Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Now that they had formally stepped onto the same path, Jun Xiaomo turned her mind to another practical problem that had arisen – since Qin Lingyu was already suspicions of Jun Ziwen’s identity and intentions, how were they going to overcome this hurdle and gain entry to the Dawn Sect?

“Do you have any suggestions?” Jun Xiaomo blinked curiously at Ye Xiuwen.

After some moments of deliberation, Ye Xiuwen spoke up, “Back then, Qin Shanshan had invited me to the Dawn Sect as a guest because she appeared to have some feelings for me. Now that Miss Tong has taken on Qin Shanshan’s identity, perhaps you could play along in this regard and bring me in under that pretext…”

“Oh~~ So you wish to put your charms to good use, huh~~” Jun Xiaomo smiled as she nodded her head meaningfully.

Ye Xiuwen glanced back at her with some measure of exasperation.

“Alright, I understand, I understand.” Jun Xiaomo patted Ye Xiuwen’s arm, “In other words, you hope that I can continue to act as though I’m head over heels in love with you, so much so that I would die without you, and thus force Qin Lingyu into a compromise?”

Ye Xiuwen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Jun Xiaomo’s descriptions, “You naturally don’t have to go to such an extent to appear as though you would die without me. That said, if you’re able to stand your ground and insist on seeing through your earlier invitation, my odds of entering the Dawn Sect would naturally be higher.”

Jun Xiaomo snapped her fingers, as she forthrightly agreed, “Alright. This isn’t anything too difficult. Besides, given Qin Shanshan’s personality, falling head over heels in love with a man isn’t something that is uncharacteristic of her. As long as I don’t go too far…hahaha…”

Ye Xiuwen smiled warmly, “Thank you.”

Jun Xiaomo curled up her lips as she shrugged it off, “Don’t stand on ceremony! Aren’t we partners in crime? Just don’t forget what you’d agreed to earlier. You’re not allowed to shirk responsibility later on!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t do that.” Ye Xiuwen smiled as he made a vow.

It was already noontime when they were done with their discussions, and it was soon time for lunch. Jun Xiaomo’s stomach growled timeously.

She rubbed her nose with some measure of embarrassment, while Ye Xiuwen smiled meaningfully as he suggested that they head down to the dining hall for lunch.

While Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen were making their way down the stairs, they noticed that Qin Lingyu and the rest were still at the dining hall. As soon as he saw “Qin Shanshan” and Jun Ziwen walking down the stairs together, Qin Lingyu’s expressions darkened immediately. The other Dawn Sect disciples instantly exchanged nervous glances, before tacitly lowering their heads in the hope that they would not attract any flak to themselves.

It was evident that Qin Lingyu was in an extremely bad mood, and it would not be wise to step on his toes.

“Brother.” Jun Xiaomo pretended to be an obsequious little sister as she greeted Qin Lingyu.

“Come here!” Qin Lingyu coldly ordered Jun Xiaomo, before glaring viciously at Ye Xiuwen.

Jun Xiaomo lowered her head and stepped towards her left slightly, sticking close by Ye Xiuwen’s side. Then, she cautiously looked up once more at Qin Lingyu.

Jun Xiaomo’s acting was on point – she put on a perfect presentation of a lady faced with the fear that her kin would not accept her relationship with the love of her life. In that moment, Qin Lingyu could hardly tell that everything she was doing was a mere pretense.

Truth be told, if not for the fact that Ye Xiuwen knew that everything was a mere pretense, even he might have bought Jun Xiaomo’s acting.

The veins on Qin Lingyu’s forehead bulged and throbbed, and he slammed his palm on the table as he bellowed, “Qin Shanshan, come here right now!”

Jun Xiaomo instantly clutched tightly at Ye Xiuwen’s sleeves and hid behind him as she murmured, “Why are you being so fierce?! I’m not going over.”

A trace of bemusement crept up the depths of Ye Xiuwen’s eyes. Qin Lingyu noticed it, and the fiery rage in his heart burgeoned even more.

Just as Qin Lingyu was about to erupt in fury and pull “Qin Shanshan” to the side to give her a good beating and dressing down, Ye Xiuwen smiled faintly as he interjected, “Brother Qin, Miss Qin didn’t have much to eat yesterday, and she was even intoxicated for the better part of last night, so she’s hungry and tired now. If you’ve got anything you wish to say to Miss Qin, I’m sure it can wait till after she’s had some food, right? What do you say?”

