Chapter 505: Taozi Daren Has the Highest Level of Culture

Inside the Quiet Room.

Chen Shu sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

His Spirit Sea at the peak of the Eighth Stage was already terrifyingly large and possessed immense power. Whenever he practiced, the surrounding Spirit Power would surge toward him frantically, transforming during the process into a Spirit Power structure unique to him, which was then compressed and purified by his Spirit Sea into ultra-high-quality Spirit Power. It would also pass through a mark in the middle, and under the influence of this mark, it would be imbued with Divine Power and the purification effects of that Divine Power.

One more step, and it would be the Ninth Stage.

The strongest tier below the gods of this Plane.

Only a single step away.

Chen Shu could already clearly feel that, due to various reasons, his current self at the peak of the Eighth Stage had a Spirit Sea far stronger than a normal peak Eighth Stage, and it was even harder to imagine what it would be like once he reached the Ninth Stage.

He gradually grew a bit tired.

Chen Shu opened his eyes; the Quiet Room was pitch black, with only the indicator lights of three Game Capsules glowing faintly.

Qingqing, who had originally been sitting beside him, had also gone out.

Qingqing's single sessions of Daily Cultivation were slightly shorter than his, so when both were fully focused, she was always the one to finish first.

Chen Shu stood up and walked out. When he reached the door, he turned his head to look; the Game Capsule was already covered in a thin layer of dust—he had neglected it lately, wasting such good gaming equipment. Once he finished with everything, he would have to favor it every single day.

At that time, he would simply cancel his Daily Cultivation.

Chen Shu thought this to himself as he opened the door and went out.

It was already late at night. After washing up, he lay in bed as usual to check the news.

There wasn't much big news lately. Aside from Lanya breaking precedent by agreeing to the war reparations proposed by Duqin, which caused many people's jaws to drop, the hottest topic remained the Yiguo Tiangong that had landed in the northern desert, which had sparked much speculation and discussion among netizens worldwide.

Some guessed that the Tiangong had run out of energy.

Some guessed that Yiguo had mastered a more precise method of controlling the Tiangong, allowing it to take off and land freely.

Some guessed that Yiguo's research into the power source of the Tiangong had entered a new stage, and that landing the Tiangong in the desert was for better research, or perhaps they were preparing to use the Energy Source of the Tiangong elsewhere.

The last point was basically close to the truth.

……

In late February, the trees and flowers in the small courtyard returned to spring.

Chen Shu and Qingqing sat on either side of the stone table, each holding A Book, reading earnestly.

It was just that due to the difference in the content of the two books and their different reading habits, their reading processes were also obviously different—Qingqing generally just held a book and read silently, turning the pages silently; even if she had doubts and needed to think, it was all done in her mind. Chen Shu, on the other hand, would mutter out loud from time to time, occasionally taking out a tablet to calculate something, or taking notes, making drafts, and sometimes even using Spirit Power on the spot to construct these Runes to see the effect.

Even so, the sight of both of them studying earnestly at the same time was harmoniously rare.

So much so that the two sparrows on the persimmon tree felt it was strange; they stood side by side, heads lowered, staring at them with their dark, glossy eyes, neither playing nor flying off to forage, not even daring to make a sound, as if afraid to disturb them.

Until both of them looked up at the same time, toward the gate.

A burst of footsteps came from far to near.

"Click!"

The courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open.

The little girl was dressed somewhat formally and strode in. Seeing her brother-in-law and sister, whom she had been thinking of for a month, right there in the courtyard, she felt a surge of Joy, which even made her expression seem a bit brighter, and her voice was a tiny bit higher than usual:

"Brother-in-law, I'm back!"

After finishing, she looked to the other side of the stone table and calmed down:

"Hello, Qingqing."

Ning Qing ignored her, lowering her head to continue reading.

Chen Shu put down what he was holding and greeted her with delight: "Haven't seen you for a month, why do you feel a bit more mature?"

"It's the clothes I'm wearing."

"Why are you wearing these clothes?"

"After I got back today, I went to see the great leaders. They said I should dress more formally."

"Which great leaders?"

"The Emperor and the Prime Minister..."

"Oh, then you really should dress more formally."

"..." The little girl ended this topic, turned to look up at her brother-in-law without blinking, and asked without hesitation, "Brother-in-law, did you miss me?"

"I missed you very much... what about you?"

"I didn't miss myself."

"Did you miss me and your sister?"

"..."

The little girl rolled her eyes, sneaking a glance at her sister beside them.

What made her feel uncomfortable was that after being away for a month, she actually had missed her sister, but this was obviously something she couldn't say. Otherwise, her sister would definitely look at her with that particularly annoying gaze, which was actually just mocking her... but her brother-in-law had specifically asked about him and her sister together.

The little girl hesitated for a moment and said, "Is Taozi Daren at school today too?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw her sister move her gaze away from the book, lift her eyelids, and give her a light, airy look, before quickly withdrawing her gaze again.

That was it—

It was that look!

The little girl secretly clenched her fists.

She only heard her brother-in-law reply: "Yes, school is about to let out."

