Ning Wan glanced at the wooden bowl indifferently, then looked up at Gu Tang.
"What else do you have to say?" he asked indifferently.
"I picked the herbs myself," Gu Tang said lazily to Ning Wan, readily admitting, "but I didn't waste them."
"Hmph!" Zheng Minghui retorted sarcastically, "You're just a Foundation Establishment disciple, how dare you use the sect's spiritual medicine?!"
He spoke quite loudly, and the commotion had already attracted many outer disciples to come and watch.
Gu Tang was a once-glorious inner disciple, on whom the sect leader placed high hopes.
Now he has not only been expelled from the inner sect, but he is even worse off than most of the outer sect disciples.
Those outer disciples who once looked up to him were now enjoying watching Gu Tang being bullied by Zheng Minghui and the others.
Zheng Minghui was extremely pleased to see that more and more people were gathering around him.
He deliberately raised his voice even louder: "What? Do you still think you're the sect's genius? The number one genius of the sect back then, whom everyone had to defer to? Who got priority for all the herbs and spiritual items?"
Zheng Minghui added, "But don't be too discouraged. Although you're currently ranked last in the sect in terms of cultivation talent, you're still at least number one, aren't you? Besides..."
He paused deliberately, glancing at Gu Nuo with ill intent: "I wonder which wild man you slept with to give birth to such a little bastard. In this respect, you are unmatched in our entire sect, the undisputed number one!"
As soon as Zheng Minghui finished speaking, the surrounding outer disciples burst into laughter.
A hint of mockery seemed to flash quickly in the depths of Ning Wan's indifferent eyes.
Only Elder Zhu, who was standing beside him and in charge of managing all the medicinal herbs in Danxin Pavilion, showed a hint of reluctance in his eyes.
Gu Tang's face turned completely cold.
Zheng Minghui went to file a false accusation, bringing in Ning Wan and Elder Zhu to accuse him of stealing medicine, but he didn't care.
But he shouldn't have said that about Gu Nuo!
Gu Tang looked down and saw that Xiao Gu Nuo's head was lowered, but the hand gripping his clothes was so tight.
The small fist turned pale from the force of the blow.
Gu Tang reached out and rubbed the back of Gu Nuo's head.
He ignored Zheng Minghui, who looked extremely smug, and turned his gaze to Elder Zhu's face.
"Elder Zhu," Gu Tang said calmly, "you are the number one medicine cultivator in the sect. You must know very well whether I have ruined this bowl of medicine or not."
joke!
Although Gu Tang is currently only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, at the very bottom of the cultivation level.
But he was once the undisputed number one cultivator in his world.
His knowledge is all-encompassing; not to mention the cultivation techniques and secret manuals, he is also unparalleled in medicine and talisman cultivation, and even his knowledge of weapon crafting is unmatched throughout the world.
The world where Danxin Pavilion is located is indeed no longer the world he used to live in.
However, after just one visit to the herb field, he realized that the essence remained the same despite all the variations.
According to the classification of medicinal herbs in the cultivation world, these outer disciples can only take care of the lowest level of first-grade medicinal herbs.
However, Gu Tang was confident that by relying on the alchemy array he had drawn and the proportions of the herbs, he could maximize the medicinal properties of these ordinary herbs and create a healing and body-strengthening medicine that was no less effective than a level four potion.
"Ha!" Zheng Minghui sneered: "You'd better not embarrass yourself in front of Elder Zhu by boiling water like this."
Gu Tang didn't even look at him.
He looked into Elder Zhu's eyes and bowed politely, saying, "Please, Elder, give this disciple justice."
Elder Zhu sighed softly and held out his hand to Zheng Minghui: "Give it to me."
Zheng Minghui dared not disobey the elder's words, so he could only secretly glance at Ning Wan, then lower his eyes and hand the wooden bowl to Elder Zhu.
"Oh dear!" Just as the wooden bowl was about to be placed in Elder Zhu's hands, he suddenly let go.
The wooden bowl fell to the ground, and the pale blue, transparent medicine spilled out instantly.
"This...this disciple didn't do it on purpose, please punish me, Elder." Zheng Minghui quickly lowered his head, feigning a panicked appearance, "This disciple has been holding this bowl for too long, and my hand trembled for a moment, so..."
"You did this on purpose!" Gu Nuo, who had been standing silently beside Gu Tang, suddenly blushed and shouted.
The father and son have suffered endless humiliation over the years.
In particular, Zheng Minghui not only frequently finds excuses to make things difficult for and punish Gu Tang, but also never treats Gu Nuo as a human being.
This time, Elder Zhu, the only kind-hearted elder in the sect, came along and was even willing to uphold justice for his father.
But then Uncle Zheng, the worst of the worst, deliberately stirred things up.
Gu Nuo's little face turned bright red, and tears welled up in his wide eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.
"Elder, I'm innocent..." Zheng Minghui drawled.
Perhaps it's because it's a medicine-based cultivation method.
