A farce

Chen Gequn felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

At that time, Chen Lie's Blood Qi Value could not break through 1 for a long time, and his family was as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They would avoid people when they saw them, for fear that others would ask about their son's martial arts achievements.

"Alright, since they don't want us to know, let's just pretend we don't know!"

Just then, Chen Ying arrived.

Upon seeing Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan, he greeted them, "Third Uncle, Aunt!"

"Chen Ying is here too?" Feng Yuelan asked.

Chen Ying hummed in agreement. "I happened to be home, so my dad asked me to come too."

After speaking, Chen Ying looked at Chen Liedao, "Chen Lie, you're back from Blue Star University?"

Chen Lie nodded. "Yes, it's a holiday!"

"President Xu Tianchuan even said he would hold a welcome ceremony for you. Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?"

"A welcoming ceremony is unnecessary."

Chen Chaoqun asked, "What kind of welcoming ceremony?"

Chen Ying pursed her lips. "Chen Lie is quite something at Blue Star University now. He helped East River Province secure three times the amount of martial arts resources compared to previous years."

It can be said that all Martial Arts Student in East River Province who join the Genius Training Camp and the Provincial Youth Genius Group next year will benefit from Chen Lie.

It was precisely for this reason that President Xu made arrangements to hold a grand welcome ceremony for Chen Lie Chen Lie when he returned from his vacation.

Chen Ying's words puzzled Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan. How could a student from Blue Star University secure several times more martial arts resources for a province?

Their son is just a student, not a powerful leader on Blue Star. How could he possibly influence such a significant matter?

"And this is...?"

Chen Ying finally noticed Ruan Liusu and asked her a question.

"This is Chen Lie's girlfriend from Blue Star University," Chen Chaoqun introduced to his daughter.

"Girlfriend?"

Chen Ying looked at Ruan Liusu.

Aren't those people who are dating mostly martial arts Martial Arts Student who are bad at martial arts and feel hopeless about their future?

Chen Lie now so skilled in martial arts, even surpassing the Martial Leader of the top three provinces on Blue Star. How can he possibly date during this golden age of martial arts training? Wouldn't that mean neglecting his martial arts?

"Liusu, this is my cousin, from my uncle's family," Chen Lie introduced to Ruan Liusu.

"Hello, my name is Ruan Liusu, and I'm from Sunan Province."

Ruan Liusu greeted Chen Ying.

Chen Ying simply hummed in response, her tone neither warm nor cold.

In her opinion, this girl named Ruan Liusu was probably a poor student at Blue Star University who was bad at martial arts and had deliberately stuck to Chen Lie because of his rapidly improving martial arts skills.

She is quite good-looking, but the prettier a girl is, the more she can bewitch men, which may cause Chen Lie to Wuxin in martial arts and thus his martial arts performance to decline.

"Chen Lie, at your age, you're wasting so much time dating. Don't you want to focus on martial arts training?"

"With your current martial arts achievements, you can be said to have a bright future in martial arts. How can you achieve anything great in martial arts if you are so distracted by romantic relationships?"

Chen Ying's words were sharp and incisive, seemingly criticizing Chen Lie for disregarding martial arts, but actually shifting the pressure onto Ruan Liusu.

Ruan Liusu was naturally intelligent, and she understood Chen Ying's veiled criticism.

Chen Lie's cousin, is she here for her?

To imply that Chen Lie's romantic relationship with her would hinder his martial arts training? That's utterly absurd!

Chen Liedao, "Sister Chen Ying, you misunderstood. Liusu is the youngest person in Sunan Province to reach the Blood-Qi Extreme Realm. She was even less than seventeen years old when she broke through to the Blood-Qi Extreme Realm."

She's just a bit young; otherwise, she might be the Martial Leader in Sunan Province.

She didn't hinder my martial arts training; on the contrary, she helped me a lot.

Putting everything else aside, Liusu has already been admitted to Starry Sky University early because of her outstanding talent, and she will be going to Starry Sky University in a few days."

"What? You've been accepted into Starry Sky University early?" Chen Ying exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, among the most qualified students at Blue Star University, including myself, Starry Sky University selected two for early admission, and one of them is her!"

"You mean you weren't selected either?" Chen Ying asked.

"Yes, I wasn't qualified and I wasn't selected."

Upon hearing Chen Lie's reply, Chen Ying immediately felt embarrassed. She looked at Ruan Liusu and said, "I'm sorry, Liusu, I thought you were a bad student from Blue Star University, and you were clinging to Chen Lie with ulterior motives."

