Jun Xiaomo had never thought she would one day receive such tender, pitiful, and gooseb.u.mps-inducing expressions from her love rival, Yu Wanrou.
However, this wasn’t entirely Yu Wanrou’s fault. After all, she had already grown used to using her weak and soft disposition to earn the sympathy of her martial brothers, to the extent that she would even consider this her greatest weapon. Who would have thought that the “young man” in front of her was absolutely not a male cultivator; but rather a female cultivator wearing a male cultivator’s appearance?
To make matters worse, this female cultivator was actually the one who Yu Wanrou hated the most and was most jealous of, Jun Xiaomo! She was the very same person that Yu Wanrou had on so many occasions wanted to chop up to pieces and boil in a cauldron of oil!
Jun Xiaomo flicked open her fan at this instant and covered her twitching lips so that Yu Wanrou could not see her present expression. Then, she coughed dryly as she spoke, “It’s truly difficult to reject the requests of a beauty…”
When she heard herself being referred to as a “beauty”, Yu Wanrou’s face immediately flushed red as she thought to herself – I knew these male cultivators could never resist my charms and allure.
Jun Xiaomo’s lips twitched again, and she raised her fan to cover up almost half her face as she continued, “But…this little packrat of mine is afraid of strangers. It wouldn’t be good if it treated you irreverently.”
Yu Wanrou never expected that with such a quick twist of words, the answer to her was actually “no”. Yu Wanrou felt humiliated.
Most female cultivators liked furry and cuddly little animals, including Yu Wanrou. She truly wished to take a closer look at the little packrat in spite of her previous experience with the other packrat given by Ke Xinwen.
Therefore, the humiliated Yu Wanrou wore an even more pitiable expression on her face as she gazed pleadingly at Jun Xiaomo.
Jun Xiaomo: …… Please don’t look at me like that. I’m about to lose my appet.i.te!!!
If not for the fact that everyone else was looking at her for her response, she would have dashed out right that moment to wash her eyes.
As though it were echoing Jun Xiaomo’s innermost thoughts, the little packrat in Jun Xiaomo’s clothes leisurely licked its paws before it slowly turned its body around and showed its little b.u.t.t towards Yu Wanrou –
Poot! The little packrat made a loud fart.
Everyone: ……
Jun Xiaomo wanted so much to commend this little packrat openly and exclaim, “well done”, but under the watchful eyes of all who were around, she could only try her best to suppress the laughter that was madly swelling up in her belly.
“Pfft!” What Jun Xiaomo had not managed to do, Zhong Ruolan had done on her behalf. She exclaimed meaningfully, “It seems that the unparalleled beauty of martial sister Wanrou has its limits after all. It doesn’t seem to work on this little packrat.”
Zhong Ruolan has always been known in Dawn Sect for her fiery temperament, and she had always spoken whatever was on her mind. However, her obstinance had a different side to it from Jun Xiaomo’s. Jun Xiaomo’s pride was caused by her parents sheltering and spoiling her, and her obstinance carried with it traces of innocence and naivete. But Zhong Ruolan’s fiery temperament was a somewhat deliberate construct, because there were male cultivators who looked for this type of personality in girls.
Zhong Ruolan did not know about the relations.h.i.+p between Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu. But she was jealous of Yu Wanrou’s gift with people and how she could earn the favour of anyone she sets her eyes on. Therefore, she would never pa.s.s up on any opportunity to run with a joke and poke fun at Yu Wanrou.
Zhong Ruolan had always thought that she was on par with Yu Wanrou in terms of looks; and in terms of abilities, she was already at the tenth level of Qi Mastery, and there was a good chance that she would be able to attain the twelfth level of Qi Mastery before the age of thirty-five. Therefore, she had never considered herself to be lousier than Yu Wanrou. However, as she noticed how more and more male cultivators in the Sect preferred Yu Wanrou over Zhong Ruolan, how could she repress that indignation rising in her heart?
Yu Wanrou naturally heard the mockery in Zhong Ruolan’s voice. At this moment, Yu Wanrou felt as though her pride had been trampled all over by a small, insignificant creature, and an indignant feeling swelled up within her. She bit down hard on her lower lip as she looked bitterly at Yao Mo.
Jun Xiaomo remained unperturbed in her seat, and she flippantly ignored Yu Wanrou’s gaze altogether.
And this angered Yu Wanrou even more.
Just this moment, Ke Xinwen who sat beside Yu Wanrou spoke up. He had just witnessed the woman he was fond of be bullied by a measly array master at the first level of Qi Mastery. As a man, how could he just take this lying down? Even though he usually maintained a cordial relations.h.i.+p with people, there was no way he could remain civil right now.
Ke Xinwen made a cold expression on his face as he spoke sternly to Jun Xiaomo, “It’s just a puny b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Are you going to lose something precious if you let Wanrou take a closer look at it? I think brother Yao must have spoilt it. What do you even mean ‘it’s not willing to interact with strangers’? If it dares to resist, all brother Yao needs to do is to beat it a few times, or to starve it for a bit. Then you’ll see whether it still dares to show such disrespect to the people around you!”
This time, it was Jun Xiaomo’s turn to return a frigid look at Ke Xinwen as she scornfully said, “Brother Ke, please watch what you say. What do you mean by ‘puny b.a.s.t.a.r.d’? I can spoil whoever or whatever I like. What right do you have to interfere with this?!”
“Ah, it’s only because its owner acts this way that it dares to climb all over your head and act all high and mighty.”
“Then what kind of owner do you think people should be? Abusive owners who beat up pets as soon as they show signs of disobedience? You know, I had originally thought brother Ke was a true man – magnanimous and virtuous. Yet now I can see that your heart is even more vicious than snakes and scorpions. Do you think small creatures have no feelings? Given how vicious and cold-blooded you are, I think not even snakes and scorpions would be willing to hang out with you for fear that you might stab them in the back and make liquor out of them!”
