Demoness's Art of Vengeance

The luck of the Crescentfell Sect disciples was hardly great compared with that of the Heavenly Peak disciples. The Crescentfell Sect’s starting position was directly in the midst of a Sand Scorpion nest. To these Sand Scorpions, fresh meat falling from the sky was practically tantamount to a godsent meal. Having sensed the arrival of these delectable delights, the Sand Scorpions hastily burrowed out of their nests brandishing their massive pincers as they welcomed their “gifts”.

Fortunately, the overall abilities of the Crescentfell Sect disciples could hardly be considered weak. Their garments had even been refined and imbued with some defensive capabilities. Thus, under the confluence of these factors, the Crescentfell Sect disciples managed to avoid certain death upon landing.

That said, avoiding the Sand Scorpions’ initial attack was naturally not the same as being completely in the clear. As soon as the Sand Scorpions discovered that their prey had evaded their first strikes, they began to thrash about and charge madly at the Crescentfell Sect disciples.

This was one of the reasons why Jun Xiaomo and the rest had decided to stand at the side and observe this battle between man and scorpion when they first arrived at the battlefield.

“The anomalous ground in this part of the marshlands might have something to do with those Sand Scorpions. Look! Those mounds of mud and dirt are evidently created by the Sand Scorpions. These Sand Scorpions must possess earth-based spiritual roots.” Jun Xiaomo analyzed.

When she was on the run in her previous life, Jun Xiaomo had encountered several spiritual beasts and demonic beasts that similarly possessed earth-based spiritual roots. Back then, she had noticed that the ground around these creatures would always be somewhat anomalous or unusual compared with the rest of the surroundings. She later discovered that this was a result of the fact that these creatures with earth-based spiritual roots generally enjoyed altering the surrounding ground to create an environment that they enjoyed living in.

These creatures with earth-based spiritual roots generally possessed offensive abilities that looked far weaker than their counterparts with fire-based, wind-based, water-based, or metal-based spiritual roots, not to mention the lightning-based spiritual roots which possessed the strongest and most fearsome offensive abilities.

But if a person thought that this translated to the notion that creatures with earth-based spiritual roots were easy to deal with, then he could not be any further from the truth.

This was because creatures with earth-based spiritual roots were most adept at altering their environments. This meant that they could easily soften or harden the ground under the feet of their assailants, giving it access to abilities such as creating a sinkhole out of nowhere.

In other words, it practically possessed the ability to stumble a person or bury him alive at any point in time. Jun Xiaomo had nearly fallen prey to these creatures several times in her previous life as well.

Jun Xiaomo continued to watch the battle unfold on the side as she slowly broke down the abilities of these Sand Scorpions. In no time, Jun Xiaomo discovered that these Sand Scorpions hardly possessed any strong offensive abilities. Furthermore, their attacks were highly unregulated and haphazard, and these Sand Scorpions did not leverage on their strength in numbers either.

It could be seen that these Sand Scorpions were hardly any cause for concern.

But could these few Sand Scorpions possibly possess the ability to create such a massive domain of hardened ground in these marshlands? Jun Xiaomo furrowed her brows as she contemplated other possibilities. Her instincts told her that it would be unwise to let down her guard here.

Just then, she found that someone was tugging at her sleeves. She turned her head, and she was immediately met with a pair of black, beady eyes that was filled with hesitance and internal struggle.

“Mar-…martial sister, aren’t we going to do anything to help them?” Wei Gaolang stammered.

Help? Seeing how Wei Gaolang’s tender and innocent face was presently scrunched up like a steamed bun, Jun Xiaomo rubbed her forehead with exasperation as she broke down the situation for him, “Little Lang, do you remember that they’re still our opponents during this competition? This is a competition, not a charity. Furthermore, there’s already one cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation and two who are in the twelfth level of Qi Mastery among the Crescentfell Sect participants. Do you think they’ll need our help in the circumstances?”

“But…but…” Wei Gaolang was naturally too embarrassed to admit that he was fond of a female cultivator among their midst and that he was worried for her. He was almost certain that his martial sister Xiaomo would give him a harsh dressing down if he did.

