Chapter 8 You're Really Ugly

  "Little girl, you wouldn't be so unrighteous, would you?" Lan Meng's forehead slid down several black lines as he asked pitifully.

  "What can I do? As a weak and insignificant woman, my priority is to save my own life! You'd better seek your own good fortune, old man!" Cold Snow lightly laughed, her eyes full of teasing and mocking intent.

  "Little girl, you can't do this! You can't handle the leader, but those small fries are still no problem for you." Lan Ming reminded her that the leader of the robbers was actually Xuan Wang. Alas, the great Xuan Wang had become a robber, it's really unknown what he was thinking.

  Leng Ruoxue raised her eyes to look at the leader of the robbers, who was about thirty years old, tall and strong, with handsome and resolute facial features, and an extraordinary aura. How could someone like him become a robber? She really couldn't understand it.

  "It's fine to just hand over the little beast to you, isn't it? I'm too full and don't feel like moving." Leng Ruo Xue said lightly, casting a glance at Lan Meng.

  "Little girl, you'd better exercise after eating!" Lan Meng advised. Now he couldn't even tell whether Leng Ruoxue was joking or being serious, as he had long been confused by that little girl.

  "Old man, you can do it, have confidence in yourself." Leng Ruoxue encouraged.

  "There are too many of them." Lan Meng said with a headache, a large group of bandits, at least several hundred people, were they going to fight a war of attrition?

  "Don't be afraid, at worst I'll lend you that old rascal." said Leng Ruoxue with great kindness.

  "Girl, you can't even handle it, and I'm an old man who's even more useless, spare me!" The old man hastily said, woe... how could he be a match for those robbers? Isn't this going to cost him his life?!

  "You old rascal, the little girl is giving you a chance to perform, you'd better seize it! Our lives are now in your hands." The old man said with his hand covering his mouth, sneaking a smile.

  "Get out of here, you old fart!" The old man yelled angrily.

  "Haha!" Leng Ruo Xue couldn't help but laugh again. Sometimes watching these two old men bickering was quite interesting!

  "Girl, old man has just had some fun with you, you can't let me go to my death again!" The poor old man said pitifully, and his eyes seemed to be shining with tears.

  "Hmm, these robbers, Blue Old Man can handle them alone." Lan Xue said with great confidence, she was eager to see Blue Ming's strength, so how could she possibly help?

  "That's good." The old man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and finally felt at ease.

  "Little girl, are you really so unrighteous?" Lan Meng asked with a bitter face, somewhat pitifully. Alas! This little girl is even more cunning than a fox!

  "Hmm, I don't know what you mean by 'brotherhood'." Lan Xue said calmly, but in her heart, she was already laughing secretly, heh heh, now Lan Meng would definitely have to take action.

  "Hey, have you guys made up your minds yet?" one of the robbers asked impatiently.

  "What's the hurry? We're still negotiating, aren't we?" Leng Ruoxue said calmly, casting a cold glance at the bandit.

  "Lao Lanz, hurry up! They're all getting impatient. Remember, you can do it!" Cold Snow turned her head and said to Lan Meng again.

  "Hmm! Alright!" Lan Meng said stiffly, he couldn't be looked down upon by this little woman.

  "Hey, you! Let's have a fight." Lan Meng pointed at the leader of the bandits.

  "I'm not interested in you." The leader of the robbers said coolly, without even giving Lan Meng a glance.

  "Haha!" Leng Ruo Xue couldn't help but laugh again. This bandit leader really has character!

  "Is it funny?" The leader of the robbers looked at Leng Ruo Xue with a slightly displeased tone.

  "Isn't it funny?" asked Leng Ruoxue.

  "Not funny at all." The leader of the robbers said very seriously.

  "You've lost your sense of humor." Leng Ruoxue looked the bandit leader up and down, finally giving a very fair evaluation.

  "Hmm, I know." The leader of the robbers nodded in agreement.

  "Who exactly is going to fight me, aren't you trying to sell me off? If I lose, I'll let you guys sell me." At this time, Lan Meng, who had been completely ignored, roared in anger.