When Jun Xiaomo lets loose her tongue, her words become so sharp that they could even anger a person to death. Most importantly, she often only used the truth against her opponent so that they would not have any room left for reb.u.t.tals.
At this moment, while it seemed to others that Jun Xiaomo had no basis for making such allegations towards Ke Xinwen, yet in reality, everything she said had cut through Ke Xinwen’s pretenses and exposed his true self. After all, Ke Xinwen was exactly the type of backstabbing person who hides daggers behind his smiles.
Ke Xinwen was so infuriated by Jun Xiaomo’s words that his face turned red with fury and then pale. As the indignation rose up from his heart, he began to ramble on incoherently.
Ke Xinwen chuckled coldly as he refuted, “And what does that make you? A useless piece of trash at the first level of Qi Mastery despite being at sixteen years of age? Don’t you dare think that your cultivation level doesn’t matter anymore just because you’re an array master. No expedition team would be willing to take a burden like you who can’t even protect himself from a pin p.r.i.c.k. It’s no wonder none of the sects are willing to accept you. You can just go and live happily ever after with that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d of yours!”
Squeak! The little packrat had initially ignored the bickering that was going on at this table. But now that it witnessed Ke Xinwen lambasting away at Jun Xiaomo, it absolutely blew its top!
Once the little packrat grew mad, there would be dire consequences.
Immediately after it squeaked loudly, it kicked off strongly with its hind legs, leapt onto the table and sped over in front of Ke Xinwen. Then, it sprung up from the table and shot onto his face, directly biting down hard on Ke Xinwen’s nose.
Jun Xiaomo’s little packrat had practically executed this entire series of actions in the blink of an eye. And as soon as the Sect’s disciples at the table were able to react, they instantly also heard a pathetic scream coming from Ke Xinwen.
“Ahh—You little b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Get off me!” Ke Xinwen wanted to yank away the little packrat that was dangling from his nose at this moment. But the little packrat had truly bitten down hard into his nose. Furthermore, his fur felt extremely slippery, as though it had been covered with a layer of grease, and Ke Xinwen was not able to get a tight grasp on the little packrat at all.
The little packrat bit down hard, and with the help of gravity as it hung from Ke Xinwen’s nose freely, Ke Xinwen’s nose immediately began to swell like a balloon.
“Pfft!” Jun Xiaomo almost burst out laughing. She wanted to continue to watch this clownish show, but that vicious look on Ke Xinwen’s face right now was just too scary, and she was afraid that if she allowed this to continue, her little packrat’s life might truly be in danger.
Therefore, Jun Xiaomo lightly ordered, “Little Packie, come back here!” Amidst all the commotion, the little packrat picked up on Jun Xiaomo’s soft command, nimbly avoided Ke Xinwen’s final swipe as it slipped back down, scampered along the table and leapt back into Jun Xiaomo’s bosom.
Once it leapt into Jun Xiaomo’s clothes, the little packrat immediately froze in place as it “played dead”. It was almost as though it were saying that the lively packrat that just bit Ke Xinwen was not itself, but another packrat.
Jun Xiaomo scratched behind its ears, softly whispering to it – “Well done~”
Apart from Ye Xiuwen who remained just beside Jun Xiaomo, everyone else was scrambling to check on Ke Xinwen’s condition, and no one could hear Jun Xiaomo’s words to the little packrat.
The little packrat wiggled its ears in response, before turning around and letting its b.u.t.t face the audience again.
After some time, Ke Xinwen finally managed to compose himself again. Even though had had applied some medication on his nose, the swelling still had not come down. Therefore, he could only pitifully rub his red and swollen nose with one hand while slamming down on the table hard with his other hand as he comically demanded, “Yao Mo! Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?!” Several other disciples also glanced over at Jun Xiaomo with incensed eyes, as they felt that Jun Xiaomo was practically challenging Dawn Sect’s authority at this moment.
However, Jun Xiaomo’s lips twitched uncontrollably as she tried hard to stifle her laughter. Ke Xinwen had earlier been bitten so hard that tears had started welling up in his eyes. Right now, his tears had not yet dried up, and it had to be said that this “teary-eyed” look of his was actually rather pitiful looking.
But then again, these were not the most appropriate words to describe a tall, burly and built man after all.
Jun Xiaomo shook off these trivial thoughts in her mind, adjusted her expressions as she responded derisively, “Explanation? I’ve already given my explanation to you earlier. All little creatures have feelings too. Calling them ‘little b.a.s.t.a.r.d’ here and there – do you think it would be able to remain calm?! Why not let me call brother Ke a ‘b.a.s.t.a.r.d’ a few times and see if you get angry?”
“You dare?!” Ke Xinwen stared madly at Jun Xiaomo.
Ke Xinwen generally liked to maintain civility with people and treat them cordially. But faced with Jun Xiaomo’s sharp tongue today, he had practically completely demolished his reputation for being tolerant and magnanimous.
Jun Xiaomo immediately pretended to be terrified as she responded, “I don’t dare, I don’t dare… I was just drawing an a.n.a.logy there.” As she finished, she changed her expressions immediately and said leisurely as she waved her fan, “Since Brother Ke is so averse to the word ‘b.a.s.t.a.r.d’, then you must naturally also understand the feelings of my little packrat when you called it names, right? I’m just a.s.sisting with a thought experiment and helping you look at things from its perspective. What was it called…Ah, I remember, it’s called ‘perspective-taking’.”
At this moment, Ke Xinwen was so infuriated that the indignation swelled up to his throat and he nearly coughed up blood.