The Lu Clan
Qingzhou, White Cloud City.
It was spring, the season when all things returned to life. Yet in one corner of the city, the stench of blood filled the air, and a fearsome killing aura hung over the place.
Inside a dilapidated little pavilion, Lu Qingshan stood by the window, looking out at the lifeless atmosphere within the clan. His face, however, was remarkably calm.
Outside the window, greenery was beginning to appear, and all was unusually quiet. Lu Qingshan wore an embroidered robe that had been washed pale, letting the spring breeze sweep over him and freely ruffle his somewhat graying hair.
He knew in his heart that this was the calm before the storm.
Only after watching for a long while did Lu Qingshan slowly turn around.
"It's time to go to the ancestral hall."
With that, Lu Qingshan headed straight for the Lu Clan's ancestral hall.
The Lu Clan was not large, and after a short walk, Lu Qingshan arrived at the ancestral hall.
Within the Lu Clan, the ancestral hall occupied the largest area.
The entire hall covered several hundred square meters and was divided into a main hall, a side hall, and a rear hall.
The main hall was where the clan held its rites, and the ancestors' memorial tablets were enshrined there. Lu Qingshan took a deep breath and walked slowly into the ancestral hall with a reverent heart.
As soon as he entered, hundreds of wooden memorial tablets filled his vision.
The ancestral tablets were arranged in tiers. The higher they stood, the older the generation they belonged to, and the more blurred their inscriptions were. The writing on the uppermost few could no longer be made out at all, leaving only bare tablets whose air of decay bore the marks of passing years.
In front of the tablets stood a peculiar incense burner.
Lu Qingshan looked at the ancestral tablets before him, then took a long look at the incense burner. He picked up three incense sticks, lit them, and placed them in the burner.
After that, Lu Qingshan hurriedly knelt on the ground and began kowtowing.
Bang, bang, bang!
Dull thuds immediately rang through the ancestral hall.
Some passing Lu clansmen heard the commotion inside and could not help shaking their heads and sighing.
"The patriarch's gone to kowtow in the ancestral hall again."
"The patriarch has been coming to the ancestral hall more and more often lately."
"Sigh, it seems even the patriarch has already foreseen the fate of our Lu Clan and has begun begging the ancestors' forgiveness."
The Lu clansmen looked sorrowful, their hearts uneasy.
White Cloud City had three powerful factions that shared the city's resources: the Azure Dragon Gang, the Balance Sect, and the City Lord's Manor.
Of the three, the City Lord's Manor was the strongest.
The Lu Clan was somewhat weak before those three powerful factions and could only scrape up their leftovers.
The Lu Clan had always kept a low profile and behaved meekly. It had around a hundred members in total, and few of them caused trouble.
They had thought that living this way would let everyone coexist peacefully, but the Lu Clan had still underestimated the cruelty of the world.
Ever since Lu Qingshan had taken the position of patriarch, the Azure Dragon Gang had repeatedly made trouble for the Lu Clan without any regard for reason. Lu Qingshan knew full well that they feared his potential and strength.
Lu Qingshan had reached the Body Tempering Realm at eight, and his strength had been unrivaled among his peers. He had then reached the Qi Condensation Realm at nine, the Spirit Gathering Realm at twelve, and the Spirit Control Realm at eighteen, earning the title of White Cloud City's foremost genius.
How high-spirited and glorious he had been back then.
Afterward, Lu Qingshan had left White Cloud City to venture out into the world, vowing to carve out a place for himself.
It was not until seven years later that Lu Qingshan returned to White Cloud City. But he was no longer the high-spirited man he had once been. Instead, he was in a sorry state, having suffered severe injuries.
By then, the Lu Clan was already on the brink of collapse. With no other choice, Lu Qingshan had dragged his gravely injured body forward, intending to prop up the great edifice on the verge of toppling.
Twenty years had passed like that. Not only had Lu Qingshan's injuries failed to improve, but the Lu Clan had also fallen into a predicament it could not escape.
"If the patriarch's injuries could heal and his cultivation return to the Spirit Master Realm, how could we let the Azure Dragon Gang run so rampant?!" Outside the ancestral hall, a Lu clansman clenched his fists and spoke through gritted teeth.
They all knew that Lu Qingshan had reached the Spirit Master Realm during his seven years of venturing out. It was only later, when he was injured in battle and his foundation was damaged, that his realm had fallen.
All these years, the Azure Dragon Gang had repeatedly targeted the Lu Clan because it feared Lu Qingshan's injuries would heal and his cultivation would recover. If he returned to the Spirit Master Realm, White Cloud City would gain another powerful faction.
When that happened, the Lu Clan would naturally contend with the city's other three major factions and try to claim a greater share of its resources.
The three major factions would never allow such a thing to happen.
If the Azure Dragon Gang had been acting alone, the Lu Clan would not have been in such a state. In truth, however, the gang was only the bird that stuck its head out; the other two major factions were surely supporting it from the shadows.
"Huh? First Elder, what brings you here too?"
A Lu clansman spoke in surprise.
The others saw the newcomer and hurriedly bowed in greeting as well.
The newcomer was a tall, thin middle-aged man who looked rather listless, though his eyes alone flickered with an indescribable sharpness.
The Lu Clan's First Elder-Lu Guangyao.
