Hong Yunfei, who Zhou Donghuang was glaring at, was now feeling desperate.
The young man in white in front of him was clearly one of the inner sect disciples of the Donghuang Sect. Otherwise, he would not have been able to send Fang Lunjie flying with just one offhanded slap to the face.
While being stared down at by someone like that, Hong Yunfei could not escape even if he wanted to.
“S… senior.”
Hong Yunfei barely mustered up the courage to address him and was initially going to blurt out “Junior,” considering that this young man standing in front of him was probably many years younger than him. But upon recalling that this young man was probably one of the inner sect disciples, and knowing that his own strength paled in comparison, Hong Yunfei immediately corrected himself.
“Whatever happened in the past was due to my youthful ignorance… for this matter, if you really want to report it, regardless of how the superiors decide to handle the case, I, Hong Yunfei, will accept it.
“However, if Senior would be so kind as to let me off the hook this once, I, Hong Yunfei, will be extremely grateful!”
At this point, Hong Yunfei gave a deep bow towards Zhou Donghuang with an extremely solemn expression on his face.
Hong Yunfei knew that his life lay in the hands of the person in front of him.
“Senior Yunfei?”
At this moment, Xiao Yong, an outer sect disciple, finally recovered from his moment of shock. Upon seeking Hong Yunfei bowing towards Zhou Donghuang and saying a string of words that he could not comprehend, Xiao Yong looked quizzically towards Hong Yunfei.
“Xiao Yong, this matter does not concern you, you should leave first.”
Hearing Xiao Yong call out to him, Hong Yunfei glanced at him and sighed.
“Senior, he is a disciple I met at this new sect, he has nothing to do with my past,” Hong Yunfei quickly explained, afraid that Zhou Donghuang would find trouble with Xiao Yong.
However, Zhou Donghuang did not reply to Hong Yunfei, but instead continued to stare quietly at him.
Zhou Donghuang was deep in thought about his past.
His thoughts returned to a thousand years ago. The turning point then was Chen Dandan’s betrayal, and the very cause of that betrayal was standing right before his eyes.
If Hong Yunfei had appeared before him a thousand years ago, without a doubt, Zhou Donghuang would have slapped him to his death if possible.
However, after the betrayal, Zhou Donghuang had gone on to set up the Donghuang Sect and stood supreme at the top of Ziyun planet. Any lingering thoughts about Hong Yunfei had long been thrown to the back of his mind.
Perhaps, from the start to the end, he had never seriously regarded Hong Yunfei.
As of this moment, upon seeing Hong Yunfei in person for the first time, Zhou Donghuang did not feel any hint of emotion, despite Hong Yunfei being someone whom he should hate.
A crowd of outer sect brothers stood around the two of them in a daze.
What does this inner sect disciple intend to do?
He seems to have some sort of hold over Hong Yunfei?
But if that is the case, why is he ignoring Hong Yunfei?
Hong Yunfei looked nervously at the young man in white, his heart filled with unfathomable anxiety. He was not sure if Zhou Donghuang was willing to let him off the hook.
Right when the area became rather quiet, a sudden voice was heard from afar. The voice was clearly coming from someone full of anger.
“Father! That’s him! He’s the one who hurt me!”
The voice drew the attention of the crowd of outer sect disciples, who, upon turning their heads in the direction of the voice, saw Fang Lunjie returning.
Fang Lunjie was limping over, trailing behind a middle-aged man.
This middle-aged man had a medium build and wore a long blue robe. His features were fifty to sixty percent similar to those of Fang Lunjie, but his chilling gaze bore daggers in one’s skin.
“It’s Elder Fang Danming!”
All the outer sect disciples present could recognize him.
“This inner sect senior is in trouble now…even if he is an inner sect disciple, Elder Fang Danming’s father is the inner sect elder, the elder in charge of the inner sect disciples!”
“Exactly… if Elder Fang Danming were any ordinary outer sect elder, then he might have to be concerned about whether this inner sect disciple had another elder backing him. But Elder Fang Danming is different; his father is the inner sect elder.”
“I’m afraid this inner sect senior will probably be punished. Regardless if it were Elder Fang Danming or his father, they are both notoriously protective. Two years ago, Senior Fang Lunjie was injured by an inner sect disciple. That disciple was eventually expelled from the inner sect by Fang Lunjie’s grandfather, the inner sect elder.”
…
The outer sect disciples gossiped among themselves. They looked at Zhou Donghuang with pity.
In their opinion, even if Zhou Donghuang were not expelled from the sect, his plight would definitely not be optimistic. This was unless he had someone even more powerful than Fang Lunjie’s grandfather backing him.
The moment Fang Lunjie pointed at Zhou Donghuang, Fang Danming locked his gaze onto Zhou Donghuang, and in a couple of steps, he reached his side. Fang Danming glared at Zhou Donghuang, asking “What is your name? What sect are you from?”
Fang Danming was hell bent on finding out Zhou Donghuang’s background.
After all, there were some inner sect disciples that were direct disciples of the core elders of the sect. They had such powerful backgrounds that even his father, the inner sect elder, could not afford to offend them.
Of course, for the majority of the inner sect disciples, they were under the tutelage of either the inner sect elders or the outer sect elders. There were even some disciples who were not under anyone’s tutelage; they were just ordinary inner sect disciples with no background.
“Inner sect disciple?”
