Dragon Tamer - Chapter 1297: 1301: Red Moon Purple Cypress Door

Chapter 1297: Chapter 1301: Red Moon Purple Cypress Door

Anyway, Zhu Minglang just took the money to ward off the disaster and didn’t bother to ask more.

As he exited the grand hall, the elderly State Preceptor approached him and whispered to Zhu Minglang, “The Guardian King recently had a nightmare, which troubled his heart, but the matter of the Purple Cypress Door has long been concluded and buried. There should be nothing there, it’s just asking someone of your stature as an Immortal to make a trip to ease the Guardian King’s mind.”

“So it’s just running an errand?” Zhu Minglang said.

“Dare not, dare not, this is the deposit, there will be substantial rewards upon your return, Young Immortal please don’t look down on it.” The State Preceptor handed a small bag of Liuli to Zhu Minglang.

It’s quite heavy.

There must be at least ten Liuli!

Lavish!

That’s equivalent to ten days of stipend at the Inner Gate for himself, and the said place is not too far away, just a bit less populous.

It won’t take more than a few days for the round trip.

…

Zhu Minglang headed to the Purple Cypress Door mentioned by the Guardian King.

Before coming here, Zhu Minglang had also inquired about the Guardian King’s affairs among the common folks, and understood the grudges between the Guardian King and the Purple Cypress Door.

It turns out that the Guardian King had also joined the Immortal Gate when he was young and had cultivated for ten years.

Later, he found it difficult to advance his cultivation further, so he returned to his small country and became its king.

The Sect he trained in was a small Immortal Gate, precisely the Purple Cypress Door.

As for the specifics of their entanglement, not many common folk knew, Zhu Minglang could only go and see for himself.

Flying on clouds and navigating through the mist, Zhu Minglang landed on the barren mountain where the Purple Cypress Door was located, discovering that this place was one of the areas where the Spiritual Energy in the entire City of Ten Thousand Miles was most exhausted, so much so that even the light of the Golden Crow shining here seemed devoid of warmth.

Approaching the mountain gate, Zhu Minglang saw the dilapidated archway covered in vines, with wild grass standing tall, acting as the gatekeeper disciples of the Sect.

Following the smooth road, Zhu Minglang found the Sect in complete disorder, with wild grass thriving, halls collapsed and tiles sunken into the soil. If one came here in the dead of night, it would indeed carry a sinister and terrifying air, as the color and style of several villas resembled that of a funeral parlor…

Zhu Minglang frowned.

And there wasn’t a single living person here.

The entire Sect had long been shut down.

What did the Guardian King want him to check here, to see if there were any ghosts?

Looking back towards the west…

Just his luck, the Golden Crow was about to clock out.

Zhu Minglang didn’t want to waste a day, so he walked into the depths of the Sect as dusk fell.

Further inside, a narrow, deep cliff appeared before him, with many buildings of the Sect being cliffside constructions, mostly relying on one side of the cliff, with occasionally one or two tall pavilions connected to the vertical cliff on the other side by sky bridges, and several suspended buildings on that cliff…

However, the tea-red lacquer and the somber valley conveyed a chilling sensation, such that even during the day, the sunlight could only shine through at specific Times.

Zhu Minglang walked all the way to the bottom and found many tombstones erected at the very bottom of the Sect.

These tombstombs strangely had no names, just placed in the coolest spot, and even without much knowledge of Feng Shui, Zhu Minglang could understand that burying the dead here without turning into ghosts would be strange!

Yet when Zhu Minglang explored with his Divine Sense with some certainty, he found that there wasn’t a single foul spirit near the tombstones…

This indeed took Zhu Minglang by surprise.

“There is nothing at all; the king simply scared himself and went back to collect his money,” Zhu Minglang felt slightly disappointed and thus turned to leave.

On his way back, he still had to pass that suspended veranda.

When he arrived, there was nothing on the dilapidated, dark red-painted veranda. However, on his way back, right in the center of the veranda as Zhu Minglang was walking towards it, a figure suddenly appeared!

This really gave Zhu Minglang a start.

People’s psychology tends to operate this way; when one is mentally prepared, seeing something bizarre doesn’t seem horrifying. Instead, it’s the unexpected appearance when one is unprepared that truly shocks.

Fortunately, Zhu Minglang had seen it all.

A verandah ghost!

Zhu Minglang walked over, looking at the expressionless verandah ghost.

“Brother Wei, I knew you would come. Everyone says you were disloyal and unfaithful, but I was the only one who believed that you would return,” the face of the verandah ghost strained into a smile, sinister and strange.

Brother Wei?

This ghost must have mistaken him for that Guardian King.

Zhu Minglang had dealt with ghosts and even kept a Night Empress ghost before.

He knew that ghosts did not like to be exposed. Many ghosts were like sleepwalkers; if you tried to awaken them, they would go mad, devouring anything in their path with strength that was hard to counter through ordinary means. Mishandling could attract endless disasters and curses.

Zhu Minglang certainly did not want to be cursed by this ghost, affecting his own fortunes.

“Everything was fine when I left, why has the sect changed to this state?” Zhu Minglang did not point out the misunderstanding but started to probe instead.

“What exactly do you mean by this state?” The verandah ghost asked, puzzled.

“It’s just…” Zhu Minglang was about to remark on the dilapidation, how things were no longer the same when he looked around and suddenly saw a completely different scene from what he had seen before!!

Thɪ𝗌 𝕔hαpţᥱr 𝘪𝗌 p𝟬𝓈𝐭𝑒ⅾ b𝖞 𝘬𝒾ṯℯȠℴ𝗏𝘦ḷ

Pavilions stood tall, with neatly arranged flowers and plants, peeling walls were mended, and shiny tiles covered the manors…

While that was good, what truly astounded Zhu Minglang was seeing people across the suspension cliff filling buckets with spring water, a few disciples chatting and laughing as they walked towards the verandah, warmly greeting Zhu Minglang as they passed by.

Someone was meditating on a high pavilion.

In the spacious square, some were sparring.

And some women were gathering spirit mushrooms and ginseng below in the valley…

The sound of the night bell rang, and someone on the bell tower skillfully struck it as usual.

“Brother Wei has been away for too long, maybe you have forgotten many things,” the verandah ghost spoke.

Zhu Minglang did not reply immediately, instead, his gaze turned to the gorge outside the verandah.

From his view, the walls of the secluded valley sharply cut the sky into a long slash, where a slightly eerie, red moon precisely hung at the far end of the narrow night sky. Its sinister brilliance, as if trimmed by scissors, cast a perfect illumination over the entire Purple Cypress Door…

This radiance also fell upon the verandah ghost, making him appear exceptionally real under the moon’s filtered light, his face showing a warm and friendly smile, as though an old friend was welcoming his arrival, sweeping away the previous horror and strangeness!!

Heard of the Ghost Market, and seen similar scenes.

But this was Zhu Minglang’s first encounter with a Ghost Sect!!