Takayama Yoko was very sad. The dead were all her guards, all eaten by some terrifying invisible thing. It looked more like the hundred thousand demon gods from the mountains and wilderness of Japan. The silkworm-like gnawing sounds had already terrified one brave guard so much he now dared not even leave his door. After letting the terrified guard eat a good meal and being attended to by two Japanese women servants, her guard captain personally beheaded him. Only in this way could the brave guard’s family in their homeland be guaranteed not to be disgraced.
She had no divine objects, so there was no way to deal with demons. The Yata Mirror was at Senso-ji Temple. Her imperial father never let her touch the Yasakani Jewel. The Kusanagi Sword had gone who knows where. Otherwise, as long as her family’s warriors held these three treasures, no demons or monsters would dare approach. The eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi had been slain by Susanoo with the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi sword. Not to mention the Kusanagi Sword which was even more powerful than the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. Takayama Yoko had always hoped she too would have a Susanoo guardian, but searching all of Japan, there was no such person.
Listening to Takayama Yoko’s rambling, Gai Suwen’s face turned so dark it was practically becoming coal. This woman who was so ruthless and vicious, having done almost every evil deed imaginable, was now like an ignorant little girl expecting her Susanoo to come help her.
“Princess, myths are just legends. Like the three-legged crow we worship—they don’t exist. What we need to do now is rely on our own strength to obtain the jade token, then use it to find the White Jade Capital. I believe the White Jade Capital must be where wisdom resides. Yun Ye was only a person of mediocre talent, but after going to the White Jade Capital, he became so difficult to deal with. If we two obtain the White Jade Capital, believe me, we would be nearly invincible.”
No matter how powerful Susanoo was, it wasn’t as good as having power oneself. Takayama Yoko understood this principle. Tonight it would be the Koreans’ turn to enter the Maze Forest. Since her own people wouldn’t die anymore, let’s see if the Koreans were more capable.
Though summer had just left, the mountain nights were still somewhat cold. Huozhu had been hoping all along that tonight a woman would go to the Maze Forest. No matter whether she was good-looking or not, as long as she was a woman. Master Sun very much liked those three skeletal frames and personally found a drill to carefully assemble the bones himself. Working through the night, he probably still wouldn’t finish. Not having obtained a female skeletal frame for his teacher, he felt very sorry. He even thought about entering the Maze Forest himself to open all those cabinets. That way perhaps those people would rush in desperately, and the probability of women entering would be greater.
The Maze Forest had always been managed by Huozhu himself. To form a small ecosystem inside the Maze Forest was very difficult. There couldn’t be too many ants—too many would cause them to split into colonies, and the consequence of splitting would be ants running outside. The centipedes that ate ants also couldn’t be too numerous—too many would eat all the ants. The red-banded snakes that ate centipedes also couldn’t be too many. Everything needed to be maintained within an appropriate quantity. As for the hornets, these were Huozhu’s favorite. Deep-fried small hornets were a rare delicacy and tonic. Having eaten too many hornets, now those hornets would flee when they saw him and wouldn’t sting him at all. After discovering this secret, his menu became more lively. Deep-fried centipedes were simply a heavenly delicacy. Red-banded snakes with their poison sacs removed, simmered into snake congee—the taste was simply indescribable.
Li Tai once came with Yun Ye to see him and happened upon him deep-frying centipedes. Li Tai was so scared he nearly ran away, but Yun Ye squatted beside him drooling while waiting to eat centipedes. Apparently he had eaten them before.
Seeing the tender white meat after the centipede shell was peeled off, Li Tai ultimately still ate one. Now whenever it was time to cull the poisonous insects in the Maze Forest, he and Yun Ye would arrive without prior arrangement. Later Master Sun came too, Master Wushe came too. After Master Lishi came, Master Li Gang also came. None of them spoke—just waited to eat centipede meat and drink snake soup. After eating, they left. Now what Huozhu worried about was that there weren’t enough poisonous insects in the Maze Forest to eat, rather than there being too many.
Sounds came from inside the Maze Forest. After listening for quite a while, Huozhu was somewhat disappointed. There were no screams made by women. He closed the iron door of his room. As long as he didn’t open the door, people outside simply couldn’t enter. He undressed, prepared to sleep. Before blowing out the candle, he listened carefully again—still no female voices. He sighed and blew out the candle, lay on the bed, and began calculating whether his sister’s dowry was sufficient.
Not having to attend court, Yun Ye naturally slept in. When he slept in, Li Anlan absolutely wouldn’t get up alone. When Xinyue came in and saw Li Anlan coiled around her husband like a snake, the fury in her heart would erupt. The rooster had already crowed three times, and now they were still shamelessly entangled together without any propriety. And she claimed to be a princess!
Master Sun’s medicine was indeed effective. It was just that after abstaining and then lifting the ban, things got a bit out of control. Seeing Xinyue enter, Yun Ye pulled Xinyue onto the bed in one motion. With the help of accomplice Li Anlan, Xinyue couldn’t avoid sleeping in either. When the two of them shyly emerged from the room to go to the main hall to pay respects to Grandmother, Grandmother didn’t blame them but kept looking at their bellies and sighing. With such a large Yun Family estate, how could having only two children be enough?
