Chapter 5: Father!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Father!”
At first, Lu Chaoxi froze after hearing the voice in his head. Then he became very elated!
His father, who had closed himself off for 50 years and had not shown any signs of activity, had sent him a voice transmission!
He nearly cried at this moment!
This was his biological father! Had his biological father woken up earlier, then the Lu Clan would not have landed in their current state!
“Father, are you coming out?” he quickly asked. However, there was no reply.
“Father, can you say something?”
Still, there was no response. Lu Chaoxi even started doubting if he had been hearing things just now.
But that was impossible!
He put down whatever he was doing and rushed out of his abode toward the back side of the mountain.
Sometime later, he arrived at the forbidden land at the back side of the mountain.
Two members of the Lu Clan stood sentinel, guarding the area outside the forbidden land.
There would constantly be two members of the Lu Clan standing guard here. They claimed to be protecting the old master, but in reality...they were merely entrance guards.
The two cousins, Lu Mingsi and Lu Mingpu, were initially rather nervous when they saw someone charge over from far away.
Even though this was Yuyan Mountain, which was the main camp of the Lu Clan, the clan was not in stellar shape. So who was to say that there would not be an external invasion? It was a crime punishable by death if they interrupted the closed-door training of the great-grandmaster.
However, they immediately recognized the old yet familiar figure when the person got closer.
“The clan master, granduncle?”
Lu Chaoxi sheathed his sword and stopped in front of the two guards and then asked, “Mingsi and Mingpu, you two are standing guard this month?”
“Yes.”
“Did anything strange happen today?”
The two of them looked at each other. Lu Mingsi, who was a little older, replied, “Granduncle, nothing strange happened today.”
Lu Chaoxi stroked his long beard. He felt somewhat perplexed.
Lu Mingsi and Lu Mingpu, who stood guard outside of the forbidden land, would have noticed if his father had come out.
However, since his father wanted him to enter, he should enter the area and see what was going on.
“I’ll head in to visit my father. Stand guard properly outside.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Even though they did not know why it was necessary to visit the great-grandmaster who had not shown any signs of activity for 50 years, they obeyed anything the clan master said.
They stepped aside and made way for the clan master to pass. Lu Chaoxi kept his magic sword and stepped into the area.
He pushed open the main door and walked down a deep, dark tunnel as he lit up the torches by the side. A moment later, he arrived at a large steel door deep within the tunnel.
This was Lu Qing’s enclosed chamber.
“Father?” Lu Chaoxi stood at the door and called out into the room, “Chaoxi is here.”
A voice came from inside. “Yes.”
Lu Chaoxi was elated. “Father, how’s your body? Can you come out now?”
If Lu Qing would come out of his closed-door training and return as a Golden Core Patriarch and protect the clan, then most of the difficulties that the clan was facing now would be solved.
“Not yet.” Lu Qing’s voice came from inside the room. “I’ve only woken up temporarily. I have to continue with my closed-door training.”
Of course, Lu Qing could not come out. How could he come out if he were dead!
However, he could not announce this to the outside world. All he could do was stay in the chamber under the guise of his closed-door training.
Lu Qing could freely speak within the chamber without spending Karma. Anyone standing three to five meters away from the door of the chamber could hear him. He had to use the system’s “Voice Transmission” function to communicate with his clansmen if they were any farther away or if Lu Qing was not in the chamber.
Without waiting for Lu Chaoxi to continue with his questions, Lu Qing said, “What happened to the family all these years? Slowly tell me about it.”
Lu Chaoxi suppressed the disappointment in his heart and started to narrate everything that happened after Lu Qing closed himself in.
******
Around 50 years ago, Lu Qing closed himself in and no longer came out. The clan had undergone a period of turmoil. They used large amounts of their savings on healing treasures and experienced many deficits. Even though the clan was powerful back then, they were a relatively young clan, having been set up in just a few dozen years. They did not have sufficient reserves. The first wave had been extremely damaging to the clan.
Fortunately, the clan slowly regained their strength in the next ten years.
However, Lu Qing still showed no signs of activity in those ten years. And that invited the greedy eyes of the outside world.
The Zhao Clan, which was also in the Anling Prefecture, gradually took away the assets and profits of the Lu Clan.
