Chapter 157: Chapter 155: Sorry, I Gave You the Wrong Idea
 

When there were no classes at school, Jiang Cheng generally wouldn’t stay in the dorm.

He would either go home and cultivate using the Portable Spirit Gathering Array or visit the Spirit Plant Garden to check on his sloppily grown fruit trees.

Under the increasingly perfected autonomous mechanism of the Plant Autonomy Talisman, the growth of the sloppily grown fruit trees was very good.

Basically changing day by day.

It’s just that the bigger they grew, the sloppier they looked, more and more resembling Foxtail Grass—Jiang Cheng himself didn’t know why.

Theoretically, an Autonomy Talisman should only regulate autonomously, not perform cosmetic surgery.

However, appearances did not hinder them from blossoming and bearing fruit, so Jiang Cheng didn’t bother with it.

Jiang Cheng always valued the inner qualities and didn’t judge a tree by its appearance.

In Talisman Drawing Class 1, although most students got in through connections, like Zhu Hongcai, there were also those like Song Junsheng, who genuinely possessed talent and wanted to learn talismans properly.

In the dormitory, Song Junsheng held the latest issue of Talisman Weekly, carefully studying the blueprint for the Muscle Relaxation Talisman provided in the magazine.

“Hiss! It can be done this way too?”

“Oh! That is indeed quite interesting.”

“Wow! This is a bit too disgusting.”

Song Junsheng occasionally let out exclamations of amazement.

The more he studied the Muscle Relaxation Talisman, the deeper his understanding, and the more he discovered the subtleties within.

This talisman exuded a sense of profound simplicity, clumsy ingenuity, an edgeless heavy sword, and the mystery of skilled artlessness.

From Song Junsheng’s perspective in drawing talismans, the craftsmanship of the Muscle Relaxation Talisman couldn’t even be described as mediocre; it was rather poor. Yet, what was bizarre about it was its ingeniously conceived design, utilizing therapeutic effects to achieve a control-like result.

Such forward-thinking ideas were enough to compensate for the shortcomings in the talisman’s drawing quality. No wonder it was selected for Talisman Weekly.

Song Junsheng couldn’t help but suspect if Jiang Cheng deliberately made the talisman rough because its muscle cramping effect was so effective that it could easily cause a person to cramp up completely.

If you asked Song Junsheng, the only downside of the Muscle Relaxation Talisman was that it was too disgusting.

If he didn’t know Jiang Cheng, Song Junsheng would definitely think this talisman was drawn by a psychopath.

Compared with Song Junsheng, Ding Guangming clearly lacked the initiative to study on his own. Having nothing to do, he wandered over to Song Junsheng’s spot and found it strange to see him studying Jiang Cheng’s talisman.

“Junsheng, isn’t this talisman drawn by Cheng? If there’s anything you don’t understand, why not just ask him directly? Why bother with a book?”

Song Junsheng’s face turned slightly awkward.

After all, he was the heir to a Talisman Master family, the eldest grandchild of his grandfather. He had to save some face.

Asking people was fine. But since Jiang Cheng was about the same age as him, he had just asked about the Puppet Talisman yesterday and really couldn’t bring himself to ask about the Relaxation Talisman today.

Asking back and forth, it would make it seem like their family’s talisman technique was inferior to Jiang Cheng’s.

“I’m just casually looking,” Song Junsheng closed the magazine.

Ding Guangming wondered to himself: Junsheng has been staring at Cheng’s talisman all morning and it was just casual glancing? Truly worthy of someone from a Talisman Master family, so impressive!

Around noon, Jiang Cheng ended his cultivation at Jade Lake Ming’an ahead of schedule and rushed back to the dorm.

He had just fed Snake, but he himself hadn’t eaten enough, still having half an appetite left, ready to join his roommates for another meal.

Uniting the dorm is an art form.

“Shall we go eat together?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“Let’s go.”

Ding Guangming and Song Junsheng agreed, and the reluctant Zhu Hongcai also got up.

For once, Dorm 316 finally gathered all four members and walked side by side towards the cafeteria.

Although there might be conflicts in the future, and they might make new friends, at least at the start of their school life, freshmen always liked to move out as a dorm group.

Alongside the road from the dormitory to the cafeteria, many clever Lotus University student clubs had already begun to set up stalls to recruit new members.

Because they needed to show a good front, the clubs had sent out good-looking senior brothers and sisters to recruit.

