Petty people are hard to deal with.
Lin Shi spent four years at the Dragon Valley Sect in the blink of an eye. Her cultivation level hadn't improved much; she remained at the early Golden Core stage. Generally, for cultivators with good talent, without unexpected opportunities, it typically takes about 10 years to progress from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage. From the early Foundation Establishment stage to forming a Golden Core and becoming a Golden Core cultivator, it takes about 25-50 years. From the Golden Core stage to the Nascent Soul stage, it generally takes decades to hundreds of years.
Lin Shi's talent is quite remarkable. She embarked on the path of cultivation at the age of 13 and successfully established her foundation at 22. Later, she unexpectedly obtained a fortuitous opportunity and formed her Golden Core at 29. Now, if she wants to become a Nascent Soul cultivator, she may not be able to achieve her goal until she is a hundred years old. Once she forms her Nascent Soul, she can no longer stay in the Dream Heaven Small World and will have to ascend to the Upper Realm. Then, she will need to prepare the formations and magical artifacts to overcome the tribulation.
The Dragon Valley Sect has many outstanding cultivators, but even those who start cultivating from the age of 3 to 6 generally don't achieve a Golden Core until around the age of 50. Among the recent 22nd generation disciples of the Dragon Valley Sect, the chief disciple Yan Hezhi is already 43 years old and only successfully formed his Golden Core last year, which is already considered exceptionally talented.
Lin Shi sighed inwardly. She thought that she still needed to travel and explore; she couldn't always stay in the sect, otherwise her cultivation would always progress very slowly.
Lin Shi had just returned from the Collection Pavilion. She took a shortcut along the Dragon Valley River, avoiding the main road where she might encounter many cultivators, and arrived at her small courtyard after turning a corner.
As soon as Lin Shi entered her courtyard, she heard a loud bang. Her bedroom door had been kicked open by Wang Sujun. Xue Yingying and Zhang Qianqian watched with laughter, clapping and cheering. Yuan Tianyi stood beside them, watching indifferently, but the smile in his eyes was obvious.
"What are you doing?" Lin Shi shouted, startling the four people in the courtyard.
Wang Sujun rolled her eyes knowingly, and muttered without any apology, "I just saw an insect on your door and kicked it to death." Her tone was devoid of any apology, respect, or politeness.
Xue Yingying rolled her eyes and complained, "Why are you shouting so loudly? Don't you know you're going to scare people to death?"
Zhang Qianqian quickly distanced herself from the situation, saying, "I didn't kick your door."
Yuan Tianyi stood next to Zhang Qianqian, not even glancing at Lin Shi, and said, "Cousin, don't bother with people who are not related to you, lest you ruin your good mood."
Lin Shi looked at the four Foundation Establishment cultivators (three women and one man) in the courtyard, sneered inwardly, and couldn't help but show anger on his face.
This wasn't the first time the four of them had done something like this. Less than a year after Lin Shi moved in, they began to show her little respect. Later, they somehow learned that Lin Shi was originally just a servant girl born into an ordinary mortal family. By chance, she had entered the cultivation world; otherwise, she would have only become a concubine, or at best, a wife to an ordinary man. Lin Shi's age and sect were also discovered; she was merely an inner disciple of the minor Seven Peaks Sect. If it weren't for her connection to Zhao Xiyue, the daughter of the Dragon Valley Sect's leader, she might not even have qualified as a nominal disciple of the Dragon Valley Sect.
As the saying goes, "It's easy to get along with a gentleman, but difficult to deal with a petty person!" The competition to become an outer disciple in the Dragon Valley Sect is fierce, and opportunities are scarce. Getting rid of a fellow disciple increases the chances of becoming an outer disciple. Wang Sujun, being the least talented and weakest among the four, harbored malicious intentions and resorted to any means necessary to force Lin Shi away.
If Lin Shi had accepted a position with a young master from a prominent but uncultivated family or an outer disciple of a cultivation sect, it would have been fine; they wouldn't have dared to force her to leave. But Lin Shi refused, so they assumed she was incredibly stupid, arrogant, and all looks and no substance, making her the perfect easy target for them to manipulate. They then began various tests, exclusions, and bullying tactics against her.
