Chapter 4032 — Zhang Lifeng Appears

At that, Zheng Dongjue himself had nothing left to say, and he slumped to the ground, utterly despondent.

If Zheng Tianjie had been murdered, then no matter how violently he raged or how far he pressed the matter, it would not have been excessive. But the man had died from a furnace explosion while refining pills—and apart from blaming his own stupidity, just who the hell else was there to blame?

Tianchan breathed a quiet sigh of relief at the sight. So long as it had nothing to do with Wei Zhao, it made no difference how Zheng Tianjie had died—this was Heaven's own retribution, and he had deserved it.

Yet Zheng Dongjue fell silent for a moment, then suddenly rose from the ground and said, "No alchemist—unless driven to the very end of his rope—would ever refine pills in an unfamiliar place. The fear is precisely that kind of accident, a furnace explosion. What this Hall Master wishes to know now is this: for what reason, with no cause at all, did Tianjie suddenly take it into his head to open a furnace and refine pills on the Far North Island?"

"That—" Every one of those who had traveled with him to the Far North Island found their gaze drawn, as if by some unseen force, to Tianchan.

Tianchan's heart lurched. A moment ago she had been worrying on Wei Zhao's behalf; now, in the blink of an eye, she was the one plunged into danger. Zheng Dongjue had never been a good man to begin with, and now he was drowning in the grief of losing his grandson. Once his wrath turned on her, there was no telling what he might do.

"Could it be because of you, you wretched woman?" Zheng Dongjue's eyes went cold in an instant.

What sort of character his own grandson had, he knew perfectly well. Back then, for the sake of this woman who had come up from the mortal realm, the boy had pestered her shamelessly, heedless of all propriety. He had even wanted his grandfather to swallow his pride and arrange the marriage for him—and to curry favor with this wretched woman, he had opened a furnace and refined pills on the Far North Island. Only Zheng Tianjie could have done something so foolish.

His face dark with menace, Zheng Dongjue advanced on Tianchan step by step. He had always found this lowborn woman, spawned from the mortal realm, an eyesore. And now she had brought about the death of the grandson he valued most. How could such a plague be allowed to remain in the Alchemy Hall?

"Deputy Hall Master, Zheng Tianjie plainly died from a furnace explosion brought on by his own carelessness in refining pills. If the blame is to be laid at Chan'er's feet merely because she is a woman, that is not a tale that will be pleasant to hear once it gets out, is it?" Seeing how badly things were turning, Lianxin hurriedly stepped forward and planted herself in front of Tianchan.

"Hmph! You fail to teach your disciple properly, and this Hall Master has not yet settled accounts with you—yet you dare to step forward and shield this insolent pupil of yours? My fine grandson lies dead at the hands of you two wretched women. Truly, Heaven has no eyes! Men! Seize the both of them for this Hall Master, and let them taste the Hall's justice!"

Lianxin and Tianchan exchanged a glance, and both their hearts sank to the bottom of a well. With Hall Master Zhang Lifeng absent and the several nominal disciples of transcendent standing all standing aloof from the affair, the whole Alchemy Hall had become Zheng Dongjue's personal court. If they were truly seized like this and subjected to the Hall's justice—their cultivation crippled, perhaps even their very spirit-sense destroyed—the consequences did not bear thinking about.

Yet if they dared resist him openly now, the charge against them would only grow more grave. They could be struck down on the spot, and not a soul would dare utter a word against it.

Just as the two stood trapped between two impossible choices, a voice came from the doorway, freezing every person in the hall where they stood: "To invoke the Hall's justice over nothing but a fit of displaced anger—this Zhang was not aware that our Alchemy Hall had turned into a gang of thugs."

The voice came from the doorway. Yet by the time the crowd had gathered their wits, that figure had already appeared in the very center of the great hall. The familiar black Eight-Trigram robe, the bearing of an immortal, transcendent and apart from the vulgar world—it was none other than the Alchemy Hall's Hall Master, the legendary Dan Divine Physician-Sage, Zhang Lifeng!

"We greet the Hall Master!" Everyone in the hall dropped to their knees at once, bowing their heads in reverent salute. Even Zheng Dongjue, who had always held himself so high, could only stiffen his old face and offer his respects along with the rest.

Zhang Lifeng—this Divine Physician-Sage was a legend beyond the Hall's walls, and within them he was nothing short of a god. Every disciple worshiped and revered him from the bottom of their hearts, and his prestige and standing could not even be mentioned in the same breath as those of a mere Deputy Hall Master like Zheng Dongjue.

Zhang Lifeng had always been a dragon that showed its head but never its tail. While he was away wandering the world, Zheng Dongjue could throw his weight around as he pleased—but now that he was back, Zheng Dongjue did not dare let slip even a fart. Zhang Lifeng need not so much as lift a finger; a single careless word from him could grind the man back down into the dust.

"All of you, rise." Zhang Lifeng waved a hand, then glanced at Lianxin and her disciple Tianchan. "You two need not be afraid either. Our Alchemy Hall is a place for refining pills. So long as no one has betrayed their master or their ancestors, no one will dare lay the Hall's justice on you."

Lianxin and Tianchan were overjoyed, nodding again and again. "Yes—thank you, Hall Master, for your mercy."

Off to the side, Zheng Dongjue ground his teeth in silent fury, yet there was nothing he could do. Lend him ten times the courage, and he still would not dare contradict Zhang Lifeng to his face. He could only pinch his nose and swallow it in silence.

That said, Zhang Lifeng turned his head and glanced at Zheng Tianjie's corpse laid out before him. Suddenly he gave a faint "Eh?" of surprise. Studying the wounds upon the body, he fell into thought, and the corner of his mouth curled into a faint, intrigued smile.

Zheng Dongjue assumed Zhang Lifeng had spotted something amiss. With his grandson's death at stake, he dared not be careless in the slightest, and he hurriedly asked, "Hall Master, is something not right?"

"Not right?" Zhang Lifeng shot him a glance. "Of course something is not right! He was a fourth-rank alchemist already, and he still managed to die from a furnace explosion? Since when did the standard of our Alchemy Hall become so watery? Zheng Dongjue, there is a problem with your management!"

"Gah? I—" Zheng Dongjue nearly choked to death on that one sentence, the gloom and grievance on his face impossible to hide. My grandson has been blown to bits, and I still have a management problem?

Still, Zheng Dongjue never once dared utter a word of objection before Zhang Lifeng. He could only pinch his nose and concede, "The Hall Master's criticism is just. Your subordinate will see to it that improvements are made hereafter, and will not disappoint the Hall Master!"

Watching from the side as Zheng Dongjue was left choking on his own words, Tianchan felt a secret satisfaction—though at the same time she was rather puzzled. From Zhang Lifeng's reaction just now, it had plainly seemed that he had discovered something; for some reason, however, he had chosen not to say it.

Little did she know that Zhang Lifeng had indeed found something peculiar about Zheng Tianjie's corpse. As the world's acknowledged Divine Physician-Sage, there was no possibility that Wei Zhao's disguise—however masterfully done—could have escaped his eyes.