Chapter 503: The Heavenly Palace is About to Fall

The New Year is very busy.

Chen Shu has to be busy cooking every day, but his family happens to have a useless older sister who specializes in ordering dishes, so for a time, he just felt like he had become her personal chef.

The only day of rest was the second day of the New Year when they returned to his grandmother's house; after returning on the third day, he had to continue cooking. He also had to perform his Daily Cultivation and study and research, so this year he only went out to watch a movie with them, sang for an afternoon, and went out for barbecue once in the evening; there was no other entertainment. In the past, he would always go out to play games or eat skewers with his classmates from Qingxue and Talent Academy during the New Year.

This year, no classmates invited him either.

It is likely a side effect of the explosion in his fame last year.

Chen Shu still has quite a headache over this.

Corresponding to this is the leisure of the old couple.

Chen Jiaoshou returned from Yujing last autumn, just after Cao Ci prepared to become a god and the calamity in Nanzhou arose. Immediately, he rushed to publish his analysis of the Autobiography of the Holy Ancestor before the end of last year; it is now on the shelves, and it is said to have caused a sensation and sold very hotly. Moreover, after returning from Yujing, his status in the History Department of Yuanzhou Academy has risen again; he is now the resident big shot of the History Department of Yuanzhou Academy, and they even use his fame for publicity when recruiting students.

These past few days, Chen Jiaoshou has been watching news and information at home, getting brainwashed by financial bloggers, and occasionally driving his flying car out for a spin.

According to Wei Lvshi, before, when Chen Jiaoshou had just returned to school, he wasn't assigned any classes last semester because he spent half his time in Yujing researching cultural relics, but Chen Jiaoshou still drove his flying car to school every day, parked it in the parking lot behind the history building, and drove it back in the afternoon.

It seemed low-key to park behind the history building, but in fact, due to the location of the Dormitory, most students walked through the back door when attending classes in the history building.

Chen Shu shook his head repeatedly when he heard this at the time.

This little comrade Chen Jiaoshou cannot keep his cool...

Finally, it was the seventh day of the first lunar month.

Chen Shu made a farewell meal; after eating, they would return to Yujing.

Wei Lvshi was somewhat reluctant to part, mainly reluctant to part with Qingqing, Xiaoxiao, the little cat-girl, and the free chef: "People say 'don't go out on the seventh, don't return home on the eighth'; you all are either teachers or unemployed vagrants now, and you're not in a rush to go to work, so why leave so early?"

"That was made up by the Shengzu to deceive people." Chen Shu indicated that he was good at refuting this, "It was most likely something he said casually, and some bootlickers wrote it down."

"Who says we are all unemployed vagrants?" Chen Banxia couldn't help but stand up to defend her younger brother, "My brother is about to become the Vice Sect Master of the Spirit Sect; do you know what it means to bring honor to one's ancestors?"

"..."

Wei Lvshi's gaze turned over.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Chen Shu coughed violently, turned around and punched Chen Banxia on the shoulder a few times, and used this to avoid Wei Lvshi's gaze, while saying: "Um, actually our Xiaoxiao works at the research institute of Ling'an Academy; her salary is very high, and she does independent research, plus there are patent fees..."

"Is that so?"

Wei Lvshi was indeed immediately distracted, turning her gaze toward the little girl behind Chen Shu, a smile instantly appearing on her face; good heavens, the Sichuan opera face-changing of her past life was not as smooth as hers:

"Xiaoxiao is so capable!?"

Chen Shu and Chen Banxia were both stunned, and couldn't help but look at each other.

Chen Banxia, being a silly dog, let out a snort of laughter, which was noticed by Wei Lvshi, who glared at her fiercely twice.

"If you're going, go quickly!"

"Alrighty..."

"See you in the summer vacation, Wei Lvshi; feel free to come to Yujing to play with your husband when you have time," Chen Banxia said with a grin, "No matter which one of you is on a business trip, just come together; I'll host you."

"Go, go, go!"

"Alrighty..."

"Auntie, Uncle, goodbye." Ning Qing, Xiaoxiao, and Taozi all said.

"Goodbye..."

This treatment! It's completely different!

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

"What are you clicking your tongue at?"

"Nothing..."

Chen Banxia shrank her neck, picked up her suitcase, and left.

The sister and brother walked out while bickering, the two sisters followed behind with expressionless faces, only Taozi wanted to imitate Qingqing but lacked Qingqing's high level of composure, and wanted to imitate Senior Xiaoxiao but lacked Senior Xiaoxiao's deep cultivation, so she pretended to be expressionless but couldn't help being attracted by Chen Shu and Chen Banxia.

Amidst the bickering, the group boarded the flying car.

Chen Shu put away his playfulness, set the destination, chose speed priority, then sat back down, picked up Taozi, and held her in his arms.

The little cat-girl, who looked five or six years old, was just right for holding; there was no need to avoid suspicion, she was tiny, her body was exceptionally soft and delicate, and the feeling was similar to holding a cat; he always felt that a little force would cause her harm. Holding such a little cat-girl, his fatherly love surged up.

Chen Shu was happy.

Taozi was also very well-behaved, or perhaps she was used to it; in any case, she let him hold her and only turned her head to look at the scenery outside the window.

Qingqing, on the other hand, stared at them expressionlessly.

This flying car flew faster than the previous one, and also faster than Chen Jiaoshou's; flying at full speed, the top speed was over five hundred kilometers per hour. Although the consumption of Spirit Power was extremely high at this speed, the two Eighth Stage cultivators present could replenish it themselves, so there was no need to worry at all.

