Right 

at

 this moment, a murderous aura came from behind me. I shuddered. It seemed he was here.  

I placed my hand at my hip

 and pretended 

to scratch the skin there. Then, as fast as a lightning strike, I drew the Sirius Whip

 and lashed 

backward! 

The 

man

was standing

 behind me. When I turned around, I saw his red eyes gazing at me. The man carried a massive, bone-chopping machete

, which he used to

 furiously 

hack at

 me. 

Luckily, I reacted 

in time

. Otherwise, his knife would have killed me at that instant.

Before his knife 

reached me

, I swiftly rolled aside

 and lashed

 his 

wrist with 

the Sirius Whip. 

The blow connected, and t

he pain forced him to drop the machete. I finally had a chance to 

look at

 his face. He was wearing a tra

ditional costume of the 

Dai people. 

His skin tone was dark. 

The most eye-catching feature on his face was a 

big mole

 at the corner of his mouth. 

People 

with

 skills knew their 

limits

 best. After receiving my lash, he became vigilant. I 

took a deep

 breath

 and asked 

coldly

, 

“Why 

do

 you want to harm Mr. Lu?” 

“He 

asked for it

!” 

Mr. Big Mole

 answered fiercely.

H

e had just confirmed that he was the one that had sold the purple clay teapot to Lu Ming. 

I was curious. How could he get the purple clay pot in the first place? I was even more curious about the women 

who had killed

 themselves in the stilt houses. What was the relationship between them and Lu Yu? 

Unexpectedly, when the man heard my question, he 

flew into a frenzy.

 He stormed

 forward and hacked 

his machete at me as if he didn’t care about his life anymore. 

I passively defended. However, after a few strikes, he became much slower.

 H

e didn’t have good martial techniques. I became bolder

 and attacked 

him. Soon, I 

was able to

 force him backward. 

“If you have the guts, come after me!” 

When

 he realized that he wasn’t my equal opponent, he sneered then ran toward the depths of the tunnel. After two incidents, I knew that 

Mr. Big Mole

 was good at setting up illusion formations. It was like the 

insect

 technique of the Miao people. 

I understood that if I chased after him, I would 

face

 death. However, my hot-tempered head didn’t consider that much. I ran after him. 

The depths of the tunnel w

ere

 like a labyrinth. 

There were many turns

. I could only listen to 

Mr. Big Mole

’s footsteps to vaguely locate him. 

He was old

,

 so he was much slower than me. The distance between us quickly shortened. I was about to catch him when suddenly, he disappeared into a junction

. 

Moreover, it was a 

dead-end

! 

“Not good!” I wanted to return, but I recognized 

that 

the path had changed. 

I looked

 at the labyrinth-like surroundings

 and f

elt worried. I thought 

that I could touch 

my way out of here. However, after a long time, I 

couldn’t find

 the exit

. I found 

myself

 back

 at the starting point. 

Then, I hear

d Mr. Big Mole's crazy

 laughter

. The laugh came at 

me from every direction. “Kid, this is our Dai people’s special illusional maze formation. You can’t escape no matter how hard you try. The only thing you can do is 

wait

 for your death here! Hahaha…” 

His perverted laughter lingered in my 

ears

. Sometimes, I thought he was right in front of me

. Other times, 

he felt so far away. I couldn’t locate him 

by 

sound. 

Gradually, his voice faded and disappeared. I knew he had left already. I didn’t want 

that

, so I continued to move. 

S

till, I couldn’t leave my spot. I had even tried the method I had used to deal with

road-blocking 

ghosts, but i

t didn’t work. 

I didn’t know what to do

. Then, 

a silver light flashed in front of me. The old man wearing a shroud appeared. 

Although he was stil

l

 mad,

he looked strangely nice in my eyes. 

H

e shot me a furious glance 

and

 turned around. He walked to an intersection. I followed behind him. 

We had walked like that for around ten minutes

 when 

I was finally 

able to escape

 the labyrinth. The old man looked 

at

his picture in “T

he Classic of Tea

.”

 He furrowed his 

brows

 as if he was in pain. In the next second, he disappeared. 

From his recent expression, I concluded that Lu Yu had 

a

 relationship with those women 

that lived

 in the stilt houses. He would never tell me what happened. If I wanted to know, I 

would have

 to learn from 

Mr. Big Mole

!

After I crawled

 out of the tunnel, I saw that the sky was bright. The Yin energy that had 

covered

 the entire village was gone. However, it was still cold outside. I didn’t linger

 and rushed 

back to the hotel. 

