Ke Xinwen never thought that Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen would be able to discover his peculiar behaviour from just that little slip up of his. In fact, Ke Xinwen thought that he was able to recover from his shock before anyone noticed anything strange about him. He quickly adjusted his expression before laughing boisterously, striding forward quickly and casually speaking to Ye Xiuwen, “Seems like martial brother Ye has returned rather early today, huh?”
Ye Xiuwen lifted his cup and took a sip from it before saying plainly, “I’m not early. It’s already almost time for lunch.”
Ke Xinwen could not tell from Ye Xiuwen’s reaction whether Ye Xiuwen had grown suspicious of him, because Ye Xiuwen had always been this indifferent. Therefore, he laughed dryly as he responded, “Ahaha, is that right? It seems that we’ve lost track of time browsing through the marketplace then.”
The other martial brothers had not noticed the peculiarities in Ke Xinwen’s voice. However, Qin Lingyu glanced over at Ke Xinwen thoughtfully with a glimmer in his eyes.
Jun Xiaomo had retained her memories from her past life, and she naturally knew that Ke Xinwen was not as harmless as he seemed. In fact, he was really a two-faced person who could be laughing and joking with people whom he called brothers in one moment, and then stab that brother in the back the very next moment. The worst thing about him was that in Jun Xiaomo’s previous life, he was one of the main culprits who had commandeered a team of cultivators towards Heavenly Peak that fateful night when Heavenly Peak was ma.s.sacred and annihilated.
Ever since Jun Xiaomo had been reborn, she had never thought to spare this sc.u.mbag Ke Xinwen. Today, when she realized that Ke Xinwen could well have been the one who had schemed against her dear martial brother Ye Xiuwen, her hatred for Ke Xinwen once again reignited and erupted within her!
Jun Xiaomo laughed lightly as she flicked open the fan in her arms and fanned herself suavely. Then, she looked towards Ke Xinwen as she suggested meaningfully, “Excuse me, brother, it seems that you must be making merry and taking pleasure in the little things in life, aren’t you?”
Jun Xiaomo particularly emphasized the words “making merry” and “little things”.
From what others could tell, Jun Xiaomo’s words did not seem to be particularly meaningful or special. But to Ke Xinwen, as expected, his guilty conscience made him perceive Jun Xiaomo’s words to be particularly scathing and harsh to his ears, as though they were crafted to take a direct jibe against him.
He had all along been so focused on Ye Xiuwen, and it was only when Jun Xiaomo spoke that he s.h.i.+fted his attention over to Jun Xiaomo’s side.
Ke Xinwen discovered that there was a suave, charming and dignified-looking fifteen or sixteen year-old young man sitting just beside Ye Xiuwen.
“And you are…”
Jun Xiaomo hooked her lips as she fanned herself leisurely, as she responded flippantly, “My name is Yao Mo. Brother Ye found me in the woods and brought me back here. These few misters must be brother Ye’s martial brothers. I look forward to your kind guidance in future.” As he finished, he shut his fan with a flick of his wrist and gave the group of people a fist and palm salute.
Found me in the woods…what kind of description is this… The lips of these martial brothers twitched slightly as they were left momentarily speechless.
Ye Xiuwen’s eyes flashed with a look of helplessness, but he did not despise this young man’s present actions. After all, this young man’s bizarre behaviour was too similar to his little martial sisters. Thus, Ye Xiuwen could not help but give this young man an increased measure of indulgence.
“Everyone, let’s take a seat first. We can continue with our conversations once we’ve ordered some food.” Ye Xiuwen calmly stated as he helped to take some of the heat from Ke Xinwen’s gaze off Jun Xiaomo.
Ye Xiuwen could feel that this young man was standing up for him. After all, Yao Mo and Ke Xinwen did not know each other previously, and naturally had no grievances for each other. Therefore, what reason did Yao Mo have to provoke Ke Xinwen with such words with hidden implications?