Ding Guangming and Zhu Hongcai looked around, their eyes not enough to take everything in, wishing they could instantly transform into Erlang Shen.

A sweet-smiling senior sister from the Watercolor Painting Society said to Jiang Cheng and the others, “Junior brother, would you like to take a look at our Watercolor Painting Society?”

Zhu Hongcai found himself unable to move on.

Without thinking, his feet had already carried him over to the Watercolor Painting Society’s stall.

As brothers from the same dorm, since Zhu Hongcai didn’t move on, naturally Jiang Cheng and the others couldn’t leave him behind, and since Ding Guangming also wanted to join the fun, they all gathered around the Watercolor Painting Society’s spot.

Zhu Hongcai touched his nose and said, “Senior sister, can I join the club even if I can’t paint?”

The senior sister from the society nodded, “Of course, our club is for personal interest, so as long as you are interested, we don’t require any specific skill level.”

Interested is good enough? Skill level doesn’t matter?

Wasn’t she straightforwardly inviting me?

Zhu Hongcai thought to himself, if he couldn’t seize such an opportunity that presented itself, how would he ever find a wife in the future?

Even though he couldn’t paint and wasn’t interested in painting, Zhu Hongcai, motivated by the senior sister’s attractiveness, stepped forward decisively!

“Okay, I’ll join the painting society!”

“Then just fill out this form, junior brother, and pay a fifty Low-grade Spirit Stone fee,” she said.

Zhu Hongcai generously took out a Medium-grade Spirit Stone, lamenting, “Ah, I really don’t have any Low-grade Spirit Stones on me. Can I just pay with a Medium-grade Spirit Stone instead?”

The senior sister from the painting society smiled sweetly, “That’s fine.”

Looking at the senior sister’s smile, Zhu Hongcai was instantly smitten.

She was gentle, cultured, and could paint—this senior sister clearly qualified to be his girlfriend!

Ding Guangming scratched his head and said, “Hong Cai, the extra fifty Low-grade Spirit Stones you’re paying, can they count for me too? I also want to join the Watercolor Painting Society.”

The senior sister looked at Zhu Hongcai.

Zhu Hongcai immediately straightened up and declared, “No need for that trouble, my treat.”

With that, he took out another Medium-grade Spirit Stone.

Ding Guangming immediately exclaimed, “Wow, Hong Cai is so awesome.”

Zhu Hongcai chuckled and said, “It’s just a small amount of money.”

Having said that, Zhu Hongcai glanced at Jiang Cheng from the corner of his eye.

He, Zhu Hongcai, always returned a favor and paid back tenfold; not a speck of dust could reside in his eye.

The boasting he had witnessed on Jiang Cheng’s face, he must firmly remember in his heart and return it one by one!

After Zhu and Ding joined the Watercolor Painting Society, the senior sister turned her attention to Jiang Cheng and Song Junsheng.

“Are you guys interested in joining?” the senior asked.

Song Junsheng looked at Jiang Cheng, who shook his head and said, “Sorry, senior, I don’t have time.”

Song Junsheng said, “Then count me out too.”

Seeing Jiang Cheng decline, the senior from the painting society seemed a bit anxious.

“It’s okay, junior, our society doesn’t have any tasks; we’re not busy at all.”

Jiang Cheng still shook his head, “I’m really sorry, I genuinely don’t have time.”

“If you want to join the painting society, we can waive the membership fee for you.”

No membership fee?

Zhu Hongcai’s eyes widened in surprise; he felt the senior, who he thought he understood well, now seemed completely alien to him.

“Why doesn’t Jiang Cheng have to pay the membership fee?” Zhu Hongcai didn’t understand.

“Because his painting was collected by the university’s exhibition hall! Didn’t you know?” the senior explained.

Painting?

Collected?

Zhu Hongcai looked at Jiang Cheng, his face filled with disbelief.

Jiang Cheng thought for a moment and said, “I thought that teacher was just speaking off the cuff, I didn’t expect…”

Ding Guangming promptly filled Zhu Hongcai in on the background: “Hong Cai bro, you didn’t know about the freshman assessment, so you’re unaware. Cheng here created a painting during the aesthetic assessment, scoring full marks. The teacher grading it said it was so good that they wanted to collect it in the exhibition hall.”

Zhu Hongcai looked at the painting society senior and muttered, “So when you were asking him to join the society, you weren’t calling me?”

