Su Yishui hadn't finished speaking yet, but he seemed to have exhausted his energy. His figure began to become gradually blurred, and his voice was trembling so much that it was inaudible. Finally, before he could finish his words, he disappeared with a "bang".
Ran Ran waited silently for a while. The surroundings were still quiet and he could no longer see his master's shadow. It seemed that his master's vitality was not enough and he could not maintain the illusion and disappeared.
She carefully moved to the side and looked down through the window. Under the moonlight, the lake was shimmering. The master should be under the water...
Ran Ran exhaled quietly. At least now she knew that her master was not in danger of death. Moreover, her master was very angry just now. If she didn't obey, she would be expelled from the sect earlier than her second brother.
Now she could only return to the West Palace and make plans after dawn.
But when she turned back, she passed by a palace and heard a familiar shrill voice: "Quick, carry him to Concubine Jing's bed. Concubine Jing is used to doing boxing before going to bed. She is not in the bedroom now. When the chief eunuch comes to deliver the sign later, you know what to do, right?"
The voice was exactly the same as the eunuch who had whispered with Lin Yeting during the day.
Hearing this, Ranran, who was on the roof, couldn't help but stop.
Although she was not familiar with the palace fighting, she understood it now. It was probably that Lin Yeting colluded with some dead eunuch to drug Concubine Jing's cousin who was a member of the imperial guards in her wine, sent him here after he fainted, and prepared to place him on Concubine Jing's bed.
A eunuch and a palace maid in Concubine Jing's palace were all bribed. Concubine Jing was practicing martial arts in the martial arts field at the time, so she had the perfect opportunity to arrange everything.
After a while, Concubine Jing came back, and the eunuch who came to deliver the sign to His Majesty's bedroom also arrived.
By then, someone would have accidentally discovered that there was a man in Concubine Jing's bedroom. Then, someone would bring up the old story between Concubine Jing and her cousin, and it would be confirmed that Gong Xing was cheating on her.
Originally this had nothing to do with Ranran, but at the end of the day there was one more innocent soul who died unjustly in the palace.
Ran Ran continued to walk back to the West Palace quickly. Not long after she walked forward, she happened to hear Concubine Jing talking quietly with a eunuch in the martial arts training ground in a corner of the palace.
"My father said that the inner river is connected to the Wenhu Lake in the palace. If there is something fishy, we should check the Wenhu Lake as well. You said that someone fell into the lake the day before yesterday, and we saw a body floating up?"
The eunuch lowered his head and whispered, "There are always people guarding the area around Wenhu Lake. I can't get close to it... Lord Zhou has been investigating for so long and still has no clues. Maybe the story about monsters in the river is just a rumor."
Concubine Jing shook her head and said, "This matter is of great importance. If we don't get to the bottom of it, we will be worried. Go and prepare the things I asked you to prepare..."
After she ordered the young eunuch to leave, she began to dance with her sword under the light of the palace lanterns.
This Lady Zhou didn't practice swordplay like the average person, but she leaped and flew, and when the sword tip attacked, there was a whistling sound, and the sword flowers kept swaying around her sturdy body...
This kind of swordsmanship seems to be on the verge of entering the realm of "Tao", and carries a sense of righteousness. I wonder how much effort it takes to reach such a high level.
Ran Ran was eavesdropping on their conversation about Wen Hu at first, then was attracted by her skills and couldn't help but stop to watch. The more she watched, the more addicted she became.
She suddenly thought of how Qin Xuanjiu was wronged and it was the Minister of War Zhou Dao who spoke up for General Qin. This Concubine Jing was General Zhou Dao's youngest daughter and looked straightforward. If she was wrongly accused, she would probably find it difficult to prove her innocence under the frame-up of the treacherous people.
Although Ran Ran didn't have a close relationship with her, when she caught him inexplicably in the pavilion and scolded him in the daytime, he developed an inexplicable liking for her.
She remembered the conspiracy she had overheard, hesitated for a moment, and decided to mind her own business and help Concubine Jing, who was about to be wronged.
