Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 21 Manipulating the Little Rascal's Face

I opened my eyes to find the room filled with sunlight.

Jiang Mingzhe sat up, feeling incredibly clear-headed and full of energy, without any of the fatigue he usually felt after staying up all night.

"Internal energy... truly amazing!"

Jiang Mingzhe sighed softly, rolled out of bed, and felt as if his body was much lighter, as if he could lift his foot and slam dunk.

I opened the window and glanced at the wooden stick stuck in the yard. Its shadow was almost invisible, so it must have been noon.

He ate a big meal before bed, so he wasn't hungry at the moment.

I went to the kitchen, found the salt and boar bristle toothbrush, quickly washed myself, went to the toilet, and carried the heavy bucket to the back door.

Both Building A and Building B have back courtyards and back gates. There are wells in the back courtyards, which solves the problem of drinking water for the disciples. Garbage and trash cans are placed at the back gates, and every day, the unregistered disciples in charge of this matter will collect them, clean and wash them, and then return them to their original places.

Yesterday, Azi specifically instructed that the returned purification bucket must be carefully inspected before use. It would be a minor issue if someone had put in poisonous snakes or scorpions, but the real concern was the addition of undetectable poisonous powder or water.

If you are careless and get caught in the trap, although your life may not be in danger, you will definitely suffer.

Wearing a uniform-like coat, Jiang Mingzhe went to the front yard, stretched his body, and first struck the Three Yin Centipede Claw five times.

Yesterday, Old Master Ding taught him in great detail, and with Jiang Mingzhe's profound understanding of the moves and his improved internal strength, his movements were now perfectly standard and fluid.

After playing it five times, he pondered for a moment and then played it a sixth time.

This time, he tried to integrate his internal energy into his movements. At first, he encountered some resistance, and his internal energy did not seem to obey him as when he was practicing. However, Jiang Mingzhe was very patient and gradually increased his internal energy, trying each move slowly.

By the tenth time, the internal energy could basically flow with the movements, and the speed and power of the attacks were significantly enhanced.

He practiced his boxing tirelessly, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, until his body gradually broke out in a sweat, feeling incredibly refreshed and invigorated.

Jiang Mingzhe didn't stop until the sun was setting in the west. He boiled water, took a bath, changed into dry clothes, and went out.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, Jiang Mingzhe was slightly taken aback. There were more than ten people standing at varying distances outside the gate, each with a star embroidered on their chest, clearly all of them were newly enrolled disciples.

These people were busy. Some squatted by the roadside watching ants, some stood by the tree watching spiders, some stared blankly at the sky, and two others were probably studying the copper lock on Jiang Mingzhe's courtyard gate. When Jiang Mingzhe opened the gate, they walked away as if nothing had happened.

No one greeted him or paid him any attention. Jiang Mingzhe curled his lip and greeted them with a perfunctory fist salute: "Younger brother Jiang Mingzhe greets all senior brothers."

Some of those people ignored him, only glancing at him briefly, while others nodded smugly, indicating that they had received his message.

A very few returned the greeting with clasped hands, but their words were malicious: "So this is the new junior brother. With such a handsome junior brother, he must be pleased with Master. Hehe, I'm afraid it won't be long before we all have to call him senior brother, hehe."

Someone else chuckled as if joking, "I heard a strong gust of wind in the courtyard just now. I wonder what kind of special skill your master taught you?"

Jiang Mingzhe replied calmly, “Senior brother, you flatter me. I am just a little fair-skinned. Now that I have to practice martial arts every day, I am afraid I will get tanned in a few days. In comparison, senior brother is tall and strong, and has a heroic spirit. This is what a good man should look like. I really envy you.”

"I am a novice and have made a fool of myself in front of you, senior brother. Yesterday, Master said that I am too old and it would be difficult for me to achieve anything. I dare not hope to master any special skills. If I can achieve one-tenth of your skill with diligence, I will be satisfied."

After a series of responses, not a single word of substance was offered; instead, it brought smiles to the faces of the naturalized students.

At this moment, another disciple stepped forward and said with feigned sincerity, "As a senior brother, how can I not give you a gift when you join the family? Here, this is a 'little devil' that I finally managed to catch. Its venom is only a few dozen times more venomous than a regular snake. You can keep it as a pet."

The man stretched out his hand, and there was a small spider in his palm. It was as black as ink, with a round abdomen and three bright red spots on its back, arranged at equal intervals, like two red eyes and a bloody mouth.

"Here, take it." The man smiled and handed over his hand, seemingly intending to put it directly on Jiang Mingzhe if he didn't take it.

But Jiang Mingzhe's face did not show the fear that the man expected. Instead, he was excited: "What a beautiful spider! Thank you for the gift, Senior Brother!" As he spoke, he used half of the 'Wrist-Pecking Style'. His right hand shot out in an extremely strange posture. The original intention of this move was to hook three fingers and peck at the enemy's wrist when the enemy attacked. However, Jiang Mingzhe did not make the hand shape of a centipede claw. Instead, he used his thumb and index finger to pinch downwards.

