Chapter 185: Expert At Passing The Buck
Having learned the sequence of events, Lu Xian couldn’t help but sigh softly, his expression somewhat strange. He finally understood that Lu Yun had asked him to come not to deal with Lu Jian at all, but to help him take the blame…
Lu Ying, however, only cared about Lu Yun’s condition and kept asking questions from the side. Lu Xian had no choice but to comfort her by saying, “Don’t worry, he’s just exhausted. Wait until I circulate Qi and regulate his breath later, and he’ll recover soon.”
“Really?” Lu Ying instinctively didn’t quite believe it.
“Would my words be false?” Lu Xian gave her a glance and said to Lu Ying, “Alright, you can withdraw first. It’ll be very lively here in a bit.”
Lu Ying knew that the Clan Leader would come soon. Although she was worried about Lu Yun, she still nodded obediently, wiped her tears, and retreated to the back.
Lu Xian laid Lu Yun flat on the ground, then stood there, surveying the surroundings. He looked at the mess inside the room, then at the two big pits smashed into the ground by Lu Yun, and finally his gaze fell on Lu Jian.
Looking at this younger cousin who had died a most miserable death, Lu Xian sighed slightly. This man had originally been a highly promising candidate for Clan Leader in the clan, and his martial arts were only one step away from Heavenly Rank. He never imagined he would end up like this. Even with Lu Xian’s temperament, he felt great regret.
“Old Fourth, yesterday’s events are now smoke in the wind. Go and reincarnate in peace.” Lu Xian sighed and waved a palm toward Lu Jian’s corpse. Lu Jian’s grim, unclosed-eyed face immediately became solemn, showing no trace of pain anymore.
Then, Lu Xian stood there with hands behind his back, waiting for the Clan Leader’s arrival.
.
Lu Shang arrived very quickly, and with him came Great Steward Lu Xiu, Second Steward Lu Xia, Sixth Steward Lu Kan, and others.
As soon as Lu Shang arrived, he was startled by the scene before him. He glanced at Lu Jian lying dead on the ground and softly asked Lu Xian, “You killed him?” The expression on Lu Jian’s face was clearly caused by Lu Clan martial arts, and in Lu Shang’s view, in the Lu Clan, the only one who could kill Lu Jian was Lu Xian, this Grandmaster.
Lu Xian cursed Lu Yun this little brat inwardly, but still nodded with a serious expression, silently taking the blame.
“He was actually still north of the Luo River!” Lu Xia looked at Lu Jian and couldn’t help but feel secretly ashamed. He had been searching everywhere these past days, but not only had he failed to find this man, he had even allowed him to sneak into Lu Xin’s home, nearly causing a great disaster.
“He disguised himself as Lu Ren, deceiving your eyes and ears, and then openly came here seeking revenge using Lu Ren’s identity.” Lu Xian pointed to the room and said, “Inside, you can find Lu Ren’s facial mask.”
“Hmph!” Lu Shang snorted coldly and said, “He brought this upon himself!” But after saying that, he still couldn’t help sighing, “Ah, he should have been taken alive.” In his view, this Lu Jian still had many wonderful uses; it was truly a pity.
“He dared to injure my disciple,” Lu Xian snorted coldly, slightly raising his head to gaze at the sky and said, “Naturally, he only had the path of death.”
“…” The Clan Leader and others felt a burst of helplessness. Looking at Lu Jian whose head had been beaten to bits, they thought to themselves, what a huge grudge this must be…
After a moment of silence, Lu Shang looked at Lu Yun and said, “This child is alright, isn’t he?”
“He’s injured, but he’ll be fine after recuperating for a while,” Lu Xian said softly.
Hearing Lu Xian say this, Lu Shang knew Lu Yun wouldn’t miss next year’s Grand Competition, and he was completely reassured.
“Vice Sect Master,” Lu Kan, the Lu Clan’s intelligence head, found it utterly unbelievable and said, “How did you know something would happen here? Could it be that when cultivation reaches a certain level, one can foresee the future?” He and Lu Xian were cousins once removed, so he naturally spoke without reservations. If it were one of the Elder Council’s old men, they definitely wouldn’t dare speak to Lu Xian like this.
“Naturally, it was Lu Yun who notified me.” Lu Xian gave Lu Kan a glance. Toward this younger cousin forcing him to continue lying, he felt utterly helpless. He could only say indifferently, “Lu Jian knew that once he made a move, he would be exposed quickly. So, he disguised himself as Lu Ren and said he wanted to see Lu Xin. Lu Yun was very vigilant and noticed this man was Lu Jian in disguise, so he pretended to request Lu Xin’s name and had someone call me over.”
