8 Downfall Of The Lu Clan

"Mother, how is the preparation going?" Asked Arthur. He was already one year and two months old and he could communicate verbally. He was also able to move around on his own.

"Sansan, Uncle Yehan has chased away all the crocodiles and they have burned a great number of poisoned frogs in the Sticky Milk swamp. We can go there soon," replied his mother.

"Have they constructed a wooden base too?" Questioned Arthur.

"No, but uncle Yehan said we have to start building it before the rain comes. I think they will be starting soon," Zhao Mei answered.

"Okay, I have come up with another idea and gained a piece of new information about some trees. Have them build it with dark-weeping-tree logs, it will last longer and it can also keep the pests and frogs away. Those trees grow on the west side of the swamp where the water is deeper so floating and dragging them by boat will not be difficult. Tell them to build a three-layered platform supported by posts at the height of four feet above the ground. And those posts should not be buried at all, it should be placed on a flat stone, the bigger the better. Tell them to bring the stone and place them there. Mother, bring me parchment, brush and ink I'll draw it," told Arthur.

When his mother brought the materials he started drawing them. He drew a rectangular, three-layered platform with empty spaces between the layers, standing nine feet above the ground. On the platform there were neatly designed houses, the whole surface was enclosed by a fence, and it had four gateways on each side. The platforms were extended outwards near the gates like a dock and on the four corners were built watchtowers.

Then, he instructed, "Tell them to lay tightly packed straws between the bottom layers. Also, tell them to build platforms on tall trees around the area, that shall be our first lookout station."

After listening and looking at the whole plan, amazed Zhao Mei said, "This may take lots of time to complete and the early rain will come after five months, we don't have much time. And since you have assigned our people to three different projects it'll take a lot of time. Why don't we stop sending people to town and make them work in the swamp since we are not going there anymore?"

"Mother, we cannot abandon sending out people to town. We have to sell things that cannot be transported to the swamp and convert them into money. More importantly, we need to let others think that we are aiming for the town and not the forest," clarified Arthur.

He further continued, "Grandpa Hai and grandpa Yehan do not trust grandpa Tiao and grandpa Fang completely. So, grandpa Hai asked grandpa Taio to let his people sell things to Town and grandpa Fang's people to manage things within our clan while our people and grandpa Yehan's men should be sent for hunting. To which he agreed readily"

"Is there any news regarding enchanting-aureate-lotus and desolate-rain-flower?" Asked Arthur.

Zhao Mei replied, "Not yet, the Blooming Lily Town's shipments will be returning next month and I have already sent people to procure the enchanting-aureate-lotus-flower. There is still no information on desolate-rain-flower but we requested our town traders to look for it.''

" What about the father's team, have they returned?" Inquired Arthur. It was a group of five people who went to study the situation of the three-snow-capped mountain.

"No, not yet...maybe they should come tomorrow or a day after, " replied Zhao Mei.

"Okay, mother...Send the parchment and convey my instructions to grandpa Yehan. Tell him to finish it within four months if possible. If it is difficult, tell them to build it smaller for accommodating food supplies, children and women. The men can stay in boats for a time being. Mother, I'll go and see grandpa Hai now," told Arthur, kissed her mother's cheek and left the room.

"Arthur, my good grandson come and drink tea with your grandfather," said Donghai.

Arthur refused by saying, "Mother told me only to drink milk for now, if my mother finds you offering tea you are dead."

Lu Donghai laughed and started drinking tea alone.

"Grandpa Hai, we need more people to work on our projects. Let's test the loyalty of our subordinate clans and see who is still with us," said Arthur.

"Sansan, we are left with only four clans who still stand with us. I'm not sure if they will be truly loyal to the end, but if we do anything to humiliate them, they may betray us and the situation may change from bad to worse. For now, we should not try to do anything to them," advised Donghai.

