Ma Bianlang

Ma Erlei's face had turned a terrifying shade of green, and his body had begun to twitch. I hurried forward and pinned him down, only to find both his hands blood-red, while the patch at his neck was actually yellow. I rolled up his trouser legs and found the skin on his feet was purple and blue.

Five colors had appeared across his body.

Startled, I glanced at Ma Shi and saw him calmly rubbing tobacco shreds and packing them back into his pipe. I understood at once. Gu insects had been put in the food, and when Ma Shi had tapped the ground with his pipe just now, he had been activating them.

"You put Gu insects in the food! You're an elder—do you really have to use such a vicious method against us?" I pressed down on Ma Erlei's hands. By now, the whites of his eyes were showing, and his gaze had gone hollow.

In just a moment, Ma Erlei lost even the ability to speak or howl. His brows twisted together in terrible pain, yet he could not cry out. It was clear how cruelly venomous the Gu insects in the food were.

Ma Shi chuckled and said, "I knew you'd try to play tricks and cheat your way into a meal. I put Five-Colored Gu in the food. A few more taps, and the next person to drop will be you."

My heart jolted in secret. I also had Five-Colored Gu inside me.

When I had been eating just now, I had not noticed anything unusual about the food at all.

How exactly had Ma Shi put the Gu poison into the dishes? This method of planting Gu was truly impossible to see through, impossible to understand.

Five-Colored Gu should be the same kind of Gu insect as Seven-Colored Gu, so its toxicity definitely would not be weak. In Chiyou Valley, I had once used the power of the Innate Insect to destroy Seven-Colored Gu. Swallowing one Five-Colored Gu was not something I needed to worry too much about.

The most urgent danger right now was Ma Erlei. I feared that if this dragged on, it would cost him his life.

I hated him so much my teeth itched, but I gritted them and said, "Clan Chief Ma, I admit defeat. Please stop. I can willingly give you the Earth Egg. But you must guarantee the safety of the three of us."

Ma Shi blew out a mouthful of smoke, then tapped his pipe against the ground three times, two short and one long. Ma Erlei stopped twitching. The pain ceased, and he could shout again. He cursed, "Ma Shi, you dared put Gu insects in the food. Miao people cannot use Gu to harm one another. You've broken the rules."

Ma Shi ignored Ma Erlei and instead looked at me. "When will you give it to me?"

I said, "Ma Erlei and I both have Five-Colored Gu inside us. Our lives are in your hands. Whether the Earth Egg is with me or in your pocket makes no difference. When we leave Qingya Village, undo the Five-Colored Gu for us, and I'll give you the Earth Egg." I spoke the last three words one by one.

Ma Shi was very satisfied with my suggestion. He nodded and said, "Very good. You Han have a saying: a wise man submits to circumstances. Once the Ma family boy recovers, I'll send you all away together."

Throughout the entire process, no matter how Ma Erlei shouted and cursed, Ma Shi paid him no attention. Before Ma Shi left the ancestral hall, he again had his men tie Ma Erlei and me to the pillars. Fortunately, this time they did not gag Ma Erlei's mouth.

"Erlei, what exactly are Five-Colored Gu and Seven-Colored Gu? Tell me about them," I asked Ma Erlei.

The green on Ma Erlei's face had not yet faded. He said, "Brother Kunlun, besides Five-Colored Gu and Seven-Colored Gu, there's also Three-Colored Gu. I don't know the specific secret method for making them. But I do know a saying: one in ten, one in a hundred, one in a thousand."

One of the burly men standing guard could not help glancing at Ma Erlei and praised him, "You've got some knowledge, kid. You actually know the rumors about Seven-Colored Gu."

I frowned and asked, "What does one in ten, one in a hundred, one in a thousand mean?"

Ma Erlei explained, "After the poisonous insects used to refine Seven-Colored Gu are gathered, they're sealed inside vessels. Out of ten jars, one will become Three-Colored Gu. Out of a hundred jars, one will become Five-Colored Gu. Out of a thousand jars, one Seven-Colored Gu will burst into the world. Their power and toxicity increase tenfold each time."

So raising a Seven-Colored Gu was actually this difficult, with only a one-in-a-thousand chance of success. No wonder Ma Shi had been so nervous. After a Seven-Colored Gu was successfully raised, no one would want to lose it for no reason. The moment he heard the Seven-Colored Gu had gone missing, he had disregarded his ties with Camellia Village and barged straight into the place where we were staying.

The burly guard praised, "That's right. Across all the Miao villages, the one-in-a-thousand Seven-Colored Gu is absolutely a rare treasure. Among the ten great Gu insects, it can definitely be ranked first."

Ma Erlei immediately retorted, "Keep comforting yourself. Among the ten great Gu insects, first place is the Golden Silkworm Gu. Seven-Colored Gu can only take second place. After all these years, Seven-Colored Gu has never beaten Golden Silkworm Gu."

The burly guard's face darkened. He stepped forward and punched Ma Erlei in the abdomen, sneering, "Kid, if I were infected with Five-Colored Gu, I definitely wouldn't talk nonsense."

Ma Erlei had just been tormented by the Five-Colored Gu, and now he took a solid punch on top of it. The pain made his brows knot together. Ma Erlei was straightforward by nature and would not compromise even after being punched. Afraid he would suffer more undeserved trouble, I shouted, "Erlei, let's not judge which one is stronger."

Ma Erlei spat and said, "Brother Kunlun, I keep feeling that something about this is strange. Seven-Colored Gu is so powerful, the supreme treasure of Qingya Village. How could it just vanish like that?"

