Since the Shadow Wind Wei passed on the order of the crown prince, Dingguo Gong returned to Jinling in a few days, and Dingguo Gong, who had stayed in Yuhang Po Military Mansion for several days, finally arrived in Jinling. He did not break the armor of the army, but chose to wear civilian clothes and arrived at the palace gate with a cloth coat. The sun sinks, Jinling's long-lost bustling downtown comes into view, and the lights are still lit up everywhere, and the taste of the year is not far away.

The huge palace stands in the very center of Jinling, since the date when Taizu pacified the troubled times and fixed the capital of Jinling, the magnificent hall, the strong city wall rises from the ground, and the towering palace wall has molded a new city in Jinling City. Dingguogong's chariot and horse drove through the wide straight road to the imperial city, and the generals guarding the city did not dare to stop the frame of the comer, and directly let them enter the palace.

The carriage broke through the five palace walls and came directly to the Jinshui Bridge, and an old man who was over Jiazi bowed down from the carriage and came to the Jinshui Bridge with the support of several attendants. Ding Guogong flicked his sleeves, retreated from the left and right sides to support his attendants, his left hand robe blocked the afterglow of the sunset, looked up at the red clouds of the remnant sun in the sky, and slowly stopped his eyes on the majestic palace at the end of the vast white jade square in front of him.

Ding Guogong knew very well in his heart that although he had a broken army armor, all this was just temporarily in charge for Taizu. In recent years, Emperor Taizu has become old, and the kings have their own calculations in their hearts. He walked across the Jinshui Bridge with difficulty, stopped at the other end of the bridge, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his right hand robe, and none of the attendants a few feet away dared to step forward, and everyone knew very well in their hearts that the old man in front of them was the Duke of Dingguo who held 100,000 broken troops, and no one dared to disobey him except His Majesty the Emperor.

Suddenly, the attendants of the inner palace came out of the stone steps of the main hall, they hurriedly ran through the white jade square, came to the Jinshui bridge, stood respectfully in front of the Duke of Dingguo, and an old man standing in the front bowed and saluted, "What is happening!" The old man hurriedly ordered to support the Duke of Dingguo left and right, and he said eagerly, "On such a cold day, if you go all the way into the palace and hurt your body, how can this be good." ”

"With Lao Chen's father-in-law, the old man's old bones can be tossed for a few years. "Dingguo Gong saw that the person who came was Chen Jing, the closest inner palace attendant next to the emperor, and the two inner palace attendants who greeted him had already supported him, and it was not easy to refute Chen Jing's face. Ding Guogong slowly walked through the white jade square with the support of the two inner palace attendants, standing under dozens of stone steps, looking up at the palace in front of him, and suddenly there was an inexplicable sadness. His feet seemed to be petrified, and he stayed in place, thinking back to the soldiers he had fought with in the past, and looking at the towering temple in front of him.

"What are you doing in a daze? Why don't you get a sedan chair, can you let Dingguo Gong go up in person?" Chen Jing stared coldly at the row of waiters on the stone steps, and everyone hurriedly took out a sedan chair from the side hall and quickly walked down from the left side of the imperial steps, and placed the sedan chair next to Dingguo Gong.

Chen Jing smiled, he half-bowed, stretched out his right arm, and motioned for Dingguo Gong to get on the sedan chair, and the waiter on the side hurriedly lowered the head of the sedan chair. Ding Guogong shook his head, with a resolute face, although he did not refuse, he still refused to move, "No, this is a forbidden place in the palace, how can you sit in a sedan chair to face the saint." ”

Chen Jing snickered, "Xu Guogong, don't worry, if you don't get His Majesty's holy decree, how dare the old slave." You can rest assured. He slowly moved his steps to the sedan curtain, lifted the curtain and said respectfully, "Xu Guogong, please get on the sedan chair, if you insist on walking through the thirty-six stone steps, Your Majesty will definitely take the old slave to ask for guilt." ”

Dingguo Gong saw that Chen Jing looked pious and did not look like a lie, so he stepped into the sedan chair, and the four inner palace attendants carried the sedan chair from the right side of the imperial staircase and slowly walked up the stone steps to the direction of the main hall.

......

A secluded courtyard on the west shore of Mochou Lake, close to the lake, not far from the street of the Hongchen Inn. Fei Ming stood in front of the wooden gate of the courtyard and looked at the quiet scenery around him, which formed a clear contrast with the lively street just now. He tilted his head sideways and asked the shopkeeper at the door, "This is also the property of your inn?"

"That's not it, if it weren't for the recommendation of Nangong Zongtou, I wouldn't dare to let you live in such a good place. The shopkeeper scratched his head, smiled innocently, and took the disciples of the eight major sects to enjoy the scenery of this courtyard one by one. He led everyone to the wing room on the right, pushed open the door, and said with a smile on the corner of his mouth, "This room is good, this is the best house by Mochou Lake." The shopkeeper opened the wooden window in the room, and a cool cold wind came from the lake.

Standing in front of the window, you can see the beautiful scenery of Mochou Lake, and there are several small boats floating in the middle of the lake in the distance. He entered the room and looked at the furnishings in the room, which was very quaint. However, a calligraphy and painting on the bedside deeply attracted his attention, and before everyone could enter the room, Night Star hurriedly shouted, "I want this room, you brothers and sisters can choose elsewhere." ”

Fei Ming, Mu Ning, Lan Jing and the others glanced at each other, and they were embarrassed to argue with Ye Xingjin, everyone looked at each other and smiled, and then exited the door, "Xiao Er, take us to see the other rooms." Mu Ning stood at the door and shouted to the shopkeeper who was fiddling with the wooden window.

"Don't worry, I'll make this window a little smaller, it's windy at night, be careful of catching a cold. The shopkeeper glanced back at the night star, and there was a wicked smile on the corner of his mouth.

Yexing didn't care, just stood quietly in front of the bed, with his arms folded in front of his chest, and carefully looked at the landscape map in front of him, which seemed to have something hidden in him that puzzled him, but he couldn't explain the hidden meaning for a while.

Under the arrangement of the shopkeeper, the disciples of the eight major sects chose their favorite rooms one after another. When everyone first arrived in Jinling, for the sake of prudence, Xia Qingyi of the Emei faction and Yue Menghan of the Huashan faction chose the two rooms in the middle, while the rest of the disciples of the faction were on either side of them, Fei Ming chose a room near the exit of the courtyard, and next to him was the Yuankong master of the Shaolin Temple.

About an hour later, Xia Qingyi ran out of her room in a panic, looking very nervous, she shouted, "Have you found out, have you found out?" Hearing Xia Qingyi's shout, the rest of the people also pushed open the door one after another, everyone looked at each other, and everyone had a trace of panic on their faces.

"It can't be true, it can't be. Night Star walked out of the room in a panic, tripped over the door under his feet, and fell on the wooden corridor, he looked up at the disciples of the various sects on his right, his eyes were full of horror, and he said in a hoarse voice, "You... You saw that, too?"

Fei Ming was very panicked when he heard everyone shouting loudly in the courtyard in the room, he hurriedly pushed open the door and saw that the faces of the disciples of various factions were abnormal, as if they had seen something terrible, he hurried to the night star, helped him up with his right hand, and asked, "What's wrong, what's going on?"

"Didn't you notice?" Night Star looked at Fei Ming with a look of horror in his eyes. He grabbed Fei Ming's right hand tightly with both hands, and the cold sweat in his palms soaked through Fei Ming's red sleeves.

"What happened?" Fei Ming asked as he helped the night star up, turning his head to the rest of the group.