Chapter 186 - Exposed
At the City Lord’s castle, inside the quarters where the Lu’s assigned to themselves, a red-haired white-robed silm old man sat in the middle of a hall. He was scolding while tens of condensed prime Warriors stood and listen with their heads facing down.
The slim figure was Lu Qianhuan, three-star returned prime Warrior and Lu Qianying’s older brother.
For a whole week, the elder had been dissatisfied with the complicated mess the North Hill Bay mission had developed to, from Lu Ren’s disappearance caused by wild beasts attack to the assassination of Lu Li and tens of the family’s condensed prime Warriors.
If royal Huyan’s men did not intervene, his own younger brother would have died in the North Barren Mountains. Although the royal family’s squad left right after delivering Lu Qianying without saying much, Lu Qianhuan was more than sure that the royals were aware of what the Lu’s were up to around the area.
The whole situation was bothering the elder as his effort might all be in vain if the Huyan family was to get involved, being the royal’s ally might mean that they will get nothing out of the Drakehead.
The mission had been considered a failure by the Lu Patriarch himself since he heard the news about their losses but none about succeeding. Not only the patriarch was dissatisfied, the men under his command were also living in fear and had been expressing their negativities. Being pressured from above and under, Lu Qianhuan was experiencing great stress, he was blaming everything on the masked assassin and whomever was behind the assaults.
“Lu Ren had been missing for a month, I am pretty sure that he had died. I will be surprised if his disappearance is not related to the masked boy! Still no news on him? Anyone?”
‘I would love to find out who you are, I have ways to make you suffer a painful death!’ Thought Lu Qianhuan, his face was ashen, his eyes were dark and aggressive like a hungry predator.
“Pop!”
Lu Ren’s spirit flame flickered, and the elder immediately spotted it with his widened eyes. He had been keeping the candle close since it arrived from the family’s ancestral shrine.
“I would love to see who was responsible for all this mess!” Lu Qianhuan had been waiting for the flame to die, he stared as the fire became dim.
‘Spirit smoke!’ Lu Qianhuan hands flew in air, his hand seals created a long rune sequence that flew towards the smoke cloud that appeared when the fire died.
“Swoosh!”
Lu Qianhuan and all the other cultivators simultaneously focused on the center of the hall as the rune sequence sculpted the smoke, the screen of smog recreated what Lu Ren saw right before his death.
“That’s Lu Feng!”
Everyone in the hall recognized the new family member’s face, they gasped for air, shocked and infuriated.
“Ungrateful bastard!” The delicate teacup in Lu Qianhuan’s hand turned into dust. He stood up and shouted in fury, “Catch him! Break his arms and legs if he tries anything funny!”
“Yes sir!” The Lu’s condensed prime Warriors gave a synchronized answer without hesitation, five of them bowed immediately.
None of them expected the aspiring Runemaster, the new addition to the family to be a cold-blooded betrayer. They were all shocked as they thought Lu Feng would be more thankful, to prove his worth instead of murdering his own clan, sabotaging an important mission.
“Wait, don’t go yet! The bastard is not strong enough to kill Lu Ran, let’s see if I get more information out of the smoke!” Lu Qianhuan channeled his Qi, the image went further back in time.
“Zoom! Zoom!”
Just when the five condensed prime Warriors turned their heads, they saw the smoke screen changing its shape, it became the scene of the Selenic Triple Sword stance being used and its user behind the strikes.
“Whoever kills a Lu, and the killer’s ten closest kinship will be executed!” Lu Qianhuan’s face turned dark, his cold words echoed the walls, “Find out who it is! I don’t want him walking on this planet!”
The elder was merciless, he was ready to kill anyone who threatened the Lu’s reputation and authority within Qing state.
“This is… Ye Wei!? I am pretty sure, sir. This is Ye Wei, from the Green Moon City’s Ye family!” Lu De, who was sent to the Ye Mansion not long ago recognized the face, “He is sixteen but already a condensed prime Warrior, he is a three-star Runemaster.”
“Do you know him?” Lu Qianhuan stared at Lu De.