Elder Zhu was the most easy-going and soft-hearted elder in Danxin Sect, and he never truly punished his disciples.
Zheng Minghui then secretly glanced at Ning Wan: "How could this disciple dare to deliberately knock over this bowl? It's just that the water in the wooden bowl was too pungent, and the disciple was a little dizzy from the smell, so I really didn't hold it properly."
He was smugly making his own plans.
Not only should they shirk responsibility, but they should also turn around and blame Gu Tang.
"You did it on purpose!" Gu Nuo tried to open her eyes wide, her clear childish voice filled with unspeakable grievance and anger.
Gu Tang ruffled his son's hair again and said calmly, "So what if it's spilled? These herbs are very common, and the medicine will be brewed quickly. Elder Zhu will certainly not mind if his disciple brews another bowl to prove his innocence."
Elder Zhu nodded.
"Uncle Zhu," Ning Wan suddenly reminded him, "distinguished guests are arriving soon, and Master specifically instructed you to be present. We should return to the main peak."
"This..." Elder Zhu frowned, looking somewhat troubled.
“I have known Senior Brother Gu for many years. Although I do not know about his cultivation progress in recent years, I have never heard of him practicing medicine. Otherwise, even if his cultivation level could not advance further back then, he could have followed you, Uncle Master, to learn medicine and herbs.” Ning Wan said calmly.
Elder Zhu hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"It's not a big deal." Ning Wan glanced at Gu Tang. "These herbs are what I need, so a little loss is fine. Let's just let this matter go. After all, Senior Brother Gu has a child with him. If he's really expelled from the sect, I'm afraid..."
Ning Wan stopped there, but her meaning was crystal clear.
Elder Zhu sighed deeply.
He didn't believe Gu Tang had any knowledge of herbal medicine. He guessed that Gu Tang was afraid of implicating his son and being expelled from the sect, so he came up with this method to plead with him and ask him to protect him and his son.
Since Ning Wan was no longer pursuing the matter, he naturally wouldn't say anything more.
Ning Wan received Elder Zhu's approval and knew that her words had worked; a barely perceptible smile appeared on her lips.
He gave Gu Tang a deep look and said in a low voice, "Senior brother, you... take care of yourself."
Chapter 4 The Son's Father is the Demon Lord (4)
Gu Tang looked at Ning Wan calmly.
His former junior brother, who looks handsome and has a somewhat otherworldly air about him, is no ordinary person.
Ning Wan's words seemed to demonstrate his magnanimity, indicating that he would let Gu Tang off the hook this time and not pursue the matter further.
In reality, every word he uttered was a self-criticism!
He accused himself of stealing the sect's medicinal herbs.
He accused himself of trying to deceive the elders and get them to cover for him and shirk responsibility.
He accused himself of not only being lazy but also being a habitual liar!
There are no fools in Danxin Pavilion.
Zheng Minghui was naturally extremely pleased with himself.
Even the outer disciples who came to laugh at them wore varying degrees of mocking smiles after hearing Ning Wan's words.
Their gazes toward Gu Tang were filled with disdain and contempt.
Although he didn't dare to say much in front of Elder Zhu and Ning Wan, he was still saddened to see Gu Tang, who had once been a high-ranking and highly anticipated inner disciple, fall to the same level as himself.
These people felt particularly happy.
Gu Tang looked down at Gu Nuo.
The child's face scrunched up, tears welling in his eyes, and he was about to burst into tears.
"Please wait a moment," Gu Tang suddenly called out.
Ning Wan frowned slightly, but still stopped and turned around to look at Gu Tang.
A hint of impatience had already crept into his eyes and brows.
“If I remember correctly, according to the sect rules, of the fields that Danxin Pavilion entrusts to outer disciples for management, we only need to hand over 80% to the sect.” Gu Tang’s gaze was clear and sharp.
He wasn't saying this to Ning Wan, but to Elder Zhu: "You can handle the remaining 20% yourself. Am I right, Elder?"
"Yes." Elder Zhu nodded.
These are the rules of the sect, and everyone present is aware of them.
“But the herbs weren’t ripe yet, and you picked them secretly!” Zheng Minghui quickly interjected.
"What a joke." Gu Tang looked coldly at Zheng Minghui. "Since it's something I can control, what does it matter whether I picked ripe ones or not? I only picked a few herbs, and I didn't touch the 80% that didn't belong to me."
This is indeed a rule of Danxin Pavilion, and all the outer disciples present are well aware of it.
The pavilion provides both medicinal herbs and seeds, and these two products serve as compensation for their labor.
This is something that should be taken for granted.
Although Gu Tang had once been an inner disciple, he was now just an ordinary outer disciple like them.
The rules of Danxin Pavilion apply equally to all outer disciples, and there should be no exceptions.
But before Gu Tang proposed this rule, everyone seemed to have forgotten about it.
They even felt that it was only natural and just for Zheng Minghui to file a complaint.
They felt that Gu Tang's act of picking herbs violated the sect rules, was a mistake, and should be punished.