Chapter 523: I Treated You Like a Little Cat-Girl, and You

"Hehe..."

Never would he have thought that Chen Shu would finally find a sparring partner.

The little cat-girl stood on a stool behind him, holding a towel and wiping dust off the bookshelf, but she turned her head back, expressionless, staring unblinkingly at the content on Chen Shu's computer screen—under the guidance of Senior Xiaoxiao, she had already learned to recognize many characters.

Chen Shu: Friend Huang, let's have a barbecue.

Friend Huang: You are in Zhongzhou, I am in Dongzhou, so far away, how can we have one?

Chen Shu: Hey! You can fly tens of thousands of kilometers in an hour; aren't Zhongzhou and Dongzhou just about as far apart as two villages? Let's meet in Nanzhou, okay? Zhuo Mountain, remember to come. I also invited Senior Sister Jin and Shu Daoyou, and Hu Daoyou. It seems Senior Sister Jin is already on her way.

Chen Shu: You provide the meat, I provide the technique.

Friend Huang: Alright, alright, alright, I'm heading out now.

"Hehehe..."

Chen Shu's laugh was so terrifying.

The little cat-girl's scalp tightened. Just as she saw Chen Shu turn his head, she hurriedly withdrew her gaze and continued to focus on wiping the bookshelf.

"Quite diligent!"

"Yes~"

The little cat-girl wiped earnestly and seriously.

Chen Shu stood up with a smile, prepared some spices and seasonings, and then went out to buy groceries.

After all, since he had invited them for a barbecue, he had to finish eating the barbecue before making the barbecue; it wouldn't do to roast them as soon as they arrived—this is a land of etiquette, after all.

Three hours later, Zhuo Mountain, Nanzhou.

A bonfire was burning, with half a sheep, a rabbit, and a chicken set over the fire; there was also a grill to the side, topped with some vegetables. The ground was already covered in broken bones and wooden skewers, indicating that this barbecue feast had been going on for a while.

Only Senior Sister Jin and Friend Huang had come, and they had originally prepared enough food for one human and four demons, but fortunately, both Friend Huang and Senior Sister Jin were quite capable of eating.

Friend Huang had even brought a few bottles of fine Demon Race wine.

"Mm-mm-mm..."

Friend Huang reached out and tore a leg off the roasted rabbit, fearing no heat, and opened her mouth to bite into it in large mouthfuls.

Chen Shu's secret recipe for roasted rabbit left the rabbit skin crispy, and the meat inside was full of charred fragrance; the five-spice, numbing, and spicy flavors were extremely well-absorbed, becoming more fragrant the more one chewed. Friend Huang couldn't stop eating for a moment, making whimpering sounds while eating, and at the same time saying indistinctly:

"It's so delicious, it's a huge loss that that Rat and Fu Li didn't come..."

"Yeah, yeah." Senior Sister Jin also nodded repeatedly, "When Chen Daoyou invited me, I thought that with Chen Daoyou's treacherous and cunning nature, it was mostly likely some trap he had set for us to jump into. I didn't expect there to actually be a barbecue."

"If you thought it was a trap, why did you still come?"

"My curiosity is..."

"Chomp chomp..."

Chen Shu sat to the side holding a skewer of roasted shiitake mushrooms, eating unhurriedly while quietly eyeing them.

The eating habits of these two demons were quite interesting.

Friend Huang liked to smack her lips while eating, opening her mouth very wide as if she weren't used to wearing dentures; this was likely her retaining her original nature—since smacking lips while eating was a relatively common thing in Dongzhou, they didn't think there was anything wrong with this habit.

Senior Sister Jin, on the other hand, liked to grab the food, take a bite, tilt her head back, pull her hand forward, tear off a chunk with force, and swallow it after chewing casually a few times.

A few big mouthfuls of meat, a gulp of wine—it was better than being an immortal.

Time passed bit by bit.

The meat Friend Huang brought had been completely consumed, and the vegetables Chen Shu brought had also been eaten clean by the two of them.

Chen Shu asked kindly: "Are you full?"

"Hiccup! Full!" said Friend Huang.

"I'm full too! And a bit stuffed." said Senior Sister Jin, "It's the first time I've felt that vegetables could actually be delicious, especially the shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, button mushrooms, and that eggplant that looks like a boat—too delicious!"

"I'm a bit stuffed too."

"Then shall we digest our food?" Friend Huang suggested casually, "Take a walk and look at the scenery."

"Taking a walk probably won't be very effective, right?"

"Chen Daoyou, what do you think..."

"The great battle is approaching, so ensuring our own combat effectiveness is very necessary. Since we are gathered together today and are stuffed, why don't we have a sparring match?" Chen Shu paused here, "It just so happens that I recently improved a Spirit Sect divine art, so why don't you two Daoyou help me test it out along the way..."

