Thunderous applause went on and on.
Yu Feng raised a hand and pressed it down lightly, and only then did the central hall return to silence.
With a smile, he patted Lu Chen's shoulder. "For a Lu Family Head to join the ranks of the rising nobility at such a young age—looking across the entire country, there has likely never been another person, past or present, who achieved such a feat at your age and at such speed. I hope you will guard against arrogance and impatience, and create even greater glory!"
"Thank you for your encouragement, City Lord. This junior will certainly give it his all!"
"Good. Take your seat."
After Lu Chen sat down.
Yu Feng stood before the hall with his hands behind his back, his expression turning solemn. "All right. What I said just now counts as one piece of great news from today's meeting, and a good start for everyone. Next, we shall discuss another matter."
His gaze was like lightning as it slowly swept across the hall, his authority fully on display, as though he could see through every person present.
"You have presumably all heard of the Ma family and Ma Shilong. I will not belabor the details.
"To put it simply, the two recent murder cases in and around Jiangdu City—the S-rank instance dungeon 'Rebirth Academy' and the serial murder case—were masterminded by a Xiangnan evil cultivator named Qiu Qianluo, along with Ma Shilong of the Ma family."
"A Xiangnan evil cultivator?!"
The moment those words fell, every family head present sucked in a sharp breath.
They all knew, to a greater or lesser extent, some of the inside story about Xiangnan.
Sun Qingcang said in a deep voice, "I never expected this matter to involve a Xiangnan evil cultivator."
Everyone's eyes