The tomboyish woman turned her head and glared at her, and the girl instantly lowered her head, looking as if she'd done something wrong.
Then, the tomboyish woman turned to look at Zhang Deming. She sized him up and said, "Not bad. They said it was just your luck, but I refuse to believe it.
After all, we didn't make any major mistakes, yet we were all inexplicably kicked out. At first, I was just guessing based on intuition. But now, looking at you, junior brother, it doesn't seem like luck at all. You look more like someone who pulls strings.
I've checked most of the Sect's networks and found no one by your name, nor any family of yours. That must mean your backing comes from the outside. To get all of us kicked out so directly... your methods are truly impressive, junior brother."
'The few of them?'
'Kicked out?'
'Huh?'
"Senior Sister, were you one of the disciples previously in charge of the small herb garden at Qingyou Pool?" Zhang Deming asked.
"Hah! Putting on a good show, are we? As if you don't already know everything about us," the tomboyish woman said sarcastically.
Zhang Deming's expression darkened slightly. 'It seems the small herb garden at Qingyou Pool isn't the neglected paradise I imagined. This place is actually popular?'
"I'm not here for anything else today. I just wanted to see what you're made of, junior brother, and ask you to lay down the terms," the tomboyish woman said.
Zhang Deming: "..."
'This is just like a bunch of gangsters fighting over turf!'
"Senior Sister, if you're not satisfied with the arrangement, you are free to go to the Manager or the Steward. If that doesn't work, you can even report it to the Peak Master.
I will obey any and all arrangements made by the Sect. I guarantee I'll accept whatever comes," Zhang Deming said coolly.
"You!" The tomboyish woman took a deep breath and said, "Do you think you can just hide? Forget the others, but you kicked out Senior Brother Zhou, too."
Zhang Deming's brows furrowed again. 'This whole situation feels so murky.' He replied, exasperated, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Is that so? Well, I have an intuition... and it tells me you're about to have some bad luck, junior brother!" the tomboyish woman said with a smirk.
Zhang Deming had been letting it slide because she was a woman, but after such a blatant provocation, he had no intention of indulging her any longer. He suddenly smiled. "Senior Sister, take a look around. So many junior brothers who are Spirit Farmers. I'd imagine most of the people who take this main road are Spirit Farmers, right?"
The seemingly random words made the tomboyish woman pause. She asked subconsciously, "What's that supposed to mean? What are you trying to say?"
Zhang Deming's expression turned cold. He said icily, "I'm trying to say, have you been hanging around men for too long, Senior Sister?
"So long that all the testosterone has affected you, stunted your ovaries, and made your woman's intuition go haywire."
The tomboyish woman was completely baffled.
The rest of the crowd was just as confused.
"Oh, was that too complicated for you, Senior Sister? You didn't understand?
"What I'm saying is, do you even have a woman's intuition, Senior Sister?
"Hmm... or rather, do you even still count as a woman?" Zhang Deming asked coolly, looking at the tomboyish woman.
"You're... courting death!"
Enraged, the tomboyish woman was about to strike.
Zhang Deming quickly reached into his pouch, and several seeds appeared between his fingertips.
Just then, the plain-looking, demure girl behind her reached out to hold her back, uttering just a few words: "He advanced with a Dual Technique. He knows the Growth Technique!"
His previous assumption was wrong. The demure-looking girl's enunciation was now clear and firm. Though she seemed a little nervous, he could tell that between the two of them, this supposedly meek girl was actually the one in charge.
The tomboyish woman hesitated, calming down considerably as she stared at the seeds between Zhang Deming's fingers.
Seeing this, Zhang Deming sneered. "What's wrong, Senior Sister? Weren't you looking for trouble? Weren't you eager to test my abilities?
"I don't make a habit of hitting women, but... for you, Senior Sister, I could make an exception."
"You..." The tomboyish woman flared up in anger again, only to be held back once more by the girl beside her.
"Hmph. Let's see how long you can stay this smug. Or perhaps you'll just hide in Qingyou Pool and never come out again."
With that, the tomboyish woman pulled the other girl along and stormed off.
As the tomboyish woman departed, many people in the crowd turned their eyes to Zhang Deming.
Zhang Deming smiled faintly and said, "Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, did you enjoy the show?"
The surrounding crowd slowly dispersed. Watching them go, Zhang Deming secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
'I'm all alone here, with no backing. If I don't act tough, I'll become an easy target for bullies.'
'He'd seen plenty of cases like this on Little Qing Mountain.'
'He was new here and had planned to keep a low profile. Since that was no longer an option, he had to at least make sure he didn't become the person everyone felt they could push around.'
'It wasn't much different from school. In middle or high school, if you got bullied right at the start and gave the impression that you were an easy target...'
'...then the rest of your school life wouldn't be very pleasant.'
'And here in the Celestial Spirit Sect, there were far fewer rules than in a school, which meant the bullying was likely far more extreme.'
After the crowd had dispersed, Zhang Deming's mood grew heavy.
'He had originally thought the treatment he'd received was standard for an Outer Disciple, or at least the standard preferential treatment for Outer Disciples on Little Hui Peak. Now, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.'
'Just as he'd suspected, Qingyou Pool was a very good place. In the eyes of the Little Hui Peak Outer Disciples, it must be a top-tier assignment.'
'And before he arrived, there was already a small clique there. Judging by what the tomboyish woman said, they weren't just any ordinary group either.'
'When he first arrived, Senior Brother Luh Jingsun had told him they were sent away for making a mistake.'
'But from the sound of it, the tomboyish woman and her friends didn't see it that way.'
'They thought he had used some scheme to replace them?'
'What a headache. If I had those kinds of connections, would I have needed to waste away on Little Qing Mountain for ten years?'
'Besides, I've only just entered the Outer Sect. Why would I go out of my way to make enemies like this?'
'He looked at the one and a half spheres of light in his inventory. He'd been happy when they inexplicably appeared earlier, but now, Zhang Deming was just speechless.'
'The Qi Fortune required to condense more than a full sphere of light... that influence surpassed the Qi Fortune accumulated over countless years from the hundreds of Tier One Low-Level Technique manuals on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion.'
'So, did this mean he was already famous on Little Hui Peak?'
'If he remembered correctly, Little Hui Peak had over twenty thousand disciples!'
'Were those senior brothers and sisters from Qingyou Pool really that influential?'
His mind was a mess of chaotic thoughts. Along the way, many people who saw Zhang Deming would give him a second look.
Seeing their reactions, Zhang Deming knew it was confirmed. The Qi Fortune he'd gained really was because he had become famous on Little Hui Peak.
Along the way, Zhang Deming managed to strike up conversations with a few junior brothers and finally got a rough idea of the situation.
Qingyou Pool was the complete opposite of what he had imagined.
Being a Celestial Spirit Sect Outer Disciple wasn't what he thought, either. They didn't all get to live like emperors the moment they joined the Outer Sect.
Damn it, most Outer Disciples were only a step above the servants.
Their lives weren't much different from his last month on Little Qing Mountain, except they received a monthly stipend of Spiritual Food and Spirit Grain.
The reason Zhang Deming was enjoying such emperor-level treatment was simply that Qingyou Pool was one of the five best assignments for Outer Disciples on Little Hui Peak.