Ancestor Yuan De (Part 1)
Random person: “Ancestor Yuan De is Daoist Yuan Hua?”
Mu Yu’s remark triggered a wave of comments. He had trouble adjusting to the elder for Elder Leng he knew was fundamentally a different person all together; even the way he dressed was atypical of himself. Ku Mu didn’t even spare the elder a look, when he would’ve been in Elder Leng’s face already.
“You want to ruin Pill Cauldron Sect’s reputation?”
“Yes, it is him. The ignorant miscreant is maligning us and challenging our authority. Ancestor, I do not know what shabby sect he is fr-” Ji Liangcai informed.
“Ignorant miscreant? Shabby sect? Shut your trap! Have you not embarrassed yourself enough? Have you any idea who he is?” snapped Elder Leng, scowling.
Ji Liangcai’s brows popped up.
“He is Pill Cauldron Sect’s Bamboo Peak’s new master, Mu Yu. Which shabby sect were you just talking about?” reprimanded Elder Leng, voice booming.
“H-he is Mu Yu?!” stuttered Ji Liangcai, world turned upside down. It took a moment for his brain cogs to start turning. He recalled receiving news Mu Yu had been instated as Bamboo Peak’s new leader. The leadership rank was important, but more importantly was the name Mu Yu.
Ji Liangcai’s knees buckled. Shaking and sweating cold bullets was just the beginning. A putrid smell leaked from between his legs.
“Embarrassing!” scolded Elder Leng. “Do you realise your affront is enough for him to erase your cultivation and exile you from the sect?”
Ji Liangcai crawled over on his knees and kowtowed to Mu Yu repetitively. “Please spare me, Master! Please spare me! Please! I apologise for not knowing better!”
Mu Yu didn’t have the foggiest idea why Elder Leng was playing a serious character. Nonetheless, so as to not embarrass the elder in public, he sauntered over to offer a bow. His lips were pursed, but his stomach was involuntarily contracting. “Greetings… Ancestor Yuan De?”
Elder Leng’s face twitched; it didn’t take a genius to figure out Mu Yu was poking fun at him. Still, he was glad Mu Yu didn’t get in his face and expose him.
“Mm. As my grand disciple and the leader of Bamboo Peak, you need to elucidate me as to what happened,” demanded Elder Leng, stroking his beard.
Grand disciple? I want to give you my boot. You sure know how to take advantage of the circumstances, huh? Mu Yu communicated with his eyes. He deliberately drawled, “Eld-, Ancestor, Hundreds Herb Hall honours fairness in business. One of our codes of conduct is to be honest to others and not swindle our customers. He evaluated this 3000-year-old indifferent sacred lotus as a 1000-year-old lotus. If people find out we cheated our customer, they would call blacklist us as a fraud centre. I had to take a stand to protect our reputation.”
Mu Yu passed Elder Leng the lotus. Elder Leng looked at Mu Yu, then down at the herb. He nodded and concurred loudly, “Indeed, it is a 3000-year-old indifferent sacred lotus.”
The owner of the lotus could jump with joy, though Mu Yu didn’t like the look the youth gave him. It was… too passionate for comfort…
“Ahem, Pill Cauldron Sect practices an honesty policy and prioritises our customers. That is how we built our reputation and earned trust from everyone. Business only works if both parties can trust each other. The distinction between the two lotuses must be made clear, and we would never lie about it. Ladies and gentlemen, you can trust us to conduct business honestly with you. I despise nothing more than liars. As such, I will always stand with what is right and not my bias towards people,” Mu Yu announced.
“That’s more like it!” someone effused, initiating a surge of applauses.
“Ahem, even level five alchemists could mix up the two, so I think Ji Liangcai was merely ignorant of the fact. I can guarantee this won’t happen again,” assured Elder Leng.
At the end of the day, Elder Leng was with Pill Cauldron Sect; he couldn’t acknowledge Ji Liangcai was trying to scam the customer… His explanation and guarantee were able to express an apology, save his sect and the store’s reputation in addition to reassuring the customers.
“Get up now. Ground yourself. Write ‘Be honest with others. Face obstacles with determination’ ten thousand times. No coming back here until you’re done.” Mu Yu kicked Ji Liangcai, yet the latter bowed and nodded gratefully.
“Okay, back to what you were doing everyone. Mu Yu and our guest in the corner over there, come with me.” Elder Leng casually ascended the stairs.
Ku Mu grumbled as he followed after Mu Yu up to the second floor. The second floor was where Pill Cauldron Sect sold pills. The customers on the second floor weren’t privy to the debacle downstairs. The trio went up to the third floor and into a bright room.
“What is ‘Be honest with others. Face obstacles with determination’?” Elder Leng threw his walking stick he used as a prop aside.
“Honesty and determination, my life principles,” answered Mu Yu.
“That’s news to me.” Elder Leng shut the door and sat with his legs cross on the chair – basically his usual self.
“You’re behind on the times, then. What was that about your ‘grand disciple’? Also, what’s with your getup? You bereaving?”
Ku Mu questioned, “You’ve ascended to Ascension Realm? You’re a level eight alchemist now, aren’t you?”
“I most certainly am. Thanks to this jerk clearing out the wood residue, I ascended without even trying, hahaha! I am a prestigious individual, so I can’t dress sloppily.”
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