That evening, Song Ciwan used the Dream-Entering Technique to meticulously interrogate Yu Shu, inside and out. She drained him of all emotional value before finally sending him off with a strike from the Void Illusion Demon Sword.

Yu Shu was completely unable to resist the Void Illusion Demon Sword. In his demonic delirium, he screamed, "Xu Feng, when I become an Immortal, I’ll kill you a million times over!"

"I don’t have a sister! I lied to the Immortal! Hehehe, what’s wrong with grabbing a few little girls if it earns the young master’s trust?"

"If I don’t do it, someone else will!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Xu Feng, go to hell! It’s all your fault! You’re the one who forced me to commit these crimes!"

"...What Immortal? When I become an Immortal, even other Immortals will have to bow to me..."

Song Ciwan regulated her True Qi and silently recited the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting, watching with cold indifference as Yu Shu breathed his last in a fit of madness.

Once he had collapsed to the ground, lifeless, Song Ciwan flicked out a wisp of the Blazing Flame Technique, burning away all his sins in this world.

The Heaven and Earth Scale appeared: [Death Qi. The death of a Mortal Martial Artist at the Refining Tendons Stage. Value: seven taels and nine maces. Exchangeable.]

’Human nature is truly complex. Even a mere scholar’s attendant could harbor such elaborate thoughts.’

’If you don’t look closely, he’s just a name, a symbol, a flat caricature. But if you dig deeper, the innate depravity of some people is shocking.’

Song Ciwan performed the Fetal Transformation and Shape-shifting, pocketed the Identity Token Yu Shu left behind, and changed into his outer robes. With a quick shift, she became another living, breathing "Yu Shu" in this world.

As evening fell, she carried a box of ink sticks and swaggered back into the Xu Mansion through the side gate.

The gatekeeper, Granny Lai, looked surprised and a little anxious. "Oh my, young Yu Shu, why are you back?"

Song Ciwan said with a grin, "I bought the Ink Spirit Incense, so of course I came back."

Granny Lai looked a bit awkward. Yu Shu had actually returned. He was the young master’s Scholar’s Attendant; now that he was back, could she still keep the purse he had given her earlier?

Her hand involuntarily moved toward the hidden pocket in her sleeve. Song Ciwan noticed this small detail and, with equal attention to detail, offered her a handful of sweets. Then, with Granny Lai beaming and seeing her off respectfully, she walked step by step into the deep inner courtyard of the Xu Family’s estate.

As she walked, Song Ciwan memorized the layout, cross-referencing it with the information she had extracted during her earlier interrogation.

Xu Feng’s secret training chamber was constructed primarily from Celestial Abyss Heavy Crystal and was heavily protected. Besides Xu Feng and his father, no one knew how to open it.

Right now, Song Ciwan’s main priority was to figure out the strong and weak points of the Xu Family’s House Protection Array.

This House Protection Array was linked to the Identity Token she carried. If not for carrying this token and the marvelous properties of the Fetal Transformation and Shape-shifting technique—which could even mimic Yu Shu’s aura—the array would not have remained completely unresponsive to her presence.

’The world of Cultivation is truly vast and boundless. Cultivation Techniques, Magic, Strange Techniques, Daoist Techniques, Pills, Artifacts, Arrays, Talismans... and all sorts of peculiar Side Door Taoist Skills that you could never imagine but someone, somewhere, has mastered.’

’Every time I think I’ve learned a lot, I soon discover how lacking I still am.’

As she observed her surroundings, she simultaneously and continuously used the Side Door Taoist Skill, the Measurement System, to silently size up everyone in the residence.

Most of the Xu Family’s guards and servants had a lower Cultivation than her, so she didn’t have to worry about the Measurement System backfiring.

However, among them were a few whose auras were exceptionally vicious and deadly. Even from a distance, without a close look, she could feel a wave of violent, bloodthirsty energy wash over her.

Most of these individuals carried weapons marked with various insect insignias.

A hulking man with leopard-like eyes and flared nostrils, standing nine feet tall, had a giant centipede as thick as a man’s arm crawling on his bare chest.

