Chapter Seven: Inviting the Honorable Guest

  Meng Xuan hadn't realized that he had gained such a high level of notoriety. As the saying goes, "good news doesn't spread far, but bad news travels a thousand miles." His reputation in Siling City was probably even higher than Xiao Yufei's. After all, no matter how formidable Xiao Yufei was, others could only look up to him, whereas Meng Xuan was someone that everyone would mention with a sigh and a mocking smile.

  But Meng Xuan was somewhat annoyed by the impertinence of the Leng family's servant.

  He swept his sleeves and said coldly: "Guests have arrived at the door, but are blocked outside the door. Is this the hospitality of the Leng family?"

  No sooner had he spoken than the several gatekeeper slaves suddenly glared at him, and the one on the left sneered: "A deserted disciple of the Immortal Sect actually has such a big tone, daring to say that our Cold House doesn't understand the etiquette of treating guests. I'd like to ask you, are you worthy of being a guest of the Cold House?"

  The man on the right stared at the paper package in Meng Xuan's hand and sneered, "What kind of gift do you have in your hand? Show it to me!"

  "Two catties of excellent pastries..."

  Meng Xuan picked up the paper package and shook it a few times, saying with a hint of a smile.

  This is also a lie, the better pastries were all taken to Qiao Yue'er yesterday, and these two packages are leftovers.

  "You think you can just waltz into our Cold household with your two broken hearts? Are you trying to humiliate the Cold family?"

  Those few family members heard this and immediately raised their eyebrows. If there weren't many people around, they probably would have taken action against Meng Xuan.

  "Hmm, then tell me, what kind of gift should one bring in order to enter the Leng Manor?"

  Meng Xuan said coldly.

  One of the servants was about to speak, but was pulled back by another clever servant, who whispered in his ear: "Don't mind him, lest outsiders see us and say we're being too polite, losing face for the Leng family. This good-for-nothing is so arrogant, just send him to sit at the lower seats, he's still the young master of the Meng family after all, he knows whether he has any dignity or not..."

  Ding's family heard this and immediately brightened up, coldly smiling at Meng Xuan: "Would our Cold family care about such a small gift? Let alone bringing two packages of pastries, even if you came empty-handed to congratulate us, that would still be a guest of the Cold family. It's just that today there are many people coming to the house, so with your status, it's better not to go in and disturb the noble guests. How about this, keep these pastries for yourself and go over there to drink wine?"

  As he spoke, he pointed in one direction, and the onlookers burst into loud laughter.

  It turned out that the direction Master Ding was pointing to was a long table of food and drink set up outside the mansion, which was a kind of charity. Whenever there was a joyful occasion in the household, while they were having a feast inside the mansion, they would also set up a long table outside, where people from the city, regardless of whether they had money or not, could come to the front gate of the Cold Mansion and say some auspicious words, then sit down and enjoy free food and drink. They sent Meng Xuan there, truly treating him like a beggar.

  "Alright, fine..."

  Meng Xuan didn't think much of it and glanced at the few family servants by the door, sneered and actually sat down.

  "Haha, don't mention it, Young Master Meng sitting there, his status is indeed a match..."

  A group of family members burst out laughing.

  Meng Xuanxin just sneered coldly, and he didn't stand on ceremony either. He sat down at the banquet table, eating and drinking as he pleased, even pulling a dirty-faced old beggar into a fight, completely ignoring the curious glances of others, feeling utterly carefree.

  "Alas, Master Meng! You're a man without airs, a good fellow. It's just that sitting with us might be beneath you!"

  The old beggar was kind-hearted and after drinking a few cups with Meng Xuan, he quietly advised him to leave.

  Meng Xuanhong didn't take it seriously and smiled, saying: "If I said that soon someone will invite us in, do you believe me?"

  "That's impossible..."

  The old beggar heard Meng Xuan's words and smiled with his black teeth missing a few, shaking his head repeatedly.

  Meng Xuan smiled and said: "If I say that it was Leng Dashi who invited us to come in, would you believe me?"

  The old beggar was startled and looked at Meng Xuan with a strange expression, muttering: "Meng young master is not bad, but his drinking capacity is too small!" It turned out that he thought Meng Xuan had already gotten drunk.

  After eating and drinking for a while on the flowing water seat, Meng Xuan was still thinking about whether to show off his cultivation or not, in order to shock Cold Da Shi in the mansion. He knew that with his current seven-layered true energy cultivation, he only needed to release a thread of aura, which would definitely be sensed by the high-ranking people in the mansion, and then come out to take a look. This was also a special way for cultivators to communicate with each other.

  At this moment, however, an old man in a hemp garment slowly walked out of the mansion, with a young noble in brocade standing beside him and speaking respectfully.

  The whole family saw the two of them and immediately bowed down with respect. Those who knew him naturally understood that the young master in brocade clothes was actually the great-grandson of Leng Dashi, the current young master of the Leng family, Leng Cicada. And the elderly man he spoke to respectfully wasn't his elder, but rather Leng Dashi's personal attendant, named Leng Zhu, who was also a swordsmanship grandmaster with an extremely high status.

  Leng Zhu was Leng Dashi's personal attendant, having followed him for over 70 years. Their relationship was not shallow. Although he held the status of a slave, no one in the Leng household dared to disrespect him. Even Leng Dashi's son would respectfully address him as "Uncle Zhu".

