When Li Si and his two companions bid farewell to Lou Ao and returned to the Suishui Yamen, it was already dusk. Wu Wen seemed completely exhausted. Xiao Ning accompanied him back to the sleeping quarters first, while Li Si alone headed straight to the largest and coldest stone chamber in the yamen and stopped.
Li Si looked at this pitch-black chamber, reached out to gently push open the door, and walked in. Outside, the night wind had begun to blow, but inside the chamber seemed even colder than outside. Li Si couldn’t help but shiver. Besides the cold, there was also darkness and a faint smell of decay. Li Si shook his head and muttered to himself: “Sometimes I truly admire you—that you can actually live in an environment like this.”
“Sometimes I admire myself too!” From deep within the stone chamber, an aged voice slowly drifted over, and then an oil lamp lit up. Li Si looked at Lao Sitou’s turbid gaze and smiled: “It seems you already knew I would come.”
Lao Sitou turned around, placing the oil lamp on a stone table beside him: “You also seemed to already know I would be waiting for you to come.”
Li Si smiled and walked over, coming to a corner of the stone chamber. Here was an even larger stone table with a black box placed on it. Li Si put down another black box in his hand beside it and said to Lao Sitou: “I’ve brought you another good thing.”
Lao Sitou came over and lifted a corner of the black box, seeing the contents inside, and said lightly: “It seems this murderer really can’t endure loneliness. After only one day, he’s struck again.” Li Si also placed two wooden puppets on the stone table: “There are also these two puppets.”
Lao Sitou seemed somewhat surprised, picking up one of the puppets: “Also found in the deceased’s belly?” Li Si nodded.
Lao Sitou carefully examined it, then suddenly said: “I seem to know this person.” Li Si turned to look and saw that Lao Sitou was holding the one-eyed puppet. Li Si quickly said: “Oh, I heard from Lou Ao that he’s called Sun Miao. I don’t know anything else yet.”
“That’s right. I remember he was a lone bandit, but his external school palm technique from horizontal training was truly formidable. Where is he now?” Lao Sitou put down the puppet and asked.
Li Si shrugged: “Already dissolved by the murderer using Corpse-Dissolving Powder.” Li Si paused: “It seems the murderer has become much more cautious, not wanting to leave us too many clues.”
Lao Sitou looked at the black box and the puppets, saying lightly: “He’s already left us many clues.”
Li Si was stunned, then smiled: “True, many clues indeed. But I still can’t find where the thread of these clues begins.”
“Perhaps I can help you a bit.” Lao Sitou turned and walked toward the depths of the dark chamber. Li Si followed behind. The further inside they went, the lower the temperature of the stone chamber became. Around them also appeared many corpses covered with white grass mats. Li Si couldn’t help but say: “Actually, I’ve always been curious—when you sleep beside so many dead people, what does it feel like?”
Lao Sitou again said lightly: “If you want to know, I can let you have the room to sleep in tonight.”
Li Si smiled bitterly and shook his head: “No need. I still prefer having a woman lying beside me, not a bunch of dead people.”
Lao Sitou continued all the way to the deepest part of the stone chamber. Here was a huge stone bed. The cold stone temperature could maximize the preservation time of stored corpses. At this moment, the stone bed was covered with a white fine mat. Lao Sitou pulled open the white mat in one motion—inside was precisely yesterday’s Western Regions medicinal herb merchant. Li Si watched Lao Sitou with interest: “Lao Sitou, what else have you discovered?”
The corpse was naked, with the clothing placed beside it. Lao Sitou picked up a piece of white undergarment: “Look at this undergarment’s sleeves.”
Li Si took the undergarment and examined the sleeves. He actually discovered that at the sleeve position was a hidden pocket, coated with quite a bit of bright green grass powder. Li Si pondered: “Could this be Heaven Insect Grass powder?”
“Correct. I’ve examined it—this grass powder is precisely Heaven Insect Grass. Heaven Insect Grass is too expensive, so it seems the deceased hid this Heaven Insect Grass in his undergarment while alive.” Lao Sitou nodded.
“The murderer used the Heaven Insect Grass the medicinal herb merchant himself carried to poison him.” Li Si looked at the grass powder and slowly said, “This indicates the murderer is someone who understands him very well.”
Lao Sitou interjected: “Or someone who did business with him.” Li Si nodded: “Right. Only someone who bought Heaven Insect Grass from the deceased could clearly understand where the deceased hid the Heaven Insect Grass. That person who bought Heaven Insect Grass—he’s very likely the murderer who killed the medicinal herb merchant.”
Lao Sitou nodded slowly, then suddenly said: “There are some other things to show you.” Li Si smiled: “It seems the clues you discover from dead people are much more useful than what I find from living people.”