Yun Ye didn’t care. Being able to have three children proved that his body hadn’t been harmed by the black hole when he arrived. Apart from time reversing somewhat, everything else was fine. As long as there was enough time, there would be children. No need to rush.
After finishing breakfast, he drove the light carriage to the academy. When he arrived at the academy, Xu Jingzong had already arrived and was frowning as he watched Huozhu drag out four or five corpses from the Maze Forest. Some had been gnawed clean by ants, some only half-eaten—the upper body intact while the lower body was just bare bones.
Xu Jingzong covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief. After glancing over, he said to Yun Ye, “This won’t do. The academy is a sacred place for teaching and nurturing people. How can there be constant dead bodies every day? No matter what, Huozhu, you must prevent these thieving bones from entering the Maze Forest. They can’t steal what’s inside anyway. Why do they keep coming one after another? Look at them—do they still look human? Look at this one—purely scared to death, eyes wide open. What suffering! Huozhu, go ask Master Sun if he still needs skeletal remains. If so, while they’re fresh, send them to the teacher. These are all Koreans—no need to bury them properly.”
“Marquis Yun, it’s all your broken jade token attracting these thieves. Can you please take it away? This thing has already killed countless people. Don’t let it bring dead people to the academy.”
Huozhu pulled the skeletal remains on a board cart toward the medicine hut. The bones were only covered with a reed mat. When the wind blew, the reed mat fell off. Academy students preparing to go to the medicine hut to study quickly helped cover it back up. If this scene happened at the Imperial Academy, it would definitely frighten one or two people into madness. But this was Yushan Academy. Yesterday they had seen three sets of human skeletal frames brushed with tung oil, gleaming brightly as they were placed in the medicine hut’s laboratory. Seeing half a corpse today really wasn’t a big deal. Students specializing in medicine would run over whenever there was a homicide case in Chang’an to watch and observe how the coroner performed autopsies. Sometimes they even had to sketch the scene. Obviously the skeletal remains Huozhu was pulling were props to be used in today’s lecture. Everyone helped Huozhu push the board cart and soon arrived at the medicine hut.
Gai Suwen descended from a large tree and stared blankly at the departing students. He couldn’t understand how these students could have such an attitude facing terrifying corpses. Some students even lifted the reed mat from time to time to look, their eyes showing only curiosity without the slightest trace of fear.
Could this be an academy specifically for teaching demons? He had heard what Xu Jingzong said to Yun Ye. One sentence left a very deep impression on him—Xu Jingzong saying to send them to Master Sun while they were fresh.
He dared not think about what would happen next. He only felt waves of acid rising in his stomach. Supporting himself on the tree trunk, he retched for a long time before dejectedly leaving the mountain along a deserted path. The Tang nation also had demons who ate people.
“Yun Ye eats people?” Takayama Yoko’s eyes nearly fell out. Hugging her ample bosom, she shrank into a corner with a whoosh, her upper and lower teeth chattering. She was terrified. She had been in contact with Yun Ye more than once or twice. Thinking of Yun Ye’s strange expression in the portrait—could it be that at the time he was thinking about how to eat her? No wonder when facing the “Heavenly Demon Dance,” he wasn’t seduced. She herself had been immersed in the enchantment, yet his eyes remained coldly clear. Others were appreciating the living, fragrant beauty, but perhaps his thoughts were different from others. This fragrant beauty—would she taste better boiled or roasted? Thinking of this, Takayama Yoko had an impulse to go mad. She wanted to immediately get far away from Yun Ye, preferably never to meet again in this lifetime.
“Yoko, last night while that thing was eating people, I looked at those cabinets storing precious items. We have no way to open them. If we were outside, perhaps we could use a sledgehammer to open them. I tested the weight—without eight strong men, those cabinets cannot be moved. To enter the Maze Forest, one can only pass from the treetops. Who knew there were poisonous insects on the treetops, extremely venomous. If my blade had been slightly slower, I would have been bitten by poisonous insects. Those poisonous insects can even attack us along the rope we use to enter. If the jade token is stored in the academy’s Maze Forest, we have absolutely no way to steal it. Perhaps as long as we solve the academy’s mystery, we’ll find a way to deal with Yun Ye.”
“The academy won’t let us enter. I asked around—the academy absolutely forbids any foreigners from passing through. Once you enter and get caught, you’ll be beheaded. They’ve already beheaded several people. I don’t want to be beheaded.”
“Yoko, when you perform, you always wear heavy makeup. As long as you remove the cosmetics, how many people can recognize you? Dongyang River doesn’t prohibit ladies from entering. You’re a lady who came to Chang’an from another place wanting to see the academy. I think those enthusiastic academy students will be very happy to take you in and explain the academy’s secrets to you. As long as you use a little charm, I don’t believe those ordinary academy students can resist your beauty.”
“Naturally. Yun Ye is a monster. I don’t believe everyone in the academy is a monster.”