So Ran Ran quickly moved to the roof ridge beside the martial arts training ground, looked at the woman dancing with the sword, cut her fingertips, and quickly wrote on the collar of her torn underwear: "There is a man in your bed, please deal with it quickly."
After writing it, she checked it and felt that it was concise and hit the point, so she wrapped the cloth strip around a stone and threw it at Concubine Jing.
Ran Ran was about to dodge away after throwing the stone. Unfortunately, she underestimated the skills of this lady in the deep palace. As soon as she threw the stone, Concubine Jing had already judged the direction where the stone flew from in an instant. She dodged and intercepted Xue Ran Ran at the edge of the eaves.
Ranran reacted quickly enough. He rolled over and fell down, quickly dodging the tip of Zhou Feihua's sword.
But after dodging one, more sword flowers followed.
Xue Ranran was a little dumbfounded. She had passed the previous three levels without any trouble. She didn't expect that her kindness would reveal her true colors in front of Zhou Feihua.
If she had spiritual power, she would have a hundred ways to defeat Concubine Jing, but now she is no different from ordinary people in the palace. Judging from her martial arts alone... She glanced at the strong muscles revealed by Concubine Jing's short sleeves... Well, she has no chance of winning.
Zhou Feihua stared at the little girl in black in front of her. The tip of the sword was pressed against her neck and she couldn't move.
Zhou Feihua shook the stone in her hand, and used the palace lantern to shake off the cloth wrapped around the stone. Her eyes widened as she looked at it, and she asked in a cold voice, "Who are you? What does this cloth mean?"
Ran Ran classified the matters into different levels of urgency and cautiously pursed her lips and said "huh", signaling the Empress to keep her voice down. Then she said softly, "I am the junior of General Qin Xuanjiu. I saw that there were traitors trying to frame the Empress, so I came here to report the news."
She was not lying. From Mu Qingge's point of view, she was Qin Xuanjiu's niece and a genuine junior.
As expected, after hearing the name of Qin Xuanjiu, Concubine Jing loosened the short sword on Ran Ran's neck a little and asked in a cold voice, "Who wants to frame me?"
So Ranran briefly talked about how Lin Yeting bribed the eunuchs in the palace.
As for whether Ran Ran was right or not, it was soon concluded. Zhou Feihua gave a look, and the two maids beside her quickly returned to the bedroom with their trusted eunuch.
They first tied up the several palace maids who were on duty in the bedroom tonight, and then found their cousin unconscious on the bed. It was obvious that he had been drugged.
Then, the eunuch quickly moved the unconscious cousin away.
Thanks to Ranran's reminder, everything was finally resolved without any danger. Before His Majesty sent someone over, the abnormal situation in the bedroom was cleaned up.
Zhou Feihua was also a woman of great courage. When faced with the card handed over by the emperor's confidant, she remained calm and said frankly that she was not feeling well and was not suitable to accompany the king, and asked His Majesty to pick another card.
The eunuch didn't mind after hearing this, as it seemed that this was not the first time that Concubine Jing had been turned away by the emperor. He raised a string of colorful wind chimes in his hand and said, "Your Majesty heard that the Concubine has been in a bad mood and has not been sleeping well recently, so he specially ordered the eunuchs to select a string of wind chimes from the Western Regions as a tribute and hang it by the window so that the Concubine can sleep more peacefully."
After saying this, the eunuch walked over and hung the wind chime by the window.
After Zhou Feihua sent away the eunuch sent by the emperor, she reached out and fiddled with the wind chimes a few times.
Your Majesty's favor is like this wind chime, flashy and superficial, beautiful but useless. Instead, it has created countless open and covert enemies for her in the palace.
It's a pity that those women who were blinded by jealousy didn't think carefully: how could a concubine who had been favored for more than ten years be childless?
After Zhou Feihua ordered people to deal with the bribed palace maids and eunuchs, she returned to her own bedroom and looked at Ran Ran. Ran Ran had just been untied, and she knelt in front of Concubine Jing, rubbing her wrist.
