Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Five bottles of spirit wine had been completely polished off, and the last bottle of spirit wine was almost empty as well. Rong Yebin’s hands involuntarily swayed about as he lifted his cup of wine. Then, he struggled even more in his attempt to set the mouth of that last bottle of spirit wine over his cup. His vision grew somewhat hazy, and his body started swaying about slightly…

Finally, the second prince Rong Yebin collapsed on the table with a resounding thud. The last bottle of spirit wine which he had been holding also fell out of his hands and onto the table. The rest of the bottle’s contents flowed out onto the table and trickled along a serpentine course until it dripped off the side of the table.

Now, the only two people who remained sober at this round table were Ye Xiuwen and Qin Lingyu.

Qin Lingyu sighed meaningfully as he set his cup down, commenting, “It’s such a pity that the perfectly good spirit wine in that bottle had been wasted like that.”

Ye Xiuwen also calmly set down the cup in his hands, and a crisp sound promptly resounded in the otherwise silent room.

As the crisp sound reverberated slightly, Qin Lingyu looked towards Ye Xiuwen and curled his lips into a wry smile as he remarked, “I never would have thought that martial brother Ye was such a heavyweight in holding his liquor. Seems like martial brother Ye was merely being humble earlier when you said you hardly drank at all.”

“You flatter me, martial brother Qin.” Ye Xiuwen curtly responded. Evidently, Ye Xiuwen had no intention to continue chatting with Qin Lingyu.

Ever since he discovered the well-concealed intentions in Qin Lingyu’s heart, Ye Xiuwen couldn’t even be bothered to feign civility with Qin Lingyu any longer. Besides, Qin Lingyu was even fooling around with other women despite the existence of his marriage arrangement with Jun Xiaomo.

“I’ll be bringing Yao Mo back to the inn first, and I’ll have to trouble martial brother Qin to take care of this place. The second prince’s subordinates are all still having their meal below, and I’m sure they would be happy to help if you asked.” Ye Xiuwen nodded at Qin Lingyu, before lifting Yao Mo in his arms.

When Jun Xiaomo first got drunk, she kicked up a huge fuss when Ye Xiuwen stopped her from consuming any more spirit wine. As time went by and she grew more spent from kicking up the fuss, she obediently laid on the table and finally fell into a deep slumber.

In fact, Jun Xiaomo was in such a deep sleep right now that she didn’t even stir when Ye Xiuwen carried her horizontally.

As Ye Xiuwen carried Jun Xiaomo all the way back to her inn, he attracted the peculiar gazes from several passers-by. After all, a tall and lanky man who donned a veiled conical hat and exuded a dignified, cold aura was carrying a young man – not a treasure sword; not a beautiful lady; but unmistakably, a young man. To make matters worse, he even carried the young man horizontally. A strange and ambiguous atmosphere seemed to enshroud these two people, and several passers-by raised their eyebrows when they glanced over at them suspiciously, wondering what their relationship might be.

“Sigh. Public morals are degenerating with each passing day.” An elderly man walking along the side of the street sighed as he shook his head before entering his abode and shutting the door.

It was as though he was living out in practice the idiom that “the heart doesn’t grieve over what the eye doesn’t see”.

Despite all of that, Ye Xiuwen turned a blind eye to the peculiar stares that the public were giving him along the way until he finally arrived at the reception of the inn. Ye Xiuwen looked at the innkeeper as he asked, “Innkeeper, do you still have any rooms available?”

“Uh-huh. We do, we do. Xiaoyou!” The innkeeper called out to his attendant.

“Yes, boss, I’m coming. What are your instructions?”

“Bring these…two guests to the Sky Wing’s second room.” The innkeeper instructed.

“Mm! Gotcha!” The attendant turned towards Ye Xiuwen as he gestured to him with his arms, “Dear guests, this way please.”

Ye Xiuwen carried Jun Xiaomo and followed the attendant all the way to the Sky Wing’s second room. When they arrived, the attendant politely opened the room’s door for them.

Then, after Ye Xiuwen stepped into the room and set Jun Xiaomo gently on the bed, the attendant bowed politely behind Ye Xiuwen as he added, “Dear guest, you may call on me if you need hot water later.”

“Hot water?” Ye Xiuwen froze for a moment.

“Mm, that’s right. When you’re…finished with that thing, it would be best to wash the other guest with hot water. There’s a lower chance of falling ill that way.” The attendant advised him sincerely.

Ye Xiuwen: …… Even though the attendant had taken the trouble to speak with innuendoes, he could still understand what the attendant was implying.

However, the attendant did not notice Ye Xiuwen’s peculiar expressions because of his veiled conical hat. Instead, he mistook Ye Xiuwen’s silence for an expression of impatience. Therefore, the attendant immediately excused himself, “Then I shan’t bother the two of you any further. Rest well, dear guests.”

