.
"Let us begin without delay." Clan Leader Shuǐ took over.
"We all will ask questions and then judge based on his answers and what we ourselves already know."
LanFen smirked at his statement... More than half the people here already believed she was guilty. Was 'asking questions' going to change that?
"Young man." The Clan Leader of the Northern Dragon Clan, Kong JuLong began. "Can you explain how you can be this Xuè Shèngrén we've heard about? You were defeated and captured by Young Master Shuǐ.
"He is the genius of the West, but even he cannot destroy two major clans in three weeks. Let alone, three days! You're just a young boy, bearing the title of 'Sage'... Looking at your figure, you might even be blown away by the wind! Are we to believe you're indeed Xuè Shèngrén?"
"Pfft!!" LanFen bit her lower lip to suppress her laughter, but it had already slipped out.
There were collective gasps from the Clan leaders.
"How insolent!"
LanFen gave a small cough. "Clan Leader Kong. In this Wulin that is full of surprises... Where the sun might even decide to rise from the west one day, how can you judge a person by appearance? Or by some fight you merely heard about?"
Kong JuLong cocked his head, seeming a bit surprised that she knew who he was, but she merely nodded toward a solid gold pendant, which swung on his belt.
It bore the symbol of the Northern Dragon Clan, three mountains reaching the heavens, with the middle peak being the highest...
LanFen continued. "If I had to fight the cultivators of two major sects," she continued reasonably. "Wouldn't I be too weak to handle even a senior disciple?" She swiveled her head to face Shuǐ ChénLín, her eyes clearly challenging.
"And yet..." She continued. "You should ask Young Master 'Surprise Attack' over--. Ah! My apologies! You should ask Young Master Shuǐ over there, exactly how he ended up defeating me."
Though Shuǐ ChénLín's hands fisted over his knees, he didn't say anything and just looked straight ahead. For the first time in his life, he felt mildly embarrassed over his level of skill...
He could argue that he hadn't displayed his full strength, but that didn't make him feel any better, as he had a firm suspicion that Zhao LanFeng hadn't shown his fill strength either
And Zhao LanFeng was younger too... Shuǐ ChénLín had never felt this way before...
He genuinely wanted to beat Zhao LanFeng in a fair fight!
"You little Rat! Are you saying Young Master Shuǐ can't easily defeat someone like you?!" Zhou ZhuFeng, Clan Leader of Red Sun, one of the Eastern Region's prominent Clans, was asking. He had slammed a palm on his table.
He was well known to have been close friends with both Clan Leaders Zhao and Wang, so he didn't try too hard to mask his hatred.
LanFen had planned to try behaving herself, act a little repentant and see where it would get her.
But Zhou ZhuFeng just had to open his mouth.
She drew in a pained breath, then centered on him with an evil smile.
"I was brought up to respect my elders and seniors, so I do apologise for my next words..." She bowed overdramatically, causing more of them to glare at her.
"Clan leader Zhou, isn't the real reason for your anger, the fact that I've ruined your shady side businesses with Clan Leader Zhao and Clan Leader Wang? How can you be an impartial judge if you're like this?
"And speaking of 'Rats' I even hear you offered to take charge of the Zhao Clan affairs, till it is up on its feet again... Wouldn't that be the same as 'the rat watching over the food storage'?"
There was murmuring amongst the others, and Zhou ZhuFeng shot her a look of utmost loathing. "Don't open your mouth simply because you have one! What are you trying to say?!"
LanFen wanted to say plenty and sling a string of accusations against him, but that would give the enemies present, too much information on how much she had managed to discovere. It would be best if they didn't even see her approach...
"Clan Leader Zhou, for now just accept that your recently deceased friends were men who 'forgot honor upon seeing profit'. Was there anything they weren't guilty of? Theft? Kidnap? Murder?
"Aren't they the type of people that only persons like you would miss? After all, they say 'like birds flock together'...
"You didn't know, did you? That the Zhao Family servants threw secret banquets after their clan Leader and his family 'departed'!"
LanFen's words sent the entire hall into an uproar, as the clan leaders argued amongst themselves.
No one had so blatantly insulted members of the ruling families before, and yet, here was this small person, daring to insinuate that the late Clan Leaders of the Southern and Eastern regions, had gotten their hands extremely dirty.
To worsen things, a few of them had heard whispers about what seemed to be going on in the Eastern and Southern Dragon Clans.
'There was no smoke without fire', so a few of them decided to look into the rumours after this.
Wang FeiYang, her cousin, hid his smile.
He himself had held TWO, not-so-secret banquets, since Zhao LanFeng had eliminated his so called family, and now, he eyed his cousin with barely concealed respect and admiration.
Zhao LanFeng was just nineteen, but he was by far more impressive than anyone FeiYang had ever met! He couldn't exactly do much, but he would be on LanFeng's side today.
Meanwhile, as he listened, Shuǐ ChangSheng's eyes remained on Zhao LanFeng, taking in the familiar face, and noting the ways in which it had changed from the childish one he had met twelve years ago.
'To think that Xuè Shèngrén turned out to be Zhao LanFeng.'
A-Chén had mentioned it to him, but he himself had known, the instant he laid eyes on the young man.
His face had grown to resemble his mother's face in almost every way, but those vivid irises were his father's own.
Yet Shuǐ ChangSheng still had to ask it here, for the benefit of the other Clan Leaders.
"Young man, let me ask you this." Shuǐ ChangSheng's voice could actually be considered kind, compared to the others. "Are you indeed Zhao LanFeng, son of the late, Eastern Dragon?"
LanFen sighed a long, labored sigh. "I am 'indeed' Zhao LanFeng... But why is everyone suddenly interested in that name? Wasn't I like a ghost before now?"
"Lies!" Wong Fu Heng, Clan leader of the White Lotus Sect, Western region. "He will obviously lie, so we will spare his life!"
"My dear Elder Wong," LanFen no longer bothered with a polite tone. "The only thing I want you to spare me, is a long, tedious meeting like this... A few of the people here, had already decided I was guilty, before the hearing began, and a few wanted me dead before I even came here. Wasn't I specially welcomed, when I stepped into the hall?"
A few of them had the good grace to look guilty, but LanFen ignored them and continued.
"After such a warm and overwhelming welcome, I don't expect anything I say here, will be seen as the truth."
"How rude!" One of the female leaders that had been admiring her before, flung her sleeve.
"Utterly shameless!"
"His eyes do resemble the late Eastern Dragon's though!"
"Quite a lot, actually!"
Shuǐ ChangSheng leaned forward. "I recognized you almost immediately, but do you have any way to prove your identity?"
LanFen was a bit surprised. 'Recognized me from where?' She wondered
"Clan Leader Shuǐ, I even went as far as destroying my own clan..." She had subconsciously addressed him respectfully, matching the way he had addressed her so far. "Would I really carry around such a means of identity?"
The first thing she had done after leaving home, was to take the shabby wooden totems that identified her and her mother, and flung them into a lake, as far as she could throw back then.
If she used her current strength right now, combined with how angry she had been at that time, the totems might even fly to the end of the earth!
But Wang FeiYang spoke up for her. "I recognize him as well. He is my cousin, Zhao LanFeng." He stated clearly, though he now looked like he wanted to disappear into the floor.
There was more muttering at the confirmed piece of information.
"But how?!"