Chapter 5.2 Past

“This was the place where the hostage prince stayed in the past. Miss Ye, this servant needs to return to my job. The cold palace is desolate, Miss Ye shouldn’t stay here for too long.” he couldn’t help but remind her as he had received her reward.

“Thank you.” Su Su nodded her head.

The little eunuch then left.

It was also Chun Tao’s first time coming to the cold palace. She saw the weeds in the courtyard which were three feet high and thought of the rumours that the cold palace is constantly haunted. She couldn’t help but tremble. “Miss, what are we doing at the cold palace?”

Su Su walked in and felt a surge of yin energy. But now, she was just a mortal, so she couldn’t see anything.

“If you are scared, wait for me outside. I will come out soon.” Su Su said to Chun Tao.

Chun Tao hurriedly shook her head. “I will follow Miss.” The Third Miss’s status is very honourable. If anything were to happen to her or if she was injured, Chun Tao couldn’t live either.

Seeing Chun Tao’s persistence, Su Su didn’t say anything else. Instead, she held the end of her skirt and stepped into the cold palace.

She wants to understand Tantai Jin’s past.

For millions of years, the world has created a total of two natural Devil Gods that have evil bones in their body.

When the first Devil God was born, countless ancient Gods fell. Their ten thousand years of cultivation were sacrificed, and the God artifacts shattered one by one before they managed to destroy it ¹ The ‘it’ here refers to the first Devil God .

Many years later, the second Devil God, Tantai Jin, was born out of nowhere.

But the current cultivators were no longer as strong as their predecessors, and there was a pitifully scarce number of immortal seniors who ascended to be Gods. Additionally, many God artifacts were already gone, so they couldn’t do anything against Tantai Jin.

A body born with an evil bone naturally has the soul of a demigod. Since the beginning of time, the Gods have been extremely afraid. The previous devil lord before Tantai Jin basically destroyed all the ancient godly beings.

Without enough reference knowledge, the cultivation realm has no idea how a devil king was born. How can they be so assertive? Where’s their weak point?

When the cultivation realm was almost unable to hold back the devil soldiers, someone finally suggested using the God artifact, “Past Mirror”, to find a way.

The immortal seniors took great pains to collect the “Past Mirror” fragments and finally repaired it. However, the broken mirror could only show one blurry final opportunity—— That the original body of the devil king five hundred years ago, named Tantai Jin, was once a weak mortal.

However, his weakness and the cause of his depravity couldn’t be reflected in the mirror. Moreover, the evil bone could not be destroyed even if you destroy the body and the soul. So Tantai Jin’s body died, and eighteen years later, his body reformed, and he only became more robust.

To put it simply, killing him will make him stronger.

The Immortal Seniors: ……

The Elders were worried sick. Seeing the cultivation realm was about to fall, they gritted their teeth and decided to sacrifice nearly ten thousand years of cultivation to turn things around. After divination, they chose to send Su Su back five hundred years in the hope that she could remove the evil bone from Tantai Jin’s body, and from there destroy him completely.

A devil king without an evil bone is so weak and vulnerable that they can’t absorb the world’s resentment and evil Qi to revive anymore.

This was the last method.

It was a nice thought.

Before Su Su departed, she asked her father seriously, “How should Su Su remove the evil bone and destroy it?”

The green-robed Sect Leader coughed. “Daughter, you must think of a method yourself. Understand his past, find out what he fears the most, and the jade bracelet your mother left you might be able to help.”

It was the same whether he had said it or not. So, what should she do?

The immortal sect was unreliable, so Su Su needed to figure out a way and explore it on her own.

Su Su uncertainly thought that learning about his past and going to the place he lived before should reveal quite a bit of information.

There was a well in the middle of the cold palace.

Su Su walked over and squatted down to have a look. She saw several skeletons of creepy white bones at the bottom of the well. It was a dry well, and she didn’t know how many years it had been like that.

So Tantai Jin used to live in a place where corpses piled up.

“Don’t come over.” Su Su hurriedly told Chun Tao, who was behind her. Chun Tao was puzzled but nodded obediently.

Su Su found a few stones and set up a rebirth array formation, hoping that she could help them to disperse their grievances and reincarnate sooner.

She doesn’t have spiritual energy, so she could only do that much.

Chun Tao felt eeriness everywhere. She couldn’t imagine how the hostage prince grew up in such a place. The more Chun Tao felt afraid, the more she wanted to look around. “Miss, there seemed to be a sound coming from that room?” Chun Tao said with a shaking voice.

Su Su turned around and walked towards the room.

“Miss……”

“It’s okay.”

Su Su pushed the door open, and the dust fell down. The room was full of cobwebs which made Su Su choke and cough.

An older woman was squatting in the corner of the room. Her eyes looked empty, and she had her arms wrapped around her body as she swayed.

Su Su was stunned. She didn’t expect that there were still people here.

She walked over, but the older woman was totally unaware of her presence. Su Su smelled a sour odour coming from the older woman’s body.

“Grandma ² She’s not calling her own grandmother , why are you here?”

The older woman didn’t respond at all; she wasn’t listening.