As he finished speaking, the attendant turned around and slipped out of the room. He even “considerately” closed the door behind him for Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo’s privacy.

After a moment of silence, Ye Xiuwen managed to compose himself and rubbed his forehead helplessly – Do all attendants at inns have vivid imaginations of the relationship of their guests, or is this particular attendant just special?

Regardless, Ye Xiuwen understood that he had received many peculiar glances and stares on the way to the inn earlier as well. Naturally, none of these passers-by were able to ascertain their relationship from that one glance of theirs. However, this did not change the fact that such interactions between two males were nevertheless rarely seen.

Truth be told, Ye Xiuwen had always had the option of carrying Yao Mo on his back. Nevertheless, he chose to carry Yao Mo horizontally when he noticed how well Yao Mo was sleeping at that moment.

As Ye Xiuwen noticed how Yao Mo was resting in such a docile manner, Ye Xiuwen was suddenly filled with a strange sense of satisfaction.

“Unngh…” As though the bed weren’t comfortable, Jun Xiaomo began to stir from her deep slumber as she tossed and turned about.

Ye Xiuwen walked over to her side, intending to draw a blanket over Yao Mo’s body. Unexpectedly, Yao Mo instinctively grabbed onto his right hand and brought his hand over her cheek. Then, she rubbed her cheek against her hand tenderly and endearingly.

Yao Mo’s body temperature was slightly on the higher side as a result of the wine he had drunk. On the other hand, Ye Xiuwen’s hands remained rather cool to the touch. Under the juxtaposition of these two different temperatures, Ye Xiuwen’s palm instantly felt a burning hot sensation, as though it had contacted a blazing fire.

He reflexively pulled back his hand. Yet as his pinky incidentally ran across Yao Mo’s face as he was doing so, he felt as though he had just touched a piece of clean silk.

Ye Xiuwen slowly clenched his fist. His mind was suddenly filled with thoughts about his little martial sister right now. Yet, he stared blankly at the man in front of him, Yao Mo. At this moment, Ye Xiuwen’s eyes flickered with uncertainty.

In Jun Xiaomo’s stupor, she noticed that she had grabbed onto something cool and comfortable to the touch which helped in easing the burning sensation off her face. Unexpectedly, that object pulled back after a mere few moments.

Therefore, Jun Xiaomo waved her hands about, desperately trying to locate where that “object” had gone. Evidently, she was displeased with its sudden departure.

Ye Xiuwen fiercely stood up, avoiding Yao Mo’s arms that seemed to be grabbing for him.

He cast Yao Mo a complicated gaze as he clenched his fists once more. Then, without turning back, Ye Xiuwen left the room.

With that, Jun Xiaomo’s room was once again enshrouded with complete silence.

-------------------------------------------

As the night wore on, Ye Xiuwen never once took another step back into Jun Xiaomo’s room. At the same time, he also instructed the attendant not to let anyone disrupt the guest in that room.

Upon hearing that, the attendant realized immediately that he had been gravely misguided as to the relationship between those two guests. He quickly apologized for the misunderstanding, before acknowledging Ye Xiuwen’s instructions.

Hours later.

It was late at night, and Jun Xiaomo awakened to a throbbing pain on the temples of her head. She jolted to her senses, before realizing that there was a piece of cloth folded neatly on her forehead.

That…how did I end up here? Who brought me here?

Previously, they had been invited to the Cloudguest inn before they could even secure a room in this inn. Therefore, when they returned at night, they would still have to process their registration and place a deposit with the innkeeper before they could stay the night.

It must’ve been martial brother Ye. Jun Xiaomo puffed her cheeks up in embarrassment as she though – I’ve really embarrassed myself big time. I got myself drunk with only a few rounds of drinks. And this was especially after I assured him with such confidence that I wouldn’t get drunk at all!

Fine, so the fact that she managed to last a whole five cups before getting drunk was somewhat a consolation to her.

As Jun Xiaomo thought about this, she decided that she would sincerely apologize to Ye Xiuwen the next day. After all, she must have worried him sick when she turned tipsy from the drinks.

The fact of the matter was that Jun Xiaomo had also gotten drunk in her previous life before. However, she invariably managed to sober up completely after just one night’s sleep. This was a result of her body’s constitution, and thus it was the same in her present life as well. Even though her head was still throbbing slightly, she no longer felt dizzy. In fact, she even felt completely refreshed.

However, that was to be expected. After all, she had slept the entire afternoon away. It would be strange if she didn’t feel refreshed after all that.

Jun Xiaomo retrieved the little bag containing her little packrat. Then, she opened the bag, and gently lifted her little packrat out of the bag.

