Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Jun Xiaomo had managed to enter and leave the forbidden ground’s formation array for the second time without alerting the Dawn Sect to her efforts. That said, she had once again returned with her body completely covered with wounds and injuries.

Ye Xiuwen waited impatiently for her at the road leading from Qin Shanshan’s abode. From afar, he could sense Jun Xiaomo’s approach using his divine sense.

That said, Jun Xiaomo still had an Invisibility Talisman plastered on her body, so Ye Xiuwen could not see her physical appearances. Thus, he could only wait where he was with a cold, placid expression on his face. Nobody knew what he was thinking at this moment.

Jun Xiaomo’s aura continued to draw nearer and nearer to him.

Then, as soon as Jun Xiaomo made her way in front of Ye Xiuwen, she removed the Invisibility Talisman on her body and smiled weakly and feebly at Ye Xiuwen.

At that very moment, her vision faded to black, and she immediately collapsed forward, falling directly into Ye Xiuwen’s arms.

As he supported the limp body in his arms, Ye Xiuwen knitted his brows tightly together – he had thought that with the first experience within the forbidden ground’s formation array, her injuries would no longer be as severe. Unexpectedly, “Qin Shanshan’s” current injuries appeared to be even worse than the previous time.

If not for the talismans and recovery pills that were preserving her life right now, he truly would not be able to say with any certainty whether “Qin Shanshan” could have returned in one piece to begin with.

Is this really what she meant by ‘she’ll be fine’?! Ye Xiuwen’s heart immediately burgeoned with an intense, boiling rage.

If not for the fact that “Qin Shanshan” had already fainted, he would most certainly have given her an earful by now! However, as he stared blankly at the unconscious Jun Xiaomo, Ye Xiuwen could only sigh with some measure of resignation as he carried her horizontally and made his way back towards Qin Shanshan’s abode.

Right now, the most important thing was not to castigate this person, but to set her down in a safe place and heal her injuries so that they do not worsen or aggravate.

Ye Xiuwen placed her down onto her bed gingerly once more, before feeding her almost half a bottle’s worth of recovery pills. Approximately five hours later, Jun Xiaomo came to her senses again.

Her lips were dry, and her injuries were still afflicting her with intense waves of pain. Even though she had experienced all types and forms of different injuries before, she would still knit her brows tightly together as a result of the intense pains he was experiencing.

“You’re awake?” Ye Xiuwen asked calmly. He did not let his emotions seep out with his placid tone of voice.

That said, Jun Xiaomo’s intuition told her that he was angry. The onset of her intuition was strange and peculiar, but Jun Xiaomo trusted it anyways.

“That…are you angry?” Jun Xiaomo would habitually speak her mind with those she considered her friends. Thus, she cautiously asked as she observed the expressions on Jun Ziwen’s face.

However, Ye Xiuwen did not respond to her query. He simply continued to look at her coldly, causing her to feel increasingly awkward.

After swallowing her saliva, Jun Xiaomo weakly asked, “That…could you pour me a cup of tea? My throat is parched. Thanks.”

As soon as Ye Xiuwen walked towards the outer quarters to boil the cup of tea, Jun Xiaomo managed to let out a tense breath of air as she complained in her heart – Did this guy eat something wrong? His gaze is far too intense!

Moments later, Ye Xiuwen returned with a cup of tea in his hands and handed over the tea to Jun Xiaomo without a single word. Then, he took his seat at the stool beside the bed and continued to stare intently at Jun Xiaomo.

Fighting against the pain, Jun Xiaomo sat up and began to sip at her tea slowly, glancing over at Ye Xiuwen from time to time, as though looking for answers on his face.

In the end, Ye Xiuwen’s expressions remained as cold as ever, and Jun Xiaomo could hardly figure out why he was upset.

Finally, just as Jun Xiaomo was mustering her courage to ask Ye Xiuwen about it once more, Ye Xiuwen took the initiative to break the silent and tense atmosphere, “Do the injuries on your body still hurt?”

Pouting, Jun Xiaomo responded with some measure of humiliation, “Of course they hurt. How could the pain possibly subside so quickly?”

