[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-nothing-is-taboo":3,"chapter-nothing-is-taboo-nothing-is-taboo-chapter-344":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Nothing Is Taboo",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2310729,4514,"Chapter 344: Ghost Willow Tree (Requesting Monthly Tickets)","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-344",344,"\u003Cp>Xu Yuan spent the night at Bai Laoyan’s house; the official teased, “Still sleeping in a hole tonight?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last time he came to the village, Bai Laoyan had been cautious, making Xu Yuan and the others sleep in a cave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan flushed and said, “Your Excellency jokes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan prepared a bed and laid down a new wolf-skin rug.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“All hunted this year—never used,” Bai Laoyan said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan lay down and exhaled: “Comfortable.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dafu stood on the floor, stretching his neck to peer at the bed, deciding it looked cozy, then flapped his wings and leapt up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He squeezed hard against the food trough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the trough didn’t budge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Gaa gaa gaa!” Dafu squawked in frustration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did Xu Yuan laugh and make room for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dafu settled down comfortably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wolf-skin rug is far better than the rat-skin and wild-dog-skin mats in my nest. The fur is long and soft.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I need to find a way to get one too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there are no wolves in town—what should I do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan suddenly remembered something and said to Xu Yuan, “Your Excellency, this afternoon Gao Guanzi passed through the village and told me several people came to his village, paying top prices to stay overnight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan: “Why bring this up?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mountain villages often host traveling merchants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan: “Gao Village lies deep in Ghost Witch Mountain—merchants rarely go there.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merchants fear death; they mostly trade at outer villages like Wangxiang Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, Gao Village is the closest to Guanghuo Street of all the villages.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan frowned at this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people likely weren’t heading for Guanghuo Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Living people who enter Guanghuo Street die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could they also be after the “true seed” at Pig Scream Rock?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had the Miao family, as I suspected, sold this news to others?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ll go to Gao Village tomorrow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Agreed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two went to sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before sleeping, Xu Yuan pulled out that ledger and glanced at it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several new lines of writing had appeared!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiao replied:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guanghuo Street has no evil spirits cultivating the true seed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the sixth-ranked “Ju Ya” has, for over ten days, appeared only as its “disease shadow”—its true form is missing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan silently closed the ledger and lay down to sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The largest evil spirit on Guanghuo Street is, of course, “Ruan Tianye.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That thing has transcended the ordinary category of evil spirits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Ghost Witch Mountain, merely uttering its name invites calamity—either corruption and transformation, or instant death!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rest, however, have a ranking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though all evil spirits acknowledge this ranking, every one on Guanghuo Street is formidable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Jiao were at full strength, he’d rank among the top five on Guanghuo Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now he can barely cling to last place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Purification Office knows very little about these evil spirits on Guanghuo Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, this “Ju Ya”—Xu Yuan had never heard of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He considered asking Bai Laoyan, but heard the old mountain-runner snoring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ll ask tomorrow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This trip, Xu Yuan borrowed Fu Jingyu’s miniature almanac.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The official no longer lacks money—he should’ve bought his own long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Xu Yuan calculated that the year was nearly over; buying an almanac now would be wasteful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Save where you can, spend where you must.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At dawn, he flipped open the almanac: today’s prohibitions:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Night travel, crying, burial, farming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Leizi and Zhu Zhanlei were both incapacitated today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ancient corpses in Tongguan Cliff were extremely ominous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wonder if today’s Drifting Master… will have a rough time?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan prepared breakfast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan took two bites and found it “unpalatable.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He reflected: lately, the San Niang Society had spoiled his palate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Bai Laoyan had clearly served him the best food he had; Xu Yuan forced it down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he ate, he asked about “Ju Ya.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan said, “Mountain-runners know little about Guanghuo Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those great evil spirits are too terrifying—they rarely emerge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I only know this spirit’s greatest power is triggering plague. Beyond that, it seems to have related abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your Excellency, avoid it if you can. Its power—impossible to guard against! Often, you fall ill without knowing how, then rapidly melt into a pool of pus!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan’s face changed; was Bai Laoyan exaggerating? But then he thought: if it ranks sixth on Guanghuo Street, it can’t be ordinary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Laoyan probably didn’t exaggerate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When near Guanghuo Street, I’ll have Jiao or Tian Jing go and ask in detail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After breakfast, Xu Yuan and Bai Laoyan set out for Gao Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Village sat atop a mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mountain was peculiar: five hundred zhang high, but its peak had been sheared off, flat and level, about twenty to thirty mu in area.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the center stood a small pond.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Five people had come to stay overnight yesterday.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were dressed as merchants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And they knew the village’s customs well, carrying heavy loads of goods.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They paid generously for lodging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They began trading with villagers yesterday, so this morning they left with the mountain goods they’d collected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Village’s location offered great advantage—it overlooked dozens of li of surrounding terrain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While trading with villagers yesterday, the five had secretly observed the surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, as they descended, they headed straight toward Guanghuo Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One and a half hours after they left, Xu Yuan and Bai Laoyan stood at the mountain’s foot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Guanzi’s ears twitched—he heard them and came down to meet them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He habitually held his head high, so he always seemed condescending when looking at others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Guanzi knew this habit, so when he saw Xu Yuan, he lowered his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Bai Laoyan, he bowed properly: “Gao Guanzi, village head of Gao Village, greets Your Excellency.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Village had sold much mountain produce through Bai Laoyan to the Qihetai Office; now the village had ample grain and salt, no longer needing to scrounge from merchants as before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Guanzi only hoped this prosperity would last—that newborn babies would survive, unlike before, when four births yielded only one survivor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan steadied him: “Senior, no need for formalities.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Guanzi was short, with none of Bai Laoyan’s unusual artifacts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His name made one guess he had something atop his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And his hair was indeed unusual.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each strand was thick, yet only four fingers long—as if his name derived from this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But on the way, Bai Laoyan had told Xu Yuan: Gao Guanzi’s true abilities likely lay in his ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan glanced at Gao Guanzi’s ears—found nothing strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Guanzi smiled smugly, rubbed his ears, and peeled off a layer of membrane.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His ears unfolded, spreading wide like giant seashells on either side of his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet they were as thin as cicada wings, revealing the veins and tendons within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This little trick fooled even Your Excellency,” Gao Guanzi chuckled. “Otherwise, I couldn’t have deceived those men yesterday.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They spoke privately without caution—I heard every word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Guanzi's expression turned serious: \"They're looking for a tree beneath Pig Squeal Rock.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan asked involuntarily: \"A Happy Couple Tree?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No,\" said Gao Guanzi. \"According to the leader, the tree is called 'Ghost Beard Wood,' but in Wushan, I've never heard of such a tree.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Moreover, the leader said the tree has legs and can run around freely!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1214,"2026-06-20T12:07:24.624Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","de6d14fd5400f5c289d3114f41c7a3218b277aac22cd6068b4576a5d4dcd8815","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-345","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-343",413,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnothing-is-taboo-cover.jpg"]