This night had felt particularly long and dreary.Everything began when they were first awakened in the middle of the night for a long trek into the heart of the valley. There, Jun Xiaomo pushed her mind and spirit beyond their limits in order to breach the defenses of the master formation array. Meanwhile, her martial brothers were forced to endure a painful, arduous battle in order to buy her the little bit of time she needed to accomplish what she needed to do.All in all, several hours had lapsed from the time that they had woken up to the time that they managed to leave the valley and arrive at a slightly safer location. Thus, everyone expected dawn to be arriving soon.Yet, these moments of waiting were so painful and arduous that it felt like another eternity had pa.s.sed before the first light of dawn struck the world once more.After a night of emotional and physical trauma, Jun Xiaomo leaned on Ye Xiuwen"s body and fell into a deep slumber.Even though she slipped straight into a deep slumber, Jun Xiaomo could not be said to have rested well either. Truth be told, Jun Xiaomo had spent the better part of the night plagued by unending nightmares from both her previous life and her present life. Variegated parts and pieces of her two lives seemed to come together to form a horrific alternate reality, battering her mind with unavoidable tragedy after unavoidable tragedy.Ye Xiuwen was unable to catch a single wink of shuteye either. His injuries were incredibly severe, and he felt incredibly weary. Unfortunately, he remained seated where he was the entire night, wide awake.From time to time, he would glance at Jun Xiaomo"s sleeping posture for a while, before s.h.i.+fting his gaze to the distance, staring vacantly into the horizon. Just like that, Ye Xiuwen spent the entire night with his bloodshot eyes wide open.Since Jun Xiaomo was unable to rest well, she immediately aroused from her weird, bizarre nightmares as soon as the first light of dawn illuminated the world.She opened her eyes somewhat wearily, just in time to notice the bright morning sun creep up across the horizon, painting the outlines of the clouds in the sky a fiery-red hue, as though setting them ablaze.“It"s beautiful…” Jun Xiaomo remarked aloud softly. The powerful, magnificent sight immediately melted and washed away the mult.i.tudinous burdens weighing on her heart.A warm hand gently patted her on her head. Jun Xiaomo lifted her head, only to be med with Ye Xiuwen"s abstruse gaze and warm, jovial smile.“Are you awake? Feeling better today?” Ye Xiuwen chirped.“I"m feeling much better.” Jun Xiaomo responded subconsciously. Truth be told, her focus was not on Ye Xiuwen"s words right now. Rather, it was on Ye Xiuwen"s bloodshot eyes.A ring of heavy eyebags darkened Ye Xiuwen"s eyes. His face looked incredibly pale, and his entire disposition appeared to be distraught and weary.“Martial brother Ye, didn"t you manage to catch a single second of rest last night?!” Jun Xiaomo immediately clambered to her feet and minced closer to Ye Xiuwen. There, she stretched out her hand and caressed the dark shadows under Ye Xiuwen"s eyes gently.Ye Xiuwen chuckled lightly and grabbed Jun Xiaomo"s hands, squeezing them lightly as he responded, “It"s nothing much. I might have been too weary from the battle last night that I was unable to catch any rest.”His response was immediately met with Jun Xiaomo"s disapprobation, “Martial brother Ye, you can"t treat your body like a joke. Even though we"re cultivators, we still need to give our bodies the requisite rest it needs.”As Jun Xiaomo spoke, she placed her hand on Ye Xiuwen"s wrist and sent a thread of spiritual energy probing through his meridians and Dantian.“Martial brother, why didn"t you say anything about the extent of your injuries last night?!” Jun Xiaomo burst out in exasperation as she glared at Ye Xiuwen.No wonder he looks so pale right now! Jun Xiaomo had been unable to see him clearly last night, and she had only been stunned by the paleness of Ye Xiuwen"s face this morning.“It"s fine. Martial Brother has already consumed some recovery pills for his injuries.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo"s hair, rea.s.suring her.