Zhu Xuan lost himself for a second and immediately calmed down.

He had cold sweat on his back and thought "I almost blew my cover because of anger" and re-affirmed himself that he should kill Zhu Lang as soon as he got a chance and shouldn't delay for too long.

He was also confused at the same time as how Zhu Land and Meng Haoran know each other.

He regained his focus after calming himself down and saw the group behind the two and saw two familiar faces, Meng He Shan who he met in Qinglu city and Meng Xiaofeng who escaped along with Meng Haoran in the Snowcape Demon Mountain.

Now he understood that Meng family must be trying to rope Zhu Lang in since he already became a core disciple and direct disciple of third elder.

He was confused to see Meng Haoran walking with Zhu Lang because he expected him to be punished. He turned towards Wu Qian Ren and asked "Brother Qian Ren, forgot to ask, what happened with Meng Haoran? Did he create trouble in the academy when you came back?"

Wu Qian Ren spoke calmly "No, we expected him to but the higher ups of the family intervened and the matter was settled privately with some compensation from the Meng family since they are the ones attacked us first."

Zhu Xuan nodded with understanding, but suddenly though of something and asked "What about Wen Xin? What happened to him?"

He asked it because by the time he got out of the ruins, Wen Xi was already conscious and saw what happened later, and he didn't want the news he got the legacy of Jinghua Grandmaster to be leaked out, especially to the Meng family since he already created an enmity with them.

Wu Qian Ren could tell what Zhu Xuan was worried about and spoke calmly "Don't worry Brother Shen. He is a traitor of the Wu family planted by them; there is no way we will hand him back to the Meg family. He was already imprisoned in our family's underground prison and he will be executed soon once we get all the information he know about the Meng family."

Zhu Xuan relaxed after hearing Wen Xin's status and nodded in understanding.

While they were discussing, Zhu Lang's group also approached near them. Zhu Lang gave a sideway glance and didn't bother much, but Meng Haoran's eyes turned red when he saw Zhu Xuan with Wu Qian Ren and released his killing intent in anger.

Meng Haoran is an arrogant individual who considered himself very clever and cunning, and once he marked someone and planned to destroy him, he always succeeded and never failed in his life. But he didn't expect his first failure to come at the hands of the unknown rogue cultivator who is not even at Qi gathering stage. He felt humiliation and anger to lose all his teammates and running away for life.

He learned from Wen Xin about Zhu Xuan's identity because Wen Xin thought Zhu Xuan may have been sent by a third faction and informed as soon as they ambushed Wu Qian Ren in Snowcape Demon mountain.

So he sent people to Caifu city to search for Zhu Xuan but unable to find him and no one even heard of his name in the whole city, and he realized he didn't use his real identity.

He was frustrated at not able to find him but he didn't expect to meet the same person who ruined his whole plan again in the competition ground invited by Wu Qian Ren and he lost himself in anger.

Everyone felt the killing intent and looked at Meng Haoran. Meng He Shan came next to him and tapped him in his shoulder and Meng Haoran realized what he was doing and immediately calmed himself down.

Zhu Lang also observed what happened and saw Meng Haoran's killing intent was directed towards a person standing next to Wu Qian Ren. He asked Meng Haoran about the reason and Meng Haoran explained the turn of events that happened in the Snowcape Demon Mountain.

A smile formed on Zhu Lang's face and he started walking towards Zhu Xuan.

He completely ignored Wu Qian Ren and observed Zhu Xuan closely. He smiled and spoke in an arrogant tone "Meng Haoran told me what happened. I like clever people like you even though your cultivation is not that great. Become my subordinate and you will gain great benefits in the future."

Everyone around them was shocked hearing Zhu Lang asking Zhu Xuan to be his subordinate. Even Meng Haoran didn't expect this and got angry but he didn't show it in the outside because his family is already trying to rope in Zhu Lang and he didn't want to ruin it and he will also definitely get a chance to kill Zhu Xuan later.

Zhu Xuan looked at Zhu Lang and spoke in a calm tone "Not interested. Anyway who the hell are you?"

Zhu Lang's smile stopped when he heard Zhu Xuan's response. He didn't expect someone not even know him and he felt angry that someone reject him, a core disciple of the academy, in public.

Wu family siblings standing next to Zhu Xuan was already angry that Zhu Lang completely ignored them and tried to recruit Zhu Xuan, who they considers as a brother, right in front of them. But when they heard Zhu Xuan's response their anger disappeared and they smiled at the response of Zhu Xuan.

The crowd was also bewildered by the immediate rejection of Zhu Xuan and not even knowing the core disciple of the academy and wondered where this person came from to not even know about Zhu Lang, who is recently famous across entire city for becoming a core disciple.

Meng Haoran also shocked and felt happy inside for this unexpected chance to create an enmity between Zhu Lang and Zhu Xuan and immediately shouted showing anger in his face "How dare you? You should feel lucky a core disciple wanted to recruit you, but you dare reject him and even question him. You should be punished for disrespecting him."

Zhu Xuan looked at Meng Haoran who is shouting at him and thanked him in his heart. He showed a face of surprise at first and then looked at Meng Haoran and spoke loudly with an aggrieved tone "So what if he is a core disciple? Just because he is a core disciple of the academy I need to become his subordinate when he asked and should be punished for not accepting it?"

This time, even Wu siblings were shocked by the response of Zhu Xuan. Everyone was shocked and amazed by the courage of this person to go against a core disciple.

What they didn't know was this is exactly what Zhu Xuan was aiming for in the first place.

Zhu Xuan was shocked at first when he heard Zhu Lang wanted to recruit him, but soon he started to think about the possibilities. At first, he thought it was a good idea to accept so he can get close to Zhu Lang and will definitely get lots of chance to kill him.

But he immediately rejected the idea, because just by looking at him Zhu Xuan almost lost his control and he will have a high chance he will lose control and break the seal on his bloodline if he had to spend most time with him as his subordinate. He will be able to kill Zhu Lang that way but he also will also die for sure when his identity revealed inside the capital city.

So he thought of another idea, instead of rejecting him politely why don't he humiliate him in the public and create an enmity with him. With Zhu Lang's character he observed in the selection in Qinglu city, he won't act openly and definitely try to kill him in private.

He also chose to show that he didn't know Zhu Lang's identity to create an image of himself as country bumpkin in Zhu Lang's mind and would not send someone too strong to kill him. And even if he did, Zhu Xuan was sure he can take care of them if he planned properly.

This will also make Zhu Lang's vigilance lower thinking that Zhu Xuan wouldn't expect him to send someone to kill him, and in turn he will make a mistake. Zhu Xuan's plan is to use this chance to challenge Zhu Lang publicly for a life and death match by pressuring him in public using the name of the academy, or who knows if he is lucky Zhu Lang himself will take action and he can get rid of him once and for all.

Meng Haoran also didn't expect this guy has such courage and about to retort when Zhu Lang gave him a fierce glance signaling to not continue speaking.

Even though he was filled with anger, he put a smile on his face and said in a kind tone "Forgive him for speaking out of turn Brother and let's forget this matter."

Zhu Xuan could see his anger even though he is smiling; he nodded and said in a serious tone "Hmmm, Keep your subordinates under control in the future."

A cold glint flashed through Zhu Lang's eyes but he still maintained his smile and turned away walking towards another direction with his group leaving behind a shocked crowd.

Zhu Xuan crossed his hands and smiled happily thinking his plan worked perfectly, but he doesn't know he is in for quite a surprise.