Lao Sitou said lightly: “Because what living people tell you contains too many falsehoods, while what dead people tell me are all true facts.” As Lao Sitou spoke, he drew out a small yellow paper packet from the stone bed near the medicinal herb merchant’s head position and slowly opened it. Inside were actually several small particles resembling black insect pupae. Lao Sitou placed them before Li Si: “You definitely won’t know what this is.”
Li Si shook his head and smiled. After carefully observing for a while, he asked: “Was this also found in the deceased’s belly?”
Lao Sitou didn’t speak, only nodded. Li Si said: “Is this Heaven Insect Grass seed?”
Lao Sitou suddenly smiled. Li Si hadn’t seen Lao Sitou smile in a long time. Watching Lao Sitou smile, his own heart suddenly turned cold, because Lao Sitou’s smile didn’t look much more comfortable than looking at a corpse. Lao Sitou’s smile was mysterious as he said: “This isn’t Heaven Insect Grass seed, but Heaven Insect Grass larvae!”
“What? Larvae…” Li Si seemed very surprised, quickly saying: “Isn’t Heaven Insect Grass a precious medicinal plant? How could it have larvae?”
Lao Sitou said lightly: “It seems you don’t understand it very well. That’s right—mysterious species like Heaven Insect Grass that are almost extinct, there aren’t many people who truly completely understand them now.” Lao Sitou shook his head slightly. His dim gaze actually slowly brightened. He slowly said: “This Heaven Insect Grass is called Heaven Insect Grass because it initially emerges in the form of black larvae. This kind of larva is inherently rare, and the environment it must survive in must be high, cold, damp, dark, and toxic, so their chances of survival are even smaller. Once they pass through this period, the black larvae will burrow into rock crevices in cliff faces, sprouting plant shoots. The shoots will fully absorb the nutrients from the larva corpse’s interior. After another ten years, seedlings will grow, then after fifty years they bloom, and fifty years later mature. When Heaven Insect Grass matures, its most precious part—the root—has medicinal value exceeding everyone’s imagination. It’s said that one Heaven Insect Grass root’s effect equals one hundred century-old ginseng roots. However, although its root system is so precious, other parts of the Heaven Insect Grass, such as the stem, leaves, and flowers, are filled with deadly poison, and to this day no one can cure this poison.” Lao Sitou suddenly paused, looking at Li Si: “Do you know where their poison comes from?”
Li Si looked at Lao Sitou’s mysterious expression and suddenly said: “Could it come from its larvae?”
Lao Sitou nodded with satisfaction: “Correct. The poison of Heaven Insect Grass in plant form comes entirely from the toxins within the black larval form’s initial state. These toxins won’t be eliminated but are instead transferred into the Heaven Insect Grass’s stem, leaves, and flowers.”
After hearing Lao Sitou’s words, Li Si couldn’t help but carefully reexamine the black insect pupae in the yellow paper packet: “This world is truly marvelous—there are actually insects that can transform into plants.”
“This world is of course marvelous. The knowledge humanity obtains from it is only a tiny part. Naturally there will be more unsolvable problems, such as—if these toxic pupae flow into human blood vessels, what kind of result would occur?” Lao Sitou’s tone remained consistently light.
Li Si couldn’t help but ask: “Right, what kind of consequences would there be?”
Lao Sitou said lightly: “The murderer probably didn’t realize that mixed in with the Heaven Insect Grass leaves he used to poison the deceased were also Heaven Insect Grass larvae. However, this can also help us solve an answer that’s never been solved before.” Lao Sitou completely lifted off the white fine mat covering the deceased’s body. Below the mat, the medicinal herb merchant’s corpse had countless faint purple veins radiating from the heart toward the body’s seven channels and eight vessels. The medicinal herb merchant’s entire body was like being covered by a purple net. Li Si watched with amazement in his heart. In an instant, Li Si seemed to remember something. He reached out and turned over the deceased’s already tightly closed eyes. Under Li Si’s hand, the medicinal herb merchant’s pair of pupils were actually a dreamlike, mysterious purple color!
Lao Sitou was also somewhat surprised: “Even the eye color has changed.”
“Indeed, it really is so.” Li Si suddenly had an epiphany, seeming to think of many things in an instant: That Lou Tianming in the bamboo cottage with beautiful features who possessed purple pupils—had he also been poisoned by Heaven Insect Grass larvae? If so, who administered the poison? Was the poisoner someone from inside Budong Manor, or someone from outside? Was the poisoner a close relative by Lou Tianming’s side, or just someone from the martial arts world obsessed with Budong Manor’s secret manual? And if he truly was poisoned by Heaven Insect Grass larvae, why could Lou Tianming not die?
