Chapter 463: Victory Belongs to Xiaoxiao

Mid-July.

A mere ten days after Chen Shu and the others returned, Zhang Dailian's initially well-functioning Rest and Recovery Cycle Great Art was declared a failure.

The process went like this—

On the first day Chen Shu and Qingqing returned, Zhang Dailian happened to be preparing to sleep at ten in the morning.

And she had already sworn an oath in her heart: she must be asleep by ten in the morning; if she was still awake at ten, she would let her Master be struck by lightning.

The difficulty of the reverse Rest and Recovery Cycle was far, far, far greater than the normal one, not to mention that Zhang Dailian's cultivation plus recovery time was less than twenty-one hours, which meant that the extreme Rest and Recovery Cycle had to be advanced by more than three hours every day compared to the previous day. That is, if she slept at thirteen-something yesterday, she had to sleep at ten o'clock today. Forcing oneself to enter dreamland more than three hours early and having to fall asleep was far, far more difficult than forcing oneself to stay up three hours late.

Fortunately, high-level practitioners do not have high requirements for sleep, and there are sleep-aiding spells and items.

Zhang Dailian was also a person of great perseverance; in order not to be overtaken by someone, she forced herself to cultivate three hours earlier each day than the day before, and she hid her Mobile Phone in the storage room furthest from the bedroom, forcing herself to fall asleep.

This had been going on for over twenty days.

She had thought it could continue indefinitely, but then she heard that Chen Shu was planning to make Mushroom Yuer Chicken at noon.

Mushroom Yuer Chicken?

Lunch at eleven-thirty?

After deep thought, Zhang Dailian felt—

If she was only an hour and a half late today, and tomorrow she still cultivated three hours earlier than today, anyway, she would start cultivating as soon as she finished recovering, so she would still be sleeping more than three hours later than today's ten o'clock, which was about the same, right? Isn't it just equivalent to pulling an all-nighter like usual?

Her Master is a dignified Top Ninth-tier, wouldn't mere heavenly lightning be like a scratch?

Oh, and besides, Moshi Mountain is extremely boring; the old man stays up there every day, so he's probably bored out of his mind, too. This could just be considered finding some fun for him.

She truly is a filial disciple.

Thus, on the 22nd day of the Rest and Recovery Cycle plan, it was temporarily shelved.

The next day, Intestine Tofu Brain Flower.

This, no matter what, must be supplemented... must be tasted!

Zhang Dailian has a stubborn personality; no matter how she "stays up late," no matter how chaotic her schedule is, no matter whether she falls asleep or not, she never delays her cultivation cycle. She must insist on cultivating more than three hours earlier every day than the day before.

However, her schedule had already been disrupted.

Consequently, her sleep gradually became like this—

Sleeping at four in the morning today, sleeping until five, sleeping for one hour, cultivating until nine in the morning, then sleeping for two hours, getting up at eleven-thirty to eat, and then if she's lucky, she can doze off for a bit more; if she's unlucky, she can't fall asleep. One cut for cultivation, one cut for lunch; a day's sleep was sliced into two or three parts.

Sometimes there was also one cut for breakfast and one cut for dinner.

How many cuts there were depended on the food next door; sometimes the neighbors ordered takeout, and then there were no cuts.

A new type of fragmented sleep.

The next day, cultivation continued to advance by more than three hours.

The schedule became increasingly chaotic and increasingly fragmented.

The cultivation of insisting on the cycle and the messy schedule seemed to be fighting inside her.

And she still had to go online to do boosting to earn money...

One or two days was fine, three or five days was okay, but after ten days, even though she was an Eight-Tier Practitioner, she began to feel it wasn't working—if this continued long-term, her clever brain would likely be affected and turn into a stupid dog. Furthermore, the wonderful thing called sleep would likely leave her completely; the future her would be the world's number one powerhouse without sleep. Even if she were invincible, she would never again be able to feel the joy of sweet dreams and sleeping in.

Zhang Dailian fell into hesitation for a moment.

What ultimately forced her Rest and Recovery Cycle Great Art to go completely bankrupt was what she called the "Intestine Knot Yuer Chicken and Cultivation Collision Incident."

That night, the neighbors were going to make Intestine Knot Yuer Chicken.

It was said to be the traditional way of making Yuer Chicken, but braised intestines would be added, making it very rich and fragrant, and there would be bursting-with-juice knots, while her cultivation happened to be in the stage of four in the afternoon to eight in the evening, and the neighbors' dinner was exactly at six in the evening.

Right in the middle; there was no way around this.

