The smile curling at the corner of Sang Wanwan’s lips looked especially chilling beneath the blazing sun.
Not only did she refuse to release the leather whip in her hand, she suddenly yanked it backward.
That single pull carried a trace of her ancient martial inner force.
Zhao Tieniu had been putting every ounce of strength into reclaiming the whip, his entire weight thrown backward as he struggled.
The moment Sang Wanwan exerted force, he was caught completely off guard.
His balance vanished instantly.
The burly man, weighing well over two hundred pounds, flew through the air like a collapsing mountain of flesh, tracing an absurd arc before crashing down.
Bang!
The impact echoed across the road.
Zhao Tieniu hit the ground face-first.
His mouth filled with dirt and several broken teeth, making him look utterly miserable.
“Ow! My teeth!”
Clutching his mouth, Zhao Tieniu howled in agony and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
Everyone around him froze.
The guards.
The exiles.
Every single person stared in disbelief.
No one could believe that this chained substitute bride had actually sent the powerful guard captain flying.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Zhao Tieniu scrambled to his feet.
Pain and humiliation twisted his fleshy face into a dark purple mask.
He was the captain of the Imperial Guards.
Yet he had been publicly humiliated by a prisoner.
If word of this got out, how could he ever hold his head up again?
“You bitch! How dare you lay hands on me!”
Roaring with rage, his eyes bloodshot, Zhao Tieniu drew the gleaming saber from his waist.
“Even if I break the rules today, I’ll chop off those hands of yours first and carve you into pieces afterward!”
Sunlight reflected off the blade, scattering cold flashes of murderous intent.
Gripping the saber with both hands, Zhao Tieniu charged forward like a crazed wild boar, swinging downward at Sang Wanwan’s head.
The women of the Ninth Prince’s Residence nearly fainted from terror.
“Ah! He’s going to kill her!”
Dowager Consort Shen collapsed onto a pile of rocks, clutching her head and screaming hysterically.
Rather than blaming Zhao Tieniu for attacking with a weapon, she directed all her fear and anger at Sang Wanwan.
“You disaster-bringing curse! Are you trying to get our entire family killed?”
“If you want to die, fine! Why drag all of us down with you? You walking omen of death!”
The old nanny beside her trembled as she pointed accusingly at Sang Wanwan.
“I knew a wild country girl like you had no manners!”
“If a guard wants to discipline you, you should just accept it!”
“Look what you’ve done! You’ve angered him, now we’re all going to die because of you!”
Facing the descending blade and the insults behind her, Sang Wanwan remained completely still.
She didn’t even blink.
Her back was straight as a spear.
Her calm eyes held not the slightest ripple of emotion.
When the saber was less than a foot from her face—
Her left hand, bound in iron chains, rose slightly.
With a subtle flick of her fingers, the packet concealed between them shattered.
The powder inside was the infamous Blissful Heart-Scratching Powder.
She flicked her fingers lightly.
A faint breeze drifted past.
A cloud of colorless, odorless powder floated silently through the air and landed precisely on Zhao Tieniu’s sweat-soaked neck.
This powder had been one of her favorite interrogation tools in her previous life as an elite agent.
A mere trace of it could seep into the body and penetrate straight to the bone.
The instant it touched skin—
“Die for me!”
Zhao Tieniu’s roar still echoed across the wilderness.
But his raised saber suddenly froze in midair.
As if he had been struck by a paralysis spell.
The murderous expression on his face stiffened.
In its place appeared a bizarre look of horror.
Clang!
The heavy saber slipped from his grasp and smashed onto the rocky ground.
His body began trembling uncontrollably.
At first, it was only a faint tingling sensation spreading from his neck.
But within moments, that tingling transformed into an unbearable itch.
An itch that felt like countless ants gnawing on his bones.
It came from inside his skeleton.
From the depths of his organs.
From every hidden corner of his body.
“Ah… itchy! So itchy!”
A scream unlike any human sound burst from his throat.
His hands clawed desperately at his neck.
The force was so great that five bloody gashes instantly appeared.
Skin split open.
Blood poured out.
Yet he seemed completely unable to feel the pain.
He kept scratching frantically.
“Help me! It’s killing me! Ahhh!”
Unable to stand any longer, Zhao Tieniu collapsed to his knees.
Then he began rolling wildly across the scorching dirt road.
As he rolled, he tore at his uniform.
Rip! Rip!
