After hearing the contents of this memorial, Yuan Tiangang ordered Li Chunfeng to take large quantities of supplies to the Tianshan Mountains, and the young disciples from the Temple of the Supreme Lord all went along as well. Only the old and weak remained behind.
It was also at this time that Master Faming from Daming Temple finally crossed the vast ocean and returned to Daming Temple from the land of Wa. This civilian navigation route to the east had finally been blazed by Daming Temple.
Actually, ever since Takayama Yoko arrived in the Great Tang, many monks had hoped to go to the land of Wa, that desert of faith, to spread the teachings. However, years of continuous warfare had severed the route from Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje to the land of Wa. The domineering Yun Ye and Zhang Liang, the two naval commanders, had set extremely high thresholds for Great Tang people going to the land of Wa, often bordering on deliberate obstruction. As for people from Wa who privately wished to come to the Great Tang, these two men’s memorials stated that no such people from Wa had ever appeared, and even if there were any, they had been torn to shreds by hurricanes.
Yun Ye was criticized by all those in the Great Tang who wished to travel by sea routes and was endlessly demonized. His Lingnan Navy had become the greatest obstacle to the Great Tang people’s foreign exchanges. Such rhetoric had quite a market in Lingnan.
Tang people were selfish. Most people only cared about what happened in their own vegetable gardens. They could even know about two caterpillars fighting over a vegetable leaf, but as for what happened on the sea, they had no interest whatsoever. To them, the deaths of two people from Wa were not as important as a plate of food on the table.
No matter what happened outside, Yushan Academy was like a safe harbor. No political storms could blow into this hall. Seven officials from Jiangxi South Circuit had fallen from grace, dismissed overnight. Their entire families were already on the way to Chang’an under escort, yet the bailiffs from the Ministry of Justice had no way of dealing with their sons at Yushan Academy, because they could not enter Yushan Academy to seize people.
After learning of the statutes these men had violated, Li Gang paid no more attention to the people from the Ministry of Justice. Unless it was the crime of high treason, on what grounds would it implicate their descendants? Although Chu Suiliang wielded overwhelming power and influence at this moment, thinking he could enter the academy and do as he pleased was overestimating himself.
Xiao Wu leaned against the table, holding a small shield, engaged in fierce battle with that red scorpion. The scorpion’s tail stinger was raised high. Whenever Xiao Wu’s small bamboo rod in her left hand touched it, the scorpion would viciously attack Xiao Wu with its tail stinger, continuously striking the small shield, producing a sound like wooden clappers.
“Ha ha, this is so much fun! Sister-in-law, is this the fruit of Elder Brother Huo Zhu’s six years of effort? Are there any more? I want one too.” After watching the scorpion quickly flee, Xiao Wu laughingly asked the woman across from her.
The woman shook her head helplessly and said: “Your Elder Brother Huo Zhu spent six years raising just this one, and he fed it with his own blood as bait. Originally it was extremely venomous, but now it’s become a plaything. Your elder brother is very heartbroken—don’t hurt his heart further.”
Xiao Wu picked up her honey water and poured a little into a small cup. She gently tapped the cup, and the scorpion carefully edged over, inserting its large pincers into the small cup, drizzling the honey water onto its own body. It even used its large pincers to clean the bristles on its tail stinger. After finishing with the honey water, the scorpion crawled back down from the table.
This entire scene fell into Xiao Wu’s eyes. She looked again at Huo Zhu sitting by the window reading, and suddenly a strange notion drilled into her mind—perhaps this scorpion had lost its toxicity, but Heaven had given it another form of compensation: wisdom!
Heaven was never partial. What it took away, it would inevitably give back in something else. For scorpions, the former might be more important between toxicity and wisdom. A scorpion without toxicity might not be able to survive in the wild. Could a scorpion possessing wisdom survive in the wild?
Xiao Wu very much wanted to observe this scorpion’s survival, but looking down at her protruding abdomen, she could only sigh and abandon this extremely tempting idea.
The Poison Forest was excessively quiet. Xiao Wu let out a big yawn, preparing to return to her room to sleep. Her daily nap was inviolable—this was her habit. Even if the sky fell, she had to sleep her fill first before anything else.
Di Renjie stood in the West Market, gazing at the dense crowds, feeling so lonely and powerless at this moment. The black-robed woman’s trail had still vanished in this prosperous marketplace. This was a crossroads.
Ahead, many people were crowding around watching something. Out of professional habit, Di Renjie still pushed through the crowd and entered. Beneath a tattered rush mat lay an old beggar—or more precisely, this was an old Daoist, a beggar-like old Daoist.
He was already dead, thoroughly and completely dead. His gray-white eyes were already covered with a layer of ash. The corpse emitted a foul stench. Yellow corpse fluid flowed out from beneath the rush mat, soaking that section of blue-green steps.
“Why is there a corpse here?” Di Renjie spoke to question the West Market constable. This person had been dead for at least two days. Under such hot weather conditions, there should have been a stench emerging after one day of death. Now the corpse had been lying here for two or three days before being discovered—this was the constable’s dereliction of duty.
