Behind Jade Splendor Hall lay the Orchid Bathing Palace.
Steam wreathed the palace interior, veiled by curtains.
The court official Ji Lan arrived with an intelligence report, not daring to lift her head. In the past, she had been allowed to look up while Her Majesty bathed. Not lately-because Her Majesty was no longer alone inside.
With her head lowered, she reported gravely, "Your Majesty, the poison miasma has spread. Most of the Yan family's experts at the Fifth Realm and above have been poisoned, apart from a few with special constitutions. The miasma is still spreading and has now engulfed half their fief. Every physician and pill master in Eastern Yu has been mobilized to help Yan Ling develop an antidote, but so far, they have found no solution."
Ji Xian's voice drifted from behind the curtain, languid and tinged with satisfaction. "How is Yan Xiu?"
Ji Lan answered, "Yan Ling used the Sealing Sleep Curse Mark to put the poisoned members of the Yan family to sleep and ease their suffering. But the unbearable itching persists even in their sleep. Yan Xiu has clawed his own face raw several times."
Ji Xian chuckled. "Excellent! For a man like him, losing face and making a spectacle of himself in public is worse torture than death. You may go."
Ji Lan bowed her head in acknowledgment and withdrew, her footsteps as light as if she were walking on cotton.
Inside the Orchid Bathing Palace, Ji Xian wore only a sheer gauze robe, her graceful figure appearing and disappearing amid the steam.
She turned toward Lu Changfeng, who rested against the edge of the pool behind her with his eyes closed, then swam over and embraced his waist. "My husband really is formidable," she said with a soft laugh. "The Ten