Chapter 540: Bullied

“Thousand View Garden? Are you sure?” asked Chu Liuyue in her mind.

“Absolutely,” answered the legendary three-eyed eagle firmly. “I’ll be able to discern its precise location once we get closer.”

Her brows were slightly knitted together as she calmly moved forward. I was very familiar with Thousand View Garden, but I’ve never noticed anything strange in all those years. Since when did a purplish-gold Buddha leaf appear there?

…

Under the pageboy’s lead, they walked past a winding corridor and a lake before finally arriving at Thousand View Garden. Through a simple but elegant arch, Chu Liuyue noticed that many people were already in the courtyard.

“Please go ahead—” The pageboy stopped outside the arch, which was heavily guarded inside. He was only responsible for bringing the guests in and thus had no right to enter with them.

“Thank you.” Emotions slightly rippled in her heart as she took in the familiar scene in front of her. She couldn’t be any more familiar with each of the bricks, stones, grasses, and trees here. As she gently exhaled, she straightened her back and walked through the arch with a smile.

The noisy courtyard instantly fell silent, and everyone looked over with varying expressions.

She swept a quick glance at her surroundings, recognizing many familiar faces right away. Yang Qin’er and the others—who were severely injured—were all here as well.

As this gathering concerned the sect they would soon be entering, nobody dared to tarry.

When she failed to see the various sects’ representatives, she surmised that they had to be inside the hall. This place here is clearly reserved for the young participants who have participated in the Wan Zheng Competition.

The atmosphere became slightly strange as many felt indignant, having lost to the participant with the lowest cultivation level. However, they had all been to the Tianling God Realm and had experienced what it was like inside. They knew full well that the 14-year-old Chu Liuyue didn’t win with just sheer luck, and this was what made them feel even more terrible.

Those who could participate in the competition were all geniuses with Dijing Yuan meridians and would absolutely be the crème de la crème anywhere they went. However, the competition’s results had indubitably dealt a huge blow to their confidence. Mixed feelings arose within them as they looked at Chu Liuyue.

Chu Liuyue didn’t take this matter to heart, so she was oblivious to it all. After randomly finding herself a seat, she surveyed the scenery around her with just the right amount of curiosity and restrained politeness so that others wouldn’t be able to pick faults with her.

“So you’re not going to get up, huh?” A shrill female voice floated over out of nowhere.

The entire courtyard instantly went quiet.

Following the crowd’s line of sight, Chu Liuyue saw two girls arguing with each other.

The one who spoke earlier was wearing a fancy purple dress and appeared to be in her early twenties; she had a look of arrogance on her face.

On the other hand, opposite her was a young girl in her mid-teens who had some baby fat on her. She was a Chong Xu Cabinet disciple, as evidenced by the silver cauldron emblem embroidered on the left chest of her green shirt dress. From her flushed face and her clenched fists, one could tell that she was desperately trying to hold back her anger. “This seat is mine in the first place, Miss.”

The lady in purple sneered, “Yours? Does it have your name?”

“This seat was indeed prepared for Chong Xu Cabinet. If you don’t believe me, we can always verify it with someone,” said the chubby teenager.

“What? Who did you say it was prepared for?” The lady in purple cupped her hands around her ear. “Chong Xu Cabinet? That sect is still around? I thought it was disbanded a long time ago!”

The teenager glared furiously at the other woman. “Please watch your words, Miss!”

The latter shot her a side-glance. “Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?”

The woman’s arrogance made her shake with anger, but it was clear that the chubby teenager wasn’t good at arguments when she couldn’t come up with a single retort. “Don’t you insult my sect; otherwise, don’t blame me for being nasty!”

The purple-clothed woman put her hands to her chest and sarcastically cried, “Oh my, I’m so scared! The dying Chong Xu Cabinet is threatening me!”

Her words drew laughter from the crowd.

The young man who stood next to her came forward and said to the chubby young lady, “I’m sorry, Miss, but my junior has always been willful. Please don’t take it to heart if she offended you in any way. It’s her first time at Thousand View Garden, so it’s only inevitable that she gets curious. Could you give this seat to her?”

Chu Liuyue noticed the nine-star emblem—the stars were connected in a line—on the left of his chest, which revealed that he was a Jiu Xing Alliance member.

The chubby woman took in a deep breath before saying, “These seats are reserved for the four major sects’ disciples, so they don’t belong to you. Why must you pick on me out of the many people here?”

Nobody even went up to provoke the other three major sects’ representatives, who are just sitting next to me. It’s obvious that they are picking on me!

The young man scoffed. “I believe… everyone knows the reason, isn’t that so? It’s out of respect that I talked to you politely, but since you insist on behaving like this, then don’t blame me for being rude.”

The man then pointed to the seat behind her. “Is Chong Xu Cabinet even qualified to sit there? Without even saying, everyone knows that your sect is nothing but an empty shell now. This is Xi Ling, a place where power does the talking! Since you guys no longer have power and influence, you deserve to step down!”

“Senior, we don’t have to waste our saliva talking to a shameless loser like her! Let’s just show her what we’re capable of!” The woman in purple looked absolutely smug as she said this. Jiu Xing Alliance has long ago surpassed Chong Xu Cabinet, so this seat ought to be ours!

The chubby lady choked with anger as she felt her blood boiling and begging to fight. Her last strand of rationality kept her glued to the ground though. Before coming, the Second Elder had told her not to cause any trouble as the Wan Zheng Competition was very important. Their sect was currently in a precarious position and was an easy target for others. They could end up in huge trouble should they make any mistake.

This was why she had been restraining herself.

But those people insulted her sect time and again. The woman in purple also hadn’t even become an official disciple of Jiu Xing Alliance, yet she was already behaving so arrogantly. They were clearly bullying Chong Xu Cabinet.

The man raised three fingers. “Please give up the seat to my junior by the count of three. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise, what will happen?” A clear female voice suddenly floated over.