Chapter 74: Cultivation Advancement |
"How are you two progressing?"
Jiang Taozhi asked while munching on Crispy Corners.
"Progressing? What progress?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked, a little surprised.
Hearing this, Jiang Taozhi asked in shock, "You two haven't contacted each other all day?"
"We did, we chatted for a bit this morning," Ruan Hongzhuang said.
"What about the morning? Noon? The afternoon? The evening?" Jiang Taozhi stopped eating her Crispy Corners and stared at Ruan Hongzhuang with wide eyes, as if looking at some rare curiosity.
"Everyone is busy with Work in the morning, so it's not a good time to call, right? Same for the afternoon. As for noon, I was afraid of disturbing his rest.
But I didn't contact him tonight, that really isn't good…"
Ruan Hongzhuang frowned, criticizing herself.
"Is there a problem?"
"Is there a problem? The problem is huge! Is this how you date?" Jiang Taozhi said, speechless.
"Dating means 'interacting and going back and forth.
' You two are just busy with your own things. How can that be called dating?"
"You have a point.
I'll send him a WeChat message… no, I'll call him instead. I wonder if he's had dinner yet…"
As Ruan Hongzhuang spoke, she took out her Mobile Phone, ready to call Shen Siyuan.
But Jiang Taozhi pressed her hand down, saying with a hint of dissatisfaction, "Why isn't he calling you first?"
Ruan Hongzhuang paused, then said, "Maybe he's afraid of disturbing my Work?"
Jiang Taozhi was stunned. She never expected that someone so decisive and efficient at work could be such an idiot when it came to relationships.
So, she said speechlessly, "Then you'd better not call. Don't disturb his work."
"But he should have gotten off Work by now."
Ruan Hongzhuang raised her hand to look at the exquisite ladies' Wristwatch on her wrist.
"Right, so you know it's after work hours? Let's go… let's go… we'll talk later…"
Speechless, Jiang Taozhi pushed Ruan Hongzhuang to keep walking forward.
They were currently on their way home for dinner.
Using the excuse that Ruan Hongzhuang had stolen her "Boyfriend," Jiang Taozhi had made Ruan Hongzhuang promise to treat her to a few Big Meals.
The Big Meal she spoke of wasn't from some trendy internet-famous spot or a Michelin-starred restaurant, but the kind of private meal where a Chef is invited to the home.
These Private Chefs wouldn't just accept anyone's invitation, but Ruan Hongzhuang happened to know a very skilled one.
His culinary skills were top-notch, and Jiang Taozhi had been unable to forget them after trying them once.
Now that she had the chance, she naturally wouldn't let it go.
By the time the two arrived at Ruan Hongzhuang's residence in Binhai, the Chef had already arrived with the ingredients, and the Auntie at home was helping him out.
As for ordering, that wasn't an option. Aside from a few special Dietary Restrictions, the Host Family ate whatever the Chef made.
He was just that individualistic, but even so, many people still flocked to him.
However, while they were waiting for the meal, Ruan Hongzhuang couldn't resist calling Shen Siyuan first.
"Since I was the one who proposed we date, I should naturally be more proactive," Ruan Hongzhuang said righteously.
Jiang Taozhi was actually at a loss for words.
Unfortunately, the call went unanswered.
Of course, no one answered.
Shen Siyuan was currently crying in agony.
If not for his Skeleton supporting his whole body, he would probably be sprawled on the ground like a pile of mud.
Right now, he looked utterly miserable. Large patches of his Skin were cracking, peeling, and then falling off.
The intense pain and sweat made his entire body look as if it had been washed with water. The floor was covered in fallen Teeth and bloodstains, making him look both wretched and pathetic.
"Big Sister, is Banner Master Big Brother going to die?"
Doudou whispered into Yin Xingyue's ear. The two of them had returned at some point, and seeing Shen Siyuan in such a miserable state, Doudou was a little frightened, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Don't talk nonsense," Yin Xingyue chided, but her eyes couldn't hide her worry."It's fine, it'll be over in a moment."
Shen Siyuan endured the pain wracking his body and offered a quiet word of comfort.
Unfortunately, with all the Teeth in his mouth having fallen out, his speech was slurred and indistinct.
But just as the words left his mouth, the pain vanished, only to be quickly replaced by a strange itch that swept through his entire body.
This wasn't a surface-level itch on the Skin, but one that penetrated deep into his bones.
Shen Siyuan shifted his body through various postures to alleviate the itching, moving from the third level of the Second Form all the way to the sixth level of the Second Form.
