The Water Mansion Revealed

"Hey, Dongfang Shuo, what are you doing sitting here?"

Zhang Changgong probed into the water mansion but did not return; Zhang Xuezhou's abdominal pain subsided after resting.

The atmosphere at the campsite by the Huai River was somewhat tense.

These two things are different, but they are related. There has been much discussion and even arguments about them in the camp.

Lei Bei, who was guarding Zhang Xuezhou, was reprimanded many times. In just one day, he had already lost three years' salary and needed to perform meritorious service to atone for his sins.

One of these tasks was to track down Zhang Xuezhou's whereabouts.

Lei Bei not sent to find Ma, but instead was assigned to find Zhang Xuezhou, which made him sigh with regret.

Lei Bei searched everywhere on horseback until midnight, and unexpectedly found Zhang Xuezhou at the camp construction site.

At this time, the sky was only slightly bright, but cultivators with good eyesight could already see their surroundings clearly. Lei Bei saw Zhang Xuezhou sitting beside the ever-rising water in the deep pool, and then shouted a question.

"Lei Bei, do you think that laborer who's been underwater for so long and hasn't come up yet might have accidentally gotten stuck underground and drowned?"

"Ah?"

"I rested for most of the day and didn't see anyone come out, so I thought I'd dig around this place myself!"

"Don't you dare dig anymore!"

Lei Bei lifted up and leaped, landing beside Zhang Xuezhou.

"How come you just disappeared while you were sleeping?" Lei Bei.

"I just came out for a walk after I'd had enough rest!"

"Why haven't I seen you come out for a walk?"

You were asleep, and I called you once but you didn't wake up!

Am I asleep?

After exchanging a few words, Lei Bei couldn't help but question the meaning of life.

He felt he hadn't been sleeping at the time, but if he hadn't been sleeping, it was impossible that he hadn't seen Zhang Xuezhou leave the camp.

After reviewing the events, Lei Bei concluded that he must have been dozing off, which allowed Zhang Xuezhou to leave the camp.

"I've been so wronged! I only dozed off for a tiny bit, and this has cost me three years' salary!" Lei Bei said dejectedly.

"..."

Lei Bei clearly became the first scapegoat when the excavation of the Huaihe River's water palace failed.

Dong Zhongshu was right; such things can indeed cause problems, even if Zhang Xuezhou had given them a heads-up beforehand.

The truth hasn't come out yet, but some people are already getting impatient and can't wait any longer.

Zhang Xuezhou and Lei Bei only been talking for a short while when a great commotion broke out in the camp, where the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Fires were lit, food was cooked, and the laborers were urged to get up and start working quickly. The entire camp was filled with a hurried atmosphere, and there were also sounds of whips being cracked.

Compared to ordinary people, monks sleep even less.

When Zhang Xuezhou and Lei Bei emerged from the edge of the deep pool, they saw King Jiangdu emerge from the camp, naked and carrying a gilded halberd with goose wings, striding towards them.

"You say it's only a few feet deep? I don't believe I can't crawl through. Then I can see if this wretched place is actually a water palace!"

King Jiangdu shouted, and when he was still more than ten feet away from the deep pool, he leaped up and used the speed of his dash to accelerate his sprint into the water.

"King of Jiangdu, don't do anything reckless!"

The King of Huainan hurriedly arrived from behind.

He seemed to have used some kind of magic, his body was light and agile, and although he appeared to be walking, the effect was no different from running.

However, it would be very difficult to catch up with a martial artist with extremely high explosive power at this speed.

"Lei Keqing, stop him quickly! Don't let the King of Jiangdu cause this place to collapse!"

My three years' salary!

"If you stop me, I'll reward you with three years' salary; if you fail, I'll deduct another three years!"

Seeing that the King of Jiangdu was about to fall into the water, the King of Huainan was also very anxious.

"Three years after three years, I can't live like this anymore, King of Jiangdu, forgive me!"

The words were still on his lips, but Lei Bei's sword was already prepared, waiting only for the King of Huainan to vouch for him before he could strike.

With a swift stroke of his sword, he stirred up a three-foot wave in the deep pool, which shot out like an arrow.

"I've long disliked you for wielding a sword. This is a good opportunity to see just how skilled you, the number one swordsman in Huainan, really are!"