"Are you going to pick her up?"

"I only picked her up and dropped her off for the first week; after that, she rode her bicycle to the Preschool Class herself, and rode it back herself after finishing," Chen Shu said, pausing for a moment, "but if you want to, we can go pick her up."

"Don't bring Qingqing!"

"Alright! Let's go!"

The two of them walked out of the courtyard, chatting and laughing.

Ning Qing read her book silently until their voices faded away, and only then did she rub her ears—

Those two are so noisy.

……

The preschool experimental class had physical education this afternoon.

This is where the difference between a Preschool Class and a kindergarten becomes apparent—

Kindergarten leans more toward play; even if they teach things, it's just basic life skills, traffic safety, or cultivating curiosity and hands-on ability. The content taught in Preschool Class is more formalized, leaning toward the prerequisites for formal schooling.

Just like physical education.

Kindergarten PE is just playing, or at best, teaching some dancing or exercises, whereas Preschool Class PE teaches actual sports. In the education system of Yiguo, PE and arts carry a higher weight in scores, so they must be cultivated from a young age.

What they were teaching now was jump rope.

By the time Chen Shu and the young girl arrived, the PE class was already nearing its end; many students were tired, either slacking off, playing, or resting, with only one little cat-girl jumping rope frantically in the middle of the Sports Field.

She was so fast the rope was invisible.

A circle of children surrounded her, all staring up at her blankly. Teacher Wang and a teacher from another class also stood nearby, staring blankly.

Not only that, but a circle of parents who had come to pick up their children was gathered outside the fence, all staring at her too.

The rope was whipped through the air with a whistling sound, and as it brushed against the ground, it made a swishing noise.

Taozi seemed tireless.

Compared to the other children who swung the rope from behind to the ground in front before jumping over it, the contrast was stark.

The young girl turned her head and glanced at her brother-in-law.

The brother-in-law also fell silent for a moment.

"Ding-a-ling~~"

The bell for the end of class finally rang.

The little cat-girl stopped instantly, her face neither flushed nor out of breath, and she walked skillfully to Teacher Wang's side, handed over the jump rope, and then stood with the other children, waiting for Teacher Wang to take attendance and have everyone line up to exit the school in an orderly fashion.

It was clear she had already become well-acquainted with the place.

After walking out the gate, the other children all had parents coming to pick them up and ran happily toward them, but Taozi felt they were childish and foolish, showing disdain for this, and simply walked to the entrance on her own to retrieve her little bicycle.

"Taozi!"

"Hm?"

The little cat-girl's ears perked up instantly, and she turned her head toward the source of the sound, spotting Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao, each riding a small motorcycle, at a single glance.

She immediately straddled her bicycle, pedaled a few times, and rode over quickly.

"Why are you here?"

"Look, Taozi Daren has been speaking more maturely since she started Preschool Class." Chen Shu first turned his head to say this to the young girl, then said to Taozi, "Xiaoxiao returned from her business trip today and said she wanted to come pick you up from school."

"Business trip~"

"Yes."

"Taozi Daren." The young girl leaned in close to her, with the air of a parent, "What did the teacher teach today?"

"Taught addition in the morning, and jump rope in the afternoon."

"How much is five plus four?"

"Equals nine."

"Impressive, impressive; this is already smarter than Tuanzi Daren in that cartoon."

"!"

Taozi narrowed her eyes, looking very pleased.

Chen Shu watched them from the side—

The cute young girl sitting on a mini motorcycle, leaning over to ask questions, and the little cat-girl riding a toddler's bicycle, looking up to meet her gaze and answer; at the very least, he found this scene very interesting, making him unable to help but smile.

"Xiaoxiao, what did you do on your business trip?" Taozi mimicked Xiaoxiao's tone from just a moment ago and actually asked her back, like a little adult.

"Me... we extracted the Energy Source of the Heavenly Palace, preparing to turn it into a Ninth-tier Artificial Cultivator." The young girl actually answered her seriously, as if treating her like a friend of equal standing.

Unfortunately, Taozi didn't understand, so she could only blink, maintaining the posture of looking up to meet her gaze.

After staring at each other for a long time, she only said:

"Oh..."

Chen Shu couldn't hold back his smile any longer and patted her head: "Let's go, time to go home."

"Time to go home~"

Chen Shu and the young girl had already started their small motorcycles, and Taozi also kept one foot on the ground while the other was on the pedal, staring at them and striking a pose ready to depart at any moment.

The next second, the two of them were riding their small motorcycles in front, with the little cat-girl, who looked only five or six years old, pedaling her bicycle intently behind them.

They drew countless gazes for a moment.

……

In the following days, the young girl became even busier.

Because it was already the end of February, and she had her defense in early March. Although she had long since written a thesis that even her advisor couldn't understand, due to spending the previous month in the northern desert researching the Heavenly Palace energy source, completely cut off from the world, she still hadn't finalized and submitted the thesis until now.

The young girl hurriedly revised the draft, hurriedly handed it to her teacher for review, printed and bound it, and it took her a few days to finally finish.

The young girl had only one small goal—

To outperform her sister from last year!