Ranran didn't expect that after the great Water-Fetching cultivation method, Su Yi Shui would create such a meticulous and attentive acupoint recognition technique.
So when they sat face to face, and she was "guided" by him, she didn't have time to react at all, just stared at him with wide eyes.
Su Yi Shui was actually quite annoyed as well. He didn't know what he was doing just now. It seemed like the moonlight tonight was very enchanting, clouding his judgment momentarily.
He was also suddenly inspired, for him to come up with that.
Ranran initially thought he had regained his memory, but it turned out to be in vain again. Seeing his *advantage-taking yet composed handsome face, she couldn't help but feel mad. "Probably none of the disciples from Xishan knows where the points are. Is your tongue enough to go around? Do you need to guide each and every one of them?"
*得了便宜还卖乖 is the original phrase: won advantage but pretend to be innocent
As Su Yi Shui looked at her red lips, and her flushed and sarcastic expression, he felt another surge of heat. He didn't know what came over him; his body seemed to act independently of his mind. He leaned down again, lowering his thick lashes and gave her some more guidance. But this time, the guidance lasted even longer, and his big palm even supported the back of her head.
This kiss was exceptionally intense, and Ranran had to close her eyes again to cope with it.
When their lips separated again, Ranran gave his chest a push and said fiercely, "I'm not practicing anymore!"
Su Yi Shui lowed his eyes, looking at her and suddenly asked, "You have kissed before?"
The first kiss was so sweet that he got a bit lost in it. But the second time, he realized that this seemingly inexperienced girl was quite responsive to him… Could it be, that she had kissed someone else before?
Thinking about this, an unfamiliar sense of jealousy surged in Su Yi Shui's heart to his skull, the sourness giving him a bit of toothache.
After pushing him away, Xue Ranran stood up, saying loudly, "Yes, I kissed a pig before!" With that, she turned and jumped off the boat, walking on the ripples towards the riverbank.
How dare he turn the tables on the victim first? She didn't even bring up his transgression of repeatedly kissing his female disciple from before!
If it was the past, it could be explained that Su Yi Shui couldn't hold himself back because of his complicated feelings with two lifetimes. But now, he obviously didn't remember his past, yet he still kissed her. But he had that calm, unaffected demeanor, which was quite infuriating!
As for his constant romantic entanglements, first with Wen Hongshan and then Mu Qingge. Surely not everyone is seduced by his handsome good looks, right? He was probably quite the experienced playboy, the Casanova of the cultivation world!
Ranran suddenly wondered, would he behave the same way if the person sitting before him was Qiu Xi'er or some other female disciple?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. If her cultivation was higher, she would restore the prestige of the sect master and clean up Xishan, and punish this womanizer.
Just then, Su Yi Shui also came ashore, standing behind her and saying confidently, "So, I have kissed you before?"
She sounded so fierce that Su Yi Shui naturally could tell that she should be referring to him as the pig.
Although he was called a pig, Su Yi Shui wasn't angry. Instead, he felt quite relieved. Although he had suspicions that he had been seduced by this girl before, it was better than her having past affairs with other men.
As Ranran turned around, she asked him directly, "If it had been Qiu Xi'er or some other female disciple just now, would you have given the same guidance?"
Su Yi Shui was slightly stunned by her scenario, finding it completely unacceptable even in imagination. He furrowed his brows and said, "I'm not someone who guides every fool!"
After hearing this, Xue Ranran felt a lot of her frustration dissipate inexplicably.
Although it seemed like he was calling her stupid, she still felt a little sweet inside. Seeing Ranran smiling with her head lowered, Su Yi Shui thought the little demoness was proud of her boundless charm, gaining yet another admirer.
So he couldn't help but remind her, "Hey, don't look so pleased with yourself. I really just couldn't stand your lack of comprehension just now…"
Ranran's face fell slightly. After shooting a glare at him, she jumped back onto the boat and resumed her meditation.