Zhou Feihua looked at her and suddenly said, "Who are you? If you don't tell the truth, I will ask the chief eunuch to come and identify you to see if you are from the palace."
Ran Ran realized that it must be her unconventional posture when performing greetings that caused Concubine Jing to notice her flaw and recognize that she was definitely not a trained maid in the palace.
Seeing that Concubine Jing was straightforward, she didn't beat around the bush and clasped her fists, saying, "Since I was kind enough to save Your Majesty once, could Your Majesty please be so kind as to spare me this time?"
After that, she revealed her identity. When Zhou Feihua heard that this little girl was Su Yishui's apprentice, her face changed, but she still patiently listened to Ranran saying that she came here to save her master.
Ran Ran was cautious but didn't dare to tell her that she had replaced Mu Qingge and stuffed her into the bathroom cabinet. Zhou Feihua and Mu Qingge were very close friends, and if she told him, Zhou Feihua might kill her immediately.
Zhou Feihua didn't know about Su Yishui's arrest before. In her opinion, this was really worth having a few drinks to celebrate.
However, this big-eyed little girl had a good heart. She knew clearly that she was taking the risk of entering the palace, but she was still willing to help her when she heard about other people's plots.
As for Su Yishui helping Qin Xuanjiu subdue the water demon at Wangxiang Pass, she had also heard her father mention it. Since Mu Qingge's death, that Su Yishui had supported the Lingxi Palace, recruited new disciples, and done some human things.
Speaking objectively, the little girl saved her at the risk of being caught, and Zhou Feihua remembered this friendship.
So Zhou Feihua thought for a moment and said, "Your master was arrested because of his own fault. He is the descendant of the rebel king and cannot escape death. It is understandable that you want to save your master. I owe you a favor, so I must repay it. Tomorrow morning, I will send someone to escort you out of the palace. Don't come back, otherwise the next time I see you, I will treat you as an assassin."
Ran Ran knew that Lord Zhou Dao was an upright official, and his daughter would not be a bad person either. She said so, and she would do so.
But she didn't understand why Zhou Feihua hated her master so much. Was it because her master stood by and watched Mu Qingge being besieged, and even played a role in fueling the siege?
However, after hearing Ranran's doubt, Zhou Feihua smiled sarcastically: "If it were just a problem of character, how could such a kind-hearted girl like you take such an evil creature as your master..." Having said this, she refused to say anything more, and just waved her hand, preparing to send someone to arrange for Ranran to leave the palace at dawn.
But the master is still in the palace, how can Ranran leave?
Just now, the master came to see me in the form of his original spirit leaving the body, which means that he was trapped by something.
It was very likely that the master was afraid that she would be in danger, so he tricked her out of the palace first. If Zhou Feihua sent herself out, it would be extremely difficult for her to enter the palace again.
Ran Ran's mind raced, and she suddenly remembered that she had asked her confidant to investigate Wen Hu. She immediately came up with an idea. She said, "My master came here because he noticed something strange in the capital, and the source was in the palace. Unfortunately, he was imprisoned before he could investigate. If I leave now, wouldn't it be a failure halfway?"
This really caught Zhou Feihua's attention. She glared at him, "Su Yishui also noticed it? What did he find out?"
Ran Ran thought of her small compass, and remembered that Su Yu had expanded Wentan into a large lake twenty years ago. Then she thought about how her master had fallen into the lake and had never come out. All the mysteries clearly pointed to Wenhu.
Perhaps only by entering the lake can all mysteries be solved. So Ran Ran said boldly: "There is a monster in the lake. If the queen wants to find out, I am willing to enter the lake to find out."
Just when she was about to jump into the lake, her master appeared in time and stopped her. He did not allow her to enter the lake. The more this happened, the more Ran Ran wanted to find out. Even if she was expelled from the master's sect, she would never leave her master alone at the bottom of the cold lake.
Seeing that she spoke so firmly, Zhou Feihua thought for a moment, then slowly told her some of the things she knew.
