Chapter 507: Practical Techniques

"Brother-in-law~~"

A voice came from the courtyard.

On the surface, it didn't sound much different from her usual voice, and one couldn't tell if there was Joy or sorrow in it, but in reality, from the slightly soft and undulating tone at the end, it could be heard that the young girl's mood didn't seem very good.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Shu walked to the doorway and watched the young girl carrying her dragon-print bag, her footsteps slightly faster than usual, so he couldn't help but ask with concern:

"Did the graduation defense not go well?"

"I messed it up..."

"How did you mess it up?"

"It's just that when I was defending..." The young girl walked to his side, face-to-face with him, and told him everything, "A teacher asked me a question, and I felt the question he asked was a bit stupid, so I didn't want to answer him. I just didn't speak, I just looked at him. I didn't speak, and he didn't speak. I looked at him, and he looked at me. And so, for a long time, no one said anything."

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu realized a problem.

He seemed to have neglected the cultivation of the young girl in this aspect; of course, there were also reasons related to her own personality and innate bloodline, but regardless, as her guardian, he should still take responsibility.

He only heard the young girl say softly: "They must have thought I couldn't answer, I regretted it to death after the defense..."

While she spoke, she glanced left and right.

Checking to see if Qingqing was eavesdropping.

But she saw an old grandfather instead.

"!"

How come this person made no sound? Even her innate alertness as a Night Person had no effect!

The young girl immediately became vigilant.

She didn't know if he had heard.

"That's not true! The teachers know your level and they know your personality; they definitely know what you were thinking!" Chen Shu looked at the young girl, his heart softening involuntarily, "This is just a small mistake, it's nothing big. Just be more careful in the future. On the contrary, you should be glad that it made this thesis defense of yours special."

"Huh?"

The young girl looked up, staring straight at him.

For a moment, her expression looked exactly like Taozi.

"Because if it weren't for this little mistake, it would just be a plain and unremarkable thesis defense. Many years later... perhaps hundreds of years later, or perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of years later, it would likely have disappeared from your memory by then. When you look back on your youth, you probably won't remember this thesis defense from hundreds or thousands of years ago. But because you made a profound mistake, when you think back on it, this part won't be blank." Chen Shu, wearing an apron, bluffed the earnest-looking young girl, "At that time, you will smile when you talk about it."

The young girl listened, stunned.

Beside them, the New Saint revealed a smile.

The smile was meaningful, and his heart was deeply touched as well.

In fact, he had already lived for tens of thousands of years...

During his travels through the universe, time became chaotic—sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes he would hibernate—so he didn't even remember how many years he had lived.

For him, youth was truly a distant thing; having lived so long, memory had become a precious thing.

Its preciousness no longer even lay in how much happiness or pain it brought him, or what he had once gained or lost; time had washed many things until they faded, and its preciousness lay only in its existence.

Regardless of the reason.

Being able to still recall it was already a precious and beautiful thing; it would luxuriously shine in the vast, empty void of memory, like the rare stars in the sky on a pitch-black night.

The New Saint felt this deeply.

In fact, even he, who was revered as a Saint, had made mistakes, done stupid things, and suffered losses when he was young. But at the twilight of life, the passage of time had long since allowed him to reconcile with himself, so these things no longer mattered. He was no longer annoyed, regretful, ashamed, or troubled by them; all that remained were things that allowed one to look back, feel nostalgic for youth, and smile knowingly—all that remained were the simple markers proving that he had lived through that period of time.

The memories Ning Qing had given him earlier surfaced once more.

These memories were truly blurry, fragmented, and messy, and even though each fragment only had the result without the insight or experience, it was only at this moment that he understood why the version of himself in the Zhu Ti Wei Mian had spent his final days so happily with this young man.

"And I'll tell you a secret." Chen Shu leaned close to Xiaoxiao and whispered, "When you're on the news, they will edit this part out."

"!"

The young girl's eyes widened.

She felt much better inside...

She then looked at the old grandfather, frowning slightly, always feeling he looked somewhat familiar:

"Who is he?"

"The New Saint, hurry and greet him."

"Oh!" The young girl's expression suddenly became a bit more serious, and she bowed earnestly, "Hello, Grandpa New Saint, I am Xiaoxiao!"

"Hello, Xiaoxiao."

"Hello!"

The young girl said another word, then turned and left, looking cool, preparing to go put her bag away first.

Her footsteps were lighter, and her mood was better,

Until she turned the corner and met her sister...

The young girl was stunned on the spot.

In her daze, a sentence flashed through her mind, in her sister's voice: "I heard everything you just said..."

However, it was very quiet here.

The young girl came back to her senses and took a quiet peek; her sister was staring at her with an expressionless face.

Not saying anything? Is not saying anything useful?

I heard it all...

Her good mood ended here.

The young girl lowered her head and silently returned to her room.

Jinguan City Secret Realm.

The two walked side by side within it.

The wide, deserted streets and the high-rise buildings on both sides made the only two figures appear so tiny compared to this city, as small as ants, yet they were the only ones in this city.