“That won"t do! What"s the use of merely consuming recovery pills? You"ve got to get some rest as well!” Jun Xiaomo blurted with a disapproving tone of voice, almost like how Liu Qingmei would chide Jun Linxuan for his behaviour sometimes.Ye Xiuwen"s smile widened slightly, and he pinched Jun Xiaomo"s cheeks slightly as he cajoled her, “Alright, alright. As soon as we find a suitable place to rest, Martial Brother will get all the rest he needs, okay?”They were still in the wilderness right now, and there was always a risk that a spiritual beast might pounce at them at any moment without notice. It was hardly the conducive place for rest and recuperation.None of them had the strength to fight another battle, and they knew that the best thing to do right now was to find a safe place so that they could restore their bodies to full strength.Thus, the Heavenly peak disciples came to a consensus very quickly and began to walk along the side of a river, hoping that they would encounter a village or a settlement quickly.Fortunately, luck was on their side this time. After approximately one hour, they came across a bustling small town. The town appeared somewhat prosperous, and there were several inns designed for travelers located in the heart of the town.That said, the Heavenly Peak disciples were starting to run low on their spirit stones. Thus, after some discussions, the Heavenly Peak disciples decided to share rooms in pairs. This way, they would be able to save some expenses for their journey ahead.There were an even number of disciples, so arrangement was perfect for them. Everyone was also well aware of the relations.h.i.+p between Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen. Thus, they were no issues with allocating them to the same room either.However, despite residing in the same room, none of them had any heart or intention to make merry with each other.Truth be told, Rong Ruihan"s appearance last night appeared to have created a rift in their relations.h.i.+p, and the interactions that used to be so natural between them appeared to have become far more contrived.“Martial brother Ye, you haven"t rested at all last night, so you should get some rest first.” Jun Xiaomo smiled softly at Ye Xiuwen as she suggested.Ye Xiuwen looked back at Jun Xiaomo and asked, “Then, what about you?”“Me? I"ll rest later tonight. I did manage to get some rest last night after we left the valley, so I"m still not too tired right now.” Jun Xiaomo smiled wryly at Ye Xiuwen.“Then alright. Don"t push yourself too hard.” Ye Xiuwen tousled Jun Xiaomo"s hair in an understanding manner, before he laid down and shut his eyes.Then, as Ye Xiuwen"s breath relaxed and grew deeper and longer, traces of grief and sorrow began to creep slowly back into the depths of Jun Xiaomo"s eyes.She walked over to the windowsill and sat on it, staring vacantly as people hustled past on the street just outside.It was daytime, and the streets outside were bustling. That said, their room was imbued with a Noise-Cancelling Talisman, keeping the noise from the streets out of the room.The disquieting difference between her room and the street outside caused Jun Xiaomo to feel as though she seemed to be living in a different reality – the mortals pacing about on the streets outside had a joyful expression plastered all over their faces, while she remained trapped in a different realm altogether. And this was despite having flailed and floundered about for hundreds of years.She was tired; and she was weary.The dreams of her previous life once again surfaced to the forefront of her mind. In these dreams, Rong Ruihan had always been secretly and silently watching over her. Then, in a peculiar turn of events, she bore Rong Ruihan"s child, before falling prey to Qin Lingyu and Yu Wanrou"s evil schemes.Afterwards, Rong Ruihan did everything he could to exact vengeance for her and their child. However, Jun Xiaomo was completely unaware to all these things in her previous life.If not for the fact that Rong Ruihan had told her about these things; and if not for the dreams that revealed the truth of her previous life to her, she might still be unaware of the fact that someone had done so much for her in her in the shadows of her previous life.In this life, things were hardly different either. As soon as Rong Ruihan learnt about her death, he led an army and fought straight into the capital of the Greenwich Kingdom. Despite having been abandoned and