In the middle of the night, a little rain began to fall in Xingqing City, which dissipated some of the scorching heat.
This light rain came at the right time, not to mention the starlight, even a little moonlight could not penetrate the dark clouds. Taking advantage of the dark clouds and the pale moonlight, Xu Huaigu secretly entered the palace, dressed in black, and sneaked in to spy.
He thought about it all night last night and decided to figure out what kind of mystery was hidden in Xingqing City as soon as possible. So after leaving Yu Qin this morning, he went directly to Xingqing Palace.
As Lin Cangyang said, although the official position of the emperor's personal attendant is not high in rank, it has great rights because he can often see the emperor. With this identity, Xu Huaigu easily sneaked into the palace and obtained a piece of armor belonging to the Imperial Attendant in the Supply Department.
Later, after asking several guards patrolling the streets and alleys of the palace, he successfully found the place where the imperial servants lived, and he temporarily settled down in the palace.
He still remembered the envious eyes of the ordinary guards looking at him, and he couldn't help but wonder how much power the emperor had to make the ordinary guards so envious.
In fact, the work of the imperial guards is simpler than that of ordinary guards. They only serve as escorts when the emperor and the emperor travel in the morning. The emperor traveled very rarely, so the imperial guards basically performed guard work during the morning court. But the morning court was held in the innermost hall of the palace, so what could possibly happen?
Therefore, this job has always been undertaken by some noble children with no real skills. It is no wonder that the guards who need real swordsmanship are envious.
However, Xu Huaigu also discovered some clues when he came in.
First of all, the atmosphere in the palace was very strict. After Xu Huaigu came in during the day, he saw almost no officials except the patrolling guards and maids. As a newcomer, he was often questioned, but fortunately, he had Lin Cangyang's token and was able to deal with them one by one.
The second is that he saw several Taoist priests wearing Taoist robes in the palace, but they were not Taoist robes from the Zixia Sect. They should be Taoist sects from the local Taoist sect in Dayu.
Xu Huaigu was a little confused. Generally speaking, Taoist sects were most particular about rebirth, and there would be no overlap between the sects on the mountain and the dynasty at the foot of the mountain. The appearance of this group of Taoist priests just goes against common sense.
Especially at such a tense moment, what is the origin of this group of Taoist priests that allows them to live in the palace? What is their purpose in coming here?
These questions are also what Xu Huaigu wants to know, but what he is most concerned about is Bai Xiaoyu's situation. Although he refuted Lin Cangyang's remarks at the time, he actually felt that Lin Cangyang did not lie to him.
But until he saw Bai Xiaoyu with his own eyes, he would never deny the possibility that Bai Xiaoyu had nothing to do with this matter.
…
The imperial palace in Xingqing City is a large area of land, occupying about one-tenth of the entire Xingqing City, and is in a long and narrow shape from north to south. The inner city of the palace is about two miles from north to south, and about one mile from east to west. There are five gates in total, which are breathtakingly grand.
In particular, the straight tower in the palace that reaches into the clouds is the most eye-catching.
The tower is covered in thick inky black, with layers upon layers, rising directly into the clouds.
The tower has no unnecessary decorations or carvings. It is just a very simple black color, which looks very inconsistent with the golden and solemn color elsewhere in the palace. However, everyone who knows the inside knows that this simple tower is the last weapon used by Dayu Kingdom to deal with the invasion of monsters.
This high tower was built by a formation master during the war five hundred years ago. It has nine floors from top to bottom, each floor is nine feet high, making a total of ninety-nine and eighty-one feet high, which is extremely majestic. Each layer has key formations to connect and collude, and there are nine layers. It can be used for both protection and offense, and its power is extremely impressive.
The defensive array in the palace uses this high tower as the center of the array, and then uses several other architectural arrays to construct a large array. The assassin from the Eighth Realm was discovered under such a magic circle that day, and was seriously injured by the combination of the magic circle and Qi Chaoshu before escaping.
Qi Chaoshu is the eight-level warrior who guards the royal family all year round in Dayu Kingdom. The only other eight-level warrior in Dayu Kingdom has already built a defense line in the south.
In fact, Lu Zijin, a monk from the ninth level of the military strategist who actually had some connection with Xu Huaigu, was not in Xingqing City at this time. He seemed to have encountered some trouble in the south. He was confronting the people of the Demon Sect and had no time to take into account the situation of the royal family in Xingqing City.
So at this time, the strongest force in the entire royal family in Xingqing was Qi Chaoshu.
And the most amazing thing about this tower is that the entire body is made of just one giant wood.
This tree is called Jianmu, and it is said to be a bridge between the gods in the sky and the mortal world below.
The tree is ten thousand feet high, but has no branches under it and no shadow when it stands.
There is even a saying that the trees above them form a world of their own, with flowers, birds, insects, beasts, mountains, rivers, clouds, and mist all there. It is a great blessing in the world.
But this does exaggerate the function of building wood. If it was really as magical as the legend said, how could any monk move it here to build a magic circle?
