On the day of the Chen-Li wedding.
The Chen family, being the wealthiest in Gusu, naturally held the wedding in their grand estate. Lord Chen had dispatched people early on to decorate the courtyard, with red banners of happiness covering every surface, lanterns hung everywhere, and even the treetops adorned with red paper cuttings and lanterns. From a distance, the estate was aglow with lights and filled with festive joy.
Guests from all over the country had come, as the Chen family was well-known in the martial world. Additionally, the reputation of the “Autumn Leaf Wanderer” had also grown, making the courtyard bustling with people. The Li family’s daughter, on the other hand, was a young woman of beauty, yet unknown to the public, having grown up secluded in her family’s chambers. As guests took their seats, they cheerfully chatted about the newlyweds with clear enthusiasm.
Shen Molan, however, had little interest in the festivities. Despite Lord Chen arranging an honorary seat for him, he had requested to join the Chen family guards in patrolling the estate, checking whether any uninvited guests had entered.
“The auspicious hour has arrived—”
From afar, Shen Molan heard the shrill voice of the ceremony official announcing the start.
The bride and groom must be coming out now. The courtyard fell silent for a moment, before erupting again with lively noise.
“First bow to Heaven and Earth—”
Laughter and congratulations filled the air.
“Second bow to the parents—”
He vaguely heard Lord Chen laughing heartily, and the clamor of the crowd’s teasing made the area where he stood seem even quieter.
His thoughts suddenly drifted to his late mother. She had once hoped to see him married, but in the end, she never got the chance to witness such a scene.
“Master Shen, you should go join the celebration. You’re a distinguished guest of the Chen family,” one of the guards, noticing his slight melancholy, advised him kindly.
Shen Molan smiled faintly, about to respond when he suddenly stopped.
He realized the courtyard had fallen eerily silent. The next call should have been “bow to each other,” but it was as if the words were stuck in the official’s throat. The waves of laughter and teasing that had been crashing over him stopped abruptly.
“…This isn’t good!” Shen Molan exchanged worried glances with the two guards at the front gate before quickly rushing toward the main courtyard.
She’s already inside? How could that be? He hadn’t noticed anyone suspicious…
As he reached the courtyard, a strange smell hit him. He accidentally inhaled a few breaths, feeling dizzy almost immediately. He quickly steadied his breath and suppressed the effects while instinctively covering his nose and mouth. Before he could warn the guards, he realized they had already inhaled too much in their haste to help and were now collapsing one by one.
The courtyard was deathly silent. Scanning the area, Shen Molan saw that all the guests had collapsed, unconscious, while the dragon and phoenix candles on either side of the altar flickered in the wind, making the scene even more eerie.
His eyes swept the courtyard one last time and noticed that Shaoqing was nowhere to be seen.
Although he had managed to hold his breath in time, Shen Molan had still inhaled a few breaths of the poison. Gold specks danced before his eyes as he staggered back from the courtyard, his brow furrowed.
Where had Shaoqing gone?
Unable to summon the strength to use qinggong, Shen Molan leaned against the wall, concentrating on gathering his energy to expel the poison from his body.
Suddenly, he sensed something approaching. His eyes snapped open!
“Well, well, it seems there’s still a fish that slipped through the net… The great Master Shen, always so cautious.”
A woman dressed in black, her face veiled, walked out of the hall with a smile. If not for the unconscious Chen Shaoqing hanging from her hand, her graceful figure might have been mistaken for a harmless, delicate woman.
Shen Molan panted, struggling to stay alert, and said coldly, “Put Shaoqing down. Whatever you want, the Chen family can give you.”
The woman, though her face was half-covered, made her eyes reveal a seductive allure. “I don’t want anything. I only want his life…”
Her tone suddenly shifted from flirtatious to ice-cold. “I can’t believe he’s still alive! At first, I thought I misheard… How laughable. This worthless man, still living… all my efforts, wasted…”
Shen Molan truly did not know the depth of the grudge between the two. From what Shaoqing had said earlier, he had rejected Yun Niang’s affections and cruelly insulted her appearance and age, but judging by Yun Niang’s expression now, it seemed like there was much more to the story.
“May I ask, what exactly did Shaoqing do?” Shen Molan asked.
Yun Niang abruptly raised her eyes to meet his and then let out a cold laugh. She tore off the veil covering the lower half of her face—
The upper half of her face was strikingly beautiful, her eyes gleaming with allure, and though there were faint lines at the corners, they only added a touch of gentle charm.
