Immortal Lianshan Seeing His Master!

"Young Master."

Outside the quiet room.

Di Ta Peak's head steward, Beishan Hu, hurried forward to greet him.

"These are the gifts left by visiting guests from the major factions of Anchan Commandery over the past two days. Please review them, Young Master."

Xia Manggan took the storage magical treasure, which resembled a sachet pouch, and channeled a sliver of origin force to refine it. He discovered that the space inside was actually quite large, measuring nearly a thousand zhang in length and width.

"This storage magical treasure is also one of the gifts, sent by Daoist Qionghua of the Hundred Flower Fairyland," Beishan Hu introduced.

"Mhm." Xia Manggan's divine sense swept across the space inside the pouch.

He saw dozens of Mortal-grade and Earth-grade magical treasures, various jade bottles, and even essence cards that could be directly exchanged for essence liquid at Heavenly Treasure Mountain, all neatly sorted and stacked together.

"Have you tallied their value?" Xia Manggan asked.

"I have." Beishan Hu nodded. "Although various factions wish to be on good terms with you, Young Master, I already gave instructions in advance. Expressing congratulations and sending some gifts is fine, but the value must not be too high."

"Top-tier factions must not exceed one thousand catties of essence liquid, and major factions must not exceed one hundred catties of essence liquid."

"Aside from Zhenhua Sect, where Young Master Qu came and I did not refuse that gift valued at two thousand catties of essence liquid, the rest are the ten thousand catties of essence liquid and three top-grade Earth-grade magical treasures previously sent by Bai Wei, which are the most valuable."

"Now, all the treasures and essence cards inside this storage magical treasure combined are worth approximately twenty thousand catties of essence liquid..."

Beishan Hu spoke briskly.

These past two days could be considered his moment in the spotlight.

Compared to a month ago when Xia Manggan took him in as a follower in the Cave of Carefree, and the intensity of the mocking gazes he had endured from the outstanding figures of various factions—

The immense pride and exhilaration in his heart as he was flattered and fawned over by those same factions over the past two days were equally intense.

In the past, although he was also called "Young Master Hu" left and right and treated with respect—

Beishan Hu knew that was entirely because his father was Beishan Yin, the most powerful contender for the next Marquis of Anchan.

But now.

He had earned the Young Master's approval through his own efforts, allowing him to step forward and receive guests in the capacity of head steward.

This kind of status, placed in a sect or faction like the Black-White Academy, was treatment only a sect leader would have.

"Well done." Xia Manggan praised approvingly.

Using the size of a faction to dictate the value of received gifts, and setting those boundaries, ensured he neither suffered a loss nor owed heavy favors.

At most, it was a superficial acquaintance—a connection where they could nod and exchange a few words when they crossed paths in the future, striking just the right balance.

Puting the pouch into his robe, Xia Manggan prepared to check later for any usable magical treasures.

Whatever was useless would be sold entirely for essence liquid to advance his Qi Refining cultivation.

"Does the Young Master have any other instructions?" Beishan Hu was praised to his face, and his face instantly bloomed into a smile.

"Go prepare some immortal brew; I am going to host a guest." Xia Manggan looked up at the sky.

"The Young Master is going to host them personally?"

Beishan Hu also looked up in confusion. "Who has such great face—uh, Father?"

Two figures were seen descending from the air, and one of them was none of other than his father, Beishan Yin.

"Young Master Xia Mang."

Beishan Yin smiled and bowed first, then explained, "This Immortal Lianshan is one of the two immortal leaders of our Anchan Commandery's Yinglong Guard branch. Because my son is serving as a follower under you, Young Master, he sought me out, hoping I would introduce him."

With that, Beishan Yin smiled at his son, Beishan Hu, his gaze full of approval.

"Young Master Xia Mang."

Immortal Lianshan bowed and said, "When I was at the Yinglong Guard headquarters in the Royal Capital, I was a subordinate of the Prince of Anqing. Hearing that a royal family young master had arrived in Anchan Commandery, I came specifically to pay my respects."

"The Prince of Anqing..." Xia Manggan's gaze flickered with thought, then realization dawned. "Xia Mangqing, from Prince Qi's branch."

In truth, he did not know the Prince of Anqing, Xia Mangqing, at all.

