Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Qin Lingyu and Jun Xiaomo walked over to a large banyan tree in the distance. From there, they were able to see the people coming and going from the inn, while the people from the inn rarely looked back over at that area. Even if people did look over, it would only be a quick glance, and nobody would pay too much attention to what was going on under the banyan tree.

This banyan tree was laced with destiny knots strewn all over it, some old and some new. The names written on these knots were still clearly visible to the eye. When the wind blew, these red coloured knots of different sizes would tango with the ebb and flow of the wind – it was an incredibly eye-catching and warm sight.

Qin Lingyu heartstrings strummed lightly at the sight. Even though it was an extremely light and fleeting twang of his heart, Qin Lingyu undoubtedly felt every split second of it.

He had never been an emotional person to begin with. In his eyes, benefits were all that mattered. That said, he did not know why the present scene aroused such an uncharacteristic response in his heart.

Qin Lingyu’s gaze shifted from the banyan tree filled with destiny knots to Jun Xiaomo’s body, and the sullen gaze in his eyes were filled with barely noticeable emotions.

On the other hand, Jun Xiaomo was hardly moved by the side at all. In fact, she had hoped that there would not be too many of these trees filled with destiny knots, especially around the Heavenly Crane Mountain which boasted well of its own idyllic sceneries. That said, it was precisely because of its scenic views that several couples enjoyed coming here to share pleasant memories with each other and immerse themselves in their own idyllic relationship. These couples would naturally leave a mark where they left in the form of the destiny knot as a symbol of their hopes that their lives and destinies would be similarly intertwined in future.

That said, Jun Xiaomo had only seen this as a place that was convenient for their own conversations. She would never think anything more of it.

Most importantly, the person whom she was conversing with was someone whom she dreaded having any further relationships with.

“Speak. What did you want to talk about?” Jun Xiaomo looked at Qin Lingyu as she quipped dispassionately.

Qin Lingyu gazed gloomily at Jun Xiaomo. This was the first time that he had spoken with Jun Xiaomo ever since she reemerged from the Heavenly Peak. This was also the first time he had been in such close proximity with his…ex-fiancée.

Jun Xiaomo had indeed changed a lot. Quite apart from her adept abilities with formation arrays and talismans, even her disposition and aura were now completely different from what it had been while she had been on her travels.

Back then, how could Qin Lingyu ever have known that a plain, young sprout that Jun Xiaomo was would have blossomed to such a…mesmerizing beauty?

That’s right. Mesmerizing. Even if Jun Xiaomo did not do anything in particular to seduce or attract anyone, her striking red garbs coupled with her headstrong personality and her unbending attitude and dispassionate aura gave her a unique charm about her.

This charm that Jun Xiaomo possessed was something natural that she was born with – it was completely different from the pretentious charms put up by someone like Yu Wanrou.

Just like how she was right now – Jun Xiaomo was smiling faintly while glancing coldly at Qin Lingyu, yet Qin Lingyu could already feel his blood boiling from the roiling emotions in his heart. This kind of feeling was something that he had never got from Yu Wanrou before.

He truly regretted passing up on such an exquisite beauty. In fact, the reason why he had come looking for Jun Xiaomo today was precisely because he had hoped to reverse the erroneous decisions that he had made in the past.

Over the last one month, this thought had bounced about vigorously at the back of his mind until it finally culminated with his present actions today.

Now that Ye Xiuwen had fallen into the Death’s Gorge, whether he would survive that ordeal was very much an unknown. At the same time, the first prince of the Inferno Kingdom had also just left. Thus, wasn’t this his prime opportunity to make a move?

“Xiaomo, the Limitless Sect’s elder has come looking for me today to discuss the matter of entering their sect to pursue my path of cultivation. In a few months’ time, I’ll be leaving the Dawn Sect and reporting to the Limitless to become their official disciple.” Qin Lingyu spoke in a rare, soft and harmonious voice to Jun Xiaomo.

Xiaomo? Such a term of endearment cause Jun Xiaomo to shudder vigorously, and goosebumps began to creep up all over her skin.