"Is this the Mijing inside that Square Body in Nanzhou?" the New Saint could not help but feel deeply moved, "As expected, Shengzu also came from that city."

"Is that city very special?"

"The manager of the Space-Time Node is in that city."

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

"The food you make tastes very similar to that place as well."

"Perhaps part of the reason is that Shengzu came from here, so Great Yi Cuisine is very similar to it, and another part is that the place I came from is not far from it either."

"I don't remember many things either. Counting it up, after I left that place, I have traveled in other places for a very, very long time, only those places' time flow rates were thousands or tens of thousands of times faster compared to our Plane and that place," the New Saint said, "I guessed that Shengzu also came from here, and I also guessed that the Square Body in Nanzhou was Shengzu's last one, and it is highly likely that his greatest secret is buried inside. I had also thought about going to Nanzhou to crack the Square Body, go inside to take a look, and verify my conjectures one by one, but in the end, I gave up."

"Why?"

"I think that since Shengzu left it behind and set up a Forbidden Seal, he must have intended to leave it for a certain person or a certain era. I should not open it prematurely."

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

The two walked toward the Divine Dragon Hall.

Seeing the door pushed open, the Wishing Divine Dragon immediately knew that Chen Shu had come again. For the past half year, Chen Shu had been coming every single day without fail. But just as it prepared to speak to Chen Shu in its usual arrogant tone, it saw the New Saint, this Saint who had merged with Space-Time Energy to become a god.

The Wishing Divine Dragon was immediately filled with Surprise.

The New Saint, however, was very calm; after chatting with it for a few sentences, he turned and left with Chen Shu.

A moment later, on the roof of the Green Space Center.

"Space-Time Items also have different performances. The performance of the Wooden Bead is slightly stronger than your Crystal; the energy is the same, but it is mainly stronger in charging speed, therefore the Wooden Bead can support a higher frequency of space or universe travel," the New Saint said, "This mentions two points: space travel and universe travel."

"So it can also be used within the universe?"

"I often use it to travel within the universe," the New Saint paused, "The function of a Space-Time Item itself is to travel between different universes; this is a capability inherent to any Space-Time Item. In this process, it will consume a massive amount of energy to break the barrier between two universes and connect the two universes; the specific amount of energy is related to the 'distance' between the universes, and this is the primary energy consumption. But if it is traveling within the same universe, depending on the universe's form and rules, at the same distance, the energy consumption varies, but regardless, it is far, far, far lower than traveling between universes."

"How is it done?"

"That requires first understanding the usage mechanism of Space-Time Items, and one must first learn to control Space-Time Energy," the New Saint said as such, "Theoretically speaking, at least a god can freely control Space-Time Energy, but you already have the method to use Space-Time Energy at the Ninth Stage, only you haven't learned it yet..."

"Yes."

Chen Shu was currently still in the process of learning.

This was a method left for him by another version of himself who walked ahead, combined with the theories of Shengzu and the New Saint, and then developed by him; it was extremely detailed. Therefore, even though the New Saint was standing in front of him now, it was of little help to his learning, or rather, the New Saint had already helped.

Now he was also close to mastering it.

"Shengzu left behind a 4th Tier Rune, you must know it," the New Saint did not wait for his answer and continued, "That is the core Rune for using Space-Time Energy and opening a space channel; whether it is specifically for traveling between universes or traveling within a universe, one must apply it flexibly."

"It sounds very complicated..."

"Actually, it is very simple. These functions are integrated into the Space-Time Item; what we need to do is not to enhance it, but to reduce it, and this is not difficult."

"Please enlighten me..."

"..."

When Chen Shu came out of the Jinguan Secret Realm, it was already the next day.

The New Saint had already told Chen Shu all the usage techniques and experiences he had explored for the Space-Time Item, and the remaining work was for Chen Shu to understand on his own.

Come to think of it, there wasn't actually that much stuff. After all, although the New Saint had possessed the Space-Time Item for many years, the Space-Time Item required a long period of time to charge after each use. Shengzu never lived long enough to see the Crystal accumulate full energy, and although the New Saint's Wooden Bead had a faster charging speed, it was nowhere near fast enough to be fully charged in a few decades or a hundred years, therefore he hadn't explored too much either.

But the single point of "traveling within the universe" was already very impressive.

At the very least, Shengzu hadn't explored this point back then and could only, like Chen Shu, use primitive methods to stimulate the Crystal to teleport short distances within the home planet.

This was a different method from traveling through the starry sky.

And there was the practical experience that came with it—

The New Saint told him that he could first find a place with a faster time flow, spend some energy, throw the Space-Time Item over there, and after the energy was fully charged, summon the Space-Time Item back to achieve a better natural charging effect.

At that moment, Chen Shu's head buzzed.

To tell the truth, even though he knew the method of "traveling within the universe," he hadn't thought of this trick for a while.

So this was the key to why the Wooden Bead's charging speed was far faster than the Crystal's.

Then he couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion.

If Shengzu had mastered the method of using Space-Time Items and Space-Time Energy to cross Planes or star domains back then, perhaps he would have also found a place with a faster time flow than the home planet, then placed the Crystal there to charge, and maybe he would have been able to go home.