Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Shortly after Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo’s departure, Chen Feiyu led the rest of the Heavenly Peak disciples away from the valley with the use of a Teleportation Scroll. As they left, they also brought Rong Ruihan and his clansmen together with them.

Both the Eternal Summit Sect disciples and Xiang Guqing’s disciples watched passively as the Heavenly Peak disciples took their leave. None bothered to do anything to stop them.

The former hardly possessed the ability to stand in the way of the Heavenly Peak faction to begin with, while the latter were simply so disheartened by the calamity that had befallen their sect that they could hardly be bothered with anything else right now.

The Teleportation Scroll brought the Heavenly Peak faction to a distant, foreign land. These lands were covered with rice crops that were ripe for the harvest, and the rolling fields were covered with a bright, golden sheen as far as their eyes could see. It was an incredibly pleasing sight.

Unfortunately, none from the Heavenly Peak faction had the heart to admire the idyllic scenery right now. Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo had gone missing again, and most of their numbers were now wounded or incapacitated. In this very moment, there was no doubt that a single enemy ambush was all it took to send all of them to their graves.

“Master, Master, wake up, please. Master…” Rong Ruihan was lying on the ground. There was not a single piece of his skin which was intact and well, and even half of his face had been thoroughly mangled and disfigured. The leader of Rong Ruihan’s clansmen did not dare to touch Rong Ruihan’s body, for fear that he would only aggravate his wounds. Thus, they all knelt on the floor, repeatedly crying and calling out Rong Ruihan’s name, doing all they can to arouse Rong Ruihan from his comatose.

Truth be told, none of the clansmen knew whether Rong Ruihan was still alive at this point in time. Rong Ruihan’s chest was no longer undulating from his breaths, while none of the fear-stricken clansmen had the courage to even ascertain whether their worst fears were true or not.

“I’m sorry.” Chen Feiyu walked over to the leader of the clansmen and held out a bottle of recovery pills, “These are the remaining recovery pills in my Interspatial Ring. Please have your master consume them.”

Chen Feiyu’s apology was evidently spoken on behalf of Ye Xiuwen. The leader of the clansmen’s heart was fraught with complex emotions, and his mind was all over the place. Thus, he simply received the bottle of recovery pills from Chen Feiyu without thanking him.

He simply couldn’t bring himself to thank Chen Feiyu. After all, if not for Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo, their master would never have been injured so grievously and be lying here on the brink of death.

“You’d best have Brother Rong consume the medicinal pills first. He wouldn’t last much longer with those wounds.” Chen Feiyu earnestly stated.

The leader of the clansmen nodded his head slightly, before he supported Rong Ruihan’s body, forced open his jaws and began to place the recovery pills into his mouth.

Fortunately, the medicinal pills provided by Chen Feiyu did not have to be ingested, as they melted as soon as they entered a person’s mouth. Thus, as soon as the pills were placed into Rong Ruihan’s mouth, they quickly melted and began to course through his meridians and Dantian, before suffusing through every corner of his body and limbs.

“That’s great. The fact that the recovery pills are melting means that Brother Rong is fine. At the very least, his life isn’t in danger.” Chen Feiyu’s face brightened up, and the other Heavenly Peak disciples heaved a sigh of relief as well.

Rong Ruihan had only sustained such grievous wounds because of Ye Xiuwen’s actions to begin with. Thus, it was natural that the Heavenly Peak disciples would feel incredibly remorseful for Rong Ruihan’s predicament. After all, there was no way Rong Ruihan could have imagined falling into such a calamitous situation when he first thought to rescue the Heavenly Peak disciples from the valley.

The leader of the clansmen nodded his head sullenly. It was evident that he was still unable to face the Heavenly Peak disciples with anything apart from his dark, ashen expression.

He knew that it was not right for him to blame the Heavenly Peak disciples for their master’s predicament. Unfortunately, his heart told him otherwise – as long as their master remained unconscious, it was practically impossible for him not to ventilate his indignation on the Heavenly Peak disciples.

Just then, several beams of light suddenly burst out in their surroundings. The Heavenly Peak disciples and Rong Ruihan’s clansmen immediately tensed their spirits and scrambled to their feet, each adopting a defensive stance.

