Seeing the iron ball, the black-robed woman prepared to catch it with her hand, but suddenly noticed Di Renjie hiding behind the artificial rock formation with Xiao Wu. Realizing this was no ordinary object, she flashed behind a willow tree. A thunderous explosion followed as fragments of the gunpowder bomb mixed with shattered stone chips flew in all directions, riddling the lotus leaves held high above the pond with countless holes.

After the smoke cleared, Di Renjie emerged holding his swallow-wing crossbow, searching for the black-robed woman, but she had vanished without a trace. Only when the household guards who had heard the commotion rushed over did Di Renjie feel relieved. He brought Xiao Wu out from behind the artificial rock formation, his mood quite poor—someone was already scheming against his child while it was still in the womb.

Xiao Wu, however, remained extremely composed. No one could possibly connect this gentle, stunningly beautiful pregnant woman before their eyes with the woman who had just been attempting to take lives at every turn.

“This is a new type of firecracker!” Di Renjie explained to his mother, who had nearly been frightened to death.

After enduring countless scoldings, Di Renjie decided to stay at the academy for a few days with Xiao Wu. The pool of blood behind the willow tree, along with the conical hat left behind, clearly indicated that he had made an enemy. Staying at home would only bring calamity upon his family.

Xiao Wu was unwilling to live in the underground passage. Although the Yun family’s tunnel had better conditions, Xiao Wu detested darkness. Having no choice, Di Renjie could only send Xiao Wu to stay with Huo Zhu. This suggestion gained Xiao Wu’s approval—previously, Di Renjie would never allow her to go to the Poison Forest to see the poisonous spiders no matter what.

The Poison Forest had now completely transformed into a Dead Forest, with spider webs everywhere. The spiders grew larger and larger, as did the scorpions, especially the hundred or so large scorpions the academy had brought back from the Tianshan Mountains, which seemed to particularly favor the Poison Forest.

Wearing gloves, Huo Zhu grabbed a palm-sized black scorpion. He inserted the scorpion’s tail stinger into the mouth of a glass bottle covered with fish bladder. The tail stinger had just pierced through the fish bladder when a stream of crystalline liquid flowed from the tip of the stinger—this was scorpion venom. After extracting venom from this scorpion three times in succession and seeing it become extremely lethargic, he finally released it. Turning over tiles beside the small path, he found another one and, before it could escape, clamped it with tongs and continued collecting venom.

Only after filling an entire bottle did he stop. He shook his leg to dislodge a spider crawling up his foot—now was not the time for collecting spider toxins, so there was no need to pay much attention to these annoying creatures.

He looked regretfully at the screen wall, where the numbers were already covered with moss. No one had entered for a long time, and he wondered whether the mechanisms inside were still intact. The venomous creatures within the maze formation were truly the finest, but unfortunately he couldn’t enter. Only after the iron armor was completely finished could he go inside to see what those venomous creatures had become.

A fiery red scorpion crawled out from his sleeve, waved its thick tail stinger once, then burrowed back inside. This was his life-bound scorpion, though it was merely a title. Killing the scorpion would only make him sad; it had never produced the life-and-death interdependence that the Nanzhao indigenous people described.

Six years wasted, having used his own blood to merely raise a pet. He pulled this large scorpion from his sleeve and flicked its tail stinger. The scorpion immediately scratched across his skin with its stinger—quite good for relieving itches. The finger-thick tail stinger was just for show, containing not a drop of venom.

When he first discovered this, Huo Zhu had been heartbroken. Whether in terms of bearing or appearance, this should have been an extremely venomous creature. The fiery red tail stinger had grown red bristles—anyone who saw it would be shocked. Besides himself, Yun Ye, and Sun Simiao, who would know that this thing could only be deep-fried and served as a dish?

He didn’t know where the problem lay, why a highly venomous scorpion nurtured with his own blood for six years had become a completely non-venomous waste. Huo Zhu had searched countless times for the reason, yet it all remained a mystery.

Hearing the bell ring six times—this was Di Renjie’s signal. Why did this young man always come for honey? He had already told him that recently wasn’t a good time for harvesting honey. Why did he keep coming?

Huo Zhu had now become extremely withdrawn. Whenever possible, he was unwilling to see anyone. Not speaking a single word to his wife for ten days or half a month was common. Now that their child was attending elementary school, his wife had moved out to care for the child. In the entire vast Poison Forest, only Huo Zhu remained inside, tending to these venomous creatures. Food in the Poison Forest was becoming increasingly scarce, requiring large amounts of artificial feed placement. He was very worried that continuing to raise them this way would eventually turn all the venomous creatures into non-venomous pets.

He grabbed a rabbit from a cage behind him. As soon as he placed it on the ground, a tail stinger shot up from the sandy soil, heavily piercing the rabbit’s body. This rabbit, which had just gained its freedom, convulsed and fell to the ground. Countless scorpions, large and small, emerged from the pile of rocks and crawled onto the rabbit’s body.

For scorpions, the rabbit was still too large. Eating it this way would be very slow. Huo Zhu used a knife to dismember the rabbit and discovered that the rabbit’s blood had already turned blue-green, and the entire heart had become purple.

The bell rang again. Huo Zhu stood up irritably and hurried along the stone-slab path to the maze exit. Seeing Xiao Wu standing beside Di Renjie from afar, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

“Elder Brother Huo Zhu, don’t frown. Your younger sister truly has nowhere else to turn and needs to take refuge here with you.” Xiao Wu looked at the fiery red scorpion strutting arrogantly on Huo Zhu’s shoulder, her face turning slightly pale.

