Chapter 28 The Old Man's Identity

  "Little Blue, are all of you Blues so... fond of being unreasonable?" asked Leng Ruoxue with some curiosity. The elder of the Blue family was like this, and the master of the house was also like this - she really didn't know if there were any normal people left in the Blue family?

  "Uh! Of course not." Lan Meng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said somewhat speechlessly.

  "But...I don't know why I feel this way?" said Leng Ruoxue honestly.

  "Haha, young lady, you don't know this, but the Blues have a hereditary personality like that. The Blue family member I knew was just like that, they would stop at nothing to achieve their goals and didn't care about face-saving!" The old man chuckled.

  "Huh!" Lan Meng was really at a loss for words. Why didn't his half-brothers inherit such qualities? He didn't either!

  "No wonder!" She nodded calmly and clearly.

  "Xue Er, it's getting late, let's head back to our room." Leng Qing Tian said, but in fact, he felt extremely sympathetic towards the master of the Lan family. Alas! Who else could they have provoked besides them? They had to provoke their little Ice Ice, and now she was showing her might. The master of the Lan family was nowhere to be found... Ah! Good luck to the master of the Lan family!

  "Hmm!" Cold as Snow nodded and after sending off Cold Engine Heaven and the others, she brought along Yao Jiao and Bing Qi to enter into the ring together.

  "Sister." Qing Jue appeared in front of Leng Ruo Xue.

  "Qing Jue, how are Ge Ge and the others?" asked Leng Ruo Xue with concern.

  "It's all right," said Qing Jue.

  "What's wrong?" asked Leng Ruoxue again.

  "Master, I'm here." A small white snake appeared on Leng Ruo Xue's wrist.

  "You're certain, aren't you?" asked Leng Ruoxue.

  "It depends on that person's willpower and strength," said Hu Shi honestly. "If they're too strong, I don't have much confidence either."

  "Don't worry, in my estimation, his willpower won't be very strong. As for his strength, he's the same as me, just a beginner Xuan Master." Lan Ruoxue said after some thought.

  "That's much easier, but I need to get ready first."

  "Hmm, if there's anything you need, just let me know." Cold Snow nodded and said.

  "Master, I'll go prepare." Having said that, she slid down from Cold-as-Snow's wrist and left.

  After Huo left, Leng Ruo Xue and Yao Nie entered the Purple Bamboo House together to rest...

  The next morning.

  Leng Ruo Xue and Yao Jiao left the bracelet and came directly to Zheng En's room.

  "Miss." Zheng En heard the knock on the door and opened it.

  "Zheng En, today we're going to the exchange meeting with you." Leng Ruo Xue said directly. Today was originally supposed to be Zheng En and Lan Meng's turn to go, but after what happened yesterday, she wasn't at ease, so she decided to go with them instead.

  "Miss!" Zheng En didn't know how to express his gratitude.

  "Go! You go call Lan Ming, we'll wait for you at the inn entrance." Leng Ruo Xue instructed, then pulled Yao Nie away.

  The scene of the medicine exchange meeting.

  Leng Ruoxue and others arrived at the scene, set up their stalls, and each went about their own business.

  Leng Ruo Xue comfortably leaned into the demon's arms, hugging Bing Qi, half-closing her eyes in a feigned sleep. Zheng En took out the old man's many years of alchemy notes and carefully read through them. As for Lan Ming, due to boredom, he started circling around the venue, chatting with this person and that...

  "Zheng En, you're really quite bold! You actually dare to come here!" At this time, a piercing voice rang in the ears of Leng Ruo Xue and others.

  Leng Ruo Xue still had her eyes closed, ignoring the owner of the voice. The demon also didn't even lift an eyebrow, completely ignoring the person's existence. As for Zheng En, she only raised her head to take a glance before lowering it again.

  "Zheng En, you have a big nerve, actually... actually..." Sun Wei spoke for half a day but couldn't say a complete sentence! He was already so angry that he was incoherent!

