Chapter 288: The Lu Family Causes Chaos, Taowu Appears (II)
Chapter 288: The Lu Family Causes Chaos, Taowu Appears (II)
Then two people stood up.
One of them was the red-robed Di Nufeng. Just as she was about to say something, she realized the stern black-robed old woman had stood up as well. So, Di Nufeng decided to stay silent.
The Discipline Master, the stern old woman, said coldly, "A member of the Lu Family has returned. It is indeed a joyous occasion. Furthermore, you've even brought back the Heaven Authority Token, which had been lost for so long. You've done a great service to the sect. It will be no problem at all for you to become a member of the sect again."
"Hmph," Lu Chengchou snorted coldly. "Discipline Master, do you think that you can take the Heaven Authority Token from me just by saying that?"
"It's not like we're not giving you anything in exchange. Aren't we letting you join our sect again? Do you think it's that easy for others to join our sect?" Di Nufeng chimed in. "If you don't think that's enough, how about we give you five hundred sword coins as a reward? And once you're a member of our sect again, you can join my peak and become Silver Sword Peak's second senior brother. Wouldn't that be great?"
The noisy venue suddenly fell silent.
Even the uninvolved spectators thought that Di Nufeng had spoken extremely shamelessly.
"Haha..." Lu Chengchou laughed angrily. "It seems all of you are Wen Yuan's cronies. Your status is too low to say such words. How could I, the rightful successor of the role of the Mount Shu Sect's sect leader, be subordinate to you?"
"Why are you insulting me?!" Di Nufeng roared.
Her pupils dilated, and a threatening aura burst out of her.
Lu Chengchou shouted, "Everyone's watching. You want to attack me here?"
"This is a personal grudge between you and me. It's got nothing to do with Mount Shu," Di Nufeng said as she flew down to the stage.
Just as they were about to fight, someone yelled, "Stop!"
That man suddenly landed behind Lu Chengchou.
Dressed in white, the man had a medium build and looked to be around forty years old. His eyes were totally white, without even the slightest trace of black. This man was Enlightened Bai Lin, a visiting elder from the Penglai Supreme Sect.
"The Mount Shu Sect is a prestigious righteous sect, with a legacy spanning thousands of years. If there's a dispute over who the true sect leader should be, how could that be resolved with a fight? That is simply improper!" Enlightened Bai Lin said loudly.
"So, you do know that this is Mount Shu." Di Nufeng glared at Enlightened Bai Lin. "Since when did you have the right to bark here?"
"Hmph," Enlightened Bai Lin snorted coldly. Ignoring Di Nufeng, Enlightened Bai Lin looked up at Venerable Wen Yuan instead. He cupped his hands together and said, "Venerable Wen Yuan, two generations of the Lu Family made remarkable contributions to the Mount Shu Sect during the time they each spent as sect leader. This is a fact that is known to all righteous sects.
"If what this descendant of the Lu Family says is true and that he is the true successor of the position of sect leader, then as members of fellow righteous sects, we cannot just sit idly by."
Venerable Wen Yuan's gaze shifted back and forth between Enlightened Bai Lin and Lu Chengchou for a moment. Then, as if he'd figured something out, the corners of Venerable Wen Yuan's lips rose in a slight smile.
Venerable Wen Yuan replied, "My teacher personally passed the position of sect leader to me. So, the matter of who is the true sect leader of the Mount Shu Sect is, of course, not something that all of you need to worry about. The identity of this descendant of the Lu Family still needs to be investigated further. However, since the Heaven Authority Token has been brought back to Mount Shu, it must not be lost again."
"That's nonsense!" Lu Chengchou said sharply. "You killed my grandfather and father in the Divine Ruins. Then you returned to Mount Shu and falsely claimed my grandfather passed the position of sect leader to you, but you couldn't present the Heaven Authority Token to the sect. Precisely because the Heaven Authority Token had been passed to my father along with the position of sect leader! It's just that it hadn't been announced to the sect!
"After returning to Mount Shu, you secretly tried to kill my whole family. That's why my mother took me and fled. For so many years, I've longed to come back here to seek revenge against you. I'll rip off that mask of kindness and expose your true self! Wen Yuan, today, you're going to get payback for everything you've done to my family!"
The visiting cultivators had their mouths open, gaping in shock. "Wow."
What an interesting turn of events, they thought.
Initially, they had been worried that the wait for news from Sword Sheath Peak might be boring. However, this was great. They didn't expect that the last event of the Mount Shu Summit would have a halftime show like this!
