Author: Chai Jidan

Translator: KrisLo89, Renkun27

Proofreader: Zeraphiel25

Although they would leap around in the underbrush, they could be seen everywhere, but some of those insects had lived for thousands of years. When the emperor developed this unique field as a garden in the past, there was already an active, capable, and highly-skilled poison master who practiced breeding insects within its premises. At first, those legendary venomous insects were only tiny ova. You could not clearly see the structures inside them. It was not until several generations ago that the poison master could see the embryonic form of the insects.

Nowadays, those insects were almost ready to be refined. If they were refined into fully-developed specialized vermin spirits, they could be appointed to serve a person at any time. These vermin spirits would never betray their masters, and they are more shrewd and cunning compared to the average person.

Concubine Mu, who once was haunted by apparitions, was actually a victim of these clever insects. She witnessed the figures of evil apparitions and heard the sounds of evil apparitions, all day long, as if she was faced with a formidable foe. She was subjected to these spirits’ torment.

And yet, if these insects would eventually be smothered, dried up in the sun, combined with poisonous fungi, Datura flowers [1], and as well as a person’s hair, they could be made into poisonous powder. The poisonous powder made from these insects was colorless and odorless. After ingesting a dose of it, a typical doctor would not be able to determine the illness’s root cause.

([1] Datura grows in the wild in all the warmer parts of the world, such as India and is cultivated worldwide for its chemical and ornamental properties. All parts of Datura plants contain dangerous levels of highly poisonous tropane alkaloids and may be fatal if ingested by humans or other animals, including livestock and pets.)

Su Ying inadvertently inhaled this poisonous powder while he was with the Third Prince. This poisonous powder would initially cause high fever, flushing, chronic bloody diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal cramps as if a knife was being twisted in the abdomen, and if it would not be cured, it could eventually lead to death.

The Third Prince was initially worried that the insects would hurt Mu Xueshi or if the poisonous powder would be put in Mu Xueshi‘s food. Usually, the insects would not harm the Third Prince, and those insects that were about to be cultivated into refined ones would not arbitrarily take humans as their targets. Although eating human flesh could make the body and spirit of the insects stronger, in general, the insects only feed on human flesh if they were persuaded by their masters. But, if someone would deliberately hurt the insects, they would most likely become a free door-to-door tasty treat.

Seeing that the insects that he cherished for so long were all pinned to a bamboo clapper, the Third Prince did not know whether he should heave a sigh for those thousand-years-old insects or because he was worried about Mu Xueshi’s unfavorable situation.

Mu Xueshi was full of zest as he looked at those insects’ ferocious expressions. He grinned and said: “Your bugs are really funny. Their expressions and people’s expressions are so alike. They’re very lifelike.”

While talking, Mu Xueshi handed over the bamboo clapper to the Third Prince, then said with some reluctance: “I’m giving this to you as a gift since I can’t take it with me. It will serve as a memento. In the future, if you’ll think of me, you can take out and look at this bamboo clapper to remember me. I went as far as getting bitten three times by a few of these specimen bugs. If you don’t believe me, you can take a look at this…”

Then, Mu Xueshi rolled up one of his sleeves and found that his arm was bruised all over. He hurriedly rolled his other sleeve and found that, although the other arm was not so serious, it was covered with red patches. Right then and there, Mu Xueshi thoughtlessly threw the bamboo clapper in his hands to the ground. While looking at the Third Prince with a horrified look, he said: “Xi, Xi, save me… Xi…”

After saying that, Mu Xueshi’s beautiful little face suddenly became distorted. Just now, all of those mischievous and adorable expressions had been replaced by agony. He collapsed to the ground, tearing his clothes, as if he was tormented to death.

The Third Prince suddenly felt a burst of pain in his heart. Each of Mu Xueshi’s faint ‘Xi…’ reminded him of Lin Yue’s tender smiles more than ten years ago. He dejectedly looked at the person on the ground, with countless thoughts running through his mind.

It’s not that every time you would see him in pain, you would feel very happy, right…?

Isn’t it that you survived those days just to torture a certain someone with the surname Mu…?

It’s not that you don’t understand what your feeling are, right…?

Why is it so unbearable to see your own foe enduring the torments of the abyss of suffering in front of you…?

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