"Alright, alright. Don't just stand there. It's my birthday today. I'll get ready and show you my skills." The visit from those female disciples that were close to her made Tong Meng very happy. She quickly pushed her three junior sisters into the kitchen. "You stupid girls, come help me quickly. If we stay here any longer, who knows what kind of stupid things you might say."
The girls teased as they went along their way. Senior Sister Su Yun's gaze carried a unique feeling, condescendingly shooting a glance at Chu Chen. The edge of her mouth twitched, but she held her tongue. She then turned around and headed to the kitchen.
Behind them, Chu Chen's brows slowly turned into a light frown.
For the three years that he joined the Crystal Spring Sect, it was not a new thing for him to be looked down on. Due to that, Chu Chen did not take it to heart and walked into the house minding his own business.
When the disciples of the sect celebrated any parties, they still needed to start a fire and cook like common folks. The sect's disciples were humans too. They had yet to reach legendary levels where one did not require food. The part that had been different from the common folks were that of the ingredients that were used by the sects during parties. They would use immature spiritual materials. Some would even use spiritual herbs that had yet to mature. Due to that, most of them were vegetarians and rarely had any meat.
After all, animals that naturally contain spiritual energy were mostly spiritual beasts. They were usually trained to be powerful fighting companions. No disciples would be wasteful enough to treat spiritual beasts as food.
Meanwhile, in the past three years, due to Chu Chen's stagnating progress, he had been running around to search for spiritual herbs, exhausting a lot of his strength that had been unable to be refilled by his cultivation. Therefore, he required a great deal of sustenance to come from his food. Only by eating a lot of meat, it guaranteed him having sufficient energy for the next day. Over time, it became a habit and turned him into a full blown carnivore.
Tong Meng knew about that. Therefore, after making some preparations in the kitchen and giving some instructions, she happily went out to get some meat for Chu Chen. With that, the three vivacious junior sisters and the emotionless Senior Sister Su Yun ended up staring at each other awkwardly in the house.
The three girls huddled together and chatted softly among themselves with girl talks. They seemed to be very young, in their early teens who most likely just joined the sect recently. Due to that, they did not have the collected composure that were unique to the sect disciples. They were a lively bunch. Senior Sister Su Yun shot them a glance, then shook her head helplessly before she walked out of the house.
"You three should put more thoughts into your cultivation. After all, you're all no ordinary girls. I'll go take a stroll outside."
While turning around, Senior Sister Su Yun signaled at Chu Chen with her gaze.
"Hehehe, look, the interrogation of the son-in-law is about to begin," the playful and cunning Zi Yan muttered quietly when she saw that. Chu Chen was caught off guard. He scratched his head, then followed along behind Senior Sister Su Yun.
The scenery in Blue Flower Valley had been very beautiful and the houses the female disciples stayed in were elegantly designed. Meandering along the path, both of them arrived at a quiet spot and stopped there.
"Junior Brother Chu, you've entered the sect for three years, right?"
Very quickly, Senior Sister Su Yun's calm voice could be heard. She seemed to be making considerations for her words. Before Chu Chen could answer, she had already gone on. "Not long after, Junior Sister Tong had also joined the sect. Keeping track of the time, both of you should have been together for almost three years. Your relationship is naturally quite good."
Chu Chen stood behind Senior Sister Su Yun and was unable to see her expression. For some time, he was unclear of her intentions.
"Do you know that Junior Sister Tong has already reached the sixth level of the Spiritual Droplets Stage? If she was willing, she could be taken in as an internal disciple anytime."
Chu Chen nodded without a word.
"Sixth level of the Spiritual Droplets Stage in her teens. In the history of the entire Crystal Spring Sect, she's considered an amazing talent. If she entered the inner circle, her identity would be that of a respected inner disciple, enjoying great benefits. With her talent, her future is immeasurable. However...Junior Sister Tong is behaving weirdly. Even though she has talent, she doesn't care for the identity of an inner disciple that all ordinary disciples dream of. Instead, she tries her best to hide her own cultivation stage...do you know the reason?"
Senior Sister Su Yun turned around suddenly. A bright light shot out of her eyes like sharp blades. "This is the right age where her potential is at its best, where her comprehension would be optimal. It's also the right time where her thoughts are most pure. If she doesn't further her training within the inner circle soon and delay a few more years, then her blank canvas would be tainted as her personality develops. This blessed opportunity would be wasted!"
The air seemed to have suddenly taken on a sharp edge. A light breeze went by. As it hit his skin, it felt like little invisible daggers, painfully having cut into him.
If in the past, Chu Chen would have naturally felt guilty for having held his junior sister back. However, he no longer felt the importance of having his junior sister enter the inner circle. Instead, it was to find her a good master.
"Junior Sister Tong's reluctance to enter the inner circle is because of you, isn't it?"
Finally, Senior Sister Su Yun gave him a look and moved onto the main topic. "I wish that you can consider it carefully for Junior Sister Tong's sake. If she continues to suppress her own cultivation and waste her time in the outer circle, that would be truly a shame—"
"Senior Sister, what do you mean?" Chu Chen naturally understood that she was hiding something behind her words.
"Leave the sect." The soft voice of Senior Sister Su Yun carried a vague hint of condescension. "As long as you're here, Junior Sister Tong would never be able to calm her heart and cultivate earnestly."
Her eyes were bright, dazzling like the stars. However, her gaze had been filled with a lofty air. "With your talent, it would be a waste of time even if you stayed in the sect. Why not give up earlier and return to the mortal world. I'll have people send you some treasures to ensure you live the rest of your life comfortably."
Her tone had been calm, as though her statement was nothing more than a common occurrence. There were no emotions that could be detected in her tone of voice. It seemed as though that had just been an insignificant issue that had been a passing mention.
However, that calm tone of hers had been filled with a bone chilling condescension.
After going through three years being utterly useless, Chu Chen thought he had experienced enough to have met all mockery and condescension with a calm mind. However, at that moment, he finally realized that his mindset had still been immature.
All the condescension, teasing, and even mockery was no match for the complete disregard he was facing. It stirred up the rage within him.
'Leave the sect…'
Rather than advice, it might as well be taken as charity from a person of authority to the meek.
Chu Chen suppressed his rage and chuckled. "It's not impossible for Senior Sister Su Yun to have a useless person like me leave the sect. I'll stand right here. I'll give you three chances. If you can make me move a single inch, I'll go away. However, if you can't make me budge, then you can also consider leaving the sect."
Senior Sister Su Yun's face immediately broke into a cold smile. She had always been arrogant. She was, after all, an inner disciple, yet she had been provoked by a useless disciple from the outer circle.
"I don't need three tries. One will be sufficient. Don't blame me for your own death-seeking behavior,"
"Bring it on." Chu Chen stood there firmly, looking forward calmly.