The sturdy fabric was shredded into pieces.
His fat chest and back were exposed to the open air.
His thick fingers clawed at his flesh as though digging for buried treasure.
Long, horrifying scratches covered his body.
Blood mixed with dirt until he resembled a living blood-soaked gourd.
Yet he still didn’t stop.
Instead, he scratched harder and harder.
His eyes bulged outward, veins spreading through them as pain drove him toward madness.
“Kill me! Just kill me!”
“Give me a blade! End it!”
He convulsed in the dirt, crying and begging.
The unbearable torment made him wish he could peel off every inch of skin and scratch directly at his bones.
The once-arrogant tyrant broke completely.
In desperation, he even slammed his head against roadside stones, hoping the pain would distract him from the maddening itch consuming his body.
The entire scene happened so quickly.
And it was so strange.
The exile convoy fell into deathly silence.
Only Zhao Tieniu’s shrill screams echoed across the sun-scorched wilderness.
The sound was enough to make everyone’s scalp tingle and their blood run cold.
The remaining guards stood frozen.
Each exchanged frightened glances with the others.
The hands gripping their weapons trembled uncontrollably.
Not a single one dared approach Zhao Tieniu.
“W-What’s happening to the master?”
“Don’t go near him! What if he’s caught some horrible plague? I heard there are strange diseases in Bitter Frost Prefecture!”
“Damn it! This has to be bad luck from the Ninth Prince’s Residence!”
Terrified, the guards backed away repeatedly.
No one wanted to be contaminated by whatever sinister curse they believed had struck him.
The entire convoy was forced to halt in the middle of nowhere.
Nobody dared approach the blood-covered man writhing on the ground.
Behind Sang Wanwan, Zongzheng Zhan peeked through his fingers and quietly watched Zhao Tieniu.
A faint flash of surprise crossed the depths of his seemingly foolish eyes.
He had been standing closest.
Although he hadn’t seen exactly what Sang Wanwan had thrown, he had noticed that tiny flick of her fingers.
This woman knew how to use a colorless, odorless poison?
And her methods were so ruthless and decisive.
Watching her enemy suffer a fate worse than death, she could still smile.
Was she really just a village girl raised in the countryside?
“Wanwan, why is he dancing on the ground?”
“He looks so ugly!”
The sharpness vanished from Zongzheng Zhan’s eyes as quickly as it had appeared.
Once again, he tugged on her sleeve and played the role of a frightened fool.
Sang Wanwan turned and gently ruffled his messy hair.
Her voice was warm and soothing.
“Good boy. That’s what happens when bad people receive heavenly punishment.”
“He’s being punished by the heavens.”
“We shouldn’t look. It’ll dirty our eyes.”
The moment the words “heavenly punishment” reached the guards’ ears, they shuddered.
Their fearful gazes toward Sang Wanwan became even more apprehensive.
At that moment, the women of the Ninth Prince’s Residence finally recovered from their shock.
The terrifying guard captain hadn’t killed anyone.
Instead, he was the one rolling around half-dead.
And the other guards were too frightened to bother with them.
Without the threat of whips hanging over their heads, the spoiled noblewomen immediately regained their old arrogance.
Dowager Consort Shen climbed out from the pile of rocks.
She brushed the dust from her skirt with visible disgust.
After straightening her messy hair, she once again adopted the lofty bearing of a noble matriarch.
As if she had completely forgotten how she had cried and begged for mercy moments earlier.
As if she had forgotten that the woman standing before her had just prevented a catastrophe.
Lifting her chin, she cast a disdainful glance at Sang Wanwan.
“You’re lucky that heaven dealt with that brute.”
She snorted.
Then, in a commanding tone filled with entitlement, she barked orders at Sang Wanwan.
“What are you standing around for?”
“Can’t you see that I and the others have been baking under the sun for so long that our lips are cracking and bleeding?”
“Now that the guards aren’t paying attention, hurry up and find some clean water to serve us!”
One of the delicate concubines immediately chimed in while rubbing her stomach.
“Exactly. And bring back something to eat while you’re at it.”
“I’m so hungry my stomach hurts.”
Dowager Consort Shen shot Sang Wanwan a vicious glare and added sharply,
“Move faster!”
“If you fail to find water and food and we, the women of the Ninth Prince’s Residence, suffer because of it, then once we reach the place of exile…”
Her eyes filled with malice.
“I’ll make sure you regret it.”