Chapter 171: The Clan Leader’s Methods
After waiting the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Lu Wei and Lu Xia appeared. The two walked solemnly to the Clan Leader’s side and whispered a few words softly.
Hearing this, Lu Shang’s expression clearly darkened, but he still did not announce the start.
After a while, the Elder who had been sent out returned. He walked to Lu Wen’s side and said softly, “The Finance Department has been sealed off; no one can get in. Sure enough, it’s targeting Lu Jian…”
The Great Elder nodded, his face showing no emotion, but his heart grew increasingly uneasy.
At this time, an Elder couldn’t help but ask aloud, “How much longer do we have to wait?”
“Wait a bit more; the Vice Sect Master will arrive soon.” Lu Xiu answered for the Clan Leader.
“What? Lu Xian is coming too?” The Elders’ hearts tightened, and they all looked towards the Great Elder in unison. Lu Wen’s heart also sank. Normally, even major events wouldn’t disturb Lu Xian, who doesn’t concern himself with mundane affairs. He hadn’t expected that this time, Lu Shang would bring him out too. It seemed like he was going to confront him directly.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait much longer. Lu Xian’s figure appeared in Sanwei Hall. He was still wearing a Daoist robe, his hair loose behind his head. He saluted the Clan Leader, then ignored everyone else and went straight to his seat.
Seeing that Lu Xian didn’t salute him, Lu Wen’s heart grew even more chaotic, and he actually had a feeling that great disaster was imminent.
“Let’s begin.” At this time, Lu Shang finally said expressionlessly.
“Lu Jian and Lu Chou haven’t arrived yet. Shouldn’t we wait a bit more?” The Great Elder spoke up to stop him.
“They won’t come.” Lu Shang answered in a deep voice.
“Why?” The Great Elder was stunned.
“Just now, Lu Jian injured Lu Chou and has already fled out of fear of guilt.” Lu Shang answered coldly.
“What?!” The Ancestral Hall immediately erupted in exclamations. Several Elders abruptly stood up, pointing at Lu Shang and sternly saying, “Lu Jian is innocent; that’s already been determined. Why are you still persecuting him?!”
“Exactly. Even if you are the Clan Leader, we the Elder Council will absolutely not agree to such perverse actions!”
Lu Shang just sneered silently.
“Silence!” At this moment, Lu Xia suddenly shouted explosively, his glaring eyes and furrowed brows instantly silencing the Elders. Then he said in a deep voice, “Lu Jian hired the White Ape Society to assassinate core disciples of our Lu Clan. Now we have both witnesses and evidence. How long are you going to protect him?!”
“This…” The Elders hadn’t expected the usually neutral Steward of Punishment to stand so firmly on Lu Shang’s side. After a moment of silence, they were no longer polite to Lu Xia: “Nonsense. Lu Jian is a Steward of our Lu Clan. If he wanted to deal with someone, he could just issue an order. Why go to such lengths?”
“Because the one he wanted to kill was Lu Yun!” Lu Xia said word by word.
“What? Lu Yun…” The Elders’ momentum immediately stalled. It wasn’t that Lu Yun himself was that intimidating, but his Master—the Vice Sect Master Lu Xian—was sitting right in front of them.
The Elders dared to disrespect Lu Shang because the Sect Master didn’t care about them. But they absolutely didn’t dare to provoke Lu Xian, or this Grandmaster would lose his temper.
One Great Central Supreme Fist—would you dare face it?
“Let the Second Steward explain clearly first; what exactly happened.” At this time, Second Elder Lu Lu spoke up, giving both sides a way out. Several Elders then snorted coldly and sat back down.
Lu Xia nodded to the Second Elder in thanks, then recounted everything that had happened today exactly as it was to everyone.
The Elders had originally been full of righteous indignation, but the more they listened, the more guilty they felt. By the end, they were all breaking out in cold sweat. The Great Elder’s eyelids twitched violently. He never imagined that those fools from the White Ape Society not only failed to kill anyone but were instead caught red-handed by Lu Shang’s counterplan!
“Originally, the White Ape Society daring to assassinate core disciples of our Lu Clan was tantamount to declaring war on our clan. We should report to the Clan Leader and wipe out the White Ape Society in the Capital City in one go to show that our Lu Clan is not to be trifled with!” Lu Xia looked sharply at everyone in the hall and said in a deep voice, “Under heavy pressure, the White Ape Society’s big boss had no choice but to reveal a shocking secret—they were hired by our clan’s Third Steward Lu Jian to assassinate Lu Xin Quan’s family, and Lu Yun was just their first target!”