It turned out that Zhou Feihua had been secretly investigating the unusual situation in the capital. Just a month ago, one of her father's old subordinates returned from a night banquet and almost fell into the inner city river. At that time, he said that he saw a huge creature poking out of the water and pulling the servant who was supporting him into the river.
The old subordinate was so frightened that the drunkenness turned into cold sweat. Shangshu Zhou's mansion was not far from the accident site, so the old subordinate crawled and knocked on the door of the Shangshu's mansion.
After listening to his incoherent story, Zhou Dao immediately sent people to the river to look for him. However, after alarming the city magistrate and mobilizing the government offices and a large number of fishing boats, they still found nothing.
If there really was a huge creature in the river as the old subordinates had described, such a large battle would have been discovered long ago.
The government closed the case by saying that the old subordinate was drunk and had said something he said while drunk. As for the missing servant, he was never seen again and was treated as a fugitive slave.
But Zhou Dao believed what his old subordinates said. He picked up a hard object like a shell by the river. It looked shiny and colorful, and did not look like an ordinary thing.
But it seemed that someone didn't want him to investigate the case in detail. Just three days later, the old subordinate fell into the ditch again while drunk and died with a broken neck.
But his wife cried to Zhou Dao, saying that that day was the anniversary of her husband's deceased mother's death. As a filial son, she would never drink and have fun on her mother's death anniversary. Moreover, how could her husband, who had just been frightened, get drunk again? At this point, the old minister felt that the matter was suspicious, so he secretly invited some people to look for clues.
Unfortunately, he seems to have lost the emperor's favor recently, and the emperor's words hinted that Zhou Dao should retire and return home. If he resigned, he would have to return to his hometown, and this matter would be left unresolved.
Now Zhou Feihua heard Ran Ran's determination that there was something strange about Wen Lake, and she couldn't help but have some thoughts. Because she knew that the water of Wen Lake was introduced from the inland river.
Could it be that... that man-eating monster is under the lake in the palace?
When Ran Ran said that she wanted to go to the Wen Lake to find out what was going on, Zhou Feihua said hesitantly, "That is a forbidden area in the palace. One of your majesty's concubines once accidentally fell into the Wen Lake, which made your majesty very sad. Since then, no palace maids have been allowed to approach it."
Ran Ran thought she was worried, so she tilted her head and said, "I'm not a palace maid. Even if His Majesty really investigates me, it will definitely not involve you, Your Majesty."
Zhou Feihua looked at her and suddenly laughed at herself, "I didn't expect that I have been in the palace for so many years, wasting all my skills and becoming cautious in doing things. I am the one who wants to find out the truth, why would I put a little girl like you in danger? Your name is Xue Ranran, right? I heard that you are the winner of the Marrow Washing Pool Conference and can pass the test of the Shield Sky Master. You are a talented person like Qingge in his youth. If you really fail in the deep lake of the palace, wouldn't it be a pity?"
It seems that Zhou Feihua is also a person who values talent.
Ran Ran clasped his fists and said, "My master is the best person to me. Now he is alone and without any hope. Who else can save him except me? Even if it is a dangerous place, I will try to get in!"
When she said this, Ran Ran's eyes were firm, and her little face exuded an indescribable charm. For some reason, Zhou Feihua seemed to see another person in this little girl.
At that time, "she" was sitting on the top of a high tower, looking at the dawn in the distance, smiling and saying, "He is alone and without any hope. Apart from me, who else is willing to save him?"
That time, Zhou Feihua and "her" drank wine all night on the high tower. When they said goodbye, Zhou Feihua never thought that this would be the last time they would see each other...
When Zhou Feihua first heard that Mu Qingge was reborn, she was overjoyed. Later, she finally waited for Mu Qingge to enter the palace. When the two met again, the good friends who could drink together all night in the past became very unfamiliar.
Mu Qingge politely told her that she had been parasitic on the tree for twenty years and could hardly remember many things from the past.
After so many repetitions, the deep friendship of the past did not seem to blossom and bear fruit with the reincarnation tree.
