Chapter 369: Chapter 369

At that moment, the commotion in the courtyard grew increasingly loud, and the Lu Family disciples from within the villa walked out one after another. Lu Zhanliang, at this time, did as Ding Fan had said and arranged for these people to be placed far from the Arena.

However, the situation above the Arena was clear for all to see.

Ding Fan, with a sword in hand, displayed divine might and chased after the long-fanged wolf, but the once-arrogant wolf now not only lost its ferocity in front of Ding Fan, but on the contrary, showed signs of fear from time to time.

Seeing this, the Lu Family disciples were astonished.

To capture this long-fanged wolf, the Lu Family had early on set up a Great Formation and only managed to barely capture it with the joint efforts of several top experts within the clan.

Yet such a ferocious beast was actually showing fear in front of a young man barely into his twenties.

Could it be, Ding Fan was terrifying enough to instill fear in the long-fanged wolf?!

Swish, swish, swish... Under the engulfing ferocity, Ding Fan's execution of the Thousand Cranes Sword Technique was even more fluent. Fresh chapters posted on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵

The sword in Ding Fan's hand, which was an Upper Grade Magical Artifact left by the Hermit of the Horizon and later forged into a Flying Sword by Ding Fan, cut swaths through the air. With several slashes, the long-fanged wolf's fur, sharp as steel needles, was immediately cleaved by Ding Fan's Selfless Sword, leaving several bloody wounds.

Roar... The long-fanged wolf let out a low growl.

Only now, the sound of its growling was no longer one of intimidations; it was more of a plea for mercy.

At this moment, the Lu Family disciples opened their mouths wide in shock. To think that the young man before them had managed to intimidate a Fifth Grade ferocious beast—how incredible was he!

But Ding Fan would not spare the long-fanged wolf.

This ferocious beast was extremely cunning; even if one temporarily let it go, the moment it saw an opportunity, it would surely deliver a treacherous bite.

In Huaxia Country, wasn't there also the tale of the farmer and the snake? This beast was like the viper frozen stiff—Ding Fan certainly wouldn't wait for it to warm up and bite him.

With a flick of his hand, Ding Fan's longsword made a deep, bone-exposing gash across the chest of the long-fanged wolf.

Roar... The long-fanged wolf howled mournfully and turned to flee.

How could Ding Fan possibly let the long-fanged wolf escape before his eyes? He quickly caught up in two steps and struck down with his sword, severing the wolf's head.

The formidable long-fanged wolf tumbled to the ground, blood splattering everywhere, its head rolling far away with a clatter.

Incredibly... incredibly awesome. The long-fanged wolf that had caused much trouble for the Lu Family was just slain like that!

The Lu Family disciples were dumbfounded.

Ding Fan approached and immediately, without hesitation, sliced open the wolf and extracted its Demon Core, then stored it in his storage ring.

The people from the Lu Family just watched, saying nothing.

Although the long-fanged wolf had been captured by the Lu Family, once it escaped the cage, Noble Manor would have certainly been bloodbathed by the wolf if not for Ding Fan's intervention.

Since the wolf was slain by Ding Fan, naturally the Demon Core belonged to him as well.

"I am Lu Zhanming, the patriarch of the Lu Family... Thank you, benefactor, for your assistance; our Lu Family is grateful for the life-saving grace," said a man over fifty years of age as he arrived with a group of clan members and respectfully approached Ding Fan.

For a moment, under Lu Zhanming's leadership, all the Lu Family disciples held a formal martial arts salute with utmost propriety.

Ding Fan accepted graciously.

At this time, Lu Hang, who had been arrogantly overbearing before Ding Fan, was humbly respectful. Knowing that the young man before him had hand-slain a Fifth Grade beast, what grounds did he have to feign arrogance?

"Father, this is the benefactor I mentioned to you before. If it hadn't been for his help, the Martial Arts Tome would have likely been taken by outsiders long ago," Lu Fan then came before Lu Zhanming and said.

"Oh? The benefactor is the person with a letter for our ancestor?" Lu Zhanming's eyes brightened.

Ding Fan nodded his head. "There is indeed a letter for your family's ancestor."

"That's wonderful; we have truly awaited this. When Lu Fan returned and mentioned the Hermit of the Horizon, our ancestor has been longing for news, and this time our ancestor even came to Longxi hoping to encounter the benefactor... Blessed by heaven, blessed by heaven..." Lu Zhanming, seeing that Ding Fan was the bearer of the letter, was filled with joy.

"The letter is here..." Having met with the Lu Family's patriarch, Ding Fan directly handed over the letter intended for Ren Susu from the storage ring.

"Benefactor... please, would you personally deliver the letter to our ancestor? I am sure he will be very pleased to receive it from you," said Lu Zhanming.

Ding Fan pondered for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

Since he had already arrived, personally handing it to the ancestor was indeed no issue.

Then, Lu Zhanming led the way while Ding Fan followed, and together they entered the villa. They reached the outside of a room on an upper floor and stopped.