  Leng Zhu said something to Leng Shao Ye with a calm tone, and unintentionally glanced at the flowing water seat, suddenly his body shook, and he stared incredulously at a young man who was eating and drinking heavily. After taking a closer look, his body began to tremble.

  He seemed to want to go over and say hello, but then remembered something, held back, suddenly turned around, and quickly walked towards the house.

  After a moment, suddenly a commotion appeared in front of the Leng Mansion gate, a large group of people knelt on the ground, respectfully kowtowing. From inside the Leng Mansion, an old man with a lean and gaunt figure quickly walked out, his aura sharp and his footsteps light as flying, his eyes shining brightly like a sword unsheathed. It was none other than the legendary figure of Siling City, Master Leng.

  When they saw this old ancestor come out, it seemed like he was looking for someone, and the entire Ding family didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

  Leng Daoshi's gaze swept over and had already spotted Meng Xuan. He wanted to go over, but restrained himself, unexpectedly feeling a little intimidated.

  Just then, Meng Xuan turned around and nodded slightly unintentionally.

  Leng Daoshi let out a breath of relief and walked over quickly, cupping his hands in greeting: "Young... Master Xia, I didn't know you were coming, forgive me for not welcoming you from afar!"

  Meng Xuan smiled and said: "Well said! Today I came, originally to congratulate Master Leng on his good health!"

  The crowd saw that Leng Daishi had actually come over to talk to Meng Xuan, and they were all stunned, thinking they had seen wrongly.

  Leng Daoshi was about to speak when he suddenly realized where Meng Xuan was sitting, and couldn't help but smile wryly. He had thought it was just Meng Xuan's eccentric personality that made him sit in this awkward position, so he himself picked up a wooden stool and sat down, saying: "Young Master, since you've come to the Leng estate, why don't you go inside? Sitting here isn't making me look bad, is it?"

  Meng Xuan smiled and said: "I originally wanted to go in, and even brought two packages of snacks for you, but the threshold of your Cold Mansion is too high!"

  "Huh?"

  Leng Daishi was taken aback for a moment, and then a surge of anger emanated from his body.

  "Cicada, kneel down!"

  Leng Daishi didn't say a word, but Leng Zhu had already understood his thoughts and suddenly let out a loud shout.

  Leng Dashi's great-grandson Leng Xiuzhen was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a "thud", but his face still had a bewildered expression.

  "Locust, is it you who has been detaining the noble guest outside the mansion?"

  Leng Daishi's voice was not loud, but the air seemed to have a chilling killing intent, making people's hearts tremble with fear.

  "Great grandfather, forgive me... Cicada really doesn't know what happened..."

  The cicada could be said to have suffered an unjust disaster, and was so frightened that its face turned white.

  "Don't wrong Cold Young Master..."

  Meng Xuan smiled and helped Leng Shaoye up, then lowered his voice to Leng Dashi: "Don't make it so serious, there are so many people watching. Just treat me as one of your ordinary juniors... by the way, my name is Meng Xuan, second in line!"

  Leng Dashi nodded slightly, but still coldly said to Leng Chan: "Actually blocking my noble guest at the door, has the Leng family become so ignorant of etiquette? Yun'er, go ask your father how he manages this household!"

  The cicada did not dare to argue and nodded in agreement.

  "Lord Meng, come with me! I'd like to see who dares block our way!"

  Meng Xuan smiled and pointed to the old beggar beside him, saying: "I have a friend here too, he didn't bring any gifts!"

  Leng Daoshi let out a cold laugh and scolded: "Does Lao Fu lack that thing? I'll give it to him as a parting gift when he leaves!"

  He said with a slight bow to the old beggar, smiling: "Old brother, come with me to the mansion to drink wine?"

  That old beggar was shocked, still holding half a pig's trotter in his hand, and was confusedly supported into the Leng Mansion.

  As they passed by the entrance of the Cold Mansion, those few house slaves were already frightened out of their wits. Suddenly, they knelt down on the ground and kept kowtowing to Meng Xuan, one by one, with pale faces, their heads bleeding from the repeated bows, yet not daring to utter a single word of plea for mercy.

  Meng Xuan also ignored them and whispered a sentence to Leng Dashi: "Don't create killing karma!"

  Leng Daishi nodded and turned his head to Leng Chan, saying: "Kill three, spare one!"

  Leng Chan was even more stunned, fortunately Leng Zhu was by his side explaining things to him.

  "This... I'm not seeing things, am I? Master Leng actually personally welcomed Young Master Meng into the mansion?"

  "Even when Xiao Shao Ye came to visit, Master Leng didn't even come out personally to welcome him. What exactly happened?"

  "You haven't seen Young Master Meng say a word, and even that old beggar was respectfully welcomed into the Leng Manor. What kind of face does Young Master Meng have to be so arrogant when he's just a discarded disciple of the Immortal Sect?"

  "You're courting death? Even Cold Master treats Young Master Meng with such courtesy, yet you dare to call him a discarded disciple of the Immortal Sect?"

  The onlookers whispered among themselves, all with a look of astonishment on their faces.

  While Leng Chan was doing this, he ordered his men to tie up the several gatekeepers and take them to the backyard. What awaited them was unknown.