TEH CRIMSON MOON CONSPIRACY
1800 Words
Dark clouds gathered over Jiang City (**), covering the morning sun only hours after Li Chen (**) saved Zhang Ruoxue (***) from the Soul Binding Curse (***). Although the curse had been weakened, Li Chen knew the battle was far from over.
Inside the Zhang Family Estate, security had been tightened. Guards patrolled every corridor, and no one was allowed to enter or leave without permission. Despite the increased protection, an uneasy silence hung over the mansion.
Li Chen stood alone on the balcony outside Zhang Ruoxue's room, staring at the dark sky.
In his hand was the black token taken from the Crimson Sect cultivator who had died after swallowing poison. On one side of the token was a crimson crescent moon. On the other was the emblem of the Black Serpent Hall (***).
Inside the Dragon Emperor Ring (***), Li Tianlong (***) appeared.
"The Black Serpent Hall..." the old Dragon Emperor said quietly. "I never thought they would still exist."
Li Chen looked at him.
"You've mentioned them before. Who exactly are they?"
Li Tianlong sighed.
"Twenty years ago, they served as guardians of the Dragon Emperor Clan."
Li Chen frowned.
"If they were guardians, why did they betray us?"
Golden light filled the palace inside the ring.
A vision appeared before Li Chen.
He saw the magnificent Dragon Emperor Palace standing proudly on a mountain. Thousands of Dragon Clan cultivators defended the gates while crimson-robed enemies attacked from every direction.
Then, without warning, the palace gates opened from within.
Men wearing black serpent emblems drew their swords and attacked their own people.
The Dragon Emperor Clan was caught completely by surprise.
Blood covered the palace steps.
Children cried.
Warriors fell one after another.
The betrayal had destroyed the strongest clan in the cultivation world.
The vision disappeared.
Li Chen slowly clenched his fists.
"So the Black Serpent Hall opened the gates."
Li Tianlong nodded.
"They desired the Dragon Emperor inheritance. They believed that helping the Crimson Sect destroy our clan would make them rulers of the cultivation world."
Li Chen's eyes grew colder.
"They will pay for what they did."
Before Li Tianlong could respond, someone knocked on the balcony door.
It was Zhang Weiguo (***).
"Master Li, we've completed another search of the estate."
Li Chen followed him downstairs.
Several security officers waited in the reception hall.
On a long table were three crimson talismans sealed inside glass boxes.
"We found these buried beneath the western garden," Zhang Weiguo explained.
"They've probably been there for months."
Li Chen activated Dragon Eyes (**).
Golden light flashed across his pupils.
The talismans immediately changed.
Black spiritual threads stretched from them into the ground, connecting with one another beneath the estate.
Li Tianlong spoke seriously.
"They're part of the Blood Moon Array."
"If activated, everyone inside this estate will become a sacrifice."
The room fell silent.
One security officer swallowed nervously.
"Master Li..."
"Can those things really kill everyone here?"
Li Chen nodded.
"They were never meant to protect this place."
"They were meant to destroy it."
Just then, Zhang Ruoxue slowly entered the hall.
She was still weak, but the colour had begun returning to her face.
Everyone was relieved to see her awake.
She looked at Li Chen.
"I remembered something."
"What is it?" Li Chen asked.
"When I was unconscious..."
"I kept hearing a woman talking."
The room became quiet.
"What did she say?"
Zhang Ruoxue closed her eyes.
"She kept repeating the same sentence."
Her voice trembled.
'When the Blood Moon rises... the Dragon Emperor will open the gate.'
Li Tianlong's expression changed immediately.
"The Dragon Emperor Tomb..."
Li Chen sensed the old man's concern.
"What does that mean?"
"The Blood Moon isn't referring to the curse."
"It's referring to the First Dragon Emperor Tomb."
Before Li Chen could ask another question, a bodyguard rushed into the hall.
"Chairman!"
"We've caught someone trying to escape!"
Moments later, two guards dragged in one of the estate's gardeners.
The young man looked terrified.
"I didn't do anything!"
"I was only going home!"
The security captain shook his head.
"We searched his bag."
He placed several items on the table.
A crimson robe.
A communication talisman.
And a detailed blueprint of the entire Zhang Family Estate.
Everyone gasped.
The gardener collapsed to his knees.
"They threatened my family!"
"I had no choice!"
Li Chen activated Dragon Eyes.
The man's spiritual aura showed no sign of lying.
But something else caught his attention.
A tiny black insect was moving beneath the skin on the man's neck.
Li Tianlong immediately recognised it.
"A Soul Parasite."
"The Crimson Sect is controlling him."
Li Chen's expression became serious.
"Everyone move back."
The gardener suddenly screamed.
His body began shaking violently.
Dark veins spread across his face.
His eyes turned crimson.
When he looked at Li Chen again, his voice had completely changed.
Cold laughter echoed through the hall.
"So..."
"The Dragon Emperor has finally found another one."
Every servant froze in fear.
The Holy Maiden...
Was speaking through the gardener's body.The chilling laughter echoed throughout the grand hall.
Every servant instinctively stepped backward.
The young gardener remained on his knees, but his expression had completely changed. His crimson eyes glowed with an unnatural light, and a sinister smile spread across his face.
Li Chen (**) calmly stepped forward.
"So..."
"The Holy Maiden finally shows herself."