The Zhao Clan was an old clan in the Anling Prefecture. And because of their long history, not only did they have a strong background, but also the clan had a significant number of cultivators. Even though the clan did not have Golden Core cultivators and only one cultivator at the Initial Enlightenment Stage, the oldest Golden Core Patriarch of the Qingfeng Sect, Zhao Zidan, had come from the Zhao Clan.
Zhao Zidan’s personal relationship with Lu Qing was awful.
The conflict between the two Golden Core patriarchs would naturally extend to their families. The two families also had a conflict of interest as they were both in the Anling Prefecture. That naturally made the relationship between the two families turned sour.
When Lu Qing was still around, the Lu Clan had a slight advantage. The main reason was that Lu Qing was much younger than Zhao Zidan. Around 50 years ago, Zhao Zidan was already 400 years old and was nearing the limits of his Core Lifespan at the Golden Core Stage. It was also obvious that there was no way he would reach the Nascent Soul Stage. On the other hand, Lu Qing was only 250 years old, and it was obvious which of the two had a brighter future.
However, the situation became dramatically different when Lu Qing went into seclusion.
For the first ten years after isolating himself, the situation was still somewhat decent. But after another ten years had passed, the Zhao Clan started to engage in more trickery. As time passed, they became more and more daring.
...
The Lu Clan was wary of the Golden Core cultivator, Zhao Zidan. Since the patriarch of their family, Lu Qing, had engaged in closed-door training and had not shown any signs of activity, the clan members tolerated whatever they could and tried not to engage in any conflict.
Then 30 years ago, the Zhao Clan entered Pingyao County.
Pingyao County was a human city.
And in human cities in the world, there were several unaffiliated low-level cultivators. However, Pingyao County was affiliated with the faction of cultivators around them and was governed jointly by the dynasty. Pingyao County was a territory of the Lu Clan. Since they defended this city, they received offerings from the city’s residents. In the past, Pingyao County would provide the Lu Clan with thousands of Spirit Stones every year. These stones made up a significant portion of the clan’s income.
The clan could tolerate everything else, but when the Zhao Clan dipped its toes into Pingyao Country, thus infringing on their lifeblood, the Lu Clan would not tolerate that.
The two clans started to engage in intense conflict around Pingyao Country. In the next ten years, several cultivators and clansmen from both clans died during this conflict. Then the conflict between them was further intensified.
The Lu Clan was gradually put at a disadvantage in the fight for Pingyao County. Their control over the city continually decreased time and again. The entire Lu Clan became anxious. Several high-ranking members, who had generation names of “Chao” and “Ting,” of the Lu Clan decided on a plan to risk it all after much discussion.
Suddenly, they attacked and mobilized almost all of the cultivators from the Lu Clan to launch a fierce offensive on Pingyao County. They attempted to rid the Zhao Clan from the city in one fell swoop.
However, the Lu Clan lost the battle. Even though Zhao Zidan had not stepped in on account of his status as a patriarch of the sect, the Lu Clan could not defeat the powerful Zhao Clan.
Then, the Zhao Clan took advantage of their momentum and attacked Yuyan Mountain on one occasion.
The Lu Clan defended the gates of the mountain using the Great Mountain Defense Formation that derived power from the Level Four spirit vein. However, the power of the spirit vein was greatly exhausted during the five-year-long attack. The power of the spirit vein withered and became a Level Two spirit vein. The Great Mountain Defense Formation was also subsequently destroyed.
...
This was a critical event that almost annihilated the entire clan.
Finally, the conflict between the two parties caught the attention of the Qingfeng Sect.
Both clans were affiliated with the sect. They would not allow one clan to annihilate the other.
The Qingfeng Sect talked the Zhao Clan into retreat. They even took out 30 percent of the profits from the war-ravaged, half-destroyed Pingyao County and returned it to the Lu Clan. They also sternly warned both parties to never engage in any further large-scale conflict. The incident came to an end like that.
However, after that siege, the Lu Clan’s strength took a huge hit. It also revealed their weakness.
When the Lu Clan had almost been wiped out during the conflict, Lu Qing had not come out of his closed-door training. And that was enough to explain the problem.
The Lu Clan’s most powerful protector in the Anling Prefecture had disappeared. In fact, many people believed the rumor that Lu Qing was already dead.
The Lu Clan’s strength plummeted from then on.