Chapter 6: The Evil Ding Family

  "What's all the commotion? I'm not dead yet!"

  Old Man Meng was furious and suddenly rushed to Meng Shan's side, slapping him in the face.

  "You... why did you hit my son?"

  Shi Yiniang rushed over, almost knocking Meng Lao down with her head, and shouted frantically: "You allow your second son to cause trouble, but don't allow my Shan'er to say a word about him? You've been protecting that good-for-nothing since he was young, you protected him when entering the immortal mountain, and even after being driven out, you still protect him. Are you determined to drive us two women out and give all the family property to him before you're satisfied?"

  *sigh*...

  Meng Xuan sighed and rubbed his temples weakly.

  He has enough strength to kill everyone in this mansion in one second, but what can be done about it?

  Shi Yiniang was still crying and shouting non-stop, while Meng Shan sat down quietly, saying nothing.

  Mr. Meng sat angrily on the armchair, puffing away at his water pipe.

  "It seems that being so low-key isn't necessarily a good thing..."

  Meng Xuan felt displeased in his heart and didn't say a word, getting up and going back to his room.

  Big Brother and Auntie have become so mean, it's probably because they think he was expelled from the Immortal Sect, looking down on him. In such a situation, he could easily kill them with one hand or show off some divine powers to scare them, but ultimately, there's no point in doing so.

  Back in his room, Meng Xuan sat for a while before preparing to cut off distractions and start cultivating.

  Just then, Old Man Meng quietly walked in and sat down beside Meng Xuan's bed. He silently smoked his water pipe for a while before sighing and saying: "Don't take what your older brother said to heart. After all, the family business has not been handed over to him yet. This is still your home, you've come back home, no one can say anything about it, just live here at ease!"

  Meng Xuan smiled and didn't tell his father about his impending departure, fearing he would worry.

  After a while, Old Man Meng tapped his pipe bowl and seemed to have made up his mind. "I've thought it through too," he said. "You can't just let things go on like this after you returned from Mount Xian. People are gossiping a lot about you. Why don't we do this instead? You liked practicing swordplay when you were young, so I'll spend some more silver to send you to the Sword Hut to practice swordsmanship. With your foundation in Mount Xian, learning swordsmanship shouldn't be difficult for you. Besides, you beat up that Jiang kid until he looked like a pig's head today, and he's already been studying swordplay for three years! It just goes to show that your natural talent is far superior to his..."

  Jian Lou?

  Meng Xuan listened and was slightly stunned, thinking of Leng Daoshi coming.

  That sickly and thin old man is the ancestor of the Four Symbol City Sword Mansion.

  Master Meng nodded and said, "Right, people who come out of Jianlu are also respected. Tomorrow is a good opportunity. Cold Dashi from Jianlu had a serious illness ten years ago and moved to Lüwei Dang outside the city. He hasn't seen outsiders for many years, but yesterday it was suddenly reported that Cold Dashi's illness has healed and he will return to Jianlu. This is a big deal, I don't know how many people want to go to Cold Fu to celebrate. You take 300 taels of silver from the account room tomorrow, buy some things and visit him. First, get familiar with him, then I'll try to establish a relationship and see if we can join Jianlu. With this identity, there will be fewer people gossiping in the city!"

  "Is...this really necessary?"

  Meng Xuan forced a bitter smile and subconsciously thought of making excuses.

  Unexpectedly, Old Man Meng suddenly gained strength, slapped the bedside and said: "It's settled then, you'll go tomorrow!"

  "Fine, go then!"

  Meng Xuan sighed and began to think carefully in his heart.

  It's no wonder that Master Meng is so concerned. Although Cold Master is not a cultivator, his swordsmanship has already reached the realm of invasion and transformation, and his cultivation is stronger than that of ordinary elders in the Xianmen sect. Moreover, he has been based in Siling City for many years, always taking it upon himself to slay demons and evil spirits, protect the people, and intimidate the four directions' demons and evil spirits. Although he has a somewhat eccentric personality, he is also a great figure respected by the people.

  As Old Man Meng said, if one could become Leng's formal disciple, their status would immediately rise, and their position might even surpass that of a Xianmen disciple.

  "Hmph, what status does this person have? He's a discarded disciple who was expelled from the Immortal Mountain, and he wants to pay respects to Master Cold? How could Master Cold possibly look at him with favor? Tomorrow is the grand banquet at the Cold Manor, and there will be countless big shots coming from inside and outside the Four Elephant City. Just this one useless person, not to mention Master Cold, probably can't even meet the steward of the Cold Manor. Giving him thirty taels of silver would be enough!"

  On the second day, Meng Xuan ordered his servant to go to the treasury to fetch some silver. However, the steward did not dare give it to him and instead went to Meng Shan's house to report the matter. Meng Shan immediately became indignant and issued a stern rebuke, finally instructing the steward to only give Meng Xuan thirty taels of silver.

  Looking at the three silver ingots brought by the servant, Meng Xuan sneered and said directly: "No need, send them back!"

  If it was said that Meng Shan was drunk last night and had a grudge against the Jiang family, he would have been angry with Meng Xuan. Now what he is doing has truly enraged Meng Xuan. He too is a man with a fiery temper, so he simply didn't want even two silver coins, directly packing up the two packages of pastries in his room and carrying them off to Leng Fu's residence.

