The Inverted Dragon's Scale

“Yes, Lu Xingkong is naturally innocent and the Lu clan is naturally innocent.” Prince Fu laughed wildly. “Lu Xingkong is known to be loyal and courageous——but he will be implicated because of Elder brother. Isn’t it clear? Loyal officials and Generals will all perish.”

“Those who obey me will thrive and those who resist me perish. This is a necessary skill for an Emperor. Lu Xingkong has a stubborn personality, conservative thinking, and is stupidly loyal. And such a man is still in control of military power. If he can’t be used by me, then he must be killed——A man like him, I will never allow to continue to live on this world. I think Elder Song will also agree.”

“You bastard, he is guarding the country of the Chu clan——he’s loyal to the people of the Chu clan——” Chu Xianda’s right hand was flashing with red light, aiming at Prince Fu.

As the Emperor of a country, one must have the basic ability to defend oneself.

“I’m going to kill you——” Chu Xianda hissed, intense remorse and sorrow in his heart.

He did not expect that, when everything was proceeding regularly, they were hit by such a blow.

He was willing to sacrifice everything for the Chu clan, but his younger brother had stabbed him in the back.

The greater a person’s ability, the greater the responsibility.

Chu Xianda had always felt that he was a very capable person. Of course, every Emperor had such a misconception.

Since the Chu clan founded the West Wind Kingdom, the system of separation of political power, military power and supervision power had been established. The three sides each held a power, balancing with one another.

Under the control of the first Emperor of West Wind Kingdom, the Song family took control of political power, the Lu family held military power, and the Cui family was responsible for the Supervision power. These were the three separations of powers, but also the balance of three forces of the three clans.

Arguably, this was the most stable and safest method.

If the Lu family was disobedient, the Cui family could strike back.

If the Cui Family was disobedient, the Song family could strike back.

If the Song family was disobedient, the Cui or Lu family can strike back.

And every Emperor of West Wind in the past had held the sacred brush and sharp sword, taking upon the important role of arbiter and the ultimate distribution of the fruits.

The three powers were in balance and the Flying feather army was in their hands. The Chu clan’s imperial power could be said to be as steady as Mt Tai, living comfortable and leisurely days.

The previous West Wind Emperor had made great efforts to ensure that the country prospered and the people lived in peace. Under the command of the Lu clan, the army was invincible and triumphed in every battle.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, there was considerable harmony and trust between the Emperor and officials.

However, as the country’s power became more stable, the territory of the Kingdom expanded, coupled with various conflicts due to personal gains and the variety of conflicting views that the Emperor deliberately created, the relationship among the three families, Song, Lu and Cui got worse——

In truth, the Emperor was happy to see this happen.

After all, if the officials below were not quarrelling, then the high and mighty arbiter would most likely be made a mere figurehead by them. It was only when they were quarrelling, were messing around, were fighting, that everybody had something to do——

Only a Lord of great talent would naturally be able to manipulate and deal with such a complex situation, which was comparable to dancing on a thread of silver.

But not every Emperor could understand the tactics of being an Emperor.

Hundreds of years ago, an Emperor married a daughter of the Song family. This Emperor was credulous and weak, and he liked the Queen so much that he loved everything about her.

As a result, under the Queen’s persuasion as well as the civil officials, the Song family was constantly promoted, and finally, the Song family was able to control hundreds of officials. Even the power and troops in the Lu family’s hand were seized. At that time, the Song family had absolute control of the imperial court and the ordinary people; no one could compete with them.

The Cui family and the Lu family naturally were unwilling to accept this. But their opposition had no effect. Moreover because of their constant attack on the Song family, they became more and more sidelined and treated as an annoyance. The powers in their hands were constantly reduced——

As a result, the Song family grew larger and the Cui and Lu families were getting smaller. In the end, it turned into a situation where the Song family dominated. The move also laid the groundwork for today’s chaos.

Later the successive Emperors found that such a situation was not right, and it was difficult to strengthen the monarchical power. The imperial throne was similar to a puppet. They had tried to fight back, but how could the power demons, who had been let go, be so easily held back into their cages?

The Chu Clan, which was originally the arbiter, had suddenly found them turned into a runner, a ‘competitor’ in the same position as the Cui and Lu family.

It was not until then that they felt scared and panicked.

They wanted to seize power; they wanted to be the arbiter again.

However, their efforts failed again and again.

After more and more sticks were knocked on their head, the successors of the Chu clan had become used to such a situation.