“Five days ago, this humble official already saw this old Daoist. At that time he was still going around asking for wine to drink, in very good spirits. He didn’t look at all like someone about to die. We hadn’t seen him for two or three days—who would have thought he had actually died.”
Di Renjie ordered the constable to lift the rush mat. A strong stench immediately spread out. On the spot, several constables immediately vomited. Di Renjie covered his nose with a handkerchief and examined the corpse before him from top to bottom. There were no external injuries on the Daoist’s body. In the folds of his skin, countless maggots were writhing. A constable prodded the corpse with a fire-and-water staff, and immediately gray liquid sprayed from the mouth, with maggots turning and crawling within.
Di Renjie’s pupils instantly became stern. With a sharp sound, he drew the long sword from his waist. Amid everyone’s alarmed cries, he thrust the long sword toward this corpse. His attack was heavy, without the slightest intention of showing mercy.
Something strange happened. The corpse sat up, extended an arm, and with a withered hand sporting long fingernails, deflected Di Renjie’s thrusting sword. In a hoarse voice, it asked: “This poor Daoist is merely sleeping. Why must you kill me?”
“The corpse has come back to life!” A constable screamed and ran away with all his might. The crowd of onlookers also scattered with a roar of terrified screams. In an instant, beneath the Longevity Archway, only Di Renjie holding his swallow-wing crossbow and that cursing “corpse” remained.
“Identify yourself! State your name!” Di Renjie used a handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose—this old fellow stank too much. The “corpse” revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth and chuckled: “This poor Daoist is Canshang from Longhu Mountain!”
Di Renjie flew into a rage and kicked the old Daoist in the chest. Only after kicking him did he remember this old fellow’s status. The title of Longhu Grand Master was not just for show—he was the second-ranking Daoist official in the realm, second only to Yuan Shoucheng.
As a mere minor sixth-rank official, this fellow could crush him with one finger. Fortunately, the old fellow’s eyes seemed not yet restored and probably couldn’t see him clearly. He quickly asked: “Do you know who I am?”
The kicked-down old Daoist struggled to sit up and said: “This poor Daoist doesn’t care who you are. No matter who you are, you’re dead for certain.”
Di Renjie was overjoyed. He viciously kicked the old Daoist once more, then turned and ran with all his might. Why would he remain here at such a time? Once the other Daoist officials arrived, his fate would certainly not be good.
For three full days, Di Renjie never left the Poison Forest, only staying in the small courtyard accompanying Xiao Wu. Now it wasn’t just Xiao Wu who needed to flee disaster—he also very much needed to.
“How did you know that old Daoist wasn’t dead?” Xiao Wu leaned against his back, asking softly.
“It was absolutely ridiculous! Corpse fluid had already appeared, maggots had grown on the body, and the mouth and belly were also full of maggots. How could such a thoroughly dead fellow’s body possibly have no corpse spots? In such hot weather, with no bloating in the chest and abdomen, and a flat belly—when someone else poked him with a stick, he could actually spray maggots. This was simply gilding the lily. If it wasn’t a dead person, then it must certainly be a living person. My master and I have been to Daoist Sun’s dissection room quite a bit. Having seen many dead people, how could I be deceived about what a dead person should look like?” Di Renjie spoke of this matter with a trace of pride.
“You said that old Daoist came from Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi South Circuit?” Xiao Wu asked thoughtfully.
“Yes, he said he was called Canshang. Old Daoist Canshang is the Longhu Grand Master. Heaven knows why he ran to Chang’an to fake his death, even making himself so disgusting, swallowing maggots—that’s almost lowering his own status and bringing humiliation upon himself. I don’t know what happened to force this pitiful old Daoist to this step.” Di Renjie teased the red scorpion with a bamboo rod.
“Alas, they say women become stupid after having children. I’ve discovered that ever since we married, you’ve become stupid instead. How can this continue? By the time the child is born, I don’t even know if you’ll still have enough wisdom to teach our child to read.” Xiao Wu slapped away Di Renjie’s wandering hand reaching over, very worried about the future of their family.
“Just say it if you’ve thought of something. Do you think constantly pondering matters in your head all day long would be very comfortable? Your husband here must toil daily for the nation—not only investigating corruption and eliminating redundancy, but also searching for that damned black-robed woman. Now I’ve carelessly kicked the Longhu Grand Master twice. At a time like this, don’t keep me in suspense.” Di Renjie kicked the troublemaking scorpion to the corner and embraced Xiao Wu again, burying his head in the crook of her neck, greedily inhaling the fragrance of her hair.
“Fool! That Canshang came to resolve Longhu Mountain’s crisis. However, they came too quickly. The moment there was any movement here in Chang’an, Canshang and the others got the news. Deliberately performing this spectacle of a dead person coming back to life in the marketplace—I don’t know what they were thinking. His Majesty is currently searching the entire world for these mystical types to save Princess Si’s life, yet at this time they still dare to play such games. Could it be that they have a way to resolve Princess Si’s condition?” Xiao Wu said softly while embracing Di Renjie in return.
“Ha ha, I know, which is why I burrowed into the Poison Forest and won’t come out. Since the people from Longhu Mountain only want to survive and haven’t endangered the nation, I really have no need to make things difficult for them.”