Chapter 44

When he stepped into the room his Shifu's friends were scattered around the room, in a relaxed manner. But Tian Mengshen knew that this was only a cover.

His eyes briefly landed on the baby. The child was studying him. Were babies normally this aware and alert of their surroundings? No, they were usually far docile, and would not stare at someone in an enlightened way.

This baby, could she be one of those reincarnators, or perhaps otherworlder? All of these were a great possibility, in which case he needed to thread carefully if he wanted to influence the child.

He approached his new Shifu. "Shifu I've placed all of the food into the cold storage… but I'm not sure if I have placed them in the right place."

His Shifu smiled and shook her head. "It's alright, nothing to worry about. We could always rearrange them later on." A cough from one of the cultivators snapped his Shifu into attention. "I should explain to you the current situation. Mengshen, my sweet siblings agreed to make you our Sect's first disciple once it's fully established. They also agreed that you should be my disciple, and to make it… official you'll need to sign a binding contract. Don't worry as your Shifu I am also required to sign a contract to make it all fair. Do you have any thoughts?"

A contract was unexpected, he could not recall if there was any sect that required its disciples to sign a contract before joining. Other than following dusty Sect rules. Now, he needed to make sure that the contract was fair. He could look over it himself and revise what needed to be fixed within the contract. But for now he was playing the role of a child, and children were not creatures privy of understanding how contracts worked. "Mimi told me that if there's anything important that I don't understand I should discuss it with him. Can he take a look at the contract?"

"There should be no problem." His Shifu easily agreed.

"Thank you Shifu."

"Now is the time you introduce us, Huifang." One man in dark red robes spoke up.

His Shifu sighed, "Mengshen, meet your martial uncles and aunts. That is your uncle Jiang Xiaotong."

The man in dark red, Jiang Xiaotong, waved at Tian Mengshen, with his lips pulled into a wide smirk.

"Your aunt Lai Meihui."

The woman who he learned to identify as Lai Meihui was humming as she studied him. "I say Mengshen, you'll be a heartbreaker when you're older. Perhaps give yourself another twenty years or so and you'll be as dashing as your uncles. Oh, except for Xiaotong, think of him as a gorilla." She waved her hand dismissively

"Oi!!!" Jiang Xiaotong shouted.

Lai Meihui was unfazed and smirked. There was a spark between the two before their body stilled like they were a stone statue. The two had received Ming Yongnian's stare. Their pride was brought low.

Another woman in light pink robes said, "Meihui, keep your paws to yourself. I am Wu Jinjing, please call me Aunt Jinjing in the future."

Lai Meihui shook herself out of Ming Yongnian's stare and harrumphed to Wu Jinjing's words. "I should be telling you to keep your paws to yourself. Mengshen listen to this aunt, make sure you are never alone with Jinjing. She might seem harmless, but that's far from the truth."

These two women should be the ones who came with his Shifu earlier to Mimi's shop. They did change their appearances and voices when he last saw them. But even with a well placed disguise they failed to mask their personalities, it became an easy task to place which woman was who.

"Next is your martial uncle Li Jiayi, if there are any scholarly questions you might have feel free to ask him. He is the living embodiment of a library"

The man who was wearing brown robes and carrying books, nodded at Tian Mengshen as a greeting.

"Jin Liwei, he'll be the one you want to visit to ask for money."

"You may want to ask elder brother's permission before asking for any stipend." The man, Jin Liwei, tilted his head in the direction of a sophisticated cultivator.

"He is our elder brother and your martial uncle, Feng Delun."

Feng Delun greeted him briefly. This man fits his sophisticated cover, Tian Mengshen was guessing that he'll be the one to dish out punishments.

"If you wish to have a weapon of your own, your martial uncle, Jie Qiqiang, would be happy to help you."

A muscled man nodded. "The more challenging it is to forge your weapon the happier I am."

Oh, Tian Mengshen would love to see this man attempt to recreate his spiritual weapon. He sorely missed it.

"If you need a house or any building to be built then your martial uncle, Lan Jianhong, is the one you must seek."

"Leave it to me!" A man in light blue robes cheered.

Tian Mengshen's eyes landed on the last two figures without names. One of them should be the famous Golden Crowned Lord, and from the news Mimi received he had heard the man should be the one carrying the child.

The man sitting next to the Golden Crowned Lord noticed his gaze. "If you're thinking that my brother is the Golden Crowned Lord, then you are right!"

Tian Mengshen was slightly alarmed.

The man continued on, "I am Kaijun, and the one next to me is my little brother, Ming Yongnian. He might seem like a cold block of ice, but inside he's a very warm snowman."

Tian Mengshen was not trying to mask his curiosity, but for this Kaijun man to put together what was in his mind and made a correct deduction. It was safe to say that Kaijun was someone Tian Mengshen must be wary of, apart from Feng Delun and the Golden Crowned Lord.

Tian Mengshen arranged his expression in a timely manner into that of surprise. Kaijun continued, "You're not exactly trying to hide your curiosity. Well it's normal to be curious about my younger brother. He is after all the famous Golden Crowned Lord, the newly ascended Immortal. Technically he has not ascended, but you should understand."

Tian Mengshen did not hide his frown. "Forgive me, I've never heard of the Golden Crowned Lord having an older sibling."

"Believe me when I say we only learned the news ourselves yesterday." Lan Jianhong said.

"Since people are willing enough to introduce myself for my sake, I require no introduction." Came the Golden Crowned Lord's own voice.

"Eldest brother, you're forgetting someone." Jiang Xiaotong pointed towards the baby on the Golden Crowned Lord's lap.

The Golden Crowned Lord affirmed, "I did not forget my own daughter." Then he met Tian Mengshen's eyes. "If you must know my child's name—"

"It's not just the little ghost who needs to know, us too." Kaijun said at the side.

As Kaijun had said, the other cultivators were indeed at the edge of their seats.

"—I have yet to name her." Ming Yongnian's statement cut through the room's ecstatic atmosphere.

All the cultivators in the room — bar Feng Delun, Li Jiayi, and Jin Liwei — collectively sighed.

"That's the story little ghost, for now we are calling eldest brother's child 'little ancestor'." Lai Meihui told Tian Mengshen.

Kaijun also added, "Or you can call her Xiaobao."

They all delved into a conversation as to what name they shall give the little child.

Tian Mengshen was not certain what to make of these cultivators. From what he gathered from Mimi, all of them came from all kinds of backgrounds.

Lai Meihui was a dual cultivator. Specializing in seduction. She is the fairest, most beautiful, and slyest of them all. None could resist her. Tian Mengshen wanted to scoff, his eyes studied all of the cultivators within the room. Clearly, they were not heads over heels for Lai Meihui.

Wu Jinjing was a well renowned healer. But from the way Lai Meihui spoke, and if Tian Mengshen was willing to take her warnings seriously, Wu Jinjing should be more than just a "healer".

His own Shifu was a ghost cultivator. And not just an average ghost cultivator, but one of the ghost cultivators venerable. Not a living person turned ghost. Cultivating the path of a ghost cultivator, instead she remained a living human being. An attempt that most if not all had failed halfway through and turned themselves into a ghost. His Shifu was at the nascent soul stage, if she were to transform into a ghost… those who ruled the heavens must descend their throne only to seek her life.

Jie Qiqiang was the most sought after blacksmith in the land, some claimed that there was no weapon he could not forge. He was also responsible for the Golden Crowned Lord's renowned unique spiritual weapon. The Golden Crowned Lord's spiritual weapon took the shape of a sword that could transform into a polearm. It was the first spiritual weapon of its kind that was not forged by some immortal in the Celestial realm.