Another hundreds of years were lived on in harmony. The Song family not only was not weakened but grew more and more powerful.

The stronger the Song family was, the weaker the imperial family became.

The weaker the imperial family, the more they needed the support of the Song family.

In the past it was the Song family that wanted to marry their daughter to the imperial family, but later on it was the imperial family that earnestly asked the Song family to marry their daughter to the imperial family. Because they were worried that, if the Song family would not do so, the relationship between the two families would drift apart and Song clan would have other ideas in mind.

However, this was not a long-term plan after all. It was not the choice of the Emperor.

Chu Xianda was aware of the problem of the situation early on. When he was the Crown Prince, he had already taken the initiative to befriend the Song family, keep the Cui family, and beat the Lu family.

After he became the Emperor, he took direct control of this matter. He had again and again tried to ask for the military power back from Lu Xingkong. But Lu Xingkong again and again bargained with the Emperor——

Everyone knew that Chu Xianda and Lu Xingkong did not get along well but nobody knew that the two had made a secret agreement long ago.

The Lu family was the Lu family of the West Wind, the Lu family of the Kingdom. But it was not the Lu family of the Song family.

The Lu family had rejected the Song family’s solicitation again and again, and rejected Prince Fu again and again. In the end, they had pushed themselves to the brink.

Lu Xingkong disapproved of Chu Xianda’s fierce reaction, and Chu Xianda also dared not to counterattack too fiercely because if he were to jump out and fight against the Song family the result would just be death.

They wanted to simmer the soup for a long time and wanted to cut the meat with a small knife.

But, they still could not win against the old guy of the Song family’s discerning eyes and scheming ability——

After the Song family discovered the intention of Chu Xianda and the Lu family, they immediately planned to take action to eradicate the Lu family and change the Emperor.

Before the opportunity had yet matured, Song Gudu was trapped in the suffering of cultivation. Storm clouds were approaching, but in the end it was only a few dark clouds fluttering over with a breeze.

When Song Gudu had treaded past the Starry sky, and stepped into the Astral projection realm, all the shackles shattered and all the conditions had matured.

Song Gudu did not have any hesitation to launch the most tragic coup and attack.

How intelligent was the Eye of the Starry sky?

Prince Fu stood there with a sympathetic expression as he watched Chu Xianda covered in blood, struggling between life and death.

“The outcome has been decided, why are you doing this?” Prince Fu shook his head gently. “Can you maintain the face of the imperial clan?”

Bang!

Chu Xianda’s head had suddenly exploded.

His body remained in a charging forward posture, until he was completely exhausted, collapsed to the ground with a ‘thud’, and threw himself in front of Prince Fu.

It was like he was admitting defeat, and even more like a kowtow.

The Emperor, the Lord of the Kingdom, had died in such a way and died at the hands of his brother and subjects.

Chu Xianda died tragically, humiliated.

Cui Xichen’s body landed from the sky, fumbled out a handkerchief to wipe off the blood stains on the handkerchief, fell on his knees, and loudly shouted: “Please take the throne, new Emperor.”

Clatter——

Everybody knelt down simultaneously.

“Please take the throne new Emperor.” Countless people shouted in unison.

Cui Xichen, the head of the Cui family, was the first to stand out to welcome the new emperor to the throne, thereby closely linking the Cui family to the new Emperor of the West Wind Kingdom.

The muscles on the Emperor’s face was slightly twitching, forcibly suppressing the excitement in his heart, as he stepped forward to pull Cui Xichen up and chuckled: “Minister Cui, why be so polite? Ancestor had once said that as long as the Cui is around so will the Chu clan——I will say this sentence again today, as long as the Chu Clan is around, the Cui and Chu will be one, sharing glory and disgrace.”

Cui Xichen bowed respectfully, his voice grateful, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

As a safety measure, the West Wind Emperor Chu Xianda had been taken to the lookout pavilion by guards. There it was away from the Sword God Square and the observatory platform, and even the battle between Lu Xingkong and Song Gudu would not hurt them.

Still collapsed on the middle of the Sword God Square Li Muyang was far away from the West Wind Emperor Chu Xianda, and all his mind could think of was Lu Xingkong who was currently against Song Gudu.

He did not notice the situation of Chu Xianda, and even more did not know that someone dared to do something this crazy.

The clan of those who rebel would all be executed. This was the first serious crime written in the Imperial law.

Who would dare commit something that could make them lose their head if they didn’t have absolute confidence in succeeding? Even showing the slightest sign would put them in danger.

