When the man strode out wreathed in suppressive resonant power and chilly air, everyone's expressions changed in shock.

This was no outsider.

Xu Tianling was the head of the three ancestors.

The only thing was that he had disappeared for the last few years, and no one had expected him to make his appearance here today.

Yuan Qing gloomily glared at him. Unfortunately, the latter had reached the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage, which was one step higher than him, who was at the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Stage. He had made visible progress in the last few years, and it was clear that he had some sort of lucky encounter..

This brought a little bit of worry to Yuan Qing as he knew that when it came to cultivation, the stages before the Heavenly Resonance Stage were significantly simpler. So long as one possessed sufficient talent, cultivation would come easily. For example, the talented students of the Astral Sage College all easily reached the Heavenly Pearl Stage with just the passage of time. But if one wanted to enter the Heavenly Resonance Stage, it would be an arduous process. Gong Shenjun and the First Princess were top geniuses in the Four Star Hall, and had endless resources accorded to them as members of the royal court, but they were still unable to break into the Heavenly Resonance Stage in their four years of college.

What the Heavenly Resonance Stage required was not talent, but rather accumulation and understanding. And rising to the Greater Heavenly Resonance from the Lesser Heavenly Resonance Stage required even more! Thus, the Heavenly Resonance Stage was the hardest bottleneck that prevented people from even attempting to break into the Duke Stage.

Yuan Qing had been at the Heavenly Resonance Stage for countless years and yet continued to hover around the same point, always unable to take the final step into the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage.

On the other hand, his old competitor, Xu Tianling, had done it.

Faced with Yuan Qing's questions, Xu Tianling gave a wry smile, his gaze flickering to Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e as he clasped his hands in greeting. "Young Lord and Miss Jiang, it has been a while. I hope you've been well since we last met."

"I was wondering what sort of tonic Pei Hao had taken to grow a new pair. It turns out he had the support of a Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage cultivator," Jiang Qing'e dryly commented.

Li Luo also took the opportunity to size up the head ancestor. "It looks like Ancestor Xu also plans to support Pei Hao in tearing House Luolan apart."

Xu Tianling smiled. "Young Lord, your words are simply grating. I have a lot of love for House Luolan, and I naturally would not hope for it to splinter. However, Pei Hao is also the House Lords’ disciple in name. The two House Lords made it clear that if one possessed the right identity and were able to garner the support of two ancestors, that individual would have the right to struggle for the title of House Lord. Pei Hao has achieved both of these requirements and thus he has the right to do so."

"So you're saying that I don't measure up?" Li Luo retorted.

Xu Tianling silently observed Li Luo before emotionally saying, "If the Young Lord had not been restrained by the issue of a blank palace, perhaps the situation would not have devolved thus. Now that the situation has come to a head, there is no longer any chance for us to back off. If anything, we are just mere instruments of fate."

Li Luo was clearly the most suitable individual to inherit the title of House Lord. His claim to the title was even greater than Jiang Qing'e’s. If he had not been born with a blank palace, perhaps the entirety of House Luolan would have rallied around to protect him. Unfortunately, it was a pity that even the once loyal individuals had been swayed and Pei Hao had taken advantage of the situation masterfully, resulting in the scene today.

The individuals involved had taken things way too far, and Li Luo had resolved his blank palace issue and demonstrated his potential and talent a little too late. Those who had been snatched away by the jaws of Pei Hao could not simply choose to turn back.

Since they had chosen the path of betrayal, they had to see it through to the end. There was no hope for them otherwise.

They all understood that even if they did change their minds, would Li Luo even forgive him? Would there ever be any sort of trust in them? No one was that naive.

Li Luo shook his head, too lazy to banter over such meaningless words. Those who had a rebellious heart would always find some form of excuse.

"I really pity my parents..." Li Luo sighed with sadness as he swept his gaze over the group before him, a complicated expression on his face.

"They were such extraordinary individuals, but how could their eye for people be so bad? Half of the people in the upper echelons of House Luolan turned out to be such subpar trash. How did they manage to elevate such refuse into a shining pillar of the Xia Kingdom?" Li Luo's words were harsh, directly causing even Xu Tianling's smirk to be wiped off his face, fury evident in his eyes.