He glared at Song Ciwan and barked in a gruff voice, "What are you looking at! If those eyes of yours don’t behave, pale-faced boy, how about I gouge them out and feed them to my precious Golden Centipede? Wouldn’t that be perfect?"

As he shouted, the huge centipede on his body raised the upper half of its form, lifting its terrifying head. Its countless spindly legs splayed out in the air, hissing at Song Ciwan.

Song Ciwan didn’t flinch. Instead, she lifted her chin and, mimicking Yu Shu’s arrogant demeanor, retorted, "What’s this multi-legged stink bug doing, daring to wave itself in front of me? When I started serving the young master, your centipede hadn’t even opened its eyes yet!"

The leopard-eyed man’s eyes blazed with fury, and he took a step toward her.

His companion quickly grabbed him, urging, "He’s one of the young master’s people. Don’t get angry with him. Let’s go, we still have to feed the insects tonight!"

He was finally pulled away, and Song Ciwan continued her tour of the Xu Mansion openly.

Most of the Xu Family servants she encountered afterward were either respectful, fawning, or avoided her altogether.

Song Ciwan took out the Paper Crane Tracking Talisman stained with Aunt Zhou’s blood again, holding it concealed in her sleeve. While walking through the Xu Mansion, she carefully sensed for any reaction from the tracking talisman.

The further southeast she went, the warmer the talisman’s wings became.

Interestingly, this southeastern direction was precisely where the Xu Family Beast Garden was located.

From a distance, before she was even close, her view was filled with dense, continuous stretches of tall trees. Countless shades of dark and light green enclosed a patch of land, as if carving out a small, independent world within the larger one.

But the vibrant green of the trees didn’t evoke a sense of bright, refreshing life. Instead, they invisibly radiated a strange aura—gloomy, damp, and chilling.

Faintly, she could hear the chirping and rustling of insects...

Overlapping and layered, the sounds were enough to make one’s skin crawl.

The next moment, the wall of green trees ahead abruptly parted, and the same leopard-eyed man who had glared at Song Ciwan burst out.

He screamed hoarsely, "Help me! He—"

Before the second syllable of "help" could leave his lips, a torrent of tiny centipedes poured out of his mouth.

These centipedes were iridescent, their thousand legs writhing as they wrapped around his powerful frame. Their tiny feet, like razor-sharp blades, spun rapidly, shredding his muscles and bones.

Countless centipedes swarmed from his mouth, while countless more covered his body.

The centipedes in his mouth burrowed their way out, while those on his body rapidly tore through his flesh and bone, squeezing their way in.

Attacked from both inside and out, the man was devoured completely in a matter of moments, leaving only a clean skeleton to fall to the ground.

Then, the centipedes changed direction and, with a great RUSTLE, surged toward Song Ciwan like a tide.

’The Zhi Garden... the insects of the Zhi Garden are all rebelling!’

More screams echoed from within the Zhi Garden. Standing at the entrance, Song Ciwan swiftly retrieved the Five Poison Jar from her Heaven and Earth Scale.

Five Poison Jar: Forged from Abyssal Wondrous Stone, it can collect the Five Poisonous Insects. After its owner performs Refinement, it feeds on humans and devours the strange, nourishing its master in return.

The Five Poison Jar, which she had obtained in exchange for the resentful emotions of the Giant Village Chief, was finally about to be useful!

The hair on Song Ciwan’s entire body stood on end. She didn’t know why the Xu Family Beast Garden had suddenly lost control—perhaps it was karmic retribution, or perhaps some other reason—but now was not the time to investigate.

She channeled her True Qi and slapped the Five Poison Jar in her hand. The jar flew up and backward, and a powerful suction force erupted from within. The centipedes rushing toward her on the ground were drawn in like a colorful, surging tide.

What Song Ciwan didn’t know was that, at this very moment, it wasn’t just the insects in the Zhi Garden that were rebelling within the Xu Family.

Perhaps karmic retribution truly did exist in this world. Deep in an underground chamber, Xu Feng, who had hidden himself away so securely, was now facing his own.