Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 24 Poisonous Monkey
Jiang Mingzhe turned his gaze to the top of the wall.

The walls surrounding these small buildings are very high, almost level with the third floor. While this blocks out the sunlight, it also prevents outsiders from spying on them.

Otherwise, given the perilous environment of the Xingxiu Sect, who could bear to practice martial arts in their own courtyard while being clearly seen from the building next door?

With such a high wall, Azi naturally couldn't jump over it.

The monkey seemed to feel quite safe in its high position. It looked down at the two of them for a moment before turning its attention back to the pancake in its hand.

It picked up the fried dough, smelled it, hesitated for a moment, took a small bite, and immediately showed a painful expression on its face.

Azi was so angry she was dumbfounded: "Oh my, a beast like you actually thinks my cooking is bad? You're quite picky!"

"Hmm?" Jiang Mingzhe's heart suddenly stirred.

When Ah Zi mentioned being picky about food, he remembered watching a program about venomous mammals, which introduced vampire bats, platypuses, shrews, spiral-toothed mammals, and slow lorises, which are the only venomous primates in the world.

Despite having "monkey" in its name, this creature is far less agile than a typical monkey, and is comparable to a koala in agility.

Given its small size and mild temperament, it was clearly easy prey for predators to bully, so it evolved toxicity when it got angry.

Slow lorises have venom glands under their armpits, which is what Azi calls poisonous flesh. They lick these glands and their fur to poison their entire body.

This kind of poisoning has many benefits. First, it prevents the growth of parasites. Second, when encountering an enemy, it can curl into a ball, and whoever bites it will be poisoned.

It sometimes uses venom on its own initiative. Its fighting style is to raise its hands to expose its armpits, lick its venom glands, and then bite.

The saliva of this monkey contains another toxin. The combination of these two toxins is highly corrosive; a bite is enough to kill, and even if it splashes onto the skin, it will cause the flesh to rot and expose the bone—it is extremely dangerous.

Unfortunately, the monkey's toxins are not produced by itself, but rather obtained by consuming poisonous insects. If artificially bred, they would quickly become non-toxic and harmless.

This matches what Azi said.

Jiang Mingzhe even speculated that the two toxins contained in its saliva and venom glands might be scorpion venom and centipede venom.
He thought carefully and realized that what these monkeys liked to eat most seemed to be the resin of several kinds of plants, but he couldn't remember the specific species of trees.

Secondly, there are nectar and fruit, and then there are insects, small birds, bird eggs, small frogs and lizards, etc.

It seems that this slow loris has never left the Xingxiu Sect since it escaped from Ding Chunqiu's grasp.

The Xingxiu Sect occupies a vast area, and this little guy is nocturnal, moving slowly and silently. It's unknown how long he has been hiding.

But hiding is easy; finding food is difficult.

The Starry Constellation Sect doesn't have the tree sap, honey, or fruits it likes to eat. It does have a lot of poisonous insects, but they all belong to the disciples. They hide what they should hide and collect what they should collect. In terms of wild poisonous insects, they are probably rarer than any other sect.

This monkey was probably too hungry to eat anything but human food.

Unfortunately, the cake that Azi burned was not even fit for human food, so it's no wonder it ate it with such pain.

But since it's hungry, things become easier.

Jiang Mingzhe had an idea and asked Azi, "Senior Sister, do you have any honey in your room?"

Azi shook her head: "Of course not. I managed to get a little bit last year, and I ate it all with steamed buns."

Jiang Mingzhe glanced at Azi and thought to himself that since she was so eager to eat, there was no need to ask for fruit or bird eggs.

Do you have centipedes? Scorpions will also be fine?

"Hmm?" Azi blinked, reached into her sleeve and pulled out a large, fiery red centipede, about a foot long and two fingers thick, with two golden tentacles on its head that shimmered. Holding it in Azi's small hand, it looked even more ferocious.

She held the centipede by the middle, its tail wrapped around Azi's wrist. Its head scurried around, but it showed no intention of biting anyone. It must be another of the Starry Sky Sect's poison control techniques. Although Jiang Mingzhe was mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but take a step back: "That monkey likes to eat honey, fruit, and poisonous insects. Give it this centipede and lure it down."

"Huh?" Azi thought Jiang Mingzhe wanted it for himself, but when she heard it was for the monkey, she hesitated.

She looked at the centipede in her hand with reluctance and said with heartache, "This centipede was brought back by my master from Miao territory. I had a hard time getting it from him, and I haven't been able to bear using it even after raising it for half a year!"

