Chapter 290: Visitor in the Night

Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Over the last few days, Jun Xiaomo had continued to go back and forth from the Sect’s forbidden ground with an Invisibility Talisman on her body, just so that she could familiarize herself with the situation within the forbidden grounds.

She was different from Jun Ziwen. Jun Ziwen had at best a shallow understanding of formation arrays and talismans, so he dared not enter the forbidden grounds recklessly without a good plan. Otherwise, he might find himself in a highly disadvantageous position even before he manages to rescue his martial brothers from within.

On the other hand, the number of formation arrays that Jun Xiaomo had breached within the Proving Grounds alone numbered in the thousands, if not the ten-thousands, and breaching formation arrays was something that was almost second nature to her. The formation array sequestering the Dawn Sect’s forbidden grounds could hardly be considered anything more than a starter to her.

That said, it would still take some effort on Jun Xiaomo’s part if she were to prepare this starter for her consumption.

From her observations, Jun Xiaomo discovered that on every alternate day, He Zhang or his Sect Elders would enter the forbidden grounds and remain within its premises for the next four to six hours before leaving once more. That said, she remained unaware of what they were doing within its premises.

However, these were all things that were done during the day. As soon as night fell, it would be rare to see anyone else going near the Sect’s forbidden grounds apart from the Dawn Sect disciples who were rostered to patrol the area.

After a few days of continuous observation and surveillance, Jun Xiaomo discovered that there was a certain order to which things were taking place. Thus, she decided that it was time to make her move tonight.

Naturally, she was not about to make a grand entrance right this moment. After all, the forbidden grounds were mysterious and filled with secrets. Instead, she intended to keep a low profile and make slow and steady progress so as to prevent alerting the enemy inadvertently.

At the same time, like all other nights before this, Ye Xiuwen remained within Qin Shanshan’s abode.

Usually, by this time, Ye Xiuwen would already be making preparations to enter a meditative state for the purposes of his cultivation. But tonight, for some strange reason, his heart felt rather stifled and anxious, and he was unable to quieten his restless heart and wholeheartedly pursue his cultivation.

Thus, he walked over to his windowsill and glanced over at the entrance to Qin Shanshan’s abode with a complicated feeling in his heart.

It was already late, yet “Qin Shanshan” was not back yet. Even though he had only serendipitously encountered “Qin Shanshan” not too long ago, and even though they had a tacit agreement not to interfere or intervene with what the other was doing to achieve their own personal goals, he couldn’t help but feel rather worried for her when he noticed that she was not yet back from her endeavors. After all, he had already begun to consider “Qin Shanshan” a friend of his.

Then, in the moment that Ye Xiuwen decided to get in touch with “Qin Shanshan”, he suddenly felt his Interspatial Ring grow warm to the touch.

Has someone entered the premises?

Ye Xiuwen immediately shut his windows and retreated from the windowsill. Then, he sat on the stool by the table within the room and immediately released his divine sense at his surroundings.

Having already attained the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation, the range of Ye Xiuwen’s divine sense was naturally commensurably wide. At this moment, his divine sense could not only cover the entire courtyard, it was able to stretch beyond Qin Shanshan’s entire abode and cover a radius of one kilometer around it.

It was precisely for this reason that he had already begun to hone in his divine sense and observe a sneaky figure that was lingering about outside of Qin Shanshan’s abode. Then, when he took a closer look at this person, he discovered that it was none other than one of the female cultivators who had earlier trespassed and entered Qin Shanshan’s abode uninvited. It was the tallest female disciple of the earlier group.

Ye Xiuwen’s eyes gleamed brightly.

After the encounter with the group of uninvited guests this morning, “Qin Shanshan” had decided to set up a number of formation arrays around her abode so as to prevent something similar from happening again.

Then, after Jun Xiaomo linked up all of her formation arrays with her talismans, she handed one such talisman to Ye Xiuwen and kept one for herself. This way, if anyone entered Qin Shanshan’s abode uninvited again, setting off the alarm on one of her formation arrays, she and Ye Xiuwen would both be the first to know about it.

As he continued to observe the uninvited guest, Ye Xiuwen couldn’t help but applaud in his heart “Qin Shanshan’s” foresight in this regard.

