The imperial city is bustling with tourists, and the voice of the tour guide echoes in the ancient imperial city, and the stories they tell are true or false, some of them have history, and some of them may not even know the parties involved.

Ning Tao entered the northern capital several times, and also passed by the gate of this imperial city, but he didn't have time to come in to take a look. Now he is here, just because the envelope that the Howling Dog picked up has a sentence written in it: I am waiting for you in the imperial city, there is something important to discuss, and you are the only one.

There was no signature on the letter, but Ning Tao smelled a faint smell of sea from the letter. This reminded him of a missing figure, Hai Dongfang. Although he couldn't be sure that the person who wrote the letter was Hai Dongfang with a hint of the smell of the sea, he didn't want to miss even a glimmer of hope. Not for anything else, just because Hai Dongfang may know who killed Liu 18 and Daoist Qingsong.

Liu 18 gave him the pill recipe for the Chunsheng Pill stolen from Xu Fu's tomb, asked him to help him refine the pill, and then told him who hired Zeng Xunlong's gang to steal the "Six Paths of Reincarnation". He refined Xu Fu's pill, which was not an elixir of immortality, but a cultivation pill that specialized in treating infertility. Liu 18 was killed, and the clue was broken, but this sudden letter brought him a glimmer of hope.

Before he knew it, he had passed the Qianqing Gate, and along the way, Ning Tao maintained his eyes and nose in a state of seeing and smelling, and he could detect anywhere he could. However, he did not find the existence of demonic energy, nor did he catch the scent left by the demon.

Ning Tao continued to walk forward.

In front of it is the Qianqing Palace, where hundreds of people stand outside the isolation zone to take pictures, and the scene is lively.

A cloud of green demonic energy also entered Ning Tao's sight at this time, and it was mixed in a large area of colorful ordinary people's precedent weather, which was particularly obvious.

A person turned around in the crowd, it was Hai Dongfang. He has a strong and well-proportioned body that is unique to the fish demon, but he does not have the handsome face of the fish demon. I don't know if he deliberately changed his appearance or if he was born with mediocre appearance, he lost a lot of his appearance compared to those fish demons in the demon village.

Hai Dongfang just glanced back at Ning Tao, didn't say hello, and strode to the side.

Ning Tao followed behind Hai Dongfang, careful and vigilant all the way. The experience of the demon village gave him a new understanding of the demon, that is, there are many bad ones, and there are few good ones, and even good demons can harm people, not to mention bad demons?

Hai Dongfang walked under a palace wall, and there was a door on the palace wall that was locked. Until now, the area open to the Imperial City was limited to the central axis generation, and there were large areas on both sides that were not opened. Behind that palace wall was apparently an open area.

Hai Dongfang suddenly jumped and jumped over the palace wall with a swish.

Ning Tao walked over briskly and jumped over the palace wall.

Behind the palace walls is a royal garden, silent and uninhabited. There are many ornamental flowers and trees planted in the garden, as well as rockery ponds, but there is no water, no fish, and the ruler is full of dead branches and leaves. The buildings behind the Imperial Garden are also dusty, and the paint on the doors and windows is mottled, and the signs of weathering are very obvious. This is completely different from the scenic spot outside the palace wall, which is more vicissitudes and the breath of history is thicker.

Hai Dongfang still didn't stop, he continued to walk forward.

Ning Tao said: "Senior Hai, there is no one here anymore, where are you going?"

Hai Dongfang did not speak, and continued to walk forward.

Ning Tao frowned, and had to follow Hai Dongfang forward. As he walked, his gaze in a state of hope quickly swept around. In this area that is not open, there is no third person except him and Hai Dongfang.

The grassy stone path stretched forward, leaving the garden behind, and after a long walk, a palace appeared at the end of the road. It looked dilapidated, with doors and windows falling to the ground, rotting into a pile of wood slag. The hallway was overgrown with weeds, and the air smelled of mold. The main entrance of this palace is half collapsed, and a plaque hangs on the lintel, on which the words "cold palace" are vaguely visible.

The cold palace, the palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties was dedicated to the place where women who made mistakes or fell out of favor were imprisoned. Over the past few hundred years, I don't know how many women have died here.

As soon as Ning Tao came, he felt that this place was gloomy and gloomy. When I looked at the plaque of the "Cold Palace", I immediately understood. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, I don't know how many women died in the past few hundred years, and you can imagine how strong the resentment and resentment here are.

Hai Dongfang stopped and turned to look at Ning Tao.

Ning Tao shrugged his shoulders: "Senior Hai, why did you pick this place?"

Hai Dongfang said: "I live here. ”

Ning Tao was surprised: "You live in the cold palace?"