It was simply that among the information on various factions instilled in his mind by his almighty father, there were records of Xia Mangqing, knowing the other party was an Earth Immortal descendant of the Heavenly Immortal Prince Regent Prince Qi's branch, separated by goodness knows how many generations, and one of the royal high-ranking figures responsible for managing the Yinglong Guard Inner Guard.

As for why he wanted to feign familiarity, acting as if even the Earth Immortal "Xia Mangqing" was his junior—

"Yes. The Prince of Anqing is indeed a royal family member of Prince Qi's lineage." A trace of shock flashed through Immortal Lianshan's eyes.

When he looked at Xia Manggan again, his expression was even more deferential, and his waist bent slightly.

"Come over here and speak."

Xia Manggan greeted the two as they walked toward a stone table in the corner of the courtyard.

"Understood." Immortal Lianshan respectfully complied, and only after Xia Manggan yielded twice did he dare to sit down with half his buttocks on the bench.

One could not blame him for acting this way.

After all.

Ordinary Yinglong Guards were extremely free, equivalent merely to immortal-cultivating guest retainers of the Great Xia Dynasty.

They only needed to periodically complete certain tasks to enjoy the benefits and privileges of the Yinglong Guard.

For instance, they could freely use teleportation arrays spread across the world, and their own clan could possess a ten-thousand-li-radius territory protected by the Yinglong Guard, and so on.

Aside from that, ordinary Yinglong Guards could do whatever they pleased on ordinary days, and the Great Xia Dynasty would not interfere much, nor did it care to.

However, the Yinglong Guard Inner Guard was different.

The Yinglong Guard Inner Guard were the most loyal soldiers of the Great Xia Dynasty.

They were an immortal-cultivating army selected by the Great Xia Dynasty from cultivators at the Purple Mansion Myriad Phenomena realm, or even the Xiantian realm, and trained with the expenditure of vast resources.

They were boundlessly loyal to the Xia Emperor, boundlessly loyal to the Xia Mang Clan, and boundlessly loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty.

Therefore, an Inner Guard member like Immortal Lianshan, when facing a royal family member like Xia Manggan—who could casually call an Earth Immortal Commandery Prince by name and seemed to even know a Heavenly Immortal Prince—

Was effectively meeting his own master; it was hardly surprising that he appeared exceedingly deferential.

"This is a small gift prepared by Lianshan to congratulate you, Young Master, on becoming the number one youth of Anchan Commandery." Immortal Lianshan produced a storage magical treasure and respectfully placed it upon the stone table.

"What kind of gift requires a storage magical treasure to hold it?" Xia Manggan smiled calmly.

"It is some local specialty from the Red Dragon Mountain Range where our Anchan Commandery branch is located—the 'Red Phosphorus Flame Fruit'." Immortal Lianshan glanced at Beishan Yin, feeling somewhat uneasy inside.

Although the Red Phosphorus Flame Fruit was formed by absorbing the dragon veins of the earth and the power of Taiyang, it was merely considered a decent spirit fruit.

However, because it bore fruit every century and there were many fruit trees on the Red Dragon Mountain Range.

Accumulated over countless years, the inventory within the Anchan Commandery branch of the Yinglong Guard was extremely vast, making it hardly a rare item.

To take this sort of thing as a gift when facing a royal family member of unknown identity, yet absolute supreme nobility...

Even though Beishan Yin had guaranteed it several times before coming, Immortal Lianshan still felt somewhat unconfident.

"Red Phosphorus Flame Fruit?"

Xia Manggan's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he immediately took the storage magical treasure to refine and inspect it.

When he saw the Red Phosphorus Flame Fruit piled up like a small mountain inside the storage space, he nodded.

"You've put thought into this."

To others, the Red Phosphorus Flame Fruit was merely a spirit fruit used for alchemy.

To Ah Huang, however, it was a supreme, nourishing delicacy.

Moreover, after Ah Huang consumed it, the earth vein dragon veins were absorbed, and the Taiyang power contained within the spirit fruit could be transformed into divine power and fed back to its master—himself.

It's about time to raise the cultivation of my Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map and Body Refining Divine Ability as well, Xia Manggan thought.

The second update has arrived. There will be an extra chapter at 23:59 on Sunday night. Staying up late, my lords, you can check it out then. Early-to-bed lords don't need to wait; reading it tomorrow is the same.

Finally, I still ask for votes and support. Suifeng bows in gratitude!