“How could the White Ape Society so easily confess their employer? There must be a trick here!” A close ally of the Great Elder immediately shouted.
“Of course, words alone are no proof; how could we believe it?” Lu Xia said as he took out that Pledge and showed it to everyone: “But the White Ape Society’s big boss produced this Pledge, written in Lu Jian’s own hand with his signature. Everyone, please take a look.” With that, he passed the Pledge around for everyone to see. With Lu Xian present, he wasn’t worried about anyone destroying the evidence.
The Pledge was first presented to the Clan Leader. Lu Shang had already seen the contents, so he directly passed it to Lu Xian. Lu Xian’s face was grim as he examined it carefully, his expression darkening to the point where it seemed water could drip from it.
After reading it, Lu Xian waved his hand, and the Pledge flew to the Great Elder, landing steadily in his hand. The Great Elder took it and saw it was indeed Lu Jian’s handwriting. He really wanted to tear it up and stuff it in his mouth, but under Lu Xian’s cold gaze, how could the Great Elder dare to act rashly?
After Lu Wen read it, he subconsciously passed the Pledge messily to the person next to him, his heart surging with shockwaves. Now, what he worried about was no longer how to protect Lu Jian, but whether he himself would be implicated. Although his name wasn’t mentioned on the Pledge, Lu Jian would surely use him as a big flag in front of the White Ape Society to make his case.
The other Elders passed it around in turn, and all who saw it were stunned. The most common thought in their minds was: ‘This idiot, how could he let something like this fall into their hands?’
After everyone present had read the Pledge, Sanwei Hall was deathly silent. The Elders had lost all drive to support Lu Jian and sat there with ashen faces.
“Besides physical evidence, there is also a witness.” Lu Xia continued in a deep voice: “Over a dozen assassins from the White Ape Society who participated in the assassination were killed on the spot by us. But their Second Boss, Blood Skull Gu Qi, was captured alive. If you have any questions, you can ask him.”
“This…” The Elders hesitated, unable to resist looking towards Lu Wen one after another, unsure if they should continue dragging things out as planned. One Pledge was already this explosive, and with Gu Qi, who knew what shocking things he would say.
Lu Wen was even more worried that Gu Qi would mention his name. Even without proof, it would create extremely bad influence for him. If the clan members found out that he, the Great Elder, had also been involved in hiring killers, wouldn’t they poke his spine?
Thinking of this, Lu Wen shook his head resolutely: “No need for that. Since Lu Jian has already…” He paused, then continued with difficulty: “Fled out of fear of guilt, that proves it’s true. This Pledge written in his own hand is enough to convict him.”
“Let’s still question him,” Lu Shang said indifferently: “Maybe Lu Jian has other accomplices, and we can catch them all.”
“A killer’s words can’t be trusted even one bit; he’ll definitely slander others wildly.” Lu Wen’s heart pounded. Lu Shang insisting on interrogating Gu Qi didn’t it mean he could get what he wanted from his mouth?
What did Lu Shang want? Of course, to take down him, the Great Elder opposing him!
But Lu Wen never imagined that Lu Shang was actually bluffing him. If Gu Qi could really implicate Lu Wen, Lu Shang would have brought him to the hall long ago, so why waste words here? Right now, Lu Shang was just putting on a show to test how deeply Lu Wen was involved.
This test indeed revealed to Lu Shang that Lu Wen had known early on, and was very likely the mastermind behind it. Although mere suspicion wasn’t enough to deal with Lu Wen, confirming that Lu Wen had a guilty conscience allowed Lu Shang to press the advantage and settle many contentious matters on the spot!
.
“The Great Elder is right.” Lu Shang nodded, staring at Lu Wen with a complex gaze: “Since Lu Jian has confessed without interrogation, and we have his Pledge as evidence, can we consider the matter of him hiring killers to assassinate Lu Yun as confirmed?”
Hearing this, how could the Great Elder not know this was the Clan Leader naming his price? Lu Shang wanted him to abandon Lu Jian in exchange for not being implicated… If he dared say they needed to investigate further, Lu Shang would immediately bring out that White Ape Society’s Gu Qi and investigate on the spot…
So, he had no choice but to agree, and immediately at that.
