Chapter 97: Anyway, You Don't Know Either

The sky was dim, and the sunset in the west was still like fire.

The water dispenser in the living room gurgled.

The little girl filled a full glass of water, turned her head to glance upstairs; her brother-in-law was taking a shower in her sister's room, and her sister was sitting quietly on the sofa waiting. The little girl carried the water glass toward the stairs, but just as she stepped onto the first step, she hesitated for a few seconds, then turned back and said:

"I asked Mom and Dad, they won't be back tonight."

Her sister turned around and looked at her expressionlessly.

The little girl said again: "I'll do my homework as soon as I get back to my room. I like to wear headphones when I do homework and turn the volume to the max, so I won't hear anything..."

Her sister slowly raised her hand, pointing at her room upstairs:

"Get out!"

"..."

The little girl lowered her head and silently went upstairs.

Ten minutes later.

Chen Shu sat on Ning Qing's bed, quietly sensing his current state—

Because he had ingested the potion, his body was storing Spirit Power beyond its capacity, leading to damage in various places, but this was not a major problem; as long as he ensured nutritional intake over the next few days, he would recover quickly under normal Spirit Power nourishment.

What was truly difficult to handle was the damage to his Spirit Sea.

Normally, after a Third-stage Cultivator fails to break through a Spirit Lock, the resulting damage to the Spirit Sea requires four to eight weeks to heal naturally.

It varies from person to person.

Chen Shu's Spirit Sea was stronger than those of the same tier; its strength lay in its comprehensive performance—the quantity and quality of Spirit Power were higher, but the Spirit Sea itself was also more robust. The process of advancing is nothing more than using the former to break through the shackles of the latter, but now that both were growing, they basically canceled each other out.

The recovery process was the same.

Chen Shu's Spirit Sea had a stronger self-recovery ability, but because the power during the advancement was too great, the damage caused was also more severe than others, and the two basically canceled each other out.

According to his own estimation, if he were to recover naturally, it would take about a month.

But if he took a Restoration Pill, he could guarantee that his Spirit Sea would return to normal function within 12 hours and recover as before within 72 hours. Provided that the relevant nutrients were ingested, the damage to his physical body would also recover within this period.

The medicinal effect was astonishing.

Once he organized his failure experience, adjusted his state, and made sufficient preparations, he could attempt the next breakthrough again.

Technology changes life, indeed.

Without an Auxiliary Potion, when ancient cultivators attempted to break through a Spirit Lock, they could only use one hundred percent of their power on the first attempt. After that, every time a wave of impact failed, their power would weaken by a fraction. Before long, the Spirit Power within the Spirit Sea would drop to a value where "initiating another impact is meaningless," and they would have to give up the attempt, waiting for the Spirit Sea to recover naturally before trying again.

It was time-consuming and laborious.

Chen Shu opened his eyes, found Qingqing leaning by the window watching him, pursed his lips, and said in a solemn tone: "I am going to take the Restoration Pill."

"Continue."

"What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock."

"Eight o'clock..."

Chen Shu looked out the window; the sunset had just dissipated, but a line of fire still remained on the horizon, the embers after the burning.

"You should know the effects and side effects of the Restoration Pill: because it involves deep-level repair of the Spirit Sea, before the repair effect is achieved, the user is basically in a state of semi-anesthesia and semi-coma. Bodily functions operate as usual, but they cannot wake up. If a dangerous situation like 'tongue prolapse' occurs, they cannot wake up and extricate themselves like they could in a dream, so they need someone to accompany them."

"Continue."

"I'll sleep on your bed tonight, you sleep next to me, and keep an eye on me at all times!" Chen Shu's expression became even more solemn, "Anyway, I won't have any sensation, you shouldn't mind lying next to the unconscious me, right?"

"Nice expression."

"I'm serious!" Chen Shu frowned; what was wrong with this woman, "In case I encounter danger, you must handle it immediately! A slight negligence or a second of delay, and you might lose me forever!"

"Anything else?"

"Although you are a Secret Sect Practitioner, as the saying goes, a hundred precautions still leave one loophole; it's better to be safe than sorry. Do you dare to gamble on that one-in-ten-thousand chance? If you dare to gamble, then I don't care, I'll just die, anyway my Qingqing doesn't care that much about me..."

"I'll give you a 'pass'."

"!!"

Chen Shu kicked his feet, not caring anymore, and just lay down on Qingqing's bed, wiggling his body into the correct position, and burrowed into the quilt: "Anyway, I'm sleeping on your bed tonight, I probably won't wake up until tomorrow morning. If you don't come to sleep, you can stand by your window all night!"

Ning Qing watched him reveal his true colors, even having taken out the Restoration Pill, but she had no expression.

This was a small box close to a cube; after opening it, inside was a small glass bottle. Even just unscrewing the lid automatically broke the seal; inside was a white jade-colored round Pill, one size smaller than a ping-pong ball, with cyan cloud patterns on it.

Ning Qing watched him with interest.

This person swallowed hard when facing this Pill; it was clearly larger than he had imagined, and swallowing it in one gulp seemed a bit difficult.

Then he revealed a thoughtful look.

Ning Qing knew what he was thinking.

"It's bitter."

A faint voice sounded.

This person glared at her, then stuffed it into his mouth in one go, chewed it twice quickly and swallowed it, then his features scrunched up, his face full of discomfort, and he hurriedly picked up the water glass on the nightstand and gulped down a few mouthfuls.