betrayed by his own family and forced by the Greenwich Kingdom and the Zephyr Sect into a life of persecution, Rong Ruihan never gave up on the notion of revenge for her.What had she ever done to deserve so much from Rong Ruihan?Rong Ruihan had pressed the issue last night, asking just how much his life meant to her. Back then, Jun Xiaomo merely sidestepped the question – she did not have an answer for him.Now, she finally knew the answer to the question. Unfortunately, this answer had also come at a cost.Jun Xiaomo knew that if Rong Ruihan truly perished as a result of what he did, she would have to carry this burden for the rest of her life; she would have to re-live the same kind of guilt and remorse which she did in her previous life.Behind Jun Xiaomo, Ye Xiuwen slowly opened her eyes once more, gazing at her doleful disposition while a ma.s.sive weight hung heavily on his heart.Last night, Jun Xiaomo had cried out a single name repeatedly in her dreams – Brother Rong.Xiaomo, just what exactly does Rong Ruihan"s existence mean to you? Is he really nothing more than an older brother to you?----------------------------------------------------Meanwhile, just as Jun Xiaomo and the rest were resting and recuperating in the hope that they could do their best to rescue Rong Ruihan later on, Rong Ruihan was also doing his utmost, looking for a way to disable the formation array within the spirit tool so that he could escape from the spirit tool"s domain.Unfortunately, he was not Jun Xiaomo, and his understanding of formation arrays was limited at best. His blind bas.h.i.+ng methods did no more than to deplete the reservoir of demonic energy in his body even more quickly.“Where did that old fogey Dai get his hands on such a peculiar spirit tool?!” Rong Ruihan cursed aloud as he did his best to avoid several molten fireb.a.l.l.s that hurtled his way.Truth be told, he had never expected the spirit tool to have been imbued with such a powerful formation array before he entered it. For instance, the molten fireb.a.l.l.s generated by the formation arrays was so powerful that it would undoubtedly melt him into nothing more than a pool of blood in time.Rong Ruihan didn"t know just how long he would be able to hold out for. However, he knew that he didn"t want to die.If he were trapped in the spirit tool before last night, he might not have been struggling quite as hard against the prospects of death as he did right now. But now that he knew for certain that Jun Xiaomo was still alive, his heart was reignited with the will to live once more – at least until Jun Xiaomo gave him a clear response to the question he had posed to her earlier!This was the type of person Rong Ruihan was – as long as he desired something, he would actively do everything he could to obtain it, and not pa.s.sively wait for it to end up in his lap. Truth be told, Ye Xiuwen"s a.s.sessment of his character was hardly far from the truth.Back when Rong Ruihan flung Ye Xiuwen towards the Teleportation Scroll, Rong Ruihan did consider the fact that such an act would cause Ye Xiuwen to owe him a debt of grat.i.tude as well.This way, not only would he leave an indelible mark in Jun Xiaomo"s heart, Ye Xiuwen would also find it difficult to restrain him from drawing closer to Jun Xiaomo in future.Unfortunately, Rong Ruihan"s calculations were off the mark. He had never expected the spirit tool to be imbued by such a powerful offensive formation array. Dai Yanfeng"s act of trapping him inside this spirit tool was obviously a death sentence, not merely to fetter him and hold him a hostage.“Seems like I"ve drawn the shorter end of the straw again.” A corner of Rong Ruihan"s sleeves was singed by yet another pa.s.sing molten fireball as he chuckled bitterly to himself.Just then, Dai Yanfeng cackled loudly outside the spirit tool. Rong Ruihan could hear his voice clearly through the reverberations that echoed in the domain of the spirit tool –“Hahahahaha…Jun Xiaomo, I can"t kill you just yet, but I sure can kill that lover of yours who has scarred my daughter"s heart! Hahahaha…”Rong Ruihan raised an eyebrow quizzically – Jun Xiaomo"s lover? That"s got a pretty good ring to it.However, he knew that he had to remain alive if he desired to make such a term of reference a reality.
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