Liu Xiang glanced at the divine path winding up the mountain like a road to heaven and smiled. "Divine Lord Wei, Lu Clan family head, carry on with your important business. We'll just drink our tea."
Lu Shen was slightly embarrassed. Chen Ping'an was not on the mountain, so there was no point in talking further with Wei Bo. This trip down the mountain, and the mention of Ma Kuxuan's direct disciple, had merely been a favor extended to Luopo Mountain; there was no further serious business to discuss. Besides, Lu Shen did not even want to see Zheng Juzhong, much less sit at the same table and discuss matters with him. It would drain far too much of his Dao power. As for "Liu Xiang," ever since his youth, Lu Shen had attended an ancient sacrificial rite presided over annually by the Lu Clan family. He had even played the role of a rising-chant Daoist priest several times, ascending the altar to recite invocations. The divine title and true name inscribed upon the principal tablet of the deity receiving the offerings of incense had been "Liu Xiang."
Liu Xiang seemed determined not to let Lu Shen off so easily. "There are family traditions for reading books and proper methods for scholarship. Commit murder in broad daylight, rob travelers on the road, kill people in filthy alleys—any of that is better than being a Buddha by day and a ghost by night."
Like a landlord rebuking a tenant to his face, circumstances left Lu Shen no choice. He could only take his seat. When Liu Xiang and Zheng Juzhong appeared together, anyone who saw them would feel as though one head had become two.
Chen Lingjun listened in a fog. He glanced at Wei Ye You. As expected of a