The possessed gardener laughed.
"You disappoint me, Dragon Emperor."
"I expected the heir of the Dragon Emperor Clan to be far stronger."
Li Chen remained expressionless.
"You've gone through a lot of trouble just to speak to me."
The smile on the gardener's face widened.
"You misunderstand."
"I'm not here to talk."
"I'm here..."
"...to measure your strength."
Suddenly—
Boom!
Black spiritual energy exploded from the gardener's body.
The marble floor cracked beneath him.
Several servants screamed and fled toward the exits.
"Everyone leave!" Zhang Weiguo (***) shouted.
The bodyguards immediately escorted the terrified servants out of the hall.
Within moments, only Li Chen, Zhang Weiguo, Zhang Ruoxue (***), and a handful of trusted guards remained.
Li Tianlong's voice echoed inside the Dragon Emperor Ring (***).
"The Soul Parasite has completely taken control."
"Kill the parasite..."
"...not the host."
Li Chen nodded.
"I understand."
The possessed gardener suddenly vanished.
Whoosh!
Dark mist filled the hall.
His figure appeared behind Li Chen, a black dagger aimed directly at his neck.
"Die!"
Li Chen activated Dragon Shadow Step (***).
His body became a golden blur.
The dagger struck empty air.
Boom!
The marble floor shattered where Li Chen had been standing only a moment before.
The possessed gardener looked around in confusion.
"So fast..."
Li Chen appeared several metres away.
"You rely too much on borrowed power."
The Holy Maiden laughed through the gardener's mouth.
"And you rely too much on arrogance."
With a wave of her hand, black mist spread across the hall.
Dozens of shadowy figures emerged from it.
Each one resembled the possessed gardener.
Illusions.
Li Tianlong immediately warned,
"Don't trust your eyes."
"Only one is real."
The shadow figures attacked simultaneously.
Their daggers flashed from every direction.
Li Chen closed his eyes.
Instead of using sight...
He trusted the Dragon Emperor Bloodline (****).
Golden spiritual energy flowed through every meridian.
His senses expanded.
He could hear every heartbeat.
Every movement of spiritual energy.
Then—
He opened his eyes.
Dragon Eyes (**) revealed the truth.
Only one figure possessed a soul.
"There."
Li Chen disappeared.
Dragon Shadow Step carried him directly through the illusions.
The fake figures dissolved into smoke.
The real gardener widened his eyes.
"Impossible!"
Li Chen's right hand shot forward.
His fingers stopped only an inch from the gardener's forehead.
Golden dragon energy gathered around his fingertips.
The black parasite hidden beneath the man's skin immediately began struggling.
A tiny scream echoed inside the room.
Li Chen spoke quietly.
"Come out."
Golden light entered the gardener's forehead.
The man's body trembled violently.
Moments later...
A horrifying black insect crawled from his neck.
It was no larger than a thumb, yet its body was covered with crimson markings that resembled tiny human faces.
Several guards turned pale.
"What... what is that?"
The insect shrieked and attempted to escape.
Li Chen clenched his fist.
Dragon Force (**) erupted.
Boom!
The parasite exploded into black ash.
At the exact same moment...
Hundreds of kilometres away...
Inside the abandoned mountain temple...
The Holy Maiden suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Cracks spread across the crystal orb before her.
One of the elders hurried forward.
"Holy Maiden!"
She wiped the blood from her lips and smiled.
"So..."
"You've learned Dragon Soul Purification."
Her smile slowly became colder.
"Interesting."
"It seems your inheritance is awakening faster than expected."
She looked toward the east.
"Prepare the Blood Moon Array."
"We can no longer wait."
Back at the Zhang Estate...
The gardener collapsed unconscious.
A doctor immediately examined him.
"He's alive."
"His pulse is normal."
Li Chen nodded.
"The parasite controlled his mind."
"He'll recover."
Zhang Weiguo bowed deeply.
"Master Li..."
"You've saved another innocent life."
Li Chen looked at the black token and the map he had recovered earlier.
Pieces of the puzzle were finally beginning to fit together.
The Crimson Sect...
The Black Serpent Hall (***)...
The Soul Binding Curse...
The Blood Moon Array...
None of them were separate events.
They were all connected to one place.
The eastern docks.
Li Tianlong's voice became serious.
"The first Dragon Emperor Tomb lies beneath those docks."
"If the Crimson Sect reaches it first..."
"...they'll obtain a treasure capable of shaking the cultivation world."
Li Chen closed his hand around the Dragon Emperor Ring.
"Then we move first."
He turned toward Zhang Weiguo.
"I'll leave Jiang City's business to you."
"I need information."
"Everything your intelligence network knows about the eastern docks during the past twenty years."
The chairman answered immediately.
"I'll have a complete report before sunset."
Li Chen nodded.
Outside, thunder rolled across the darkening sky.
Far beyond the city skyline, beneath the abandoned warehouses of the eastern docks, crimson-robed cultivators quietly completed the final symbols of an enormous ancient formation.
Deep underground...
Something ancient sensed the awakening of the Dragon Emperor Bloodline.
A pair of enormous golden eyes slowly opened in the darkness.
The Dragon Emperor Tomb had begun to awaken.
And for the first time in twenty years...
The race for the Dragon Emperor's true inheritance had begun.
- Writer