It might well be the case that Yao Mo had discovered Ke Xinwen’s intentions. But at the same time Ke Xinwen was not a simple person, and Ye Xiuwen did not wish for Yao Mo to invoke Ke Xinwen’s ire just because he was standing up for him.
Right now, as Qin Lingyu and Ke Xinwen’s teams joined them, a total of sixteen people sat around the large round table.
Being the one who knew all parties present, Ye Xiuwen naturally bore the burden of introducing Jun Xiaomo to everyone. After giving Jun Xiaomo an introduction to the disciples’ names, Ye Xiuwen went on to tell everyone briefly how he came to meet Jun Xiaomo.
“That must mean that brother Yao must be an array master.” After listening to Ye Xiuwen’s introductions, Ke Xinwen thought that he had found the main reason why Ye Xiuwen was able to return unscathed – it was pure, dumb luck that he managed to encounter an array master.
Even though the combat prowess of an array master was not high, their support abilities were second to none. After all, one could easily find their abilities amplified by a few folds if they received the support buffs of an array master during combat. Additionally, this array master was actually able to lay down a formation array under such critical circ.u.mstances. His abilities must naturally be unimaginable…
Ke Xinwen was not the only one who thought of all these. Qin Lingyu was the same as well. He looked straight at Jun Xiaomo with a deep gaze.
“Brother Yao’s arrays sound amazing. I wonder what sect brother Yao hails from?” Qin Lingyu set aside the pride accompanying his stature as the Sect’s First-Seat Disciple as he asked courteously.
Whenever he encountered someone who may potentially become useful to him, Qin Lingyu would never scrimp on currying favor and showering praise.
But on the other hand, having interacted with Qin Lingyu for so many years, how could Jun Xiaomo not know the schemes and considerations on Qin Lingyu’s heart? She smiled wryly as she lazily said, “I belong to no sect. I’ve always been learning these things for fun, and I never expected these things to be so useful!”
Everyone was left speechless by Jun Xiaomo’s response as they wondered whether Jun Xiaomo had come over to cause trouble or provoke them. After all, none of Jun Xiaomo’s responses could be described to be ordinary or expected, and they had been time and again rendered speechless.
Jun Xiaomo joyfully took in all of these disciples’ expressions as she laughed, saying, “What is it? Don’t you believe me? It is my desire to join a reputable Sect and become one of their official disciples. Too bad none of these reputable Sects are willing to take me in.”
“Why aren’t any Sects willing to take you in?” one of the disciples beside Ke Xinwen asked curiously.
“My cultivation talent is too low. I’m only at the first level of Qi Mastery right now.” Jun Xiaomo sipped at her tea as she casually revealed these details to everyone at the table.
Ah, turns out that you’re a useless oaf who’s still at the first level of Qi Mastery despite being in your teens. No wonder none of the Sects are willing to take you in. A trace of mockery flashed across Ke Xinwen’s eyes as he lost all interest in sounding out Jun Xiaomo any further.
To an array master, the cultivation level is indeed not of critical importance to his career. But at the same time, it cannot be completely ignored either. By the conventional wisdom of the cultivation world, an array master still at the first level of Qi Mastery at the age of fifteen or sixteen could almost be p.r.o.nounced as a “useless” person as his future potential was going to be extremely limited.
These thoughts had also crossed Qin Lingyu’s mind, and even though he did not display any contemptuous looks on his face, he also ceased to inquire more with Yao Mo or get to know Yao Mo better.
But this was precisely the outcome that Jun Xiaomo desired. After all, she did not want to answer all these insipid questions from these scheming people.
As for the contemptuous looks given by some of the other disciples, Jun Xiaomo dismissed them all as she saw no need to engage with an argument with these frogs in a well.
As such, the atmosphere at the table became somber and quiet. Just this moment, a movement came from Jun Xiaomo’s chest, and then a small furry head peeped out of her clothes.
Squeak squeak! The little packrat clung onto Jun Xiaomo’s clothes as it stared at the other disciples with its black, beady eyes, gently twitching its six whiskers.