  "What's with these annoying flies, buzzing non-stop and disturbing me to death!" Cold-as-Snow furrowed her brow, somewhat displeased, as she opened her eyes and spoke in a chilly tone.

  "Damn ugly freak, who are you calling a fly!" Sun Wei roared in anger, his roar attracting the attention of everyone present!

  "Need you ask? Is there anyone else here?" Leng Ruoxue said with a hint of sarcasm, looking at Sun Wei as if he were an idiot.

  "How dare you! Get out of here!" Sun Wei roared.

  Leng Ruo Xue smiled lightly, as if watching a joke, looking at Sun Wei, without any words!

  "Did you hear that, get them out of here quickly!" Sun Wei bellowed at the staff beside him, his face red with rage and veins bulging on his forehead!

  "Master Sun, I don't have that much authority." The staff member said calmly, with a flash of impatience in his eyes.

  "Go and call your elder, they are not qualified to stay here." Sun Wei commanded with a somewhat overbearing tone.

  "Wait a moment, Master Sun," said the staff member. "I'll go invite Elder Lan from the Blue House to come over."

  "Go quickly!" Sun Wei commanded.

  The staff member gave Leng Ruoxue a meaningful glance before leaving the exchange venue.

  "Sun Dan's attitude is really big!" Leng Ruo Xue said with a light smile.

  "Hmph! You ugly freak, you'll regret offending me." Sun Wei said with a proud face, he was the beloved disciple of the Dan Shifu General Assembly's president, who among the Lan family wouldn't give him some respect?!

  "Is that so?" she said, "I'll be waiting with bated breath." After finishing speaking, Leng Ruo Xue closed her eyes again and ignored Sun Wei.

  The Taoist priests inside the hall all looked like they were watching a show, and some even looked at Sun Wei with sympathetic eyes. However, the overly arrogant Sun Wei did not notice.

  The Blue Family's Main Residence.

  That staff member returned to the Blue House and did not go directly to see the elder, but first went back to his own room to sleep.

  It was five hours later when he woke up.

  "You stinky little brat, you've finally decided to wake up?" The third elder of the Blue family sat on the bed with a warm smile, teasingly scolding.

  "Grandpa, how did you get here?" asked Lan Duan, dressed as a staff member, somewhat puzzled.

  "You little scamp, you've delayed Sun Wei's matter for five hours. That guy couldn't wait any longer and sent his underling over. Luckily I intercepted him." The Third Elder said with some helplessness, his aged face full of doting on his own son.

  "Grandpa, it's not my fault. You don't know how annoying Sun Wei is. I've only been with him for less than a day and he's already yelling at me and ordering me around like I'm his servant." Lan Duan complained.

  "Haha, you said you wanted to exercise, who can blame anyone for this!" The Third Elder not only didn't sympathize with his grandson's situation but also burst out laughing.

  "Grandpa, I'm your only grandson! Can you bear to see me being bullied by others?" Lan Xi said with a pout.

  "Alright, you little scamp, stop throwing a tantrum! Shouldn't you be going to see the Great Elder now?" The Third Elder reminded kindly, if they didn't let the Great Elder know about this matter, Sun Wei might just come himself!

  "Uh-huh, I'm going to see Grandpa." Lan Dang got up from bed, tidied himself up briefly, and rushed straight to the Elder's study.

  Arriving at the door of the study, he felt that there was an outsider inside. Lan Xiang deliberately said loudly outside the door: "I have important things to report!"

  In the study, the old man's mouth twitched slightly as he opened his mouth faintly and said: "Come in!"

  Lan walked into the study with big strides and bowed respectfully.

  "What is it that you want to report?" The Great Elder asked with a slight frown.

  "It's like this, Master Sun had a dispute with someone at the medicine exchange meeting, so he ordered me to call Elder Zhang to back him up. He wants to expel the person who clashed with him from the exchange meeting." Blue Detailed reported.