Venerable Wen Yuan had been the sect leader of the Mount Shu Sect for over one hundred and fifty years, without a single blemish on his record. He had such a good reputation that it wasn't far off from that of a saint. Who would've thought that he'd be accused of having used such despicable methods to get his position of sect leader?
The disciples of the Mount Shu Sect who were present felt quite shaken by the allegations. They didn't know much about the incident in question, but they knew the Heaven Authority Token in Lu Chengchou's hand couldn't be faked.
Lu Chengchou's words had sown a small seed of doubt in everyone's heart. Could what he said be true? Fôll0w current novÊls o/n n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(c/o/m)
Actually, everyone was well aware that even if the shocking allegations were true, it was far too late to have any effect. Wen Yuan's position in the Mount Shu Sect was too secure to be shaken by a dark past. Nevertheless, people loved drama. This controversial collapse of Wen Yuan's saintly image would be a hot topic of discussion for a very long time.
As Lu Chengchou voice reverberated throughout the venue, he got so worked up that his face was flush with anger.
Meanwhile, Enlightened Bai Lin, who was standing behind Lu Chengchou, remained expressionless. It seemed like he was just there to ensure Lu Chengchou wasn't silenced, giving him the chance to make those shocking allegations. As for what happened after, it had nothing to do with the Penglai Supreme Sect.
The astute observers among the spectators could tell that Lu Chengchou's appearance today couldn't have happened without him having prior communication with the Penglai Supreme Sect. Enlightened Bai Lin was obviously there just to back Lu Chengchou up. This wasn't the first time the Penglai Supreme Sect had used internal strife to weaken other sects.
Nevertheless, the Penglai Supreme Sect didn't normally intervene directly in such situation, so what was it about Lu Chengchou that brought Enlightened Bai Lin there to back him up? Just what amazing power did Lu Chengchou have that could harm the Mount Shu Sect?
Despite all that, Venerable Wen Yuan remained composed, totally unaffected by what Lu Chengchou had said.
Venerable Wen Yuan said nonchalantly, "If you are truly Lu Cang's son, you would have only been an infant when the Lu Family disappeared. That means someone else must have told you the things you mentioned, so it's inevitable that there are some incorrect details. However, if you are an imposter, your intent to disrupt the peace here is punishable by death.
"I already explained what happened to the sect's elders back then. If there were any doubts about what I said, how could they have allowed me to succeed as the sect leader?
"Men, take him down from the stage first. We will question him further later."
Venerable Wen Yuan deflected the allegations and turned the tables on Lu Chengchou, quelling some of the spectators' doubts.
That's right. Just because Lu Chengchou had the Heaven Authority Token didn't mean everything he said was true. If Venerable Wen Yuan's actions hadn't been thoroughly investigated back then, how could the elders have allowed him to take over as the sect leader?
"You want to force me into silence?" Lu Chengchou shouted. "Dream on!"
He made a hand seal, and a burst of darkness shot up into the sky from the public square on Heaven-Reaching Peak!
Whoosh—
When the burst of darkness reached the horizon, a celestial portal opened up, and a huge head emerged from it! It looked like a tiger as well as a leopard, and it had saber-like fangs! The creature exuded a terrifyingly vicious aura, accompanied by a chilling and bloodthirsty murderous intent!
"Taowu!" the crowd cried out in alarm.
This was the vicious beast that had disappeared from the Evil Demon Mountain recently! How did Lu Chengchou summon such a giant creature just by raising his hand? There was no doubt that he had set up an enchanted formation on the Heaven-Reaching Peak in advance!
It was now clear what power the Heaven Authority Token held. Lu Chengchou wasn't using it to deal with the members of the Mount Shu Sect; instead, it was for everyone else!
If he didn't have the Heaven Authority Token when Taowu appeared, the righteous cultivators from the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten would step in to help subdue the beast.
To combat that, Lu Chengchou had revealed that he possessed the Heaven Authority Token before summoning Taowu, making it clear that this battle was an internal conflict within the Mount Shu Sect. That meant outsiders had no reason to intervene, regardless of what methods Lu Chengchou used.
The visiting cultivators from various sects immediately retreated like a large flock of mountain birds startled into flight.
Meanwhile, the disciples of Mount Shu drew their swords, preparing to fight!
So what if you're a vicious beast?
This is Mount Shu, where there are as many powerful cultivators as there are clouds! Even Di Nufeng can't act willfully here, let alone you—a lone Taowu!
During this moment of chaos, someone shouted from amid the crowd, "Darkness never dies!"