Lu Guangyao looked toward the ancestral hall, his face full of worry, and could not help lamenting, "With a great enemy at our gates, the patriarch is still so superstitious, putting his faith in those illusory ancestors. What is to become of our Lu Clan?"
Hearing the First Elder criticize Patriarch Lu Qingshan so directly, the other Lu clansmen lowered their heads slightly and said nothing in rebuttal.
Lu Qingshan, as he was now, had indeed left them somewhat disappointed.
That former foremost genius, the pride of the Lu Clan, seemed never to be coming back.
By contrast with the sorrowful atmosphere outside the ancestral hall, it was so peaceful within.
Lu Qingshan, the head of the clan, was still kowtowing with all his heart and strength, glancing at the incense burner from the corner of his eye every now and then.
After he had kowtowed who knew how many times, the incense burner finally gave a faint response.
A wisp of white smoke suddenly drifted slowly out of the burner and surrounded Lu Qingshan, bringing with it a sense of comfort.
At that moment, the oppression that had weighed on him for so long vanished in an instant.
Lu Qingshan let out a long breath. Then, his eyes reddening, he prostrated himself on the ground and said in a choked voice, "Ancestors above, please protect our Lu Clan."
"Our Lu Clan is truly at the point of life or death now. Ancestors, do you really want to stand by and watch the Lu Clan be destroyed in a single day?"
As the head of the clan, Lu Qingshan knew that the Lu Clan seemed to have enjoyed a period of great prosperity in the past, though he did not know what had caused the Lineage to decline gradually.
The Lu Clan also had written records concerning the names on the tablets before him.
Moving mountains and filling seas, riding clouds and commanding mists—these were all as easy as eating and drinking. Some accounts were even more outrageous, daring to claim that they controlled life and death, reversed reincarnation, and attained the Dao of eternal life.
Lu Qingshan no longer dared hope that these ancestors had really been so damn impressive. At the very least, it would be enough if they had left some contingency to help the clan through its present crisis.
As Lu Qingshan spoke through his tears, the smoke began to change, slowly circling him like a kindly elder comforting a younger descendant.
In an instant, Lu Qingshan was moved to his very core. This was the feeling of a shared bloodline!
"Patriarch, this is bad! The Azure Dragon Gang is attacking!!"
Just then, a terrified shout suddenly came from outside the ancestral hall.
Hearing this, Lu Qingshan's face darkened. "That damned Azure Dragon Gang! Don't they follow any rules at all?!"
He wanted to get up and deal with them, but after a moment's hesitation, he obediently remained on his knees and continued kowtowing. This time, however, he struck harder and harder, faster and faster, until he was leaving afterimages!
The stone tiles paving the floor cracked again and again.
"Please manifest your power, Ancestors! Please manifest your power!"
"What are you trying to do, Azure Dragon Gang? If you attack our Lu Clan, aren't you afraid the City Lord's Manor will hold you accountable?!"
A Lu Clan expert demanded, looking at the vicious, murderous members of the Azure Dragon Gang.
Hearing this, an Azure Dragon Gang expert sneered. "Your Lu Clan sold counterfeit goods and even beat up disciples of our Azure Dragon Gang. Even if the City Lord's Manor comes looking to assign blame, we're the ones in the right."
"You're fucking bullshitting!"
The Azure Dragon Gang expert's words made the Lu Clan expert burst into curses.
The other Lu clansmen also looked furious.
This was blatant slander, but there was nothing they could do about it.
After all, their Lu Clan was weaker than the other side.
Seeing every member of the Lu Clan brimming with righteous indignation, the Azure Dragon Gang's leader stepped forward and stamped his foot hard.
Boom!
A powerful presence immediately washed over them. He was unmistakably a Spirit Master Realm expert.
Feeling the powerful presence of a Spirit Master Realm expert, the Lu Clan's experts immediately broke into cold sweats and hurriedly shut their mouths.
The Azure Dragon Gang's leader swept his gaze over the Lu clansmen and asked coldly, "Where is your patriarch?"
The Lu Clan experts, however, all remained silent.
Lu Guangyao, the Lu Clan's First Elder, pondered for a moment before saying, "Our patriarch is in seclusion, healing his injuries. He'll recover his strength very soon. If the Azure Dragon Gang knows what's good for it, you'll leave our Lu Clan at once!"
Hearing this, the Azure Dragon Gang's leader could not help bursting into laughter.
"Do you take me for a fool? In seclusion healing his injuries? Your patriarch has been injured for twenty years. Without resources, he'll stay that way for the rest of his life."
"Now I'm giving your Lu Clan two choices."
"First, submit to the Azure Dragon Gang and become its vassal forever."
"Second..."
Before he could finish, a Lu Clan expert cursed angrily, "Dream on!"
The speaker was the Lu Clan's Third Elder, Lu Chen. He had a fierce, unyielding temperament, was specifically responsible for the Lu Clan's security, and possessed cultivation at the peak of the Spirit Gathering Realm.
The other Lu clansmen all remained silent, but the vast majority glared at the Azure Dragon Gang with shared hatred for the enemy, their meaning self-evident.
Once the Lu Clan became a vassal of the Azure Dragon Gang, it would never be able to rise again.
Though their Lu Clan was weak, it still had backbone!
Faced with this, the Azure Dragon Gang leader's expression grew colder. Then his face suddenly twisted as he said, "In that case, today will be the day your Lu Clan is wiped out!"