"The number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later..."
"Damn it, what happened!"
Inside a taxi, Zhou Xuan hung up his phone, muttering lowly.
In the short time since leaving the Tianyun Casino, Zhou Xuan had called Lu Linger over a dozen times, but her phone was always switched off.
Combined with Lu Linger's abruptly interrupted call earlier, Zhou Xuan had a bad feeling.
However, he was still in the taxi and couldn't rush back to the Lu family immediately. So, he urged the driver to go faster while trying to contact Lu Linger again.
"Sir, we've arrived at your destination!"
"Here's a few hundred, keep the change!"
Hearing the driver, Zhou Xuan threw a wad of hundred-yuan bills at him and immediately sprinted towards the Lu family compound.
"Grandfather, I advise you to hand over control of the Lu family to me. I am your grandson too!"
"Why are you so fixated on that dead girl?"
"Besides, there's always been a tradition in the clan to pass down power to males, not females. You're breaking the rules by doing this!"
"Pah!"
"How could my Lu family have produced someone as ungrateful as you? To seize family assets, you even kidnapped your own sister. Lu Tianming, are you even human?"
In the hall of the Lu family, two groups were confronting each other.
On one side was Old Master Lu, who had just woken from his slumber, along with the Lu family's bodyguards and servants.
On the other side was a group of men in black, led by Lu Tianming!
"Hmph!"
"You forced me to do this!"
"Originally, if you had peacefully handed over your position in the Lu family to me, I wouldn't have bothered with that brat."
"But who told you to directly announce that you would make that girl the heir of the Lu family!"
"I am the eldest grandson of the Lu family. The position of the head of the Lu family should rightfully belong to me!"
"I'm just taking back what belongs to me. What did I do wrong?"
"It's you, old man, who is breaking the ancestral rules by insisting on promoting a woman!"
"I just don't understand, what makes me, Lu Tianming, inferior to that brat?"
Hearing Old Master Lu's words, Lu Tianming's expression turned ferocious, like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on. He roared at Old Master Lu.
"Hmph, since you insist on knowing the reason, I'll tell you today!"
"It's because you are not a descendant of my Lu family!"
"It's because your father, Lu Huai'an, was a child I adopted by the roadside years ago!"
"As his son, you have no blood relation to my Lu family whatsoever!"
"Despite that, for years, my Lu family treated you and your father as our own kin, and we never wronged you!"
"And now, not only are you ungrateful, but you also intend to covet the power of my Lu family!"
"As expected, you are an ungrateful white-eyed wolf!"
Looking at Lu Tianming, Old Master Lu uttered this news, which was like a bolt from the blue to Lu Tianming, in a chilling tone.
"No, impossible!"
"You're lying to me!"
"How is this possible? I am the eldest grandson of the Lu family!"
"You're trying to trick me!"
"You're saying this deliberately to make that girl the heir, I know, I know!"
"Hmph, we can go to the hospital for a blood test to verify if I'm lying!"
"Besides, don't you think that grandchildren and grandfathers often resemble each other?"
"But look at yourself, and then look at me. Do I resemble you in any way?"
"You ungrateful beast, hurry up and release Ling'er!"
"Otherwise, I, Lu Mingyuan, swear that I will use all the power of my Lu family to ensure you have no place to die, you scumbag!"
Seeing that Lu Tianming still showed no remorse even after his words, Old Master Lu was too lazy to argue further. He signaled to the people around him and was about to make a move against Lu Tianming.
"Heh, good for you, old man!"
"Since you'd rather spin such lies than pass the position to me, then you can die!"
"After you die, this Lu family will naturally be mine. I will take good care of that slut Lu Linger then!"
"Brother Hei Hu, I'll have to trouble you this time!"
Seeing Old Master Lu's movement, Lu Tianming sneered and cupped his fists respectfully at a man in black beside him.
"Mm, don't worry!"
"Since I promised to help you seize control of the Lu family, I won't break my word!"
"But I have to make one thing clear: you must not fall short on the conditions you promised me. Otherwise, you know the consequences!"
"Don't worry, Brother Hei Hu, I would never dare to deceive you!"
"Once I become the head of the Lu family, you will have half of the Lu family's wealth!"
Hearing the man in black's cold words, Lu Tianming shivered involuntarily and quickly said.
"Good, then you may stand down."
"I have long heard of Old Master Lu's reputation, but I wonder how much power the former number one cultivator in Cangyun City still possesses?"
"Today, let me, Hei Hu, be the first to experience it!"
As the words fell, the man in black named Hei Hu suddenly unleashed a powerful aura. This aura was many times stronger than the two individuals Zhou Xuan encountered at the Tianyun Casino.
"Body Shaping Initial Stage?"
"When did another expert like you appear in Cangyun City?"
"With your strength, you shouldn't be an unknown figure!"
Sensing the aura that Hei Hu exuded, Lu Mingyuan's expression changed drastically.
If it were a few years ago, he wouldn't have paid attention to someone like this, because he was then the only publicly known late-stage Body Shaping realm expert in Cangyun City.
At that time, he was undoubtedly the king among the cultivators in Cangyun City!
But now, after years of unconsciousness, his strength had greatly declined.
Moreover, he only had one year of life left, and forcefully circulating his true qi would only hasten his death.
Although he was aware of this, Lu Mingyuan had no choice but to step forward to face the enemy.
Because other than him, no one else in the Lu family could withstand Hei Hu for even a single blow!
Although the Lu family still had some cultivators, they were basically only at the Qi Refining stage, and sending them to fight Hei Hu, who was in the Body Shaping realm, would be like an egg hitting a rock!
Just as Lu Mingyuan was preparing to circulate his true qi forcefully, disregarding his physical condition, a roar from a distance timely stopped him.
"Lu Tianming, you are courting death!"
"If Ling'er is harmed in the slightest today, I will make you suffer a thousand tortures, and you will beg for death but find none!"