"It's alright, it's all good now that we've talked it out." Ruan Liusu deliberately added, "Chen Lie and I knew each other before we even went to Blue Star University!"

Chen Ying said no more, but carefully observed Ruan Liusu.

Chen Chaoqun said, "Gequn, Yuelan, shall I take you to the private room?"

"Okay, thank you for your help, brother!"

Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan spoke at the same time.

Just as the group was about to walk around the stage and head to the second floor, a middle-aged woman suddenly blocked their way.

"Brother, you're so heartless! I've told you countless times, at least five times, not to inform the third brother's family about Ono's advancement to Ranked Martial Artist. Why did you still call them over?"

The person speaking was Chen Lie's Second Aunt, Chen Ye's mother Chang Guirong.

Upon seeing Chang Guirong, Chen Chaoqun quickly said, "Guirong, you've misunderstood. I didn't notify the Gequn family to come. They just happened to ask me to reserve a private room at the hotel, and I couldn't possibly refuse, could I?"

Who would believe that?

Chang Guirong saw Chen Lie in front of everyone, her face immediately darkened. "You guys have so much free time. You're already at Blue Star University, and you even had your son come all the way back from Blue Star University just to see Xiao Ye make a fool of himself."

Almost none of the guests present knew about Chen Ye's situation, but Chen Gequn's family was very familiar with Chen Ye's condition.

His Qi and blood were scattered, Shuangshuang his Strength Value and Blood Qi Value plummeted. When Chen Ye broke through to the Martial Artist level, his Blood Qi Value had already dropped below 150 calories, and his Strength Value had also dropped to 2.6 times.

If it weren't for spending a lot of money to hire a martial arts expert to guide Chen Ye personally for half a month, and if his qi and blood had continued to dissipate, he would probably have found it increasingly difficult to break through to the level of Martial Artist, and might not have been able to break through to the Martial Artist in his entire life.

On the day Chen Lie won the Three-Province Martial Champion, more than half of the hundreds of millions of people in Three Rivers knew him. Now that Chen Lie is here, if his relatives and friends attending Chen Ye's Martial Artist banquet recognize Chen Lie, they will definitely compare the two brothers.

What's the point of their family hosting a Martial Artist banquet for Chen Ye? It's just embarrassing enough!

"Second Aunt, you've really misunderstood. Third Uncle and the others really didn't know that Chen Ye was hosting Martial Artist banquet here today," Chen Ying explained.

Chang Guirong naturally didn't believe Chen Ying's explanation.

At this moment, Chen Ye's father, Chen Guangqun, arrived.

When he saw Chen Lie and his family, he was taken aback at first, then said, "Gequn, what brings you here?"

"Well, since we're already here, let's find a seat!"

As soon as Chen Guangqun finished speaking, Chang Guirong shouted angrily, "Shut up! What are you sitting for?"

Can't you see? The third brother and the others came here because they think their son has made something of himself, and they've come all this way to see our Xiao Ye make a fool of himself."

Upon hearing Chang Guirong's words, Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan's expressions instantly turned sour.

Ruan Liusu, standing beside Chen Lie, glanced at him and felt utterly speechless.

The atmosphere among Chen Lie's relatives is terrible! It's nothing like the harmonious relationship between his father and uncle.

What's all the noise about?

At this moment, an elderly man in his sixties walked over.

This old man was Chen Lie and Chen Ye's grandfather, Chen Shijian.

"Can't you see how many guests are here? Arguing in this setting, are you trying to make a fool of yourself? Everyone, be quiet!"

As soon as Chen Shijian arrived, before he could even see who was gathered together, he began to berate Chang Guirong.

He could tell that the noise he had just heard came from Chang Guirong.

"Dad, it's not that I want to make a scene, but today is my son's Martial Artist banquet, why would I want to ruin the atmosphere?"

The Lao Gequn family is really outrageous. They even called Chen Lie all the way from Blue Star University to see Xiao Ye make a fool of himself.

And the eldest brother's family is even more unkind; they actually secretly notified the third brother to come over!

We know Chen Lie received guidance from Outer Stars master and has already made something of himself. We, Xiao Ye, can't compare to him. We can't afford to offend him, so can't we at least avoid him?

But now that we, Ono, want to hide, they won't let us. They've chosen this important day, the Ono Martial Artist' Banquet, to provoke us and cause trouble!"

Upon seeing Chen Shijian arrive, Chang Guirong immediately began to complain.

Chen Ying couldn't stand her second aunt Chang Guirong's distortion of the truth and couldn't help but say, "Second aunt, can't you have a conscience? What makes you think my third uncle and his group are here to cause trouble?"