  "Blue old man, you must calm down!" Leng Ruoxue said with several black lines on her forehead. Alas! It seems that Blue Ming has really been driven mad by anger.

  "It's unbearable." Lan Meng said with a bad tone, humph... being bullied by a little girl was one thing, but that group of blind bandits actually dared to bully him too, it's really like they thought he was a sick cat and not a fierce tiger!

  Lan Meng finished speaking and directly launched an attack on the group of bandits. Hmph! You don't make a move, then I'll have to make the first move myself.

  In an instant, only a pale blue water attribute mysterious power was seen fluttering in the air, entwining with that group of bandits...

  Just moments later, one-fifth of those bandits had fallen.

  However, the leader of the robbers just stood by and watched, without any intention of intervening.

  "Hey, if you don't make a move, your subordinates will all be killed!" Leng Ruoxue reminded him kindly. This bandit leader was really incomprehensible! His subordinates were dying and injured, but he seemed to ignore them, his tiger-like eyes fixed on her with a fierce stare. It was strange, she thought, looking at her current appearance which was so ugly. What was there to look at? Was it that he had never seen a woman as ugly as her before?

  "They're not under my command." The bandit leader said indifferently.

  "Huh!" Leng Ruo Xue's forehead dripped with two drops of cold sweat, what kind of thing is this? Those bandits obviously took him as their leader, but this great bandit actually didn't acknowledge those little rascals as his subordinates, it's... really too strange!

  "We're just business partners." The leader of the robbers spoke out to explain, seeing through Leng Ruoxue's thoughts.

  "Oh! Then why are you always staring at me? Won't it be because you're dazzled by my beauty?" Cold Snow teased.

  "You're really ugly, I've never seen a woman as ugly as you in my whole life!" the leader of the robbers said bluntly.

  "Thank you for the compliment." Leng Ruoxue said nonchalantly.

  "No need for courtesy, let's have a match. If you win, I'll be your man from now on." The bandit leader proposed very seriously.

  After hearing the bandit leader's words, Leng Ruo Xue's forehead was filled with black lines. What do you mean by "from now on, I'm your person"? Please don't speak so ambiguously, there's a vinegar jar beside her.

  As expected, Leng Ruo Xue hadn't even opened his mouth to speak when Yao Jiao flew into a rage...

  "Damn it, who are you to intervene, Xue'er is mine!" The demon yelled furiously.

  "Hmm, you're quite ugly too, you two are a pretty good match." The leader of the robbers said, looking at the demon with a very serious expression.

  "Huh!" Hearing him say that, the demoness didn't know what to do anymore. From his tone, it seemed he hadn't planned on competing with him for Xue Er after all!

  "How about it? Let's get down to business!" The leader of the robbers asked again.

  "Your strength is above mine, isn't sparring with me bullying me?" Lan Ruo Xue gave him a cold glance, her tone slightly displeased.

  "We're not inferior to the Xuanli," said the leader of the bandits.

  "Huh? What's that compared to?" asked Leng Ruoxue with a puzzled expression.

  "I want to have a Dan-refining contest with you." The bandit leader said surprisingly.

  "Huh? Alchemy? You've got the wrong person!" Leng Ruoxue asked in surprise, but her mind couldn't help but wonder, how did he know that she was an alchemist?

  "I believe my instincts, you must have taken the Easy Change Pill!" The bandit leader said with great certainty. He had sensed a very strong fire attribute mystic power on Leng Ruoxue's body, and combined with her Easy Change Pill, that's why he made the guess that the woman in front of him was an alchemist.

  "Are you an alchemist?" asked Leng Ruoxue calmly, and it could be seen that she had taken the Easy Change Pill, so this man's alchemy talent should not be low!

  "Hmm." The leader of the robbers nodded and said.

  "How about it? Are you going to compete with me or not?" The bandit leader urged and asked.

  "Alright, but if you lose, you'll have to become my subordinate and be loyal to me forever." said Leng Ruoxue.

  "No problem, as long as you can win me over." The leader of the robbers nodded.

