Dragon Tamer

Chapter 459: Chapter 461: Boarding the Thief Ship
Zhu Rongrong looked at Zhu Minglang for quite a while but still couldn’t make up her mind.

If she were caught doing this kind of thing by her father, she probably wouldn’t get to have tea and look at flowers with her young lady friends for the rest of her life…. Instead, she’d be locked up at home, waiting to be married off…

However, what Zhu Minglang said did make sense.

The Little Inner Court of Zhu Gate wasn’t as stringent as the Main Inner Court, but an assassination attempt was simply preposterous. If it hadn’t been for Zhu Minglang’s precaution from the start, those people might have succeeded.

If Zhu Minglang were to die here, their Little Inner Court would also face annihilation.

Furthermore, the leak of the Veins of the Earth’s trace made Zhu Rongrong feel that the current Little Inner Court was like a clay house. It was fine when the weather was clear, not feeling any discomfort, but once the storm hit, this clay house wouldn’t provide any shelter at all.

“Then I’ll try my best,” Zhu Rongrong finally nodded, agreeing to Zhu Minglang’s request.

Zhu Minglang let out a long sigh of relief, as he had genuinely worried about how to convince Zhu Rongrong to do such sneaky business, but it turned out that Zhu Rongrong’s trust in him was quite high.

…

In the afternoon, Zhu Minglang, Zhu Rongrong, Zhu Huo, and Wu Peng gathered in that cliffside cottage, since playing a game against two cunning old foxes like Wu Qingfeng and Zhao Yu would be very restricting without helpers.

Zhu Rongrong appeared to have already communicated with Zhu Huo, as one could tell from her eyes in the afternoon that she was calmer and more clear-headed than she had been in her dazed state that morning, and had also made up her mind to secretly protect the Little Inner Court.

“Young Master, Wang Xiao has always been in charge of the outer court’s trade, and not long ago, a significant sum of money vanished into thin air. It seems that Head Master Xia Hai’an subsequently downplayed the issue. According to my subordinates, Wang Xiao has a penchant for gambling on dragons, and the amount he spends on it each month is staggeringly excessive,” Zhu Huo reported.

“Do you mean that Head Master Xia Hai’an might be Wang Xiao’s superior?” Zhu Minglang asked.

“Yes, furthermore, the steward Miao Sheng, he has a son who committed a capital offense and was almost executed on the spot by the law enforcers of Qin City. It was also Head Master Xia Hai’an who stepped in, allowing Miao Sheng’s son to survive. However, that incident happened about three or four years ago,” Zhu Huo continued.

Wang Xiao and Miao Sheng, both had been favored by Head Master Xia Hai’an.

Xia Hai’an was that reticent female Hall Master, one of the eight.

She managed all matters large and small concerning the Little Inner Court and supervised all members, serving as Zhu Wangxing’s most capable assistant.

“Aunt Xia doesn’t seem like someone who could be bribed. She has always been childless and alone, focusing mostly on our Zhu Gate. Most of what she discussed with me was about the future development of our Zhu Gate…,” Zhu Rongrong remarked.

“Elder, whom among the seniors do you suspect the most?” Zhu Minglang inquired.

“Yuan Lao is my mentor. If you trust me, Young Master, then you can also trust Yuan Lao,” Zhu Huo stated.

Yuan Lao.

He was the Elder who had spoken for Zhu Huo earlier and seemed to be the most powerful amongst the four Elders as well.

Both the Ancient Dragon King and the Abyss Dragon King had left a deep impression on Zhu Minglang.

“Continue investigating, and trace back to even earlier events if possible. There might be some clues, especially ones involving contact with external forces… In addition, I plan to steal the Earth Vein Lava before the fire-taking ceremony and keep it in a place known only to the four of us. So please assist me with all your might,” Zhu Minglang earnestly requested the four.

Zhu Huo and Zhu Rongrong’s faces were full of astonishment.

Steal the Earth Vein Lava??

What kind of principle is it to steal one’s own possessions!

Zhu Huo and Zhu Rongrong felt somewhat unable to keep up with the Junior Gatekeeper’s train of thought!!

“I know this sounds absurd, but it’s the only method we have to cope with the situation at the moment, especially since we have no idea what means the enemy will use to deal with us…” Zhu Minglang said.

Since a traitor had already appeared among the eight, the only person he could trust was himself.

Zhu Minglang decided to steal the Earth Vein Lava to prevent unforeseeable problems at the fire-taking ceremony.

If An Qingfeng and Zhao Yu were merely bluffing, Zhu Minglang could simply hand over the Earth Vein Lava to Zhu Wangxing when the time came.

If something indeed went wrong at the ceremony, at least the Earth Vein Lava would be safe.

“Why do I feel like I’ve inadvertently boarded a ship of thieves?” Zhu Rongrong said with a mixture of laughter and tears.

It was only this morning that he said it would suffice to steal the precise location of the secret realm from his father, yet by the afternoon it had evolved into a plan to steal the divine fire from his family’s secret realm!

No wonder he couldn’t tell Zhu Wangxing about this; how could Zhu Wangxing possibly agree to such an absurd plan.

“I believe in the young master, after all, even if it’s my foster father, he might be so deeply connected to the other few that he can’t bring himself to make a tough decision,” Zhu Huo said with conviction.

From being assassinated, to being framed, and now standing on the same side as Zhu Minglang, Zhu Huo increasingly felt that there must be traitors in the Little Inner Court, and not just one.

If they couldn’t be completely eliminated, it would cause incalculable damage to the Little Inner Court’s fire-taking ceremony.

The greatest duty of the Little Inner Court is to safeguard the Zhu Gate’s Divine Fire…

“Alright, I’ll do my best too. I actually have some leads on the location of the secret realm, but I still need to confirm with my father,” Zhu Rongrong also spoke her mind.

Probably worried about her encountering some mishap, Zhu Wangxing would often hint to Zhu Rongrong about the secret realm when discussing matters of the Zhu Gate with her.

Zhu Rongrong was quite astute and understood that these suggests hid information about the Zhu Gate’s Earth Vein Lava.

She had heard with interest but hadn’t remembered consciously.

But if she analyzed it seriously, she could deduce the approximate location.

…

After the group dispersed, Zhu Minglang headed to Sea High Slope, intending to collect more dandelion crystal grains.

A bottle of Earth Vein Lava combined with a bag of dandelion crystal grains would create an exaggerated spectacle; even Monarch Level fighters who didn’t react in time could be directly engulfed in a sea of flames!

Lacking a potent magic artifact akin to the Voodoo Tide, if he could carry more objects with the effect of Flamestorm Flow, it would indeed be remarkably effective.

Naturally, if Zhu Heavenly Officer knew Zhu Minglang was using the Zhu Gate’s Divine Fire as an explosive, he would probably be furious to the point of smoking from seven orifices.

This was a squandering of heavenly materials, was he born without hands or what, must he rely on brute force over genuine skill in a fight!!

This was probably why Zhu Minglang wasn’t suitable to be a Casting Master; seeing such divine fire, his first thought was how to craft it into a lethal weapon, rather than forging an unparalleled masterpiece!

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, leisurely taming dragons here, to the point where I almost believed you had nothing to do with the disappearance from Zhao Yin Ge,” a contrived voice rose from the slope below.

Zhu Minglang had been aware of this person for a while, as he watched the slowly approaching woman, he feigned a curious and unacquainted demeanor.

“What’s wrong, do you not recognize me? I don’t know who it was that wanted to serve the young master, yet with a single flame burned me to the point where not even ashes remained. So heartless, so cruel, and so delightfully vicious!” the courtesan Lu Mu said with a smile.