  "Oh!" The old man responded softly and glanced at the middle-aged man sitting across from him.

  "This scoundrel, haha, I'm really sorry, Elder. It's all because of my poor teaching and his lack of manners." The middle-aged man was none other than Sun Wei's master, Ren Li, the president of the Dan Shengtong Association!

  "Hehe, President Ren is too polite, Master Sun being bullied on our Blue Family's turf is our fault for not taking good care of him!" said the Elder with a perfunctory tone.

  "Tell me in detail, what's going on?" The Grand Elder turned his head to Lán Zhāng again.

  "Yes." Lan Xi detailedly described the whole process to the two of them, adding flavor and spice.

  After listening, the old man's eyebrows furrowed again, thinking to himself, unexpectedly, Sun Wei had a conflict with Leng Ruo Xue and others, what should he do? Although he didn't like Sun Wei either, according to common sense, he should be standing on the side of Dan Shifu Zong Hui, but his intuition told him that he must get along well with Leng Ruo Xue, alas! He was a bit conflicted...

  "Let's go and take a look! If Master Sun was indeed bullied, then the Blue family will surely stand up for him." said Elder Blue Hong ambiguously.

  "En, good." Ren Li nodded in response, then stood up and followed the Great Elder out of the Blue Family's main residence...

  The scene of the medicine exchange meeting.

  Sun Wei, who had been waiting for several hours without seeing any sign of the Blue family, was pacing back and forth in circles, getting more and more anxious like an ant on a hot skillet. He hummed to himself, determined that today he would definitely drive Zheng En and his people out of Blue Cloud City; otherwise, every extra day they stayed here made him feel uneasy at heart.

  On the other hand, people like Leng Ruo Xue were much calmer, doing whatever they had to do without being affected in the slightest!

  "The Great Elder has arrived!" At this time, someone shouted, and everyone's eyes instantly turned towards the direction of the door.

  Lan Jia's Great Elder, Lan Hong, was currently being surrounded by people and slowly walked into the meeting hall. The people beside him were mostly familiar dan masters who knew Leng Ruoxue and others. After seeing the newcomers, they all secretly thought it was not good and quietly began to worry about Leng Ruoxue and the others!

  "What's going on?" The Great Elder asked as he walked up to Sun Wei.

  "Elder, Master!" Sun Wei bowed respectfully, forming a stark contrast with his previously arrogant and overbearing demeanor!

  "Are you the President of the Dan Shifu Association?" Hearing Sun Wei call out "Shifu", Leng Ruo Xue slightly raised an eyebrow, and calmly asked.

  "Yes." Ren Li replied calmly.

  "How many disciples do you have?" Leng Ruoxue asked with some curiosity, this Dan Master was probably over fifty years old, with a dignified appearance, but regarding the matter back then, why did he handle it so lightly? She really couldn't understand!

  "What's wrong with three?" Ren Li was somewhat perplexed. This little girl's thinking is really strange! What's the point of asking him this? And what does it have to do with her anyway?

  "Oh!" Cold-as-snow nodded slightly, and then fell silent. Her question left many people momentarily stunned, because they didn't understand what she meant by it!

  "Master, these people are not even Dan masters, they don't have the qualifications to participate in the medicinal material exchange conference." Sun Wei said somewhat impatiently at this time.

  "Who told you that only Dan Shifu can exchange here?" Cold Snow asked back, "Does that mean those medicine merchants don't have the qualifications to enter either?"

  "You... you're not even medicine merchants!" Sun Wei thought for a moment, then said. He believed that these people must have mixed in with the identity of Dan Shi, although it was unclear how they would be here, but he confidently believed that the Blue House would not give them invitations to these unknown small characters!

  "How did you know we aren't?" Leng Ruoxue asked with a light smile. This man was really too self-assured, wasn't he?

  "With these medicinal materials you've laid out, do you still dare to call yourselves medicinal material merchants?" Sun Wei looked at the ordinary medicinal materials on the stall with some disdain and sneered.