  Leng Ruo Xue glanced at Lan Ming and said, "After Old Man Blue finishes dealing with those little rascals, we'll compare."

  "Alright." The leader of the robbers replied and stepped aside to watch.

  "Go help Lao Lao He!" Glancing at Lan Meng, who was busy to the point of being unable to catch his breath, Cold-as-Snow released Charm, Baby, and Yao, saying, "If you don't help out, Lao Lao He will work himself to death."

  "Little girl, you still have a bit of conscience." Lan Meng said, seeing Beast suddenly join in and shouting at Leng Ruo Xue.

  "I'm not doing it for your sake, I'm doing it for myself to get some exercise." Lan Ruo Xue said calmly.

  "Hmph! Little girl, let me be happy for once, or I'll die!" Lan Meng complained.

  "You're unhappy, I'll be happy!" Leng Ruoxue said with a cold smile.

  "Alas! You heartless dead girl, you might as well just suffocate me to death." Lan Meng said with some melancholy.

  "That's not possible, you still owe me money!" said Leng Ruoxue with a smile.

  “……”

  Lan Meng heard Leng Ruo Xue's words and really wanted to vomit blood! What did he mean by saying that he still owed her money? That was clearly payment, how did it become his debt?! Woe... It's really true that women and petty men are hard to deal with!

  "Old Blue, you're not allowed to slack off! Hurry up and eliminate these bandits, I have more important things to attend to!" Leng Ruoxue urged on.

  "Dead girl, I'm about to die from exhaustion, which eye of yours saw me slacking off?" Lan Meng shouted angrily.

  Not far away, Jin Hui, who was fighting with dozens of robbers, looked at his master with great sympathy and sighed! Poor master! You've never won a verbal fight with that little devil, how come you still don't learn from your mistakes?!

  "Xue Er, are we really not going to help?" Leng Qing Tian asked in a low voice, looking at Lan Hui Zhang with a hint of embarrassment as he single-handedly fought off the enemy.

  "Grandpa, don't worry! Lao Hei can handle it, we have to trust him." Lan Ruo Xue gave her grandpa a reassuring look and comforted him.

  "It's not like there are already people who can do the job, so why do we need to lift a finger!" The old man said it as if it was only natural, but poor Lan Meng had already been treated by him as a disposable pawn.

  "Haha, Grandpa, you're so calm." Leng Ruoxue smiled lightly, the old man's words really touched her heart.

  "Alright, alright!" Leng Qing Tian sympathetically glanced at Lan Meng, sighing. "Lan will grow up, it's not that I don't want to help! It's just that your strength is too overwhelming. As the saying goes, 'the capable bear more burdens'! So, you're overworked."

  The leader of the robbers standing not far away was twitching at the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself, what kind of people are these? He even began to doubt his own eyesight, had he mistaken them for someone else?

  About half an hour later, when the last ray of mysterious power disappeared before everyone's eyes, all the bandits were completely annihilated...

  "Little girl, what's going on with this leader?" Lan Meng looked at the bandit leader and asked.

  "He can't die! He's going to be under me in the future." Leng Ruoxue said with a cold smile.

  "Huh?" Lan Meng was stunned for a moment, had something happened that he didn't know about? Just now his mind was all focused on the battle, so he hadn't noticed the situation over here.

  "He wants to compete with me in alchemy, and if he loses, he'll become my subordinate." explained Leng Ruoxue.

  "Ah! Little girl, are you a Dan Master too? Why didn't you tell me?" Lan Meng was shocked beyond words. This little girl's Xuan Master potential was already astonishingly impressive, and if she was also a Dan Master... he couldn't even begin to imagine her future...

  "Do I have to tell everyone I meet that I'm Dan Shifu? You said so, but you didn't even ask me!" Leng Ruoxue said innocently.

  "Hmm! I was wrong, I shouldn't have argued with you about this." Lan Meng said somewhat dejectedly, but in his heart he couldn't help but feel indignant. Did he have to ask everyone he met if they were Dan Shifu?