“You’re already pregnant, yet you don’t know how to cherish your body, still running to the Poison Forest to fool around. Really! Since you’re already here, come in then. I don’t have much honey left. If you’re craving it, just take a little back with you. The new honey hasn’t been harvested yet—it won’t be available until next month.” Huo Zhu didn’t believe at all that anyone could drive these two to such desperate straits.

Following Huo Zhu inside, Xiao Wu pouted coquettishly: “It’s true, Elder Brother Huo Zhu! There’s a wicked woman who wants the child in Xiao Wu’s belly. She also said I’m a hundred-transformation demon and called Xiao Jie a ‘guest charmer.’ Her martial arts are very formidable—the household guards definitely couldn’t defeat her. After thinking it over, we realized that hiding here with you is safest.”

“Oh? There’s such a woman? According to what you’re saying, you’ve actually met this woman? Han Zhe said the Marquis is a ‘guest charmer,’ but now she’s calling Xiao Jie a ‘guest charmer’ too?” Huo Zhu’s interest was suddenly piqued. He too wanted to meet this mysterious woman.

“Yes! On my wedding day, she came to the house to offer congratulations, but when she left, she declared that she would take away one of my children. How detestable! Elder Brother Huo Zhu, you must help me catch this woman and feed her to the spiders.”

Di Renjie looked around and, not seeing any venomous creatures, asked Huo Zhu worriedly: “Elder Brother Huo Zhu, when I came here last time, there were still many venomous creatures. Why can’t I see a single one now?”

Huo Zhu snorted, took out a pigeon whistle from his bosom, and blew it twice. Immediately, countless spiders and scorpions appeared from the grass, treetops, sandy ground, and rock piles. These were his achievements from all these years—continuously placing feed had gradually changed these venomous creatures from being indifferent to the pigeon whistle’s low tone to appearing whenever they heard it, even defying their natural habit of lying dormant during the day and emerging at night.

All women had no fondness whatsoever for these things. Xiao Wu carefully cradled her belly as she followed behind Huo Zhu, not daring to step wrongly even once, constantly complaining about why Di Renjie had Elder Brother Huo Zhu summon out the venomous creatures.

“Li Jing’s younger brother Li Keshi raises birds. I heard that all the birds from the Wei River to Chang’an recognize him. Yet you raise venomous creatures. Now your great name should be as renowned throughout the realm as Li Keshi’s, shouldn’t it?” Xiao Wu suddenly thought of the Chang’an eccentric Li Keshi and quickly asked Huo Zhu. Whenever she met family members, Xiao Wu immediately reverted to her girlish manner.

“I don’t like others knowing about me. I only want to live here quietly.” Huo Zhu gave a muffled grunt, unwilling to let Xiao Wu meddle and disturb his life.

The three entered the small courtyard. The scorpion on Huo Zhu’s shoulder swiftly crawled down from his shoulder and disappeared under a brick and stone in the corner.

“Since you’re fleeing disaster, stay here then. I don’t believe anyone can enter here to harm you. When Xiao Jie leaves in a bit, have him summon your sister-in-law back to care for Xiao Wu. When one is pregnant, one should be more careful in all things.”

“Xiao Jie, when you go to deal with that woman, if you discover you’re no match for her, return quickly. In the Poison Forest, no matter how capable she is, she’ll be helpless against this place.”

Di Renjie smiled and nodded in agreement. As long as Xiao Wu was safe, Di Renjie didn’t care about that woman. After all, she was just a wandering knight-errant, at most someone with formidable martial arts. Having stripped away the divine aura from above their heads, Di Renjie had almost no favorable impression of such people. Knights-errants who use martial arts to violate prohibitions—eliminating them was precisely the Court of Judicial Review’s responsibility. The Great Tang needed order, not vigilantes who could kill people in the streets.

They flourished in chaotic times and became famous when the Way declined. Wearing light fur, carrying long swords, riding spirited horses, leading wild songs—they might aid the weak and assist the poor, rescuing people from danger, or eliminate violence and maintain peace, resolving difficulties in times of hardship. Their words were trustworthy, their promises sincere, their actions decisive. This sounded worthy of solemn respect, but they were usurping state power into their own hands, performing the duties of government officials. They had emerged endlessly through every dynasty, and in the Great Tang they too were a social cancer. The Great Tang didn’t need them to come forward to uphold justice—only the “Great Tang Legal Code” could uphold justice.

Having settled Xiao Wu, Di Renjie went to the Yun family estate. From the armory he equipped himself to the teeth, even donning soft armor, and began mobilizing the power of the Court of Judicial Review. Following the portrait sketch, he began searching for this mysterious woman. Until he caught her, Di Renjie felt he couldn’t enjoy his food or sleep peacefully.

Just as he was searching everywhere for this woman, Chang’an City once again became tense—not because of anything else, but due to a memorial submitted by Chu Suiliang: “Jade slips and golden books, divine classics and secret records, the marvels of three-foot nine-turn transformations, the wonders of crimson snow and mysterious frost—the King of Huainan attaining the Way with his dogs barking in the clouds, Zi Qiao achieving immortality with his sword flying to the heavens—all are baseless claims and wild talk. Seeking them is like tying up the wind, studying them like catching shadows… From recent times onward, Buddhism has been greatly preserved, copying sutras from the Western lands, painting images in the Southern Palace. The earth of Kunming Pool turned black, taken to be ashes from the kalpa fire; the Spring and Autumn night grew bright, said to be the day the deity descended. The Dharma King is sovereign and freely transforms without limit, placing worlds within a mote of dust, containing Mount Sumeru within a grain of millet. Indeed, the principle is fundamentally empty and null, manifesting various expedient means…”