Jun Xiaomo maintained her cool despite the looks of condemnation from everyone around. She slowly made her way in front of her room door, glanced into her room, and then she flicked open her fan and said, “Hmm, I thought I’d only caught a small shrimp. Who knew that in the end I would bag a lobster, huh…”
Everyone: …What does she mean by “shrimp” or “lobster”?
Dawn Sect’s disciples grew even more furious. Not only had Yao Mo implicitly confessed to his crimes, he even seemed to take pleasure in Ke Xinwen’s misfortune. What kind of att.i.tude was that? He clearly showed no respect for Dawn Sect’s people!
“Yao Mo, what is the meaning of this?! Martial brother Ke did not even offend you, yet you’ve tormented him and reduced him to such a sorry state – do you wish to make enemies of the entire Dawn Sect?!” Fan Hai, one of Ke Xinwen’s closest buddies, demanded an explanation with immense fury.
“Tsk tsk, I’m so afraid~” Jun Xiaomo pretended to be afraid as she patted her chest softly, but her facial expressions said otherwise as she calmly curled her lips into an impish smile.
“You!” In a fit of anger, Fan Hai had poised himself to attack Jun Xiaomo. However, Jun Xiaomo once again flicked out his fan and said in a carefree manner, “Are all of you Dawn Sect disciples so brash? Do all of you think about beating someone up even before listening to their side of the story? This is what Dawn Sect teaches you?”
Qin Lingyu also put his hand out in front of Fan Hai to restrain him. He was curious how exactly Yao Mo had managed to torment Ke Xinwen and reduce him to such a sorry state.
No one had realized that at this moment, Ye Xiuwen had already walked over the Jun Xiaomo’s side. Even if Fan Hai had attacked Jun Xiaomo earlier, there was no way Jun Xiaomo would have been injured either.
This was because in the period of time it took for Fan Hai’s fist would take to travel towards Jun Xiaomo, Ye Xiuwen would have already unsheathed his sword to block Fan Hai’s attack.
“Alright, Fan Hai, don’t be rash.” Qin Lingyu sternly warned Fan Hai, before turning around and asking Jun Xiaomo, “Brother Yao, since you’ve mentioned that there’s an explanation for all this, then do you mind letting us know what exactly happened here?”
Apart from the few Dawn Sect disciples present, everyone else also looked over at Jun Xiaomo. In particular, the innkeeper looked at Jun Xiaomo with a severely displeased expression in his eyes. After all, this young man before him seemed to be the cause of all these things, which even affected his business for the day. Naturally, he would not have a good impression of Jun Xiaomo.
Jun Xiaomo fanned herself as she leisurely explained, “Actually, I’m not too sure myself how brother Ke ended up like that either.”
“You!” Fan Hai sincerely felt that Yao Mo was completely full of nonsense. In fact, his guts told him that Yao Mo’s cryptic responses were clearly designed in order to hide his own guilty conscience.
“Ai, ai…brother Fan, don’t be so agitated.” Jun Xiaomo lifted her hands and signaled for Fan Hai to hold his horses, saying, “I’m only speaking the truth. I was at brother Ye’s room resting last night. Haven’t you forgotten this?”
At this, Fan Hai immediately froze mid-action and furrowed his brow in thought.
He had indeed forgotten this little detail. At the same time, something happened to martial brother Ke while Yao Mo had stayed away from his room – was this merely a coincidence?
Qin Lingyu looked at Jun Xiaomo coldly as he said, “Since that’s the case, then brother Yao absolutely doesn’t know what happened in this room?”
“That’s not the case.” Jun Xiaomo folded her fan and tapped it on her palm as she said, “Brother Qin, you’re also aware of the fact that I’m an array master who wouldn’t stand too long in combat. Therefore, I’ve set up a few defensive arrays in my room. This is only understandable, right?”
Qin Lingyu nodded his head and look at Jun Xiaomo with a probing gaze, but he did not say any more.
Jun Xiaomo saw Qin Lingyu’s gaze at her, but she ignored it and slowly explained, “Actually, I had only set up a few formation arrays to deter thieves. Yesterday, after I visited brother Ye and chatted with him till we lost track of time, I decided to rest at his place and forgot about these few formation arrays altogether. It was only this morning when I woke up that I decided to come back and dismantle the formation arrays later. Unexpectedly, not only did my formation arrays did not end up deterring any thieves, it actually ended up trapping brother Ke.”