“Sir, I do not know him personally. I’ve met him once and was intrigued by him, so I found out more about him.” Lu De kept eye contact with the furious elder, shivered as he reported solemnly.
“I want Ye Wei here and I want their family mansion locked down, not even a fly may leave the premises!” The skinny elder gave the orders with a straight face.
“But…” Lu De hesitated, looking at the elder with fear in his eyes, “Sir, he is Master Yi’s legacy apprentice.”
“Master Yi’s only legacy apprentice? That’s him!?” Lu Qianhuan frowned. He had heard of Master Yi even before researching Green Moon City and the neighbouring areas, and it was him who gave the orders not to mess with the ten-star Runemaster when the Lu’s took over the city.
Lu Qianhuan’s eyes went cold, he grunted and said, “No, not this time! He has to die, even if he is protected by Master Yi!”
He was not willing to anger Master Yi, but that was just him respecting the well established Runemaster. The proof of Ye Wei’s involvement and his suspicion of Ye Wei being the masked assassin justified his cause.
“But…” Lu De smiled bitterly, “Ten days ago, the Runemaster Union’s Qing state headquarter had listed Ye Wei as one of the Seven New Runes. I am sorry you did not hear about this news earlier, sir, but I didn’t think it would be relevant!”
“A new rune!?” The elder gritted his teeth. Having been one of the best strategists in the Lu family for years, Lu Qianhuan knew that Ye Wei was out of his reach from what he could gather. He had enough experience dealing with the union to know what matters they take seriously.
“What a brash little boy! He is inconveniently brave.” Lu Qianhuan’s fists were tightly clenched, his gaze was getting colder and colder.
‘Seven New Runes, it is just a title, just because nobody in the entire Zhou dynasty dares to touch you openly does not mean I can’t kill you from the dark!’ Lu Qianhuan thought to himself, beginning to calculate. His experience had armed him with many dirty tricks. “Lock down the Ye family, don’t hurt anyone yet, find out everything about them and pressure them accordingly.”
‘You have to blow smoke into the hole to catch a rat!’ Lu Qianhuan narrowed his eyes, “Remember his face, I want to know as soon as possible if anyof you saw him outside of Green Moon City, if you see a chance to kill him, do it, I want no witnesses.”
“I will send my brother back to the bay area once he fully recovered, he should be ready again in a day at most, don’t do anything too stupid before he is back in the field.”
When the Lu’s men left the meeting, Lu Feng had long left Green Moon City with his father Master Mu. The Lu’s men had searched both Lu Feng’s and his father’s houses, they were forced to return to the furious elder with more bad news.
“For Sages’ sake!” Lu Qianhuan screamed and demolished a wall with his bare knuckles, he was completely maddened. He had no way of venting out this much resentment. “ I want you to start rumors about the Ye’s, I want their city to hate them!”
Before the sun rose again, made up news about the Ye’s involvement in the black markets and smuggling had spreaded, citizens were talking about the Ye’s bribing the City Lord.
Miles from Green Moon City, Lu Feng had heard all of these rumors from his contacts.
“They Lu’s are onto your family, the people in Green Moon City will start hating the Ye’s, make sure the patriarch knows that Lu Qianhuan is starting rumors about your family, if things are not dealt with delicately, the Lu’s will have a reason to wipe out the Ye’s.” Lu Feng knew exactly how these games were played, he decided to warn Ye Wei by leaving a message. “The Lu’s had done this many times, this is only the beginning…”
“Thank you for notifying me.” Ye Wei replied within seconds the first message was sent.
“Do not return to the Ye Mansion just yet, you will be watched and followed if they spot you at all,” Lu Feng had grown fond of Ye Wei without realizing since the partnership started.
“I get it, you should take care of yourself too.” Ye Wei laid the badge down, he looked at the pond next to him then faced south. ‘If anything happened to anyone in our family, I will count the Lu family responsible and I will make them pay!’
Ye Wei went back to cultivating, it was hard to put his worry aside but he knew better, he knew that he would need to become stronger now the conflict had scaled up immensely.