She had simply overlooked the first time he had referred to her by her first name and attributed it to a slip of the tongue. Yet Qin Lingyu had persisted in calling her by her first name – just what was he trying to do?

Besides, so what if Qin Lingyu was going to the Limitless Sect soon? What did that have to do with her? There was nothing else between them right now, wasn’t there?

Could Qin Lingyu have come looking for her just to boast about all these things?

Jun Xiaomo glanced suspiciously at Qin Lingyu as she responded curtly, “Mm. Congrats.”

Apart from that, she was truly at her wits’ ends as to what else she could say to Qin Lingyu right now. Most importantly, she was unaware of what Qin Lingyu was trying to do.

Qin Lingyu was rather displeased with Jun Xiaomo’s curt response. His eyes darkened, and he began to furrow his brows.

Jun Xiaomo’s heart immediately grew more vigilant and wary against him – This man clearly has ulterior motives.

Qin Lingyu looked on as Jun Xiaomo squinted her eyes and sized her up once more. Thus, he began to release the tension between his eyebrows. He believed that this Jun Xiaomo’s body language meant that she was gradually opening up to him once more.

“I know that there have been some incidents in the past between us that have caused Xiaomo to misunderstand me and choose to rescind the marriage arrangement with me. However, things have happened such a long time ago, so I think it’s about time to unravel these misunderstandings and let them go.” Qin Lingyu expounded as he gradually shifted the course of their conversation towards the main point that he was driving at.

“Oh. That’s right. I’ve already let it go a long time ago. Otherwise, I’d never have suggested the rescission of the marriage arrangement of my own volition. Since the marriage arrangement has been rescinded, whether it was a misunderstanding or not no longer matters to me.” Jun Xiaomo explained dispassionately.

Despite what she had just said, Jun Xiaomo chuckled contemptuously at Qin Lingyu’s hypocrisy in her heart – Such a hypocrite. Don’t you know full well in your heart whether it was a misunderstanding or not? Jun Xiaomo hated the fact that he was running off his mouth in such a hypocritical fashion. She was getting increasingly frustrated at Qin Lingyu now.

Besides, what did all of this have to do with her? Even if Qin Lingyu wedded Yu Wanrou tomorrow, that hardly bothered or affected her at all.

Qin Lingyu felt rather aggrieved by Jun Xiaomo’s daft attitude towards all of this. He felt almost as though his foot had kicked a metal board. Nothing was going as smoothly as he had thought in his mind.

On the other hand, Jun Xiaomo was getting sick and tired of engaging in this conversation and talking nonsense. This was particularly the case when she noticed that there was a person glaring at them with a vile and incensed gaze in her eyes.

That person was unmistakably Yu Wanrou who had just a little while ago been scrambling about the inn looking for Qin Lingyu. The last thing that she had expected to see was Qin Lingyu and Jun Xiaomo standing together under a tree full of destiny knots.

Truth be told, the sight of this could very easily give rise to misunderstandings.

At this moment, it suddenly occurred to Jun Xiaomo these two annoying people were like ghosts that were hovering about her and haunting her. She had not even thought about how she was going to execute her revenge on them, yet the two of them continued to present themselves relentlessly before her very eyes – Can’t the two of you give me a little break?!

With ever-growing frustration on her heart, she looked back at Qin Lingyu and quipped with impatience, “Martial brother Qin Lingyu, do you still have any other matters to talk about? If you’re just thinking of talking about the things of the past, then forget about it. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands, and I’d very much prefer not to talk about the past.”

Especially not with a person with whom she did not have a good impression of to begin with. The feeling of such reminiscence was simply abhorrent.

Qin Lingyu knew at this point that it was practically impossible to broach the topic by talking about the matters of the past. Thus, he decided to get straight to the point.