By evening, they had already arrived in Yujing.

Zhang Suannai also arrived at this time.

It wasn't a coincidence, but rather she and Chen Banxia had made an appointment to fly back from Jianzhou at this time.

"I brought you some local specialties."

Zhang Suannai began to take things out of her Storage Artifact one by one: "Premium Wisdom Tea, three taels for each person; it's priceless and in high demand. Drinking it can increase your IQ; I'm so smart all because I grew up drinking Wisdom Tea.

"Ink Stone Mushrooms are a type of wild mushroom native to our mountain. Because our mountain is full of rocks and has very little soil, its yield is also very low. We usually use it as shiitake mushrooms in braised chicken; it's especially fragrant. You can try adding it to Yuer Chicken.

"Of course, there is definitely our Sword Sect's greatest specialty...

"Ta-da! Braised chicken!"

Zhang Suannai took a bowl out of her Storage Artifact and exclaimed in surprise herself:

"Oh! It's still warm!"

When Chen Shu took it, he couldn't help but glance at it and sniffed.

The Sword Sect's braised chicken is world-famous; it is said that the best chefs in the world who make braised chicken are all in the Sword Sect. Many restaurants that specialize in braised chicken even add the words 'Sword Sect' to their signs to show their authenticity and level. Fortunately, the Sword Sect Disciples are generous and don't care about such things.

Judging from the appearance and fragrance of this bowl...

"Feels pretty good!"

"Right?"

Zhang Suannai said with some pride: "You can taste it while it's hot, or you can put it in the fridge and heat it up to eat tomorrow..."

After saying this, she also sniffed her nose.

The fragrance drifted over...

"Yue!"

Zhang Suannai covered her mouth and retched.

Chen Shu and Chen Banxia were both stunned.

"You are..."

"Pregnant?"

"It's nothing..." Zhang Suannai waved her hand, held her breath, and stepped back two paces, "If you want to eat, eat quickly; if not, put it in the fridge soon."

"..."

Chen Shu seemed to understand a little.

"Let's taste it."

So the few of them sat down by the stone table, and the little girl went to get chopsticks.

This bowl was the one Zhang Suannai usually used for meals, which was a large bowl, filled to the brim. It looked like a lot, but in fact, after Xiaoxiao finished the potatoes, this bowl was nearly one-third empty; with the remaining two-thirds shared among three people and one cat, no one could eat much.

It just so happened that they had eaten a very simple dinner in the car and were not full.

"Not bad, not bad..."

"It lives up to being a Sword Sect product."

"The potatoes are delicious."

"So yummy~"

"..."

Zhang Suannai stood a few meters away watching; she wanted to see their amazed expressions and hear their praise to gain a sense of pride and satisfaction, yet she also wanted to stay far away from it—this conflict was vividly reflected on her face.

In the end, the braised chicken was eaten clean.

If nothing else, the Sword Sect's chef truly did an excellent job on this dish; it could be called the ceiling of braised chicken.

Chen Shu felt inferior by comparison.

At the same time, he couldn't help but start imagining the scene many years later, after the Sword Master had been replaced.

Zhang Suannai, on the other hand, was beaming with joy.

After returning to Yujing, life didn't change much; it was still busy with cooking, Daily Cultivation, and research every day. In his spare time, he would look at the news and chat in groups—now that the anonymous person had returned, and with the others in the group becoming more talkative, once they started chatting, an hour or two would pass before he knew it, leaving Chen Shu with no time to favor the young ladies and silly bloggers in the short videos.

As someone with a formal job, Xiaoxiao started work on the eighth day of the lunar new year.

But there was something strange—

When they returned to Yuanzhou before the new year, they encountered the Dayi Heavenly Palace. Chen Shu had originally thought it was orbiting the planet as usual and that their meeting was just a coincidence, but he didn't expect it to stop when it approached the sky above Yujing, and then it remained hovering over Qingshan Ridge, attracting the attention of countless eyes around the world.

This thing, the Floating Island, had been floating and orbiting the planet for many years, and it had remained so after becoming the Heavenly Palace of the Yiguo military. Unless there was an important military mission, it rarely stopped.

The last time it stopped at the capital was for the new emperor's ascension.

It was unknown what it was doing this time.

The whole world had many different opinions.

It wasn't until Xiaoxiao told him that they were going to study the Energy Source of the Heavenly Palace that Chen Shu suddenly realized.

The little girl was currently researching Artificial Life that could rival a High-level Practitioner, which was actually prepared for going to a different Plane to participate in war, so this high-level Artificial Life would likely need to reach the level of a Ninth Stage Cultivator. And the little girl had said before that high-level Artificial Life was technically feasible, but she couldn't find a Spirit Power source that could provide energy for such a powerful Artificial Life.

However, Yiguo had a Heavenly Palace.

No one knew when this island had come into existence or when it had flown into the sky; even the Heavenly Humans who originally lived on it didn't know.

It was only known that it seemed it would never fall.

In modern times, due to Yiguo's information blockade on the Heavenly Palace, no one knew where the Heavenly Palace's power came from. But it was certain that to keep such a large piece of land flying in the sky and not falling for at least tens of thousands of years, the Energy Source of the Heavenly Palace was likely beyond what existing technology could understand.

"So that's how it is."

Only then did Chen Shu deeply realize—

That Plane walking in front, known as the Zhu Ti Wei Mian, was truly having the whole world prepare for the continuation of the Rear Plane.