Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Rong Ruihan walked with a firm and determined gait as he carried Jun Xiaomo’s soft and limp body.

This was the first time he had been in such close contact with Jun Xiaomo. Even in those days when they had been on the run from Situ Cang, “Yao Mo” would always lie on Ye Xiuwen’s bosom as she slept in an unrestrained fashion, while he would politely steer clear of the intimate couple. In fact, whenever he attempted to draw close to Jun Xiaomo back then, she would always awaken from her slumber and glare at him in a vigilant and guarded fashion.

Naturally, things took a turn for the better later on. That said, he could still sense that his status in Jun Xiaomo’s heart was still not the same as Ye Xiuwen’s status in her heart.

And could this difference truly be explained as the difference between “friendship” and “the relationship between martial sister and brother”?

Rong Ruihan’s eyes darkened as he fervently pulled himself out from the mire of these entangling thoughts running through his mind.

Despite the slight distraction in his mind, Rong Ruihan nevertheless made haste as he brought Jun Xiaomo back to her inn.

Jun Linxuan followed closely beside them. At the same time, he discreetly sized up this young man that had seemed to appear out of nowhere.

He knew that this man had arrived at the competition grounds together with the entourage from the Eternal Summit Sect. After all, they had exchanged pleasantries on the very first day. That said, Jun Linxuan was unaware that Rong Ruihan knew Jun Xiaomo back then. It was only later, after Jun Xiaomo and Rong Ruihan went out that night, that Jun Xiaomo first spoke about this good friend of hers to Jun Linxuan and Liu Qingmei. This was also the first time that Jun Linxuan had heard about the existence of Rong Ruihan.

From how things looked right now, he could tell that the relationship between this young man and his daughter could very possibly be beyond that of mere “brothers and sisters in arms”. At the very least, he could tell how much Jun Xiaomo meant to this young man right here.

The gaze in this young man’s eyes reminded Jun Linxuan of himself in his youth.

Back then, the relationship between him and Liu Qingmei was nothing more than mere martial brothers and sisters. There were several people within the Sect who were discreetly fond of Liu Qingmei back then, but no one expressed themselves for fear that they would strain the unrestrained and carefree relationship that they had maintained between each other as martial brothers and sisters. Back then, Jun Linxuan had seen several such gazes in the eyes of his other martial brothers – it was a look of patient forbearance and a cryptic, complex adoration.

A profound intent flashed across Jun Linxuan’s eyes – there was no way he would be able to entrust his daughter into his hands if this person possessed any form of personality or character defects.

After all, that long-drawn incident with Qin Lingyu had already left a sour taste in his mouth. As a father, how could he afford to see his daughter go through such pains and trials again?

I’ll keep observing for now. Jun Linxuan grimaced as he shelved his thoughts for now.

Once they arrived at their inn and set Jun Xiaomo back in her bed, Rong Ruihan checked on the conditions of Jun Xiaomo’s Dantian and meridians once more.

The condition of Jun Xiaomo’s body had worsened within the short period of time since she had fallen unconscious.

“Senior, I’m afraid someone will have to sort out the chaotic spiritual energy within Xiaomo’s body.” Rong Ruihan politely reported to Jun Linxuan.

The energy within his body was demonic energy, and it was naturally unsuitable for sorting out the spiritual energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body.

At this time, Rong Ruihan was still completely oblivious to the fact that the energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body was neither spiritual energy nor demonic energy. He had only concluded that the energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body was spiritual energy because he knew that it was different from the nature of his body’s demonic energy.

Jun Linxuan walked over and examined Jun Xiaomo for a moment, before he furrowed his brows as well.

He shut his eyes and began to send more spiritual energy coursing through Jun Xiaomo’s wrist and into her Dantian and meridians.

While Jun Linxuan was doing so, Rong Ruihan took the initiative to set up a few defensive formation arrays at Jun Xiaomo’s room door, just as an added preventive measure.

Jun Linxuan glanced over at Rong Ruihan, and Jun Linxuan couldn’t help but praise Rong Ruihan for his initiative and meticulousness in his heart.

