The Inverted Dragon's Scale

052 – Raising to fight a wolf!

The head of the Lu family, Lu Xingkong. His appearance was intimidating and he has the authority to overturn the imperial court. He was known as the ‘Sand Eagle’ within the political and government circles.

The Sand Eagle is a rare species found in the desert; they are greedy, violent, and aggressive. They feed on carrion, but from time to time they plunder fresh ingredients, altering their personal taste. Lone wolf, wild hare and even troops and convoy are his target of attack. Once you are locked on as their prey it would result in a situation of them not leaving you until you die.

They will swoop down and take you into the air unless you killed them.

Comparing someone within the political and government circle to an animal like the ‘Sand Eagle’ is absolutely not a compliment. Subordinates are afraid of you, superiors are vigilant against you, it could even be said that every step you take is extremely difficult and dangerous.

If this title came out of an ordinary person’s mouth, then most likely their dead bodies will soon be floating around the moat of Tiandu.

However, these words came from an old man of the Song family who is known as the ‘eye of the stars’. Even if Lu Xingkong is unreasonable and overbearing, he still can’t do anything about it.

The Kingdom’s left minister position was vacant, yet the Royal Chu family of West Wind has remained silent on this matter. Every family and clan were desperately fighting for this position; in terms of prestige and experience Lu Xingkong is the strongest competitor. Now the entire imperial court and the ordinary people are all watching carefully to see if his path in competing for the position of left government minister is a success.

If he is successful, then the Lu clan will become a military general family to a government minister family in one step. His family which had a military background for thousands of years will become the head of the government officials; it is a qualitative jump in position.

If he is successful with the position of government minister, it will be an enormous honour for the family and a safeguard for the family for hundred of years. Otherwise, even if they were to continue with Lu Xingkong’s position as the leader of the military officers in the country, just how far could he go? Suppose that all the elites in the family died fearlessly on the battlefield, then how could the Lu clan continue on? How could they maintain their riches and honour?

This was a hurdle to Lu Xingkong, but for the Lu family it is even more of a hurdle.

Therefore, the entire Lu family including Lu Xingkong are making every effort to help fight for the left government minister position. This was the reason that Lu Qingming, the provincial Governor was returning to the capital to help campaign for his father.

Lu Qingming is busy, but Lu Xingkong doesn’t even have a moment to spare. Everyday he meets with people constantly, colleagues, old friends, and subordinates—-Now is the time to stand or pretend to stand. Each individual performance is under the watchful eyes of thousands of people, no one dares to relax and be careless.

“Father, I want to bring Muyang back.” Lu Qingming stood in front of his father and said in a firm voice. ”

Father’s workload is heavy, and the pressure he’s under is comparable to the mountains, but he is still full of energy, his complexion is red and his skin is delicate; he looks as if he is a thirty-years-old adult at the prime of his life.

Lu Qingming knows, the reason for this is his father’s cultivation training has already reached the high stages of the withering glory. HIs thoughts decide life or death, causing plants to wither or flourish, every year was withered glory.

Father right now was in a state of being reborn; it was also the moment when his energy and vindictiveness are at his peak.

The battle for the position of the left government minister was something he had vowed to obtain.

“Hmm?” Lu Xingkong lowered his head looking at the document in his hand, asking: “Who is Muyang? ”

“Father—–”

“Who is Muyang? “Lu Xingkong asked again. His voices sounded steady and calm, just like he really does not know the significance of this name.

But Lu Qingming is very certain he knows – he knew better than any one of them.

“Father, he’s my son, my son who I sent away sixteen years ago——-” Lu Qingming pushed the brown leather bag to the front of Lu Xingkong and said: “Father, we’ve made a mistake. ”

Lu Xingkong’s glance swept across the leather bag; he had no intention to open it at all.

He picked up the leather bag and tossed it into the fire stove by his side, which is used to boil water for tea and to burn various documents. The stove in Lu Xingkong’s study is constantly burning all year round.

Whoosh—-

The kraft papers caught fire and then swiftly turned into flames. The examination papers burst into blazing flames and the water on the stove echoed with whimpering noises.

After the leather bag had finished burning, the water on the stove is also boiling.

Lu Xingkong took the kettle, began to make tea and said: “We’ve already sent him away, how can we collect him back? ”

“Father, we can’t continue on with our mistakes.”

Pa—

Lu Xingkong slammed the top of the wooden table; the small table made from thousand-year hardwood produced buzzing trembling sounds.

“Do you want to slap my old face?” Lu Xingkong thundered in a furious voice.

“——–”

“On Xiao Yu’s side, you’ve also wasted a lot of breath, right? ” Lu Xingkong’s face softened slightly, then pointed across at the mat and said: “Sit down and have a cup of tea, soothe your throat. ”

Lu Qingming listened and sat down with his back straight as he looked at his father and said: “Given the circumstances back then—–we thought he would not survived, we thought that even if he could survive, he would become a deformed child. Our Lu family only has one son in this generation, so we were worried that the existence of the sole eldest grandson of the Lu family would affect the confidence the outside word has in the Lu family——-but now the situation is different than what we thought. He is not a waste; on the contrary, he achieved many things that are impossible for many children. ”

“I’ve seen his university entrance exam papers, I believe fathers have also read it. Almost not one question was difficult for him——-From this it is evident how intelligent he is and what a hardworking youngster he is. Look at Tiandu, the younger generation of the officials’ families drink excessively, visits prostitutes and only talk about horse racing, how many of them genuinely practise martial arts and study properly? Our Lu family has a child like him; does father not feel proud? ”

“So——-” Lu Xingkong placed a cup of tea in front of Lu Qingming and said: “Since he’s that outstanding, then why must he come back? ”

“Father?”