Lin Shi had repeatedly encountered the sarcastic remarks, sarcasm, and exclusion from the four of them, but she always tried to avoid trouble, pretending not to hear, understand, or see their disdain, so as not to cause trouble for her master and sect. She just hadn't expected that their actions would become increasingly malicious and excessive, escalating to the point of publicly insulting her and even attempting to vandalize her residence.
"You dare to do it but not admit it, well done!" Lin Shi sneered, retorting sarcastically. The four people in the courtyard immediately changed their expressions, glaring at Lin Shi with hatred that made them want to kill her.
Ignoring the unpleasant expressions on their faces, Lin Shi pushed open the door to her room and went inside. But as soon as she entered, without even using her divine sense, her keen senses were assaulted by the stench of urine, dead fish and rotten shrimp, and various other foul smells. Looking at her bed, she saw yellow urine stains, dead fish and rotten shrimp piled in a corner, and bedbugs, snakes, and ants crawling everywhere.
Lin Shi immediately turned to look at the four people in the courtyard, only to find that their eyes were full of provocation. The four-person team was certain that Lin Shi would suffer in silence and dare not make a scene, lest he be expelled from the Dragon Valley Sect and lose the opportunity to compete for a position as an outer disciple.
Lin Shi left her room, and then, in front of the four-person team, took out the Shadow Stone, infused it with spiritual power, and displayed the scenes that had occurred in her room that day. Lin Shi scrolled to the corresponding scene and saw the four-person team with malicious expressions dumping those filthy things onto her bed.
Wang Sujun, Xue Yingying, Zhang Qianqian, and Yuan Tianyi's expressions changed drastically. They hadn't expected Lin Shi to possess such a precious Tracing Stone.
Afterwards, in front of the four of them, Lin Shi immediately sent a telepathic message to her senior brothers and sisters, as well as to the steward in charge of these nominal disciples. The four-person team immediately tried to snatch Lin Shi's telepathic stone, but Lin Shi's cultivation was higher than theirs, and she directly cast an array, trapping them on the spot, forcing them to only move their mouths and eyes, but unable to do anything else. Lin Shi then heard all sorts of vulgar insults until the steward arrived, at which point the four of them stopped their abuse.
Lin Shi's senior brothers and sisters, Xu Xingran, Huo Linglong, Huo Qing, and Lu Weizhong, also arrived at the scene. Coincidentally, they overheard the filthy insults hurled at Lin Shi's group of four in the courtyard. Xu Xingran, Huo Linglong, and the others, their faces filled with anger, immediately reported to their sect and contacted the head steward of the registered disciples.
Huo Quan and Zhao Xiyue did not come directly to the Dragon Valley Sect because of this bullying incident; they simply let them handle it themselves.
The head steward and several deputy stewards of the registered disciples all arrived. The head steward observed the two sides in the conflict, listened to their arguments, and then took out the Shadow Recall Stone to rewind the events that had occurred inside and outside Lin Shi's room that day, thus gaining a complete understanding of the situation.
The head steward of the registered disciples was fair in his dealings. He punished Wang Sujun, Xue Yingying, Zhang Qianqian, and Yuan Tianyi, who had committed wrongdoings and then tried to distort the truth and shift the blame, by confining them for half a month. He also warned the four of them, clearly informing them in public that if they did it again, they would be expelled from the sect.
Huo Linglong immediately instructed the head steward to arrange for Lin Shi to move to another courtyard, to prevent her from being bullied and retaliated against by Wang Sujun, Xue Yingying, Zhang Qianqian, and Yuan Tianyi. The head steward agreed and then instructed the deputy steward to carry it out.
The person in charge didn't say anything, but before leaving, he glanced at Lin Shi with a displeased expression.
Before leaving, Wang Sujun, Xue Yingying, Zhang Qianqian, and Yuan Tianyi glanced at Lin Shi with eyes full of hatred, as if they were determined to fight to the death.
"Danmeng, don't be afraid! We're here." Huo Linglong also saw the reactions of everyone present, and she came forward in a friendly manner to hug Lin Shi's shoulders and comfort her.
Xu Xingran, Huo Qing, and Lu Weizhong patted Lin Shi on the shoulder and helped her move to her new residence. They also went to the head and deputy heads of the registered disciples to speak well of her and gave her some gifts.
After everyone had left, Lin Shi sat alone on the bed in her new room, sighing several times. She hadn't expected that cultivators, who were cultivating immortality, would still use mortal methods of power struggles to fight for resources, frame others, bully and ostracize them.
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