This kind of hands-on teaching was indeed effective. When Ranran performed the Thunderous Passage technique again, the energy flow through her meridians was smooth, especially at the spot where her tongue had tingled during the kiss.
Once she grasped the basics, Ranran's cultivation progress could only be described as *making great strides.
一日千里 going thousands of miles in a day
However, during the daytime, they still visited nearby mountain villages and towns for leisure.
On this day, when they arrived at Gong County, Ranran glanced at a notice posted on the city gate and couldn't help but go "Eh?".
Su Yi Shui's hands were full of snacks she had bought earlier. After hearing her exclaim, he also took a look at the notice.
It was a notice about a missing wife. Apparently, the wife had left her husband due to poverty or some other reason, and the husband was posting notices pleading for her return.
"What's wrong? Do you know this woman in the picture?"
Ranran turned her head and whispered, "Look, doesn't the woman in this picture resemble Zhou Feihua?"
Su Yi Shui frowned for a moment. "Zhou Feihua? I've only heard her name before, never met her."
Ranran frowned. Of course, he wouldn't remember events from the capital, including the runaway Consort Jing who had faked her own death.
But Zhou Feihua's husband… Wasn't it Su Yu? Could it be that Su Yu had instructed people to post wife-finding notices and was searching for Zhou Feihua?
If that were the case, she couldn't help but worry for Consort Jing. Was Su Yu planning something drastic against her?
In the following days, as they visited several villages, they noticed more of the same notice in prominent spots. However, Su Yi Shui discovered that, there were increasingly more missing person notices on the boards. Many had no pictures, just brief descriptions of the missing persons, often mentioning disappearing near the riverbanks, with rewards offered for any information leading to their discovery, dead or alive.
What was happening here? How were so many people going missing without a trace, and why were there no bodies?
Yet in cultivation, calmness of mind was crucial. Otherwise, why would there be the practice of seclusion and meditation?
Although they had questions, they continued their routine of enjoying thoroughly during the day and practicing diligently at night.
They would rest on the boat every night, choosing a quiet stretch of river. In the stillness of the night, they would sit cross-legged, exchanging their consonance energies.
However, every time she sat facing Su Yi Shui, it was a test of Ranran's will to calm her heart.
For instance, now when she opened her eyes during meditation, she found Su Yi Shui staring at her intently, and she wasn't sure how long he had been watching her.
"Hey, it's hard for me to concentrate when you are like this!"
Since the day her Shifu "guided" her so intimately with his own mouth, Ranran stopped calling him "Shifu" that she was used to, and simply referred to him as "Hey."
After all, their relationship was too complicated, and she had already been expelled from Xishan. Calling him Shifu, would be too much flattery for him.
And so, calling him "Hey" was more efficient.
However, Su Yi Shui felt that her casual address was quite impolite. But if she called him the alienating "Mister Su" again, that would seem even less natural than "Hey."
He wasn't sure why he always *decided to go easy on her, but he endured her disrespectful address.
*锱铢必较 excessive nitpicking over small details 大打折扣 big discount, reduction
Even though he knew she was the reincarnation of Mu Qingge, Su Yi Shui felt that Ranran the young girl, was much more likable than in her previous life.
At least for now, she hadn't gone astray yet. She wasn't surrounded by so many men and Su Yi Shui found it easy to get along with her.
Most of the time, he even found it very delightful to watch her meditate or eat.
Beautiful things naturally attracted more attention, and he only realized he was staring at her again after he heard Ranran's protests.
Nevertheless, he always remained calm and composed. Even when he was caught, he would just close his eyes leisurely.
As Ranran looked at the man with closed eyes, his thick brows, straight nose, and long eyelashes longer than those of a girl's… even his attractive lips was enchanting, and she couldn't help but keep staring as well.
During this period of time, it was actually a rare chance for the two of them to be alone together, reminding her of the happiness she had felt on the sea island. If time could freeze at this moment, would she also have no regrets in this life?
She stared blankly, lost in thought. The man sitting opposite her suddenly opened his eyes and caught her staring .
