All the ancestors in the capital begged me to be a substitute

"It's water, it's water!"

The palace immediately became commotion. Looking from the top of the palace into the distance, I saw the guards, eunuchs and maids in the palace running towards the fire locations everywhere. Even the Chaolu Hall where the emperor usually rested. The open flame of the sky lantern fell.

The whole palace was in chaos.

Under the illumination of scattered sky lanterns, the pigeons were densely packed, all concentrated in one area.

They are half in the light and half hidden in the night sky.

The night sky was filled with the sound of birds flapping their wings, and it was impossible to tell how many there were.

"Oh, you're here, I finally found you."

At this moment, Liu Meiren and her two concubines floated towards Shen Lingxi from a distance.

They stopped a foot away from Shen Lingxi.

Liu Meiren looked extremely solemn and said: "Those pigeons have been flying around with ice crystals in their mouths these days. They stay day and night. They first went to Taiyi Mountain, lingered in the mountains of Taiyi Mountain for several nights, and then went to many places. The mass graves were attracted by the fireworks in the city until tonight and flew here."

Shen Lingxi frowned slightly, stood up, and looked at the two concubines, "Besides these, have you ever noticed any other abnormalities? For example... dead souls and the like?"

When Chu Yan saw her suddenly speaking, he knew that there must be a dead soul coming to report to her.

He took a few steps back and moved some distance away, lest the evil energy on his body bounce away the dead souls.

The two concubines thought carefully, and one of them said uncertainly: "I didn't see the dead souls, but when those pigeons were lingering in the back mountain of Taiyi Mountain, I saw a lot of black gas floating in the big formation on the back mountain... …”

After she mentioned this, another concubine also remembered and hurriedly added: "Yes, yes, those black gases are like silk threads, so thin that they can only be seen under the moonlight. The black threads went directly into the pigeon's mouth, and passed by. Before long, the eyes of pigeons that have been drilled by black threads will become as red as blood.”

She said with a hint of fear on her face, "It's very evil."

When Shen Lingxi heard the word "black energy", she thought of the dream she had the night before leaving Yunjiang for no reason.

In the dream, there was black light surging in the jade in the palm of the girl in red.

"Have you ever seen where that black energy comes from?" Shen Lingxi asked hurriedly.

Both of them shook their heads: "I don't know if there is any big formation in the back mountain. We can't get close, and we can't go in to investigate."

These words reminded Shen Lingxi of what she had just heard from the Queen Mother——

"The late emperor cut off his head and burned him together with Taishu Mei in the palace. The ashes were sent to Taiyi Mountain and buried in the salvation circle of Shangqing Palace. The Ai family saw him being burned with their own eyes. It's gray, there's no way his body could be transported out of Dazhou..."

Pigeons and ice crystals are inseparable from Sheng Kun, so the large formation at the back of Taiyi Mountain must be the salvation formation that the Queen Mother mentioned.

Shen Lingxi remembered that Liu Meiren had previously said that Sheng Kun's charred body was outside Yunbian City, and Su Xian sent someone back to Taiyi Mountain overnight.

He will definitely be locked into that formation by the elders of Shangqing Palace.

in this way……

When Shen Lingxi saw the strange situation in front of her again, she was extremely frightened when she thought about it.

She quickly relayed the news they brought to Chu Yan.

Chu Yanfeng's eyes suddenly darkened and she looked into the distance, "I'll go take a look."

As he said this, he planned to send Shen Lingxi down——

"I'll go too." Shen Lingxi stepped forward and held his hand, looked at him and said, "You are Sheng Kun's target. If these pigeons are really related to him, I don't worry about you being alone."

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Chu Yan hesitated for a moment and nodded, "Okay, let's go together."

Now that the two of them are in the harem after all, even though Chu Yan is very powerful in martial arts, it is inconvenient for him to use light kung fu to get there directly.

Coincidentally, the commotion outside also alerted the Queen Mother who had just rested. When she heard that the two of them were going to check, she hurriedly sent Eunuch Jia, the eunuch in charge of Shoukang Palace, and several eunuchs from Shoukang Palace to follow them and lead the way.

In this way, even if others asked them why they were walking in the harem late at night, they could be said to have received orders from the Queen Mother.

Liu Meiren can float in mid-air, which is the most convenient way to find the location where the pigeons are lingering, and directly lead the way for Shen Lingxi.

So, Shen Lingxi ordered Eunuch Jia to lead everyone to turn left and right.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the group finally reached an open place.

Even though Shen Lingxi was unfamiliar with most places in the palace, she still knew where it was.

Taiye pool.

Located east of the central axis of the harem, although it is an artificially dug inner courtyard lake, it occupies an extremely large area.

There are several palaces in the harem, all located next to Taiye Pool, including the Queen's Kunning Palace, Zhao Guifei's Furong Palace, and Xifangzhai where the most favored new concubines live.