"I don't know either! Five-Colored Gu is tormenting enough, let alone Seven-Colored Gu. Whoever stole the Seven-Colored Gu must have some real ability. Otherwise, I'm afraid it would be difficult even to get close to it," I said after thinking for a while.

Seven-Colored Gu was a one-in-a-thousand Gu insect. The Sha Qi and resentment inside the jar must have been extremely strong; ordinary people would have no way to approach it at all. Only someone who often dealt with Gu insects could possibly steal the Seven-Colored Gu.

I, Ma Erlei, and Xiao Yudao did not possess that ability.

Ma Erlei nodded and said, "Exactly. In my opinion, maybe someone inside Qingya Village stole the Seven-Colored Gu. It just so happened that we entered the village to stay the night, so they pinned the crime of stealing the insect on us."

These were only our guesses, and there was simply no way to prove them. Right now, Ma Shi had his eye on the Earth Egg. Even if we proved the disappearance of the Seven-Colored Gu had nothing to do with us, it would be useless.

I gave a bitter smile. "Now we're like people standing in a melon patch beneath a plum tree. We can't clear ourselves of suspicion."

The two of us chatted on and off. The color on Ma Erlei's face improved slightly, and the Five-Colored Gu did not flare up again. Before we knew it, afternoon had arrived. The sky gradually turned overcast, and another gust of fierce wind rose. It looked like rain was coming.

Ma Erlei said, "Brother Kunlun, you really are godlike. You said this morning it would rain, and now it really is raining."

I shrugged and said, "It was taught in textbooks when I went to school: morning glow, don't go out; evening glow, travel a thousand li. So I guessed it would rain this afternoon. I didn't expect to get it right."

As we were speaking, the burly man sitting on the chair on guard suddenly stood up. He pressed his lips together and swallowed, hesitated for a moment, then hurried forward to greet someone and called, "Bianlang, why are you here?"

Ma Erlei and I quickly looked over.

A short man with a strange, ugly appearance walked into the ancestral hall. His two legs were uncoordinated when he walked, his eyes extremely small, his eyebrows thin and sparse, and his mouth huge. Though he did not speak, a mouthful of dark yellow buck teeth could be seen. His nostrils flared outward, stuffed full of black nose hairs. Most terrifying of all, his forehead was pitted and uneven. This was a face that, with just one glance, could never be forgotten. He had to be at least in his forties.

Before he even came close, I felt that trouble was coming. His eyes were small, but the light shooting from the slits was just like a venomous snake's eyes—and the most poisonous kind of venomous snake at that.

"You lot go outside for a bit," Ma Bianlang said in a gloomy voice.

The guard looked troubled and said, "The clan chief instructed us that we must not leave for even a step."

Ma Bianlang narrowed his eyes and glanced at the guard. "I'll explain it to my father. Just go out."

The guards looked at one another, then walked straight out. With a creak, they shut the door.

So he was Ma Shi's son. In that case, he probably was not in his forties; he only looked rather aged.

Ma Bianlang walked forward, his gaze sinister. In the end, it landed on me, and he asked, "You're Han? What's your name?"

I had dealt with poisonous insects since childhood, and what I feared least was the gaze of a venomous snake. I looked at Ma Bianlang without the slightest fear and replied, "I'm Han. My name is Xiao Kunlun."

Ma Bianlang asked again, "You came to Qingya Village last night?"

I nodded.

Ma Bianlang went on asking, "When did you move out last night, steal the Seven-Colored Gu, and where did you hide it?"

I could not help but freeze. Ma Bianlang's questions were neither warm nor fiery, but I could already sense his savage side.

Ma Shi would still care about his own face and would not do anything as blatant as seizing by force. He still had some restraint in how he handled matters, but Ma Bianlang before me absolutely would not.

I answered calmly, "We're all injured. We never left the stilt house last night. I didn't steal the Seven-Colored Gu. You've got the wrong people."

Ma Bianlang split his mouth in a grin and said, "The Seven-Colored Gu is a treasure. Once a treasure is in someone's hands, naturally they won't admit it, naturally they won't hand it over. But the Seven-Colored Gu is the betrothal gift for my marriage. Of all the things you should not have touched, you just had to touch my betrothal gift. There's no room for discussion in this matter. You should have heard of how I, Ma Bianlang, handle things. Don't force me."

Ma Bianlang was ugly and bizarre. Any woman who saw his honorable countenance would keep him at a respectful distance. This time, it had not been easy for a woman to be willing to marry him, but the betrothal gift had been lost. To get it back, he might use any means at all.

"Never heard of it," Ma Erlei said bluntly.

Ma Bianlang raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "If no one marries me this time, I can turn you into a woman. Put that way, you should understand how I handle things now, right?"

To be able to turn a man into a woman naturally meant he had strength and ability. To be capable of doing something like turning a man into a woman meant he would stop at nothing. So Ma Bianlang's way of handling things was: crush with strength, stop at nothing.

The moment Ma Bianlang said this, Ma Erlei choked on the spot, because there was no way to answer. If he really failed to pick up the thread, it would be very troublesome if he got turned into a woman.

"Ma Bianlang, it looks like you've failed many times at marrying and starting a family. Otherwise, you wouldn't have taken the Seven-Colored Gu as your betrothal gift," I said with a smile. "That you can turn a man into a woman—I admire you very much. Your abilities truly are formidable. But I don't have your skills. I can't conjure a Seven-Colored Gu out of thin air for you."