"You don't let me look at you, yet you stare at me like this. What do you have to say about that?"
Ranran didn't expect him to suddenly open his eyes, and felt a bit embarrassed. She could only force herself to say, "You're good-looking, but won't allow others to look?"
Su Yi Shui looked at her *enigmatically and suddenly said, "You have half of my golden core and have my aura, so you're not allowed to flirt with other men."
*高深莫测
It would seem that her past fault of being lustful hadn't changed. She still liked looking at handsome men, and every time Su Yi Shui thought of the numerous young men who surrounded Mu Qingge in her past life, he felt very annoyed.
Back then, he always treated Mu Qingge very coldly, rebuffing her advances.
But later, Mu Qingge met Su Yu. Because he was his junior uncle, the two looked somewhat similar. Suddenly, Mu Qingge seemed to transfer her warm affections to Su Yu, always smiling and charming with him, as if Su Yu had become his replacement.
Su Yi Shui believed he didn't like Mu Qingge, but every time he thought about this, he felt very upset.
So seeing Ranran's unchanged habit, to like to stare at handsome men, Su Yi Shui felt it necessary to make things clear. If she carries half of his golden core and go around cheating with other men… he wasn't going to agree to that!
After hearing this, Ranran felt both angry and amused. "According to you, am I not allowed to be friendly with other men in this life?"
As she spoke, her big eyes shone brightly and she tilted her head slightly forward. Su Yi Shui felt tempted to guide her on activating the Genshen acupoint again.
This time, Ranran was vigilant and suddenly covered his mouth with her hand. "What are you doing? You're not allowed to be frivolous with your master!"
If she didn't say that, Su Yi Shui might not have found it amusing in his indignation. He smiled even more evilly "Alright then, how about this, you be frivolous with your disciple instead. Didn't you used to love trapping me in the corridor?"
Ranran felt that he had kissed the palm of her hand blocking his lips and blushed furiously.
But she could understand herself from her past life. Teasing this kind of difficult and handsome youth was quite fun, seeing him pout and glare with his handsome face… it was really quite entertaining…
As they were teasing each other, Su Yi Shui suddenly stopped moving. Ranran also became alert because she heard faint splashing sounds underwater.
The splashing sound would be too loud for fish.
Su Yi Shui was alert and immediately pulled Ranran up, leaping out of the water.
Just as they jumped up, dozens of people wearing fishskin clothes also leaped out of the water, their sharp hooks aimed straight at the two on the boat.
Their eyes also emitted a strange blue light in the darkness.
Ranran looked carefully and realized that these people weren't wearing fishskin clothes; rather, like the demonized woman at the Wangxiang River, their bodies were covered in sharp fish scales, and their hook-like protrusions were actually their claws on their hands.
Dozens of demonized enemies attacked them simultaneously, causing the river water to ripple, nearly capsizing the small boat.
She remembered how chaotic it was when dealing with one demonized woman in the past. Now with more than a dozen attacking them, it would be even more difficult.
But Ranran was no longer the weakling by Wangxiang River. Having just mastered the Thunderous Passage, she had a training ground to practice her skills. Easily summoning her energy, she effortlessly repelled the water demons attacking them.
But more and more of these water demons crawled out of the river, totaling about twenty or thirty, eventually flipping the entire boat into the water.
Su Yi Shui also realized the situation wasn't good. These demonized people were empowered by the Seven Evil Transformation talismans and seemed more ferocious than the woman at Wangxiang River.
Fighting them on water would put them at a big disadvantage. So he grabbed Ranran's arm, preparing to fly to the riverbank.
However, just as they reached the riverbank, they felt an invisible spiritual shield enveloping them, that was impervious to their attacks.
The people who set up this scheme were truly diabolical. Although these water demons weren't a match for Su Yi Shui and Ranran, continuing like this would still exhaust a significant portion of their energy. After all, these people were driven by the Seven Evil Transformation talismans and would not feel exhaustion.
