When the Vice Steward from Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion cautiously reported the massacre at Yixiang Building and the murder of Tu Gang, and tactfully asked if the Third Prince could use his palace connections to help investigate, Xia Wuchen just lazily raised his eyelids.
"Yixiang Building... Tu Gang... If he’s dead, he’s dead. What’s the point of all this fighting and killing?" His voice was hoarse, tinged with an almost imperceptible mockery, showing he couldn’t care less about the matter.
The Vice Steward grew anxious. "Your Highness, Steward Tu was the Prince’s confidant! His death affects the honor of the Prince’s Mansion. The killer is so audacious. If we don’t investigate and punish them severely, I’m afraid..."
"Afraid of what? I can barely protect myself these days, so how could I possibly worry about the Prince’s Mansion’s honor? You should investigate it yourselves. I have no one left in the palace to command. All those opportunists have already thrown in their lot with someone else." Xia Wuchen cut him off, his tone still flat but steeped in a cold, disheartened apathy.
He waved his hand as if shooing away a pesky fly. "Get out. Don’t come back. I’m tired."
The Vice Steward wanted to press the matter, but he saw that Xia Wuchen had already closed his eyes, adopting an expression that pushed everyone away. Left with no choice, he could only grit his teeth, bow, and retreat.
’He knew this once-ambitious Third Prince was well and truly broken—broken in body and in Spirit. From now on, he would probably just waste away his days, waiting for death.’
In the end, Xia Wuchen merely made a token effort, sending two old, mediocre eunuchs who had long been pushed to the fringes to inquire about the situation at the Divine Capture Sect and Jingzhao Prefecture. It was a perfunctory gesture to the Prince’s Mansion; he didn’t even dare to investigate the matter himself.
By the time the news reached Xia Wuyang’s ears, he was enjoying the cool air and fine delicacies by the lotus pond in Wenhua Hall.
"Oh? So Xia Wuchen has the sense to lie low and stay out of this?" Xia Wuyang pinched a pellet of fish food and tossed it gently into the water, watching the koi scramble for it. A cold smile played on his lips. "A pity. Some debts can’t be dodged just because you want to. They always have to be paid back."
’Back then, Xia Wuchen had been a driving force in framing the Empress and suppressing the Eastern Palace. And he hadn’t just played a minor part.’
’Although the man was now a wreck, living a life worse than death, Xia Wuyang felt the interest still needed to be collected. His vengeance was far from complete.’
’His uncooperative attitude was particularly galling. One had to give others an excuse to put him in his place.’
"Since your days are too peaceful, I shall find something for you to do. Can’t have those limbs getting rusty," Xia Wuyang murmured to himself, a glint of wicked amusement in his eyes.
’I’m bored anyway. A little stroll tonight should be fun.’
「That night」 The moon was hidden and the wind was high, but the summer heat had yet to break.
Xia Wuyang, in Disguise, slipped into Wude Palace like a phantom. With its lax guards and neglectful Palace Attendants, getting in was child’s play for him—even easier than before.
He navigated with practiced ease to the vicinity of Xia Wuchen’s Sleeping Palace. He didn’t enter, but instead took out several small, specially crafted bamboo tubes from within his robes.
They were filled with the Gu Worm Eggs provided by the Southern Barbarian Poison Master a few days prior. He hadn’t used them all and had some left over. They weren’t lethal, but they were more than enough to make someone suffer.
He gently placed the bamboo tubes in the air vents of Xia Wuchen’s Sleeping Palace, the cracks of the window lattices, and even among the flower bushes outside. Then, he quietly retreated and, from a distance, gave them a slight nudge with his Spiritual Power.
Soon, a faint, almost inaudible RUSTLE could be heard.
Countless dust-fine Gu Worm Eggs hatched, transforming into even tinier flying and crawling insects. Nearly invisible, they silently infiltrated the Sleeping Palace, carried by air currents and slipping through cracks.
These Gu Insects were called Itchy Soul Gu, a relatively Low Level Gu Insect from the Southern Barbarians with a singular purpose, and they were also quite rare.
Their sole purpose was to induce an unbearable itch, one that seeped from the skin to the very bone marrow. It felt as if billions of ants were crawling over and gnawing at you, making you want to claw your own body apart.
It caused no real physical damage, but the torture of an itch that reached the very depths of one’s soul was enough to make the toughest man break down and cry for his mother.
Xia Wuyang had deliberately controlled the number of Gu Insects and the intensity of their onset. He wanted Xia Wuchen utterly humiliated and Wude Palace thrown into chaos, not to kill him outright or drive him to suicide from the torment.
’Death would be letting him off too easily. Torment worse than death is the best hospitality one can offer an enemy. It wouldn’t be too late to discuss killing him after that hospitality was concluded.’
Having done all this, Xia Wuyang departed without a sound.
「The next morning」 Wude Palace erupted with waves of shrill, inhuman howls and the sound of frantic scratching, shattering the morning’s peace.
"Aargh... Itchy... so itchy... Help me! Someone save me!"
Xia Wuchen was jolted from his slumber by an indescribable, bone-deep itch, making further sleep impossible.
He clawed madly at his own skin—his face, his neck, his chest, his limbs. But the more he scratched, the worse the itching became. It was as if the itch wasn’t on his skin, but in the flesh and blood beneath, in the very marrow of his bones, even in his organs.
He tore at himself until he was covered in bloody scratches, his clothes in tatters. He looked like a man possessed, utterly wretched.
The Palace Attendants serving him tried to restrain him or even help him scratch, but they soon felt the same terrifying itch themselves. It was as if the affliction was contagious.
Little did they know that invisible insects were burrowing into their own clothes and latching onto their skin, letting them experience the same "joy" as the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen.
"Ah, I’m itching too! So itchy, so itchy, so itchy!"
"What’s going on? There are bugs! Bugs in here! It must be Gu Insects!"
"Run! This hall is cursed! Everyone, stay out!"
...
Screams, sounds of scratching, cries, and the crash of overturned objects blended into a cacophony that continued to spread.
All of Wude Palace descended into chaos. People were running everywhere. The Palace Attendants, forgetting all decorum, scrambled to flee the hall and hide as far away as possible.
In the courtyards, under the covered walkways, even in the ponds, they couldn’t stop scratching themselves raw. With clothes disheveled and faces streaked with tears and snot, they were a truly pathetic sight.
An Imperial Physician was hastily summoned, but he was at a complete loss in the face of such a bizarre itch.
Standard anti-itch salves were useless, and acupuncture offered only momentary relief. An experienced old Imperial Physician suspected a Gu poisoning, but he didn’t dare confirm it, much less attempt to dispel the Gu. The last thing they wanted was to have the Gu Insects crawl onto them.
This plague of itching lasted for the better part of the day. It wasn’t until the sun began to dip low in the west, and the tiny Gu Insects’ life force was exhausted, that the itching finally began to subside.
By then, Wude Palace was in shambles, looking as though it had been ransacked by thugs. It possessed a kind of desolate beauty.
The Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, had been tormented to within an inch of his life. He lay amidst the wreckage, his eyes lifeless, looking like a corpse.
His face and body were covered in bloody furrows he had clawed into his own skin. He retained not a single shred of a Prince’s dignity. The remaining Palace Attendants were like birds startled by a bowstring, cowering in corners, daring not to go near the main hall again. After all, everyone knew the bizarre itch had originated there.

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