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.
只是她不明白，周飛花為何會這般憎惡師父，難道就是因為師父當年對于沐清歌被圍攻的事情袖手旁觀，還起了推波助瀾的作用嗎？
不過周飛花聽了冉冉的疑問，卻嘲諷地笑了一下：“若單單只是人品的問題就好了，你這麽個心善的小姑娘，怎麽拜了那麽一個邪物為師……”說到這，她便不肯再說，只揮手準備派人安排冉冉天亮出宮的事情。
可是師父還在宮裏，冉冉怎麽可能走？
方才師父是以元神出竅的方式來見自己，那就是說明他被什麽東西給困住了。
很有可能師父怕她有危險，所以诓了她先出宮去。若是周飛花将自己送出去，想再入宮就要難如登天了。
冉冉的腦子飛快地轉，突然想到她先前吩咐心腹調查問湖的事情，當下有了主意。她開口說道：“其實我師父此來，是察覺到京城地界有些詭異，根源就在這皇宮之中，可惜他還沒來得及細查，就身陷囹圄。若是我就此離開，豈不是半途而廢？”
這話果然吸引了周飛花的注意，她微微瞪眼：“蘇易水也察覺到了？那他查到了什麽？”
冉冉想起自己的小羅盤，又想起了蘇域在二十年前将問潭擴建成了大湖，再想想師父掉入湖中一直未出來，所有的謎團顯然指向了問湖。
也許只有入湖，才能解開一切的謎題。所以冉冉大着膽子道：“問湖裏有妖，娘娘若是想要查明究竟，我願意入湖一探究竟。”
她方才正要跳湖的時候，師父及時閃出幻影攔截住了她。不準她入湖。越是這樣，冉冉越想一探究竟。就算被師父逐出師門，她也絕不會留師父一人在冰冷的湖底。
周飛花看她說得篤定，想了一下，這才緩緩說出了自己知道的一些事。
原來周飛花一直在暗中查訪着京城的異狀。就在一個月前，她父親的一個老部下夜宴歸來，差點栽倒在內城河裏，當時他說看見個龐然大物從水裏探出來，一口将扶着他的小厮給拉拽下了河裏。
老部下當時吓得酒意全化作冷汗湧了出來，周尚書的府宅離出事的地方不遠，所以那老部下連滾帶爬地敲開了尚書府的宅門。
周道聽了他語無倫次的講述後，立刻派人去河裏尋人，可是驚動了城尹，調動了衙門和大量的漁船後，始終一無所獲。
若是內河裏真有老部下所說的龐然大物，如此大的陣仗，早就被發現了。
而衙門那邊也以那位老部下喝醉了酒，說了酒話結案。至于那個失蹤的小厮從此以後再無蹤影，也做了逃奴處置。
可是周道相信老部下的話，他當時在河道邊撿拾起一個貝殼一樣的硬物，看着流光溢彩，不像凡物。
但是似乎有人不想他細查此案，就在三日後，那個老部下又一次酒醉摔在了陰溝裏，滿身酒氣脖骨斷裂而死。
他的妻子卻跟周道哭訴，那天是夫君亡母忌日，為人至孝的他從來不會在母親的忌日飲酒作樂的，而且剛剛受了驚吓的夫君，怎麽會又一次喝得酩酊大醉呢至此，老尚書反而覺得此事透着蹊跷，所以，他也暗中請了些人來，想查找些蛛絲馬跡。
可惜最近，他似乎失了聖寵，陛下的話語裏暗示着讓周道告老還鄉。他若是辭官而去，就要返回老家，這件事情，便要不了了之了。
現在周飛花聽到冉冉篤定問湖有蹊跷，不禁心念一動。因為她知道，問湖的水，正是從內河引入進來的。
難道……那個吃人的怪物就在皇宮的問湖底下嗎？
冉冉說她想要去問湖一探究竟的時候，周飛花遲疑道：“那裏是宮中禁地，陛下的一個愛妃曾經不小心跌落問湖，讓陛下傷心欲絕，至此以後，便禁止宮人靠近。”
冉冉以為她心有顧慮，便歪着頭道：“我又不是什麽宮人，就算真的被陛下追究，也絕對不會牽連到娘娘您。”
周飛花看了看她，突然自嘲一笑：“沒想到我在宮裏熬了這麽多年，荒廢了滿身的本事，做事情也變得瞻前顧後了。想要探明究竟的是我，我幹嘛拿你個小姑娘以身試險？你叫薛冉冉是吧？我聽說了，你是洗髓池會這次的優勝者，能通過盾天大能的考驗，便跟清歌當年一樣，是可塑奇才，若真折戟在了皇宮深湖裏，豈不是可惜？”
看來這位周飛花也是個惜才之人。