“Then…” Jiang Mingzhe also realized that this centipede was quite extraordinary. Just as he was about to ask Azi to change to another one, he suddenly heard a “chirp chirp” sound.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the slow loris had changed from sitting to standing, threw away the pancake, pointed at the centipede in Azi's hand, and looked at it with longing in its eyes.

Azi was very anxious and hurriedly said, "This, this, you definitely don't like to eat it. The centipede's venom is fire-type, and you are a monkey, which is wood-type. If the fire burns you, your wood will be gone, and you will be burned to death!"

She probably knew that monkeys couldn't understand human speech, so she gestured wildly as she spoke, trying her best to depict images of fire, wood, burning, and burning to death.

"Belongs to fire? Does that mean it also has the toxicity of metal, wood, water, and earth?" Jiang Mingzhe asked hurriedly.

When Azi said that the centipede's venom was fire-based, a thought flashed through his mind, and he realized a possibility.

"Of course there are. Generally speaking, snakes belong to the fire element and their venom attacks the heart; scorpions belong to the metal element and their venom damages the lungs; centipedes belong to the wood element and their venom harms the liver and gallbladder; spiders belong to the earth element and their venom affects the spleen and stomach; and toads belong to the water element and their venom invades the kidneys."

Azi rolled her eyes upwards, thinking as she spoke, as if reciting a text.

Jiang Mingzhe concluded that she was just reciting from memory.

Attacking the heart, damaging the lungs, harming the liver and gallbladder, injuring the spleen and stomach, and invading the kidneys—all these express the same intention of causing harm, yet they use five different words. This is not how Azi speaks.

"However, this is not always the case. For example, when this fire dragon bites someone, the wound becomes red, swollen, and burning hot, accompanied by symptoms such as persistent high fever, dry lips and tongue, and finally, blood stops flowing and the heart fails, leading to death. This is the toxicity of fire, as wood generates fire, making it exceptionally fierce."

Jiang Mingzhe roughly understood that the method of the Starry Sky School to distinguish toxicity should first be based on the family and genus, then on the species, and then combined with its physical characteristics, physiological reactions after toxicity, etc., and summarized into the traditional Five Elements theory.

For example, Ah Zi's red dragon centipede. Centipedes belong to the wood element, and red belongs to the fire element, which perfectly matches the wood-fire relationship.

As for Azi's description of the poisoning reaction, Jiang Mingzhe felt that it was rather far-fetched.

Because most wounds caused by venomous insects and snakes will be red, swollen, and have a burning sensation.

However, it may not be entirely without reason, but Jiang Mingzhe is neither a master of poisons nor a chemical expert, so he cannot yet understand the mystery.

But having confirmed the existence of fire poison, Jiang Mingzhe became even more certain of his guess: "Senior sister, was your centipede brought back by Master along with this monkey?"

"Huh?" Azi asked in surprise, "How did you know?"

Jiang Mingzhe smiled and said, "It's not hard to guess. Everything in the world has its own nature. This monkey lives in Miao territory, where the climate is warm and humid. But here in our place, the weather is dry and cold. How can it endure it? Therefore, I guess that Master fed it with fire-elemental poisons, and this centipede is probably monkey food that Master specially brought back."

After listening, Azi was stunned for a long time, then slowly nodded and said, "You big ginger are indeed clever. Master brought back hundreds of these centipedes. I asked him for some several times, but he was reluctant to give them to me. Later, when this monkey ran away, Master gave them to me. So, it seems..."

Azi looked at the large centipede in her hand, then at the little monkey on the wall, and said with a bitter face, "Is this really his monkey food?"

Jiang Mingzhe originally wanted Azi to replace it with an ordinary centipede, but since this centipede was related to the health of the slow loris, he changed his mind and took the opportunity to advise, "Senior sister, you should make a decision. Look how anxious it is, squeaking and yelling. If it disturbs Master, you won't be able to get it to catch insects for you. Besides, if Master finds the monkey, do you think he might take your centipede to feed it?"

"Yes!" Azi's little face crumpled up and she almost cried. This was definitely something that the Starry Sky Immortal would do.

Given that she had neither the monkey nor the centipede, Ah Zi wasn't stupid; of course she knew which choice to make.

She raised her hand and waved it: "Poisonous monkey, come down, I'll give you a centipede to eat."

"Chirp?" The monkey's already large eyes widened even more, staring intently at the frantically swaying centipede.

(End of this chapter)