“The reason why I’m looking for you today is actually to talk about the person who will be following me to the Limitless Sect. Are…are you willing to come to the Limitless Sect with me?” Qin Lingyu knew that this was tantamount to asking Jun Xiaomo to be his fiancée again. Given Jun Xiaomo’s present abilities right now, the prospects of being able to enter the Limitless Sect should be incredibly enticing to Jun Xiaomo.

“Going to the Limitless Sect with you?” A contemptuous smile crept up the corner of Jun Xiaomo’s lips, “If memory serves me well, the only person that you’ll be able to bring with you is none other than your ‘fiancée’, right? Haven’t we already rescinded our marriage arrangement some time ago?”

“That’s indeed the case, but nobody says that we can’t establish another marriage arrangement, right? I’d thought about it for some time now, and I believe that we’d been too rash and reckless when it came to the matter of rescinding our marriage arrangement. I’m afraid both of us hadn’t thought things through when we went ahead with it.” Qin Lingyu did his utmost to sound as sincere and calm as possible.

“Hah. You might not have thought things through, but that doesn’t include me, martial brother Qin.” By this point, Jun Xiaomo no longer even bothered to conceal the revulsion and contempt in her voice, “Truth be told, I’d already wanted to rescind the marriage arrangement with you even before I’d gone on the travels outside the Sect. But back then, my cultivation level had fallen back down to square one, and my mother was afraid that I would never be able to enter a Greater Sect all my life. Thus, she insisted that I maintained my marriage arrangement with you. But now…I’d like you to know that I don’t regret rescinding the marriage arrangement with you at all. Even if I were still at the first level of Qi Mastery right now, I. Don’t. Regret. It. One. Bit!”

Qin Lingyu’s expressions turned a sickly green, “You…!”

Jun Xiaomo lackadaisically lifted her head and glanced down at Qin Lingyu with a clear and apparent look of mockery.

Qin Lingyu’s chest heaved heavily, and his facial expressions vacillated between pale in shock and a sickly green. Finally, he managed to eke out a stiff smile on his face –

“Jun Xiaomo, don’t you think for one moment that you’ve got any chances of entering a Greater Sect even if your cultivation is at the sixth level of Qi Mastery. The entry requirements to Greater Sects are that you’ll have to attain the Foundation Establishment level by the age of thirty-five years-old. You’re only at the sixth level of Qi Mastery now – how likely do you think you’ll be to satisfy these requirements within the next decade or so?!”

“What’s it got to do with you if I don’t meet these requirements? Who says that I must enter a Greater Sect?” Jun Xiaomo chuckled sardonically.

“Fine, Jun Xiaomo. Very well. I hope you never regret the decision you’ve made today!” Qin Lingyu chuckled in a similarly sardonic fashion as he responded, before flicking his sleeves and motioning to leave.

She should have known that Jun Xiaomo would be exactly the same as her father Jun Linxuan. With their rotten and unbending attitude, none of them would ever be willing to make any compromises.

Hah, but it’s also with this kind of temperament of theirs that this father-daughter duo is going to stumble and fall hard one day. They’ll just have to wait and see.

Qin Lingyu thought in his heart, and his mind felt much more at ease.

“Hang on a minute.” Jun Xiaomo suddenly called out to Qin Lingyu.

The contempt in Qin Lingyu’s heart burgeoned – See? I knew that she was just putting on a pretense of an unbending attitude. I’ll bet she’s regretting it now. But too bad for her – it’s too late for regrets. She’d only got herself to blame for being so headstrong earlier.

Qin Lingyu turned around with a mocking smile on his face as he quipped, “What’s the matter? Regretting your decision already?”

“Oh, that’s not the case.” Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrow quizzically as she pointed towards the inn, “I only wanted to ask you whether you should have an explanation for your little lover as to why you would choose me over her as the person to bring to the Limitless Sect. Look at her eyes right now – she looks like she’s practically raring to devour me…I think you should settle your private matters privately, don’t you think so? Don’t drag me into your mess.”

Qin Lingyu followed Jun Xiaomo’s finger and noticed that Yu Wanrou was standing not too far away and glaring at them with red, puffy eyes and a grave, incensed expression on her face.