Earth Stirred with Killing Intent, Dragons and Serpents Rose from the Land (Two-in-One, Six-Thousand-Word Chapter)

The alarm bells rang without cease at the Dragon Gate Escort Agency.

Signal arrows streaked into the sky, trailing crimson flames. They were the agency's highest-level summons.

Escorts and runners scattered far and wide saw the signal and swarmed back from every direction like wasps returning to their nest.

In moments, the Dragon Gate Escort Agency was surrounded three ranks deep inside and out. Not even a fly could get through.

Lookouts, both visible and hidden, were everywhere. Even favored direct-line descendants were stopped at the outer courtyard without a token, unable to advance another inch.

Deep within the compound, in a warm chamber.

The underfloor heating burned fiercely, driving every trace of cold from the room, but it could not dispel the chill in Lu Zongyuan's heart.

He laid Lu Changsheng on the Rosewood Couch draped with a White Tiger pelt, moving as gently as though tending to a fragile porcelain figure.

Beyond the door, muddled footsteps and hushed voices filtered through the heavy curtain.

"Head Boss, the clan elder from the third branch requests an audience."

"The fifth branch has brought people too. They say they have a thousand-year-old mountain ginseng root to keep him alive."

"The elders of every branch are kneeling outside, asking to see the Old Ancestor one last time."

The Lu Family had begun with Lu Changsheng and put down roots in Linjiang County over three hundred years ago. Its branches had spread through nine generations and twelve lines.

Though Lu Zongyuan's branch was the main line in charge of the escort agency, the other branches had long since worked their way into every trade in Riverside, their influence tangled like roots.

Now that the old lion looked ready to fall, these jackals, so docile on ordinary days, could no longer hide their fangs.