King Jiangdu plunged into the water, and was unexpectedly struck by the waves whipped up by the Lei Bei, causing him to stagger. The stinging pain he felt enraged.

The moment his body hit the water, the gilded halberd he held stabbed out like a long dragon, and after using the momentum from the riverbank slope, he leaped back.

Just as he found a place to stand, King Jiangdu charged towards Lei Bei with his long weapon.

A strong wind swept up, and even Zhang Xuezhou, who had quickly run away after seeing the King of Jiangdu charge, felt a bone-chilling cold.

The King of Jiangdu was indeed extremely volatile; he would kill without hesitation at the slightest provocation.

Recalling Dong Zhongshu's warning, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but agree.

If he were to be attacked, his small stature would make him vulnerable to being unjustly killed, rendering any agreement he made with the King of Huainan meaningless.

Where did you go last night?

The King of Huainan rushed over.

Seeing that Lei Bei stopped by King Jiangdu, he breathed a sigh of relief and then looked at Zhang Xuezhou, who had hidden away.

"I've been here the whole time!"

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to the deep pool.

He wasn't wrong, but Zhang Xuezhou wasn't actually below the deep pool; he was in a water palace below it.

His words made the King of Huainan stare at him for several seconds, until he could no longer see any trace of unreality in Zhang Xuezhou, before he finally lowered his gaze from his intense observation.

"The laborers who took your Law Treasure into the water palace yesterday have not returned," said the King of Huainan.

"It seems there is danger in the Water Palace; he may have encountered something dangerous!" Zhang Xuezhou said.

"Didn't you say there was nothing in the Water Palace except two stone fish? How did he encounter such danger?" the King of Huainan asked.

"There really isn't anything in that underwater palace, but maybe he didn't hold his breath properly, or perhaps he accidentally fell in and fainted," Zhang Xuezhou said. "We need to speed up the digging to avoid any fatalities!"

"Oh?"

Zhang Xuezhou did not flee, but instead reaffirmed the existence of the Water Mansion.

However, Zhang Xuezhou also admitted once again that there was nothing in the Water Palace.

The King of Huainan's words were not intended to pursue Zhang Xuezhou's case, but rather he was using the two men to make the King of Jiangdu listen more carefully.

They are digging a water palace, but there are no dragons inside. We shouldn't have too high expectations for their excavation, lest we embarrass ourselves later.

Although the King of Huainan believed that Zhang Xuezhou's fate of "all for naught" might actually benefit someone else, and that the Water Mansion might hold undiscovered secrets, he still had to be wary of the possibility that he had indeed encountered an empty Water Mansion.

That's the gist of the matter. The King of King of Huainan might be able to accept that his efforts were in vain, but the King of Jiangdu might not be able to.

At this point, he spoke harshly beforehand and allowed the King of Jiangdu to vent his anger on Lei Bei first, so that they could calmly handle the matter once they had calmed down.

"Why dig if there's nothing there!"

After fiercely fighting Lei Bei dozens of moves without success, King Jiangdu roared in disappointment, his voice clearly filled with deep resentment.

"If there are no dragons in this place, then I'll go straight for the dragon's lair!"

With a shout, he ignored the longsword that Lei Bei and angrily hurled his gilded halberd towards the deep pool.

A near-blinding red light burst forth, then broke through the water and entered.

"Oops!"

The King of Huainan felt a sudden jolt in his heart, and then glared at Lei Bei, whose face was flushed red from forcibly sheathing his sword.

When the muffled sound came from the pool, he realized that things were starting to get chaotic and out of control.

His purpose in excavating the water palace was not to renovate the river embankment, as many of the riverbank deposits were far less secure than imagined; he simply wanted to excavate the water palace as quickly as possible.

Seeing the piled-up embankment begin to crumble and shed sand and gravel, the King of Huainan knew that all was lost.

In just a short while, the water in the pool began to become murky.

As the King of Huainan was about to retreat to avoid a possible collapse, he vaguely saw two ten-foot-long golden carp swirling around the gilded halberd with goose wings in the turbid water. A huge amount of river water gushed out from the carp's mouths, carrying the surrounding water waves and surging up to a height of more than ten feet, which plunged straight to the riverbank.

King Jiangdu's attack actually activated the defensive array of the Huaihe River Water Palace, revealing traces of the Water Palace buried beneath the riverbed.