Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Jun Xiaomo had just grilled some meat, and she was about to bring the grilled meat back on a plate. Just then, she noticed that an intense gaze had landed on her body. She looked up and followed this gaze straight back to a pair of abstruse, obsidian-black eyes. These eyes were staring at him with a multitude of complicated emotions roiling within them.

“Rong Ruihan, you’re awake?” Jun Xiaomo did not want to overcomplicate things. Thus, she shrugged off the contents of Rong Ruihan’s gaze and greeted him in a straightforward and candid manner. At the same time, she placed the plate of grilled meat onto the table.

“Ohhh~~~ This grilled meat smells great! Little girl, your cooking is pretty good, huh!” Old man Chi sniffed at the aroma of the grilled meat that was diffusing through the air. Within moments, he had made his way to the table side, whipped out a pair of chopsticks from his Interspatial Ring, and sent a piece of glistening, grilled meat straight into his mouth. As he chewed his food, he continued to mumble compliments at Jun Xiaomo, “Delicious, delicious!”

Jun Xiaomo chuckled. Although she had only just met old man Chi a little while ago, this senior had already given her a great impression of himself. Old man Chi did things in a straightforward and upright manner, and he stuck strongly to his own set of principles. These were all characteristics that coincided with Jun Xiaomo’s own personal values.

“Since senior enjoys it, then please feel free to have more. I’m still grilling more meat on the other side.” Jun Xiaomo chuckled.

“Mm, mm! Not bad, not bad.” Old man Chi swallowed his food, before giving Jun Xiaomo a huge thumbs up. Then, he casually added, “Little girl, I notice that your talents are pretty good as well. Do you want to consider being my eleventh-generation disciple?”

Jun Xiaomo was stunned.

Old man Chi opened his eyes as he mischievously commented, “You can fool others, but you can’t fool this old man’s ancient eyes. You’re a demonic cultivator, aren’t you? Furthermore, you possess an acquired demonic body. Truth be told, I don’t quite understand why your parents are both spiritual cultivators, while you had for some reason turned into a demonic cultivator. But what I do know is that there are no benefits to you if you continue to use the refinement techniques from Dawn Sect. How about it? Want to consider joining this sect of mine?”

Rong Ruihan looked towards Jun Xiaomo with a discreetly expectant gaze.

However, Jun Xiaomo only deliberated for a moment, before she shook her head and rejected the offer. She tactfully replied, “This junior sincerely appreciates senior’s kind intentions. Truth be told, I’ve already discovered a cultivation path that is suitable for me, and there’s no need for any changes at this moment. Furthermore…I’ve got too many burdens within the Sect that I can’t give up on. There’s no way I can just freely leave my Sect for now.”

Most importantly, He Zhang and his lackeys are still eyeing the Heavenly Peak with an avaricious gaze. She had to think up the appropriate countermeasures to protect her parents and her beloved martial brothers and sisters in Heavenly Peak.

Unfortunately, Rong Ruihan misunderstood the hidden implications behind Jun Xiaomo’s response. He was unaware of the fact that Jun Xiaomo had been reborn, and he thought that Jun Xiaomo’s burdens and reticence simply referred to that man, Qin Lingyu. Or perhaps…Ye Xiuwen.

As his thoughts turned to the intimate atmosphere between Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen as they interacted with each other, Rong Ruihan’s heart sank slightly.

But then again, if Yao Mo was indeed the lady in red that he had so often seen in his dreams, then Rong Ruihan would still very much rather Jun Xiaomo fall in love with Ye Xiuwen than that selfish and mercenary Qin Lingyu.

Old man Chi sighed, “This bag of old bones rarely harbours any thoughts of accepting new disciples. Yet when he finally does, his prospective disciples despise him. Forget it, forget it. One new disciple is already troublesome enough. Having one less disciple means more free time for me too! Ah, it’s just a pity that I won’t have grilled meat to eat in future…”

Jun Xiaomo: ……

Could it be that you only want to accept me as a disciple for my grilled meat…?

On the other hand, old man Chi’s bemusing words had set several heavy thoughts running through Rong Ruihan’s mind. Then, moments later, he made his resolve.

