After provoking the holy maiden of Miao territory, she was infected with a love curse.

Hearing Yin Huaixi whispering to Sang Che, the dark figure leaped down from the tree and removed the black cloth covering her face.

His eyes were filled with ruthlessness.

"Trying to leave?"

"I'm afraid it's not as easy as you two think."

The man was toying with a silver dart in his hand. Judging from his voice, he was not old, but his viciousness and ruthlessness were even greater than Sang Che's.

"His Highness instructed me to follow you, and that's how I'll find this legendary... Miao Holy Maiden."

"As expected, seeing is believing. I never imagined he was a pervert who lusts after soft and fragrant women."

If it weren't for this person's sarcastic remarks, Sang Che probably would have wanted to stay in Yin Huaixi's arms a little longer. She turned her head and glanced at the woman in black, a smile playing on her lips.

His forced smile was quite unsettling.

"A perverted man who craves soft, fragrant women?"

"I find the flying rat hiding in the tree, secretly spying on other people's lovemaking, to be even more perverted."

Sang Che's two sentences infuriated the woman on the other side, and in a flash, the woman in black threw another dart.

They wished they could kill Sang Che with a single blow, but Sang Che was no pushover either.

She didn't dodge the dart that came hurtling through the air earlier because she was certain that Yin Huaixi wouldn't stand idly by and would definitely pull her up and protect her in his arms.

Save her life.

But this person is so tactless, insisting on coming up here to disturb her and Huaixi's time together, so she shouldn't blame her for being impolite.

She wouldn't bother arguing with these unreasonable and domineering people about the "forgive and forget" principle that Huaixi often used.

She wanted to teach these people a lesson and show them what she was capable of.

With a turn, water splashed from her rain-soaked dress, and Sang Che caught the flying dart with two fingers. With a flick of her fingertips, the dart became a toy in Sang Che's hand, which she could play with as she pleased.

"Tell your master that if she looks down on me so much, then she deserves to lose Ah Shui."

"Trying to play dirty tricks on me? Maybe in your next life."

Sang Che flicked his fingertip lightly.

The silver dart flew back, and the person on the other side reacted quickly, reaching out to catch it.

She was surprised; there weren't many people in the world who could dodge her hidden weapons.

The woman's background...

Is it really as miraculous as Your Highness described?

Sang Che twisted her long, black hair between her fingers and smiled at the woman in black, "Hold on tight?"

"Next, it's my turn to give you a taste of your own medicine."

Before the woman holding the dart could react, the wet ground was immediately crawling with black, poisonous insects, which slithered up her trouser legs.

"Feed... what on earth is this?!"

"You...you get these bugs away right now!"

Despite shaking her legs, the woman couldn't shake off the countless black insects. Her face turned pale, and she reached into her waistband to pull out a gourd container filled with medicinal powder, which she then sprinkled out.

Sang Che: "It's useless."

Sang Che: "As long as my orders continue, no matter how much you slap them, these bugs will die on your legs and your body, even if they die."

"Their teeth will pierce your skin, causing it to fester and toxins to invade your body, leaving you...without a proper burial place!"

Sang Che smiled, and just as she was about to walk forward, another guard emerged from behind the woman.

The long sword, drawn from its sheath, shone brightly in the rainy night.

White powder repelled the poisonous insects from the woman's body, and a familiar figure emerged from the guards' embrace.

"Sang Che, how have you been?"

Zhao Huining held up a snow-white oil-paper umbrella. Her dress swayed, and her plain hair was adorned with a jade hairpin, without any other head ornaments.

"You're still so arrogant, so vicious, and so repulsive."

The maid beside him carried a lantern, and the light fell onto the water's surface, creating a shimmering effect like the daytime ripples.

"I should get my revenge for the suffering you endured in the cave, Sang Che... you're really bold."

"If the imperial court can make you a hostage once, it can make you a hostage a second time."

With a smile mixed with hatred in her eyes, Zhao Huining could always recall the way Jiawan whispered "A-Che" in her ear whenever she saw Sang Che's innocent and flawless face.

She truly loathed Sang Che.

...

Just now, the emperor wanted to see her, but was stopped by the imperial concubine. Zhao Huining opened the sandalwood box in front of the emperor.

There was only a hairpin inside.

The Imperial Concubine smiled and picked up the hairpin with her fingers, saying, "Your Majesty, this is a gift from me to my sister. I was the one who came to my sister's place just now. I'm sure Your Majesty has misunderstood something."

Although Zhao Yuan had his doubts, he had always doted on and trusted the Imperial Concubine.

The Consort's maternal family had given him a lot of help, so even if Zhao Yuan had doubts, he wouldn't show them openly and was willing to give the Consort face.

He flicked his sleeve and said, "So that's how it is. My beloved concubine came to visit my sister and catch up. As a man, it's not appropriate for me to eavesdrop here."

"I will go back to find the Taoist priest now."

"I also asked a Taoist priest to cast a divination for me. I'm sure this divination will reveal something."

Zhao Yuan disappeared into the rain, and only then did Zhao Huining realize that she had misunderstood the Imperial Concubine.

Fortunately, Zhao Huining had noticed Yin Huaixi's whereabouts when she first met him; her target was Sang Che.

Originally, Zhao Huining did not plan to go down the mountain in order to avoid being noticed. She was worried that Sang Che had already fled down the mountain, and most of the troops she brought were stationed at the foot of the mountain, ready to wait for him to come to her.

To everyone's surprise, Sang Che never left the Taoist temple; instead, he and Yin Huaixi were there, which was quite embarrassing.

...

They were surrounded.

Yin Huaixi no longer felt the fear and terror she once did.

But the words that came out of Zhao Huining's mouth made Yin Huaixi breathless.

With the love curse planted in her body, she could naturally sense Sang Che's rare outpouring of emotions. The feeling of a boulder pressing on her chest was so torturous that it drove her crazy!

Biting her thin lips, the metallic scent of metal filled the air. Yin Huaixi stretched out her trembling, slender arm and blocked Sang Che's path.

She stared at Zhao Huining with those eyes as if she were fearless, completely hiding Sang Che behind her.

"Your Highness, you cannot take A-Che away."

Hearing that weak voice, as faint as a cat's, Zhao Huining wanted to crush the umbrella handle with her fingers, but her voice remained calm and indifferent.

"That's really interesting."

"It's none of your business, Yin Huaixi, to tell me what I want to do."

She stared intently at Sang Che behind Yin Huaixi as if he were an enemy who had robbed her of her most precious possession.

"You were all drugged and bewitched by Sang Che, but I wasn't."

"Yin Huaixi, I advise you to be sensible. If you want me to keep my promise, then you'd better not protect this person who has tried to kill you time and time again."

"Could it be that you would fall in love with a woman who almost turned you into a puppet and killed you?"

Yin Huaixi: "..."

Anyone in the world has the right to criticize her for these words, but Zhao Huining, the eldest princess of the Great Xin Dynasty, is the only one who does not have the right to say them.

In a way, she was perhaps even more ruthless towards Sang Che than towards Zhao Huining.

Hey! Who's the one washing underwear with that cold face?!

Yin Huaixi: "I'm under the influence of the love potion, so I'll have to trouble Your Highness to bear with me."

"Otherwise... Your Highness, you'll never know the taboos of the Love Poison in your entire life."

"If used incorrectly, it can kill people."

Yin Huaixi learned Sang Che's wink, and after she finished speaking, she smiled at Zhao Huining.

The implication is—"Your Highness, you don't want Ah Shui to be killed so carelessly, do you?"