"Poisonous Granny, what's wrong?"

Lina heard her father's voice, turned her head, and saw a burly, muscular, and rugged middle-aged man walking towards them. He was nine feet tall, towering over everyone else, and his biceps were thicker than Lina's waist. (Author's note: since the Northern Wei Dynasty, one foot has been between 29.6-31.1 cm)

As he walked, he looked around with a domineering aura. Compared to him, the hunched Poisonous Granny looked like a child.

Poisonous Granny raised her head, nodded slightly, and quickly turned her gaze back to Lina, trembling, "Girl, tell me, Granny is waiting."

Granny seemed anxious... what was wrong with her? Did she also want to make money like Lina's friend number three? Lina felt uncomfortable because of Poisonous Granny's intense reaction.

Poisonous Granny refused to leave, and the rest of the troops stopped with her. The elites of the Poisonous Tribe looked at Lina, while people from other tribes whispered to each other, not knowing what was happening.

Poisonous Granny turned her head and said to a young man behind her, "Go tell the leaders of other tribes to rest for a bit. Come, girl, let's talk over there... Long Tu, you can't follow us."

Long Tu, the leader of the Strength Tribe, stopped in his tracks and silently watched as his daughter was taken away by Poisonous Granny.

The leaders of the other five tribes gathered around him and looked at him, "Long Tu, what's going on?"

The leader of the Strength Tribe shook his head, "Perhaps you should ask the Poisonous Tribe."

The leaders looked behind them.

"Lina just made a joke with Granny, who knew she would react like that."

"What did she say?"

"Lina has a friend who picks up money every day."

"...."

...

Poisonous Granny held a torch and came to a tree. They were far away from the rest of the troops, and they could only see a small fire in the distance.

The crescent moon hung in the sky, casting a white glow. The fire reflected off Poisonous Granny's wrinkled face. She had calmed down and no longer felt anxious or excited.

"Girl, tell Granny what's going on."

Lina pursed her lips and said, "I recently made a friend who said he has a friend who always picks up money for no reason and is troubled by it. He doesn't understand why."

Poisonous Granny squinted and asked, "How does he pick up money? How much does he pick up? Besides picking up money, is there anything special? Tell me everything."

Lina scratched her head in a cute and charming way and said apologetically, "I don't know about that. After all, it's a friend of a friend. But my friend said that it seems like picking up money is enough to live a comfortable and prosperous life."

Out of curiosity, Lina asked casually. Who wouldn't be curious about picking up money every day?

"Where is that person?"

Number three is in the capital of The Great Feng, and his friend should be there too... Lina said uncertainly, "It seems like they're in the capital of The Great Feng."

"The capital of The Great Feng?!" Poisonous Granny was shocked and shook her head repeatedly, "No, it's impossible. It shouldn't be. It's impossible to be in the capital of The Great Feng... this doesn't make sense..."

Poisonous Granny furrowed her eyebrows, sometimes enlightened, sometimes doubtful, with an ever-changing expression."Granny, what's going on?" Lina felt like a smart woman and had already noticed that something was wrong. If it was just about picking up money, Poisonous Granny wouldn't have dragged her to a secluded place to talk, let alone be so concerned.

But she found it absurd that the interesting thing happening in the capital of The Great Feng was making Poisonous Granny so serious and concerned.

It was like she had accidentally made a good friend, only to find out that they were Poisonous Granny's lost child who had been missing for years.

"Your friend is the person who picks up silver every day, not a friend of a friend." Poisonous Granny looked at the naive girl.

Lina slightly opened her rosy lips, her light blue eyes frozen.

Number Three had lied to her. She couldn't believe he was such a dishonest person. She had thought he was a brave and honest scholar, just like the elders in her tribe had said all scholars were.

Poisonous Granny sighed lightly and looked up at the moon. She said in a deep voice, "Many years ago, two thieves broke into a wealthy household for some purpose and stole a very important item. That item is still missing, and the thief has not been seen again. Some people in the wealthy household know about the theft, while others still don't know to this day."

Lina blinked her eyes. "What did they steal?"

Poisonous Granny didn't explain, just repeated that it was a very important item.

...

Soon, the elite team of the Gu clan arrived at the Ji Yuan, a deep and bottomless rift filled with poisonous barriers that spawned toxic plants and various poisonous insects and beasts. This was a natural breeding ground for Gu, providing the tribe with an endless supply of "raw materials."

Lina had been here more than once, but only to catch Gu on the outskirts. She had never gone deep into the rift.

The team moved forward in silence, the insect repellent powder and antidote pills they had sprinkled on themselves protecting them from the poisonous barriers and creatures. The members of the Poison Gu tribe were at home here, their faces radiant.

Following the path that previous explorers had left, they ventured deeper into the rift. Gradually, the landscape began to change, with deformed and strange plants growing on the black-brown soil.

Amidst the dense branches and grass, there were rustling sounds as the poisonous insects living here were disturbed by the unexpected visitors.

"Ah..." Suddenly, someone screamed. It was a man in a cloth robe, his skin turning red all over as his pants rose higher and higher, and he grew bigger and bigger.

"Woman, I want a woman..." He shouted, throwing himself at his male companion and holding him tightly, doing the same monotonous movement over and over again.

But because of the clothes and the wrong position, he couldn't find the right way, making him almost lose his mind.

Strange screams echoed everywhere, with people showing abnormal symptoms, both men and women. Men hugged trees, and women hugged trees too...