"No problem! Chen Daoyou has a grand vision!"

"That's right, that's right!" Senior Sister Jin agreed deeply, "With the great battle imminent, we should have this kind of digestion more often!"

"Senior Sister Jin's words are reasonable." Chen Shu nodded repeatedly and said solemnly, "I personally believe that at this time, none of us should fear bleeding or pain and thus avoid sparring; we should all actively embrace such sparring!"

"So well said!"

The human and the two demons looked at each other, almost considering one another soulmates.

A moment later, the sparring began.

To ensure the effectiveness of the sparring, Chen Shu did not use his Spirit Body, but instead manually crafted the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, and he had made two improvements to the Blazing Sun Divine Art—

First, he adjusted the core Rune of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, slightly increasing its power, mainly to increase the Spirit Power's corrosiveness toward Cultivators;

Second, he completely changed the Spell structure of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, turning it from an area-of-effect damage Spell into a more dispersed, larger-scale Spell that existed purely for destruction. Once released, the blazing sun would divide into many parts, covering a wider area. Of course, this version of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art was not suitable for sparring at the same level; its philosophy leaned more toward modern Spells, making it more suitable for carrying out devastating strikes on life within a large area when one had an overwhelming advantage.

In the process of improving it, Chen Shu also referred to the technology of the Zhan Lue Wu Qi developed by Yiguo based on the Spirit Sect's Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art.

The reason for making this improvement was the consideration that the Space-Time Energy from the wish-granting dragon would be used at that time. Once used, there would definitely be an overwhelming advantage against the Ninth Stage Cultivators of the Third Plane. Since that was the case, it was better to expand this advantage further.

Thus, he possessed two different versions of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art.

At this moment, he was testing the second one first.

Almost the instant they sensed the fluctuation of Spirit Power in the air and sensed that the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art was about to erupt, the two demons each employed their countermeasures.

Senior Sister Jin transformed into her original form and flapped her wings, immediately moving far away from this place. Her speed was no slower than the Sword Sect's Sword Drawing Technique, covering several kilometers in a second. For a time, only deafening, rolling thunderous sounds could be heard in the air, continuous and unending.

Friend Huang also transformed into her original form, but she sprayed out black mist—it was a genuine case of blotting out the sky and sun, and her figure could not be grasped within the black mist.

The two demons' countermeasures were both very simple—

Ensure the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art is not constructed with oneself as the center; otherwise, even if Chen Shu does not use his Spirit Body augmentation, given his own superior Spirit Power and the tyrannical nature of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, it would be very difficult for them to withstand it. And as long as one avoids the center of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, or even avoids the divine art entirely, its threat is greatly reduced due to the clumsiness of the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art.

But unexpectedly, what was born along with that violent Spirit Power collision was no longer a blazing sun, but dozens of burning stars.

A radius of over a hundred kilometers was within the strike range.

Feeling the high temperature that threatened to melt everything, the tyrannical and overbearing Spirit Power, and the Blazing Sun True Flame that could not be shaken off once touched—even though the power seemed to have weakened compared to a normal Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, at least far less destructive than the core area of a normal divine art, it still made the two demons realize instantly—

So this is what a barbecue is.

About a quarter of an hour later.

Senior Sister Jin and Daoist Huang, who had also reached the Ninth Tier Peak, joined forces; although they defeated Chen Shu—who had not used his Spirit Body—relatively easily, they had also become roasted golden eagle and roasted tiger after enduring several different Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Arts.

It also left Chen Shu with precious experimental data.

"Cough, cough..."

Chen Shu returned to Yujing with his injuries, took out his Mobile Phone, and saw that Senior Sister Jin had posted a Feixin update.

Senior Sister Jin: I suggest that in the future, if Daoist Chen invites everyone to Nanzhou for a barbecue or anything else, no one should go, otherwise the consequences will be very serious.

Attached was a photo of her burned into a black eagle.

People had already replied below.

Shu Daoyou: Otherwise, why do you think I don't go?

Meng Haoran: We already knew...

Zhang Suannai: Isn't this just a barbecue? /Smirk

Chen Shu scratched his head, turned off his Mobile Phone, and began to organize the harvest from this experiment.

These two versions of the divine art still needed fine-tuning.

A few days later, the Spell was completely adjusted.

Chen Shu also relaxed slightly.

At this time, he had basically reached a "relatively complete" state—Ninth Tier Peak, cultivation further upward had become slow, the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art had been adjusted for his own usage habits and even modified into versions, making it the most suitable state for him, his proficiency was high enough, and his control over Space-Time Energy was already very skilled.

In the subsequent high-intensity Plane War, he probably wouldn't be able to use other means besides Space-Time Energy and the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art.

At most, add the Mountain Piercing Technique and Rising with the Wind.

