ATPnovel Chapter 4 Bullying
Chapter 4 Bullying
The doors of the library opened inwards, letting in a flood of sunlight, and a tall young man stood outside.
Unlike other students at the Imperial Academy who preferred to wear elegant long gowns, this person wore a dark gold, fitted outfit with a belted waist. The collar and cuffs of the outfit were embroidered with the "Devouring Beast" totem, unique to the Western Chu royal family, in gold thread, giving it a very aggressive look.
This man was none other than Xiang Yunyuan, the Crown Prince of Western Chu.
At this moment, he was looking at him with a mocking gaze, his arms crossed in front of his chest, accompanied by two shifty-looking henchmen.
Is there still school bullying here?
Zhao Cheng'an had absolutely no interest in playing these childish games with them.
"Get out of my way," he said coldly, taking a step to walk past them.
A thin, bony arm stretched out and blocked his way.
"His Highness the Crown Prince is speaking to you. Are you deaf? Didn't you hear him?"
The person blocking the road was thin, with a pointed chin and triangular eyes, looking very shifty and sneaky.
Zhao Cheng'an quickly recalled the original owner's memories and recognized the person's identity.
Guo You, a prince of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
This kid was sent by the Northern Wei to the Dayin Kingdom as a hostage for several years, and he followed the original owner around flattering her all day long.
Later, the Dayin Dynasty suffered several natural disasters in succession, coupled with the tense border wars, and its national strength gradually weakened. Seeing that the situation was not good, Guo You, like a wild dog smelling meat, turned around and ran to the command of the Crown Prince of Western Chu.
Previously, the power of the Great Yin Dynasty was comparable to that of the Western Chu Dynasty.
But now the Great Yin is suffering from natural disasters and wars, while the Western Chu is strong and powerful, with a fierce martial spirit, and is already showing signs of becoming the number one among the seven kingdoms.
However, those are matters of the imperial court.
Zhao Cheng'an was well aware of the profound foundation of the Imperial Academy and was certain that these people would not dare to make any rash moves here.
These people kept provoking him, especially looking at Guo You's arrogant and domineering face.
Zhao Cheng'an immediately stopped and sneered:
"I thought it was some random lapdog barking, but it turns out it's you."
"What, do you think you've latched onto a new master's coattails, so you're rushing to jump out and wag your tail to show your loyalty?"
"As expected, a leopard can't change its spots; he retains his servile nature wherever he goes."
Lies don't hurt, truth is the knife.
Guo You's face instantly turned bright red, as if he had been slapped in the face in public.
He was verbally abused mercilessly, and every word he heard hit his sore spot, leaving him with no excuse to refute.
Enraged, he pointed his finger at Zhao Cheng'an's nose and began to hurl insults:
"Stop trying to win arguments here!"
"Don't think that the Great Yin Dynasty is still the same Great Yin Dynasty that ruled the world before. When your country is destroyed and your family is ruined, let's see if you can still be as arrogant as you are now!"
Guo You was spitting as he spoke, and he wanted to say a few more harsh words.
But Zhao Cheng'an valued his time and was too lazy to listen to his barking.
He took a deep breath and puffed out his cheeks.
"Pooh!"
A mouthful of thick phlegm was spat precisely into Guo You's open mouth.
Guo You froze on the spot, his eyes wide open like saucers.
He gagged, feeling like his head was about to explode.
What a shame!
This is absolutely a disgrace!
His complexion, which had turned sallow from the depletion of his body due to alcohol and sex, was now visibly flushed, making him look much healthier.
"A good dog doesn't block the way. What, you want to start a fight in the library?"
Seeing Guo You's expression, which suggested he was about to become a widow like Wu Zetian—losing Li Zhi (reason)—Zhao Cheng'an immediately became wary and took a big step back.
He took a deep breath.
Because the movement aggravated the wound on his chest, Zhao Cheng'an's face turned deathly pale.
He instinctively clutched his chest, his steps faltering and unsteady, a look of utter shock on his face. At the same time, he began to shout at the top of his lungs, "The sacred Imperial Academy! How dare you lay a hand on someone! I will report this to the Master!"
Zhao Cheng'an clutched his chest, his face ashen.
With that swaying figure, he looked exactly like a victim of bullying.
The students who were quietly reading in the library all turned their attention to the entrance when they heard the noise.
Even a middle-aged man sitting in the corner, who was organizing books, stopped what he was doing, frowned, and looked up.