But who did he think Jun Xiaomo was? She had lived for hundreds of years, and her wealth of life experience meant that she was able to understand what Wei Gaolang was thinking with just one glance at his expressions. His “pretense” could hardly fool her at all.

She discreetly glanced over at Chen Feiyu with some pity in her eyes before patting Wei Gaolang’s shoulder, intending to give her little martial brother a lesson about the dangers of letting his emotions get the better of his rationality so that he would give up on these naïve notions.

Unfortunately, things did not go as she had planned. Before Jun Xiaomo could measure her words and begin her spiel, Wei Gaolang immediately exclaimed, “Not good! There’s a large scorpion behind Luo Tianyi’s back, and she hasn’t noticed its approach!”

As he exclaimed, Wei Gaolang reflexively motioned to dash into the fray.

“Stay here!” Chen Feiyu held Wei Gaolang back by the collar and tossed him backwards, before instructing the other Heavenly Peak disciples, “All of you remain here. I’ll go take a look ahead.”

As he finished speaking, Chen Feiyu applied a Windsail Talisman on himself before rushing headlong into the fray.

After being tossed back just like that, Wei Gaolang found himself slightly discombobulated. Fortunately, Jun Xiaomo managed to catch and support him. Then, she immediately turned her attention towards Chen Feiyu’s back with furrowed brows.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jun Xiaomo patted Wei Gaolang’s head as she instructed, “Little Lang, stay here with the rest of the martial brothers. I’m going to take a look as well.”

“Martial sister Xiaomo!”

“Martial sister!”

Several cries rang out behind Jun Xiaomo to no avail. As a result of the Windsail Talisman she had applied earlier, Jun Xiaomo’s movements were swift and reasonably quick. In no time, she caught up to Chen Feiyu, and they both arrived near where the battle was taking place.

Chen Feiyu was indeed there to rescue Luo Tianyi. As a cultivator with a mutated water-based spiritual root, he congealed and compressed block of ice in his hands and sent it flying straight towards the massive scorpion approaching Luo Tianyi’s back.

The scorpion’s sharp teeth were instantly shattered by Chen Feiyu’s attack, and it began to flail and thrash about its surroundings in pain. Incidentally, it inadvertently struck two of its companions, causing the Sand Scorpions which were already on the backfoot to thrash about even more wildly.

That said, this was hardly a good thing. The Sand Scorpions’ wild thrashing broke up the rhythm of the Crescentfell Sect disciples’ attacks. In turn, some of the relatively weaker Crescentfell Sect disciples mistimed or misaimed their attacks, and almost allowed the Sand Scorpions to break out of their circle of attacks.

Fortunately, Jun Xiaomo arrived in the nick of time. She reached into her Interspatial Ring and swiftly retrieved five Constriction Talismans, recited a mnemonic and pointed towards a Sand Scorpion’s body. Instantly, the five Constriction Talismans rose into the sky and formed a massive Constriction Array, selectively binding up all the Sand Scorpions within its area of effect.

The cultivation levels of these Sand Scorpions were not high to begin with, and their fates were sealed as soon as they were bound by Jun Xiaomo’s Constriction Array. Within a few moments, the Crescentfell Sect disciples managed to join forces and disposed of one Sand Scorpion.

Even though Chen Feiyu had instructed the Heavenly Peak disciples to remain where they were, the Heavenly Peak disciples were all filled with an immense sense of solidarity, and nobody wanted Chen Feiyu and Jun Xiaomo to get hurt. Thus, they had also made their way over just in time to clear up the bound and constricted Sand Scorpions.

Under the combined abilities of the disciples of these two sects, the Sand Scorpions were very quickly fully disposed of.

As soon as the Sand Scorpions were out of the picture, the Crescentfell Sect’s team leader, Tang Qiaozhu turned her attention towards Jun Xiaomo and the rest. Given that she was already in the Elementary-tier Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation, she was able to tell the cultivation levels of Jun Xiaomo and the rest with just one glance.

The disciple with the strongest cultivation level among the Heavenly Peak disciples was Chen Feiyu, whose cultivation was at the eleventh level of Qi Mastery. The rest were even lower than his.