When I 

returned to t

he room,

 Lu Ming was idly

watching

 the ceiling. His hand supported his 

chin.

 When he saw me, he looked 

surprised

.

“

How did you get back?

” He sat on his bed. 

“

Why did you think that I wouldn't

 come back

?

” 

I saw the 

worry 

in his eyes. 

However,

 since there was something wrong 

about

 this, I deliberately 

made

 a face. 

He shook his head

.

 “Master Zhang, I’m sorry.” 

“All right, all right

. T

ell me everything from 

start

 to 

finish

.” 

If he wanted to tell me the truth, I shouldn’t be mad at him. I sighed

 and signaled at 

him to 

talk

. 

“I know that old ghost. 

It

 was Lu Y

u,

 the Tea Sage

. He was also my 

family’s ancestor.” 

Since I had guessed it 

earlier

, I wasn’t surprised. I nodded

 and asked,

 “Why 

didn't you

 tell me this right from the start?” 

“How could I tell someone about this? I don’t want to be deemed a bad descendant who has no regard 

for

 his ancestor.” Lu Ming licked his lips. “That

village 

was my

 ancestor’s 

obsession

while

 he was alive. I got the purple clay teapot from there. If I can’t keep it anymore, I would like to return it to that place. However, I didn’t expect that the teapot would turn to harm me…” 

It seemed he didn’t know the relationship between Lu Yu and that village. “Do you know a man with a 

big mole

? Did he sell the teapot to you?” 

“How did you know that?” Lu Ming was surprised. 

I told him about the encounter I had last night. His face paled shortly

. He shivered 

hard. Soon, sweat beaded his forehead. I hurried to press on his medial cleft. Lu Ming seemed to recall something very frightening. 

He got a hold of himself. After a while, he opened his mouth. “It seems… The legend of the thirty-six women who killed themselves to keep their dignity is true.” Then, he grabbed my hand. “Did you count those houses? Are 

there

 thirty-six in total?” 

“I don’t remember the number, but I guess it’s approximately 

thirty-six

.

What 

are the

 thirty-six women 

who killed

 themselves for their 

dignity

?” 

Lu Ming’s eyes reddened. 

He wept and

 told me a story that was recorded in his family’s 

genealogy

. 

Lu Yu lived in the Tang Dynasty. For his whole life, he had always been interested in tea. 

Since

 he 

had

 a surprisingly broad knowledge of tea, he 

became friends with

 many high-rank courtiers. 

To dig deeper into the world of tea, Lu Yu got on his skinny horse

 and traveled 

thousands of miles to the Nanzhao Kingdom, where 

tea was abundant

. 

At that time, the Nanzhao Kingdom was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. The people there welcomed Lu Yu warmly

.

 Moreover, with his vast knowledge and aloof

,

 immortal-like appearance,

many girls 

secretly

 loved him. 

Thirty-six young women loved

 him the most. They volunteered to 

go

 to Lu Yu’s 

residence

 to help him 

write “

The Classic of Tea.” Lu Yu was touched 

by

 their sincere affection. He created a stilt house for each of them. Although he was with them every day to 

discuss

 teas and how to make good teas, he was never close to any of them. 

However, 

those women thought 

of

 him as their husband. 

Unfortunately

, the happy days didn’t last long. A few years later, the war burst out. The Nanzhao Kingdom took the chance to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. The relationship between the two countries tensed up. Lu Yu was forced to go home. Before he left, he asked the women to dry tea leaves for him. 

If after

 three years

he didn’t come back, it meant he was dead. I

f that happened, t

he women should dismiss 

the

 tea house and start their lives anew. 

Lu Yu 

was

 gone for three years and there was no piece of news 

about him

. The thirty-six women remembered the times they had spent with him. Being brave and loyal women with dignity, they decided to commit suicide to show their loyal

ty 

to their husband

.

However, Lu Yu wasn’t dead yet. He had been jailed for years because he made satirical poems 

that

 mocked the imperial court. After a few years, his good friends helped him 

get o

ut. As soon as he was released, he cried

 and whipped 

his strong horse

. He seized 

each second to go to the Nanzhao Kingdom where he found that his thirty-six confidantes had killed themselves for their love. 

Lu Yu’s heart died at that moment. He 

then

spent all

of his mind

 and efforts to study 

tea

. In the end, 

he introduced

 the 

world to “

The Classic of Tea.” 

Lu Yu didn’t spend the last days of his life in the Nanzhao Kingdom. Before leaving, he used his blood mixed with copper to create thirty-six purple clay teapots

, which 

he buried with each of the women.