Chapter 117 Disrupting the Family Banquet:

In the main hall of the Lu family mansion, the banquet atmosphere was in full swing. The Lu family uncles raised their glasses to toast Lu Yingqi, celebrating his triumphant return home, which made the Lu family, a remote small clan, stand out among the three major sects in the cultivation world.

Of course, these uncles and elders may look old, but in terms of seniority, they are actually of the same generation as Lu Yingqi, or even a generation younger. They still have to call Lu Yingqi "brother" when they talk to him.

"Brother Lu, this is a toast to you." A middle-aged man with a ruddy complexion stood up and toasted Lu Yingqi. "Brother, you've made a name for yourself outside, but don't forget your family. We old brothers with no talent or natural ability are no longer useful, but our descendants are still counting on you to take care of them."

“Yes, brother, you must not be instigated by outsiders and abandon the Lu family. If it weren’t for Madam Mei and the old master’s hard work in managing this family, the Lu family wouldn’t be where it is today,” another peer said.

Lu Yingqi's gaze swept over the two of them and landed on Madam Mei, who was sitting in the main seat. Madam Mei was pretending to serve the old master his meal. The old master still looked foolish, but Madam Mei was serving him very enthusiastically, as if she was in a good mood.

Lu Yingqi picked up his wine glass, said nothing, and drank it all in one gulp.

Then came the second round of toasts from relatives…

"Bang!"

With a loud crash, the door swung open, and two old women stumbled in, falling to the ground: "Madam Mei, something terrible has happened!"

The banquet was in full swing when this unexpected turn of events caught everyone off guard, and they all turned to look at the old woman on the ground.

A strange light flashed in Madam Mei's eyes, but she quickly changed to a reproachful tone: "What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and in such a hurry! Don't you see what kind of occasion this is? No matter how important the matter is, we can talk about it after the welcome banquet for the young master!"

"No, no... it's Young Master Rong, Young Master Rong—" the old woman said breathlessly.

"Oh?" Madam Mei asked, "What's wrong with Young Master Rong this time?"

Lu Yingqi's gaze suddenly shifted outwards before returning to Madam Mei.

Madam Mei seemed to have a smile on her face, as if she had expected the old woman to come and report, but this expression was fleeting. When Lu Yingqi's gaze fell on his face, Madam Mei became nonchalant again.

However, the next moment, Madam Mei's eyes widened in a certain direction, and her expression froze.

In the midday sun of winter, a man strode into the main hall. His face was obscured by the backlight, but a haughty voice could be heard saying, "Madam Mei, what grudge do I, Rong Xie, have against you? I'm just sitting here peacefully, and you send someone to the roof to assassinate me? To make sure you're not mistaken, you even sent two old geezers to knock on the door—what a vicious tactic!"

Madam Mei seemed completely taken aback by Rong Xie's presence. She paused briefly before recovering, suppressing the anger in her eyes, and feigned surprise as she asked, "Young Master Rong, what makes you say such a thing? What have I done to offend you? Why are you making such slanderous accusations?"

"Hmph, I knew you wouldn't admit it, but it doesn't matter, I don't need you to admit it." As "Rong Xie" spoke, he reached out and beckoned, and Madam Mei was lifted directly from her seat and flew towards "Rong Xie" through the air.

Madam Mei was shocked. She never expected that Rong Xie would have such abilities. Last night, when she used the incense mist to test Rong Xie's cultivation level, Rong Xie was clearly not this strong. How could he have become so terrifyingly strong overnight, almost on par with the young master?

Before everyone could react, Madam Mei was already in Rong Xie's grasp. Her once proud neck was now like a snake being held by its vital spot, firmly locked between Rong Xie's fingers, unable to move.

Madam Mei gasped in surprise, her gaze falling on Lu Yingqi, who was holding a wine glass and looking perfectly normal. She couldn't help but shriek, "Young Master Qi, are you just going to watch him run amok like this?"

Everyone looked at Lu Yingqi. Lu Yingqi finally put down his wine glass, raised his head, and said to "Rong Xie": "Let him go first. Tell me what happened."

Rong Xie sneered: "You can say that since you weren't the one lying in ambush, but if I hadn't been careful today, that Poison Lady wouldn't have let me go! After I make her pay with her life, I'll explain to you in detail what really happened."

"This..." "Young Master, has he gone mad?!" "There must be some misunderstanding!"

Seeing that "Rong Xie" was really going to make a move, Madam Mei's bones were cracking as she was being choked, and her tongue was sticking out. She looked like she was about to die on the spot, and the welcoming banquet immediately fell into chaos.

Lu Yingqi sighed, a flash of silver light behind him, and his natal flying sword hovered above his head: "Do you really want to do this?"

Rong Xie narrowed his eyes, seemingly hesitant.

Just as tensions were about to break, Madam Mei suddenly felt a loosening around her neck. She could breathe and make sounds again. Overjoyed at surviving, Madam Mei struggled and screamed, "Young Master, help! He really wants to kill me!"

Lu Yingqi looked at Rong Xie, then at Madam Mei: "He was staying peacefully in his room, why did you go and provoke him? Tell me the truth, and I can protect you."

Madam Mei said with a sob in her voice, "Young Master, I'm innocent! It wasn't me who provoked him, it was clearly him who provoked the Lu family! For the sake of the Lu family, I would gladly die here today. But the guests you brought, Young Master, who massacred the Lu family banquet, I'm afraid if word gets out, it will ruin your reputation! And it will ruin the Lu family's reputation too!"