  "Don't judge things by their appearance, didn't your master teach you that?" Leng Ruoxue glanced at Ren Li and said with a smile.

  "This is none of your business, anyway you don't have the qualifications to stay here." Sun Wei said somewhat unreasonably, his eyes staring fiercely at Leng Ruo Xue.

  "I'm really curious, how did you take this disciple in, your eyesight is really bad! He's simply a waste of a person, if your master knew about it, I reckon he'd be furious to death." Leng Ruoxue turned her head towards Ren Li and said fearlessly.

  The people present heard Leng Ruoxue's words, and they couldn't help but sweat profusely on their foreheads. In their hearts, they were worried for her, thinking that she was too bold to directly accuse the president of the Dan Shizong Association!

  "What the hell are you talking about?" Cold Snow's words made Sun Wei furious!

  Unfortunately, Leng Ruo Xue didn't even bother to give him a glance.

  "Haha, little girl, you know my identity and still dare to speak to me like this, your courage is really not small!" Ren Li did not become as angry as everyone had imagined, but instead burst out laughing! It's interesting, since he took over as the president of the General Assembly, no one has dared to speak to him like that. He doesn't know why, but it somehow makes him feel a bit affectionate!

  "I'm an honest good kid, of course I have to tell the truth." said Leng Ruoxue disapprovingly.

  "Haha! Alright, alright, I'll tell you the truth, but after all, I'm still your superior. You shouldn't speak to me like this in front of so many people, it's too humiliating!" Ren Li said with a smile, then deliberately put on a stern face and spoke disapprovingly.

  "It's all said and done." Leng Ruoxue said nonchalantly.

  "Little girl, aren't you afraid of me at all?" Ren Li asked with some curiosity.

  Leng Ruo Xue raised her head, looked up and down at Ren Li, then shook her head and said: "Don't be afraid, if you dare to bully me, Xiao Bingbing won't let you off." She took out Xiao Bingbing as a shield.

  "Huh? Who is Little Ice?" Ren Li couldn't help but ask.

  "It's him!" Leng Ruo Xue pointed at the little dog sleeping soundly in her arms.

  "Huh! So small?" Ren Li was speechless, how could such a small dog not let him go?

  "How about that, didn't your master teach you not to pretend to be a dog?" asked Leng Ruoxue with a smile, her face still full of curiosity.

  "Of course I taught him." At this time, a loud voice cut in.

  "Master!"

  "Master!"

  Two voices sounded at the same time, Ren Li and Zheng En looked at each other in surprise, both feeling a little inexplicable!

  She gave a calm and collected glance at the old man who suddenly appeared, actually, she had already guessed that this old man's identity wouldn't be simple, but, unexpectedly, he turned out to be the legendary Du Mingjian.

  The people present were stunned when they heard Ren Li and Zheng En simultaneously shouting "Little Old Master", but soon reacted, Ah! The master of President Ren, isn't that Du Ming?! At this time, the Dan masters in the crowd were extremely excited!

  But the elder of the Blue family, Lan Hong, was also stunned when he heard Ren Li's address. He had never thought that this old man was actually Du Ming. Suddenly, he remembered Lan Ning'er's disrespect to him. Alas! No wonder the other party had a deep grudge against the Blue family. Now it seems that the Blue family was indeed slow-witted.

  "Hum! N'er, someone's bullying you!" The old man snorted coldly, then spoke kindly to Zheng En.

  "Master!" Zheng En looked at the old man with some difficulty, he didn't expect his master to be Du Ming's subordinate. This way, the head of the Dan Shifu Association would become his senior brother! And Sun Wei... Alas! These relationships are really complicated!

  "Master!" Ren Li saw his master and also exclaimed with a excited face, he hadn't seen his master for many years, but why did his master ignore him? Waaa...?