Thus, Tang Qiaozhu had already managed to guess which sect this team hailed from. Furthermore, there was another telltale sign that confirmed her suspicions – the lady dressed in striking red, Jun Xiaomo.

She turned towards Jun Xiaomo and the others and furrowed her brows with a grimace on her lips but chose to remain taciturn.

However, this did not mean that the other disciples would similarly remain taciturn as well. Another female disciple dressed in pink with a sweet-looking appearance stepped forward and glared viciously at Jun Xiaomo and the rest as she barked, “Who asked you to be so meddlesome?! Speak! Was it because you saw that we were about to win that you decided to butt in to secure a share of points for yourselves?!”

Meddlesome?! Several Heavenly Peak disciples were flabbergasted. This was the first time that some of them had encountered such ingrates who repaid good with evil and even turned around to make accusations against them.

Jun Xiaomo sighed in her heart. She knew that this was going to happen. This was why she had initially been reticent to step in and render aid to this group of Crescentfell Sect disciples. It was not the case that she was content watching them die in this battle; rather, it was because given the overall abilities of these Crescentfell Sect disciples, they would have no issues dealing with these Sand Scorpions at all. On the other hand, she knew that if the Heavenly Peak disciples butted into the Crescentfell Sect disciples’ fight, they might not be met with mere ingratitude, they might even be accused of attempting to snatch a share of the points for themselves!

It had to be mentioned that if a spiritual beast or a demonic beast were defeated by the joint efforts of two teams, then the referees would allocate points according to each team’s performance during the battle.

In other words, if the Sand Scorpions had been killed solely by the Crescentfell Sect disciples, they would be able to obtain fifty points to add to their team’s score. This was equivalent to snatching ten identity tokens from other sects. But now that the Heavenly Peak disciples had intervened, the amount of points that they would be able to obtain from their efforts would naturally be lower.

It might even be the case that the referees would allocate both teams equal amounts of points at twenty-five each.

By this point in time, Wei Gaolang had realized that his earlier actions had been far too rash and reckless – he had almost become a burden to his martial brothers, and a sense of guilt and remorse swelled up in his heart. Then, when the Crescentfell Sect disciples reacted harshly to their good intentions, the anger in his heart burgeoned.

He glared back at the Crescentfell Sect disciples as he huffed with indignation, “If…if not for martial brother Chen’s help, Luo…Luo Tianyi would already have fallen prey to that Sand Scorpion earlier!”

Wei Gaolang turned his attention towards Luo Tianyi as he spoke. As soon as he noticed that Luo Tianyi was looking back at him, he began to stammer.

Luo Tianyi had only looked at Wei Gaolang because he was speaking. But now that she had heard what Wei Gaolang was saying, she raised an eyebrow as she mocked contemptuously, “How do you know I wouldn’t be able to avoid its attack earlier? Do you think my cultivation is as low as yours?”

As she finished speaking, she turned her attention away from Wei Gaolang and back onto the tall and well-built Chen Feiyu –

Truth be told, when she discovered that a well-built and handsome male cultivator had appeared to rescue her earlier, she did find her heart slightly moved by his actions. But as soon as she noticed Chen Feiyu’s identity and cultivation level, she immediately extinguished these thoughts.

Luo Tianyi has had a steady stream of suitors and confessions ever since her impressive showing during her individual battles. Several of these suitors were even cultivators at the twelfth level of Qi Mastery or greater. Thus, Chen Feiyu’s cultivation at the measly eleventh level of Qi Mastery could hardly move her at all.

Furthermore, she knew that Chen Feiyu was a disciple of the Heavenly Peak. Almost everyone among the Secondary Sects knew that the Heavenly Peak had practically been abandoned by the Dawn Sect.

Otherwise, why would they have sent such weak disciples from only one Peak to participate in these dangerous and trying group battles? Were they not sending these disciples to their death?

After weighing the costs and benefits, Luo Tianyi concluded that it would be wise not to interact any further with the Heavenly Peak disciples – even if they had just saved her own life. After all, even if Chen Feiyu had not saved her earlier, she would only been slightly injured by the Sand Scorpion.