The Lu family members also stood up from the table, blocked the door, and surrounded "Rong Xie". Their eyes were fixed on Lu Yingqi, and their meaning was clear: if Lu Yingqi continued to take sides, they would die here with Madam Mei.

The situation has come to this point, and Lu Yingqi has no choice but to take action.

Just then, Rong Xie sneered, grabbed Madam Mei with one hand, and took out a dark, shiny image stone with the other, activating it with his spiritual power.

A phantom appeared in mid-air, and the image of two old women discussing how to kill Rong Xie and inform Madam Mei appeared before everyone.

Everyone stared in disbelief.

Rong Xie sneered, "Young Master Lu, you should recognize what this is, right? You're not going to say that this is just an illusion I made up, are you?"

The Lu family did indeed intend to say that, but when they heard Rong Xie say what they wanted to say beforehand, they opened their mouths and then closed them again.

“The Image Stone can record images and sounds that have happened in the past,” Lu Yingqi said calmly, then turned his gaze back to Madam Mei. “Madam Mei, what you’ve done is still going too far.”

Seeing the two of them working together so well, and how "Rong Xie" had suddenly become so powerful, Madam Mei suddenly felt uneasy, wondering what Lu Yingqi really meant.

If Lu Yingqi really doesn't protect him, he'll probably have to resort to his last trump card—using Xiaozhi's life to fight them to the death. But if he does that, he'll definitely turn against Lu Yingqi, and then he'll really have no way out.

Madam Mei composed herself, realizing that things hadn't reached that point yet and there was still room for maneuver. While observing Lu Yingqi's expression, she feigned panic and said, "I'm doing this to protect the Lu family's reputation, young master. You don't know this, but this Rong Xie not only instigated you to interfere in our Lu family's affairs, but last night he was also sneaking around, threatening the servants in the servants' quarters to speak ill of our Lu family, and he even went to the vicinity of our Lu family's lifeline, the Spirit Spring Well, plotting something sinister. If he destroys the Spirit Spring Well, our Lu family's foundation built over so many years will be destroyed in an instant!"

"..." Lu Yingqi fell silent for a moment.

Rong Xie, however, was completely unmoved. He sneered, "If you've never done anything wrong, you're not afraid of ghosts knocking at your door in the middle of the night. What, is your Spirit Spring Well really so aboveboard that you're afraid I'll investigate? If I do investigate, you'll kill me? What kind of way is this to protect your reputation? I bet you're just trying to silence me!"

Madam Mei originally intended to kidnap Lu Yingqi to shift the focus of the conflict to Rong Xie's sneaky approach to the Spirit Spring Well, but Rong Xie exposed her directly, bringing the focus back to the assassination attempt.

Madam Mei's face turned pale. She knew that she had met her match today and that things wouldn't end so easily. She regretted not investigating Rong Xie's strength and personality properly, which had caused such a big problem.

Just as things were getting tense, a strange fluctuation suddenly came from afar. Madam Mei turned pale and cried out, "Oh no! The formation above the well has been broken!"

"What?!"

"It wasn't just one person, it was a whole group of people!" Madam Mei tore at her hair. "They actually... they actually let a whole group of people in during the break from the family banquet! Our Lingquan Well is completely destroyed!"

"Lu Yingqi, look what you've done!"

The old man, who was suffering from dementia, suddenly straightened up, could speak clearly again, and his eyes brightened. He pushed the table aside and shakily tried to walk out.

The Lu family was thrown into chaos. Some were helping the old man up, some were cursing the unfilial son, and some were wailing and lamenting that the Lu family's years of hard work had been destroyed in this day.

Lu Yingqi's indifferent expression began to falter. He reached out and helped the old man who was staggering out, his gaze sweeping coldly toward "Rong Xie".

Rong Xie's movements faltered as he felt an unprecedentedly powerful spiritual pressure blocking his hand from reaching for Madam Mei. Madam Mei seized the opportunity to break free, fell to the ground, and scrambled away to escape.

Rong Xie's face immediately turned ugly. The initial pleasure of venting Rong Xie's anger after the banquet was completely dispelled by Lu Yingqi's direct suppression.

However, that ugly expression didn't last long. Shen Bingsi quickly regained her arrogant smile: "Oh? The formation is broken. That's a real pity. This proves that I didn't do it, right? Hey, where are you going? I haven't explained my business yet!"

Shen Bingsi still wanted to cause trouble and stall the Lu family for a while longer, so that Rong Xie's progress could continue for a while longer.

However, Lu Yingqi no longer pretended to be neutral. This time, he directly helped the old master and Madam Mei up and walked outside. A powerful spiritual pressure was released from behind him. His cultivation at the late Nascent Soul stage gave him an overwhelming advantage, freezing Shen Bingsi in place.

Shen Bingsi stared dumbfounded as the Lu family members walked away. He hadn't been suppressed like this in a long time. A surge of anger rose from the bottom of his heart, breaking through the invisible restraints. He shook his shoulders, shattering the spiritual pressure, and broke free, quickly chasing after them.

When Shen Bingsi caught up with the spirit spring well, the Lu family had already surrounded the circular courtyard in layers. Madam Mei and the old master each took out a bunch of keys and opened the iron gate. A black mist that seemed to be real surged out, and a thick fragrance of roses wafted in the wind.

A moment later, the black mist thinned, revealing the scene behind the door.