Qin Lingyu chuckled coldly, “I’ve got nothing much to say to you. What gives an outsider like you the right to interfere with the matters between us siblings?”

Jun Xiaomo discreetly rolled her eyes at Qin Lingyu as she hid behind Ye Xiuwen. Then, she peeked out once more and glared at Qin Lingyu as she barked, “I hate you! How can brother Jun be considered an outsider? He’s someone I’m fond of!”

Qin Lingyu squinted his eyes. He was getting increasingly incensed by this little sister of his who couldn’t even seem to distinguish friend or foe.

If not for the fact that you possess the other half of the key to the Arcane Realm, do you think I’d even care about you?!

Jun Xiaomo keenly picked up on the emotions that were roiling within the deepest parts of Qin Lingyu’s heart, and she slightly raised her eyebrows with a quizzical expression as she thought to herself – So much for blood relations. I don’t sense any sibling love from Qin Lingyu at all.

After coldly glaring at “Qin Shanshan” for a little while, he finally decided to take a step back and compromise as he barked, “Well? Take a seat then! Do you intend to eat while standing?”

Jun Xiaomo’s eyes brightened, and she grabbed hold of Ye Xiuwen’s arm and began to drag him to the side of the table furthest away from Qin Lingyu.

The seats there were already filled with Dawn Sect disciples. However, Jun Xiaomo decided to capitalize on Qin Shanshan’s usual bossy, headstrong attitude, as she glared at the disciples and barked, “Hurry up and make way for us!”

The Dawn Sect disciples thought to themselves in displeasure – Isn’t there still space over there beside martial brother Qin? Why don’t you take a seat over there instead? Why do you have to squeeze here with us?

Nobody wants to sit next to martial brother Qin!

Even though they harboured these thoughts in their hearts, they knew that they could not afford to upset “Qin Shanshan”, particularly when her strongest backing was just in front of them. Thus, they did their best to swallow the bitter pill as they began to nudge each other towards Qin Lingyu. Finally, they managed to create sufficient space for two people to take their seats, and Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen took their seats accordingly.

Qin Lingyu sat on the other end of the table, as far away from Jun Xiaomo as he possibly could be. His face looked so ashen that it was practically the same colour as burnt coal.

That said, Jun Xiaomo continued to act as though she was hell bent on provoking and angering Qin Lingyu. As soon as the waiter began to serve dishes on the table for their lunch, Jun Xiaomo began to pile up the food onto Ye Xiuwen’s bowl until it looked like a tiny mountain. Then, she began to softly and warmly coax Ye Xiuwen to eat all the good stuff before they were taken by the others.

The Dawn Sect disciples who were seated around the table stared at the sight with gaping wide mouths. Their eyes had widened so much that they seemed almost to have fallen out of their sockets – What the hell happened last night?! Even though Qin Shanshan appeared to be fond of Jun Ziwen previously, she had never been so close and clingy to him! Has this entire world changed after just one night? Is the sun going to rise from the west tomorrow?!

Jun Xiaomo thoroughly took pleasure in the increasingly ashen expression on Qin Lingyu’s face. To her, the greatest pleasure in the world was to see her nemeses’ displeasure.

“What are you all looking at?! Haven’t you seen a public display of affection before? Eat your food!” Jun Xiaomo barked resentfully at the Dawn Sect disciples around her once more. It had to be mentioned that she was clearly channeling to perfection the unruly and headstrong attitude that Qin Shanshan had always displayed.

The other disciples were immediately taken aback. Then, they obsequiously shifted their gaze away and began to munch away quietly at their own food.

I knew it. Qin Shanshan’s obnoxious behaviour has surfaced once again as soon as martial brother Qin appeared. It’s just so unbearable… The Dawn Sect disciples smeared Qin Shanshan’s name in their heart.

On the other hand, Qin Lingyu felt as though his own reputation were being tarnished by his sister’s obnoxious behaviour. Bang! He slammed his chopsticks onto the table in a fit of anger and barked, “I’m not eating anymore! I’m already filled to the brim with anger. How can I possibly stomach any more food?!”

Jun Xiaomo looked up and gave Qin Lingyu a charitable glance, before lowering her head and piling up more food on Ye Xiuwen’s bowl again.