When Chun Tao saw that it was a living person, she let out a sigh of relief. Then, with uncertainty, she said, “Miss, I heard that when the hostage prince was sent by the Zhou Kingdom as a hostage, he was just six years old, and there was a nanny who took care of him that followed him.”

But a little prince’s nanny must have been in her twenties when she came here. Now, it has only been fourteen years. How could she have become so worn, like an old lady in her sixties, and even turned crazy.

Su Su was stunned. This person turned out to be Tantai Jin’s nanny?

Five hundred years later, she had also met such pitiful older people in the turbulent world. But there’s no devil king in this world. So how can someone become like this?

This made her feel as if she was still in her previous chaotic world.

Su Su didn’t say anything and swept off the cobwebs on the older woman’s head.

Chun Tao said uneasily, “Miss……”

“Let’s go out.”

According to reason, the one who understands Tantai Jin the most should be this older woman, but she had already lost her mind.

Su Su sat on the sedan chair and wasn’t in a hurry to go back. Instead, she called a palace maid, “Can you help me to find the momo which is in charge of the cold palace?”

When the sun rose high, a purple clothing momo ³ this term is used to call the older maidservants stepped on the thick snow, walked over to Su Su, and bowed. “Why did Tantai Jin’s nanny become crazy?” Su Su asked.

She did the same as what she had done before and gave the momo a golden hairpin.

That kind of evil thing surely won’t even let his nanny go.

The momo happily accepted the golden hairpin as she couldn’t gain any benefits at the cold palace. Su Su was very generous. Hence the momo felt like spilling everything out since Tantai Jin’s matters were not a secret. “Thank you, Miss Ye, for your reward. Regarding this matter, this old servant indeed knows something about it. The hostage prince and Liu shi ⁴ 氏 (shi) – clan name/maiden name. Liu shi means that she came from the Liu family came to the cold palace fourteen years ago.”

“The hostage prince at that time looked very tender. A cold palace is a filthy place. Many of the guards and eunuchs in this palace have that same kind of hobby……”

Chun Tao’s face turned red then pale.

“Liu shi managed to protect the hostage prince, but she suffered instead. They don’t have much status in the imperial palace. This old servant heard that when they didn’t have food to eat and didn’t have clothes to wear in the winter, Liu shi would……”

“That’s enough.” Chun Tao couldn’t help but interrupt. She was already palpating with anxiety and fear when she heard it, so how could she let the Miss continue to listen.

“Let her speak, talk about Tantai Jin.”

“Aiyo Miss Ye, regarding the hostage prince, this old servant doesn’t really know much. The princes loved to play when they were young. So they liked to call the hostage prince to be their playmate. So this old servant occasionally saw the hostage prince, and there wasn’t a place on his body that wasn’t beaten.”

She spoke vaguely. Many times, the momo saw them treating the hostage prince like an animal and humiliating him.

The momo stopped talking at this point. She abruptly remembered what relationship the person in front of her had with the person from the cold palace in the past. The momo felt awkward inside. She didn’t know what Miss Ye’s attitude towards the hostage prince was. However, she spoke lightly about the details of the truth, so there shouldn’t be any impact.

Su Su pursed her lips, and her heart felt heavy. She didn’t expect that Tantai Jin didn’t cause Liu shi’s current state.

The young man’s delicate and pretty face suddenly emerged in front of her eyes, as well as the cold and gloomy look in his eyes. No wonder he was silent no matter how he was beaten or punished to kneel, like a wooden person. All these might be common occurrences for him.

“After Tantai Jin left the palace, who is taking care of Liu shi ?”

The momo is used to observing a person’s mood. So, after considering for a while, she spoke of the truth after seeing that the Third Miss Ye seems harmless.

“It was said that before the hostage prince left the palace, he gave Zhao Momo from the Clothing Bureau some silver and asked her to send some food to Liu shi .”

However, with just that little money, Zhao Momo would at most give Liu shi mantou when she remembers to as if she was feeding a dog.

“Chun Tao.” Su Su called.

She took the embroidered pouch from Chun Tao’s hand, took out a few ingots, and gave them to the momo . “Whenever momo is free, please look after Liu shi . Change her clothes and bathe her. Let her eat better. If the next time I enter the palace and see Liu shi in a better condition, I will surely express my thanks to momo . Don’t tell anyone about this.”

The momo in purple smiled so wide that her teeth were revealed and her eyes couldn’t be seen. She accepted the heavy gold. “Miss Ye, don’t mention it. This maidservant will remember your orders.”

After the momo walked far away, Chun Tao’s eyes brightened and she quietly said, “Miss, are you sympathising with the hostage prince?”

Su Su said with a stiff face, “Nonsense. Do I look like I am sympathising with Tantai Jin? I’m just thinking of the bravery of Liu shi protecting her owner, and she shouldn’t end up like this.” Even if she sympathised with a small ant, she mustn’t sympathise with Tantai Jin.

Chun Tao stifled her laughter.

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The author has something to say:

Chun Tao: My Young Miss has grown up and has compassion already sob sob sob (touched.jpg)

Su Su: ……

Edited by: Gaze