"You can't blame the Master and Mistress." Jiang Qing'e shook her head and attentively explained, "They were royalty mingling with the rabble for fun. House Luolan was created on a whim. With their strength, why would they be concerned with what the ants thought about? If something did happen, they'd get crushed with a simple smack. They were supremely confident that if any issues arose, they would resolve it with their overwhelming strength. Thus, they were never concerned with the inner motivations of these people. You should have seen them when the Master and Mistress were around, their loyalty was to die for." Jiang Qing'e's equally sincere reply caused the group's expressions to turn a little distorted, especially when she raised the point about how they had used to act before the House Lords. Complicated emotions surfaced on their faces because they had just remembered. Awe when in their exalted presence. Fear when realizing how insignificant they were. Delight when they had disappeared.

From Jiang Qing'e's response, they were also able to understand how the House Lords viewed them. The lords had never been concerned with them and their paltry schemes. So what if they attempted to betray the lords? Would a lion be concerned about the foxes in its territory?

"The two House Lords were naturally very persuasive. If they were still around, how would I dare to have such thoughts?" Xu Tianling calmly explained, forcefully quashing down all of the rioting emotions in his heart.

"However, Young Lord and Miss Jiang, you need not live in the past. With the House Lords’ protection, you were naturally placed on a pedestal, unable to understand our struggles. Reality has changed, and you need to recognize it. Thus, I hope that the Young Lord carefully reconsiders Pei Hao's suggestion," he threatened politely with a sharp glint in his eyes.

Faced with Xu Tianling's coercive gaze, Li Luo smirked brazenly as he slowly pronounced each word for all to hear. "Let me repeat myself once more since it seems like you're deaf. Don't hold back during the Housemeet. Come at me with everything you have. If House Luolan falls to pieces, I couldn't care less."

Xu Tianling's eyes began to twitch as he attempted to rein in the anger boiling within his heart. “How could this young lord be absolutely unconcerned about the future of his house?

“A wastrel! He is a wastrel through and through!”

"It looks like the Young Lord is unable to differentiate his imagination from reality," Xu Tianling darkly said as he took a step forward. His Greater Heavenly Resonance strength directly flooded outwards in all directions, surging towards Li Luo.

Ice resonant power swept over like a tide, turning the entire Spring Lake Villa into a winter wonderland.

"If this is the case, I will represent the two House Lords in educating you on what reality is really like." Xu Tianling's five fingers arched into a claw, causing his ice resonant power to coagulate around it, forming razor-sharp, icy, jade-like talons that exuded extreme cold.

Yuan Qing took a step forward as well, planning to retaliate, but he was held back by Li Luo.

Li Luo gave a smile that was not a smile, faintly whispering, "Is the Greater Heavenly Resonance Stage that great?"

Xu Tianling squinted upon hearing those deprecating words, but his expression changed immediately after. At this point, the roof of the Spring Lake Villa was ripped open by a beam of light that seemed to have transcended through time and space to arrive here. In fact, the space that the light passed by seemed to leave behind black traces as it was unable to repair itself quickly enough.

Even the worldly natural energy seemed to disappear in the presence of this light.

"A Duke expert?!" Feeling the immense suppression from the light itself, Xu Tianling was lost for words. At the same time, he could clearly discern a glowing pig-butchering knife within.

Although the object almost seemed comical, it caused his already cold body to feel a chill, and alarm bells started ringing in his head.

“Why is there a Duke expert showing his hand?”

Before he had time to think, the pig-butchering knife rushed directly towards him, wreathed full of fiendish energy that caused him to feel like death itself was descending for him. Xu Tianling roared, and a blood-red talonfist flashed out from under the icy claw. Atop the talonfist was a golden eye, indicating that this was a gold-eye treasured artifact.

With a gold-eye treasured artifact in hand, only then did Xu Tianling dare to clash against that horror-inducing pig-butchering knife.

Pssh!

When the two clashed, there was surprisingly no earth-shaking rumble. This was because the glowing pig-butchering knife had cut through the gold-eye talonfist like a piece of wet tofu before slicing Xu Tianling’s palm in half.

Blood sprayed endlessly.

Xu Tianling was sent flying, knocking through countless tables and chairs. His face turned white and full of abject terror.

After the knife severed his palm in half, cold laughter echoed throughout the villa.

"You stray dog! I'd like to see you tell me again. Just who is going to discipline the Young Lord?"