Plus, in order to save her clever brain, Zhang Dailian decisively ended her Rest and Recovery Cycle plan.

On the first day after ending it, Zhang Dailian still felt empty inside, very unaccustomed, and secretly pondered in her heart: it must be that someone next door was afraid that with the help of the Rest and Recovery Cycle Great Art, she would leave him too far behind, so he deliberately created this wonderful trouble for her, not only making her Rest and Recovery Cycle Great Art go bankrupt, but also forcing her to happily revolve around them every day, currying favor with them just to mooch a meal.

This could be called the greatest open conspiracy in history.

Zhang Dailian would like to call it the Yuer Chicken Stratagem.

Uh, a bit strange...

Anyway, that person is incomparably sinister; under this vast heaven, there are probably few people more sinister than him.

However, after only a few days, Zhang Dailian experienced the beauty of a normal schedule—

Her head stopped swelling, her eyes stopped blurring, her spirit stopped being dazed, and even eating became delicious.

The sunlight was so warm, the world was so clear, the early autumn morning mist was so cool, the hustle and bustle of the vegetable market every morning was so moving, and the most wonderful thing of all was sleeping on time every day and sleeping until she felt satisfied, then lingering in bed for a while.

What kind of damn Rest and Recovery Cycle Great Art; even a dog wouldn't use it.

"Emmm..."

Hearing that the neighbors were going to fish for crayfish, and the little sisters were going too, Zhang Dailian, with her normal schedule, signed up without hesitation and rejoiced that she had regained her freedom.

If she were still executing the Rest and Recovery Cycle plan, she would have likely missed such a fun event.

Chen Jiaoshou's flying car was delivered.

Chen Shu and Chen Banxia each paid half of the final payment, and Chen Shu immediately borrowed it to play with, deciding to drive it out of the city to fish for crayfish.

This flying car was not as luxurious as the one the Spirit Sect provided for Chen Shu, nor did it have any driving pleasure to speak of, because except for emergencies, it was almost impossible to drive manually. Perhaps for ordinary people, there was the joy of flying in the sky, but for Chen Shu, it was somewhat dull.

However, it was faster than Chen Shu's speedster.

This was normal; that flying car was, after all, many years old, and technology had been advancing over these years; it was only natural for the new model to be better than the old one.

Chen Shu carried Qingqing, Xiaoxiao, Taozi, and Chen Banxia, while Zhang Dailian followed outside using Sword Flight.

The group soon arrived at a lakeside.

Using bamboo strips and wooden sticks as rods, tying on yarn, and tying cut pig intestines to the other end—this stuff had a heavy fishy smell, and the lobsters couldn't pinch it off; one piece could be used for fishing all day.

"Listen up, everyone: we each have ten rods, each person has a bucket, and we'll compete to see who catches the most. The two who catch the least are responsible for washing the shrimp in the evening," Chen Shu announced to the other four people and one cat. "Washing the shrimp includes cleaning, removing the heads, and removing the shrimp veins, okay?"

"What if there aren't any in this lake?" the elder sister asked.

"Don't worry, there definitely are. I saw others fishing for them online just a few days ago," Chen Shu paused, "Qingqing also said there are."

"Woof?"

"You and Xiaoxiao count as one person."

"Fishing until what time?"

"The afternoon, I suppose."

"Is it by weight or by count?"

"Weight."

"Then you guys are done for," Zhang Dailian said, "In the jianghu, I am known as the Crayfish Killer. Even the crayfish are afraid when they see me."

"Then won't you fail to catch any?"

"Have you ever read a book?"

As they chatted, everyone had already begun setting up their rods.

The fishing rods were lined up along the lake shore, but if one looked closely, each had its own area and they wouldn't get tangled.

Chen Shu and Qingqing were close together, Xiaoxiao was seven or eight meters away with Taozi, and Chen Banxia was sticking to Zhang Suannai, their rods almost touching.

The two little sisters were whispering to each other on the side, secretly exchanging tips on catching crayfish, vowing to slaughter the competition.

Chen Shu looked on with disdain, then quietly said to Qingqing: "Quick, cast a luck effect on both of us, otherwise you'll be the one cleaning the shrimp when we get back."

Ning Qing glanced at him indifferently: "I've already cast it on myself."

"Shh! Keep it down!"

"..."

"Then what about me?"

"Even if I don't cast it on you..."

Ning Qing pursed her lips as she said this.

Chen Shu thought she would immediately follow up with "you'll still catch plenty," yet he only heard her say: "I won't be cleaning the shrimp either."

"?? Then what about me?"