However, the lower half of her face, which had been hidden by the veil, bore a massive burn scar, hideous and twisted, like countless centipedes writhing across her skin, enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping(.)com.
In addition to that—
On the right side of her face, a sharp weapon had carved the character “ugly” into her skin, a glaring scar now healed, but the humiliation it conveyed was deeply unsettling.
Shen Molan was stunned into silence.
“Isn’t it lovely, Hero?” Yun Niang mocked as she re-covered her face. Seeing Shen Molan’s reaction, she sneered. “This burn was a gift from the adulterous couple of my past. I kept it as a reminder of my revenge. As for this scar,” she gestured to the word on her face, “it was carved by your little brother’s Chen family weapon. Even if I wanted to erase it, I couldn’t.”
Shen Molan, still reeling, suddenly recalled the gossip he’d heard about Yun Niang back in southern Jiangnan.
Adulterous couple? Could it mean…
“Yun Niang once lived among us Miao people and even married another man… We wouldn’t have known she was a gu lady if she hadn’t poisoned her husband’s entire family…”
“We’ll never forget how her husband’s family died—skulls shattered, poison worms crawling everywhere… That venomous woman was terrifying…”
So Yun Niang’s husband and another woman had conspired to burn her alive… and she survived by sheer willpower to later poison her husband’s entire family?
And that scar… was Shaoqing’s doing?
Shen Molan knew Shaoqing had always been spoiled, but he never imagined he would be the type to kick someone when they were down, to tear open their wounds and twist the knife—even against a woman.
He slowly turned his gaze to Shaoqing’s unconscious face, feeling for the first time that this youth was a stranger to him.
Seeing Shen Molan’s expression, Yun Niang seemed to understand something and smiled lightly. “All men are heartless. Your little brother here tried to kill me, even carved such a humiliating word on my face. And now, look at him—proud and about to be married! Tell me, shouldn’t I ruin this wedding?”
Shen Molan remained silent for a long time before finally speaking. “But you also poisoned him… Shaoqing almost…”
Yun Niang cut him off abruptly, “I have no desire to waste words with you. I just want to know—who among my fellow poison masters saved him?”
Yun Niang was so certain it was one of her peers?
Hearing her tone, Shen Molan feared she meant harm and anxiously replied, “What are you going to do to him? I asked him to save Shaoqing…” Implying that if she wanted to cause trouble, she should come after him instead.
Yun Niang looked at Shen Molan’s slightly anxious expression and fell silent.
She finally pieced together much of the situation from his brief words.
“Hahahahahaha—” Her sharp laughter echoed through the stillness of the Chen family courtyard. “How absurd… I knew it… All men are heartless.”
She no longer looked at Shen Molan and instead gently stroked Chen Shaoqing’s pale face, whispering, “How is it that with such a vile mouth, you still have so many people who love you…” Without finishing her sentence, she slapped Shaoqing hard across the face, leaving a bright red handprint on his fair skin.
The slap roused Chen Shaoqing from his unconsciousness. Still dressed in his wedding robes, he could only remember that moments earlier he had been bowing with his bride. For a moment, he was too disoriented to react. “…What…?”
The next moment, he saw Shen Molan leaning against the wall, and beside him—
“Yun Niang?! It’s you!”
Shaoqing’s eyes widened in realization, and he spat out venomously, “You ugly hag! You actually dared to cause trouble! Just watch, I’ll kill you—”
“Shut up!” Yun Niang’s expression twisted in fury. She drove something into Chen Shaoqing’s dantian, then triggered it with her other hand. Instantly, Shen Molan heard Shaoqing scream in agony.
Yun Niang had used gu to destroy Shaoqing’s dantian!
From this moment on, he would never be able to practice martial arts again, becoming the very thing he despised—a cripple.
“Hah. Now, I wonder how you’ll kill me…” Yun Niang released Shaoqing, who was now coughing up blood uncontrollably, and stood aside with a slight smile. Even now, not a drop of blood had touched her.
Shen Molan seized the moment and quickly used what little strength he had left to support Shaoqing, who, despite his weakness, managed to remain conscious.
“Shaoqing…”
Chen Shaoqing cried out in despair, “She destroyed my martial arts! She ruined my dantian! That wretched woman, Shen-dage, you have to kill her…”
Yun Niang, looking perfectly composed, waited for him to finish before casually saying, “Ah, I almost forgot something.” She then clapped her hands lightly.