Just then, both the riverbanks suddenly erupted in loud fire crackers, cymbals and drums, accompanied by a dazzling display of fireworks.
The ferocious water demons, upon hearing the deafening firecrackers, emitted sharp and short cries, quickly turning and jumping back into the river.
Ranran understood, that these demonized water creatures feared bright lights and loud noises. In the blink of an eye, all the water demons vanished from the river.
As they disappeared, the spiritual shield overing the river also vanished.
At that moment, torches surrounded the riverbank, and a woman on horseback shouted loudly at the two standing on the overturned boat, "You two are actually still alive? Where do you skilled experts hail from?"
Ranran heard the woman's voice and found it familiar. With the faint light from the bank, she recognized the woman on horseback and shouted happily, "Consort Jing… no, Miss Zhou, it's me, Xue Ranran!"
It turned out that the woman on horseback was none other than Consort Jing, who escaped from the cold palace by feigning death, and now known as Zhou Feihua.
When she escaped from the palace, she had vowed to travel far and wide. Since then, there had been no news of her until a few days ago when they saw the notices looking for her. In the blink of an eye, they have reunited here.
At that moment, Zhou Feihua also recognized Xue Ranran and Su Yi Shui.
When the two of them jumped onto the riverbank, Zhou Feihua breathed a sigh of relief. "Heaven truly blessed us. I was just thinking of sending someone to West Mountain to ask for your help, but I didn't expect you to already be here."
Ranran recalled the shocking scene just now and asked, "What has happened here? How did so many demonized creatures appear?"
Zhou Feihua sighed and turned to the dozen or so elders behind her. "Gentlemen elders, these two are powerful cultivators. With their help, the villages along the river might have a chance."
The villagers saw the two of them fighting off so many water demons and still managing to escape unharmed, their previously troubled faces now showing a hint of joy.
After speaking, Zhou Feihua turned to Ranran and Su Yi Shui again. "This area is near the water, and after these water demons gather their strength, they will strike again. Hurry with me into the village. Once we're in, I'll explain everything in detail."
So Su Yi Shui and Ranran followed Zhou Feihua to the QiongQi Village by the river.
The entire village seemed to be in a state of war, with the outer walls surrounded by fences made of thorns. Outside the fences, there was a ten meter wide ditch filled with white lime powder.
Usually, the villagers were frugal and rarely kept lamps burning through the night unless they had children studying in the family.
But now, every household in the village had lanterns hanging high at the door, illuminating the night like a festival, albeit lacking the joyous atmosphere. The village was silent, devoid of laughter and chatter.
Occasionally, the sound of a child crying at night seemed to be quickly suppressed by the adults, the entire village was shrouded in an undeniable terror.
Zhou Feihua was still dressed in men's clothing, but instead of a coiled bun, she had a long thick braid tied behind her head, giving her a clean and crisp appearance.
After inviting Su Yi Shui and Ranran into her temporary residence in the village community, she had food and drinks brought in and began to talk about her experiences during this period.
It turned out that shortly after her feigned death, portraits of her began appearing in various prefectures and counties, with people secretly searching for her.
Later, she found out that her feigned death had been discovered by Su Yu. She didn't know if the emperor couldn't sleep at night and wanted to watch someone to do a sword dance again to ease his mind, but was frustrated because he couldn't find a suitable one. So, he remembered her sleepless nights of sword dancing for him, and out of boredom, he suddenly dispatched a large number of people to search for her whereabouts.
Zhou Feihua had already seen through it all and didn't think the emperor was reminiscing about old feelings. She just felt that the emperor was just used to having things his way, and he was feeling a bit resentful since he wasn't the one who called it quits.
Zhou Feihua had already seen through it all and didn't think the emperor was reminiscing about old feelings. She just felt that the emperor was just used to having things his way, and he was feeling a bit resentful since he wasn't the one who called it quits.
So, she did not dare to go to bustling places anymore and ended up here.
The people here were simple and the grains were fragrant. Few villagers ventured into the city, and even if they did, no one bothered to look at the missing wife notices.
