Chapter 425: Resistance Tempered Over Twenty Years

The fourth day of the eleventh lunar month, afternoon.

Chen Shu brought his modified High-Tier Tracer Technique to the home of his teacher, Shi Qian.

"Hi, Xiao Jin."

"Awoof~"

"Long time no see! Oh, opening a can? You're getting smarter and smarter!" Chen Shu patted Xiao Jin's head, then sat down on the sofa. "What are the general requirements for graduation projects and theses? I'm quite free lately, so I want to get the thesis done first to make things easier later."

"Woof!"

"I wasn't asking you."

"Just write it however you want."

Teacher Shi Qian didn't seem to care much. "Title, abstract, keywords, introduction, main body, acknowledgments, references—that's it. If you want to write it early, I can find a thesis from a senior student for you to use as a reference. There might be specific changes to the format when the time comes, but we'll only know then, and if you get annoyed by the revisions, you can just ignore them."

"Awesome!"

Chen Shu couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

"What's so special about that? As long as you have the ability, you can stand tall anywhere." Teacher Shi Qian waved his hand. "Besides, they're just details of formatting; being too pedantic about that is actually falling into a lower tier."

"Makes sense."

"Right, our major also requires a certain amount of images for the graduation thesis, at least ten or more, used to display Rune Groups for different modules, design structure diagrams, and the like. You also need a mind map."

"That's simple."

"Yes, especially since you have a graduation project; just take a few screenshots of the Spell structure, snap a few photos during testing, and put them in."

"What about the word count?"

"If you're only writing a thesis, twenty to thirty thousand words. If you have a graduation project, five to ten thousand is enough." Teacher Shi Qian paused. "If the word count isn't enough, you can just insert more images and make it more pages; that works too."

"Got it."

The universities in this world were more substantial; the requirements for a graduation thesis were about the same as a master's thesis in his previous life. However, considering that it took twenty years to graduate from university in this world, graduating at twenty-five, it was quite reasonable.

"Let me see the Tracer Technique you modified."

"Okay."

Chen Shu displayed his High-Tier Tracer Technique, hoping that Teacher Shi Qian, who had extensive experience in Spell design, could offer some advice.

Teacher Shi Qian looked down, his eyes immediately drawn to the core Rune Group, which was the Main Combat Rune Group.

It was indeed the Reverse Rune Principle—completely devoid of regularity, and at a glance, one could only see the intense conflict between the Runes.

Unfortunately, he hadn't studied the Reverse Rune Principle much, and since the Reverse Rune Principle lacked regularity, he couldn't make much sense of it for the moment.

"Our country once thought about increasing the power of the Tracer Technique, and the lead designer was my Doctor advisor..."

"And then?"

"And then it didn't succeed... well, it succeeded, but it wasn't adopted." Teacher Shi Qian said. "Because the Tracer Techniques currently used by major nations are already excellent in every aspect; they just have different characteristics based on each country's needs, each with its own pros and cons. The last two revisions were basically just optimizations of the Auxiliary Runes. To increase power, without the appearance of more powerful Level 3 Explosive Runes, there isn't much room for enhancement using standard Spell Principles. If you insist on increasing it, not only will the effect be poor, but it will also make the Spell's volume become very large."

Teacher Shi Qian paused. "But you solved this problem using the Reverse Rune Principle."

Looking at the Spell before him, the number of Runes in the Main Combat Rune Group was actually much smaller than the original version of the Tracer Technique.

For a Cultivator, this meant it would be simpler to learn and easier to engrave into the Thousand Machine Art. This advantage wasn't actually that great; the real advantage lay in applying it to modern weaponry. Fewer Runes and a smaller Spell volume meant lower technical difficulty and lower costs; with the same technical materials and power, the volume could be made smaller.

This was a remarkable thing.

As for its significance in military terms, even compared to the Penetration Version Lightning Technique or the Smart Defense Version Tracing Technique, it was hard to say which was greater.

"It's a pity that it has very high requirements for Spirit Power, and the barrier to entry is too high." Chen Shu saw what Teacher Shi Qian was thinking and couldn't help but shake his head regretfully. "Maybe it can be used on some Heavy Spirit Power Cannons, like the Truck Spirit Power Cannon; as for other small weapons, with current technology, it definitely can't be used."

"It's still not bad."

Teacher Shi Qian said, then shifted his gaze to look at other parts.

These were the normal Runes.

The two began to discuss.

Teacher Shi Qian's dog was also very well-behaved, smart and quiet; it poured its own dog food to eat, went to the faucet to find water to drink, played with its ball, and even ran laps on the roof when the time came, which was very worry-free.

It wasn't until after dinner that the two of them and the dog went out to eat clear-broth goose, and then they parted ways.

"Goodbye, Xiao Jin."

"Woof-woo..."

Chen Shu grinned.

Returning to the small courtyard, Qingqing was reading a book on the sofa.

It was already the eleventh lunar month, and people outside were wrapped up thickly, yet Qingqing was still wearing light clothing—a pair of loungewear pants, loose and soft, the fabric thin enough that one could imagine the feel of the thighs beneath. Her top was also a very ordinary long-sleeved shirt. She was sitting sideways on the sofa, a rare posture for her, with her legs curled up, her back against the rightmost armrest of the sofa, her fair and pinkish feet resting on the sofa, the book placed on her knees.

This posture was very homely, lazy and casual, yet with a touch of obedience.

"I'm back."