They recognized the beams of light that had appeared. These beams were undoubtedly explosions of light that were characteristic of the use of formation arrays. In other words, company had arrived through the use of Teleportation Scrolls.

That said, who could it possibly be? Would it be friend, or foe, or just a few mere strangers or passers-by?

Most of their numbers were wounded or incapacitated right now, and they were all well aware that none of them would be able to withstand an enemy attack.

Unfortunately, it was also a fact that there were many people out in the spiritual cultivation world who were after the lives of the Heavenly Peak disciples. Thus, all of them knew that there was a far greater possibility that their company was foe, rather than friend. As these thoughts crossed their minds, their hearts began to sink into the mires of dread and despondence.

Then, as the intense light faded, everyone began to be able to make out the appearances of the people that had arrived.

“Master?!” The Heavenly Peak disciples had never expected to be reunited with their long lost Peakmaster Jun Linxuan and the rest of their Heavenly Peak martial brothers.

In other words, apart from Ye Xiuwen, Jun Xiaomo and Zhou Zilong, the rest of the Heavenly Peak had just been reunited in its entirety.

“Feiyu, Pengze? You’re here? Where’s Xiaomo and Xiuwen?” Jun Linxuan immediately recognized his disciples when he first arrived. However, as he strode quickly towards them and swept his gaze around, he suddenly noticed a peculiarity, and he instantly furrowed his brows and clarified.

As they continued to escape from their persecutors, Jun Linxuan had heard on the grapevine about how Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo had stirred a massive upheaval within the Dawn Sect. At that time, Jun Linxuan and Liu Qingmei had just located a suitable place for the Heavenly Peak to settle down at to lay low for a period of time, where they would bide their time and plan to rescue the remnant Heavenly Peak disciples still trapped within the Dawn Sect. That said, their plans were completely cast out of the windows as soon as they learnt that Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo had not only returned, but rescued the remnant Heavenly Peak disciples from the Dawn Sect. Reinvigorated by the incredibly good news, Jun Linxuan and Liu Qingmei immediately uprooted the entire Heavenly Peak once more, hastening their journey back to be reunited with Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen, as well as the rest of the Heavenly Peak disciples who had managed to escape.

Yet, despite having been reunited with the remnant Heavenly Peak disciples, who would have thought that Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo would be missing once more?

Could the rumours have been wrong? Could it be that Xiuwen and Xiaomo had never appeared to begin with?

Concern begets confusion. Even though Jun Linxuan was a Peakmaster, he was still faced with the very same human emotions of dread and despondence when faced with the prospects that his daughter and First-Sect Disciple might very well still be dead.

Chen Feiyu lowered his head as he sullenly apologized to Jun Linxuan, “Disciple’s deepest apologies to Master. Xiaomo and Martial Brother Ye have gone missing once again.”

“Gone missing once again?! Why?!” Liu Qingmei was evidently the one who was suffering from the greatest emotional trauma right now. Jun Xiaomo was her beloved daughter, and she had always considered Ye Xiuwen as her adoptive son. She had been clinging ever so tightly to the very real prospects of being reunited with her daughter and adoptive son, only to have her hopes dashed to the rocks like that. How could Liu Qingmei tolerate such immense undulation of emotions?

“Sigh, it’s a long story. But the silver lining is that Martial Brother Ye and Martial Sister Xiaomo are now incredibly strong, and there shouldn’t be many people in the cultivation world who would be able to do anything to them off the cuff. You don’t have to be too worried for now.” Another Heavenly Peak disciple spoke reassuringly.

These words were not intended to console Liu Qingmei. Rather, they were to console themselves – That’s right, Martial Brother Ye’s abilities are so strong right now. I’m sure he wouldn’t allow others to hurt Little Martial Sister so easily.

Naturally, the Heavenly Peak disciples had not forgotten the fact that Ye Xiuwen was clearly in a peculiar state of mind when he had left with Jun Xiaomo. However, they knew that the only thing they could do right now was to pray and hope that Ye Xiuwen would not do anything untoward to Jun Xiaomo during this period of time.