Hai Dongfang said: "The yin qi here is heavy, the evil door, ordinary people dare not approach, but it is suitable for a demon like me to live, you just take a set of courtyard houses and exchange them with me, I won't change them." ”

Ning Tao said: "No matter what place it is, as long as it is suitable for you to live." Let's get down to business, Senior Hai, you invited me here, I think it must have something to do with Liu Eighteen's death, right?"

"Come with me. Hai Dongfang turned around and walked towards the broken door of the cold palace.

Ning Tao hesitated for a moment, and then also walked towards the broken door of the cold palace. He was very unhappy with Hai Dongfang in his heart, but Hai Dongfang was the only one who could tell him who killed Liu Eighteen and Qingsong Dao Chang, and no matter how unhappy he was, he could only settle for a while.

There were seats in the halls of the cold palace, but some of them collapsed, and some of them barely remained as they were, but to the extent of weathering and insect infestation, putting a teacup on them would probably cause them to fall apart.

Ning Tao followed Hai Dongfang through a side door in the cold palace, entered a corridor, and walked for a while, Hai Dongfang pushed open a door and entered a room.

Ning Tao thought that it was the room where Hai Dongfang lived, but he didn't expect to find that there was a tunnel extending down on the floor after entering.

The tunnels were dark, and streams of yin qi came out of the tunnels, and occasionally a little mysterious sound could be captured, as if a woman was crying and cursing someone.

Hai Dongfang glanced back at Ning Tao, didn't say anything, and walked back into the tunnel.

Ning Tao didn't move, and said loudly: "Senior Hai, I've cooperated enough, I've walked with you for such a long time, and I also visited the cold palace." You know what, it's completely arguable here, there's no need to go any further, right?"

Hai Dongfang said: "If you don't even have the guts, then you go back, I don't need to say anything to you." ”

After speaking, he didn't care whether Ning Tao would go down with him or not, and stepped into the tunnel.

Ning Tao pondered for a few seconds, and finally walked into the tunnel. This Haidong seemed to be testing him in this way, or perhaps understanding him as a person. Moreover, take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Hai Dongfang sets a trap to harm him, he is wearing a heavenly treasure robe, invulnerable, invulnerable, invulnerable, and can still prevent demonic power and demon law, why should he be afraid?

Underneath the passage is a dungeon lit up with a few lanterns, which illuminates the space in the dungeon. In a cage, a moldy skeleton hangs from a rope, and several bones fall from the ground. In the corner of a cage lies a dried corpse, dressed in the costume of a Qing Dynasty eunuch. The dim lights, the gloomy dungeon, the hanging bones, the eunuch who died in the cage for some unknown reason, how terrible is this picture!

Hai Dongfang finally stopped and looked back at Ning Tao.

Ning Tao smiled: "The rope used for hanging is of good quality, and it hasn't been broken for so many years." ”

Hai Dongfang said: "That's what I gave her, the bark of the sea willow tree is woven from it, and it can be regarded as a low-level spiritual material." ”

Ning Tao was just joking, but he didn't expect to lead to the story of a rope. However, in order to cooperate, and to make the atmosphere of the next conversation more relaxed, he deliberately glanced at the corpse hanging on the rope again, and pretended to be concerned: "What, do Hai seniors know that woman?"

Hai Dongfang said: "Her name is Zaina Gu, and she was a concubine in the Shunzhi period, and she was beaten into the cold palace because she was too beautiful. I'm a regular visitor here, and we didn't know her for long. I often give her food, and rouge gouache or something......"

He seemed to be caught up in some reminiscing scene, his voice became soft, and his eyes became sad.

Ning Tao didn't interrupt him.

"Before we knew it, we were in love. We admired the moon on the roof of the cold palace, and we were in her room. It was the happiest time of my life......"

"And then?"

Later, she became pregnant. I want to take her out of the cold palace and go to live outside. She agreed, and that day I told her the secret that I was a fish demon. She didn't react at the time, and asked me to pick her up in the evening, and she had to say goodbye to a good sister here. I didn't think much of it at the time, so I left to prepare. I came here at night only to find that she had knocked out my baby and told me to go. She said that she would rather die alone in the cold palace than be with a demon......"

Ning Tao didn't ask "what happened later", he felt the sadness in Hai Dongfang's heart, and also saw the tears in Hai Dongfang's eyes.

"I never thought that one day I would have a child of my own, but I didn't see him born and he died...... I was so sad and angry that I strangled her with that rope and hung her in that cage. I watched her slowly turn into dry bones, and my hatred for her slowly faded away, and finally ...... I couldn't feel anything, I couldn't even remember what she looked like. Speaking of this, two tears rolled down Hai Dongfang's eyes.

Demons also have love, and demons also have tears.

No matter what love and hatred, the sand of time will bury it.

After a moment of silence, Hai Dongfang said again: "Thank you for listening to me say so much, this matter has been held in my heart for too long, and I feel much better when I say it." ”

Ning Tao said: "Then let's talk about business." ”