"Father, Yanyan has finished eating and will head back to my room now!" Upon finishing a bowl of rice, Zhiyan rose from her seat, informed Ouyang Peng, and then left. Ouyang Jin's face darkened as he watched her departing figure indifferently, an inexplicable rage boiling in his heart. When had he ever been so disregarded?
Not long after Zhiyan returned to her room, there was a knock on the door. Upon opening it, she saw Ouyang Jin standing beside it like a door deity, his body radiating an icy chill.
"Is something the matter?" Ouyang Zhiyan looked up and asked displeasedly. Hadn't she said she wouldn't bother him anymore? What was this about?
"I just wanted to remind you that it's been many days since you last went to the training grounds!" Ouyang Jin coldly dropped the remark and turned to leave, leaving Zhiyan stunned in place!
Goodness, she had actually forgotten something so important!
The training grounds were a special learning area set up by the Ouyang Family. Every member of the Ouyang Family had to report daily to the training grounds and complete designated training tasks, just like mandatory schooling in her previous life. By her count, Ouyang Zhiyan had missed reporting in for five days.
The training grounds were centrally located within the Ouyang Family estate, an expansive outdoor training facility equipped with various training devices: targets, sandbags, tracks, and wooden stakes... As soon as Zhiyan entered, she saw a group of young men and women performing horse stance drills, enduring their discomfort in silence. Dressed in cyan, Mr. Meng wielded a leather whip in one hand and placed the other behind his back, strolling with an imposing stride around them. With a broad face and wide eyes, and a sturdy build, he supervised everyone with a stern expression.
"Look, that trash has arrived!"
"Ouyang Zhiyan, seems like we're in for a good show now!"
The young trainees, upon seeing Zhiyan's arrival, whispered to one another, their faces unanimously tinged with schadenfreude. Everyone knew that Ouyang Zhiyan was the Ouyang Family's most useless waste. For nine years, not only had her Spiritual Power not awakened, but she couldn't even properly maintain a simple horse stance. Whenever she was present, almost all punishments seemed to be handed to her alone.
"Ouyang Zhiyan!" Mr. Meng turned his head and spotted Ouyang Zhiyan, who he hadn't seen for days. His eyes narrowed, and a trace of rage appeared on his rugged face!
"Mr. Meng, hi there, Zhiyan is here to report in!" Ouyang Zhiyan approached and greeted respectfully, her delicate and smooth little face blossoming into a flattering smile.
"I heard that I sent someone to you, and they were met with your door slammed in their face!" Mr. Meng snorted coldly, utterly unswayed by her smile, his eyes shooting out a sharp gleam like that of a ferocious beast, and a powerful pressure immediately assaulted Zhiyan!
Zhiyan stumbled and barely managed to take a few steps back, the pressure so heavy that she could hardly breathe, while the instigator watched leisurely, and all around, gloating voices arose. After a moment of reflection, she remembered that indeed, a servant had come to relay a message from Mr. Meng the day she came out of the ancestral hall.
"Mr. Meng has taught Zhiyan for years, the hard work is needless to say. To repay your great kindness, Zhiyan vowed to devote herself to cultivation, which is why I didn't come to report in on time. The so-called slammed door was just a misunderstanding, I hope Mr. Meng will be understanding!" Zhiyan sneered inwardly, yet her exterior remained respectfully reverent, pretending to tremble slightly, making it difficult to suspect her of lying!
"Really? Then do tell, what have you achieved these past days?" Mr. Meng's countenance improved a great deal upon hearing Zhiyan's flattery, his tone also softened significantly, but he still did not let her off easily.
"Little Yanyan has heeded your teachings diligently, and only through hard practice have I awakened my Spiritual Power, reaching the Primary-level Sage!" Zhiyan's words had just ended when a wave of mocking laughter erupted around her.
"Lying without even drafting a story, as if someone like you, that idiot, could awaken Spiritual Power, pah!"
"Exactly! Don't think you can escape the punishment for your absence by sweet-talking. Mr. Meng has always been strict with discipline and just in his punishments!"
"Just a Primary-level Sage? You might as well claim you've reached Advanced-level. Lying shouldn't be like this; you're really stupid enough..."
Mockeries and sarcasms, various sharp and harsh insults, ridicule, and even contempt were hurled. Zhiyan did not look aside, quietly observing the changes in Mr. Meng's expressions. Finally, the corner of her lips curled up in a sarcastic smile. Her aura burst out all at once, and a red glow shone out in an instant, choking off the words in everyone's mouths on the spot.
Including Mr. Meng, everyone looked on incredulously. They had originally thought Zhiyan was lying about awakening her Spiritual Power to escape punishment, but they never expected that she had actually achieved the status of a Primary-level Sage. Was this still the same cultivation idiot from before!
Mr. Meng shook his head, feeling an unreal sensation as if he were dreaming. This frail and delicate girl had always been his target for mockery, and he never once thought that she would one day change her status as trash. He had naturally never given her any hope, but unexpectedly, one day, she overturned his perception with such a posture.
"Am I seeing things?" a boy rubbed his eyes and exclaimed!
"How can this be possible? Awakening Spiritual Power in just a few days, we must have seen wrong!"
"No, even if she awakened her Spiritual Power in a short period of time, it's impossible for her to have reached Mid-grade Primary-level!" A girl's shrill voice denied, transitioning from Primary-grade Primary-level to Mid-grade Primary-level would take at least half a year. How could this girl progress so much in just a few days?
"Mid-grade Primary-level, it's actually Mid-grade Primary-level!" The scene erupted again with everyone staring at Ouyang Zhiyan as if seeing a monster.
On the Youming Continent, power is honored, and there's a stark difference between those with a cultivation base and the cultivation blind. Those who cultivate gain respect and glory, while the cultivation blind are the lowest existents on the mainland. They're not only disrespected, but their lives are full of hardship, and their social status is not guaranteed—like ants, they can be trampled on by anyone.
Previously, Ouyang Zhiyan was undoubtedly the latter. In the Ouyang Family, a family of martial artists, she suffered much bullying, and the disdain and contempt she faced were like maggots on a bone, wherever she went, she would provoke others' aversion.
"Now I haven't lied, have I?" Zhiyan casually glanced at everyone, saying indifferently, the mockery evident in her clear, dark pupils. The Primordial Essence Liquid from the day before not only nourished her body but also allowed her to break through to Mid-grade Primary-level in one fell swoop.
"Ahem, Little Yanyan indeed did well, and you didn't let down my expectations. Go and join the others in horse stance training!" Mr. Meng coughed dryly and nodded awkwardly.
"Pfft, just a Primary-level Sage, what's there to be proud of? Look at the rest of us, each one stronger than her!" Ouyang Ying said disdainfully, snorting through her nose.
"No matter how much she tries, she's still just a Primary-level Sage, far from being at Mid-level!" The others chimed in, once again unleashing their talent for ridicule.
"Right, if she's got the guts, let her show off her skills at the family meeting. I'll knock her down so hard she won't know what hit her, hahaha..." Laughter swept through the entire training hall as over fifty disciples jeered in turn, sparing no mercy in striking at the lone warrior, Ouyang Zhiyan.
"I'll remember you. I hope you won't chicken out at the family meeting!" Zhiyan's gaze suddenly locked onto the chubby boy, her eyes narrowed, and the corner of her lips curled up in a dangerous arc. If someone was volunteering for death, she had no reason to refuse. On the day of the family meeting, she would let everyone see who would be the one left sprawling.