Chapter 443: The Romantic Reverie of Spiritual Power

The fifth day of the third lunar month, evening.

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: Brother Chen is so popular these days, I keep seeing him everywhere.

Gate of All Wonders: Same.

Gate of All Wonders: His popularity is no less than Grandma's last year.

Qingcai Keke: It has nothing to do with me.

Qingcai Keke: It's mainly because the state wants to promote it.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Qingcai Caike is being humble.

Gate of All Wonders: Indeed, Qingcai Caike is so humble, it makes me think of someone from last year.

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: This is when you can tell who is gloating and who has real substance.

Grandma Always Says: /Your grandpa is here!

Grandma Always Says: Bah! You piece of Wang Court trash!

Grandma Always Says: What are you saying?

Qingcai Keke: Don't say that.

Qingcai Keke: Saying it like that makes me feel like you're praising me just to belittle Zhang Suannai.

Gate of All Wonders: Translation: What real substance do I actually have? Elaborate on that.

Qingcai Keke: /Dumbfounded

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: Isn't it? You have a looks bonus, and you already had fans online, yet now your popularity is about the same; it's obvious that Qingcai's graduation project is far more impressive than your thesis from last year.

Grandma Always Says: Non! Sen! Se!

Grandma Always Says: /Fatherly blow

Qingcai Keke:?? What do you mean?

Qingcai Keke: I have a looks bonus too, okay?

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: Look.

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: Not only is he more humble than you, he's also more humorous than you.

Qingcai Keke: /Complex expression

Haoran Righteousness: /Cracking melon seeds

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, Qingcai Caike always gloats over small things, but in major matters, he is always humble.

Qingcai Keke: I'm about to blush.

Zhaoyeqing:.

Qingcai Keke: /Retract that for me

……

The sixth day of the third lunar month, early morning.

Inside a noodle shop on the Ling'an Academy Commercial Street, the two sat side by side. Ning Qing's hot and sour noodles were served first. Before she could even start pouring the vinegar, the person beside her also took a pair of chopsticks and reached into her bowl. She had no choice but to let him taste it first, while her gaze drifted downward.

This person had his left hand on her thigh, his four fingers rhythmically tapping away as if playing a piano, showing he was in an excellent mood.

He had been in a good mood for the past few days.

Ning Qing glanced at him sideways:

"Is it good?"

Chen Shu first picked up a piece of pork intestine, and only after hearing her did he pick up a mouthful of noodles and reply:

"Average."

"Still eating?"

"No more, I'm waiting for my noodles."

Ning Qing didn't say anything else; she picked up the vinegar and poured it in with a glug-glug sound. A rich, vinegary scent permeated the air, at which point Chen Shu basically couldn't eat it anymore.

After a minute or two, Chen Shu's noodles with minced meat and chopped chili, which he had ordered with an extra portion of topping, were also served.

A bowl of solid, thin noodles with a bright red, appetizing soup base. The noodles, exposed above the soup, were stark white, topped with a layer of finely minced meat and chopped chili. The bright red color was thoroughly mixed with the tender white meat, carrying golden oil. After stirring it carefully with chopsticks, every bite of noodles was coated with the chopped chili and minced meat.

After finishing breakfast, the two bought a cup of milk tea and walked toward the Astronomy Building.

This Teaching Building was very old, its walls covered in vines, with traditional outward-opening windows and faded mahogany window frames, revealing the heritage of Ling'an Academy.

Class 101 was already full of people.

This was a tiered classroom.

Likewise, the front row was occupied by the judging teachers and two defense Secretaries, while the back was filled with Ning Qing's classmates.

The two still sat in the very back row.

Once it hit eight o'clock, the defense began.

"Is anyone volunteering to go first? If not, we will go in order of student ID."

"Me."

Ning Qing stood up, expressionless, and walked forward.

She distributed the thesis and opened the presentation slides.

The disadvantage of having too many judging teachers is the need to print many copies of the thesis. For someone like Chen Shu doing a graduation project, it was fine—the thesis was only ten pages or so—but a normal twenty or thirty-thousand-word thesis, plus images and charts, was at least several dozen pages, and printing each copy cost several yuan.

Especially Ning Qing's, which was over sixty thousand words.

It was as thick as A Book.

Ning Qing walked onto the podium; without any adornment, she was already dazzling. Yet, her aura was cold and sharp, making many classmates only dare to peek at her.

Chen Shu rested his chin on his hand below, staring at her.

"Ning Qing, Astronomy and Cosmology College, Space and Plane Studies major, 50200905001, the topic is 'Observation and Verification of Spiritual Power'." Ning Qing did not greet the teachers, and her language was very concise. "I will briefly introduce what Spiritual Power is, its functions, and methods of verification. Fifteen minutes is not enough to go into too much detail, but it is all written in the thesis. If you are interested, you can verify it yourselves."

Chen Shu took a sip of milk tea and listened attentively.

He had some understanding of Spiritual Power and was quite interested in it, but he had never read this paper by Qingqing; he had glanced at it once, and the professional terminology on it had easily scared him off.

"Spiritual Power is a concept proposed by Mr. Ling Boxin; I prefer to call it World Influence. It roughly suggests that there exists a kind of mutual influence between planes, or even between universes, much like how two living organisms influence each other, causing them to tend toward similarity; the closer the distance, the stronger the influence.

"Mr. Ling Boxin put forward a rigorous set of observation, calculation, and deduction processes, but because it cannot be verified, the academic community tends to view it as a conjecture.