It was already late at night, although palace residents in many places in the palace were busy putting out fires due to the sky lanterns that suddenly fell.

But the several palaces around Taiye Pond are experiencing rare peace.

With the pigeons lingering on the lake, the sky lanterns cannot float on the lake, and the palaces are naturally not disturbed by the lights.

"Plop...plop...plop..."

As soon as Shen Lingxi and Chu Yan arrived at Taiye Pond, they saw many pigeons swooping into the lake like crazy under the moonlight.

The eunuchs who followed them had never seen such a scene before, and they were all so frightened that they hid behind them.

A concubine was floating at the front and went to check out out of curiosity.

However, Shen Lingxi only saw her white soul shadow. As soon as she got close to where the pigeons "thrown into the lake", with a sound of "ah", she fell straight into the lake!
"save……"

She only had time to send out a half cry for help before she lost her voice again.

When Liu Mei and the other concubine saw this, they were so frightened that they quickly floated behind Shen Lingxi.

"There must be a formation under the water." Liu Meiren said anxiously to Shen Lingxi: "That was how we were in the palace of the King of Yunjiang in Jingcheng. She must have been locked into the formation suddenly. , you should quickly think of a way to save her."

At this moment, Shen Lingxi and his party were on the shore of the lake.

But the location where those pigeons "threw themselves into the lake" was in the middle of the lake.

On this cold winter night, from the shore to the center of the lake, let alone Fu Shui, even Chu Yan using Qing Gong could not reach it.

You have to row a boat.

Shen Lingxi pondered for a few breaths and then said to Chu Yan: "Your Highness, since there is such a strange situation here, there may be an 'evil spirit' at the bottom of the lake. The lake must be drained to find out the clues. Your Highness, please come and see the saint. , state the truth and take action as soon as possible."

Hearing what she said, Chu Yan immediately understood what she meant.

He took off the waist badge in his hand, handed it to Eunuch Jia, and ordered: "If the matter is urgent, go to the eunuch in person to find the eunuch on duty and ask them to open the downstream gate and start draining the lake water. Go to Chaolu Hall to face the Holy Spirit alone." Report this matter."

Eunuch Jia was eager to leave quickly, so he led the two young eunuchs there.

"Let's go find the emperor." Chu Yan said, then took Shen Lingxi's hand and planned to leave.

"I'll stay here." Shen Lingxi put her hands behind her back and looked at him and said, "I have to... stay here."

Because there were still eunuchs from Shoukang Palace, Shen Lingxi couldn't make it too obvious. She winked at the void on the side and signaled to Chu Yan that she was with Liu Meiren.

Chu Yan frowned slightly.

He had a gut feeling that something was wrong with this matter, and was about to persuade him again——

"Your Highness, the matter is urgent and cannot be delayed any longer." Shen Lingxi pointed to the distance and urged, "It will be difficult to drain the lake for a while. We must call in the internal guards, bring nets, and stop the lake. Those pigeons do.”

More and more pigeons are "thrown into the lake" one after another in the middle of the lake.

There also seemed to be a series of ripples rippling out from the middle of the calm lake, causing the water beside the pool to begin to lap the shore.There seems to be something extremely dangerous hidden under the strange lake surface.

This deep palace does not belong to Chu Yan's sphere of influence. Even if he wants to transfer internal guards, the emperor's nod is required.

After weighing it again and again, Chu Yan finally made up his mind and said, "I'll go and come back quickly. You stay here, waiting for me to come back."

Shen Lingxi nodded.

Chu Yan then ordered the remaining eunuchs to guard the crown princess, and then hurriedly used Qinggong to leave.

After he left, Shen Lingxi glanced at the few servants who were left behind with frightened expressions, and asked softly: "I need a boat. Let's go to the middle of the lake and have a look. Who among you knows the boat in Taiye Pool?" , where did they all stop?”

*
A quarter of an hour later, Shen Lingxi left a message to the young eunuch and rowed the boat alone towards the center of the lake.

Based on her past experience and the rules of formation she had learned under Su Xian's influence recently.

Shen Lingxi knew that if there really was a formation under the lake, there would be magic stones to set up the formation.

The black clay pieces she had seen in the Yunjiang Prince's Mansion and the Mu Family were the magic stones that Sheng Kun usually used to set up formations.

The formation used by Sheng Kun evolved from the ancient Fuxi Bagua formation, but it remains unchanged. The rules of his formation are also based on the Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen and Li in the Fuxi Bagua formation. , the direction of the exchange to cloth.

After Shen Lingxi identified the direction, he rowed the boat to the most likely position to set up the formation, based on the position closest to them, estimating the distance of the pigeons hovering above his head.

Then, they offered two wind lanterns to Liu Mei and the remaining concubine, and asked them to carry the wind lanterns and sneak into the bottom of the lake to find the location of the formation stones.

Except for Xuanmen magic weapons and formations, the souls of the dead are not affected by anything in this world.Therefore, those lakes are equivalent to nothingness to Liu Meiren and others.