  "Hmph! He's your junior, a new disciple I've just taken on." The old man introduced simply. Actually, he had come to Blue Cloud City with two main purposes: one was to exchange medicinal materials, and the other was to assess Miss Lanyu of the Blue family. However, he had already accomplished both goals.

  "Junior brother, hello." Ren Li said politely.

  "Eh! Shifu...Shixiong!" Zheng En stuttered, he still couldn't quite adapt to this sudden change in identity, as it was really too abrupt for him!

  "Master, let me introduce him to you. He is your disciple's grandson, named Sun Wei!" Ren Li pulled over Sun Wei who was still in a daze and introduced him.

  "Oh!" The old man didn't even raise an eyebrow, just responded faintly. Hum! Anyone who dares to bully his apprentice is not qualified to be recognized by him.

  "Scoundrel, hurry up and call someone!" Ren Li slapped Sun Wei's head, urging him somewhat impatiently, while also muttering to himself, wondering what was wrong with his usually clever disciple today.

  "It's all right, I can bear it." The old man said in a somewhat cold tone.

  "Master!" Ren Li was somewhat puzzled, Master seemed to be very dissatisfied with his own apprentice! Was it because of this little girl? His junior brother was together with them, from which it could be seen that Master should also know this girl.

  "Master, Sun Wei and them may have had some unpleasantness, but I believe it's all just a misunderstanding." Ren Li mediated.

  "Is it?" The old man slightly raised his eyelids and said.

  "Little girl, it's just a misunderstanding between you two!" Ren Li looked at Leng Ruoxue and asked, giving her a wink.

  "I don't know, you should ask your apprentice!" Leng Ruoxue pretended not to see, and said in a very dismissive tone.

  "Disciple, you say, are you misunderstanding!" Ren Li saw that Leng Ruo Xue was not cooperating and could only scold his own disciple.

  "Master, they don't even qualify to participate in the exchange meeting! And this Zheng En, do you still remember who he is? He deceived our Master Ancestor!" Sun Wei's jealousy ignited as he loudly shouted out! Why should Zheng En have such good luck? Fifteen years ago, Zheng En was just his defeated subordinate, but fifteen years later, that damned Zheng En actually became his Master Uncle. How could he accept this?! He was consumed by jealousy!

  "You scoundrel, do you know what you're saying?" Ren Li growled in discontent, and stole a fearful glance at his master, only to find that his face looked extremely unpleasant, which made his heart skip a beat and feel a chill run down his spine!

  "Master, it's Zheng En, Zheng En, the one you expelled from the Dan Sheng Guild fifteen years ago. Don't you remember?" Sun Wei couldn't help but remind him.

  "Huh!" With a reminder from Sun Wei, he really remembered that fifteen years ago, he had indeed expelled a Taoist priest from the General Assembly. But was that person really the same as his junior brother in front of him? Had Master been deceived?

  "Master, he..." Ren Li looked at the old man and didn't know how to start.

  "I know who he is, and I'm going to tell you that he's now my apprentice, your junior brother!" The old man said very seriously.

  "Yes, Master." Since the master has said so, then this apprentice naturally doesn't dare to say anything else! Moreover, the master is always stubborn, wanting to change his mind is impossible!

  "Master, you can't take this person as a disciple, he's not worthy, he's the sinner of our Dan Shi realm!" Sun Wei was so jealous that she was about to go crazy, and she advised with an unyielding attitude, her face still full of respect.

  "Is it Sun Wei? I want to take whoever as my apprentice, do I need your approval? Besides, I haven't acknowledged you as my disciple's grandson, so don't randomly acknowledge relatives!" The old man said with some disdain. He hummed! He met this Sun Wei yesterday, why didn't he show respect for himself? Today he knows his identity and changed his attitude!

  "Master!" Sun Wei was somewhat stunned, why did he still want to protect Zheng En despite knowing his identity?

  "I told you, don't call me Master Ancestor." The old man had no intention of acknowledging Sun Wei's identity.

