Dragon Tamer

“By the way, Mr. Jinli, do you know about the Ancient Relics and the Ancient Dragon Gate?” Zhu Minglang remembered to ask this.

“I can’t remember.”

“These darned kids, not a single one showed up for class today. Later, I’m going to scold each and every one of their parents one by one. I’m so mad, so mad…

Hey, aren’t you Zhu Minglang? You’re back from training at the Yaoshan Sword Sect? Is the Yaoshan Sword Sect feeding you pig slop? How come they turned a fine young man like you so haggard?” Mr. Jinli said, his fish face full of surprise.

Zhu Minglang smacked his lips, thought for a moment, and then decided it was better just to leave. It would be too tiring to explain everything all over again.

After all, in a little while, Mr. Jinli would probably remember on his own.

After visiting with Mr. Jinli, Zhu Minglang made his way to the outer courtyard.

He thought it would be good to check on Zhu Yushan and Bai Xin to fully understand the whole story of what had happened.

For the major contest of forces, his father should have already arranged everything. In a few days, he would participate in the competition as a Zhu Clan Disciple.

In the outer courtyard, some white lanterns had been taken down. Only in some potted plants and on the hedges, there were still some plain colored flowers. It seemed that in just one day’s time, this place had returned to its usual self.

The people of the outer courtyard were busy as ever. The absence of one person did not affect the operation of the outer courtyard at all.

Zhu Minglang went to the mansion, where he saw Zhu Yushan and Zhu Qianjie discussing something with a group of merchants. These merchants should be the managers of weapon stores from various countries and city-states. They came this time not only to visit and mourn but also to seek a batch of fine weapons from Zhu Yushan’s side.

Zhu Minglang sat on the side for a while, and Zhu Yushan quickly finished his business with these merchants.

Zhu Qianjie came over first. He glanced at Zhu Minglang and snorted coldly, “Since you’re back, why not stay in the inner courtyard, report to the elders about your safety, and run over here for what?”

Zhu Qianjie was an elder of the Family Door and controlled the financial power of the outer courtyard.

Zhu Minglang responded with a smile but did not answer.

Elder Zhu Qianjie couldn’t be bothered to say more and hastily left the outer courtyard.

“Are you getting used to being back?” Zhu Yushan asked.

“It’s quite nice. I just went to see Mr. Jinli,” Zhu Minglang replied.

“You, you, other children, when they return, they have to go and greet each elder in the inner courtyard one by one, but you, you only visited a talking fish,” Zhu Yushan shook his head.

“Anyway, the elders who don’t like me won’t have a better opinion of me even if I go there to exchange pleasantries. Uncle, I still want to fully understand what happened to Zhu Tong,” Zhu Minglang said.

“This is partly my fault. Ever since Zhu Tong started dragon training, he has been climbing up on his own step by step. I didn’t give him much help and didn’t expect that he had already been isolated among those disciples of the powerful, often subject to bullying by offspring with stronger backgrounds,’ Zhu Yushan said with great self-reproach.

“So, the instigator wasn’t just Hao Shaocong?” Zhu Minglang asked.

“Yes, after the boy was brought back, one of my old friends who works as a servant in the Family Door told me. He took the opportunity to come out to gather materials and told me that Zhu Tong actually died in a gambling game of a group of dandies. This group is referred to by the younger generation of powerful disciples as the ‘Royal Young Gang’,” Zhu Yushan explained.

Royal Young Gang??

Zhu Minglang had actually never heard of this before.

“They are just a group of youngsters with backgrounds and power who often hang out together, relying on their strong connections in the Imperial City to commit all kinds of evil, bringing calamity to the common people,” he said.

“About three or four months ago, a destitute relative who once lived in our outer court had a daughter who became an apprentice in the Ancient Dragon Palace. Not long after she entered, a member of the Royal Young Gang took a fancy to her, harassed and threatened her in various ways.”

“It seems the girl eventually lost her chastity. Zhu Tong became very angry when he heard about it and beat that little beast up, which led to a complete fallout with this so-called Royal Young Gang.”

“Later on, the Royal Young Gang bullied Zhu Tong for various reasons, even killing all of his Juvenile Spirits and a Dragon Beast. Despite this, they still wouldn’t leave Zhu Tong alone, so when the gang members were drunk on one occasion, they made a bet, claiming that whoever dared to kill Zhu Tong during the great competition would be rewarded with money collected from everyone to buy a Spiritual Realm Fruit.”

Zhu Yushan grew increasingly remorseful as he spoke, for he had been busy with business all the time, completely unaware of the bullying his son had faced from these wretches over the past three or four months.

If he could have heard of the situation, the death of Zhu Tong might have been avoided.

Zhu Tong also, to have encountered such a serious matter and not even mention it to his family!

Though they were part of Zhu Gate’s outer court, if the elders had stepped in, those Royal Young Gang members definitely would not dare to commit such atrocities!

“What’s the girl’s name, and is she still in the Ancient Dragon Palace?” Zhu Minglang asked.

“Lu Ming’er, she should still be there,” Zhu Yushan replied.

“Good, I’ll go ask her.”

Zhu Minglang didn’t know much about the various powers of the Imperial City; after all, he never inquired about anyone’s background when he used to bully others with his own background and power.

Moreover, because of his relationship with Zhu Xuehen, Zhu Minglang did not hesitate to act ruthlessly even against members of the Royal Family.

The Ancient Dragon Palace is a force that Zhu Minglang is truly not very familiar with. He spent most of his time in the Yaoshan Sword Sect training before he turned fifteen, and the Supreme Court Imperial City was so vast that it was impossible to keep track of which powerful dragons and local snakes were inside.

The Ancient Dragon Palace is located within Elephant Hill Capital, which is backed by a vast range of mountains. It’s said that these mountains are a paradise for ancient dragons, and the people of Elephant Hill Capital could occasionally hear terrifying roars emanating from the peaks of Ancient Elephant Mountain.

Compared to Waterdrop Lake City, Elephant Hill Capital is less prosperous. Zhu Minglang flew on the Divine Green Holy Dragon for a long time before arriving in the somewhat remote Elephant Hill Capital.

The Ancient Dragon Palace, as the name suggests, is a force that specializes in nurturing ancient dragons. Everyone in their palace sees ancient dragons as the most powerful beings in the world and venerates them as objects of faith.

The Elephant Hill Ancient Dragon Palace is not the most authoritative or powerful of its kind; the supreme Ancient Dragon Palace is in another kingdom, whose precise location Zhu Minglang didn’t know, but he heard it was so powerful that it ranked just below the Royal Family.

Besides the Ancient Dragon Palace, there’s also the Azure Dragon Palace.

The Azure Dragon Palace shares the same philosophy with the Ancient Dragon Palace, only they worship the mysterious Azure Dragon as their faith.

Those who worship giant dragons, however, are not called dragon palaces or dragon halls.

Those who worship giant dragons belong to the Church, which sees giant dragons as symbols of strength capable of conquering everything in this world.

The Church’s power is also immense, having once ruled over half of the

Supreme Court Courtyard Continent and standing on equal footing with the Supreme Court Royal Family.

In fact, whether it is Sect Forest, Family Door, Palace, Church, or Academy, each has ruled over the Supreme Court Courtyard Continent during a certain period in history. After various rises and falls, the Supreme Court Royal Family eventually took over.