冉冉抱拳道：“我師父是對我最好的人，如今他孤身一人，全無指望，除了我，還有誰能救他？就算龍潭虎穴，我也要闖一闖！”
說這話時，冉冉目光堅毅，小臉上散發着股說不出的風采。不知為什麽，周飛花恍惚間，似乎從這小姑娘的身上看到了另外一個人。
那時的“她”坐在高高塔頂，看着遠處的破曉晨曦，微笑着道：“他孤身一人，全無指望，除了我能拉他一把，還有誰願意救他？”
那一次，周飛花與“她”在高塔之上飲了一夜的酒，訣別之時周飛花萬萬沒有想到，這竟然是二人最後一次相見……
當初聽聞沐清歌重生的時候，周飛花狂喜萬分。後來好不容易盼着沐清歌入宮，二人再次相見時，昔日可以徹夜共飲的好友卻變得生疏得很。
沐清歌客氣地告訴說，她在樹上寄生二十年，許多舊日的事情，都想不大起來了。
如此反複，舊日一段刻骨友情，似乎并沒有随着轉生樹開花結果。
周飛花微微嘆了一口氣，結束了莫名的傷感。從這個愣頭愣腦的小姑娘身上，她倒是重新撿拾了起做姑娘時萬丈的豪氣。
她笑着說：“既然你是個不怕死的，那麽不妨跟我走一遭，一起看看那問湖水裏究竟有什麽門道。”
二人商定好了以後，冉冉好奇問道：“聽說大齊的皇宮建造時，有高人指點，所以地基下埋着東西，能夠禁锢人的靈力，也許正是這個原因，那怪物才沒出來興風作浪吧？”
她說這話時，手指纏繞着脖頸上的小羅盤，若有所思，轉頭又看了看窗外正在鳴叫的鳥兒。
當周飛花一個轉身的功夫，那個立在窗邊的小姑娘，已經消失不見了，只是在窗邊飄來一句清亮的話：“靜妃娘娘，我先走一步，你若信我，我們今夜子時問湖邊再見……”
冉冉的輕功了得，抓住時機，趁着天色未亮，終于跑回了西宮。
她換穿好沐清歌的衣服，然後拿起紙筆來，迅速在紙上畫了好一會。待漸有雛形時，她緩緩吐了一口氣，将紙條折好，再用蠟封住，看什麽時候能送出宮外去。
白日時，她還得喬扮成沐清歌，只有等到晚上，再入湖一探究竟。
其實冉冉還是心存疑慮的，她也擔心靜妃娘娘會賣了自己。
不過當子時的時候，她趴在屋檐上，看着一身黑色勁裝的周飛花出現在約定之地時，便知道，這位娘娘的信用跟她的劍法一般可靠。
有了周飛花的出手相助，第二次接近問湖就變得容易得多。
周飛花知道湖水四周換崗的時間，在下半夜換崗之後，看準了風向，拿來心腹弄來的迷魂散一包下去，就放倒了四周的守衛。
然後她倆換上了潛水的衣服，互相看了一眼後，撲通一聲跳入了水中。
周飛花的水性甚好，只是此時黑夜，入了水也是濃黑看不見。
她從懷裏掏出了一顆夜明珠，用來照亮四周。據說這珠子是陛下恩賞給她的。靜妃娘娘的隆寵可見一斑。
借着珠子的光亮，她倆不斷下沉，冉冉的思緒也越來越沉重。
因為這若大的湖裏……居然一條魚兒都沒有！皇宮的水湖排布都要遵循風水，裏面肯定會蓄養錦鯉一類的吉祥物。
可是她們下沉了這麽久，手裏還拿着容易吸引魚類的夜明珠，這水裏卻靜寂得如死水一般。
冉冉直覺不妙，她看四周并無異狀，正想向周飛花做手勢讓她趕緊上去的時候。
卻看周飛花似乎受了什麽驚吓，圓瞪着眼睛，咕嘟嘟吐着水泡大口喝水起來。
冉冉順着她的視線，扭頭一看時，她的瞳孔猛地緊縮，一時忍不住閉氣，也差點嗆入大口的水來。
因為順着珠子發出黯淡的光看去，水潭的底下，赫然盤踞着一條巨鱗大物――那是一條須□□浮，龍角齊全的……龍！
這巨獸起初朦胧看不清身影，不過在夜明珠的折射下，它的身體似乎也淡淡發出鱗光，漸漸呈現出了全貌。
萬幸的是，它似乎陷入沉睡，盤卧在水底一動不動。
而龍身體似乎蜷曲着什麽，冉冉仔細看去時，才發現，那竟然是個人――那人長發散開，在水中如烏色水藻一般漂浮不定，臉兒也被鱗片上的光映照出來，赫然正是師父蘇易水！
只是師父并沒有睜開眼睛，似乎陷入了無盡的昏睡。
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.