Luo Tianyi was confident in her own abilities.

On the other side, Wei Gaolang was incredibly hurt by Luo Tianyi’s words. He was only a teen at the tender age of fifteen years-old, and this was the age when he would first begin to appreciate relationships between men and women. When he noticed how Luo Tianyi’s abilities were swell, her beauty was stunning, and she carried herself with a dignified appearance, he could not help but grow fond of her.

Yet he had hardly expected his object of affection to cast him aside with a string of mockery at their very first interaction. Her words were clearly laden with disdain and contempt for him.

Thus, Wei Gaolang’s heart felt incredibly stifled and uncomfortable, and the rims of his eyes reddened uncontrollably.

“Oh? Are your eyes are already becoming red and puffy just like that? You’re just a small child that hasn’t grown up yet. What are you doing participating in these group battles? You’d be better off running home and crying to your mommy.” The first female disciple dressed in pink chimed in with derision once more, and her mockery was only met with the laughter of the other Crescentfell Sect disciples.

“Enough. We thoroughly regret helping you ingrates earlier. Very well, if the Crescentfell Sect encounters any dangers in future, the Heavenly Peak disciples shall no longer help out anymore. Similarly, if we Heavenly Peak disciples encounter any problems, we won’t need the assistance of the Crescentfell Sect disciples as well. Let’s go.” As soon as Chen Feiyu spoke, he placed his arm around Wei Gaolang’s shoulder and led the Heavenly Peak disciples away along another road.

Wei Gaolang was no longer mesmerized by Luo Tianyi. He wiped his tears, and his face appeared to be filled with a renewed sense of resolve and determination.

As they watched the Heavenly Peak disciples depart, one of the Crescentfell Sect disciples remarked sarcastically, “Tsk. They even made it sound as though they were intentionally helping us. They’re just here to steal our points after all.”

Jun Xiaomo was walking at the back of the pack of Heavenly Peak disciples. When she heard this derisive comment, she suddenly spun around with a disdainful look on her face as she chuckled sardonically, “Let me remind you, if not for the talismans I’d used earlier, you would never have come out from the earlier battle with the Sand Scorpions completely unscathed. It’s fine to puff yourself up full of hot air, but remember that the higher you go, the harder you fall!”

“You!” Incensed, the Crescentfell Sect disciples stared at Jun Xiaomo, but they could not find any words to refute what she had just said.

Indeed, if not for Jun Xiaomo’s earlier assistance, this battle could never have gone so smoothly without a hitch at all. But their pride did not allow them to admit that they were so weak as to require the aid and assistance of a female cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Mastery. This was a bitter pill that they simply could not swallow!

Thus, they continued to tell themselves as well as the audience observing them that they would have been able to win even without Jun Xiaomo’s assistance.

A cold smile crept up the corner of Jun Xiaomo’s lips, and she held back from speaking any further as she quickly caught up to the rest of the Heavenly Peak disciples.

Even though there were twenty pairs of eyes staring daggers into her back right now, Jun Xiaomo was completely unfazed and unmoved.

She squinted her eyes, and a complicated gleam flickered in the depths of her eyes.

Since these people were so insistent on their perspective, then there was no need for Jun Xiaomo to remind these people of a tiny detail that might have slipped their minds – the monarch of this domain cannot possibly be the Sand Scorpions that they had earlier dealt with.

This was because the ground under their feet had remained as firm as it had been even after the Sand Scorpions had perished. Logically speaking, they should have reverted to the usual conditions in the marshlands.

What did this mean? This meant that there was a far stronger and larger spiritual beast or demonic beast that existed in these domains which possessed the ability to transform such a massive part of the marshlands into its own granary.

Those massive Sand Scorpions could very well have been nothing more than a snack to this monarch beast.

Jun Xiaomo shuddered at the thought, and she picked up her footsteps slightly.

Whether the Crescentfell Sect disciples would encounter the monarch beast, and whether they would be able to survive such an encounter was already outside of the ambit of Jun Xiaomo’s considerations right now.

Ah, I’ll leave everything up to fate.