Li Si’s thoughts in this instant twisted into a knot—he couldn’t think through anything. Li Si couldn’t help but let out a long breath.
Lao Sitou seemed to notice the change in Li Si’s expression and asked: “What are you thinking about?”
Li Si smiled bitterly: “I’m thinking that if I die one day and could also possess a pair of purple pupils, perhaps it would be a pretty good thing.” Lao Sitou said lightly: “Then you can keep these insect pupae and eat them when you’re about to die.”
Li Si laughed loudly: “Indeed a good method. But I have another question.”
“Oh, what?” Lao Sitou asked.
“Why do those Heaven Insect Grass larvae like cold, damp, and dark places? If they encounter sunlight, what would they become?” Li Si said.
Lao Sitou was silent for half a day: “I don’t know this either. Perhaps no one knows.”
Li Si suddenly smiled at Lao Sitou: “Perhaps I have a way to find out.” Li Si suddenly picked up the medicinal herb merchant’s corpse and ran toward the stone chamber entrance. Lao Sitou was startled by Li Si’s action. He wanted to stop him but paused, the corner of his mouth suddenly revealing another mysterious smile. He said lightly: “It seems I’m getting old.”
Li Si rushed out of the stone chamber. Outside, the dim yellow sunlight had reached its final moments—the sun was about to sink below the distant mountains. In this last sunlight, Li Si held the medicinal herb merchant’s corpse high. Sunlight spilled onto the deceased’s face, and gradually an astonishing change occurred.
As if afflicted with some severe malignant sore, the deceased’s body actually slowly began to fester. As the sunlight illuminated the entire body, this festering continuously expanded. Li Si threw the mutilated corpse onto the ground. His gaze, along with the distant sky’s sun, slowly sank below the mountains. He murmured: “Why can’t the bluebird fly toward the sky?”
Li Si smiled faintly: “Because for this bluebird with purple pupils, flight means death!”
That night when Li Si slept, he had a dream. He dreamed he had become a purple-eyed bird, spreading his wings and soaring in the sky—only there was no sun in the sky, just complete darkness.
“Catcher! Catcher!” Wu Wen’s shout suddenly came to his ears. Before Li Si’s eyes had even opened, he already smiled: “You little rascal, one day I really will have Lao Sitou stuff a piece of dead person’s meat in your mouth!”
Li Si opened his eyes and discovered he had actually been sleeping in Lao Sitou’s large stone chamber. Around him was a chilly cold wind. Li Si couldn’t help but shiver. He quickly got up to look for Lao Sitou but couldn’t find him. Li Si asked: “Where’s Lao Sitou?”
“Oh…” Wu Wen stared up and down at Li Si as if looking at a monster: “Lao Sitou ran over to our place to sleep last night. He said you occupied his bed and he had nowhere to sleep. But, Catcher, why would you want to sleep in this dead people’s room and even steal Lao Sitou’s bed?”
Li Si rubbed his head, murmuring: “I was probably really tired yesterday. I originally wanted to lie down and rest for a bit, but who knew I’d actually fall asleep. That Lao Sitou—looks like he deliberately wanted to let me experience the feeling of sleeping with dead people!” Li Si shook his head with a smile. Wu Wen on the side peered inside at the dozen or so corpses, asking curiously: “Catcher, so what exactly does it feel like? Are there strange sounds at night? Any breathing sounds or faint footsteps?”
Li Si smiled mischievously: “You want to know?”
Wu Wen nodded eagerly. Li Si said mysteriously: “Then tonight you come sleep here for one night, and you’ll know everything.” After hearing this, Wu Wen’s expression changed immediately. He quickly ran toward the stone chamber exit, shouting as he ran: “I have no such interest!”
Behind Wu Wen, Li Si laughed loudly. Who knew Wu Wen would run halfway out then run back again: “Oh right, Catcher, I forgot to give you this.” As Wu Wen spoke, he took out a bright red invitation from his bosom. Li Si said: “What’s this?”
Wu Wen smiled: “This was sent early this morning by people from Budong Manor. It says that today is Lou Ao’s sixtieth birthday. They’re holding a grand birthday banquet at Budong Manor and have invited us to attend.”
Li Si looked at the invitation, silent for a moment, then said: “Yesterday two people just died at their manor, and today they’re holding a grand birthday celebration—this is indeed somewhat interesting.” Wu Wen nodded: “Perhaps with Yan Ying and Sun Miao, those two great rivals gone, they’re happy.”
Wu Wen hesitated: “Catcher, shall we go or not?”
Li Si smiled lightly: “Go, of course we’ll go. When there’s free wine to drink, why wouldn’t we go!”