Also, my dad didn't secretly tell them to come to Chen Ye's Martial Artist banquet."

"Shut up! How dare you interrupt your elders?"

Chen Shijian glared coldly at Chen Ying.

Chen Ying wanted to say something in rebuttal, but her father, Chen Chaoqun, pulled her aside.

"Gequn, you guys are really going too far."

Ono is your own nephew. He encountered setbacks in his martial arts before, and you just stood by and watched him suffer. Now you actually come here to cause trouble?"

Upon hearing Chang Guirong's complaint, Chen Shijian immediately questioned Chen Gequn.

"Dad, don't listen to your sister-in-law's nonsense. We're here today to entertain Chen Lie's girlfriend. We didn't know Chen Ye was hosting Martial Artist banquet here today," Chen Gequn explained.

"Is that so?"

Chen Shijian then noticed Ruan Liusu standing next to Chen Lie.

Upon recognizing Ruan Liusu, Chen Shijian was taken aback. Wasn't this the granddaughter of his old friend from Sunan Province? How did she become Chen Lie's girlfriend?

Chen Shijian's face immediately turned ashen with anger.

He had repeatedly warned Chen Lie Chen Lie to have any unrealistic expectations, saying that Chen Lie was not good enough for the girl, but Chen Lie ignored his warnings.

Chen Shijian was even more surprised that Chen Lie was so shrewd; without anyone acting as a go-between, his old friend's granddaughter had become Chen Lie's girlfriend in just a few months?

You see, his beloved grandson Chen Ye still can't forget Ruan Liusu, and now this girl has actually become Chen Lie's girlfriend and has been brought home. Isn't this like stabbing his beloved grandson Chen Ye in the heart?

If Chen Ye found out, he definitely wouldn't be able to accept it.

When Chen Lie's girlfriend was mentioned, Chang Guirong and Chen Guangqun also noticed Ruan Liusu.

Chang Guirong eyes, recognized Ruan Liusu early on, and she suddenly burst into laughter.

Who says there are no snobs in a martial arts society?

Girls living in a martial arts society are more pragmatic than they were a hundred years ago. They'll date whoever has the best martial arts results. How is that any different from the materialistic and snobbish attitudes of the past?

"Are you talking about me?" Ruan Liusu looked at Chang Guirong.

"Who I'm talking about, everyone knows in their hearts," Chang Guirong said in a sarcastic tone.

Seeing Chang Guirong, Ruan Liusu's anger flared up instantly, and she questioned, "I'll ask you one more time, are you describing me as a snob and a gold digger?"

Chang Guirong sneered, "So what if it's you? So what if it's not you? Apart from martial arts achievements, in what way is our Xiao Ye inferior to Chen Lie?"

"Didn't you abandon Xiao Ye and turn to Chen Lie because of Chen Lie good martial arts achievements?"

Upon hearing Chang Guirong's words, Chen Lie's parents, his uncle Chen Chaoqun, and Chen Ying all looked at Ruan Liusu in astonishment.

According to Chang Guirong, Chen Lie's girlfriend seems to be involved with Chen Ye as well?

Ruan Liusu was furious. She had never suffered such humiliation in her life.

Most importantly, this shameless woman has ruined her own reputation. If Chen Lie's parents misunderstand, how will she explain herself?

"You fabricated lies and impersonated Chen Lie to deceive me. I didn't pursue the matter because you are Chen Lie's elders, but now you're turning around and accusing me, tarnishing my reputation..."

Although Ruan Liusu was burning with anger, she still restrained herself.

She wanted to say that if it weren't for the connection with Chen Lie, if she had told her family about it, a family like Chang Guirong's could have been ruined in just a few days.

Although Ruan Liusu's father was only a vice president of the Sunan Province Martial Artist Association with a sinecure, he was Extreme Realm Grandmaster of the martial arts realm, comparable to ordinary Grandmaster. At the age of forty, he would most likely break through to the Grandmaster realm within the next three to five years. Grandmaster of martial arts at the peak of the martial arts Ultimate Realm was a top figure on Blue Star.

Even disregarding her father, her uncle was the governor of Sunan Province, a peak Grandmaster, and her maternal grandfather was the vice president of the Blue Star Martial Artist Association Headquarters, a genuine Ninth-Order Grandmaster.

With this kind of background, manipulating a middle-to-upper-class family in an impoverished province is as easy as crushing an ant.

Chen Lie stepped forward. "Second Aunt, I respect you as an elder, and my parents also value family relationships, so I have never held it against you."

But if you keep spouting nonsense and spreading rumors, I won't tolerate it anymore.