Zhou Feihua sighed slightly, ending her inexplicable sadness. From this silly little girl, she regained the heroic spirit she had when she was a girl.
She smiled and said, "Since you are not afraid of death, why not come with me and see what is in the lake together."
After the two of them had agreed, Ran Ran asked curiously, "I heard that when the palace of Daqi was built, there was a master who gave instructions, so something was buried under the foundation that could imprison people's spiritual power. Maybe that's why the monster didn't come out to cause trouble?"
As she said this, she wrapped her fingers around the small compass around her neck, as if thinking about something. She turned her head and looked at the birds singing outside the window.
When Zhou Feihua turned around, the little girl standing by the window had disappeared. She only said a clear voice by the window: "Empress Jing, I'm leaving first. If you believe me, we'll meet by the lake at midnight tonight..."
Ranran was very good at Qinggong. He seized the opportunity and finally ran back to the West Palace before dawn.
She changed into Mu Qingge's clothes, then picked up a pen and paper and quickly drew on the paper for a long time. When it gradually took shape, she slowly exhaled, folded the paper, and sealed it with wax, waiting to see when she could send it out of the palace.
During the day, she had to disguise herself as Mu Qingge, and only at night could she enter the lake to find out what was going on.
In fact, Ranran still had doubts, and she was also worried that Concubine Jing would betray her.
However, at midnight, when she was lying on the eaves and saw Zhou Feihua in a black outfit appear at the agreed place, she knew that the credibility of this lady was as reliable as her swordsmanship.
With Zhou Feihua's help, approaching Wenhu the second time became much easier.
Zhou Feihua knew the time when the guards around the lake would change guard. After changing guard in the second half of the night, he observed the wind direction and took a pack of Ecstasy Powder obtained by his confidant, and knocked down the guards around.
Then they both changed into diving clothes, looked at each other, and jumped into the water with a splash.
Zhou Feihua was a good swimmer, but it was dark at the time and the water was too dark to see anything.
She took out a night-shining pearl from her bosom and used it to illuminate the surroundings. It was said that this pearl was given to her by His Majesty. This showed how much favor Concubine Jing enjoyed.
With the light of the beads, they continued to sink, and Ranran's thoughts became heavier and heavier.
Because there is not a single fish in this huge lake! The layout of the lakes in the palace must follow Feng Shui, and there must be auspicious animals such as koi in them.
But they had been sinking for so long, with the night-shining pearls in their hands that could easily attract fish, and yet the water was as quiet as dead water.
Ran Ran had a feeling that something was wrong. She looked around and saw nothing unusual. She was about to gesture to Zhou Fei Hua to ask her to hurry up.
But Zhou Feihua seemed to be frightened by something. She stared with her eyes wide open and drank water in big gulps, spitting out bubbles.
Ran Ran followed her line of sight and when she turned her head to look, her pupils suddenly contracted. She couldn't help holding her breath and almost swallowed a mouthful of water.
Because when you look in the direction of the dim light emitted by the bead, you can see a huge creature lurking at the bottom of the pool - it is a dragon with a long whisker and complete dragon horns...!
The giant beast's figure was dim and unclear at first, but under the refraction of the night pearl, its body seemed to emit a faint scaly light, and its full appearance gradually emerged.
Fortunately, it seemed to be asleep, lying motionless at the bottom of the water.
The dragon's body seemed to be curled up with something. When Ran Ran looked carefully, he found that it was actually a person - the person's long hair was spread out, floating in the water like black algae, and his face was reflected by the light from the scales. It was none other than Master Su Yishui!
But the master did not open his eyes and seemed to be in an endless sleep.
Zhou Feihua gulped a few times just now, and couldn't help but swim upstream. At this moment, the dragon slowly opened its eyes, and a trace of golden light that Ran Ran inexplicably felt familiar appeared in the narrow slits of its eyes.
When Ran Ran was stared at by it, he could not move for some reason. He could only watch helplessly as the huge dragon head slowly moved towards him, and its long whiskers even touched Ran Ran's body.
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