The man never expected that Jiang Mingzhe, a newly initiated disciple, would act so quickly. With a soft "poof," the little devil-faced spider was crushed by Jiang Mingzhe.

"Oops, I went too far!" Jiang Mingzhe exclaimed before the other could react, shaking his fingers and looking regretful. "This little spider is too soft. Do you have any more, senior brother?"

"You, you..." The man was also surprised by Jiang Mingzhe's boldness. He had already said that it was dozens of times more poisonous than a snake, yet the other party still dared to crush it directly. Wasn't he afraid of being poisoned?

Jiang Mingzhe sneered inwardly. Did they really think he was ignorant? As the old saying goes, discussing toxicity without considering dosage is pure nonsense. Are the venom secretions of snakes and spiders even comparable? Of the forty or fifty thousand species of spiders in the world, only a handful can be deadly.

Of course, this little devil's face is most likely poisonous.

If Jiang Mingzhe is not mistaken, this spider should belong to a similar family and genus to the famous black widow. As the most representative venomous spider, the black widow appears frequently in animal documentaries and short videos. The only difference between the two in appearance is the red spots on their backs.

But Jiang Mingzhe was still not afraid. So what if you are tens of thousands of times more poisonous than a venomous snake?

The prerequisite for poisoning someone is that it has to bite someone. This spider is about the size of a red bean. Unless it is ambushed or attacked, it is easier to kill it than to swat a mosquito once it is seen.

The disciple thought that ordinary people would avoid a highly venomous spider, so wouldn't crushing it be poisonous?

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Mingzhe didn't care at all and casually crushed the poisonous spider that he had finally managed to catch. He was both angry and heartbroken, and couldn't help but shout, "Damn it, who told you to crush it? You better pay for my little bastard face!"

Jiang Mingzhe asked in surprise, "Senior brother, wasn't this a gift from you? Although I accidentally crushed it and failed to live up to your kindness, you don't have to make me pay for it, do you?"

Seeing his pretense, the disciple's anger flared even more, and he snapped, "I'll make you pay, what can you do about it? If you say you won't pay again, I'll let you taste my Thousand Spider Venomous Hand!"

Jiang Mingzhe took a step back, his expression cautious: "Senior brother, I've only been a disciple for less than two years. Are you going to challenge the sect rules?"

The disciple sneered, "Trying to intimidate me with the sect rules? According to the rules, I can't challenge you, but you crushed my spider first and refused to compensate me, so I beat you up to vent my anger. That doesn't violate the sect rules!"

Jiang Mingzhe shook his head and sighed, "Perhaps, but you keep calling yourself my father. There's an old saying that a master and disciple are like father and son. If you call yourself my father, wouldn't you be on the same level as my master? You have no respect for your elders. Doesn't that violate the rules of the sect?"

The disciple panicked upon hearing this and immediately took a few steps back. Just as he was about to explain, a sinister voice suddenly came: "Mingzhuzi, you have spoken recklessly, which is very inappropriate. As the Venerable Enforcement Master, I punish you by making you slap yourself ten times. Do you accept this?"

When the voice first rang out, the disciple named Mingzhuzi turned pale with shock, but after hearing what was said, he was overjoyed and exclaimed repeatedly, "I'm convinced! Junior brother is a thousand times convinced!"

After saying that, he slapped himself ten times in quick succession, without holding back, and both cheeks immediately became swollen.

Pluck the stars!
Jiang Mingzhe was secretly furious. He hadn't seen Zhaixingzi, so he had used words to provoke Mingzhuzi, but he hadn't expected that Zhaixingzi was actually hiding in the shadows.

As the eldest disciple and holding the position of Enforcement Venerable, Zhaixingzi's decision to punish Mingzhuzi at this moment seemed fair, but in reality, it was to prevent Jiang Mingzhe from using this matter as leverage again.

Then Zhaixingzi chuckled and said, "Alright, since Mingzhu has accepted the punishment, my previous minor offense is forgiven. In the future, think before you speak. I'm off!"

His voice echoed faintly, its origin unknown. Mingzhuzi quickly bowed to the empty space, saying, "Junior brother, remember this lesson. Respectfully seeing off senior brother!"

He stood up, grinning maliciously at Jiang Mingzhe: "Junior Brother Jiang, Senior Brother has already punished me for my mistake. Now it's time to settle our score. You said I gave you a spider, but who can testify?"

Jiang Mingzhe glanced around, and all the disciples present turned and left, clearly indicating that no one was willing to testify for him.

Jiang Mingzhe wasn't surprised. He rubbed his hand against the wall a couple of times, then rubbed it again, and said innocently, "You said I crushed you, spider? Who saw that?"

Mingzhu burst into wild laughter: "Learn from me? Ridiculous! Wait until I've taught you a lesson, and then someone will see!"

After saying that, he took out an iron finger sheath from his pocket, put it on his right index finger, grinned maliciously, and raised his hand to poke Jiang Mingzhe's shoulder.

(End of this chapter)