"What? Are you threatening me?"

"It's not exactly a threat, more like a warning."

Chang Guirong was not afraid of a junior's warning and continued to shout, "Let me tell you, even if you have good martial arts results now, it's just martial arts results. You may have made some friends with the sons of powerful people and relied on their power."

What I just said was entirely reasonable and justified. Even if I were to appeal to the Provincial Governor's Office, I would still be in the right and I'm not afraid of you abusing your power."

"Makes sense? What you say makes sense, but Chen Ye impersonated me, got exposed, and then shamelessly accused others of being materialistic and snobbish?"

You fabricated lies and yet you act so self-righteous!

Being reprimanded like that by a junior, Chang Guirong's face turned pale and then red. She said to Chen Gequn, "Third brother, are you not going to discipline your son? Is this how he talks to his elders?"

Chen Gequn was also extremely annoyed by Chang Guirong's shrewish behavior and said directly, "Second sister-in-law, if you acted like an elder, would Chen Lie treat you like this?"

Based on your words just now, I think Chen Lie's accusations against you are completely justified!

Chen Guangqun knew he was in the wrong no matter what, since his family had fabricated the story first. So he scolded Chang Guirong, "Enough! Stop making trouble!"

"Chen Guangqun, what did you say?"

Chang Guirong became angry when she saw that her husband wasn't thinking about her.

"I told you to stop being unreasonable. We deceived you first, so where does your self-righteousness come from?"

"This is Ono's Martial Artist banquet. If you continue to act like this, are you trying to make a fool of yourself in front of the guests?" Chen Guangqun said.

Chang Guirong now only knew that her husband was not on her side and couldn't listen to Chen Guangqun's words at all, so she immediately started arguing loudly with Chen Guangqun.

Because of Chang Guirong's arguing, guests attending the Martial Artist banquet gradually gathered around.

After observing the situation, Ruan Liusu felt that Chen Lie's uncle was somewhat reasonable.

"All of you, shut up! There are so many guests here. If you want to make a fool of yourselves, I don't want to embarrass myself with you."

Chen Shijian reprimanded him in a stern tone.

After Chen Shijian finished speaking, Chang Guirong finally shut her mouth.

Chen Shijian said, "Gequn, didn't you say you were going to entertain some people? Chaoqun, find them a private room and take them there immediately!"

"Yes!"

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Chen Chaoqun immediately led Chen Lie and his family away.

At this moment, Chen Ye, who was behind the stage, also heard the commotion and came over.

As Chen Ye approached, he saw Ruan Liusu and exclaimed with delight, "Liusu, you've come to my Martial Artist banquet too?"

When Ruan Liusu saw Chen Ye, her gaze immediately turned icy, and the Extreme Realm Pressure of her Blood-Qi Extreme Realm Completion erupted.

She had reached the peak of the Small Extreme Realm of Blood-Qi, the Blood Refining Stage Grand Completion, and her Extreme Realm Pressure was much stronger than that of ordinary Blood-Qi Extreme Realm.

Although Chen Ye had already Ranked Martial Artist, he had no foundation and was only at the Tier 1 Initial Stage. If they were to fight like this, he might not even be able to defeat someone with only five or six hundred Blood Qi Value. How could he possibly withstand Ruan Liusu's Extreme Realm Pressure?

As soon as Ruan Liusu's life-level pressure was revealed, Chen Ye instantly felt a chill run down his spine, as if a boulder were pressing down on him, or as if an animal were encountering its natural enemy.

With a thud, Chen Ye collapsed to the ground, trembling.

Seeing this, Chen Shijian was afraid that something else might go wrong, so he urged Chen Chaoqun to take Chen Lie's family into the private room on the second floor.

Ruan Liusu withdrew her cold gaze, took Chen Lie's hand, and followed Chen Lie's family up to the second floor of the Military Banquet Hotel.

"Ono, what's wrong?"

Chang Guirong saw her son fall to the ground, she immediately went to help him up.

"I'm fine, Mom. Why is Liusu at my Martial Artist banquet?"

Chen Ye was helped up and immediately asked what was wrong.

Chang Guirong sighed sadly, without telling her son.

"Never mind that for now, the banquet is about to begin, and you'll be giving a speech later. Go backstage now and get ready!"

Chen Guangqun asked Chen Ye to leave and also dispersed some of the onlookers.

After hesitating for a while, Chen Shijian went to a secluded place and made a call to Ruan Liusu's grandfather Ruan Zhengzhi. Unexpectedly, the call was rejected as soon as it was sent.

It took three tries before the call was connected.