Chapter 0620: Pei Hao's Intentions

"Greetings, Young Lord, Young Mistress." At this point, Lu Qing and Lu Guan got up with embarrassed expressions on their faces and rushed over to pay their respects to the duo. At the same time, they hurriedly explained themselves. "We heard that General Manager Pei Hao invited the two of you over, and thus we made our way here as well."

Li Luo was still the official heir to the house. If they had met him a year ago, their tone might have been vastly different, curt, and possibly even impolite. They had thought he was just a blank palace cripple who would never amount to anything. Thus, they had naturally chosen to take a step back and maintain a stance of neutrality.

However, things were different now. The blank palace young lord had shed his cocoon and metamorphosed into a radiant sun that dazzled all who set their eyes upon him.

In the short span of a year, Li Luo had brought about numerous changes to House Luolan. These Pavilion Masters were cognizant of their underlings' thoughts, and Li Luo's position had gradually begun to even surpass that of Jiang Qing'e.

Thus, they felt a little apprehensive when facing Li Luo today. If the duo with heaven-defying talent and potential could resolve the current situation, the house would inevitably regain much of its splendor and flourish once again.

When dealing with the duo’s explanations, a gentle smile appeared on Li Luo's face, and he waved his hand. "Don't worry, I believe in your loyalty for House Luolan."

Although this seemed to contradict his true thoughts, as a sensible and mature individual, Li Luo would not vent his frustrations on the duo just yet. This would only move them towards Pei Hao, and thus he had to be compassionate. Jiang Qing'e insipidly glanced at them. "Why don't you two sit over here, then? We're only looking for Pei Hao today."

"Yes, Young Mistress."

The two hurriedly agreed. Jiang Qing'e's influence within the house was not small, and whilst the elements rocked the foundation of the house, she was the only one holding the fort down. Furthermore, she personally possessed potential and strength, something that struck fear into all of the Pavilion Masters.

"Since the two of you are here, why not hear me out?" Pei Hao squashed down the frustrations within his heart and gave a welcoming smile.

"No need. It's probably something unbearable to the ears." Li Luo sighed.

"Young Lord, there's no need to reject me. We actually have very similar aims, which is to protect House Luolan. Come the Housemeet, our internal strife only benefits outsiders." Pei Hao smiled.

"I'm sorry. You're also an outsider," Li Luo rebuked. Pei Hao's smile immediately dampened for once. Before he could reply, Li Luo waved his hand once again. "Well, since we're here, I'll grace you with my presence and listen to whatever crap you have to say. What do you think?"

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Pei Hao's eyelids seemed to droop at this instant, and he started enunciating his words slowly. "I suppose the Young Lord is thinking of shedding all pretenses during the Housemeet in a month. Thus, I have a suggestion to prevent this conflict from spiraling out of control, so that others can't take advantage of us. My suggestion is simple: House Luolan will continue to maintain the tradition of having two House Lords. You and I will take one of these positions each, and we will rule the house jointly. Let us turn our hostility into friendship and usher in a new era of success, one where we will jointly restore House Luolan back to its previous majesty. Young Lord, I've given up many concessions to suggest this. I hope you'll consider this seriously."

Li Luo immediately released a deep sigh. "You're right. The idea of there being two House Lords is a very tantalizing proposition."

A smile began to form at the edge of Pei Hao's face upon hearing these words. Even Mo Cheng seemed to be elated by this.

Yuan Qing and Lei Zhang, on the other hand, stared at Li Luo in disbelief. If they officially recognized Pei Hao as a House Lord, that would mean that he could justifiably intervene in many affairs of House Luolan. Although this might avert an immediate conflict, it would leave behind many hidden dangers. How could the young lord not understand this and agree with them?

However, just as doubts began to appear in their hearts, Li Luo continued, "However, I think that the two House Lords should be Qing'e and I. How is any of this related to you, you hungering, white-eyed wolf? You even dared to bite the hand that fed you!"

The smirk was wiped off Pei Hao's face, the edges of his mouth began to twitch, and his eyes became gloomy.

Li Luo had been messing with him.

Naturally, Li Luo's gaze towards him was filled with contempt and condescension. "Pei Hao, oh, Pei Hao... Who do you think you are? Wanting to control House Luolan? Don't try using these pretty words to threaten me. I cherish House Luolan only because it's a plaything that my parents spent some effort to create. However, it doesn't mean much to the family at all. If it falls apart, so be it. Once we're more free in the future, we'll casually rebuild it. Pei Hao, oh, Pei Hao... I know you care about House Luolan, but it's really not that important to me. If you want to play, I'll play along... all the way to the bitter end."

Li Luo lightly shook his head as he looked at Pei Hao with a tinge of pity and mercy.

The entire top floor turned deathly silent and time seemed to have come to a halt. Whether it was Yuan Qing, Lu Qing, or any of the other Pavilion Masters, they were all shocked speechless by Li Luo's cutting words. They had never expected to hear this from him.

They knew that every single word was intended to carve into Pei Hao's deepest, darkest insecurities.

Everyone turned to look at Pei Hao's reaction, and expectedly, his cold visage had turned a little distorted in fury. His eyes were like those of a venomous snake, glaring coldly at Li Luo, ready to strike at the hint of any movement. A terrifying aura seemed to arise from his very soul.

There was nothing worse than being despised over something one valued immensely.

On the contrary, Li Luo was all smiles, completely unfazed by his change. "It looks like it was a little too mean of me to strike at your pitiful self-esteem."

Bam!

Pei Hao slammed the table before him with a single palm, directly smashing it into wooden junk. Resonant power flowed out, turning the debris into mere dust.

Before he spoke, Jiang Qing'e took a step forward, her golden eyes icily staring at Pei Hao. "Pei Hao, I don't like to talk unnecessarily. However, I will say one thing. I don't wish to see you at the Housemeet... so die for me!"

Right at this moment, frightening amounts of light resonant energy poured forth like a tide from her body, strongly suppressing the entire area.

With a wave of her hand, light resonant power materialized into a sword that hacked out mercilessly towards Pei Hao, slicing through the very void itself.

Jiang Qing'e's attack was sudden, and before anyone else could react, the tyrannical blade of light lanced forward.

However, Pei Hao remained unflinching, his expression downcast.

Weng!

The sword of light that blazed like the sun suddenly solidified and stopped an inch before Pei Hao's face. Everyone saw that an ice resonance had suddenly manifested right behind him, exuding copious amounts of chilly air. The flaming light that shrouded the sword actually froze over.

After which, it fell to the floor harmlessly, shattering into icy fragments.

This development caused Jiang Qing'e's eyes to shrink, and she glanced at the screen behind Pei Hao.

"Haha. It has been a few years. Young Mistress Qing'e's resonant power seems to have become even more tyrannical."

At this point, laughter could be heard coming from behind the screen, and a figure walked out slowly.

Everyone turned to watch this newcomer.

It was a man who had a head with specks of white hair and a thin countenance. Frost seemed to spread across his face, causing his whole body to also emit a chilling air as he strode forward. At the same time, a frightening amount of resonant power was released from him, spreading throughout the area.

The expressions of some in the area changed, and others were lost for words. "Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage?" Yuan Qing glanced at this man, his eyes unexpectedly squinting. "Xu Tianling, you've actually broken into the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage?"

When Li Luo heard this name, he felt as though he had been struck by a bolt of lightning too.

Xu Tianling was none other than the head of the three ancestors of House Luolan.