Then, he couldn't continue any further. The first thread of Merit had allowed him to leap from the first level of the First Form to the second level of the Second Form, crossing a total of eight stages.
The second thread of Merit, however, had its effect halved, only letting him cross four stages.
But even so, he had now completely mastered the First Form and the Second Form.
This might seem simple, but anyone who had studied math would know that if the benefits halved each time, the amount of Merit required to cultivate The Great Arhat Eighteen Forms to the final level of the eighteenth form—108 levels in total—would be unimaginably vast.
Unless the diminishing returns weren't multiplicative in the later stages, it would be absolutely impossible to use Merit to cultivate The Great Arhat Eighteen Forms to the final level.
Therefore, he still had to consider repairing the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, opening the Storage Space within, and taking out some of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items that the Nine Nether Demon Lord had accumulated over thousands of years. With the help of these spiritual items, his cultivation of The Great Arhat Eighteen Forms would naturally advance by leaps and bounds.
"Big Brother, are… are you okay?"
Seeing Shen Siyuan's expression relax and the look of pain disappear from his face, Yin Xingyue finally stepped forward to tentatively ask.
Her little face was filled with worry, and Doudou, hiding behind her and clutching her clothes, was teary-eyed.
Shen Siyuan's appearance had frightened her.
"I'm fine.
I'm great right now, exceptionally great," Shen Siyuan, having come to his senses, immediately replied to comfort them.
He truly felt great now.
Not only did he feel incredibly strong and full of energy, but the Teeth that had just fallen out had all grown back in. The set of perfectly white, Shell-like Teeth was countless times better than his old ones; he felt like he could Chew Iron and Bite Gold.
"But… but you were a little scary just now," Yin Xingyue said quietly.
Doudou frantically nodded her little head beside her, indicating that Shen Siyuan had really scared the baby.
"When is Cultivation Practice ever easy? Muscle Growth, Bone Forging, and to Cleanse Tendons and Purge Marrow are never pleasant experiences."
Yin Xingyue seemed to half-understand, while Doudou didn't understand at all.
"Alright, you two go play. I'm going to take a shower," Shen Siyuan said.
But before that, he needed to clean up the mess on the floor. It looked a bit gruesome, no wonder it had scared Doudou.
After Shen Siyuan finished cleaning up and took a shower in the Bathroom, he felt refreshed from head to toe.
He saw Yin Xingyue teaching Doudou Embracing Wind Slumber, which reminded him that the two of them had disappeared in the afternoon.
So he asked, "Where did you two go this afternoon?"
"We went to find the Doggy, we went to find the Doggy…"
It turned out Doudou had found a Doggy and wanted to catch it to keep as a pet. But the Doggy would run away as soon as it saw her, keeping its distance.
Doudou knew why but couldn't do anything about it.
When Yin Xingyue returned, she couldn't help but beg her big sister to go with her to catch the Doggy.
"So what about the Doggy? Did it get away?"
"That puppy has an owner," Yin Xingyue said.
"Wait, are you talking about a living dog, or a dead Ghost Dog?"
"It's a Ghost Dog."
"And it still has an owner?" Shen Siyuan asked in surprise.
Yin Xingyue nodded.
"It's a dog that belonged to a Little Sister. Even after it died, it still follows the Little Sister every day."
"I see."
Shen Siyuan wasn't surprised.
After animals die, if there is Reincarnation, they return directly to the Netherworld.
If there is no Reincarnation, most of them dissipate into the world, since unlike humans, they don't have deep Attachments and reluctance to leave.
Of course, a small portion of them remain in the mortal realm in their animal form, with dogs being the most common among them, most of whom are waiting to meet their owners again.
"When I put away the Fire/Fire on my head, I'll go talk to the Little Sister and ask her to lend me the Doggy to play with," Doudou said from the side.
Yin Xingyue glanced at her and said, "That Little Sister is older than you. You should call her Big Sister."
"Well, keep up the good work then."
Shen Siyuan said casually, picking up his Mobile Phone from the side.
Only then did he remember that he seemed to have a missed call.
He checked it and saw it was from Ruan Hongzhuang.
It was then that he realized he'd almost forgotten he was someone with a "Girlfriend" now. It had probably been so long since he'd had a girlfriend that he wasn't quite used to it yet.
An entire day had passed, and aside from a greeting in the morning, the two hadn't contacted each other at all. This wasn't normal.
On top of that, because he had obtained a thread of Merit in the morning, all his thoughts at work today, aside from his actual Work…
…had been focused on how to use that thread of Merit. That was truly improper of him.
Thinking of this, Shen Siyuan quickly composed a Message and sent it.