Chapter 160

Chapter 160: The Determination of the Lou Family

Although Lou Yun had decided to lead the Lou Family toward development and growth, to be honest, he truly didn’t know how to do it. Moreover, he still had immediate tasks to handle, like attending the forging conference that he promised Beichen Ming. Calculating the time, it was almost time to set off.

After a night of deep contemplation, Lou Yun gathered the council, his father, and others. Though he didn’t reveal the Lou Family’s true origins, he informed them about the dangerous situation they currently faced: that nine extremely ancient and formidable families were always watching eagerly, ready to annihilate the entire Lou Family!

Lou Yun’s words made everyone exchange glances, shock written all over their faces. But their shock wasn’t due to surprise; instead, it was because every person present knew the ancient saying passed down through generations of the Lou Family: "Fire rises over the Fusang, nine clans perish!"

As for this ancient saying, although generations of the Lou Family had deeply remembered it in their hearts, no one had ever fully grasped its meaning. It was only with this generation’s Lou Family, where Lou Yun emerged and possessed the Heavenly Fire Fusang, that Lou Tianming and his brother vaguely understood a little. Yet they still couldn’t fully comprehend it, since they didn’t even know what "nine clans" meant!

Now, whether it was the Tianming brothers or other Lou Family members, they finally felt a glimmer of hope to solve this ancient riddle that had baffled the Lou Family for many years, all thanks to Lou Yun’s words.

"Yun’er, how did you know about this? And those nine families—where are they now? Why are they targeting our Lou Family? Our Lou Family has quite a long history, but we’ve never encountered them before. Have they surfaced now?" Lou Runhuo asked anxiously.

Lou Yun hesitated a moment before saying, "The reason for targeting our Lou Family probably traces back to the Lou Family’s ancestor, though I’m not clear on the specifics. As for why the Lou Family existed so long without ever meeting the nine clans until right after I appeared, I pondered it myself for ages but couldn’t make sense of it. I could only roughly think it was a coincidence, and since I’ve grown a bit famous, it attracted the nine clans’ attention."

At that moment, Chang Xiang suddenly spoke up: "The nine clans appearing now isn’t any coincidence—it’s because of you!"

"Because of me?" Hearing Chang Xiang’s words, which clearly held knowledge, Lou Yun urgently brushed aside his conversation with the others and pressed, "What?"

"Hmm, from what I’ve deduced, your Lou Family likely encountered the nine clans long ago but survived by luck and moved to Lingjiang City. Since settling there, the nine clans never found you again!"

"Why?" Lou Yun grew even more confused. "Do the nine clans fear setting foot in Lingjiang City?"

"You got half of it right—it’s not that they fear entering Lingjiang City, but that they simply can’t discover Lingjiang City, or rather, they can’t locate the Lou Family within it!"

Lou Yun had blurted out those words randomly, yet he’d stumbled onto half the truth. Even so, he still couldn’t grasp Chang Xiang’s meaning. Chang Xiang cut to the chase and briefly explained.

Long before Lou Yun’s birth, the entire Lingjiang City had been encased in a mysterious energy barrier. Though it wasn’t clear who had set it up, its effect was believed to confuse the spiritual senses and innate senses of the nine clans specifically—aimed solely at them!

That sounded mystifying—how could such a targeted energy barrier exist? But the reason was simple: the cultivation methods of the nine clans differed from those of anyone on Spirit Weapon Star; they practiced both magical and ordinary skills, so their energy wasn’t the same as that of magical weapons masters or common weapons masters on Spirit Weapon Star.

With such a difference, it became easy to design countermeasures against them!

Although simple in concept, pulling it off was incredibly hard. Setting aside the barrier’s peculiar ability to scramble the nine clans’ senses, the sheer size of the area it covered—an entire city—made it impossible for most to achieve!

Evidently, this energy barrier existed to protect the Lou Family. Once they settled in Lingjiang City, they stopped encountering the nine clans. Through generations of births and deaths, the very memory of the nine clans faded among the Lou family members, who then lived peaceful, stable lives.

However, that tranquility was completely shattered on the day Lou Yun was born!