However, he chose not to chase the uninvited guest away just yet. Instead, he simply retrieved a talisman from his Interspatial Ring and held it in his hands. Then, he continued to observe the uninvited guest’s movements to see just what this person was up to.

The person who had just arrived at Qin Shanshan’s abode was none other than Shen Yaoxue. He Zhang had instructed her to sneak into Qin Shanshan’s abode at night to observe and investigate more on what Jun Ziwen and Qin Shanshan were up to at night.

He Zhang was still guarded against Jun Ziwen, and he had even begun to develop some measure of suspicions against Qin Shanshan. Sure, Jun Ziwen might be practicing his sword arts in the morning, but what about at night? Would he slip out of the abode at night to go about his “main business” here?

With such thoughts pressing on his mind, He Zhang decided to send his secret agent, Shen Yaoxue to investigate further.

Shen Yaoxue was unaware that her movements had already been discovered by someone. She had also released her divine sense to probe about the environment and surroundings within Qin Shanshan’s abode, and she had discovered that everything appeared to be still and silent within. Not a single sound was to be heard in the premises.

Could they really be out at night? Or are they both in their room right now?

Once Shen Yaoxue ascertained that there was nobody around in the courtyard, she began to step through the gate and sneak into the abode.

Then, as soon as Shen Yaoxue drew closer to the door of Qin Shanshan’s room, the suspicion on her heart burgeoned. Summer had just arrived, and generally speaking, most people would find the weather too hot to sleep with their windows closed. That said, she noticed that Qin Shanshan’s windows were shut so tightly that there was not even a single gap for her to peek through right now.

Shen Yaoxue mentally noted this peculiarity as something she would later report to He Zhang.

Then, rather than walk over to the main door of the room, she sat dun under a large tree near Qin Shanshan’s room and began to release her divine sense to uncover what was going on within Qin Shanshan’s room. In the end, she discovered that her divine sense appeared to be blocked by something, and it could only hover about around the perimeter of the room, unable to penetrate the blockade by any means.

Could they have pasted a talisman on the door to obstruct my divine sense? Shen Yaoxue exclaimed in her heart as she made a mental note to report this to He Zhang later as well.

She was clearly incredibly adept at capturing the smallest, suspicious details in her surveillance attempts. This was why He Zhang had particularly favored sending her out on surveillance missions.

On the other side of the wall, within the room, Ye Xiuwen had in a similar fashion sent his divine sense out of the room to observe Shen Yaoxue’s actions. When he discovered how Shen Yaoxue had sat down at a tree not too far away and attempted to observe what was going on inside Qin Shanshan’s room, he could already roughly guess Shen Yaoxue’s objectives.

Jun Xiaomo had indeed pasted a talisman on her room door. Under the effects of this talisman, the divine sense of any cultivator up to the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation would not be able to penetrate its blockade and enter the room. This would also make things more convenient if she needed to discuss any private and confidential matters with Jun Ziwen within the room.

Having realized that her attempts with her divine sense was completely obstructed at the perimeter, Shen Yaoxue collected her divine sense with some measure of resignation as she pondered about her next move.

Finally, she decided that she would press on and creep over towards the door to Qin Shanshan’s room and put her ear to the door to see if she can hear anything going on within.

After all, a talisman obstructing the penetration of her divine sense did not necessarily prevent physical sounds from spreading and being picked up by her auditory senses. If Jun Ziwen and Qin Shanshan were truly inside their room, there was no reason that they would not be making any sounds.

As soon as Ye Xiuwen discovered that Shen Yaoxue was approaching the door to their room, a glint flickered in his eyes. With a quick flick of his wrist, he shot the talisman in his hand straight at the room door.

Earlier, “Qin Shanshan” had informed him that if anyone attempted to listen in on what they were doing inside, he could use this talisman.

The talisman immediately glowed with a faint light and then faded away. Shen Yaoxue did not notice the glow of light, and she continued to make her way up the steps towards Qin Shanshan’s room door. When she finally arrived at the door, she slowly and gingerly placed her ear to the door.

“Mm…ah…faster…faster…mmm…” A series of impassioned moans and groans instantly echoed within Shen Yaoxue’s ears, causing her body to tremble slightly. Just like that, her entire being stiffened and remained rooted in place.