After all, the fact that Ye Xiuwen had softened his heart towards Jun Xiaomo once meant that there was always a possibility of it happening a second and a third time. At least, that was what the Heavenly Peak disciples told themselves as they tried hard to appease their mind and still their hearts. Yet, despite all of that, they were simply unable to dispel that lingering trace of concern and worry that was stirring deep within their hearts.

“In other words, are you saying that you’d encountered Xiaomo and Xiuwen, and you’ve been rescued by them?” Jun Linxuan latched onto the implications of their responses.

“That’s right.” Chen Feiyu nodded affirmatively, “Little Martial Sister and Martial Brother Ye must each have encountered a miraculous opportunity in the time they were missing. Their abilities are incredibly profound right now. If not for them, none of us could ever have thought of escaping with just our own abilities.”

Jun Linxuan sighed, before patting Chen Feiyu’s shoulder reassuringly, “I’m glad that you’re alive.”

The rumours were right – Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen were still alive. Unfortunately, they had now gone missing again for some reason.

Jun Linxuan’s last statement was not merely addressed to Chen Feiyu and the rest of the Heavenly Peak disciples, it was also addressed to Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen – as long as they remained alive, then there was most certainly a hope for reunion one day.

Liu Qingmei drew the same conclusion at practically the same time as well, and she wept silently as she wiped off the tears from her eyes.

Truth be told, Liu Qingmei had nearly cried her tears dry in the thousands of days ever since she first learnt of Jun Xiaomo’s “death”. Had she not found hope once more in the rumours of Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo’s reappearance, Liu Qingmei might have taken a far longer time to extricate herself from the mires of sorrow.

“That’s right, they are…” After collecting herself, Liu Qingmei turned her attention to the clansmen dressed in dark maroon.

They could detect a strong sense of murderous intent emanating from these men. However, they could also tell that the murderous intent was not directed at them. Rather, it was something that had become almost second nature to them – it was evident that these men were not to be trifled with.

“They are Brother Rong’s clansmen, and they’ve been sent by Brother Rong to protect Martial Sister Xiaomo.” Chen Feiyu explained, “I wonder if you remember the man who appeared to be on rather good terms with Martial Sister Xiaomo during the Secondary Inter-Sect Competition? That’s Brother Rong.”

“So it’s him. He’s truly thoughtful.” Liu Qingmei exclaimed, “That’s right, I wonder where that little fellow cultivator is? Is he together with Xiuwen and Xiaomo right now?”

The Heavenly Peak disciples paused for a moment, before tacitly stepping aside.

They had earlier sensed the possible approach of enemies, and they had thus surrounded Rong Ruihan and adopted a defensive posture together with Rong Ruihan’s clansmen so that they would best be able to protect him in his most helpless and vulnerable state.

Now that they had ascertained that there was no threat of an enemy attack, they naturally felt at ease to reveal Rong Ruihan’s location and condition.

Liu Qingmei gasped as soon as she saw Rong Ruihan’s condition. She immediately exclaimed, “How did Brother Rong end up like that?! Was he flanked by enemies?!” She immediately ran over and knelt down beside Rong Ruihan as she gingerly placed her hand on his wrist.

Rong Ruihan’s wounds were incredibly grievous. Even though he had already consumed several recovery pills, the thread of life was still flowing feebly within his body, and his pulse was barely detectable.

“His condition is incredibly grim.” Liu Qingmei furrowed her brows.

Chen Feiyu and the other Heavenly Peak disciples glanced at each other sheepishly, wondering just how they were going to reveal the true reason for Rong Ruihan’s injuries.

Rong Ruihan had not been injured by enemies. Rather, it was Martial Brother Ye who had reduced Rong Ruihan to such a tragic state as a result of his jealousy. That said, would such an account of the incident truly be believable?

After all, Martial Brother Ye had always carried himself with a warm and dignified disposition. Everything that he had done last night was completely uncharacteristic of him – almost a thing of nightmares.

“Sigh, forget it. Let me explain everything.” Sighing, Chen Feiyu turned to Liu Qingmei and Jun Linxuan as he explained the entire incident from the beginning.