But, after one incense stick of time, Jun Linxuan discovered that his spiritual energy was unable do anything to soothe the chaotic energies within Jun Xiaomo’s body. The energy within Jun Xiaomo’s Dantian and meridians were still clashing about furiously, as though they were trying to break out of the rampart that was constricting their movements.

And the situation was worsening by the minute.

“Senior, is Xiaomo still in her stupor?” Rong Ruihan discovered the peculiarity within Jun Linxuan’s gaze.

“Would you like to give it a shot?” Jun Linxuan relinquished his spot beside Jun Xiaomo.

“This…” Rong Ruihan hesitated. His body was filled with demonic energy. Wouldn’t this be incompatible with the energy flowing within Jun Xiaomo’s body?

“There have been some issues surfacing from Jun Xiaomo’s body ever since she had received the Sect’s punishment for trespassing the Sect’s forbidden grounds. I’m not too sure of the exact details of these issues, but I hope that this fellow cultivator would be willing to examine her. Don’t worry too much and give it a shot. I’ll be watching from just beside here, so there won’t be any issues.”

Faced with his daughter’s crisis right now, Jun Linxuan steeled his resolve and made his decision.

Jun Linxuan had already managed to guess Rong Ruihan’s identity as a demonic cultivator from his daughter’s description of him. Furthermore, the Sect’s persecution of Ye Xiuwen and his daughter back when they were still out on the travels might very well have been linked to the fact that they had been travelling together with Rong Ruihan.

That said, Jun Linxuan had never been a stickler for the conventional wisdom and rules of the world. To him, the determination of a person’s character should never be based on what type of cultivator they are or what type of energies they utilized. Rather, it had more to do with a person’s heart.

Therefore, he did not mind it one bit that Rong Ruihan could very well be a demonic cultivator.

“Then, alright.” Rong Ruihan sat beside Jun Xiaomo and began to send his demonic energy into her body.

If the energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body was spiritual energy, then it would definitely clash with Rong Ruihan’s energy and reject it. Therefore, Rong Ruihan did not dare to send too much demonic energy into Jun Xiaomo’s body all at one go.

Instead, he did it with an incremental approach. Bit by bit, thread by thread, he slowly sent his demonic energy into her body to prevent aggravating the condition of her body.

But as time went by, Rong Ruihan also began to reveal a bewildered expression on his face.

Jun Xiaomo’s “spiritual energy” did not do anything to reject his demonic energy at all. Just what was going on?

Thus, Rong Ruihan began to increase the amount of demonic energy which he suffused through her body. Yet the result was still the same, and it drew no response whatsoever from the energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body.

It neither improved the situation within Jun Xiaomo’s Dantian and meridians, nor did it aggravate her condition.

It was as though the energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body had completely ignored the presence of Rong Ruihan’s demonic energy as it continued to sweep around and batter against the walls of her meridians and Dantian. Thus, the threads of demonic energy which he had sent into Jun Xiaomo’s body swept throughout Jun Xiaomo’s Dantian and meridians before returning to Rong Ruihan’s body without a hitch.

“This…what’s going on?” Rong Ruihan opened his eyes and furrowed his brows as he stared in perplexity at Jun Xiaomo.

“Did your demonic energy also attract no response from Xiaomo’s body?” Jun Linxuan asked him calmly.

“Senior?” Rong Ruihan revealed a look of slight astonishment. He had never expected Jun Linxuan to know his identity as a demonic cultivator.

Can he tell? Or is he…

“Xiaomo has already told me a little bit about your background. I’ve managed to connect the dots between your identity and the matters that occurred on their travels outside the sect, and I’ve guessed the truth about your identity as well. But don’t worry, I don’t despise demonic cultivators per se. That said, you have to be mindful that this is the territory of spiritual cultivators. You would be wise to keep your identity well under wraps.”

Jun Linxuan casually reminded Rong Ruihan to mind his steps since he was Jun Xiaomo’s friend.