“Xiaomo, there’s something I would like to speak with you about. Could you come over for a minute?” Rong Ruihan called out to Jun Xiaomo warmly.

Rong Ruihan had often habitually addressed Jun Xiaomo as “brother Yao” in the past, and there were few instances where he would address her as “Xiaomo”, much less call upon her with such a gentle, warm tone of voice. Thus, Jun Xiaomo was mildly taken aback when she heard Rong Ruihan call her by her real name.

But despite her slight double take, Jun Xiaomo still nodded and followed Rong Ruihan to the woods.

As the two figures disappearing into the woods, old man Chi shook his head as he sighed heavily, “Looks like Little Chi has yet another rival now…Sigh…this old bag of bones can’t understand the world of young people now.”

Once they had reached a place that was out of the line of sight of old man Chi and the others, Rong Ruihan paused in his tracks and turned towards Jun Xiaomo.

Jun Xiaomo was unsure of what Rong Ruihan wished to say to her, so she stared at Rong Ruihan and blinked her eyes at him in bewilderment.

Rong Ruihan’s eyes quivered slightly as he gazed at Jun Xiaomo’s tender face for a moment. Then, he finally composed himself and began his diatribe, “I’d been having a series of dreams ever since I was six years-old. The protagonist in these dreams is always the same person. That was the first telltale sign that this wasn’t a normal dream.”

Jun Xiaomo coughed dryly, not knowing how to respond to Rong Ruihan.

She muttered in her heart – Is this guy for real? Did he really just call me here to chat about his dreams?

But Rong Ruihan didn’t mind Jun Xiaomo’s reaction. He continued, “The protagonist in my dream was a lady who loved wearing red. She was a demonic cultivator, and there would always be a large group of men chasing after her, trying to take her life. But each time, their attempts would be thwarted, and this lady in red would take their lives instead… At the beginning, I had never been able to see that lady’s appearances properly. There was even a time when I had thought this lady was my mother…”

“But as time went on, and the number of dreams increased, I finally saw her appearances clearly. I have a portrait of my mother in the palace, and I knew that this lady was not my mother. Rather, she was a lady whom…I had never met before…”

Thus, Rong Ruihan immersed himself within his memories, and he began to describe in chronological order each and every dream that he has had with this lady in red. He missed out nothing – not a single detail – from these dreams.

In fact, he had never intended to tell Jun Xiaomo so much. He had only intended to tell Jun Xiaomo to beware of Qin Lingyu. But for some strange reason, as he gazed at this familiar-looking face that bore some semblance to the appearances of the lady in red, yet possessed each their unique differences as well, he found himself pouring out the details of his dreams to Jun Xiaomo.

Rong Ruihan stared vacantly into the distant woods as he delved into the recollection of his dreams. It was as though his gaze had penetrated the shackles of time and space and transported him into an unknown, distant realm of dreams. Thus, he failed to notice Jun Xiaomo’s quivering eyes that were presently transfixed on him. She looked increasingly astonished as Rong Ruihan went on; and her face turned whiter, and whiter.

“After that fateful night, the lady in red was pregnant with my child. I should have brought that lady in red to my side, but regrettably, one of my subordinates had suddenly turned traitorous at that time. I was injured as a result, and I also knew that it was no longer completely safe by my side. Besides, that lady hardly knew me, and she was always of the impression that the child’s father was none other than the man surnamed Qin. Thus, I could only lock myself up in a closed-door environment as I recovered from my injuries and attempted to breakthrough to the next stage of cultivation. At that time, I entrusted her care to my most trusted subordinates…”

“That was the one thing I regretted the most in these dreams. Because when I finally exited my closed-door cultivation, I was greeted with the macabre state of her corpse – her thoroughly abused, disfigured and mutilated corpse. I killed my incompetent subordinates in anger, before turning my wrath to the rest of the cultivation world. In the days – or even months – to come, I waged war against the eight great sects, annihilating every single one of them. But the lady in red and our child…they were still gone…”

Rong Ruihan did not delve into the details of how he had sought vengeance for that lady in red. But Jun Xiaomo knew that to achieve something on the magnitude of annihilating the eight great sects in the world then was something that undoubtedly entailed an immeasurable amount of sacrifice on Rong Ruihan’s part.

