Chapter 180: The Plump Elder, Flattery Greeting and The Hidden Dragon ( Bonus GT - IV )

Chapter 180: The Plump Elder, Flattery Greeting and The Hidden Dragon ( Bonus GT Chapter IV )

Seeing Lin Feng and the inner disciples trembling but still trying to hold onto their dignity, Patriarch Zhao Feng let out a cold, mocking sneer.

He stepped forward to boost their morale.

"Junior Brother Lin, why are you being so polite to this trash?" Zhao Feng said loudly, his voice filled with confidence. "You need to understand the influence of a Cloudwater Sect Elder! In this entire Jade City, only the Core Disciples of the inner sect possess the qualification to mobilize the Elders! Since the emergency signal talisman has been crushed, the Elder arriving will definitely be a Peak Core Formation Realm or even a Nascent Soul Realm! Once they arrive, this rogue cultivator will be skinned alive! He is completely doomed!"

Zhao Feng’s words were like a shot of adrenaline to the Cloudwater Sect disciples. Lin Feng straightened his back, his fear turned into a expectant joy. ’That’s right! An Elder is coming! This arrogant brat was about to face the true wrath of the sect!’

But looking at the terrified faces of the disciples, Yu Liang didn’t show even a hint of panic. Instead, he let out a loud, unrestrained laugh.

"Hahaha! Hahahahaha!"

His laughter was clear and bright, echoing in the silent restaurant, completely shattering the tense atmosphere.

The disciples and Zhao Feng were stunned. ’Why is he laughing? Is he scared out of his mind and gone crazy? An Elder is about to descend, and he’s actually laughing?’

Before they could even open their mouths to curse him, a sudden, violent gust of wind blew open the restaurant doors.

Boom!

A figure descended from the sky, landing heavily in the center of the hall. It was a plump, middlenaged man. He was dressed in the luxurious purple coloured robes of a High Ranking Cloudwater Sect Elder. His face was round, his eyes were small and squinty. He looked more like a wealthy, pampered mortal merchant than a terrifying cultivation expert.

Seeing the purple robes, Lin Feng and the disciples instantly dropped to one knee, bowing their heads respectfully. "We greet Elder Qian!"

It was none other than Handyman Disciple Area’s Chief Elder incharge, Elder Qian.

Seeing his arrival they expected Elder Qian to immediately unleash his terrifying aura and detain the restaurant owner. They were already preparing to point their fingers at Yu Liang and complain about his atrocities.

But before they could even utter a single word of complaint, a scene that defied all their logic unfolded.

Elder Qian completely ignored the kneeling disciples. He didn’t even look at them. The moment his squinty eyes landed on Yu Liang, his face instantly broke into a massive, incredibly sycophantic, and radiant smile. He practically ran, literally ran towards Yu Liang.

"Young Master! Young Master Yu!" Elder Qian’s voice was filled with exaggerated joy and flattery. He bowed so deeply his double chin almost touched his chest. "I didn’t know it was you here! What a coincidence! What a massive coincidence! I was just thinking about how lucky I am today, and here you are! Your aura is even more majestic than last time! Truly a dragon among men, a peerless genius!"

Clatter

Lin Feng’s jade folding fan slipped from his hand and hit the floor.

The entire restaurant became completely and utterly shocked. The silence was so profound that one could hear the sound of a pin dropping. Everyone’s eyes were bulging out of their sockets, their jaws practically hitting the ground.

Then, a frenzied, whispered discussion instantly exploded of the onlookers.

"The elder... the elder who came to help and detain the restaurant owner... is calling the owner ’Young Master’?!"

"Did I hear that right? Elder Qian is flattering him?!"

"Look at that smile! That’s the smile of a subordinate seeing his boss! What kind of terrifying background does this guy have?!"

"Wait a minute! Didn’t Elder Qian come here to investigate the restaurant? Why does it look like he’s here to pay his respects?!"

"Even the way he speaks has changed! I’ve never seen an Elder act so politely toward anyone!"

"Could it be that this Young Master Yu is some hidden young lord from a major sect? No wonder he doesn’t take anyone seriously!"

"Look at Elder Qian’s face! He’s practically afraid of offending him. Just who have we been eating with all this time?!"

The Cloudwater Sect disciples nearly suffered a heart attack right there on the spot. Their faces turned from red to pale, then to a sickly green. They didn’t know whether to cry, to vomit blood, or to immediately kowtow and beg for mercy.

Just a moment ago, to avoid provoking the Zhao Family, they had sided with the inner city overlords and threatened this young man. They thought he was just a lone, arrogant rogue cultivator. But now, seeing their own sect Elder flattering the guy like a loyal dog, they realized with a absurd clarity that they hadn’t just provoked a person, they had provoked a hidden dragon! If Elder Qian was this respectful to him, what would happen to them when the Elder turned around?

Patriarch Zhao Feng was even more dead inside. His soul was practically trembling.

He knew the truth about Elder Qian. To the outside world, Elder Qian looked like a fat, goofy, handyman errand elder who just managed some of the sect’s external finances. But Zhao Feng knew the terrifying secret behind this plump man. Elder Qian’s hidden connections and his true family were something that even the Zhao Family’s supreme ancestor, Inner Elder Zhao Wuji, deeply feared! If Elder Qian was acting like this, it meant Yu Liang’s background was far beyond the Cloudwater Sect itself!

Realizing that he was completely doomed if he didn’t act, Zhao Feng gritted his teeth until they bled. He desperately stepped forward, interrupting the flattery.

"Elder Qian!" Zhao Feng shouted, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and desperate anger. He pointed a shaking finger at Yu Liang. "The emergency signal was for this guy! You don’t understand the situation!"

Zhao Feng quickly counted off Yu Liang’s ’crimes’, trying to shame the sect. "This man is a demon! He slaughtered my Zhao Family’s elite guards without provocation! He humiliated my son and smashed his head! He openly defied the law of the Jade City and is blatantly shaming the authority of the Cloudwater Sect! If you don’t arrest him today, the reputation of the sect will be trampled into the mud!"

Hearing this, Elder Qian’s sycophantic smile finally froze.

He blinked his small eyes, looking around the hall. He saw the bloody mess on the walls, the unconscious and dead Blood Armor Guards, the broken head of Zhao Kuang, and the crushed emergency talisman in Lin Feng’s hand.

"Ah..." Elder Qian scratched his balding head, his expression turned awkward and slightly embarrassed. He turned back to Yu Liang, his tone apologetic.

"Young Master, I... I was actually just running an errand," Elder Qian explained. "After that last transac– ahem, gifts, yes gifts as a appreciation I received made me Breakthrough and of the remaining amount I made quite a hefty sum of spiritual stones. I was just on my way back to my new courtyard to count my profits and enjoy some wine when I suddenly received this distress signal. I thought the sect’s capital was under attack by demonic cultivators, so I rushed over here like my life depended on it! I didn’t expect it to be... well, a misunderstanding involving you."

Elder Qian paused, his squinty eyes slowly narrowed as he turned his gaze toward Zhao Feng and Lin Feng. The warm, flattering aura around him instantly vanished, replaced by a terrifying, suffocating pressure that made the air freeze.

"So," Elder Qian’s voice dropped and his plump face was completely devoid of its previous joy. "You guys... actually dared to use the sect’s highest emergency signal... to frame Young Master Yu Liang?"