No matter how good the recovery pills were, it was impossible to make such grievous wounds heal and close up so quickly. Thus, Jun Xiaomo was naturally still experiencing excruciating pain with her body.

“Pain? I’d still thought you don’t know how to experience pain!” Ye Xiuwen snorted coldly. His tone of voice was ostensibly filled with so much displeasure that only a fool would be unable to hear it.

Jun Xiaomo found herself taken aback at his comments, and she had finally figured out why this man was so angry.

“That…I’d slightly underestimated the formation array’s abilities and strength. As for my preparations…I assure you that my injuries won’t be as severe next time.” Jun Xiaomo explained herself with a meek voice.

Truth be told, it might have been better if Jun Xiaomo had remained completely silent. But now that she had spoken, Ye Xiuwen’s rage stirred and burgeoned uncontrollably.

“There’s still a next time?!” Ye Xiuwen glared at Jun Xiaomo.

“There’s no choice, is there? The forbidden ground’s formation array isn’t easily breached. The fact that I can reduce the number of probative attempts to three instances is already not too bad…” Jun Xiaomo muttered softly.

Ye Xiuwen grew taciturn.

He did not know too much about formation arrays to begin with. Even though he had always accused “Qin Shanshan” of being gutsy and reckless, growing angry at the fact that she appeared to be throwing her life away, he knew full well that the forbidden grounds could never be such an easy place to enter just like that. To demand that she returned completely unharmed was practically asking for the impossible.

In fact, Ye Xiuwen was even unsure as to why he would feel so upset by the fact that she had got herself injured to such an extent. Perhaps it was because he treated her as a friend, and he most certainly did not wish to see her perish before his very eyes.

Just like his little martial sister – once she was dead, everything became completely meaningless.

“I’ll go with you the next time.” After a long period of silence, Ye Xiuwen spoke with an unyielding and adamant voice.

It was an intransigent statement, as though he were merely informing Jun Xiaomo of his unilateral decision – he was insistent on going with Jun Xiaomo the next time.

“What?! No way!” Jun Xiaomo objected without any hesitation.

“There’s no compromise this time. Or, do you want me to tie you up and keep you here so that you can’t enter the formation array at all?” Ye Xiuwen stared at Jun Xiaomo with a sullen expression on his face as he gave her an “option”.

“You! On what basis are you saying this?!” Jun Xiaomo glared at Ye Xiuwen, “You don’t know a thing about formation arrays at all. If you follow me in, aren’t you just going to be a deadweight?!”

“I do know nothing about formation arrays, but at the very least, I’ll be able to prevent you from forcing the issue and drag you back from the formation array when push comes to shove.” Ye Xiuwen coldly remarked.

Jun Xiaomo was rendered completely speechless by Ye Xiuwen’s arguments. This was particularly so when she realized that she was faced with Ye Xiuwen’s intense glare. Thus, she began to shrink back and pout her lips as she grew taciturn.

This time, Jun Xiaomo’s injuries were evidently worse than the last time she had attempted to enter the forbidden grounds, and she was bedridden for three whole days before she managed to get out of bed. And even then, her feet would ache whenever she walked.

Ye Xiuwen furrowed his brows as he continued to ply Jun Xiaomo with countless recovery pills. In the end, the result was the same – it still took some time for Jun Xiaomo’s injuries to recover.

“It can’t be helped. I don’t even know what kind of traps the old fogeys had set up within the Sect’s forbidden grounds. They’ve even injured by bones. It’s no wonder I’m recovering so slowly. Furthermore, there are still some elements involving demonic energy and curses, and in a moment of slip up, I’d sustained some injuries from one of these.” Jun Xiaomo sighed with some measure of denial.

Ye Xiuwen rapped her gently on the head as he replied, “Don’t make light of things. You might not be as lucky next time.”

“Alright, alright. I’ve encountered far more formidable formation arrays in the past. These kinds of things can’t stop me at all. The most that is going to happen to me is to sustain some injuries and other forms of hardship in the process of investigation.” Jun Xiaomo waved her hands, shrugging off the issue.