"There is no need to worry, just inform them that we shall be selling some of our household items because are going to leave the village. Tell them that they are free to choose whether they want to follow us or stay. The one who truly wants to be us will agree to follow us anywhere and they will also start selling the goods. Those clans that have stayed loyal and also do not want to leave the village will abandon us but will try to buy our things at a reasonable price. The clan that has been following us only for their profit will try to buy our things at the cheapest price. Make the clans realise that if another clan comes to know about it and insists on selling our things to them, we have to go for an auction. Also, notify them that this shall be our last favour to them. We have many things that they want so they might be interested. It is also unlikely for them to tell others and make a big ruckus out of it because of fear of an auction taking place. We won't sell everything at once, we shall leave the best items for the last to keep them hooked and sell those items only when we finish our project. By now, both the Liu clan and Bai clan know about our preparation in town so it won't be a big deal," told Arthur.

Three days later the survey party returned from the Snow-capped-mountain, after leaving home for four months. They informed that they have found the lair of the Bull-blooded bear but it was empty. The return of the bear was imminent because it was starting to snow. They also discovered that there was no sign of a female bear or cubs in the area. It was good news, however, they realised that they cannot afford to send Lu Donghai away from the clan during the present time as he was the main pillar of support, he was their clan's protection.

Time went by and everything progressed peacefully. The preparation was taking off smoothly at the swamp. Arthur was immersed in his studies and family activities as usual. Enchanting-aureate-lotus was already sent from town; there was neither manpower available for clearing up the snakes from the grove nor idle clan experts to trap the Bull-blooded bear, therefore they were bound to leave it for the future and the immediate action for the clan's settlement was solely focused on a swamp.

A month followed by another month without any trouble, Arthur was already one year and four months old. With a powerful spiritual energy source, he grew sharper both in mental perception capabilities and wisdom.

Another two months passed without anyone discovering the shift of loyalties among Lu Clan's subordinate clans. Then one fateful day, the outcome of the test conducted by Lu Donghai became public. Among the four subordinate clans, only the Jia clan stood up to be truly loyal to Lu Clan while the other three clans failed to keep their vows. When the news became public they decided to follow the Liu and Bai clan creating chaos among the Lu clan members. Panic and unrest prevailed among the senior members of the Lu clan as the Liu Clan and Bai Clan started to show their dominance everywhere thus, leading to the formation of two groups; one, supporting the idea of clashing till death with the enemies and the other of becoming a subsidiary to Liu Clan.

Amidst the confusion and fear, another crisis broke out within the clan. They found out that Lu Taio along with his family members and 40 followers who were assigned to manage and find a prospective settlement for the Lu clan had already abandoned them. 65 members of the Lu Clan departing the clan was a blow even to the once-powerful Lu clan. More than half of Lu Taio's men were already in town for management from the beginning, hence it was not difficult for another 20 or so members to leave the village discreetly during the wee hours of the night. And since it was only a bunch of people fleeing and not a mass movement of the whole clan thereby they managed to escape the radar of the other clans who were eyeing them.

As it was said, misfortunes never come singly. On discovering the betrayal of Lu Taio and his men, Lu Fang who was in charge of managing the Clan's businesses in the village pledged secretly to become a subordinate to the Liu Clan. He knew that he cannot change the mind of Lu Donghai and Lu Yehan or their men. But, if they were defeated he thought he could at least ask for clemency on their behalf.

Fearing Lu Donghai's wrath both the Liu and the Bai clan neither provoke nor took any action against them anymore. They just watched the behavioural changes of Lu Donghai and his people in silence. Lu Donghai was not at all indignant by Lu Taio's decision, he was rather disappointed. He knew Lu Taio's personality, Lu Taio was a coward and he felt that if he had disclosed Arthur's plan to him, Lu Taio would not believe him but if he were to meet Arthur, at least he might have not acted this way. However, Arthur's life was more precious to him and he cannot risk betting on unpredictable characters like Lu Taio. It was painful for Lu Donghai to lose his clan members.

There was no movement of the Lu clan from the village to town anymore which brought happiness to the two clans watching them discreetly. The Lu Clan was already split; 65 members left for town another 44 members joined the Liu clan, leaving only 121 members remaining.