Shen Lingxi could see the souls of the dead, so he could also see the things they could illuminate with the lanterns they held.

As long as Liu Meiren and the others don't get too close to the magic circle in the center of the lake, they won't be easily sucked into the magic circle.

This is also the reason why Shen Lingxi rowed alone to the middle of the lake.

She never does anything uncertain.

"I found it, here it is!"

As expected by Shen Lingxi, Liu Meiren found the formation stone at the bottom of the lake in less than a cup of tea.

She floated on the water, holding the wind lantern, looked at Shen Lingxi, and asked hesitantly, "You're not going to dive into the water yourself and move the rocks away, are you?"

"What else?" Shen Lingxi took off her outer clothes, only wearing a plain white inner garment, and took off her hairpin jewelry, "I am the only one who can see you. If you want to rescue her as soon as possible, there is no faster way than me personally entering the water. .”

As she spoke, she picked up the rope she had just asked the young eunuch to prepare for her, and tied one end to the boat and the other end to her waist.

Before entering the water, Shen Lingxi glanced into the distance.

When he saw a group of people approaching the lake shore holding torches at the end of his sight, he knew that Chu Yan would be back soon.

"We don't have much time left, let's go."

After that, she jumped into the cold lake without hesitation.

*
At this time, Chu Yan went to Chaolu Palace to tell the emperor what happened in the palace. After getting the emperor's approval, he immediately went to mobilize the internal guards.

When he hurried to the lake shore, he saw several young eunuchs from Shoukang Palace gathered together, looking into the distance.

But Shen Lingxi was no longer around the lake.

Chu Yan's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and a strong feeling of uneasiness spread in his heart.

"Where is the Crown Princess?" he asked in a deep voice.

Several young eunuchs were so frightened that they fell to their knees on the ground. The leading eunuch stumbled and replied: "The Crown Princess is rowing a boat by herself to go to the middle of the lake."

Chu Yan's pupils shrank, and he suddenly raised his eyes, looking far into the distance.

Then I saw a small boat with candlelight near the center of the lake.

He is a martial arts practitioner, and his eyesight is naturally much stronger than that of ordinary people.

On the small boat, except for the wind lantern hanging on the bow, there was not a single person in sight.

Chu Yan's heart suddenly sank to the bottom.

The unprecedented panic made him subconsciously use Qinggong and run towards the boat——

"Your Highness." Seeing this, the little eunuch hurriedly said: "Before leaving, the Crown Princess said...said..."

Chu Yan suddenly stopped, his eyes full of anger, "What do you want to say? Say it quickly!"

The little eunuch trembled and did not dare to delay any longer. He said as if pouring beans: "The princess said she can go into the water. If you come and can't see her, there is no need to worry. Please take the inner guard with you to the center of the lake. Don't delay business because of emotions."

This was the first time in Chu Yan's life that he was warned not to be emotional and not to "delay business matters."

He almost laughed angrily.

good very good.

It seemed that she had already planned it when she sent him to Chaolu Palace.

She was afraid that if he were here, he would stop her from entering the water and drag her back!

When the little eunuch saw the prince's cold face, a layer of frost had formed on his face, and he felt deeply that he was not far from death.

"Ship... yes, there is a boat." The little eunuch said tremblingly: "The Crown Princess asked the slaves to drag the boats over, and they are just waiting for Your Highness to come down."

"The Crown Princess said..." He mustered up his courage and tried to imitate Shen Lingxi's tone, "Please don't hold back, and don't get into the water."

Chu Yan's breathing stagnated slightly and he closed his eyes.

In his heart, he tried his best to tell himself that since she deliberately left such words and asked people to drag the boat, it meant that she was sure.

She is sure, she is sure, she is sure, she will be fine...

In this way, Chu Yan recited it several times in his heart before he could barely suppress the unprecedented panic and uneasiness in his heart.

He waved his hand to the inner guard behind him and ordered in a cold voice, "Get your things and get on the boat."

At the same time, Shen Lingxi dived into the bottom of the lake and directly found the location of the formation stones under the light of the wind lanterns in the hands of Liu Mei and the concubine.

To her surprise, the formation stones buried at the bottom of the lake were not the clay pieces she had seen in the secret room before, but several dark lake stones.

Any one of those lake rocks is as tall as half a person.

Shen Lingxi swam to the nearest one and pushed it.

But the lake stone seems to be buried very deep and motionless.

With her own strength, there was no way she could move the lake rocks from the mud.

If you can't move it, you can't destroy the formation at the bottom of the lake.

"What should we do about this?" Liu Meiren stamped her feet anxiously, "Who on earth has this evil thing buried here! It's really killing people!"

Shen Lingxi frowned.

She is a living person now, and living people have to breathe. The time at the bottom of the lake is limited, and now that she has sneaked in, this time must not be in vain.

Her heart moved slightly, she lowered her head and untied the rope tied around her waist...