Volume One, Chapter 1: Coming to Your Door with a Blade

“Cheng Xi, why are you as dull as a block of wood? You’re utterly no fun.”

Cheng Xi crouched before the crude grave, burning paper offerings. The firelight reddened half her face. At those words, her lifeless eyes shifted slightly before she said, “Jiang Weiran, I agree to break off the engagement.”

Jiang Weiran had come yesterday to end their betrothal, only to be driven away by Cheng Xi.

He had assumed he would have to argue at length today. He had not expected her to agree so readily, and after a moment of surprise, he continued, “I never wanted to break off the engagement either. But you have no talent for becoming a talisman master. The future matriarch of the Jiang family cannot be a useless cripple.”

Cheng Xi’s hand paused over the offerings. In an instant, the flames climbed her sleeve and scorched her palm.

Her five fingers clenched. The fire went out silently in her hand.

Cheng Xi lifted her head and looked at Jiang Weiran. He was handsome and graceful, tall and striking, filled with the vigorous vitality of youth and the pride nurtured by an eminent household.

He had come yesterday to break off the engagement, and the former Cheng Xi had died of rage. That was when she had arrived in this body.

The spirited young man before her had no idea that another life now weighed upon his hands. He was merely smugly pleased that she had finally seen reason.

Jiang Weiran pulled an envelope from his robes. “These are the marriage documents between our families. Since we’re ending the engagement, return the token the Jiang family gave you, and we’ll be even.”

Cheng Xi casually tossed the marriage documents into the brazier. They were instantly devoured by the flames and reduced to ash. She then untied the jade pendant from her waist and threw it to him.

Jiang Weiran watched her burn the documents without even looking at them, and his expression immediately darkened. He gripped the jade pendant tightly, suddenly feeling unsettled.

He had been unhappy that she refused to end the engagement, but he was even more unhappy that she had agreed so readily.

With a grim expression, he said sarcastically, “Cheng Xi, don’t be too heartbroken. Find some ordinary man and marry him. Live a quiet, obedient life.”

The last flame in the brazier went out. Cheng Xi slowly rose to her feet.

“I agreed to end the engagement. The marriage documents are burned, and the token has been returned.”

Jiang Weiran watched her face grow steadily colder. For some reason, a trace of fear welled up in his heart. He instinctively took a step back, though he still forced a defiant sneer. “At least you know what’s good for you.”

“There is one thing you haven’t returned to me.”

Jiang Weiran stared at her blankly. “What?”

The instant the words left his mouth, a streak of silver flashed before his eyes. He watched in horror as his left arm fell to the ground. Then his shriek rang out.

“Cheng Xi… I’ll kill you…”

Cheng Xi paid no attention to his screams and curses. With one hand, she seized Jiang Weiran and flung him before Madam Du’s grave.

“Do you remember why our families arranged this engagement in the first place?” Cheng Xi asked, one foot planted on his back.

Jiang Weiran lay prostrate on his knees before the grave. His face went deathly pale.

“Because my mother saved your life. The Jiang family arranged our marriage to repay that debt.”

“Since you want to end the engagement, then end it completely. Return your life to my mother. Only then will we truly be even.”

Jiang Weiran struggled desperately. “Cheng Xi, are you insane? If you dare kill me, the Jiang family will never let you go!”

Cheng Xi gave a cold laugh. “You claim I lack the talent to become a talisman master, but that’s only because you and Cheng Fenglan were having an affair.”

Jiang Weiran was in pain and terrified, trembling as he curled into a ball. At her words, he shook even more violently.

“Tell me—if you become a useless cripple, will Cheng Fenglan still want you?”

Jiang Weiran’s entire body convulsed with pain. Cheng Xi had gone mad. His face white, he begged for mercy. “Let me go! I’ll give you anything you want! I won’t break off the engagement! I won’t!”

“You won’t?” Cheng Xi kicked him over, sending him rolling onto his back. “That won’t do. How could a cripple like you possibly be worthy of me?”

Jiang Weiran vomited a mouthful of blood.

Cheng Xi sheathed her blade. “Killing you here would defile my mother’s grave. Taking one of your arms settles the debt between us.”

She wanted to see whether Cheng Fenglan could still remain deeply devoted to Jiang Weiran once he became a useless one-armed cripple.

Killing him with a single stroke would have been too merciful. She wanted him to taste betrayal and abandonment—to repay the former Cheng Xi’s suffering tenfold, a hundredfold.

She hauled Jiang Weiran and his severed arm into the carriage and headed toward the Cheng residence. Along the way, she sprinkled medicinal powder over the wound to keep him from bleeding to death.

The pain had left Jiang Weiran dazed. He watched Cheng Xi tend to his wound in a fog, terrified and too afraid to move.

He feared that if she became displeased, she would cut off his other arm as well.

He failed to notice that the instant the powder touched his wound, the bleeding stopped—and the flesh had even begun to form a faint scab.

After traveling through the night, they entered the city at daybreak, just as dawn was breaking.

Cheng Zhouxing had recently been appointed governor, and the Cheng residence stood in the city’s most prosperous quarter.

Its upturned eaves and ornate brackets were grand and imposing.

When Cheng Xi entered the main hall, where the Cheng family was eating breakfast, the atmosphere inside froze.

Everyone in the room turned toward her. Their expressions varied, but the malice in their eyes was entirely undisguised.

The old matriarch seated at the head of the table spoke first, her voice cold. “Now that you’re back, behave yourself. Your father and mother have both been worried about you.”

“My mother was driven to her death by all of you long ago. What mother are you talking about? Oh, you mean Madam Li—the woman who was already having an affair with my father and gave birth to a child barely six months after marrying him? She hardly deserves the name.”

The expressions around the room became wonderfully varied. Cheng Fenglan was the first to lose control. She shot to her feet. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

Cheng Xi raised her eyes to her. “Like mother, like daughter. Your mother slept with my father, and you carried on with Jiang Weiran. Truly, you’re mother and daughter in every respect.”

Madam Li’s carefully maintained composure instantly cracked. “You must have gone mad after the Jiang family broke off the engagement. You’re spouting nothing but nonsense.”

“Someone, take her to the ancestral hall and make her reflect properly! Do not let her out without my permission!” the old matriarch shouted, her face livid with rage.

Cheng Xi’s greatsword flashed from its sheath. The enormous dining table split cleanly in two.

The entire room fell silent.

“Someone, hurry and summon the master and the eldest young master!” the old matriarch cried, her body trembling. “You wretched creature! They should have strangled you at birth. Then you would not have disgraced the Cheng family!”

“What glory does your Cheng family possess? Oh, yes—Cheng Zhouxing may once have been a minor clerk, but he was still technically an official. The prestige of a minor clerk’s household—how magnificent.”

Cheng Fenglan’s face turned livid. “Cheng Xi, how long are you going to keep making a scene? Father is now a governor. He rose to his position step by step through his own efforts!”

“Without my mother’s dowry paving his way, where would he be today?” Cheng Xi looked at Cheng Fenglan and suddenly smiled. “Ah, I nearly forgot. I have a gift for you that hasn’t been brought inside yet.”

She turned toward the servants outside. “The heir of the Jiang family is still in the carriage. Carry him in.”

Carry him in?

What did that mean?

“What have you done to Brother Weiran?” Cheng Fenglan demanded furiously.