“No wonder. With Lu Jian’s strength, Lu Yun couldn’t have held out until the Vice Sect Master arrived upon hearing the news.” Lu Kan nodded deeply in agreement, but then changed the subject: “However, Lu Jian was quite formidable too, to injure Lu Yun so severely right in front of the Vice Sect Master.”
Lu Xian frowned slightly, knowing Lu Kan was probing the suspicious points of the story with this half-true, half-false tone. He snorted somewhat displeased and said, “Lu Jian changed his mind and wanted to capture my disciple first to threaten Lu Xin into submission. After two exchanges, my disciple was injured.” As he spoke, he bent down to pick up Lu Yun and tossed out, “No time to chat idly with you all. I’m going to treat his injuries.”
With that, Lu Xian vanished from everyone’s sight as if fleeing. For someone like him who disdained lying, spouting such nonsense for so long was even more unbearable than killing him.
Everyone watched helplessly as Lu Xian left. Lu Xia said with a bitter face, “The Vice Sect Master really… shouldn’t he at least wait for the Elder Council people to arrive before leaving?” Although Lu Jian had been dismissed from his position, he had after all been someone highly valued by the Elder Council. With Lu Xian gone, and only their recounting of events, those Great Elder guys would probably think this was a conspiracy to eradicate Lu Jian completely.
“Alright,” Although Lu Shang also felt Lu Xian’s behavior was somewhat strange, he only thought it was Lu Xian’s own issue and didn’t connect it to Lu Yun. After all, Lu Yun’s true situation was too shocking to believe without seeing and hearing it oneself. “He’s just a fugitive who attempted to assassinate a clan steward. He’s dead, and so what? The Elder Council has no reason to make a fuss, right?”
After speaking, Lu Shang had people collect Lu Jian’s corpse, then looked at the mess in the front yard and said somewhat apologetically to Lu Xiang, “Little brother, it was the clan’s mishandling that caused your family to suffer disaster on the first day of moving in.”
“No harm done,” Lu Xiang shook his head and said, “As long as the people are fine.”
“Don’t worry, with the Vice Sect Master here, Lu Yun will be fine.” Lu Shang comforted Lu Xiang, then said to Lu Xiu beside him, “Quickly arrange for people to find another place for your uncle.”
“Yes.” Lu Xiu hurriedly agreed.
“No need, no need.” Lu Xiang quickly declined, “We’ve only just moved in one day; how could we move again? Besides, my whole family likes it here very much.”
“Someone died on the first day; how can that be alright?” Lu Shang frowned.
“No harm done. At most, we’ll invite a Daoist Priest to perform some rites.” Lu Xiang said hurriedly. In his heart, he thought, my daughter-in-law recites the Rebirth Scripture at home every day; not even that many departed souls would be enough for her to ferry across.
“That works too.” Lu Shang then changed his instruction to Lu Xiu: “Tell your younger brother to send the most capable men to protect the Third Steward’s family.”
“No need for that either. Apart from that Lu Jian, who would dare commit violence in the Lu Clan?” Lu Xiang still firmly declined. Like a mute eating dumplings, he knew the score in his heart. He knew his son and grandson were mysterious with many shady deeds, so of course he couldn’t have outsiders in the house. “We as a family are deeply grateful for the Clan Leader’s kind intentions, but Lu Xin has said many times that we definitely must not cause more trouble for the clan, or else our whole family will really be pointed at and gossiped about by the clan members.”
“How could that be?” Seeing Lu Xiang decline, Lu Shang no longer insisted and chatted with him a few more words. Then, the Elder Council people arrived upon hearing the news.
Seeing Lu Jian’s miserable death, Lu Wen was stunned for a moment. After a good while, he sneered endlessly at Lu Shang and his group: “Is the Clan Leader finally satisfied now?!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!” Lu Shang said with a cold face.
“Oh, so the Clan Leader isn’t satisfied yet. Of course, since I haven’t died yet, how could you be satisfied?” Lu Wen let out a strange laugh, then actually wailed loudly toward Lu Jian: “My poor nephew! How could you die so unjustly? You shouldn’t have died!”
The several elders nearby, seeing this, also glared angrily at Lu Shang and said, “Clan members framing each other, mutual slaughter—you as Clan Leader are truly doing a stellar job!”