Jun Xiaomo had made it a point to keep a healthy stash of pine nuts inside the bag at all times so that the little packrat wouldn’t be hungry at all. Then, when it realized that Jun Xiaomo had not shown any signs of letting it out even after it had eaten and drank its fill, it resigned to its fate and fell asleep in its bag. It even seemed to have “saved” a little kernel of pine nut on one of its whiskers for later.

“You truly are a carefree little fella.” Jun Xiaomo gently stroked her little packrat’s head as she retrieved a little basket from her Interspatial Ring, tenderly set the little packrat inside the basket and covered it with a tiny blanket.

It wasn’t a good thing to keep the little packrat cooped up in its bag all the time. Even though the bag allowed for the circulation of air, her little packrat would nevertheless get upset after some time.

After attending to her little packrat, Jun Xiaomo intended to retrieve the Beast-taming Technique from her Interspatial Ring to run through its contents again. However, when she reached into her Interspatial Ring, she incidentally discovered that the Blood Jade in her Interspatial Ring was glowing dimly at this very moment!

Could it be that the first prince is nearby?! Jun Xiaomo shot to her feet, slapped on herself a Windsail Talisman and leapt out of the window immediately.

Under the effects of the Windsail Talisman, she floated down from height and landed on the ground safely. Then, she lifted the Blood Jade in her hands and tried to determine the direction where the first prince was located from her.

Whenever she brought the Blood Jade towards the direction of the first prince, the Blood Jade would grow brighter ever so slightly.

Under the guidance of this principle, Jun Xiaomo ran along the empty streets in the dead of the night as the Blood Jade glowed brighter and brighter. This was proof that she was headed in the right direction.

Jun Xiaomo’s speed had been increased due to the effects of the Windsail Talisman. However, the first prince’s speed was not too shabby either. Jun Xiaomo felt as though she had to run with all her might before the Blood Jade began to glow slightly brighter.

It should be that shadow in the distance!

In the dim illumination of the moonlight, Jun Xiaomo discovered a beast-like shadow that seemed to be running on all fours. Even though she had her reservations, the Blood Jade’s brightness nevertheless told her that this was the person whom she was looking for.

As the distance grew closer and closer, Jun Xiaomo began to make preparations. She retrieved two talismans, intending to slap on herself a talisman to further enhance her abilities, and at the same time hit her target with a Body-Binding Talisman to cease his movements. Unexpectedly, the shadow flickered for a moment, and then it simply vanished into thin air!

What?! Wasn’t that the first prince’s top speed earlier? What kind of a human is he? His speed seems to be even quicker than martial brother Ye who’s already at the twelfth level of Qi Mastery!

Could the first prince also possess a wind-based spiritual root with a higher cultivation level than martial brother? Jun Xiaomo furrowed her brows as she contemplated.

But time was not on her side. She had lost sight of her target, and she had no choice but to use the Blood Jade to determine once again the position of her target.

Seems to be…over here! Jun Xiaomo gritted her teeth and began running in the direction pointed out by the Blood Jade once more!

However, as time wore on, it became more and more apparent that the first prince treated this chase as no more than a game of tag. Whenever she drew near her target, the shadow would immediately flicker and vanish into thin air.

After four hours of this pointless chase, Jun Xiaomo was completely spent. Despite having used the Windsail Talisman, maintaining her speed for such a long time was truly a stretch for someone who did not possess a wind-based spiritual root to begin with.

Sigh, forget it. I’ll try locating him again next time. Jun Xiaomo shook her head helplessly as she turned to return to the inn.

Jun Xiaomo did not return through the main door of the inn. Instead, she used another Windsail Talisman on herself. Then, in three quick leaps, she arrived at the windowsill of her room. What Jun Xiaomo had not expected was that an uninvited guest was already waiting in her room.

As soon as her feet touched the ground in her room, a pair of strong, burly arms instantly caught her around her waist, and she felt a rigid, muscular chest press against her back. At this moment, she couldn’t tell whether her assailant had intended to kill her or not. That said, that pair of strong, burly arms had clamped down around her waist so tightly that her back felt as though it was going to be snapped in half! Furthermore, her assailant had proficiently trussed her arms, restraining any possible attempts at resistance!

Jun Xiaomo was completely caught by surprise, and she was terrified. Just as she was thinking about a way to escape her present predicament, a deep, booming voice resounded from just behind her head –

“You’re looking for me?”

His voice was distant and cold. It was so cold that it seemed to be devoid of emotions. However, Jun Xiaomo managed to guess her assailant’s identity immediately.

“You’re the first prince!”

Jun Xiaomo turned around. This time, her assailant did not restrain this action of hers. It was as though for some reason he decided to loosen his restraint on her.

As a result, Jun Xiaomo’s eyes met with a pair of eyes that left her momentarily stunned –

The first prince’s eyes were filled with an emotionless and soulless gaze like that of a wolf. His bloodshot eyes were completely devoid of any rationality, and the only thing she saw in his eyes were the manic instincts of a beast.