  "Knowing one's mistakes and being able to correct them is a good child." said Leng Ruoxue in praise.

  "Thanks." Lan Meng said with a gloomy face, and happened to glare at Jin Hui, who was hiding on the side and sneaking a laugh. Humph... even his own beast was making fun of him.

  "Can we start comparing now?" The leader of the robbers couldn't help but ask.

  "Let's begin!" Cold-as-Snow nodded and took out a small, exquisite dan furnace from her sleeve.

  "Wow! Girl, this dan furnace is really too... The old man doesn't know what words to use to describe this dan furnace. As a vessel master, he's very clear about the high quality of the dan furnace that Leng Ruoxue took out, and besides, according to his guess, this shouldn't be the best one among Girl's dan furnaces."

  The leader of the robbers also had a gleam in his eyes, staring at the small furnace that was only the size of a palm, and his saliva almost flowed out. This furnace was absolutely coveted by alchemists... He glanced at the slightly rough furnace in his hand and felt a little inferior...

  "If I win, you have to give me this dan furnace." The bandit leader calmed down and spoke with a thick face.

  "No problem, if you lose, I'll give it to you anyway. I've always been generous to those under me." said Leng Ruoxue with a smile.

  "I said that head! What you're using isn't even a dan furnace!" The old man stared at the bandit leader's hand holding the dan furnace for half a day before he realized, what kind of dan furnace was that? It was clearly just an unrefined mineral ore block! He had lived so long and yet it was his first time seeing a dan master refining with raw mineral materials!

  "No way, I can only use this one!" The leader of the robbers said with some frustration. Alas! This crude dan furnace was something he had to figure out on his own!

  "Use this!" Leng Ruoxue couldn't bear it anymore, handing the dan furnace in her hand to the bandit leader. Anyway, this guy wouldn't be able to escape from her palm.

  "Thank you, I'm Zheng En," the leader of the robbers said gratefully, and hastily took over the dan furnace handed over by Leng Ruo Xue, holding it tightly in his arms as if he was afraid someone would snatch it away.

  After giving the elixir furnace to Zheng En, Leng Ruo Xue took out another elixir furnace from her sleeve and placed it in front of herself.

  "Let's begin!" said Leng Ruoxue calmly.

  "Huh? How do you have so many pill furnaces?" Zheng En asked, somewhat dumbfounded. He couldn't even get his hands on a decent one, yet this woman had suddenly produced two... Alas, it's really frustrating to see such a huge gap between people! As fellow alchemists, how could the difference be so great?

  "What my master left for me, can you surpass it or not?" asked Leng Ruoxue hastily.

  "Come on, come on!" Zheng En hastily said. As the saying goes, "Eat a man's food and your mouth becomes soft; take a man's money and your hands become short." After receiving Cold Snow's dan furnace, he couldn't be cool anymore.

  "You go first!" Leng Ruo Xue said very modestly, men have priority after all!

  "You go first!" Zheng En also became modest.

  "Come on, kid! What's taking so long?" The old man urged impatiently.

  "Oh, okay!" Zheng En nodded helplessly and then lit up the dan furnace.

  "It's actually divine fire!" Looking at the reddish-purple flames, Old Man Zuo widened his eyes and said with envy, "Hmph... he also wants divine fire!"

  Cold as snow, she looked at her future subordinate with satisfaction. Someone who possesses the divine flame of fate is truly a rare find. Who would have thought that she would actually meet one? Haha! It's really great!

  As soon as she saw the other's alchemy furnace had been ignited, a small flame appeared on her fingertips. The moment this small flame appeared, the people who were originally surrounding her immediately jumped away from her and looked at her with horror-stricken faces. Zheng En, who was taking out medicine from his ring, also stared at her in incredulity...

  "What are you doing?" asked Leng Ruo Xue with some confusion, what kind of eyes were those?

  "Girl, do you want to roast us alive?" The old man said somewhat speechlessly, this girl's flame temperature had actually risen again...

  "Xue Er, we can't take the temperature of your fire." Leng Qing Tian explained.