The spiritual effect came very quickly.

Ning Qing saw him lying flat and straight on her bed, the quilt pulled up to his chin, looking as if he were very comfortable, and he slowly closed his eyes.

Then his breathing gradually became steady.

Ning Qing walked to the desk, picked up A Book, then turned the computer chair so it faced the bed and Chen Shu. She sat down, opened the pages, took out a leaf-vein bookmark made from a ginkgo leaf, and lowered her head to read.

The new book smelled strongly of ink.

This was Plane Origin and Spiritual Quality, recommended by the old gentleman at the end of the term, a very professional, dry, and very profound book on Spirit Logic.

Ning Qing had to thank the old gentleman for the recommendation; if not for that, she would definitely never have seen this book.

In fact, the vast majority of people in this world do not have the habit of reading, and the few who do read mostly read famous novels. Even those in the field of Spirit Logic might not see such a book with advanced content and a lack of evidence, and even those who buy it and take it home might not necessarily finish it.

The very few who finish it might also just think it is a profound book on Spirit Logic.

However, that is indeed the case.

Only when your knowledge base or personal rank reaches a certain level can you see through the surface to realize that what it actually records is beyond the Ninth Stage.

The Plane Origin, which is the path to becoming a deity.

Perhaps the old gentleman did not expect this group of students to understand the hidden content in this book right now, or to be able to use it soon. He was simply planting a seed in the memories of these young students with limitless futures, so that when they eventually have a use for it, when they need it, they will be able to recall it quickly.

However, as a Secret Sect Practitioner, even though she was a wild one, Ning Qing was extremely knowledgeable about the operating rules of this world.

After seeing this book, many things in her mind were suddenly connected, clarified by the content of the book.

At that moment, there was only one sentence in her heart—

So that's how it is.

……

The night gradually deepened.

Ning Qing raised her head to look at Chen Shu on the bed, then took the ginkgo leaf vein bookmark, tucked it into the book, and closed the pages.

She had many such bookmarks, all in different styles, including some with small flower patterns. It was all because a certain beggar loved to pick things up from the ground to give to her; after receiving them, she would sometimes tuck them into books to let them dehydrate, or sometimes put in a little effort to preserve the leaf veins, and in any case, they became different bookmarks.

Ning Qing stepped in her slippers to the bedside, gazed at Chen Shu for a moment, then silently lifted the quilt and sat into the bedding.

It was already very warm inside the bedding.

Keeping a distance of one foot from Chen Shu, Ning Qing first sat leaning against the headboard, sitting quietly and thinking for a while, then lay flat, eyes open, looking at the snow-white ceiling, with the sound of Chen Shu's steady and even breathing in her ears.

Chen Shu was not wrong—

The Spirit Sea is related to both the Spirit Soul and the body; when the Restoration Pill rapidly repairs the Spirit Sea, it also affects both of them.

The resulting manifestation is a deep sleep; bodily functions operate normally but more slowly, losing consciousness while being unable to wake up on one's own.

Because one is often exceptionally exhausted after attempting to advance, the body is damaged, and the organs are under heavy load, it is indeed very likely that accidents could occur during sleep. For example, like an ordinary person, the tongue could fall back and cause suffocation, or even respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.

Even a blocked nose is dangerous, because he cannot open his mouth on his own.

Someone needs to watch over him.

Even after waking up, there may still be problems such as temporary physical incoordination, blurred consciousness, hallucinations, memory confusion, and cognitive decline, though these issues will all subside within a few hours.

If you are a student, it is best to attempt advancement at the school's Martial Cultivation Hall, where professional teachers are on guard and one can exchange relevant experiences during advancement.

If you are a member of the public and have joined a for-profit organization like a Cultivation Hall, the Cultivation Hall will generally provide relevant services. If not, you can also go to a regular hospital to register and stay for a night, though the price is relatively expensive.

Ning Qing turned over.

Changing from lying flat to lying on her side, facing Chen Shu.

This person is rarely this quiet.

"……"

There was still no expression on Ning Qing's face, but her interest had gradually been piqued; she propped up her upper body with one hand, grabbed Chen Shu's lips with the other, pulled his lower lip out with a light force, and took a careful look—

His teeth were quite neat.

Then she let go.

"Pop~"

The lips snapped back, emitting a slight popping sound.

This person had toyed with her like this before.

Now it could be considered revenge.

Repeating this a few times, she changed methods—

Pinching his cheeks and pulling them to the side, stretching the cheeks until air rushed in from the corners of his mouth, also making a "click" sound.

This was also learned from him.

She still remembered when they were in Children School, he sat at the same desk as her; sometimes when she lay on the desk not wanting to pay attention to him, he would pull her face to play with it like this, over and over again. No matter how cold she made her expression, he didn't care, playing with such dedication.

Actually, it would hurt a little bit.

Right—

He also took advantage of her napping to draw turtles on her hands with a pen and covered her white T-shirt with little flowers.

Pen, come!

Ning Qing glanced at the desk, and a fountain pen flew out of the pen holder and landed in her hand.

One hour later.

Ning Qing was a bit tired from playing.

She leaned against the headboard again, slightly turning her body to gaze at this person; seeing his face full of strange patterns, she smiled slightly, then pursed her lips, and very easily made this decision—she leaned over and pressed her lips onto his forehead once more.

This time it lingered longer than the last.

Straightening up—

Ning Qing's expression remained calm.