CHAPTER 432: CHAPTER 429: HER IN UNIVERSITY

As a member of the Martial Arts Family, the daily physical strength consumption is enormous, so the dishes on this table are basically served in stainless steel basins filled to the brim.

Even the rice is made from Blood Corn, a crop that Lu Ren brought back from the Exotic Realm years ago, now mass-produced and widely supplied for Martial Arts Family consumption.

Li Qingling showed a hint of embarrassment on her face and said, "There is actually a cafeteria in the martial arts school. I haven’t cooked for many years. If it weren’t for your return, teacher, I wouldn’t have come to the kitchen."

Lu Ren revealed a smile of comfort. This girl in front of him is already in her late thirties, nearly forty!

She’s a grown woman now, able to find the time and mood to cook amidst her daily martial arts practice.

With a sense of great comfort, Lu Ren picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of vegetable, and put it into his mouth. He chewed it for a moment, then nonchalantly laid down his chopsticks, focusing on drinking with Li Qingling.

After downing three jars of wine and getting Li Qingling drunk, Lu Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, glanced at the table full of dishes served in basins, and picked up his chopsticks to try them one by one, ultimately giving up helplessly.

The salty food was bitter, the sweet dishes were overly sticky, especially the tomato scrambled eggs in front of Lu Ren, which were as crimson as lava and praised by Li Qingling as the Heart of Magma.

He didn’t even know how this thing was made to resemble a volcanic furnace; putting it in his mouth felt like chewing on clay, making one feel suicidal.

It was too hard, really a waste of all these raw materials on the table.

With a serene expression, Lu Ren stood up, walked out of the dining room, left the martial arts school, drove to the bustling night market, and began buying and enjoying the specialty snacks of Shu Capital.

After strolling and sampling all the snacks from one end of the street to the other, he finally felt satisfied. As he was about to leave, he couldn’t help but pause, noticing a familiar figure ahead.

Lu Ren hesitated a bit, called out: "Chen Han?"

The slender, ponytailed figure at the stall receiving her double-skin milk from the vendor turned toward the sound, and it was indeed Chen Han, the girl he had long admired during his university days.

She mentioned on WeChat once that by chance she entered a Sacred Land in the Kunlun Exotic Realm for training. Many years had passed, but she still looked as youthful as the day she graduated.

She wasn’t the kind of woman with breathtaking beauty; at first glance, you might find her simply pretty, but the more you looked, the more pleasing she became, especially with the familiar ponytail that still exuded youthful charm. (It’s like how the author felt watching Hou Cuicui on the small video site, truly lovable!)

Upon seeing what Lu Ren looked like now, Chen Han carefully sized him up, feeling a bit hesitant, a bit surprised.

"Lu Ren?"

Lu Ren nodded with a smile and said, "It’s me."

Chen Han’s eyes were full of pleasant surprise and laughter. As she looked up at the towering Lu Ren who was now nearly 1.95 meters tall and built like a tower, she spoke with both astonishment and emotion, "After all these years, you’ve changed so much. Back in school, you were only 1.7 meters tall."

"I was 1.75 meters," Lu Ren corrected. "You cut me short by five centimeters."

Chen Han laughed, "I can’t believe after all these years, you’re still just the same."

"I’m the one in disbelief. It’s been over twenty years, and you still look just as you did when you left the school..." Lu Ren paused and said softly, "Very beautiful."

From the start of his freshman year, Lu Ren was captivated by Chen Han’s quirky personality and her infectious positive spirit. It greatly influenced him, allowing the once introverted and shy Lu Ren to converse with her at length.

Chen Han blinked and burst into laughter, "I can’t believe that after all these years, you’re still so clumsy with words."

Looking at Chen Han’s smile, Lu Ren’s heart was filled with a flood of warm memories. Back in their school days, Chen Han helped him a lot. She managed his scholarships and bursaries, tirelessly assisting him as class president, just to make life easier for him as an orphan.

The two, gazing into each other’s eyes, found themselves momentarily speechless.

"Hey, you two, how about finding a place to sit and catch up? You’re blocking the way,"

said Yan Zhenghua, sitting by the small vendor nearby, fanning himself while watching Lu Ren and Chen Han with great interest.

Lu Ren snapped back to reality, turned his head to glance at the mischievous-faced Yan Zhenghua. The sharpness in his eyes made Yan Zhenghua freeze for a moment, his mocking smile stiffening.

Lu Ren turned back to Chen Han, "How about we find a place to sit?"

Chen Han nodded, "Sure, where to?"

Lu Ren thought for a moment and said, "Let’s go to that place you’ve always talked about wanting to visit. I wonder if you’ve been there yet?"

Chen Han’s eyes turned into crescent moons upon hearing this, "How could you still remember? I’ve been training since graduation and only recently got some time off. I haven’t had the chance to go. Shall we check it out?"

As Lu Ren looked away and conversed with Chen Han before leaving, Yan Zhenghua, with hair already largely grayed, finally snapped out of his earlier state and couldn’t help muttering.

"What’s the matter now, I was just being honest, why glare at me? Got some skills now, huh?"

Mumbling, Yan Zhenghua looked down at his large beer belly. Ever since he cultivated True Qi, which nourished his body, benefiting from the gradually reviving Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism for his health, he had no motivation to continue further; living quietly and peacefully was just fine.

He rubbed his belly, continued to wear sunglasses in the dark of night, his eyes darting around, unremittingly watching the scantily clad beauties passing by.

Settling down at a clear bar and listening to the soothing music from the stage, Lu Ren raised his beer, clinked it with Chen Han’s, drank half a glass, and then opened the conversation.

"I wonder, at which Sacred Land in the Kunlun Exotic Realm are you now?"

Ever since the Kunlun Exotic Realm permanently connected with the current world, it had become a mega city. Those who could enter were basically the Martial Path practitioners who found their livelihood there, creating an interactive corridor with the human community in the Kunlun Exotic Realm.

Not only Huaxia, but the Beautiful Country, Northern Europe, and the White Bear also jointly developed a city in the realm, stationed in the Kunlun Exotic Realm. Though rare, visitors from the current world to Kunlun were not unheard of.

"Have you heard of the Shangjing Sect?"

Lu Ren raised his brows, "The sect on Jade Capital Mountain worshiping the Primordial Celestial Venerable?"

He had heard of this sect; it was said to have a nearly ten-thousand-year history, and stories claimed that a Celestial Immortal Level figure known as the Primordial Celestial Venerable emerged from there, dominating an era before mysteriously disappearing. It was uncertain whether he ran out of lifespan or went elsewhere, but the dao lineage was ultimately preserved.