Seriously, Ye Xiuwen’s bowl was thoroughly filled to the brim by now.

“Qin Shanshan, come look for me when you’re done eating. I’ve got something to talk to you about.” Qin Lingyu coldly demanded of “Qin Shanshan” with an unyielding and intolerant tone of voice.

“I’m not going.” Jun Xiaomo retorted with insistence. Her tone of voice was uncompromising yet laced with a slight measure of fear for her “brother”, “I know what you’re going to say, and I’m not going to agree to it. I’m not going to leave brother Jun behind. No matter what, I want him to come back to the Dawn Sect with me!”

As Jun Xiaomo spoke, her heart trembled with slight disgust – My gosh. Did I really just say that? That’s far too soppy!

The veins on Qin Lingyu’s forehead throbbed once more. However, this time, he did not respond to “Qin Shanshan”. Instead, he turned towards Ye Xiuwen as he coldly stated, “Brother Jun, you’re pretty formidable, aren’t you? You knew that you couldn’t convince me, so you thought to circumvent the issue by gaining access through my sister. Before today, she has never dared to be disobedient to me before. Yet after just one month of interacting with you, not only is she being disobedient, she’s already directly opposing me. If this goes on, who knows what might happen? Maybe she might even end up selling out the Sect and tarnishing the honour of our ancestors!”

Just like that, Qin Lingyu redirected all the flak to Ye Xiuwen and began to cast aspersions on his intentions.

Jun Xiaomo’s gaze instantly darkened. Qin Lingyu’s words had reminded her of her fate in her previous life.

Oh, the irony. You’ve hit the nail on the head. I had in my previous life pushed my entire Peak off the precipice and caused their fall, all just because of a scumbag like you, Qin Lingyu! Truly, a person’s worldview is always tainted by the ponderances of their hearts. Qin Lingyu has always acted like that – he’s not changed one bit!

Bang! Jun Xiaomo also slammed her chopsticks down onto the table. Tears could be seen seeping out of the corners of the reddened rims of her eyes as she glared at Qin Lingyu with great indignation, “Brother! Why are you always picking on brother Jun? If not for him, we’d already be dead in the wilderness by now!”

Yet Qin Lingyu simply chuckled coldly, “Who knows whether he had rescued you on purpose or whether he was the perpetrator who had trapped all of you within that place to begin with? How do you know he was not just putting on an act when he ‘rescued’ you? Back when you first departed the Sect and made your way to the Mystic Woods through that part of the wilderness, you’d never encountered anything like that, isn’t that right? Then, it was only after you encountered this strange man on the way back that you’d come across such a strange encounter in that part of the wilderness again. Is there anything more ‘coincidental’ than that?!”

“Brother Jun would never do something like that! Brother, don’t malign him!” Jun Xiaomo glared at Qin Lingyu in frustration as she plastered a stubborn, disbelieving look on her face.

“Hah. It doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not. As long as I’m here, he’s not taking a single step into the Dawn Sect’s grounds.” Qin Lingyu gave the ultimatum – there was no way he was letting Ye Xiuwen into the Dawn Sect at all, “Or perhaps…you could let him attempt to break into the grounds and see if he can do so successfully.”

Qin Lingyu’s last statement was directed straight at Ye Xiuwen, and his eyes were filled with contempt and mockery.

Jun Xiaomo squinted her eyes in displeasure. Her hatred for Qin Lingyu’s pettiness had come to a head – Isn’t Qin Lingyu only saying all these things because he wants to flaunt his identity as He Zhang’s First-Seat Disciple?

Riding on her earlier momentum, Jun Xiaomo gritted her teeth and hardened her heart. Then, she grabbed Jun Ziwen’s hand that was under the table and raised her chin as she stared back at Qin Lingyu with indignation in her eyes, “Brother, I’ve already done the deed between married couples with brother Jun. I might already be bearing his child right now. I’m not leaving him behind. If you’re going to continue to prevent him from entering the sect, then I’m going to remain outside the Sect with him and become a rogue cultivator and a nomad. Do as you please.”

Ye Xiuwen: ……

Dawn Sect disciples: ……

Qin Lingyu: ……

If only I could just crush this insipid sister of mine right now! Unfortunately, I really need the key to the Arcane Realm!