Like a violent storm surging up from the sea, no one knew exactly what had happened—the wave of sand suddenly rose and crashed down hard against Jun Beiyue’s back!

However prepared he might have been, he was caught completely off guard by the blow!

In an instant, both he and Yanzi were swallowed by the wave of sand!

In that same instant, countless calculating thoughts flickered through Yanzi’s eyes!

“Crack—”

A thunderous sound rang out as the sand wave crashed down—not the usual hiss and rustle of falling sand, but a single, earth-shaking boom, as if every grain of sand were somehow linked together as one!

What a terrifying sand-manipulation technique!

And in that very instant, out in the wilderness beyond the city, Ziqing suddenly bolted upright from her bed, as if waking from a terrible nightmare, as if startled by some sudden shock. “Beiyue!”

“Beiyue, something’s happened to Beiyue! Something must have happened to him!”

Still half-dazed from sleep, her eyes hazy and unfocused, she cried out and moved to get off the bed, completely unaware of her present situation, not even remembering the terrible state she’d been in while unconscious.

If there was ever a case of a bond between husband and wife so deep it transcended distance, this was surely it.

She gripped Liuguang tightly and made to rush outside, without even knowing where she was.

Just then, Sha Qiuzi and the medicine boy came in from outside, and froze at the sight of her awake.

Seeing them, Ziqing suddenly came to her senses, realizing she had just been in the grip of a nightmare.

“Awake? Ha ha ha, you’re finally awake! This old man’s life is saved! Ha ha ha!”

Sha Qiuzi danced with joy, hopping over to Ziqing’s side. “Princess Yao, sit, sit, let this old man take your pulse.”

Ziqing immediately drew back. All the memories from before she’d lost consciousness suddenly flooded back, and she instinctively covered her face. “Who are you? Where is this place?”

“Don’t worry, Princess Yao, I’m Prince Yao’s old friend, the miracle healer Sha Qiuzi. This is the outskirts of Akbaru City in Xijing—this is this old man’s own clinic.”

Sha Qiuzi explained, stepping forward to take her pulse, but Ziqing withdrew again. She had never been one to trust easily, let alone under circumstances like these.

“Why should I trust you? I want to see Jun Beiyue!” she said coldly, seemingly composed, yet her small hand kept unconsciously brushing over the scars on her face.

She wasn’t the type to give up on herself, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t affected, wasn’t afraid.

Even now, she still hadn’t properly, carefully looked at her own face.

Sha Qiuzi’s initial enthusiasm was instantly extinguished by Ziqing’s wariness. Growing impatient, he had the medicine boy bring the others in.

Soon, the medicine boy brought in the Reverse Scale Corps that Jun Beiyue had left behind. Seeing the six mercenaries she had personally trained, the vigilance in Ziqing’s heart finally eased.

“My lady!”

The six of them had long since been trained to keep their emotions from showing. Even overjoyed to see their mistress awake, they remained, as always, respectfully reporting for duty, awaiting orders.

Bingchan, their leader, stepped forward and gave Ziqing a full account of everything since New Year’s Eve. Ziqing raised a hand, using her sleeve to shield her face, but it was plain to see her lowered eyes growing colder and colder, an aura of extreme danger radiating from her whole being.

Even the medicine boy beside her couldn’t help but back away, not daring to get too close.

When Bingchan finished speaking, Ziqing said nothing more, simply issuing a cold command. “Let’s go. Into the city.”

The six mercenaries immediately lined up, clearing a path for her. Ziqing, shielding her face, made to leave—but just then, Sha Qiuzi suddenly burst out laughing. “Princess Yao, you’re so ugly now, aren’t you afraid you’ll embarrass Prince Yao if you go? This old man advises you to stay behind—you’ll only be in the way.”

The moment he finished speaking, Ziqing stopped dead in her tracks.

Seeing this, Sha Qiuzi looked quite satisfied, and made a point of bringing over a mirror. “Princess Yao, this old man always speaks the plain truth, don’t take offense. Your guards told me too—Prince Yao wants you to stay here and recuperate. Your body’s healed, sure, but your face is still full of poison. Prince Yao’s gone to find the antidote—you, a proper lady, should just sit tight and wait here!”

As he spoke, he deliberately held the mirror up in front of Ziqing, saying somewhat impatiently, “Look, take a good look at what you’ve become now, then decide whether you still want to go.”

Ziqing stood perfectly still, and behind the shield of her sleeve, her cold eyes were unmistakably full of displeasure.

She knew exactly what she looked like now. But what did that have to do with going to find Jun Beiyue, with taking her revenge personally?

Seeing Ziqing not move, Sha Qiuzi assumed she was afraid. He had the medicine boy hold the mirror steady and reached out to pull down her raised arm. Impatient as he was, out of respect for Jun Beiyue, he sighed and forced himself to be patient. “Come now, put your hand down, take a good look. If you don’t even dare look at your own face, how do you plan to go outside hiding it like this?”

Just as he was about to pull her hand down, Ziqing suddenly yanked it away without warning, startling Sha Qiuzi, who thought the empress consort was about to fly into a rage!

To his surprise, Ziqing didn’t lose her temper at all. She lowered her arm and, exactly as Sha Qiuzi had told her, began studying the face in the mirror with genuine attention.

Ugly—nearly every word associated with ugliness could be used to describe it, more hideous than any monster.

Ugly wasn’t even the worst part—what mattered was how grotesque, how horrifying it was.

Clusters of flesh, ridge upon ridge of scars, crisscrossed across her small face. To put it plainly, anyone who didn’t know her would surely not take her for a person at all, but a monster.

Ziqing studied it carefully. Yanzi had once shown her a mirror before, and though the corpse poison had since receded, seeing her face straight on now was far more terrifying than what she’d glimpsed before.

She looked for a long while, her small hand gently tracing along her cheek, over every scar, every lump of scarred flesh. Her heart ached, ached terribly—this was her own face, and yet she could hardly bring herself to recognize it as her own.

But just as that bitter ache welled up in her heart, a warm, comforting feeling rose alongside it, enough to soothe her frightened, ice-cold heart.

Through all that time unconscious, the only impression she retained—vague, hazy—

Was of a pair of warm, large hands, which had once touched her face just as she was doing now, without the slightest fear, without the slightest revulsion, gently tracing over every hideous mark upon it.

She couldn’t quite remember when, or where.

She only remembered falling, again and again, as if descending step by step toward death, when someone had wrapped their arms tightly around her from behind, chin resting against her shoulder, large hands gently soothing every ache—that, and the sense that she had fallen into water, that his strength alone had kept her from sinking.

It must have been Beiyue.

Hazy, and yet deeply etched in memory.

Those large hands had calluses too—Beiyue held a sword year-round, and calluses had built up thick on the pad of his palm.

At the thought, Ziqing’s heart warmed, and the slight tremor in her hand eased naturally. She traced over the last raised lump of scarred flesh on her cheek, then turned to Sha Qiuzi with a brilliant smile, her voice firm and resolute. “Let’s go. Time for revenge.”

Sha Qiuzi couldn’t quite believe this was her reaction, and cried out in alarm, “Wait a moment!”