  "Master, I'm doing this all for your own good! If outsiders were to find out about Zheng En's past, it would affect your reputation." Sun Wei continued to feign innocence, with a thick-skinned expression, even putting on an air of "I'm doing this all for Master's sake".

  "What happened back then, I believe will eventually come to light. But what I want to tell you is that Zheng En is my disciple. If any of you dare to look down on him, then don't stay in the Dan Shifu Association!" The old man glared at everyone present, not caring whether they knew about the past or not. Regardless of whether they knew or not, he wouldn't allow them to look at his disciple with colored glasses!

  Everyone present nodded hastily after hearing the old man's words. Alas, no one dared to disobey him! He was a god-like figure in the eyes of many alchemists!

  "Master!" Zheng En by his side was so moved that he was choked with sobs and couldn't speak!

  "You foolish kid, you're so easily bullied, how can I be at ease?" The old man said with some helplessness.

  "Master, it's all because the disciples are too useless." Zheng En said with his head down, somewhat guiltily.

  "You're quite useless, but you have good luck." The old man patted Zheng En's head lightly and scolded with a smile.

  "Uh-huh." Zheng En nodded.

  "Respected Sir Du, I have long admired your great name!" The elder of the Blue Family said as he saw that things were almost settled.

  "Lan Jia Xiao Zi, are you here to drive away my disciples?" The old man asked with a hint of displeasure, his eyes narrowed.

  "Of course not, I just came to understand the situation." Blue family's elder said with a lot of insight, at this moment, if he still needs to consider which side to stand on, then he must be very stupid!

  "Oh! Blue family kid, if there's nothing else, then let's head back first." The old man nodded slightly and said.

  "Mr. Du, I didn't know your identity earlier and had you stay at the guest house, which was really impolite." The elder of the Lan family said with some embarrassment, actually, he wanted to say that he wanted Mr. Du to go to the Lan residence to live, but he didn't know how to bring it up.

  "It doesn't matter! I'm just a country old man, it's all the same to me wherever I live." The little old man said indifferently.

  "Du Ming, why don't you move to our Blue House instead? Otherwise, if Father finds out that we've been neglecting you like this, he'll blame us." The elder of the Blue House thought for a moment before speaking up.

  "Don't be afraid, I won't tell on you. By the way, is Blue Wave at home?" The old man asked with some curiosity after glancing at Bing Ji.

  "Hmm! The master of the house has gone out on business." said the elder of the Lan family.

  "When did you go out?" The old man asked again.

  "Yesterday." Lao Lao, the elder of the Lan family, replied honestly. His older brother had left yesterday, but he still hadn't returned and didn't even say a word to them about where he was going. It was really too much for him, and he couldn't help but curse in his heart.

  "What, Father has not returned yet?" Lan Meng heard and couldn't help but ask loudly.

  "No! Eh! Ming'er, have you seen the master of the house?" The eldest elder of the Lan family asked with some confusion, Ming'er's reaction was really too strange!

  "No, how could I have seen Father?" Lan Meng muttered to himself, but in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a little worried. Where had Father been blown off to by Bing Qi's sneeze after all?

  "Little Blue, let's gather our things and head back to the guest house!" Leng Ruoxue suddenly spoke up, intentionally changing the subject.

  "Oh, okay." Lan Meng replied, he understood Leng Ruo Xue's meaning, so although he was a bit worried, he didn't dare to show it, uh... this involved the old man's face-saving issue!

  Leng Ruoxue and others packed up their things and left the venue, returning to the guest house.

  After entering the room, Leng Ruo Xue discovered that Ren Li and Sun Wei had also followed her in, so she said somewhat displeased: "You've entered the wrong room!"

  By the way?

  Thank you 7152594w, jenhui and huā lì shuǐ jīng for the flowers.

  Thank you for the reward from Wenye tonight.

  Thank you for the votes from 亲迷途茫茫, xq20040215 and 3183358.