When everyone reached the City Lord's Residence, those inside had yet to realize what had happened.
The gates stood open. Several household guards craned their necks, waiting for their lord's triumphant return. Hearing footsteps, they looked up-and were frightened out of their wits. Lu Huanzhang led the way, followed by Lu Chengen, Xu Cangming, Jiang Yunhe, Luan Changqing, Hou Yuanqing, and the patriarchs of more than a dozen lineages, large and small, from Dragon-Slaying City. They came in a dark, imposing mass, bristling with hostility.
This was no visit. They had plainly come to raid the residence.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The gate guards scrambled into the residence, stumbling and crawling as they screamed at the top of their lungs.
The City Lord's Residence instantly descended into chaos.
Household guards poured out from every corner, armed with blades and spears and clad in armor, swiftly forming ranks before the main hall.
Several elderly stewards looked grim as they organized the defenses and ordered the protective grand formation activated. The residence's attendant experts also appeared one after another, their auras rising. There were more than a dozen of them, in the fourth and fifth realms, and every face was solemn.
Those willing to ally themselves with the Liu Family were naturally no cowards who clung to life and feared death.
Even if they were afraid, they could only grit their teeth and fight now.
"Activate the formation!"
A white-haired old steward shouted, forming hand seals as brilliant golden light flooded the residence.
The protective grand formation rose from underground, enveloping the entire City Lord's Residence in a translucent golden dome.
Dragon patterns flowed across the dome, accompanied by faint, echoing dragon cries. The formation's core lay beneath the main hall, at the convergence of the spiritual veins, guarded by restrictions Liu