Ever since her parents had died and her Peak was massacred in Jun Xiaomo’s previous life, she had always thought that the only person who had treated her well and kindly was Ye Xiuwen.

She had never expected that there was yet another person who had been watching over her for such a long time. He had even waged war against the world, just for her…

Jun Xiaomo had no doubts about the veracity of what Rong Ruihan was telling her right now. This was because she had never spoken a single word about her previous life to anybody. Furthermore, Rong Ruihan had accurately described the events of her previous life through an observer’s perspective.

And there was even the child that Rong Ruihan had talked about.

Jun Xiaomo had never known the identity of her child’s father in her previous life, and she had resigned to the fact that it would forever remain a mystery to her. Who would have known that the answer would present itself to her just like that?

As these thoughts ran through her mind, Jun Xiaomo choked up.

Thus, Rong Ruihan ended his recollection of his dreams. As he pulled back out of the depths of his memories and returned to reality, he immediately noticed that Jun Xiaomo was currently staring blankly at him with streaks of tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Ah, you’re such a princess. Have you been moved by the story of my dreams? Don’t worry, this had all been nothing more than a dream. Nothing has happened yet.”

Rong Ruihan chuckled softly as he consoled her.

Jun Xiaomo grimaced as she wiped off the tears in her eyes. As her palms covered her face, she masked her innermost feelings and chuckled lightheartedly as she responded, “That’s right, it had all been but a dream. But your descriptions were so vivid that they’ve even moved me to tears.”

Yet only Jun Xiaomo knew how much pain and sorrow and exasperation was hidden under that smile on her face right now.

Rong Ruihan stretched out his hand. After a moment of hesitation, he patted Jun Xiaomo’s shoulder, as he added, “The reason why I had recounted these dreams to you was because I wanted to tell you to be alert and vigilant about the people around you. Don’t be like that lady in red in my dreams. Don’t love the wrong people.”

Rong Ruihan had wanted so much to tell Jun Xiaomo directly that “the lady in red was you”. Yet after a moment of hesitation, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

This was because everything within his dreams had not occurred yet. There was no reason for him to increase Jun Xiaomo’s burdens by letting her know this crucial detail.

Besides, that lady in red had never personally met or known Rong Ruihan in his dreams, whereas in this life they have already encountered each other – does this mean that the events within the dream would change accordingly?

With such possibilities in mind, Rong Ruihan found there to be even less of a need to reveal these details to Jun Xiaomo.

He was content with forever burying the identity of that lady in red in the depths of his heart.

Jun Xiaomo noticed the glaring omissions in Rong Ruihan’s account of his dreams, and she had thus also realized Rong Ruihan’s intentions. A trace of gratitude and swelled up in her heart of surging emotions. At the same time, she had also temporarily averted a potentially awkward and embarrassing situation – having finally realized that Rong Ruihan was the father of her child, she was truly at a loss at how she should treat this man who had sacrificed so much for her.

She drew a deep breath, before releasing her tightly clenched fists. Then, she looked up at Rong Ruihan with her tear-stained eyes as she revealed a radiant smile –

“Thank you, Rong Ruihan.”

Not just for your words of caution. I sincerely thank you for all your sacrifices and protection in your previous life.

She had just resolved in her heart that even if she could not reciprocate Rong Ruihan’s affection for her in this lifetime, she would still treasure their friendship with the utmost sincerity.

This was a friendship that would see them through thick and thin together. This was a friendship that would withstand the test of time.

“Let’s get to know each other afresh, brother Rong.” Jun Xiaomo stretched out her hand as she changed the manner in which she addressed Rong Ruihan, “My name is Jun Xiaomo, and I’m the daughter of Dawn Sect, Heavenly Peak’s Peakmaster. Pleased to meet you, Rong Ruihan…brother Rong.”

Previously, she had always interacted with Rong Ruihan in her capacity as “Yao Mo”. Now that her true identity has been exposed, she had never really had the chance to formally introduce herself yet.

Rong Ruihan was slightly taken aback. But very soon, a warm and genial smile crept up his lips.

“Very pleased to meet you, Jun Xiaomo.”

He stretched out his hand and firmly received Jun Xiaomo’s handshake.