Ning Qing continued to hold the book, only glancing up at him to acknowledge his presence before lowering her head to continue reading, without any further response.

Chen Shu walked over and sat on the sofa as well.

He happened to sit right by her feet.

"Hehe..."

Chen Shu didn't care about her coldness at all; he casually picked up her lower leg, straightened it out, placed it on his lap, and began to stroke and play with it carefully.

He didn't know why, but even though they were both Cultivators, Qingqing's skin was always exceptionally delicate; it felt slippery to the touch, and one couldn't feel the texture of the skin. It felt cool in the summer, but in this winter, it held a warm temperature.

Chen Shu pinched her ankle and looked at her closely.

Ning Qing just stared at her book, as if she hadn't noticed.

Chen Shu moved his hand up, pinching her lower leg.

The curve of her lower leg was perfect, without an ounce of excess flesh, and the fabric of her pants was indeed thin and soft; he could feel the texture of her skin through the fabric. The warmth from below slowly transferred to his hand, a different sensation than direct skin contact.

Chen Shu continued to glance up at her.

Qingqing continued to read, ignoring the world outside, letting him do as he pleased.

Chen Shu leaned in again, wanting to kiss her.

This time, a palm pressed against his face; with five fingers spread, he could feel only the softness of her palm and fingertips, along with a force that pushed him away.

At the same time, Qingqing also retracted her legs from his lap and curled them up again, showing her dissatisfaction with his pushing his luck.

He hadn't managed to kiss her, and her legs were gone too.

Chen Shu, however, was not discouraged; he grinned, took the opportunity to grab Qingqing's curled-up legs again, rested his chin on her knees, and scrutinized her at close range.

This face was one he could never get tired of looking at.

"..."

Ning Qing, however, found it hard to calm her mind while being stared at by him, so she simply raised her book a little higher to block his gaze, hoping to make him retreat in the face of difficulty. But this man was thick-skinned; he followed suit by raising his head, his line of sight still crossing over the book to go against her.

"..."

Ning Qing couldn't help it anymore; she looked at him helplessly: "What are you doing?"

"Looking at you."

"..."

Go ahead and look, see how long you can keep it up.

Ning Qing couldn't be bothered with him and continued looking at her book.

She wanted to calm her heart, but she couldn't; instead, she would involuntarily glance at him from time to time.

At these moments, he would smile at her.

Is he an idiot?

Ning Qing thought to herself.

Yet she still couldn't help but look at him.

At first, it was just an occasional glance, then the frequency increased significantly, the pace quickened, and the ratio of time spent reading versus looking at him shifted, until she realized she was frequently moving her gaze away from the book, and the time spent making eye contact with him had exceeded the time spent reading; she realized she could no longer focus on the book.

"..."

Ning Qing took a deep breath, helplessly closed the book in her hands, set it aside, and looked at him again.

"Hehe."

Chen Shu revealed a triumphant smile, pressed his hands on her knees to support his body, leaned his upper body toward her, and pressed his lips against hers.

He had gotten his wish.

Then followed a period of savoring.

A few minutes later.

Ning Qing pressed her hand against his chest, pushed him away again, then picked up the book, turned to the page she had been reading, and stretched her legs out, placing them back on his lap to give him something to do so he wouldn't disturb her again.

A tingling, numb sensation traveled from her calves.

While playing with and kneading them, he asked her: "When are you going to attempt the Seventh Stage?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"This is your first time, right?"

"Mm."

"Can you succeed?"

"I can."

"So impressive? I've never heard of anyone succeeding in advancing to the Seventh Stage on the first try; people in the past, without a Beast Pill, all needed a dozen or so attempts."

"I have a Secret Technique."

"The Secret Method of the Secret Sect?"

"My own Secret Technique."

"What is it? Tell me about it."

"Later."

"Well, you are quite the Secretary Ning!" Chen Shu slapped her calf, then rubbed it after the slap, "I treat you as my dearest, and you treat me like an outsider, right? Besides, as soon as I got back, I gave you a calf massage and a foot massage, and this is how you treat me?"

"Shameless..."

"You're the one who's shameless!"

"..."

Ning Qing closed her mouth; paying him any more mind would only interfere with her state of mind for reading.

"Then will you suffer from mental instability?"

"..."

"Forget it if you won't tell me."

"..."

"Ignoring me? I can't be bothered to pay attention to you either!"

"..."

"Tsk tsk, how quickly people change. Thinking back to when we were little, your attitude toward me wasn't this bad. When I stayed up all night and was exhausted, and took a sick day from school the next day, you were worried sick; look at you now, treating me with such indifference." Chen Shu shook his head repeatedly, sighing endlessly, "Nearly twenty years of being together day and night, it was all in vain after all."

Ning Qing kept staring at her book, pretending not to hear.

Resistance maxed out, ignoring all interference.

The next day, morning.

Ning Qing sat cross-legged in the Quiet Room, with a bottle of Comfort Potion, one Beast Pill, a bottle containing one Restoration Pill, one Chen Shu, and one Taozi in front of her.

"I'm starting."

Ning Qing's tone was flat.

"Okay."

"Woof!"

Ning Qing opened the potion, drank it slowly, and then held out her hand, causing the Beast Pill to fly over automatically.

At this moment, the medicinal effect of the potion had already begun to take hold, causing her Spirit Sea to boil, yet she remained as calm as usual and even said to Chen Shu, "After I take the Restoration Pill and fall unconscious, you will carry me back to the bed."

"We'll see."

"..."

Ning Qing closed her eyes.