly.

He saw a crowd of people standing at the entrance of the camp, as if discussing something; that person named Chen Shu was standing in the crowd, and right at the very center of it.

Zhuang Baicha's heart tightened instantly—

Could this person be exposing him to the others?

He tilted his head to listen carefully, and only then did he heave a sigh of relief.

So it was just chatting about some ordinary trifles.

"Yeah, although Xixiao isn't big, it's still a sovereign state after all. Who would have thought that the ruler of a country would actually believe in that Cao Ci stuff? Fortunately, our Dayi is still nominally the suzerain state of Xixiao, and we still nominally possess the power to depose the King of Xixiao. I used to think it was useless, heh, who would have thought it would provide the legal basis for our actions today?"

"That King isn't a good thing either. Just the incidents of him harming his concubines reported in the news are already quite a few; he deserves to die."

"By the way, where is everyone going next?"

"I've already filed my application, planning to go to the Western Continent..."

"I'm going to the Western Continent too. The pay in the Western Continent is generous, and I happen to be refining an Artifact recently and am short on materials. I'll see if I can discuss it with the military."

"Greetings, Senior Zhuang!"

"Greetings, Senior Zhuang..."

"Senior Zhuang is up..."

Everyone saw Zhuang Baicha walking over and hurriedly bowed.

Everyone came from famous sects and great factions, so they naturally knew the Sword Sect's consistently terrible reputation. Originally, they were very displeased with people from the Sword Sect, but they didn't expect that after getting along these past few days, they found this seventh disciple was actually not bad—he was a bit cold and aloof, but at least he could be considered a normal person.

"Hmm..."

Zhuang Baicha still nodded faintly, putting on airs, but couldn't help but glance at Chen Shu out of the corner of his eye.

"Where will Senior Zhuang go after this?"

"I leave it to the country's arrangement." Zhuang Baicha raised his chin slightly. "I am a Sword Sect Disciple and also a Dayi Practitioner. Now that the country has needs, naturally I go wherever the country needs me to go. I'm not picky."

"Senior Zhuang is righteous! Truly admirable!"

"Senior Zhuang has really changed my view of the Sword Sect!"

"Isn't that so..."

Everyone praised him one after another, and it was all heartfelt.

If an ordinary person had said this, they might not have been so moved, but the one who said these words was a Sword Cultivator—everything is feared for the contrast. When Zhuang Baicha's performance was diametrically opposed to the stereotypes in their hearts, and they compared them, Zhuang Baicha's image suddenly became even taller.

But Zhuang Baicha felt somewhat uncomfortable hearing this—

In the past, he would have been very smug and secretly chuckled in his heart for having fooled them, but today, among the people present, there was someone who knew his true colors listening. There was no telling what that person was thinking of him.

Zhuang Baicha couldn't help but cast his gaze toward him repeatedly.

Wait! This god-damned brat! He actually followed along and echoed a couple of times?

This is truly audacious...

Zhuang Baicha's face turned a shade of green and white.

"Ahem..."

Clearing his throat, Zhuang Baicha still didn't give himself away and continued his performance, saying to everyone in an icy tone: "Stop the flattery, I have only done what a Dayi Practitioner should do... You all don't need to crowd here either. Go do whatever you need to do, and don't block the door."

"Senior Zhuang is right!"

Everyone was filled with awe and then dispersed one after another.

"Chen Shu!"

"Senior Zhuang... what does the junior need to do?"

"You wait a moment."

"Alright."

Chen Shu had no choice but to stand in place, not panicking in the slightest. In this world, no one was better at dealing with a Sword Sect disciple than him.

Not until everyone had walked far away did Zhuang Baicha walk up to him, stare straight at him, and interrogate:

"You bluffed me?"

"What?"

"You dare to lie to me!"

"Lie to you about what..."

"Still being stubborn!"

Zhuang Baicha met his gaze, wanting to use the sharp, piercing look of an Eighth Stage Sword Cultivator to make him feel guilty and force him to admit it.

Oh ho! Quite a firm will, aren't you?

I'd like to see just how long you can hold out!

Zhuang Baicha continued to stare him down.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the Mobile Phone suddenly vibrated.

"Bzz, bzz, bzz..."

Immediately, the Mobile Phone ringtone sounded:

"Awoo! Awo! Awo! Awo! Awo! Awoo~~ I am! I am! I am! I am a husky!

"Husky!

"What are you doing? I am a husky!"

The atmosphere was completely ruined; Zhuang Baicha couldn't keep a straight face anymore, the sharp look in his eyes vanished instantly, and he hurriedly fished out the Mobile Phone.

"Hello?

"I'm at Yunlai!

"Oh, I just finished up. Alright, alright, I'll come to Xixiao to find you tomorrow. I have some things to attend to right now. Yes, yes, yes, love you, love you..."

Zhuang Baicha put down the Mobile Phone and looked at Chen Shu again.

But he didn't expect this person to be staring straight at him.

What a scorching gaze!

What a firm look in his eyes!

For a moment, Zhuang Baicha couldn't even tell if it was he or the other person who was lying.

"Senior Zhuang..."

Why was his Spiritual Sense acting up again?

Zhuang Baicha frowned: "What?"

"This ringtone..."

"Don't even think about it!"

Zhuang Baicha instantly saw through what he was thinking and refused without hesitation: "She is my Junior Sister! We can use this ringtone, but I will never hand it over to an outsider!"

"Hey! Senior Zhuang, that's not right! Zhang Suannai and I are close friends, not outsiders! Besides, since I'm friends with Zhang Suannai, if you round it up, doesn't that make me half a Sword Sect disciple?"

"Stop trying to climb the social ladder!"

"Fine! I won't! But we are comrades-in-arms; we chat a bit every time we go out and come back, that's not a lie, right?"

"That is true..."

"So..."

"Don't even think about it!"

"..." Chen Shu was silent for a moment, showing a troubled expression, "Those seniors from earlier were so full of reverence for Senior Zhuang. I wonder what they would think if they found out about Senior Zhuang's past deeds... For the sake of Senior Zhuang having a good time, I have been going against my honest nature to keep your secrets. Really, I have been an honest person since I was a child. Seeing them get deceived so badly, my heart felt terrible, but thinking of Senior Zhuang's happiness, I endured it. Does Senior Zhuang not care about this friendship at all?"

"You dare bring that up?"

Zhuang Baicha got angry just thinking about it: "What past deeds, you just made them all up!"

"Why?"

"I asked Zhang Suannai, and she didn't tell you anything at all!"

"Senior, you believe her?"

"This..."

Zhuang Baicha hesitated for a moment.

He really didn't know who to believe.

One was the Junior Sister he had watched grow up, the other was a comrade-in-arms he had only known for a few days...

"Fine, you Zhang Suannai! Since you were heartless first, don't blame me for being unrighteous!" Zhuang Baicha gritted his teeth and raised the Mobile Phone, "Come, add me on Feixin, I'll send it to you!"

"Refreshing!"