Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

Chapter 339: 181. The Changing Winds and Clouds, The Situation of the World (Part III)_2

The four men immediately showed a trace of dissatisfaction upon hearing this. The elder shook his head repeatedly upon seeing this, but when he noticed that the young man on the left remained silent, a glimmer of hope appeared on the elder's face. He asked, "Yuanfu, what do you think?"

Named, the young man on the far left, Lu Yuanfu, straightened his face and stepped forward to answer, "My thoughts are similar to my elder brother's, but I think that Young Master Tian is quite thoughtful!"

Upon hearing this, the elder's eyes lit up and he pressed further, "What do you mean?"

After pondering for a moment, Lu Yuanfu continued, "During the recent turmoil in Yong and Xu States, his teacher, Master Ji, died in Yongzhou. Supposedly, as his student, he should be very sad, but when my elder brother and I, along with three others, went to see him, although he pretended to be sad, he was still quick to respond in our conversation. Master Ji died last night, and as his closest disciple, Young Master Tian's reaction shouldn't just be like this!"

"So what do you think the reason might be?"

"I suspect there are only two reasons—either Young Master Tian's relationship with Master Ji wasn't as deep as the rumors suggest, or Master Ji's death in Yongzhou was something Young Master Tian had already anticipated beforehand, which is why he could..."

Lu Yuanfu trailed off when he noticed the look of approval on Fourth Master Grandpa Lu Dianrong's face. Realizing that he had guessed correctly, his expression suddenly showed surprise.

"Fourth Master Grandpa, did Master Ji indeed die intentionally in Yongzhou?"

Shocked by the question, the other four young men quickly turned their attention to the elder.

Lu Dianrong pondered for a moment, then glanced back at the cabin and gently brushed through a spiritual breeze to enclose the surroundings before he slowly spoke.

"It's not exactly intentional. It's true that Ji Yanzhi wanted to make a breakthrough, but he obviously anticipated the possibility of failure. So, it could be said that it was intentional!"

Lu Yuanfu's brows furrowed as he asked, "For what reason?"

"To start a war between Yong and Xu States!"

"Bailu Academy wants to start a war between Yong and Xu States?"

The elder bowed his head in thought for a moment before replying, "It's not exactly Bailu Academy. Within Bailu Academy, there are the Yangzhou and Yanzhou factions, and it's likely Yangzhou that wants the two states to go to war."

Not only Lu Yuanfu but also the other four young men began to ponder deeply.

The Lu Family sided with The Righteous Path, so they had a deeper understanding of The Righteous Path's six Holy Land locations than the six states of the Demon Path. The initial smooth founding of Bailu Academy by the Master was majorly aided by Yu Shenzong. To reciprocate the Great Yu Dynasty, the Master had set the academy's ideology as "loyal service to the monarch for the people." Early disciples of the Confucian Sect all aimed at serving in the official capacities of the Great Yu Dynasty.

But after the fall of Great Yu, once Bailu Academy took control over both Yan and Yang States, it began to split internally into two factions. Although both factions continued to revere the Master as the greatest sage-teaches, they placed different emphasis on the "loyal service to the monarch for the people" ideology.

One faction believed that, with Great Yu's fall causing great chaos across the world, serving the people was of utmost importance. Clinging to the ideology of serving the monarch was not only irrelevant to the current situation but also hindered the academy's development. Meanwhile, the other faction believed the Master's teachings to be the absolute truth. They felt that abandoning the monarch-serving ideology due to Great Yu's collapse would be tantamount to rebellion, so they continued with the loyal service to the monarch for the people ideology, serving in the Holy Dynasty of Great Yu with the constant goal of assisting in its resurgence to unify The World and restore the divine dynasty, thus salvaging the lives of the common folk.

This ideological split ultimately led to Bailu Academy's internal division into the Yanzhou and Yanzhou factions, and Ji Yanzhi belonged to the Yanzhou faction. He had served in the officialdom of the Great Yu Holy Dynasty in his early years and only returned to Yangzhou to take disciples and pursue scholarly work in his later years.

According to what Fourth Master Grandpa Lu Dianrong said, Ji Yanzhi hoped for Yong and Xu States to engage in war, and he was even willing to die to facilitate this, which essentially represented the position of Yangzhou.

"I heard that Yanzhou is gaining significant power, quietly forming an alliance with Jizhou with signs of unifying the six states of The Righteous Path. Once Jizhou harbors such intentions, being located to the south of Jizhou, the Great Yu Holy Dynasty is in danger. I guess Yangzhou is instigating this war between the two states now to protect the Great Yu Holy Dynasty from being attacked by Jizhou!"\\

This time, the speaker was not Lu Yuanfu but the young man on the far right, Lu Yuandong.

Knowing approval filled Lu Dianrong's eyes; to make such an accurate judgment in such a short time showed that eldest grandson Lu Yuandong was not as reckless as he initially appeared. With correct guidance, he was every bit as capable as the second grandson, Lu Yuanfu.

Lu Yuanfu, hearing his elder brother's words, also nodded slightly by the side, clearly agreeing with his speculation. After reflecting for a moment, he added, "Elder brother is right, but Ji Yanzhi's death might not be so simple. He not only stirred up turmoil between Yong and Xu States, but although the exact cause of his death is unknown, I heard that during this uprising, Xuzhou sent troops across the border to Yongzhou. This means, by Ji Yanzhi first crossing the border, not only did the attempt to capture Tongling fail, but Ji Yanzhi ended up dying too. Logically, Wanjian Holy Sect should have sent a powerful figure to personally escort Ji Yanzhi's corpse back to Yangzhou to make a statement to Bailu Academy, but they sent no one. Instead, they hired our Lu Family to transport the corpse back to Yangzhou, indicating that Wanjian Holy Sect harbors significant grievances against Ji Yanzhi—so much so that they're willing to offend Bailu Academy to humiliate him this one last time!"

Lu Dianrong nodded, understanding the second grandson Lu Yuanfu's reasoning. Although the exact details remained unclear, at the very least, it was evident that Ji Yanzhi died assisting Xuzhou in attacking Yongzhou, and Wanjian Holy Sect should have valued Ji Yanzhi's death accordingly. Yet, they didn't send anyone, but merely hired the Lu Family to transport his body back to Yangzhou, thereby humiliating a respected scholar of the academy. Not only Bailu Academy, but the entire Confucian sect across The World would hardly accept this.