Zhou Feihua had originally planned to stay here for a while before going to the Eastern Islands to visit Fusang.
However, just ten days ago, people in the village began disappearing while fishing by the river. Given the heavy rain and waves on those days, accidents were understandable.
But soon after, traces of water monsters were found by the river. Zhou Feihua had seen the water demon sent into the capital from Wangxiang Pass, so she immediately understood that someone here was deliberately kidnapping the villagers and turning them into water demons.
Although the local village elders reported to the authorities, the constables they sent also went missing. Combined with the previous monster attacks, the stationed troops in various places were preoccupied.
Small villages like QiongQi village were at the bottom of the list even in emergencies. Fortunately, the Miss Zhou currently residing here was righteous.
After saving the village head's daughter-in-law with her sword at the riverside, she organized local patrols to monitor the riverbanks and had the villagers dig ditches and spread lime powder to block the invasion of the water demons.
Just three days ago, the water demons attempted to attack the village at night. Unfortunately, they had water on them and screamed in pain as soon as they burned as they crawled over the lime.
And Zhou Feihua has discovered their weaknesses, and had people sounding gongs, drums, and set off fireworks, scaring off the water demons.
Tonight, Zhou Feihua was patrolling the riverbank as usual when she saw a fishing boat with a lit lamp capsizing in the river. Countless blue eyes were shimmering, and she thought a passing passenger boat was in trouble, so she quickly led people to set off fireworks, only to find out that the ones rescued were Su Yi Shui and Xue Ranran.
Ranran didn't expect to encounter Zhou Feihua here. She only knew that Zhou Feihua had a very close relationship with Elder Mu, and they had been good sisters.
But now that she knew she was Mu Qingge's reincarnation, which meant Zhou Feihua was her friend from her past life.
So, when she looked at Zhou Feihua, Ranran couldn't help but hold Zhou Feihua's hand, but she didn't know what to say.
After all, she had no memories of her past life. If she rashly acknowledged their sisterhood, there wouldn't be any old feelings to continue either.
However, Zhou Feihua obviously didn't know Ranran's true identity. Still, she had many things on her mind that she wanted to share with her, since Ranran knew of her past.
That night, because they needed to discuss tracking down the water demons, Ranran and Zhou Feihua shared a room.
Ranran had originally planned to sit cross-legged on a chair and meditate all night, but Zhou Feihua insisted on sleeping together and sharing secrets.
"Why are you sitting so far away? I have to shout to talk to you. Skipping meditation for one night won't delay your path to become an immortal."
Ranran also loved to be slack off. After hearing this, she took off her outer robe and lay down next to Zhou Feihua. "Consort Jing, I saw notices in nearby counties with your portrait on them. But they were written with hopes of a runaway wife returning home, the family not holding grudges, and such…. Is Su Yu looking for you?"
Zhou Feihua chuckled sarcastically. "What Consort Jing? That notice is just lifting the final veil that is concealing shame. No matter how grand the palace and my previous status, I was still just a concubine. He couldn't directly express himself because of royal dignity, so he gave me the identity of a fugitive legitimate wife in the notice. When I have the time, I'll express my gratitude facing towards the capital."
Ranran blinked and asked softly "Why does he want you to go back?"
Zhou Feihua turned and looked at the young girl's face full of spirit and charm, and sighed, "You're still young and don't understand that men can be despicable at times. When you think he is dazzling, he would see you as insignificant as weeds and stones. But when he realized he missed a convenient woman by his side, he thought he could just beckon and bring her back. My father said that the emperor sent people to the ancestral home several times, hinting for my return. He can forgive the past and won't charge me with the crime of deceiving the emperor. Even if I had faked my death, he can let me take on the identity of Consort Jing's cousin and re-enter the palace as a Consort…"
Ranran nodded and looked at the dignified and handsome Consort Jing "If I were a man, I would also love someone like you. It's no wonder the dog emperor can't let you go."