In fact, this building tree is indeed an ancient thing and a very rare tree species. These ancient objects have actually become extinct in the modern world thousands of years ago, and this building tree was also transported from the only ancient secret realm in the world on the Qingli Islands, but it took a lot of time It took a lot of effort.
The Qingli Islands have always been mysterious, probably one of the most elusive places in the world. Legend has it that the Qingli Islands are located on the vast sea between Zhongtu and Dongfuyao Island. From the perspective of the entire Central Territory, they are also located in the most central location. It's just that no one has ever been able to tell its specific location. They only say that entering the Qingli Islands can only rely on chance.
If you have enough connections with the Qingli Islands, even fishermen and woodcutters can enter. If Qingli Islands does not want you to enter, it will be useless even if you are a monk in the Nine Realms.
As for the monks in the Tenth and Eleventh Realm, I don't know if they can enter by force, because all these monks have never publicized any news about the interior of Qingli Islands to the outside world.
This makes the Qingli Islands cast the most mysterious veil. It is said that there is an ancient secret realm on the islands. There are many ancient things in it that exist outside the present world, and there are also many immortal weapons that are coveted by monks in the Eighth and Nine Realms. and elixirs. Therefore, many monks from the Eight Realms and Nine Realms are rushing to find the Qingli Islands, but very few can actually get to the islands.
…
Under the eaves of a courtyard, Xu Huaigu clung to the damp red brick walls, carefully distinguishing the sounds of conversations inside the house.
The light rain outside the eaves seemed to be getting heavier and heavier. Raindrops continued to drip from the corners of the eaves. Gradually, the droplets of water connected into a stream of water, flowing down and hitting the bluestone on the ground.
The house Xu Huaigu was in at this time was the residence of the Taoist priests he saw today. It was a post station located at the east end of the palace for entertaining foreign guests.
Xu Huaigu felt that the origins of this group of Taoist priests were very strange, so he decided to start his investigation from here.
It was already late at night, but the flickering light and shadow of candlelight could still be seen in this room, so Xu Huaigu came here to spy.
There was a middle-aged man's voice inside, which was very urgent: "Old sir, why on earth are we doing this? It is a disgrace to Taoism for us to do such a thing."
A hoarse voice answered him: "You think I don't want the face of Taoism? We are of the same lineage as Taoism. You can't deny this no matter where you go in the future. However, the emperor has an incurable disease, and I have to help him survive." "
The man's voice was anxious: "But, old sir, your decades of cultivation are going to be wasted. Don't you feel sad?"
The hoarse voice was a little helpless: "What's the use of my cultivation? If I don't achieve high or low, I'm the most disliked person in this world of cultivation. Also, last time our sect had enmity with the people of Fenghuo Sect, now They are all coming to the mountain gate, what are our chances of winning?"
"Then what are we doing here in Xingqing? Old sir, if you lose all your cultivation, then we will be even worse! I went to see the face of the Emperor of Dayu today. The dragon's energy is dirty. It's true that his energy is gone. I don’t know what the use is of asking a monk to renew his life. This has always been a taboo in the spiritual and secular world. Even if he renews his life, he will still be punished by God!"
The hoarse voice said: "There is no other way. The royal family must have the difficulties of the royal family, and we also have the difficulties of finishing our work. My cultivation of the seventh realm is gone, you can continue to practice and make up for the sect. position. But I earn a great favor from the royal family for the sect. This is a hundred years of luck. Others are worried about their cultivation being ruined, but I am not afraid. When the time comes, there will be no foreign troubles, you can practice easily, and then the sect will be strong. , you don’t have to worry about being bullied by other sects.”
There was a loud noise as the man hit the table with his fist.
He said angrily: "It's all useless to me. I only joined the sect because of your love, old gentleman, but you have always been the one who cared about the sect and sacrificed for the sect. I am really ashamed!"
The hoarse voice finally said happily: "It's okay, don't blame yourself. As long as you have this determination to contribute to the sect, you will work hard to practice and contribute to the sect in the future. Do you understand?"
The man said firmly: "It must be so!"
Not long after that, the candles in the room went out, leaving only darkness.
Xu Huaigu began to think.
From what they said, Lin Hongzhi was seriously ill now, so he asked a monk to forcefully extend his life? It seems that the situation in Dayu Country is indeed very bad, and most of Lin Hongzhi's illness was caused by people from the Demon Sect.
Lin Hongzhi's situation was finished, but Xu Huaigu didn't want to go back yet. He hadn't found Bai Xiaoyu yet and had to stay in the palace for a few more days.
In the room separated only by a wall from Xu Huaigu, the man and the owner of the hoarse voice looked in the direction where Xu Huaigu was standing, their eyes full of teasing.
The two of them were speechless, but they communicated with each other in their hearts.
"Why not kill him?"
"Haha...he can't die now, we still have to rely on the plan he gave us..."
“The icing on the cake.”