“If he stays in the Lu family, would he not be the same as those who drink excessively, visits prostitutes and only talk about horseracing, not caring about the affairs of the world and ultimately becoming an abandoned useless person? ”

“But he has grown up, he’s already sixteen years old, very soon he will be coming to Tiandu to study——-don’t tell me we are allowing him to drift around in the outside? ”

“In the outside it is drifting, then what is it at home? Captivity? ”

“Father, Xiao Yu she———-”

“The view of a woman.”

“———-”

“In the sense that sixteen years ago we were worried he will become a trash so we abandoned him, but sixteen years later we discovered that he is not a waste, so we want to bring him back. Do you even know of that child’s temperament? If it were you, what would you think? Will you accept our arrangement and return? ”

“Given the current situation, right now is the crucial time for the Lu family to fight for the government minister position. If we bring him back at this moment, how would we explain our relationship with him? There are too many resolute people in this world and too many smart people, even with only tiny traces, they would still be able to infer the truth——-If the case that happened sixteen years ago had been known to the world, do you think I would still have the face to stand up in the imperial court? The West Wind Kingdom nation emphasises most on filial piety, what we’re doing is seriously violating the spirit of the country. At that time, even without any political opponent attacks, we will have no choice but to suffer a crushing defeat and withdraw——Let alone the government minister position, even the military officer role will be difficult for us to protect. What path should the Lu family go from there? Have you ever thought about this? ”

“————”

Seeing his son looking down, Lu Xingkong sighed softly and said: “I also feel your pain; however, at the present time we still have to act in the interests of the present situation. Let that child called Muyang live happily outside. A Sheep in captivity is merely just a piece of white meat on the table, but a grazing sheep outside in the wild is capable of fighting with a fierce wolf. ”

“Yes father, I understand——–” Lu Qingming replied in a clear and deep voice. “Xiao Yu hopes he can study at West Wind University.”

“Haha, fine———” Lu Xingkong smiled and nodded. “This is a small matter, you can decide it by yourself.”

“Yes, father.” Lu Qingming bowed to express his thank, then took his leave. “Father should also rest early.”

After Lu Qingming had left, the old butler pushed open the door and walked in.

“Sir, could it be that Ms Yu knows something?” The old butler asked respectfully.

“Xiao Yu is an intelligent kid, these sort of matters could only be concealed for a while. How could we hide it from her for a lifetime?” Lu Xingkong got up and walked towards the courtyard. The kingdom’s Tiandu sakura flowers are blooming beautifully; the branches are covered with sakura petals, emitting a faint scent that makes people feel happy and comfortable.

“How is the investigation of Crow? Do you know which family was behind it? ”

“Crow is dead, the line is also cut off.” Every wrinkle on the old butler’s face seemed like it is hiding wisdom. “But, going all the way to Jiangnan to attack a girl, this method of attack is a bit low——–That powerful star cultivator from the Song family is about to die, the Song family already occupies the important right government minister position, so it impossible for them to be eyeing the left government minister position. In that case, this fierce battle is only between our Lu family and the Cui family——Cui family’s young lady was attacked by an assassin, therefore this basin of dirty water will naturally be poured towards our Lu family. ”

“Fortunately, Cui family’s young lady is fine; otherwise, if this became a huge matter, words would spread throughout Tiandu and our Lu Family’s reputation will somewhat suffer——-even if they don’t have any evidence, but gossip is a fearful thing. At other times, we could not care about this, but it is very obvious that this was a chess piece placed by someone for the purposes of fighting for the position of left government minister——-placing it down at this time will certainly have a substantial effect. ”

Lu Xingkong opened his mouth, laughed, and said: “Who would have thought that a stupid move made sixteen years ago would actually help our Lu family pull out a nail after sixteen years. Tell me, are the heavens protecting the Lu family? ”

“Yes, the head of the family is a lucky person, the left government minister position will certainly be master’s.” Seeing his master cheerful mood, the old butler also laughed along.

“But we know very clearly that Crow is not a chess piece placed by us. Someone wants to pour dung over the Lu family’s head, then sever his head and toss it into a pool of manure——-” Lu Xingkong said with fierce and ruthless eyes. A general that remains undefeated after hundred battles, the first person of the army to come out from a mountain of corpse and sea of blood. Once he is enraged, it resembled the sound of thunder.

“Yes, Sir. I’ll send more informants to Jiangnan.” The old butler bowed and responded, and did not dare to show the slightest indiscipline.

“That child is really unfortunate.” Lu Xingkong looked at the delicate sakura flowers blooming in the courtyard, his face revealing a pondering expression.

“Did Qingming young master not say to let the child attend West Wind University? When he comes to Tiandu, the head of the family can always take care of him——-if he has the Lu family looking after him, then his future can’t be too bad?” The old butler said some reassuring words beside him.

“No, Make him go to Starry Sky Academy.” Lu Xingkong said with a grave and stern expression

“Master—” “

“Go arrange it.” Lu Xingkong said, his tone not allowing any objections.