After getting kicked by Lu Yang and returning to the room, Meng Jingzhou finally got a clear look at the three women's faces, and a cold sweat broke out all over him in an instant.
He didn't recognize Jin Caiwei, but he had met both Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi. *Lu Yang, you little brat, what on earth did you do to invite these two great deities into our home?!*
"Meng Jingzhou greets the three seniors. Forgive me for not welcoming you sooner upon your arrival at our Meng Residence." Although he didn't recognize Jin Caiwei, judging by her presence, she was hardly inferior to Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi; she was definitely a senior as well.
"Ah, the Meng family lad." Ao Ling still vividly remembered this little cultivator who had pioneered the Heavy Nascent stage.
At first, she had assumed that cultivating two Nascent Souls was the current trend among cultivators. It was only after leaving the Dao Seeking Sect and traveling through the contemporary cultivation world that she realized Meng Jingzhou was a special case.
"Meng Jingzhou pays his respects to Senior Ao Ling, Senior Jiang Lianyi, and this little senior."
The "little senior" was naturally Jin Caiwei.
Jin Caiwei had a favorable impression of the Meng family. Her Qiongqi Clan frequently borrowed money from them, which had helped the clan weather several crises, and most importantly, the interest rates were reasonable.
"I am Jin Caiwei of the Qiongqi Clan. I have been slumbering since ancient times."
Meng Jingzhou sucked in a breath of cold air. *I knew anyone hanging around Lu Yang couldn't possibly have an ordinary background. Look, another ancient immortal beast just popped up! And of the Qiongqi Clan, no less.*
"There is no need to make a fuss about our presence, and especially do not mention it to your Meng family," Ao Ling instructed, unwilling to cause trouble.
The three of them could easily evade the Ministry of Justice's search, so they could naturally hide from Meng Jingzhou as well. The only reason they hadn't concealed their auras was out of respect for him being Lu Yang's close friend.
Two days later, the Meng family received a piece of grapevine news: Emperor Xia's lifespan was nearly exhausted, and he had fallen into a coma; the Imperial Palace was heavily guarded, with no entry or exit permitted. According to Meng Jingzhou's father, this rumor was very likely true.
Lu Yang had not expected Emperor Xia's condition to deteriorate to such an extent. When they had parted two days ago, the emperor had clearly been full of vigor and spirit. Just as Lu Yang was anxiously preparing to awaken the Immortal Fairy to see if she could think of a solution, an unexpected guest arrived at the Meng Residence.
"Junior Brother Man, what brings you here?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou went out together to greet him, finding Man Gu blankly staring into space at the main gate, a bundle strapped across his back.
Man Gu had never seen such a magnificent entrance gate before.
"Don't just stand at the gate. Come in, come in!" Lu Yang played the host, bustling Man Gu inside while nudging Meng Jingzhou aside.
Since it was Man Gu's first time visiting the Meng Residence, he felt rather shy.
Seeing Lu Yang, Man Gu was reminded of the news he had heard on his way here and looked at him with admiration.
"Brother Lu, you're incredible! I heard that you composed a lyric on the spot at Lotus Tower, and it was acclaimed as the foremost lyric of the Shangyuan Festival!"
As a Confucian cultivator, Man Gu had never imagined that Lu Yang's attainments in the Confucian Dao were so far beyond his own. Especially after hearing that poem "Green Jade Cup: Lantern Festival Night," he practically regarded Lu Yang as a celestial!
Lu Yang offered an awkward smile, too embarrassed to admit that it had been plagiarized, and even more embarrassed to admit that the Immortal Fairy had been putting on airs on his behalf.
Upon hearing that Man Gu had arrived, Meng Potian immediately ordered a feast of spiritual food to entertain him.
"Your clan chief and I are old acquaintances! How has he been lately?" Meng Potian chuckled heartily, inquiring about the Barbarian clan chief's recent situation without a hint of an elder's haughtiness.
"The clan chief is doing well. I just saw him half a month ago," Man Gu replied with an honest, good-natured smile, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to Meng Potian's warm hospitality.
"Junior Brother Man, you went back home?"
