Chapter 215: Surge

　　The incident of Chu Liuyue rejecting the Crown Prince’s invitation secretly spread.

　　The crowd had different reactions, and all engaged in various discussions.

　　Considering Chu Liuyue’s attitude, she obviously did not want to give the Crown Prince any face.

　　That was true. She dared to offend the Chu family and the Crown Prince when she had nothing, let alone now. The current Chu Liuyue was no longer the good-for-nothing that anybody could bully.

　　…

　　Rong Jin felt depressed when he went back to the mansion.

　　Song Yuan carefully served him by the side. “Your Highness, I’ve already sent someone to seal the news from today. The people in the Imperial City…”

　　Rong Jin suppressed the anger in his heart and coldly glanced at Song Yuan. “Seal what news? Just let them spread the news. The further it spreads, the better.”

　　Song Yuan was dazed. “Your Highness, you mean…”

　　“It’ll be best if all the aristocratic families in the Imperial City know about this.” Rong Jin’s voice was cold.

　　Song Yuan was Rong Jin’s trusted subordinate, so he quickly guessed what Rong Jin was thinking. “Do you mean that other people won’t do anything to her if they know that you… are interested in Ms. Liuyue?”

　　Rong Jin did not say anything, but his gaze looked like he silently agreed.

　　Even though Rong Jin was not in a good situation, he was the Crown Prince in the end. Hence, the people in the Imperial City had to care about and give face to him.

　　If word about today’s incident goes out, everyone will know that I want Chu Liuyue very badly. Then, all the wise people will naturally avoid her.

　　After Chu Liuyue reached marriageable age, not many people proposed to marry her even though she had entered Tian Lu Academy. This was because she had offended the Chu family and the Crown prince. All of those people were also rejected.

　　After the Qing Jiao Competition ended, a lot of people would definitely become interested in her. However, the others naturally wouldn’t fight with Rong Jin if he made a move first.

　　Even though Chu Liuyue is still upset with me, she will definitely return to me after a while. I have more than enough patience to wait. Thinking of this, Rong Jin looked much better.

　　Song Yuan’s eyes turned, and he carefully asked, “Your Highness, that person won’t be happy…”

　　‘That person’ naturally referred to Chu Xianmin.

　　Chu Liuyue and Chu Xianmin had already severed all ties, so Chu Xianmin definitely wouldn’t accept Chu Liuyue marrying the Crown Prince. Chu Xianmin might even stir up some trouble at that time.

　　Rong Jin rubbed his brows, and hatred flashed across his eyes. “Who does she think she is? Must I care about her when I want to do something? If she dares to cause trouble, just punish her according to Crown Prince Mansion’s rules.”

　　Song Yuan’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly agreed. “Yes!”

　　Later on, Rong Jin instructed Song Yuan about a few tasks—all of which he agreed to—before Song Yuan came out of the mansion.

　　While walking to the yard, Song Yuan finally heaved a sigh of relief and secretly shook his head. Last time, I thought that Chu Xianmin would finally be doted on. However, she lost favor before she could even do anything. The Crown Prince obviously doesn’t care about her. It seems like I don’t need to suck up to her anymore.

　　As for Chu Liuyue… I don’t even know what the Crown Prince is thinking. Does he really want to win her back? It even seems like he’s bent on doing it.

　　Upon thinking about what Chu Liuyue had done in the past few months, Song Yuan couldn’t help but feel worried. Chu Liuyue could even sever all ties and become heartless toward the Chu family—who brought her up—let alone the Crown Prince. The Emperor is very upset with the Crown Prince now. He has even grounded the Crown Prince and confiscated the previous power he gave the Crown Prince.

　　Now that the Crown Prince managed to avoid the punishments with much difficulty, he wants to do this… I really don’t know how the Emperor will react…

　　…

　　Chu Liuyue did not even take Rong Jin’s words to heart. She only felt that Rong Jin was crazy for acting in that way.

　　After she returned to the academy, she briefly tidied up her items and went to the second floor to cultivate. She sat cross-legged, gathered her focus, and quickly absorbed the surrounding Heaven and Earth Force.

　　Time passed bit by bit.

　　Chu Liuyue gathered an increasingly nourishing force.

　　In her dantian, the water droplet—which was quietly floating—seemed to have some movements.

　　Chu Liuyue was elated. She had already felt that she was going to break through and become a stage-two warrior, but the water droplet refused to draw the second line.

　　She gathered all her focus and pushed the force in her body toward the water droplet.

　　Finally, a light ripple appeared on the water droplet’s smooth surface.

　　Chu Liuyue was very nervous as she directed her force to the water droplet.

　　Ripples gradually appeared on the water droplet.

　　Even the first line engraved on the water droplet seemed to move slightly.

　　Chu Liuyue waited nervously. If I can break through, I will be a lot less stressed about tomorrow’s competition.

　　The main point was that Chu Liuyue felt that a stage-one warrior was of too low a grade.

　　She stared at the water droplet closely. However, the ripples started to quieten down after a while.

　　Chu Liuyue was stunned and carefully examined the water droplet. Indeed, Chu Liuyue saw that the water surface became as smooth as usual.

　　Only one mark could be clearly seen.

　　She did not become a stage-two warrior.

　　Chu Liuyue widened her eyes in disbelief. She did not expect to be stuck at this stage—unable to become a stage-two warrior—even after living two lives.

　　Without any exaggeration, the Heaven and Earth Force she had absorbed during this period of time was enough for an average cultivator to become a stage-four warrior. If not, it would’ve been impossible for her to win the two matches.

　　However, her cultivation level refused to increase.

　　Chu Liuyue exhaled and weakly lay on the bed.

　　People with a Dijing Yuan meridian cultivated very quickly. Hence, Chu Liuyue originally thought that she could rapidly strengthen herself and return to the Tianling Dynasty to take revenge in a short period of time.

　　But considering her current cultivation speed, that day would never come…

　　“What is wrong with you? Other people cultivate really quickly, yet I’m so slow…” muttered Chu Liuyue to herself.

　　The water droplet in her dantian remained very calm as if it were a bottomless pit while it absorbed the remaining force.