Lina knew that these people were poisoned by the Lust Gu.

The members of the Gu tribe were calm and composed, pushing them away and even laughing and pointing at them.

The members of the Lust Gu tribe scattered and began to treat the poisoned members of all the tribes. They took out black, leech-like soft worms from their bags and sprinkled them on the chests, necks, and pants of the poisoned people.

The leeches attached themselves to the surface of the skin, their mouthparts piercing the blood vessels and greedily sucking up the blood.Before long, these leeches swelled up one by one, satisfied as they fell off the surface of the skin, and the symptoms of the poisoned tribespeople improved immediately.

Except for those who were faster and had their bodies emptied, those who lasted were hardly affected.

The deeper they went into the Crack Valley, the more and varied the insects they encountered, such as the big bugs as strong as bulls, the colorful butterflies, the snakes with twelve eyes, the animal groups that walked like zombies, and the male wild dogs with three reproductive organs.

Finally, the team stopped in a flat area where there were no plants, only rugged stones.

In the midst of the poison, Lina saw a tall statue of a man wearing loose robes, a high crown, one hand behind his back, the other on his belly, and looking down at the crack of the abyss.

The seven tribal leaders went forward in unison and approached the statue.

"Mosang, who is that man?" Lina tugged at her brother's sleeve.

Mosang, who had a scar on his left face and a rebellious temperament, said in a deep voice, "I don't know his name, but you should have heard of his title..."

He paused, his tone respectful, "The Saint of Confucianism."

...

In a small courtyard, the candlelight was as small as a bean.

"I've been searching for Heng Yuan's whereabouts all this time, but so far, I only know he's still in the city, but I don't know where he is," Taoist Master Jin Lian said, shaking his head.

"You can't locate him with the earth book?" Xu Qi'an remembered that the "Number Nine" was able to lock his position through the earth book, and it didn't take too long.

In theory, since Number Six disappeared almost a decade ago, Taoist Master Jin Lian should have found him.

"I guess Number Six, or rather, the earth book, has been sealed."

...Ah? What should I do if it's sealed? This is making it difficult for me, Panto. Xu Qi'an was a little confused.

"Unless I can get close, I've been walking most of the outer city on foot for the past decade, using the dumbest and most reliable method to search. If Heng Yuan's earth book fragment is less than thirty yards away from me, I can sense it immediately, even if it's sealed." Taoist Master Jin Lian laughed confidently:

"Don't doubt it, this is the inherent position of the treasure of heaven and earth."

It's about style... Xu Qi'an thought to himself, while also feeling relieved.

Although the method was stupid, it was effective. The worst thing was having no way at all.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

"If there's any news about Number Six, I'll let you know immediately. Hehe, it's better for you to show up than for me, I also need the Nightwatchers' help. After all, this is the capital, the Nightwatchers' territory." At this point, Taoist Master Jin Lian seemed to remember something:

"By the way, what does Wei Yuan think about this case?"

"He doesn't have any thoughts, he just wants me to do my job well." Xu Qi'an shook his head and sighed.

At this point, he noticed that Taoist Master Jin Lian's expression was strange, because his expression was like this: (﹁﹁)

Xu Qi'an's mouth twitched, and he said in frustration, "Why does the Taoist Master look at me like that?"

Taoist Master Jin Lian said, "Wei Yuan probably wants to turn you into a Nightwatcher's undercover agent, or kick you out of the capital."

... Xu Qi'an was surprised and widened his eyes.

Taoist Master Jin Lian seemed very satisfied with Xu Qi'an's reaction and explained with a smile, "Being able to entrust you with the earth book fragment shows that he values you enough. But he doesn't give you any guidance on the case.

"This proves that he wants you to anger Emperor Yuan Jing and make you unable to stay in the capital."

Xu Qi'an was not convinced and wanted to defend Wei Yuan, but he couldn't say anything because Wei Yuan was very frank and did have thoughts in this regard.

"No, Wei Yuan is somewhat indifferent, but at most he is laissez-faire, not caring or interfering. I will rely on my own abilities to handle it."

"You underestimate Wei Yuan too much. This person holds great power as a eunuch, led hundreds of thousands of troops to win the battle of Shanhaiguan as a eunuch, and even suppressed the Northern King. His abilities, tactics, and schemes are all top-notch in the world. I am sure that he knows more about the Sangpo case than you do."

"..." Xu Qi'an sat there for a long time without speaking.

Is this really a plastic father-son relationship?

Taoist Master Jin Lian scrutinized him, "But I don't understand why Wei Yuan forced you to leave the capital. He doesn't lack eagle claws."

There was silence in the room for a while, and Taoist Master Jin Lian finished speaking and wanted to leave, "Is there anything else?"

"Yes!" Xu Qi'an didn't miss the opportunity to take advantage, "I want to go to the Pingyuan Earl's mansion, but it is heavily guarded. I have a way to get in, but I don't have a way to subdue people silently. I want to ask for the master's help."

"You want to find Pingyuan Earl's legitimate son," Taoist Master Jin Lian understood.

"Heng Yuan said that his junior brother Heng Hui was taken away by the tooth. He wouldn't aimlessly say that. Since we can't find Heng Yuan now, let's try to find a breakthrough from Pingyuan Earl first," Xu Qi'an said.

"But he's already dead."

"He still has a legitimate son."