When Li Muyang saw that Lu Qingming, who was looking after him, was staring into the distance, he also followed the direction of where he was looking——

Li Muyang’s body was weak, and his essential qi was almost exhausted.

However, after the integration with the Dragon soul and the cleansing of Dragon blood, his eyesight was superior to that of ordinary people. He was able to see clearly the situation at the Lookout Pavilion in the distance, every move and action was very clear.

He found it very strange when he saw that the West Wind Emperor was extremely agitated and was in dispute with some people.

In the Kingdom was there anyone who dared to disobey this man?

Of course, apart from the Song Family’s Song Gudu and Mu Dingyi who had died in battle——or Lu Xingkong who was currently in a battle against Song Gudu.

When Li Fu suddenly pounced towards Chu Xianda, and thrust a knife to his chest, Li Muyang had already screamed out loud.

“They killed Chu Xianda——” cried Li Muyang in a loud voice. “They killed the Emperor——how dare they?”

Crazy. Li Muyang felt that all the people in the world had gone crazy.

It was his first time in Tiandu. He didn’t know much about the place and didn’t know many people. But in his short time here there was already too much information pouring into his mind, which made him think, which he had to digest——some he could figure out, but there were more that he couldn’t figure it out.

Why would they kill Chu Xianda?

Did they not want this Emperor anymore?

Why did they come and kill Chu Xianda? Aren’t they together with Chu Xianda?

Lu Xingkong didn’t say anything about this to him.

Lu Qingming also didn’t talk to him about this either.

Perhaps they still thought of him as an outsider, or a child——

However, when all these absurd facts were put in front of him, he had a complete blank look across his face.

“What is going on here? What is going on in this country?” Li Muyang couldn’t understand. “Who is manipulating all this behind the scenes? Who is the invisible big hand stirring up the storm——”

“We need to get out of here immediately.” Lu Qingming also noticed this scene. He lifted up Li Muyang from the ground.

“Leave? Where?” Li Muyang asked in a loud voice. He looked at Lu Xingkong on the battle stage and asked, “What about Grandfather Lu?”

“This is Father’s order——” Lu Qingming’s eyes were red, teeth clenched, “He wants me to make sure that you are safe.”

“But what about Grandfather Lu?”

“Father has his own method of escaping.”

Li Muyang anxiously pointed to Lu Xingkong’s thin and sorrowful figure in the midst of the wind and snow: “If we go Grandfather will die, he can’t escape from Song Gudu——”

Lu Qingming looked hesitant, unable to decide what to do.

He also knew that, if he had run away with Li Muyang, it would be very difficult for his father to escape and most likely will perish on the spot like Mu Dingyi——

On one side was his father and the other was his son. He was faced with an incredibly difficult choice.

Soon, he clenched his teeth and said, “Staying here will not help, but will increase the burden on Father——we should go first, or we won’t be able to leave later on.”

As he was speaking, he had already soared into the air with Li Muyang, heading towards the foot of Mist Mountain.

Snowball saw that Li Muyang was carried away. He chased after while spitting out bubbles.

Wolf King followed Snowball’s pace. When he saw Snowball run, he also rose high into the sky, speeding to a distant place, body bathed in flames.

Prince Fu looked up and commanded in a cold voice, “don’t let them go. If they resist, kill with lawful authority.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Several figures sprang up, chasing after Li Muyang.

“Who dares stop my General?” The several Generals of the Lu family had soared up, armed with long swords, darting to where the imperial masters were.

While Elder Chengfeng was still hesitating, Stone gentleman Shi drew his sword, pointed the tip to the direct descendant of the Lu family and roared: “Lu Xingkong is plotting a rebellion, the Still water sword school will set things right to protect my new Emperor——Kill——”

“Kill——” Hundreds of white robed swordsmen unsheathed their swords, charging over to meet the Generals that had fought hundred battles.

One side was clad in iron armor, and the other in white robes.

The two sides collided fiercely.

The wind was roaring, and blood was flowing.

The dark-red blood had dug trenches across the snow-white ground——

———————————–

Boom——

Once again, Lu Xingkong was sent flying.

His back slammed into the stone pavilion, smashing it to pieces. The huge stone pillars cracked and broke apart, before tumbled down the canyon of Mist Mountain like boulders.

Just as he was about to fall off the mountain ridge, Lu Xingkong’s heavenly emperor spear had changed direction, the head of the spear rapidly inserted into the boulder, pushed its way forward straight to the end.