Chen Shaoqing’s eyes widened in shock, and he let out a strangled cry. Suddenly, a severed piece of his tongue, blackened and coated in blood, along with the gu that had just bitten it off, spewed out of his mouth. The gu, as if it had found its mother, obediently crawled back onto Yun Niang’s hand. Get faster updates on g.com.
Overcome with shock and anger, Chen Shaoqing stared at the severed piece of his tongue and immediately fainted.
For the first time, Shen Molan realized just how powerless he truly was. He could only stand there, helplessly watching as Yun Niang crippled Shaoqing’s dantian and cut out his tongue, unable to do anything.
“Out of respect for you, Hero, I’ll spare his life,” Yun Niang said, finally satisfied as she looked at the unconscious Shaoqing. “Don’t worry, no one will die today, but everyone here won’t wake up until tomorrow. I always repay my grudges, but I don’t harm the innocent.”
Shen Molan said nothing, his cold gaze fixed on her.
Yun Niang, amused by his expression, smiled seductively and said, “A friendly reminder, Hero—you can’t expel the poison I released today using your internal energy. The more you try, the longer it will take for your strength to return. Don’t you feel yourself growing weaker?”
Startled, Shen Molan instinctively stopped circulating his internal energy. Immediately, the dizziness intensified, and he had to release his hold on Shaoqing and struggle to keep himself upright.
“Oh, by the way, do you know the name of the poison I used earlier?” Yun Niang’s interest seemed to have been piqued. She squatted down to look Shen Molan in the eye.
When he didn’t respond, she continued talking to herself, “That poison is called Wang Hun Yin—‘Soul-Forgotten Poison.’ When it strikes in the ninth month, the soul cannot cross the River of Oblivion, leaving the body to wither. The afflicted will die from organ failure in exactly nine months, with no cure.”
Shen Molan was stunned. No cure? That couldn’t be—
Wasn’t Shaoqing fine after the treatment?
Seeing the shock on his face, Yun Niang was pleased and went on, “Wang Hun Yin is one of the most ancient and rare forbidden poisons from Miaojiang. No one outside our clan knows about it; they would just assume the victim is dying from exhaustion. I made a mistake when I first used the poison; otherwise, this wretch would have died long ago.”
She snorted coldly and continued, “However, there is one way to deal with this poison. The only possible ‘cure,’ as the Han people might say, is—”
“Blood transfusion.”
Shen Molan’s eyes widened in shock.
Yun Niang’s voice became soft, as though telling a story: “Blood transfusion. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you, Hero? It’s an excruciating process where all the blood from the ‘parent’ is transferred to the ‘child.’ The poison will follow the blood into the child’s body. The process is incredibly painful, but after six months, the poison will completely transfer to the recipient. I deeply admire any hero willing to endure such a torment.”
Shen Molan suddenly realized that his body was trembling uncontrollably, as if he were in the throes of a spasm. He wanted to scoff at the absurdity of it all, but he felt utterly drained of strength. Was it the poison, or…?
How could this be happening?
Yun Niang made a small sound, as if she had just remembered something, and corrected herself, “Oh, I misspoke earlier. It’s not true that no one will die because of this grudge. Unfortunately, my fellow clan member already sacrificed himself.”
“Im…possible…” Shen Molan, overwhelmed by disbelief, gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay conscious, struggling to speak.
Impossible!
He vividly recalled what Shaoqing had looked like when he was first poisoned—pale, frail, and drained of energy, with graying hair. And Feng Wuhen, when he last saw him, had been full of color, with a healthy complexion and jet-black hair.
Up until this very moment, Feng Wuhen had given no sign of being affected.
But now—
Seeing the mix of disbelief, grief, and madness on Shen Molan’s face, emotions he shouldn’t have been experiencing, Yun Niang finally smiled in satisfaction.
“Hero, did you truly not notice at all the signs that someone else was dying?”
Her voice was nearly a whisper, tender and gentle.
As Shen Molan’s expression darkened and he slipped into unconsciousness, Yun Niang, pleased, flicked her sleeve and left. Before she departed, she cast one last glance at the wedding hall.
The scene, once filled with celebration, now seemed like a cruel joke.
…In fact.
Wang Hun Yin had originally been meant for herself, but in her panic, she had mistakenly given it to someone else.
No matter.
Perhaps it was all fate after all.