"Benefactor, I'll go in and notify our ancestor first; please wait here for a moment."

Lu Zhanming entered the room, and it wasn't long before he turned back around and came out.

"Benefactor, please come in! The ancestor invites you."

Ding Fan then entered the room.

As soon as Ding Fan stepped through the door, he was greeted by the rich aroma of alchemy. He briefly surveyed the layout of the room.

It was an ancient-looking room adorned with calligraphy and paintings from famous people.

The room was divided into an inner and outer section. In the outer section was a long desk with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. Although Ding Fan couldn't see the inner section, his Divine Sense allowed him to detect that it was a small Alchemy Room from where the fragrance of alchemy was emanating.

"Are you the messenger designated by the Hermit of the Horizon?" At this moment, a somewhat aged voice came from inside the room.

Ding Fan looked up to see a young page of about twelve or thirteen years old, pushing an elderly woman with white hair out of the room.

The age of the old woman was indiscernible, but Ding Fan was certain of one thing: her age wouldn't be less than a hundred years.

Moreover, her cultivation level also left Ding Fan astonished.

Grade Nine Earth Level!

Such a cultivation level was the highest he had encountered since his rebirth.

The old woman's aura was powerful, as one would expect from a martial artist at the peak of Earth Level.

"Are you Ren Susu?" Ding Fan remained calm and composed in the face of the old woman's formidable aura.

"How disrespectful! How dare you address the elder directly by her name!" The young page who had brought the old woman out was clearly unhappy and pointed at Ding Fan's nose as he spoke.

"Hai Er, show no disrespect!" At this moment, the old woman scolded the child behind her.

The old woman then looked Ding Fan up and down. He was neither arrogant nor restless, behaved properly, and spoke with ease.

The old woman had intentionally released her peak Earth Level aura just now, but the man before her remained undisturbed; she considered this young man to be an exceptional individual.

"Yes... You have received the inheritance of the Hermit of the Horizon; he must rest in peace knowing this! I am Ren Susu..."

Though Ren Susu spoke without sentiment, her expression couldn't hide a trace of sorrow...

"This is a letter from the Hermit of the Horizon," Ding Fan immediately took out the letter from the Hermit of the Horizon and handed it to the old woman.

Upon seeing the forceful and energetic characters addressing 'Su Su' on the envelope, the old woman's gaunt hands began to tremble violently.

The old woman slowly opened the envelope and started reading.

As she read on, her expression shifted from initial restraint to a teary-eyed mess, and finally, she could no longer suppress the pain in her heart and burst into loud sobs.

"Master! Master!" The old woman stomped her feet while crying out the word 'Master'.

"In our days of affection, you would not transgress the bounds between master and disciple... I was foolish, I despised you! In a fit of rage, I stole the Martial Arts Tome, betrayed our lineage, but you never forgot your disciple who had fallen into the mortal world... Master... I was wrong! I was so wrong!"

As she spoke, Ren Susu got down from the wheelchair and knelt facing north, continuously kowtowing.

On the side, Ding Fan could grasp a general idea of the situation.

Presumably, in the past, there had been a master-disciple relationship between the Hermit of the Horizon and Ren Susu, but later on, feelings developed between them. However, the Hermit of the Horizon refused to cross the master-disciple boundary, prompting Ren Susu to steal the Martial Arts Tome...

Ding Fan let out a gentle sigh.

Even the most powerful and supreme beings in the world couldn't escape the trials of love.

"Elder, here is the Martial Arts Tome." Once Ren Susu's emotions had stabilized a bit, Ding Fan handed her the Martial Arts Tome.

After taking the Martial Arts Tome, she then said, "Since you have received the Hermit of the Horizon's inheritance, you are also his disciple now. Going forward, let's address each other as fellow disciples."

Ding Fan looked at her expectant face, finding it hard to outright deny her wish.

Besides, during his trip to Changling, Ding Fan had indeed received many benefits from the Hermit of the Horizon, so to regard himself as a disciple seemed no loss to him.

"Then from now on, I shall address you as my elder sister," Ding Fan said, bowing to the old woman.

Relief washed over the old woman's face. "Good, good. Surely if our master in heaven can see this, he would be very pleased."

After saying this, she turned to the child behind her and commanded, "Go, gather all of the Lu Family disciples in the main hall; I have something to announce."

The child named Hai Er promptly and obediently ran out.

"Junior brother, push me to the main hall outside," the old woman requested.

Ding Fan nodded and pushed the old woman out to the main hall.

Before long, all of the Lu Family disciples had gathered.

The old woman looked around and then announced, "Today, I have to make an announcement. Once, I was a disciple of the Hermit of the Horizon and later betrayed our school to steal the Martial Arts Tome, with which I founded the Lu Family. Today, I have received forgiveness from my school, and now I return to the Hermit of the Horizon's fold. From this moment on, all of you are the Hermit of the Horizon's grand-disciples, my former disciples!"

After pausing for a moment, she pointed to Ding Fan at her side and proclaimed, "This is your martial uncle, your senior grand-uncle..."