"Yes, I just went back for a trip. Half a month ago was our Barbarian clan's Ancestor Worship Day. I wasn't very willing to return at first, but the clan insisted that I attend."
Meng Jingzhou nodded repeatedly. "Understood, totally understood. After all, you belong to the ancient Barbarian clan. Even if no one else went, you would still have to."
Man Gu shook his head, an uncharacteristically bashful look crossing his face. "It wasn't really because of that. It's mainly because isn't my Nascent Soul the Ancestral Forebears Nascent Soul? During the ancestor worship, the clan elders insisted on putting me on the stage, having me summon my Nascent Soul so the clansmen could kowtow and sing hymns to me."
Meng Jingzhou: "..."
Just imagining Man Gu sitting on the stage while tens of thousands of barbarians below simultaneously kowtowed and sang to him was enough to make anyone cringe.
"Doesn't your Nascent Soul summon ancestors at random?"
"That's why the elders decided to worship at random. They're all ancestors anyway, so it makes no difference who gets worshipped."
Lu Yang thought that they truly lived up to being the Barbarian clan. Now that the hex cast by the Immortal Fairy was gone, their thinking was noticeably more nimble and versatile. That was a good thing.
"Uncle Meng, are you very close with our clan chief?" Man Gu asked.
"Oh? Did he never tell you? Your Barbarian clan and our Meng family have a friendship spanning a hundred thousand years! You could say we've been on good terms for generations!"
"That long?" Man Gu was astonished. The clan chief had never mentioned this to him.
"Indeed! Back when the world was being contested, your barbarian ancestors followed the Jiang family, serving as a fierce general under the First-Generation Emperor Xia, Jiang Ping'an—and our Meng family frequently beat him into fleeing with his head in his hands!"
Man Gu: "..."
"Of course, that's all ancient history, long in the past. Our Meng family is no longer the Meng family that fought for dominion over the world. Nowadays, we only want to make money honestly."
"By the way, Junior Brother Man, what's in your bundle? It smells quite fragrant," Lu Yang said, twitching his nose. The bundle Man Gu was carrying gave off a refreshing, soothing aroma that was even more fragrant than the spiritual food on the banquet table.
"I don't know either. After the ancestor worship ended and I returned to the Dao Seeking Sect, Eldest Senior Sister handed me this bundle and told me to bring it to the Imperial City to give to you. She said you would understand as soon as you saw it, and she strictly instructed me that I must not open it.
"Speaking of which, it's quite strange. When I set off, the bundle had no scent at all, but as I got closer to the Imperial City, this fragrance began to drift out.
"Here."
The moment he heard it was from Eldest Senior Sister, Lu Yang took the bundle. He didn't even care about finishing his meal; bidding farewell to Meng Jingzhou and his father, he hurried back to his room.
"Senior Brother Lu Yang, what happened? Why are you in such a rush?" In the room, the three ancient half-immortals were studying how to apply the rudimentary Plane Dao fruit.
"What a familiar fragrance." Jiang Lianyi drifted her gaze toward the bundle Lu Yang was carrying.
Lu Yang placed the bundle on the bed and unwrapped it to reveal a familiar wooden box. Opening the box, he saw a plump, tender pink peach resting quietly inside.
The faint aroma drifting out of the wooden box came entirely from this peach.
"No wonder it smelled so familiar—it's an immortal peach borne from the Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Root!" Jiang Lianyi said with a smile, recognizing the peach's origin.
Lu Yang recalled having seen this immortal peach before leaving for the Imperial City. At that time, it had still been unripe and green. Looking at it now, it had clearly ripened.
"It is indeed an immortal peach, and one that has just ripened," Ao Ling and Jin Caiwei agreed, having recognized it as well.
All three of them had eaten immortal peaches during ancient times; Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi in particular had eaten them often.
An immortal peach was something only ancient beings could recognize. Near the end of the ancient era, during the great battle between the Four Immortals and the mastermind behind the scenes, that Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Root had fled into the Peach Blossom Secret Realm and never emerged again.
As a result, no one after the ancient era recognized the immortal peach.
Chapter 943