In fact, there was some measure of truth in what she had just said. After all, the formation arrays within the Proving Grounds were far more formidable and complex than the formation array sequestering the Dawn Sect’s forbidden grounds from the rest of the world. While she was inside the Proving Grounds, there were several instances where her life had practically hung by a thread as she successfully breached the formation arrays within. At that time, she even wondered what the true motive of her great grandmaster was for setting up such incredibly complex formation arrays within the Proving Grounds.

Could he have simply intended to torment anyone who enters the Proving Grounds?

Fortunately, Jun Xiaomo managed to successfully clear the Proving Grounds and thus leave its premises in the end. Now, whenever she thought about the long, arduous years she had spent within the Proving Grounds, she would always sigh in her heart.

At the same time, she also possessed the sincerest form of gratitude towards her great grandmaster for providing his disciples and their disciples such a perfect place for pursuing their craft.

However, all of this was something that Ye Xiuwen was unaware of. Thus, whenever he saw how “Qin Shanshan” appeared to throw caution to the wind and put her life in harm’s way, he would always feel swamped with rage and anger.

This was what gave rise to his insistence to enter the Sect’s forbidden grounds with “Qin Shanshan”.

Since Jun Xiaomo was unable to get out of bed, Ye Xiuwen had personally taken it upon himself to order food from the kitchen and bring it back with him so that he could partake of meals together with Jun Xiaomo. At the beginning, the people from the Dawn Sect were curious as to why Qin Shanshan had seemed to have vanished into thin air. Later, when Ye Xiuwen explained that she was bedridden, they began to give Ye Xiuwen a meaningful look of realization, replete with a mischievous, knowing smile on their faces.

It was evident that everyone’s minds were wandering astray.

That said, Ye Xiuwen could hardly be bothered to explain and correct their misunderstanding. After all, he could not really speak of the real reason why “Qin Shanshan” was bedridden either. If these people learnt more about it, they might even begin to suspect that something was amiss.

Therefore, since everyone’s minds had wandered off the beaten path and “filled in the gaps” on his behalf, Ye Xiuwen simply played along together with everyone. After all, it sufficed that he and “Qin Shanshan” knew the truth of the matter.

Today, just as Jun Xiaomo sat in her bed, eating rice from her bowl, her hand suddenly jolted, and a peculiar glimmer flickered across the depths of her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” Ye Xiuwen keenly noticed from Jun Xiaomo’s reaction that something was wrong, “Is there something wrong with the food?”

“No. I’ve discovered that someone’s tampering with the Dawn Sect’s protective formation array.” Jun Xiaomo faintly furrowed her brows.

“Protective formation array? Why would they be tampering with their own protective formation array?”

“Cough, cough, back when I was trapped within the Sect’s protective formation array, I’d secretly made some alterations and modifications to it as well.” Jun Xiaomo pinched her fingers together, displaying a “small” gesture.

But the truth of the matter was that her “small” alterations and modifications had allowed her to take control of the entire protective formation array for her own usage.

“Did you leave any clues behind? Would they be able to determine that you were the culprit?” Ye Xiuwen was truly sharp – he knew exactly where Jun Xiaomo’s concerns lay in almost an instant.

“Hmph. If they want to trace the culprit to me, it really depends on whether they’ve got the ability to do so.” Jun Xiaomo lifted her chin and stuck her nose high up in the air.

Ye Xiuwen shook his head with some measure of exasperation. He knew that whenever “Qin Shanshan’s” expertise was mentioned, she would invariably display that look of pride and haughtiness.

That said, even though Jun Xiaomo gave Ye Xiuwen the impression that it was going to be difficult for them to find traces of her handiwork from her alterations, a trace of worry and concern still surfaced in the depths of her eyes as soon as she lowered her head.

Meanwhile, having eaten his fill and drank to his heart’s content, Chen Taiguang, who had been playing and enjoying life over the last few days while inadvertently wearing thin He Zhang and the Sect Elders’ patience, finally got down to things and retrieved a formation diagram from his Interspatial Ring.