Just moments ago, Xiang Yunyuan had his arms crossed, seemingly indifferent, but suddenly his expression changed upon noticing something. Without a word, he slapped Guo You hard across the face.
Xiang Yunyuan lowered his voice and cursed angrily, "You bastard, why don't you apologize to His Highness right now?"
Guo You covered his swollen cheek, completely stunned by the blow.
"I, I...you..."
We were ready to fight to the death, why did Your Highness surrender first?
His face looked extremely aggrieved, and his whole body was trembling.
Overwhelmed by humiliation, confusion, and anger, he couldn't utter a single coherent sentence. He felt dizzy and nearly coughed up blood, fainting on the spot.
Zhao Cheng'an watched this farce and sneered inwardly.
However, he still pretended to be magnanimous and waved his hand.
"Forget it, how can a person argue with a dog? Let's not do it again."
After saying that, he ignored the group and strode out of the library.
Xiang Yunyuan stood still, stepping aside to make way for him, watching with interest as he left.
……
……
We returned to our tranquil bamboo house.
Zhao Cheng'an closed the door tightly and sat down at the desk.
With a thought, the hazy cloud deep within his consciousness slowly dissipated.
The heavy and mysterious Qiankun Cauldron reappeared in his mind, its mouth shimmering with a layer of lustrous light.
Zhao Cheng'an's thoughts were connected with the Qiankun Cauldron. With just a simple thought, the items inside the cauldron appeared out of thin air in his palm.
A day and a half has passed.
The two rough fragments of spirit stone that were previously placed in the cauldron have disappeared.
Instead, there was a slightly larger, more regular-shaped square stone.
This stone has a warm and smooth texture, with a faint luster on its surface, and feels like a fine jade.
The words floating above the stone have also changed.
It changed from a fragment of a spirit stone to a broken spirit stone.
The accompanying description was also updated: It contains a small amount of spiritual energy, and two broken spirit stones can be combined into a complete spirit stone.
Zhao Cheng'an played with the stone in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face.
It takes a day and a half to synthesize a damaged spirit stone, while it may take even longer to synthesize a complete spirit stone.
There are less than seven days left until the quiz on the ancient teachings.
Moreover, he now possesses spirit stones but has no idea how to absorb their spiritual energy.
Is there enough time?
I don't know if some of my previous guesses were true.
Although he had lived two lives and was far more mature than his peers, he still couldn't help but feel a sense of anxiety and uncertainty when faced with this opportunity concerning life and death and the path to immortality.
Zhao Cheng'an shook his head vigorously, forcibly shaking these chaotic thoughts out of his mind.
"At this point, there's no point in thinking about it anymore. We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate." He sighed softly.
Fortunately, there is a class on ancient teachings tomorrow morning.
If his guess is true, then tomorrow's class will be a crucial part of it.
Zhao Cheng'an took out two more fragments of spirit stones he had bought from his sleeve and put them into the Qiankun Cauldron again, starting a new round of synthesis.
He then held the broken spirit stone he had just synthesized in his palm.
He closed his eyes and began to recite the obscure and difficult scriptures from the ancient teachings class, word by word, according to the original owner's memories.
"Before the Supreme Purple Cloud Void Emperor, the Jade Morning Lord of the Great Dao."
"In her leisure, Ruizhu composed seven-character poems, which scatter and transform into five forms and myriad spirits."
The sound of reading aloud pierced through the windows of the bamboo house and carried far under the bright sunlight.
Outside the bamboo house, a gentle breeze rustled through the air, causing the flowers and plants in the courtyard to sway softly.
In a shady corner downstairs, Xiao Wu, a bodyguard dressed in black, was dozing off against a pillar.
Hearing the sudden sound of reading coming from upstairs, Xiao Wu opened his eyes abruptly, a look of surprise on his face.
What's wrong with Your Highness?
How come someone who usually wouldn't even touch a book suddenly had a breakthrough today and started memorizing books while hiding in the room?
Could it be that the events of the past few days have made him see through the illusions of love, have a profound realization, and begin to work hard to improve himself?
Xiao Wu muttered a few words to himself.
He then shook his head, dismissing the absurd idea, and shifted to a more comfortable position, continuing to stand guard against the pillar.
The sun rises and the moon sets.
Time slipped away quietly as Zhao Chengan recited his words over and over again.
Before we knew it, it was the morning of the next day.