Lu Xingkong thrust his body over to the rocks, and swiftly grabbed onto the Heavenly Emperor with one hand, hanging on the cliff. Below was dense white fog, fluttering snow and a bottomless abyss.

“Pff——”

Lu Xingkong spewed out a mouthful of blood again.

No.

It still wouldn’t work.

He had made several attempts to bring the Lu family’s Heavenly Emperor spear to its peak strength.

But, it still wouldn’t work.

It still couldn’t hurt Song Gudu. It still could not achieve his plan and goal.

If Song Gudu was not dead, then Li Muyang would die.

If Song Gudu was not wounded, then Li Muyang had no hope of escape.

Because, Song Gudu, who had stepped into the Astral projection realm, was already a demigod. There was nobody in West Wind who could be compared to him, right? Who could intercept or stop him?

One realm was a world of difference!

The difference between him and Song Gudu was not just a world, right?

Whoosh!

Song Gudu’s figure slowly landed on a giant raised boulder, looking at him with a pensive expression on his face.

He had finally moved.

As he faced Lu Xingkong’s third spear, he had to flee from the viewing platform and fly into the air to face the power of the spear.

It was a spear to destroy the sky and ground.

It was a spear that struck the heart with awe and fear.

“It’s still not enough.” Song Gudu stood there still, snow unable to get close to him, and his grey robe was untainted by even a speck of dust or snow. He looked at Lu Xingkong, saying: “The Xumi spear is just so-so?”

“I’m afraid I’m going to let you down.” Lu Xingkong uttered in a low voice. “

That was a great ridicule.

He had done everything he could, but his opponent was still saying you need to try more, you need to fight harder——

It was as though a man had already performed 81 poses in bed, and a woman still had the face to say that’s it?

There was nothing more insulting than that.

“If that’s the case, then your plan will fail.” Song Gudu stated calmly. “You want to hold me back so that your grandson Li Muyang has a chance to escape and want to stay on this world a little longer——I’m afraid your wish won’t be fulfilled.”

“I’m not dead yet.” Lu Xingkong gritted his teeth.

“Yes,” Song Gudu said, “Since we are colleagues, I would like to give you another chance.”

“As a courtier, who is disloyal to the Emperor and plotted a rebellion, you will be recorded in the history of the pillar of shame.”

“Historical books?” Song Gudu revealed a rare smile on his face. “Those are written by my family.”

“Despicable.”

Lu Xingkong was already prepared to die.

Just as Chu Xun and Song Gudu had said——Li Muyang was a dragon.

“My grandson is a dragon.”

He knew all this, and he knew it better than anyone else.

When the two balls of light exploded in the sky, when one of the balls of light fell in the direction of the delivery room, when his grandson turned into charcoal, and when he felt the sudden powerful fluctuations of energy around him, he knew that everything had become extraordinary.

It was just that, as the grandfather of Li Muyang, as the head of the Lu clan, he could only choose to bear all this alone. He hid it deep in his heart, and chose to cover up this secret forever. Forever, he would not let anyone touch it. He would not let anyone uncover it.

He couldn’t tell anyone.

Even his own son.

Because he knew that he could keep the secret forever, but his son, Lu Qingming, was the Father of his grandson, Li Muyang. Lu Qingming could not bear all this, and as Lu Qingming’s father, he also did not want to let him bear this.

By himself, he carried the burden of a thousand tonnes, as well as the rise and fall of the entire Lu family.

He swapped his grandson with the daughter of a servant, and named the Li family’s child ‘Lu Qiji’*.

*[TN Note: Qiji means opportunity].

He did not care about the bloodline, he did not care about his son’s grudges, he ignored the fact that his daughter-in-law hated himself for more than 10 years——For more than 10 years, she had not once called him Father, had not even served him a cup of tea, had not sewn his clothes, or even smiled when she saw him.

He understood her, he tolerated her, and even sympathised with her.

Because he knew that it was the response that a parent should have.

He was the head of the Lu family, the soul of the Lu clan, and the leader of this group.

Countless people hated him, but more people respected him.

But, in his own home, he was like a lone monk, walking silently alone, pushing the family to keep moving forward——

It was the will of the heavens that his grandson was a dragon. He had no chance but to make a choice.

But when he had a chance to make a choice, he had made the wrong choice——He did not accept the good intentions of the Song family, did not accept the good will of Prince Fu, and did not stand with the traitors.