“Much thanks to senior for his reminder.” Rong Ruihan felt much more at ease after Jun Linxuan’s explanation, and he sincerely bowed towards Jun Linxuan.

He truly lives up to his expectations as Xiaomo’s father… Rong Ruihan exclaimed in his heart, before quickly turning his attention back to Jun Xiaomo’s condition. He was growing increasingly worried.

“When I sent my spiritual energy coursing throughout Jun Xiaomo’s body earlier, I encountered the exact same situation. The spiritual energy did nothing to her body – it was neither absorbed nor rejected.” Jun Linxuan walked towards Jun Xiaomo and swept his hand tenderly across Jun Xiaomo’s forehead.

Jun Xiaomo was sweating profusely, and her forehead was covered with sweat. It was evident what kind of pain she was experiencing right now.

“Why is it like this?” Rong Ruihan thought aloud.

Jun Linxuan contemplated for a moment, before hazarding a guess, “It could very well be that the energy within Jun Xiaomo’s body is considered neither demonic energy nor spiritual energy, but a third kind of energy that none of us have heard of before.”

“A third kind of energy?” Rong Ruihan had not expected such an answer from Jun Linxuan, “If there’s a third kind of energy in the world, then how come nobody has discovered it to date? And where would Xiaomo happen to learn of this energy from?”

Jun Linxuan sighed, “I’m afraid we’ll only know when Jun Xiaomo wakes up.”

He had never expected his daughter’s body to be hiding so many secrets as well.

“But if we can’t figure out a way to sort out the chaotic energy within her body, how are we going to wake her up?” Rong Ruihan got straight to the nub of the issue.

“Perhaps we can only wait and hope that Xiaomo will be able to tide over this crisis on her own.” Jun Linxuan said with a grave expression on his face.

“That won’t to! That’s far too dangerous!” Rong Ruihan’s heart sank, and he immediately rejected Jun Linxuan’s suggestion.

Given the urgency of the matter, it had completely slipped Rong Ruihan’s mind that Jun Linxuan was Jun Xiaomo’s father, and his worry for Jun Xiaomo could hardly be any less than Rong Ruihan’s.

But Jun Linxuan did not castigate Rong Ruihan’s attitude towards him. Jun Linxuan calmly explained, “Even though the energy within Xiaomo’s body is in a state of flux, I noticed that the amount of energy hasn’t increased one bit. Thus, I hazarded a guess that the energy within Xiaomo’s body is different from both spiritual and demonic energy, and this energy cannot automatically be absorbed from the surroundings by the cultivator under normal circumstances. Alternatively, I imagine that the presence of this energy is incredibly scarce and undetectable in our surroundings, so other cultivators had never thought about cultivating using this energy.

What Jun Linxuan was unaware was how he had roughly grasped the concept of true energy with from these vague clues and hints from Jun Xiaomo’s body.

If Jun Xiaomo were conscious right now, she would most certainly bow down to the ground, filled with respect and admiration for her own father because her father had practically been spot on with his conjecture.

Rong Ruihan was not a daft person either. As soon as Jun Linxuan explained his observations, he also vaguely understood why Jun Linxuan was hardly as worried as he was about Jun Xiaomo’s present condition.

After all, Jun Xiaomo would not be in any danger of imploding so long as the amount of energy within her body does not increase. Jun Xiaomo was just going to have to continue suffering and face a period of hardship until she awakens.

Rong Ruihan looked at how Jun Xiaomo was still in a stupor, while her eyebrows were knitted tightly. His expression darkened.

Even if there was an eighty percent chance of Jun Linxuan’s conjecture being true, he did not wish to risk the dangers accompanying the possibility that Jun Linxuan’s conjecture were wrong.

Furthermore, given the pained and tormented expression on Jun Xiaomo’s face, there was no way he could keep calm and composed while patiently waiting for Jun Xiaomo to come back to her senses.

Thus, he suddenly stood up and informed Jun Linxuan, “Senior, Xiaomo’s condition is rather special, so I intend to ask my master about it.”

If he apprised old man Chi about this problem, then there was a good chance that old man Chi he would be come up with an appropriate solution, right?