  When they arrived at the gate of Leng Mansion, they found that it was already crowded with people, even more lively than a market.

  Innumerable carriages and horses, exotic beasts crowded together, officials and nobles dressed in brocade and silk with smiles on their faces, entered the Leng manor.

  There were even more onlookers crowded in one place, just to catch a glimpse of those big shots who normally only existed in legend.

  "Look, isn't that Master Chengdeng from Dazhen Temple? He hasn't been seen in three years..."

  "What? Isn't that General Liu, the guardian of Siling City? He's also here? Oh right, it's said that Master Leng has instructed General Liu in swordsmanship before, they have a half-master relationship, so naturally General Liu would come..."

  "Look, it's the female masters of Qing Miao Peak who have arrived, each and every one of them is a stunning beauty..."

  At this moment, a auspicious cloud suddenly floated in from the high sky and landed in front of the Leng Mansion. A young man in white clothes walked down from it, looking elegant and refined, with an air of confidence and pride.

  This extraordinary sight immediately caused countless people to marvel, and they inquired about who this person was. Those who knew him introduced him to others: "This is the young master of the Xiao family! He entered the immortal sect seven years ago as a disciple, and just returned two days ago. According to legend, although he is still young, his magical powers are unparalleled, and he has already become an inner disciple of the immortal sect. He is indeed the most outstanding among the younger generation in Sifang City!"

  At this time, there were already officials from the Cold Mansion who came out to greet them and respectfully invited Xiao Da Shao into the mansion.

  "So he's here too...... He even specially brought out the auspicious cloud that was refined from the Xianmen, how ridiculous!"

  Meng Xuan sneered. In the immortal sect, although he and Xiao Yufei were from the same place, their relationship was only ordinary. This was mainly because Xiao Yufei was too powerful and always fawned on those talented and beautiful disciples in the sect, while treating Meng Xuan with cold ridicule. Later, when Meng Xuan was taken as a disciple by an old man, Xiao Yufei secretly envied him even more. When Meng Xuan's name was removed from the sect, he was also one of the happiest people. He had once deliberately blocked Meng Xuan at the mountain gate and spoken sarcastically to him when he went down the mountain.

  The auspicious cloud that Xiao Yufei was riding on was also quite ridiculous.

  When the master breaks through the True Qi realm and reaches the True Spirit realm, he can refine and ride on flying clouds, but now Xiao Yufei only has the sixth layer of True Qi, far from having this kind of divine power. The auspicious cloud he rides is a low-grade artifact refined by the sect for its inner disciples, specifically for convenient travel. Moreover, the sect has rules that prohibit showing off sect techniques in front of people to gain fame and attention. However, Xiao Yufei did it to show off, throwing this rule to the back of his mind.

  "Here comes another auspicious cloud..."

  People with sharp eyes shouted, and instantly all eyes looked up at the sky.

  Only in the northeast direction, a pink auspicious cloud floated over again. As it approached, everyone couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, because on that cloud, there were four or five charming little girls with watery eyes and skin as white as snow. However, their ears were fluffy and pointed, growing on both sides of their face, and behind them, a fluffy white tail grew, they weren't human.

  "Is...that the fox spirit of Seikyouzan?"

  Someone recognized their identities, and all the onlookers suddenly felt a chill in their hearts and retreated in unison.

  Qingqiu Mountain is a nearby mountain inhabited by a group of fox demons. Although these fox demons cultivate the right path and do not harm human lives, ordinary people's fear of monsters has already deeply penetrated their hearts, and they still feel afraid when they see them.

  "Leng Daoshi actually knows this group of Qingqiu Mountain fox spirits too, old man's social connections are quite extensive..."

  Even Meng Xuan couldn't help but secretly sigh, he didn't have much of a reaction to the fox demon. In his previous life when he was studying at the Immortal Sect, there were also some demons that had transformed into human form and entered the mountain, so he had already gotten used to seeing strange things. To him, seeing the fox demon felt like running into a foreigner eating stinky tofu on the streets of his hometown - although they had never interacted before, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

  Seeing all the big shots entering the Leng Mansion, Meng Xuan also took a few steps forward with his gift and handed over his visiting card.

  The cold family's gatekeeper looked at Meng Xuan's visiting card, suddenly became curious and sized him up, laughing: "You are the second young master of the Meng family who was recently expelled from the Immortal Gate? The young master Xiao who just went in is your fellow disciple, right?"

  Meng Xuan sighed and said: "It used to be, can I go in now?"

  The gatekeeper couldn't help but smile and said to his companion: "Come quick and take a look, this is the second young master of the Meng family..."

  "Haha, so it's him who was expelled from the immortal sect..."

  "Poor guy, Xiao Shao Ye came riding on a cloud, while Meng Shao Ye can't even afford to rent a horse carriage and had to walk here..."

  Their laughter also entered the eyes of the surrounding onlookers, instantly causing a group of people to point and whisper.

  "Look quickly, that is the second young master of the Meng family. Seven years ago, he had already entered the immortal gate, but was driven out by someone..."

  "You can't be too proud as a person, it's a waste of a good opportunity..."