Not just the Lou Family, but everyone in Lingjiang City witnessed the strange phenomenon in the sky that day—a nine-colored glowing sphere plunging directly into the Lou Family. As it descended, it passed over Lingjiang City and, purely by chance, broke the special energy barrier designed to protect the Lou Family.

After hearing Chang Xiang’s explanation, Lou Yun fell silent. He naturally recalled the strange phenomenon at his birth but never imagined that his own existence had plunged the Lou Family into crisis after centuries of safety.

Clearly, his choice to become clan head was right—since this all began because of him, he had to take responsibility and resolve it.

Snapping out of it, Lou Yun shared Chang Xiang’s theory with everyone else. Upon hearing it, they were stunned all over again; it wasn’t something they’d ever considered possible.

But the explanation did make sense, so they accepted it mentally.

Lou Tianming then asked, "Yun’er, did you run into the nine clans this time? Where are they now?"

Lou Yun gave a faint smile and said, "The nine clans mostly stick to their ancient traditions, living in remote, isolated places where few appear. As for their locations, I only know the Huangfu clan lives in Ghost Sea! What’s more, it wasn’t just me—you’ve met them too during my absence!"

At first upon hearing "Ghost Sea," everyone felt a small tremor inside. They had some experience and naturally knew the tales about Ghost Sea. But that shock paled next to the realization brought by Lou Yun’s final words.

"We met the nine clans?" Lou Qian asked in amazement.

"Yes!"

Then Lou Yun recounted the connection between the Gu Feng Nation’s royal family and the Han family—one of the nine clans—and the full story of how he’d been framed. He concluded, "The Han family did this to force me out. Since I made some influential friends, they didn’t dare act against me directly. Instead, they laid a trap, luring me to the palace! But luckily, my big brother arrived just in time—otherwise, our whole Lou Family would have been wiped out by now!"

No one had imagined the story would be so complicated. After hearing it, even Lou Tianlei felt genuine fear and mumbled to himself, "Then we truly owe our thanks to Elder Leng Cangqiong—without him, the Lou Family really would have been destroyed."

Though Lou Tianlei’s voice was low, in that cramped room, everyone heard him clearly. Lou Yun straightened up and said earnestly, "Third Uncle, you’re right. But now isn’t the time for relief. Beyond the Han family, eight more clans are targeting us, aiming to eliminate our Lou Family. And though the Han family failed this time, they won’t back down. So right now, our circumstances are perilously grave."

His speech left everyone uneasy and instantly feeling lost and helpless.

At that point, Lou Tianzhi suddenly rose to his feet. He swept his gaze over the bewildered clan members, then turned to Lou Yun, saluting respectfully, and declared, "Clan head! As a disciple of the Lou Family, I, Lou Tianzhi, am ever ready to give my life for the family. Now I ask you, clan head, to tell us plainly what we must do!"

Lou Tianzhi’s words struck like thunder, jarring everyone awake. Instantly, Lou Tianming also stood, saluting Lou Yun, and said, "Please instruct us clearly, clan head! I, Lou Tianming, am willing to dedicate myself utterly to the Lou Family, until my last breath!"

One by one, everyone in the room stood up—including Lou Tianlei and his sons—all fixing solemn, determined expressions on the new clan head, Lou Yun. Each conveyed a deep resolve to sacrifice everything, even their lives, for the Lou Family’s survival.

Lou Yun looked at these blood-bound relatives, took a deep breath to fight back tears, and nodded firmly. "I understand. Rest assured—as long as I, Lou Yun, draw breath, no one will harm a single member of our Lou Family!"

Lou Yun had everyone go back for the moment. He needed to pick several high-level weapon techniques and cultivation methods from his master’s vast legacy of knowledge to teach his clansmen.

At the same time, he instructed Lou Tianlei to buy a large batch of forging materials. He planned to start crafting appropriate common weapons for the Lou Family. From now on, they’d abandon the old, incomplete approach of solely cultivating magical weapons, shifting instead to practicing both magical weapons and common weapons, even cultivating their physical bodies!

Lastly, he tasked Lou Qian with selecting talented children among the Lou Family’s youth. He intended to personally guide their training!

Although Lou Yun had begun plotting paths for the Lou Family’s growth, one critical and troubling question now weighed on him: Should the Lou Family continue living in Lingjiang City?