"In my view, Mr. Ling Boxin is a super genius. That he could propose the existence of Spiritual Power without ever having seen another plane, and dare to say that the operation of the world is influenced by another world, is very hard to imagine.

"And I happen to be very interested in this.

"So I decided to verify it."

Ning Qing's voice was clear and cold, her tone flat, without excessive inflection, but it sounded very pleasant.

At least Chen Shu thought it sounded very pleasant.

"The general principles and processes of verification are as shown in the presentation. Verifying it requires the assistance of abilities from the Buddhist Sect, Daoist, or Heavenly Human System. If you are interested, you can find practitioners of these three systems to help verify it. Practitioners of the Heavenly Human System require the Sixth Stage or above, Daoist practitioners require the Seventh Stage or above, and if it is a Buddhist Practitioner, they require Zen Cultivation of the Eighth Stage or above; any one of these will suffice. I have prepared three different observation methods for these systems, and they can verify each other.

"It starts on page 14 of the paper."

A sound of pages turning immediately erupted from below.

Ning Qing glanced at them, her expression faint; she did not think they could understand it in a short time, so she did not stop and continued:

"It can be seen that it comes from outside the plane, a collection of vast information, received by our plane, accepted and digested, and then, under the action of a series of mechanisms, it influences everything in our plane.

"To use an anthropomorphic analogy, it is as if our plane saw another plane and then subconsciously imitated it, and we also influence other planes.

"So, what can Spiritual Power do?

"Or rather, what effect does Spiritual Power have on the world?

"Broadly speaking, it influences the progress of the world, the stability or volatility of stars, the position of planets, the birth and evolution of life... two sufficiently similar planes are very likely to evolve similar ecosystems, and even similar civilizations."

Chen Shu unconsciously gripped the milk tea in his hand tighter.

The classroom was so quiet.

The judges were either looking down, flipping through the three methods of observation and verification described in the paper, or looking up, listening to her description with rapt attention; the students below also had their eyes wide open, mouths agape, lost in thought.

The secrets of the universe are always fascinating.

"From another angle, what appears in one world may also appear in an adjacent world. Things that cannot appear due to the differences in the worlds may also appear in another, illusory form. Something common in this world is very likely to have been created by someone else in another world. When that person was naming it, they might have had a flash of inspiration and chosen the same or a similar-sounding name.

"The stories that happen in this world and the wonders it possesses might appear in the dreams of someone in another world, or might be captured by someone when they are sitting in a daze and letting their imagination run wild."

Chen Shu's gaze suddenly sharpened.

No wonder this world has so many things that are similar to his past life but were not created by Shengzu, and so many things that share the same name as in his past life but were not named by Shengzu.

For example, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Shengzu most likely would not make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall; looking at the recipes he left behind, they were all Sichuan dishes. Yet, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in this world has clear records of being invented by a chef surnamed Liu in the early part of the current dynasty, and its preparation is almost identical to the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall of the previous world, and it is called by the same name.

For example, snail rice noodles.

They were also invented only a few hundred years ago.

And for example, Mobile Phone, missiles, etc.; Shengzu created the writing system, but he did not create these terms.

Similar human anatomy, thought patterns, and similar cultures can answer part of the question, but they cannot answer everything; there is destined to be a more mysterious force that makes this world similar to his past life in some places.

"So that's how it is..."

Chen Shu muttered to himself in his heart.

Ning Qing's expression suddenly became a bit gentler, and her voice continued:

"Perhaps the stories we experience will be captured in some way by someone in another world, and then they will weave them into stories. Perhaps sometimes the stories we dream of or imagine while letting our minds wander are the lives of people in another world. Perhaps our wild imagination, those seemingly absurd things, actually exist in another world...

"This is the beauty of Spiritual Power."

When Chen Shu heard this, his heart suddenly tightened.

He felt shocked for a moment, and inexplicably moved.

Will my story also be spread out through this world by way of Spiritual Power, will it be captured by another world, will someone suddenly think of such a story one day in some way, and then record it down?

Will there also be people reading it?

Suddenly, he felt an inexpressible sense of romance.

And Ning Qing continued to speak, looking at him at the same time, as if she had just given him a gift and was quietly watching his reaction.

"Teachers, please ask your questions."

"May I ask student Ning Qing, besides you, has anyone else verified your proof process?"

"My mentor has verified it."

"May I ask, during your research process, did you seek the assistance of any practitioners from the Buddhist Sect, Daoist, or Heavenly Human System?"

"I did not seek them out, nor did I need to. My mentor sought out Dharma Master Zhiming of the Buddhist Sect, Daoist Jianyun of the Daoist, and Mr. Bai Yuan of the Celestial Race."

"The content you mentioned regarding the effects of Spiritual Power, is it your conjecture, or was it observed?"

"It is primarily conjecture, but there is also substantial evidence; at least in our world, Spiritual Power acts in this way."

"It is too... romantic."

"The universe itself is very romantic; the explosion and flickering of stars, the birth and meeting of lives, are all romantic beyond words." Ning Qing answered calmly, but inexplicably, she thought of the teacher who had led them from their freshman to senior year; unfortunately, he was not here today.

"Pass."

"Pass."

A full twelve passes.

"Thank you."

Ning Qing turned off the presentation, put away her Crystal Card, and walked down in silence. When she walked to Chen Shu's side and their eyes met, she suddenly asked:

"Am I cool?"

Chen Shu was stunned for a moment, then nodded blankly:

"Cool..."

Ning Qing revealed a faint smile and sat down beside him.

It felt as if this spring had only just begun.