After four long months of working in the swamp, the apparent hunting party led by Lu Yehan returned, bringing home another disaster. Among 80 members who left for hunting, only 43 stronger ones returned and many of them were weak and sickly, infected with the black-ivy plague. The whole clan went in alarm, initially Lu Fang and his people started looking after the sick members but when it began to spread they soon distanced themselves from them and left the premise of the clan's territory, evacuating with what treasures they could carry. Thus, leaving only Lu Donghai and Lu Yehan's people. Death followed, and every day the banging sound of the gong echoed throughout the village. The procession of the funeral towards the forest took place on daily basis. Subsequent, everyone in the village was advised to stay indoors by their respective clans. No one helped except for the Jia clan. Many of the clan heads observed the misfortunes of the Lu Clan from a distance. Soon, the plague spread throughout the Jia clan and death started appearing in their clan too. First, there was a funeral procession for dead children, then it was soon followed by adults and elders.

Many houses in both the clans were set ablaze for the fear of spreading the disease. The number of living people dwindled and only when there were thirty-four people left in the Lu Clan and eighteen people left alive in the Jia clan did the elders of the Liu clan and the heads of all the clans of the village send requests to Lu Donghai to either leave the village or stay to be burnt alive. It was a request filed with a threat to check the current situation of the Lu Clan.

On hearing the threat, Lu Donghai and the people remaining alive came out of their territory and challenged back saying, "All my kinsmen have either betrayed and left the clan or have died, I have no one left to protect anymore. Come and taste my wrath, I and my men shall either kill you or send the gift that I received from gods to your clan."

The people surrounding the Lu clan shuddered and stepped back on seeing the blackened skin and red bloodlust eyes of the 34 Lu clan members standing proudly with mocking smiles. The uncanny atmosphere froze their hearts. They immediately regretted provoking the Lu Clan and thus, Lu Fang who was hiding behind one elder to see how his clansmen were faring, was pushed forward. The Liu clan members didn't want to fight with the monsters standing before them, since they have already achieved their goal of becoming ultimate masters of the whole village. They no longer wanted trouble hence they requested Lu Fang to make peace with Lu Donghai.

Lu Fang helplessly stepped forward with his head facing down and mumbled, "Clan Chief Hai, please forgive this sinner." His voice was so low but many of the top experts heard it. Lu Fang wanted to say different things but when he saw Lu Donghai's disappointed eyes and noticed that some of the Lu clan members could barely stand up and some with the help of their swords supporting them but filled with battling spirit. He deeply regretted and felt ashamed of himself, but there was no cure for regret, he could only ask for forgiveness.

Lu Yehan bellowed, "You ungrateful bastard, like your pal Lu Taio, you also.." But before he could finish, Lu Donghai stopped him. He looked at Lu Fang and said, "Lu Fang, have you submitted to serve another clan?"

Silence complete silence followed. Lu Fang only cried unable to say anything.

Lu Donghai said, "I see, since you have already made your choice I have nothing to say. But, you were once my brother, therefore I'll help you this time. Hear everyone, I and my people will leave the village with the remaining Jia clan so that you may not face the same calamity that my clan and Jia clan has suffered. But, If you ever mistreat any of Lu Clan members who follow Lu Fang, I Donghai doesn't care if this dog Fang has submitted to become your slave or not, the people under him still have Lu blood flowing in them. Hence, I'll personally kill him and destroy his clan. Hehehe, Pseudo Tribulation Realm, is only one person, he cannot protect everyone."

With that said, he turned and left the crowd, with his men following him back inside Lu Clan.

Bai Dong said, "Never provoke them anymore, they are like a wounded animal. Today, the Lu clan have collapsed but the leader has shown both courage and compassion. Truly respectable." Many of them agreed and then they slowly started to leave the area.

When everyone left, Lu Fang who still sat on the ground for a long time with tears welling up in his eyes, bowed towards Lu Clan three times and left.

Inside Lu Clan's watchtower stood two people. "Old Hai, what are you looking at? Oh! That ungrateful bastard? Forget him," said Lu Yehan.

"Let's watch him for some time," told Donghai. Then they called the Jia clan members to their territory, stayed there for one day and then left silently without anyone knowing.