Zhou Donghuang finally shifted his gaze from Hong Yunfei to Fang Danming. “Who said I was an inner sect disciple…? And you are his father?”
Zhou Donghuang’s gaze then shifted from Fang Danming to Fang Lunjie, who was standing behind him. “A son’s mistake stems from his father’s failure to teach… the fact that your son is this arrogant and disrespectful means that you as his father had a big part to play in it.
“Also…he proclaimed that with just a word from him, you as the outer sect elder, would cut off the spirit stones that the other outer sect disciples collected from the sect every month?”
At the mention of this, Zhou Donghuang’s glare grew fiercer.
Having sensed Zhou Donghuang’s piercing gaze, a shiver ran down Fang Danming’s spine.
Not an inner sect disciple?
Add to that the fact that he was full of confidence and showed no signs of fear when facing this outer sect elder.
Unless…
“You… you are a core disciple?!”
Fang Danming’s expression froze, and his voice trembled.
In the Donghuang Sect, there were a handful of core disciples who were the biological disciples of the central sect elders and who were superior to the inner sect disciples.
The ranking of the core disciples within the sect was comparable to that of the inner sect elders.
And because of their background, even the inner sect elders were careful not to anger them. Though the elders were not extreme to the point of being reverent to these core disciples, the elders were still definitely courteous towards them.
However, right after asking that question, Fang Danming furrowed his brows in confusion again.
He suddenly recalled that he had in fact met all the ten core disciples of the Donghuang Sect, and Zhou Donghuang was not a part of them.
Unless this was a newly recruited core disciple?
“I am not a core disciple.”
Just as Hong Yunfei and the surrounding group of outer sect disciples were still in shock from Zhou Donghuang’s supposed “core disciple” status, Zhou Donghuang denied Fang Danming’s claims.
“Not a core disciple?”
Fang Danming furrowed his brows in confusion.
Not an inner sect disciple nor a core disciple. Could he merely be an outer sect disciple?
But there probably wasn’t anyone with such strong powers in the outer sect, was there?
“Father, I think he’s just someone who smuggled himself into our Donghuang Sect, he does not even have the Donghuang Sect identity crest on his belt!”
Fang Lunjie seemed to have made a sudden discovery, his gaze falling on Zhou Donghuang’s belt as he exclaimed.
“One must know, that even people of the highest status, such as our Sect Leader’s mother, Lady Lin Lan, and his sister, Miss Yun Lu, will wear the sect’s core elder’s identity crest on their belt.
“And every visitor to the Donghuang Sect, including Lady Lin Lan’s guests, will wear the visitor identity crest on their belt when within the compounds of the Donghuang Sect.
“This is a rule of the Donghuang Sect that even Lady Lin Lan follows. So in my opinion, he is definitely an outsider who trespassed into the Donghuang Sect. He is fooling around with us!”
The more Fang Lunjie reasoned things out, the fiercer his gaze turned. He shouted, “Anyone who trespasses into the Donghuang Sect, according to our Donghuang Sect regulations, will be prosecuted!”
Upon hearing Fang Lunjie’s words, Fang Danming regained his senses and once again looked at the youth in white, his gaze turning icy. “Sir, which high-profile Donghuang Sect member are you a guest of?”
Zhou Donghuang was already tickled by Fang Lunjie’s previous conclusion about his core disciple status, but Fang Danming’s words made him burst out in laughter. “I am not anyone’s guest.”
“Who brought you into the Donghuang Sect then? The Donghuang Peak is the property of the Donghuang Sect, and outsiders are not allowed to enter!”
Fang Danming’s tone became even more hostile.
“No one brought me in,” Zhou Donghuang said coolly. “I came here by myself.”
Upon seeing the composure of this white-shirt youth in front of them, all the outer sect disciples thought that all this could possibly be a huge misunderstanding.
However, upon hearing Zhou Donghuang’s words, they were stunned.
Someone who was not a guest of any of the Donghuang Sect’s high-ranking members?
No one brought him in?
He came by himself?
Doesn’t that mean he committed a crime of trespassing into the Donghuang Sect?
“Haha…”
Fang Lunjie could not help himself and burst into laughter. “What did I say, he definitely is a trespasser!
“Father, since he has already admitted it himself, then there’s no need to be nice with him anymore! He trespassed into Donghuang Sect, so punish him!”
Fang Lunjie stared intensely at the young man in white standing in front of him, as though already witnessing the scene of Zhou Donghuang being ruthlessly killed by Fang Danming.
“Hand him over to the enforcement hall and let the law take care of him,” Fang Danming said after being silent for a moment.
He too wanted to personally kill Zhou Donghuang in order to stand up for his son.
However, seeing as how Zhou Donghuang was exhibiting such confidence and fearlessness from the start, he hesitated. If Zhou Donghuang were indeed someone of a superior background, then by killing him, wouldn’t he be digging his own grave?
Even if Zhou Donghuang’s background meant nothing to the Donghuang Sect, that did not mean that Fang Danming himself was not afraid of him.
Just as Fang Lunjie was beginning to express his unhappiness at the situation, Zhou Donghuang looked at Fang Danming and calmly said, “Before you send me to the enforcement hall, shouldn’t you first discipline your son, as well as yourself?
“He actually said in front of everyone, that with one word from him, he can get you to break the spirit stones supply of an outer sect disciple.”