"That's your business."

"Are you being polite?"

"Cheating is not good."

"?? Then what about yourself?"

"That's why I should do it less."

"Hurry up! I still have to cook!"

Qingqing pursed her lips and glanced at him sideways, as if she found his expression very interesting.

Not until she had seen enough did she retract her gaze, satisfied, and whispered:

"Cast."

"Whew..."

"Yours is here."

"?"

Chen Shu turned his head to look, and sure enough, the yarn on one of the rods had been pulled taut.

Chen Shu immediately stood up, holding the rod in one hand, pulling it up quietly and slowly, while holding the net in the other, slowly moving it toward the spot.

The movement had to be slow, and the net had to be behind the shrimp.

Gradually, the figure of the shrimp came into view; it was a very large, black-red shrimp.

The little guy was completely unaware.

"Swish!"

He lifted the net with ease, and the shrimp was thrashing wildly inside the net.

"Clang!"

The shrimp fell into the bucket and was still jumping around.

It hit the bucket wall with a clanging sound.

Chen Shu turned his head to look left and right; the two-sister duo on the left and the Xiao-Tao group on the right had all turned their heads toward him, stretching their necks and staring at him blankly.

"Mine is here too."

Ning Qing said in a low voice again, and looked at him.

"I'll come help you!"

Chen Shu was cheerful, his technique practiced.

"Clang!"

Another shrimp entered the bucket, appearing even larger than the previous one; it was likely over one tael in weight.

In just one minute, he had harvested two.

Looking around at both sides, the three people and one cat were envious to death.

Chen Shu felt wonderful inside.

"?"

Ning Qing stared at him expressionlessly.

To this, Chen Shu had a strong justification: "Whoever scoops it is the one who gets it!"

Ning Qing continued to stare at him, a warning of bad luck.

"......"

Chen Shu helplessly reached his hand into the bucket, picked up the smaller one he had caught earlier, and placed it into Ning Qing's bucket, though he couldn't help but mutter: "A woman's mouth is a deceitful ghost; when we were dating, she said it so nicely, that we wouldn't distinguish between yours and mine, but now she's haggling over every single shrimp..."

Ning Qing ignored him and continued sitting there.

The three people nearby withdrew their gazes and looked at the rods in front of them; seeing that everything remained calm, they couldn't help but feel anxious.

Taozi stood up like a human, its two front paws hanging naturally against its body, turning its head and stretching its neck to stare straight at its master and the clattering bucket beside its master; its heart seemed to belong there, but the camp Chen Shu had assigned it to restricted it to this spot.

Is a cat's life always this helpless? Or is it only like this before Transformation?

A few minutes passed.

Chen Shu and Ning Qing had a continuous stream of catches, the shrimp bucket clattered, and the sound of Chen Shu's voice rose and fell by the lake.

The joys and sorrows of people are not shared.

The livelier it was on their side, the calmer it was nearby; the happier Chen Shu was when making a catch, the more bitter the others felt watching him.

"Sigh..."

Demon King Sister sat on a small stool sighing, her legs stretched out, swinging her net back and forth in boredom, blinking her eyes as she stared at the water's surface: "Is using such thick yarn a bit disrespectful to the crayfish's intelligence?"

"I think so too."

"Is that the reason why we haven't caught any crayfish to eat?"

"Very likely."

"But they are using the same thing..."

"Uh..."

The two little sisters looked at each other, one scratching her head, the other scratching an itch.

"Only caught two so far~"

"I've only got one."

"I'm tempted to start a game."

"Xiaoxiao seems to have caught three already."

"Is it because the spot is bad?"

"Very likely."

"I suspect the crayfish nest is all over there!"

"I suspect there is a one-way street under the water, and the crayfish are all coming from that side to this side, and they just happen to get intercepted when they reach those two."

"Then why didn't they pass by Xiaoxiao's spot?"

"Uh..."

The duo of little sisters scratched their ears and cheeks, continuing to look for excuses.

On the other side, Xiaoxiao also sat silently, head lowered, eyes staring straight at her rod and yarn; she had already roughly guessed the reason, but the righteous Xiaoxiao would never bow to the evil Demon King Sister.

"Taozi Daren," the little girl lowered her voice, "go see how many those two have caught."

"Woof!"

"Do we have more or do they have more?"

"Woof-woof~"

"That's good."

The little girl's expression was calm, sitting upright and motionless, even having the leisure to eavesdrop on the conversation between her brother-in-law and her sister.

Let the wind and waves rise, I sit firmly on the shrimp-fishing platform.