The painting society senior replied with a hint of apology, “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Hongcai, who was already not tall, seemed to shrink a little more.

Jiang Cheng indeed had no intention of joining the society and ultimately said, “Senior, I truly don’t have the spare time, I’m very sorry.”

The painting society senior took out a piece of paper and a pen and passed them to Jiang Cheng, “Then could you please give me an autograph? That would be alright, wouldn’t it?”

“No problem,” Jiang Cheng readily agreed.

After all, he was always willing to help others.

Watching the sweet senior standing beside Jiang Cheng, waiting for his autograph, Zhu Hongcai felt his heart twist in agony.

Even though he had no romantic entanglement with the senior from the start and she wasn’t his girlfriend, he couldn’t help feeling a strange illusion as if Jiang Cheng had stolen her away from him.

It hurt, it hurt so much!

After the club recruitment interlude, the four roommates in Jiang Cheng’s dorm finally came together for their first meal.

Even though it was just a meal in the cafeteria, it carried a certain ceremonial significance.

Aside from Zhu Hongcai’s persistent gloominess, everything else was perfect.

After lunch, Jiang Cheng planned to check on the carelessly raised small fruit trees he was cultivating; the other three roommates didn’t join him because the Spirit Plant Garden was far away and they had seen it before.

On the way back to the dormitory, Zhu Hongcai, not wanting to take that heartbreaking path again, suggested taking a detour to walk off the meal.

Ding Guangming had no objection, and Song Junsheng nodded, “There seem to be quite a few societies over there as well; let’s go have a look.”

Zhu Hongcai said irritably, “If I join another society, then I’m a dog!”

The three arrived at another recruitment area for societies.

This place was bustling with people, with many appealing societies actively seeking new members.

Ding Guangming spotted something exciting and pointed to the distance, “Look over there, Hong Cai bro. That senior is really pretty.”

Zhu Hongcai, just having had his love snatched away by Jiang Cheng, had already lost faith in love.

But his eyes were out of his control.

They automatically followed where Ding Guangming pointed.

Under the “Talisman Drawing Society” sign stood a senior who was even more beautiful than the one from the Watercolor Painting Society.

But not by much.

Zhu Hongcai snorted with aloof disdain, “She’s alright.”

Ding Guangming said, “Not her, Hong Cai bro, you’re looking at the wrong person, over there, the one handing out flyers!”

Zhu Hongcai looked again.

This time he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn!”

The senior helping the Talisman Drawing Society hand out flyers was arguably the most beautiful female cultivator Zhu Hongcai had seen at Lotus University.

Not only were her features exquisite, with bright eyes and white teeth, but she also had a tall figure and long legs, and even her skin shone with a lustrous glow under the sun.

Zhu Hongcai instantly felt his love returning.

Watercolor Painting Society, don’t contact me anymore, I’m afraid the Talisman Drawing Society might misunderstand.

“Ding Guangming, I want to join the Talisman Drawing Society!” Zhu Hongcai’s eyes blazed with fiery determination!

Song Junsheng nodded and said, “I’m actually quite interested too, let’s go ask.”

The three approached Cheng Bingxin, who was handing out flyers, and took three flyers from her.

The flyer had a brief promotion of the “Talisman Drawing Society”, especially highlighting the formidable strength of the society.

Just the second-tier Talisman Masters affiliated with the society numbered three!

Two third-year seniors and one second-year senior — Yue Linger.

Song Junsheng interestedly asked, “Senior, are they all second-tier Talisman Masters?”

Cheng Bingxin nodded, confirming, “Yes, they are.”

Song Junsheng then asked his most pressing question, “If I join the Talisman Drawing Society, can I directly ask the senior members about anything I don’t understand regarding talismans?”

Cheng Bingxin continued to nod, “Of course. But our Talisman Drawing Society does have entrance criteria.”

Zhu Hongcai was alarmed, “Criteria? What kind of criteria?”

“A first-tier Talisman Master Certificate, or a prize certificate from a talisman competition.”

“What if I don’t have either of those? Can I just pay a higher membership fee?”

“That won’t quite work.”

Song Junsheng took out his first-tier Talisman Master Certificate, “Senior, I want to join the Talisman Drawing Society.”

Ding Guangming pulled out the first prize award from the Jingzhou Talisman Competition, “Me too.”

Zhu Hongcai: “You guys have them? What about me?”