Chapter 4032 — Zhang Lifeng Appears
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
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.