  "Huh!" Leng Ruo Xue was speechless. Was the temperature of this flame really that high? How come she didn't feel it?

  "Young master, is this fire's temperature very high?" asked Leng Ruoxue as she turned her head to look at the only demon who had not left her side.

  "It's fine." The demon's face was full of flattering words, but his words also brought several disdainful glances.

  "You're still the best-behaved." Cold-as-Snow stroked the demon's head like a small dog, praising him.

  "Uh-huh, that's a must. This demon is so pleased with himself! Hehe, Xue'er praised him again!"

  "What... what kind of flame is this?" Zheng En, who had come back to his senses, couldn't help but ask. This flame was actually able to make his own innate divine fire feel afraid - how was that possible? It was truly unbelievable! After all, his flames were a rare and exceptional divine fire!

  "It's divine fire, I suppose!" Cold-as-Snow said calmly, but in fact, she didn't know what kind of flame she had now. Anyway, the elixirs or equipment refined by her current flame were absolutely better than before.

  “……”

  Zheng En was speechless, what is considered as?

  "Are you done yet? Let's get started!" Leng Ruoxue urged, she was getting sleepy and wanted to go to bed.

  "What's the point of even comparing? I give up." Zheng En said helplessly, this woman's flame level was above his, completely suppressing his flames, so even if they compared, he would definitely lose, what's the point of even comparing?

  "Kid, you still have some sense of self-awareness. Comparing yourself to this girl is just asking for trouble!" The old man patted Zheng En's shoulder and said.

  "Ah, that's right. Her flames suppressed mine, and I absolutely couldn't bring out my best abilities." Zheng En nodded in agreement.

  "Can my flames suppress your flames?" asked Leng Ruoxue, somewhat curiously. Apart from that one time at the Academy's trial, she had never compared herself with others before, so she wasn't clear about her own flames having a suppressing effect on other flames.

  "I must be able to feel it, I'm afraid of my own life's flame." Zheng En nodded and said.

  "But last time at the academy's trial, it seemed that my flames didn't suppress the other flames?" Cold Snow said with some doubt, and shifted her gaze towards Old Man Jiu.

  "Girl, don't look at me! Your own flames, you know best yourself." The old man hastily said. The divine fire may not exert too much pressure on other flames, but this girl's flames are probably no longer divine now, so it's normal for them to exert pressure on other flames as well.

  Was it because of evolution? Leng Ruoxue pondered, and then she seemed to have sensed the emotions conveyed by her innate flame, which meant... you guessed right...

  "Girl, you'd better not compare with others in the future!" The old man continued to say, alas! Who dares to compare with this girl, that is looking for death!

  "Hmm, from now on, let me handle such trivial matters." Zheng En nodded heavily and said.

  After finishing speaking, Zheng En suddenly knelt down on one knee and solemnly swore: "I, Zheng En, am willing to acknowledge..."

  Zheng En glanced at Leng Ruoxue and felt depressed. He had actually forgotten to ask the ugly woman's name! Wooo...

  "Cold as snow!" Cold-as-snow said.

  "Oh!"

  "I, Zheng En, swear to acknowledge Leng Ruoxue as my master, forever loyal and never betraying!" Zheng En made a vow to the heavens, and soon after, the contract array descended, and the contract was formally established.

  Leng Ruo Xue felt the spiritual connection between her and Zheng En, nodded in satisfaction. Hmm! This Zheng En is quite perceptive! He knows to establish a contract to show loyalty! However, what she didn't expect was that Zheng En turned out to be the mysterious king!

  "Zheng En, where is your hideout?" asked Leng Ruo Xue with some curiosity.

  "Ah! Miss, it's not far from here." Zheng En replied respectfully, with two drops of cold sweat dripping down his forehead. Alas! Now there was no need to guess, he also knew what the master wanted to do!

  "Take us away!" Leng Ruoxue said calmly, if they wanted to rob them, they should be prepared to be robbed back. Anyway, those bandits were all dead, and the leader of the bandits had become her subordinate. They couldn't let their hard-earned wealth over the years fall into someone else's hands, so she took care of it for them.