The Lu clan started from humble beginnings, and it was the late Emperor who promoted him to be the Defense minister of the country. The four words ‘loyal to the country’ were almost melded into the blood of the Lu clan.

He was a soldier. A soldier would rather break than bend, rather die than submit.

It was this character that allowed them to lead the military of the Kingdom.

It was also because of this character that he was forced not to compromise with anyone and forced not to do things that went against morality and his conscience.

The Song Family rebelled. Prince Fu Wang rebelled. The Cui family also followed rebelled——

The best choice for the Lu family was to follow the rebellion.

However, Lu Xingkong did not stand with them, and instead chose to stand alone——

In a struggle for power, you are either a friend or an enemy.

As a result, the Lu family was jointly crushed by the Song family and Cui family. Lu Xingkong refused to accept this, and they suppressed more ferociously and tragically.

Till the Lu family perished.

As long as the Lu family were still alive they would feel uneasy.

Killing Lu Xingkong was one of the most important things that they had to do.

Kacha——

Lu Xingkong once again wrenched the Heavenly Emperor spear out of the crack of the rock.

He, with a spear in his hand, again charged towards Song Gudu.

Song Gudu stretched one hand into the air, and a tremendous blue sword emerged in the sky.

The huge sword fell into his hand, and as if had it grown eyes, sped towards Lu Xingkong.

It wanted to split both him and the spear in half.

Lu Xingkong brought his spear up to block it.

Clang—

Following a metallic clatter, Lu Xingkong was once again sent flying.

Compared with Song Gudu, an old monster who had lived for hundreds of years, Lu Xingkong’s profound cultivation seemed like a joke.

Bang——

Lu Xingkong’s body slammed into the mountain ridge, and a huge deep pit was dug out from the impact.

Lu Xingkong was buried in the mountain ridge.

It was silent.

It was deathly silent.

Just as everyone suspected that Lu Xingkong had died, there was a noise coming from the pit, which was a violent cough of an old man.

The cough was getting more and more intense, like the heart and lungs would be coughed out together. The cough grew louder, like the towering and spectacular Mist Mountain was coughing with him.

Kacha——

Kacha——

Kacha——

The friction sound of iron armour rubbing the stone walls could be heard.

Lu Xingkong slowly stepped out from inside the cave.

He stood at the mouth of the cave, looking at the majestic and untouchable Song Gudu in the high altitude, the corners of his lips tugged in a bitter smile.

Kacha——

As his body leaped, he was already high in the air.

He and Song Gudu stood opposite each other, one on the East and the other on the west.

He gazed into the distance, watching the direction of Li Muyang fleeing, eyes glistened with infinite reluctance to part, but there was more of guilt and sorrow of not being able to tell him the truth sooner——

Lu Xingkong raised his spear.

The Heavenly Emperor spear pointed at the sky.

He patted himself on the head with the left hand and pulled out a huge white ball of light from the top of his head——

“Man and spear unite.” Song Gudu’s eyes grew cold. “You have fused with the spear——”

This was not the qi of the body fusing with the spear, nor was it the mind fusing with the spear.

It was Lu Xingkong himself.

He drew out his seven spirits and three souls, and then injected them into the Heavenly Emperor spear.

Boom——

The white ball of light and the Heavenly Emperor had integrated, instantly erupting in a blaze of purple light. The body of the spear suddenly expanded hundreds of times, looking like a giant pillar of the sky.

The Heavenly Emperor spear had received the soul of Lu Xingkong and accepted his entire strength and cultivation base——

At this moment, the Heavenly Emperor spear was Lu Xingkong. It represented Lu Xingkong’s consciousness, thoughts and his peak fighting strength.

This was not ‘Heavenly Emperor spear’ nor ‘Xumi spear’.

It was him being enlightened by the ‘Xumi spear’, storing the essence of his body into the body of the spear.

The Heavenly Emperor spear shot up into the sky, and then charged towards Song Gudu with its body enveloped in black flames.

Lu Xingkong’s three souls had been exhausted. His seven spirits had been lost.

The flesh of his body resembled dead branches that had lost its moisture, shrinking at a rate visible to the human eye. His eyes were sunken, his pupils yellowish, his black hair had turned white, and his nails were falling off.

His body was like a northern goshawk that had fractured its wings, like an exhausted and wounded goose, like the flying snow that floated around. He, along with the snowflakes, slowly fell toward the mountain stream.

Lu Xingkong, had died in battle!