Not good! The Stupefaction Talisman has lost its effects!
Jun Xiaomo could not leave the little packrat at home. But it was difficult to bring this little creature around, as the Interspatial Ring could not be used to store living things. Therefore, she could only use the Stupefaction Talisman to knock out the little packrat before placing it in a pocket in her clothing before bringing it out with her.
Who would’ve thought that the Stupefaction Talisman would lose its effects at the worst possible timing? Didn’t I make it such that its effects would last one whole day?!
“It’s that packrat!” Ke Xinwen exclaimed as he opened his eyes widely in astonishment. Just a little while ago, he had wanted to give a packrat to Yu Wanrou as a birthday gift to her. To his dismay, not only did the little packrat scratch Yu Wanrou, it gave everyone the slip soon after and it had been missing ever since.
Now, seeing the packrat’s uncommon snow-white fur, Ke Xinwen naturally thought that this was the same one that he had prepared as a gift for Yu Wanrou.
Jun Xiaomo knew that this was indeed Ke Xinwen’s packrat. After all, when Ke Xinwen and his martial brothers came looking for this packrat that she chanced upon, she had pointed them in a wrong direction, causing Ke Xinwen to search blindly for an entire day.
But Jun Xiaomo never felt burdened by these matters. Not only was this little packrat of an uncommon snow-white colour, it was an extremely rare demonic packrat – apart from her, none of the other disciples in the Sect were suitable owners for it.
Furthermore, seeing how Ke Xinwen’s face was filled with rage and fury when he came searching for the little packrat the last time, who knows what outcome the little packrat would face if Jun Xiaomo had turned the packrat over to Ke Xinwen then. Therefore, Jun Xiaomo had made her decision to trick Ke Xinwen then without any hesitation at all.
At present, Jun Xiaomo faced Ke Xinwen as a complete stranger, and it would be an even easier thing for her to fool Ke Xinwen once again. In any event, there was no way she was going to let Ke Xinwen know the true ident.i.ty of the little packrat in her clothes right now.
“Oh? Brother Ke has seen this little packrat?” Jun Xiaomo pretended to be shocked by Ke Xinwen’s reaction.
“This…I wonder where brother Yao had come across that packrat of his?” Ke Xinwen was jolted back to his senses as he suddenly realized that it was quite unlikely that the little packrat had travelled one thousand miles and found its way to Yao Mo’s side. But nevertheless, he had to be sure.
“This little packrat was a gift from my father when I turned sixteen years-old. My father managed to buy this packrat when he saw it at the capital of Glazen Country. He told me that its fur colour is extremely rare, and that I should cherish it. That’s why I brought it with me when I went out.”
Glazen Country was practically on the other side of the cultivation world. Ke Xinwen could not imagine how this could possibly be the same packrat that he was searching for that other day, and he decided not to press the issue any further.
“Haha, I also think that its fur colour is extremely uncommon.” Ke Xinwen chuckled dryly as he was once again reminded of how the packrat he bought had scratched Yu Wanrou’s face before giving them the slip, and his heart once again swelled with rage. How he wanted to tear that darned packrat to shreds right this moment!
As Ke Xinwen once again sized up that white little furball peeking out of Jun Xiaomo’s clothes at this instance, his expression grew cold and frigid. Right now, he was clearly thinking of taking out his anger on something that did not deserve it!
Jun Xiaomo’s smile also grew colder at this moment. How dare he stare at my little packrat with such vicious intent. Ke Xinwen is truly a petty and narrow-minded monster!
No one discovered this momentary wave of tension between Ke Xinwen and Jun Xiaomo. Rather, it was Yu Wanrou who suddenly exclaimed and caught everyone’s attention –
“This little packrat is so cute~ Can I take a closer look at it please~?”
Yu Wanrou softly exclaimed as she batted her eyelids at Jun Xiaomo shyly and timidly.
Jun Xiaomo: ……
This was the first time Jun Xiaomo realized that being stared by a “beauty” like that could truly give her gooseb.u.mps.