Chapter - 307 Havoc In the Jin Palace (9) (1/2)

They walked several 'zhang's further and saw a sheet of water like a silver waterfall coming out from the side of a hill; the water came down to a pond, and in turn, a stream of water coming out of the pond so that it would not overflow. There were countless red lotuses strewn across the surface of the pond. Right in front of the pond there was a hall dense with flowers; just above the entrance was written 'cui han tang' [jade-green cold hall] three characters.

Huang Rong walked to the front of the hall. She saw under the porch were some the steps going up surrounded with all kinds of flowers: 'mo li' [jasmine], 'su xin' [fragrant vegetable], 'she xiang teng' [musk deer fragrant rattan], 'shu jin' [vermillion hibiscus], 'yu gui' [jade cassia], 'hong jiao' [red banana]; all kinds of fragrant plants that bloom in summer. Towards the back of the hall orchids and other scented plants were hung. The sweet smelling incense was burning, filling the hall and attacking their nostrils.

On the table inside the hall there were several bowls of lotus root, sweet melon, loquat, and all kinds of wild fruits from the forest. Several round fans were strewn on the chairs. Looked like this hall was where the emperor enjoyed the cool evening breeze before going to bed.

Guo Jing sighed, ”This emperor really knows how to enjoy life,” he said.

Huang Rong laughed, ”You can be one now,” she said, pulling Guo Jing to sit on a couch. She offered the bowl of fruits and knelt down. ”Long live master, please enjoy some fresh fruits,” she said.

Guo Jing smiled and picked up a loquat, ”Please rise,” he said.

Huang Rong laughed, ”Emperor never says 'please', that is too polite,” she said.

While two people were talking and laughing in low voice suddenly they heard someone shout out from a distant, ”Who's there?” They were startled and leaped out, hiding behind a fake hill. They heard some heavy footsteps; two men came loudly shouting to see. Guo Jing and Huang Rong listened to these people and knew their martial art skills were low and there was nothing to worry about. The guards brandished their sabers, rushing toward the front of the hall. They looked around but did not see anything out of ordinary.

”You saw a ghost,” one guard said, laughing.

The other one was also laughing, ”I am seeing things these past few days,” he said. They walked away talking and laughing.

Huang Rong was amused inwardly, she pulled Guo Jing's hand to go out, but suddenly heard those two guards grunts, 'hey, hey'. Although the noise was deep and muffled, they knew it was the sound of one's exhaling because their acupoints were sealed. Guo Jing and Huang Rong both thought, ”Is it Big Brother Zhou who got bored and came out to play?”

They heard someone speak in a low voice, ”According to the imperial palace map, the building next to the waterfall is the 'cui han tang'; we are going there.” This voice belonged to Wanyan Honglie.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were very shocked; they grabbed each other's hand and hid even deeper behind the fake hill, did not dare to make any noise. Under the glimmering sparse starlight they saw shadows moving in front of the hall; they vaguely recognized that other than Wanyan Honglie there were Ouyang Feng, Peng Lianhu, Sha Tongtian, Venerable Lingzhi, Liang Ziweng and Hou Tonghai.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong were puzzled, ”What are these people doing in the imperial palace?” they thought, ”Could it be they also want to steal some food from the imperial kitchen?”