“Mm…I…I can’t take it anymore…” A coquettish, delicate voice pleaded disjointedly, interspersed only by the panting and gasping of her breath and a man’s light chuckle. Having never experienced such affairs herself before, Shen Yaoxue instantly found her heart thumping wildly.

She was unaware that her entire face was as red as a tomato right now, and that same, bashful look completely destroyed her usual cool and composed disposition.

Something told her that she should leave this place immediately. After all, she had already confirmed that Jun Ziwen and Qin Shanshan were “busying” themselves within their room, and they had not slipped out of the abode under the cover of the night to attend to any form of “main business” whatsoever. However, her shoes simply appeared to be glued to the floor, and her feet refused to move.

She bit down furiously on her lower lips and then inched closer to the door once more.

“Mm…mm…ahn…brother Jun…ahh…” Qin Shanshan’s voice appeared to be getting higher pitched and more anxious, almost as though she were trying to catch her breath. At the same time, Shen Yaoxue could hear the quickening squeaks of the bedframe.

“Ahhhhhh---” After an intense and shrill shriek, the entire room became silent once more.

Moments later.

“What do you think about it tonight? Passable, isn’t it?” The man chuckled lightly. After his release, his voice appeared to be filled with a slight measure of huskiness and crispness.

“……”

Shen Yaoxue couldn’t hear nor process the lady’s response anymore. She had finally slipped away as quickly as her feet would take her as she made a beeline towards the entrance to Qin Shanshan’s abode. Her face was completely flushed and so warm that one could even cook an egg on it right now.

On the other side of the room door, having discovered Shen Yaoxue’s departure from the premises, Ye Xiuwen finally stood up and tore down the talisman on the door and stuffed it back into his Interspatial Ring with a grim expression on his face.

He had never expected “Qin Shanshan” to hand him this type of talisman. He was completely unprepared to listen to such “provocative conversations” that the talisman had generated.

Whenever he thought about how the talisman had mimicked his voice and “Qin Shanshan’s” voice, the veins on Ye Xiuwen’s forehead would bulge and throb uncontrollably. Only the heavens would know how that lady had created such a talisman to begin with. After all, even though he and “Qin Shanshan” were residing within the same room, they had never done such a deed before. Every night, “Qin Shanshan” would sleep on the bed on the inner quarters of the room, while he would sleep on a mattress on the outer quarters of the room. There was hardly any form of contact with each other at all, much less such adulterous behaviour.

Yet, in the end, “Qin Shanshan” had done the impossible and created something out of nothing. That said, the more Ye Xiuwen thought about it, the more embarrassed and awkward he got.

He rubbed the temples to disperse the onset of the headache he was getting. There was a sudden urge rising from the depths of his heart to call “Qin Shanshan” back from whatever she was doing right now to rap her heavily on her head.

On the other side, Shen Yaoxue continued to run as quickly as her feet would take her from Qin Shanshan’s abode for a long time, before finally slowing down. Even then, her heart was still thumping as quickly and furiously as before.

Whenever she closed her eyes, her ears would begin to ring once more with the sounds that Jun Ziwen and Qin Shanshan had earlier been making. In particular, her mind would focus on the sounds that Jun Ziwen had made – his indolent yet magnetic voice that was slightly husky after making merry had seemed to etch its way into her heart like a demonic curse.

She had never thought that a person as cool and distant like Jun Ziwen would actually… Shen Yaoxue bit down furiously on her lower lip, and her eyes quivered with some bashfulness.

Had she known this was going to happen, she would never have placed her ear anywhere close to the door. At this point in time, her heart was in a complete mess.

Just as Shen Yaoxue was fighting hard to wrestle back control of her own emotions that were presently running amok, a Transmittance Talisman within her Interspatial Ring began to glow brightly, causing her to be taken aback slightly. Then, as she finally regained her senses, the blood that had earlier all rushed straight to her head had finally begun to subside.

She finally remembered that she was on an important mission, and it was about time to report her findings to He Zhang.

Collecting her thoughts and suppressing the still-roiling emotions in her heart, she began to steadily make her way towards He Zhang’s abode once more.