  "Alright, miss," Zheng En said.

  Leng Ruo Xue put the beasts into a ring, and everyone simply packed up their things. Led by Zheng En, they went to the bandits' lair.

  About twenty minutes later, Zheng En led Leng Ruoxue and others to a civilian house.

  "Zheng En, we haven't come to the wrong place, have we?" Leng Ruo Xue looked at the tall and grand mansion in front of her, clicking her tongue in wonder. How could bandits live so well? No wonder even Master Xuan had gone to become a bandit.

  "Miss, it's right here." Zheng En said very affirmatively, uh! He also knew that this place wasn't very convincing, but this was indeed the lair of the bandits!

  "Go take a look!" Leng Ruoxue pushed open the courtyard door and walked straight in.

  After entering, Leng Ruo Xue and the others were even more stunned. The courtyard was luxurious and spacious to the point of being breathtaking. Moreover, there were many rooms in the courtyard. Each room, just from its appearance, had a magnificent aura that could be compared to the main hall of an imperial palace...

  "No wonder even Lian Xuan Shi has gone to become a bandit." The old man sighed with some self-deprecation, "Hmph... he's lived for so long, but never stayed in such a good house before."

  "Hmm, I'm tempted to become a bandit too." Leng Ruoxue nodded in agreement. As a master of the mysterious arts, her status was high and noble, but perhaps being a bandit would be more lucrative! After all, it's a business with no initial investment!

  Lan Meng heard Leng Ruo Xue's words and had a few black lines on his forehead, thinking to himself, "Aren't you currently acting like a bandit?"

  "Miss, being a bandit isn't easy nowadays either!" Zheng En said with a bitter face.

  "Why?" asked Leng Ruoxue with some confusion.

  "As a bandit, one must always be prepared to die at any moment. And the first rule of being a bandit is that robbery is allowed, but killing people is absolutely not. Otherwise, once you become the public enemy of the entire continent, everyone will be out to get you." Zheng En explained.

  "Didn't those people just say they wanted to kill us?" Leng Ruo Xue said somewhat speechlessly.

  "They're just trying to scare you, they won't really kill you. But it's possible that they'll sell him for some money, after all, they can't just waste their time! " Zheng En pointed at Lan Ming and said, what a pity! This time those bandits kicked an iron plate and were killed instead."

  "Haha, those guys are quite discerning, he can indeed sell for a good price." Leng Ruoxue said with a happy smile.

  "But I'm curious, where will they sell Lao San to?" asked Leng Ruo Xue.

  "Many places, it's also possible to sell to some wealthy families who love beautiful colors," said Zheng En.

  "Oh!" Cold-as-Snow deliberately dragged out her voice, and at the same time, also earned a white eye from Blue Ming.

  "Miss, actually, I just have a cooperative relationship with those robbers." Zheng En continued.

  "What kind of cooperation?" asked Leng Ruoxue curiously.

  "They provide me with all sorts of herbs, and I have to help them make a big show, who made me the strongest among them!" Zheng En said somewhat helplessly, alas! For the sake of herbs, he had to join forces with those bandits! Woe...

  "Those robbers are quite clever, they know how to use the tiger's might to scare people." said Leng Ruoxue in praise.

  "What's the use, you'll still die in our hands." Zheng En glanced at Lan Meng and said. From the moment he first saw this man, he knew that this man was very powerful.

  "Miss, after all these years, the loot they brought back is all here." As he spoke, Zheng En had already led Leng Ruoxue and the others to a nondescript room door.

  "Open the room!" Leng Ruoxue ordered.

  "Alright." Zheng En opened the door with his key and led Cold-as-Snow and others inside...

  Digression

  Thank you, dear Li Chenxiu, for the diamond.

  Thank you, dear Li Qingxiu, for the flowers.

  Thank you for the reward from Wenye tonight.

  Thank you for the votes from Qinxueqiuzhi, Heiye Lianlian, Huang Chunhui, yzdrh, Qingxu who is disturbing me, and sxm198497.