Therefore, for this war alone, apart from continuing to cultivate slowly upward, efforts in other areas would not yield much result.

Relatively speaking, it could also be slowed down a little.

If there were no Plane War, and Chen Shu had reached the Ninth Tier so early, after finishing his research on the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art, he should have spent the rest of his time distributing it to learning various different Spells, enriching his functionality and knowledge, promoting the development of the principles of world Spell Runes, and developing new Spells or upgrading traditional classic Spells, rather than continuing to bury himself in the Blazing Sun World-Extinguishing Divine Art.

And these did not significantly improve his combat power.

This could also be considered one of the characteristics of the Spirit Sect.

If it were other systems, such as the Royal Court Sword Dao or traditional Sword Dao, it is not to say that Sword Dao has no end, but at least at their age, no matter how strong their talent is, they certainly have not reached its end, so they still need to practice and comprehend constantly, and their self-improvement curve is much more linear compared to the Spirit Sect system.

"None of my business..."

Chen Shu shook his head, feeling lighthearted.

After finishing breakfast, he happened to run into the little cat-girl packing her little schoolbag—it was still the one Chen Shu had bought previously. Since she was already in the second semester of second grade, the knowledge taught by the school was becoming more formalized, and there were more textbooks and homework; she was currently cleaning up the things she needed to bring, packing them in one by one.

A tiny little person, yet with a serious face, she looked truly adorable.

Chen Shu, having some free time, felt a sudden impulse; he scratched her little ears and said to her, "Taozi Daren, shall Qingqing and I take you to school?"

"Hmm?"

The little cat-girl looked up and stared at them blankly, her big eyes blinking, seemingly not having reacted for a moment.

"How about it?"

"Okay!"

"Qingqing and I happen to need to go buy groceries."

"Okay!!"

"Qingqing and I rarely take you to school."

"That's right!"

"We're really irresponsible."

"That's right!!"

"Then I'll go too," the young girl also stood up, "I happen to be going out to work."

"Okay!"

The little cat-girl's answer was so crisp and decisive.

Thus, the three people and one demon walked out together.

Just as they left the courtyard gate, the number of people increased by one.

At 7:30, the sun had already come out. The road from the courtyard to the entrance of the residential complex happened to face the east, tilted just a little bit, and that morning sun, like a watery salted egg yolk, was right at the end of the road.

Qingqing was too aloof and refused to hold hands with Taozi, only willing to hold Chen Shu's hand; Taozi was not sad either, she just held Chen Shu's other hand.

Still expressionless, but her mood was very pleasant.

Usually, she rode her bicycle to school alone and rarely walked, and she didn't want anyone to pick her up or drop her off because she was already a mature higher-order creature. Today was not something she had requested, but this feeling of walking to school with her family seemed quite nice, and her steps became much lighter because of it.

As they neared the school, there were more and more students.

Most of the lower-grade students were brought by their parents, using various means of transportation, with scooters being the most convenient, while most of the higher-grade students walked by themselves. In the morning with a faint mist, a group of children were chattering away; Chen Shu felt as if he were also infected, gaining a bit more vitality, and couldn't help but squeeze Taozi's little hand.

Such a world is worth protecting.

Until a voice came from beside him:

"Hello, Sister Taozi!"

Chen Shu turned his head to look and saw a male student, about fourth or fifth grade, walking by with his schoolbag, bowing and calling out toward his side.

"?"

Chen Shu's expression suddenly stiffened.

Immediately, he could not help but lower his head to look at Taozi.

Taozi happened to be looking up at him as well.

Their gazes met; neither the human nor the demon made a sound, one stunned and one proud, maintaining eye contact as they continued walking forward.

Just then, another primary school student walked by.

"Good morning, Sister Taozi!"

"??"

Chen Shu could not help but stop in his tracks, staring blankly at that child.

The average height in Dayi is quite tall, and with children's nutrition improving more and more in recent years, and even potions to help with growth having been released, it is quite normal for fourth or fifth-grade students at the Children School to be 1.45 meters tall; well, just a little shorter than Xiaoxiao.

The student from just a moment ago was almost the same height as Xiaoxiao.

Chen Shu looked down again at this little cat-girl who, after growing for two years, was still only a little over a meter tall, with a very youthful face, staring at him in a soft and cute manner...

"..."

Chen Shu's expression gradually became serious, and he asked, "You haven't been bullying other students, have you?"

The little cat-girl met his gaze and blinked her eyes.

She then rolled her eyes and looked toward the other three people.

She saw that her master was standing expressionless beside Chen Shu, Teacher Xiaoxiao was holding her cartoon water cup and drinking intently, and only that brainless neighbor next door, whose name was the same as something to eat, was grinning at her and even gesturing to encourage her.

Taozi's expression began to turn serious.