“Therefore, I think you shouldn’t be asking me why brother Ke’s like this right now. I think you should instead be asking brother Ke why exactly he had paid me a visit late last night, huh?” Jun Xiaomo carefully a.n.a.lyzed the matter, before finally pointing at Ke Xinwen with his fan, adding, “Could it be that brother Ke also hit it off really well with me, and he couldn’t help but come find me at night to chat under the stars? Hmm…”
“Pfft…” Jun Xiaomo’s words caused several people who stood around to burst out in laughter. On the other hand, Fan Hai was completely stumped by Jun Xiaomo’s explanations, and he could not find any way of reb.u.t.ting what Jun Xiaomo had just said.
Indeed, Ke Xinwen had no good reason to be calling on Yao Mo this late at night. By right, Yao Mo should be the one most perplexed by all of these.
Just then, Ke Xinwen started shouting once again with reddened eyes, “Do you think I’m afraid of you?! Bring it on! Lu Rong, I’m already at the twelfth level of Qi Mastery! You’re nothing to me! I’ve killed you once, and I can certainly kill you a second time!!! Come on!” As he said this, Ke Xinwen once again started flailing his arms and hacking around him despite having already been drained of almost all his spiritual energy.
Everyone was startled by Ke Xinwen’s sudden barking. When Ke Xinwen inadvertently swung his sword in the direction of the onlookers, several people even instinctively took a step back in fear that they would be hurt by Ke Xinwen.
Only Jun Xiaomo, Ye Xiuwen and Qin Lingyu did not back off. Ye Xiuwen and Qin Lingyu did not budge because they were strong, while Ke Xinwen was completely drained like an arrow at the end of its flight and he would not be able to hurt them at all. On the other hand, Jun Xiaomo knew that the formation array had not lost its effects yet, and therefore Ke Xinwen’s attacks would be contained within the boundaries of the formation array and it could not hurt her either.
As expected, once Ke Xinwen’s attacks arrived at the boundaries of the formation array, it seemed to be absorbed by an invisible force and dissipated immediately. The areas outside the formation array continue to be unaffected by Ke Xinwen’s attacks.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief as though they had avoided a calamity. The innkeeper was also initially immensely displeased with Jun Xiaomo. But now, seeing Ke Xinwen’s attacks being absorbed by Jun Xiaomo’s formation arrays, he even felt some grat.i.tude towards Jun Xiaomo for her.
If not for the fact that there was a formation array trapping this madman and holding his attacks in place, this entire inn might well have already become sawdust and wood shavings like the rest of this room. It was a terrifying thought indeed.
Yet, everyone in Dawn Sect had their attention drawn to the name which Ke Xinwen had called out in his stupor – who exactly was Lu Rong?
Several of the disciples present found this name to be rather familiar, but they just could not place a finger on his exact ident.i.ty.
Just as the disciples were racking their brains trying to recall where they had heard that name, Ye Xiuwen calmly addressed all their innermost queries, “Lu Rong and Ke Xinwen had become disciples of Dawn Sect at the same time. His talent was incredibly high, and if he had not disappeared, he might well have become the First-Seat Disciple of the Pill Cauldron Peak by now.”
Ye Xiuwen had a better recollection of who this Lu Rong was because Lu Rong would always greet him warmly with “martial brother Ye” whenever they crossed paths. Even though Ye Xiuwen’s response was always simple and plain, Lu Rong had nevertheless continued to speak to Ye Xiuwen with warmth.
Lu Rong was completely different from Ke Xinwen. Lu Rong was genuinely a magnanimous and easygoing person, completely unlike Ke Xinwen who did all these things under a pretense.
Ye Xiuwen could see that Lu Rong was a genuinely easygoing and sincere person, and these were attributes that were rarely found among Dawn Sect’s other Peaks. Therefore, Ye Xiuwen had etched this name deeply into his memory. Unexpectedly, Lu Rong had suddenly vanished shortly after he had formally become a Dawn Sect disciple. The entire sect was mobilized to search for him for a full three days and three nights, yet no one managed to surface any clues about his whereabouts – not even a corpse to ascertain his death. Then, under the instructions of the Sect Elders to cease the search, this matter was written off just like that.
After Ye Xiuwen had reminded them of Lu Rong’s history, several of the other disciples also started to recall who this man was. Therefore, they also looked at Ke Xinwen with slightly confuzzled gazes in their eyes – Was martial brother Ke telling the truth? He killed Lu Rong! Wasn’t he very chummy with Lu Rong back then?
As everyone thought about the possibility of Ke Xinwen killing Lu Rong, a chill went down their spines.
Of course, there were others who adamantly dispelled that possibility. Fan Hai was one of them. He stared viciously at Jun Xiaomo, saying, “Yao Mo, what poison have you given martial brother Ke to make him utter such nonsense?!”
Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows curiously before she laughed, “Brother Fan, you actually think I’ve poisoned brother Ke? I’m an array master, while brother Ke’s master is a pillmaster – who do you think is more likely to have used pills or poisons in such an instance?”
The Peakmaster of Pill Cauldron Peak was a pillmaster. However, not all of his disciples were required to learn the art of pill-making. After all, there was no reason for cultivators to decide on their cultivation paths before reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. Only those who were extremely interested in pill-making would begin to learn the art of pill-making at the Qi Mastery stage.
Take Yu Wanrou for instance – the spirit spring in her spectral demiplane was a heaven-defying cheat. Even if the pills she made turned out to be of inferior or low quality, all she had to do was to drip a few drops of her spirit spring waters on it to turn these pills into superior or high-quality pills. This was one of the main reasons why Yu Wanrou had decided to specialize in pill-making to begin with. She knew that with her spirit spring and medicinal pills, she would be able to easily establish herself in this cultivation world and make people subservient to her.
But prior to this, Yu Wanrou would keep a low profile.
Truth be told, Yu Wanrou was rather afraid of Ke Xinwen’s present appearance, and she completely forgot about how she wanted to use Ke Xinwen to get back at Qin Lingyu.
On the other hand, Fan Hai was one of Ke Xinwen’s more loyal followers. However, there was no certainty that his loyalty would be reciprocated by Ke Xinwen.
“Then explain why brother Ke has become like that!” Fan Hai demanded an explanation from Jun Xiaomo.
In response, Jun Xiaomo simply pointed into the room and asked, “Do you all know what formation array this is?”
No one responded. They were not array masters, and everyone had only a shallow understanding of formation arrays at best. Naturally, they weren’t be able to understand the complex designs on the floor. It was already daytime by now, and the formation array had already depleted a substantial portion of its energy by now, so the blue glow had grown faint and dim. Yet despite that, the complicated designs of the formation array could still be seen on the floor.
This was what was often referred to by array masters as the “formation diagram”.
“This is called a Nightmare Array. This is a type of illusion array, but it doesn’t only trap its target in an illusion – the illusion would make its target face his worst fears. In other words, the illusion essentially brings out the target’s deepest, darkest memories which had impacted him the most. Now, do you finally understand why brother Ke is acting like this and uttering all this nonsense?”
Jun Xiaomo flicked open her fan and fanned herself once again as she said thoughtfully, “One has nothing to fear if his conscience is clear. Yet when I look at how fearfully brother Ke is facing his mortal enemy right now, his expressions truly makes me speechless.”
Hearing this, a few of the other disciples also could not help but look on Ke Xinwen with suspicion in their eyes.
Fan Hai thought for a moment, but he was still dissatisfied with the explanation, “Martial brother Ke is currently still in a stupor, so he can’t refute what you’ve said. Who knows whether you’re just using this opportunity to make something up and slander him!”
Yet Jun Xiaomo just tutted and sighed. At this moment, she did not know whether to laugh or to cry at Fan Hai’s reactions.
It was funny that he was so devoted to Ke Xinwen and gave him so much lat.i.tude because he could not see Ke Xinwen’s true nature at all. But on the other hand, it was also tragic because Fan Hai’s character was not half bad either. At the very least, even though others were merely observing and reticent to get involved, he stood by his friend whom he believed in.
Alright, since I can’t dispel his suspicions like this, then let’s extend him another helping hand and reveal Ke Xinwen’s true image to him.
This was also Jun Xiaomo’s true intention for setting up this chain of formation array attacks – it was to tear down Ke Xinwen’s pretense and reveal his true nature! This was much more satisfying than directly killing him…
As she thought about this, Jun Xiaomo retrieved a mirror from her Interspatial Ring.
The Mirror of a Thousand Reflections could be used to revisit everything that had happened in the past. Of course, one of the pre-conditions was that the scene to be revisited had to be captured by a second Mirror of a Thousand Reflections which formed its pair. Jun Xiaomo had carefully set up a Mirror of a Thousand Reflections in her room and concealed it using an Invisibility Talisman so that she could deal with the present situation she was in.
“It seems that brother Fan Hai only believes what he sees, huh? Then, feast your eyes on what exactly transpired last night.” As Jun Xiaomo said this, she handed the Mirror of a Thousand Reflections to Fan Hai.
Without hesitation, Fan Hai took the Mirror of a Thousand Reflections from Jun Xiaomo’s hands, and several other disciples also crowded around him as they stared into the Mirror of a Thousand Reflections.
On the other hand, Qin Lingyu started straight into the Mirror of a Thousand Reflections held in Jun Xiaomo’s hands and his eyes immediately narrowed.
It’s really a Mirror of a Thousand Reflections – this is indeed a treasure that money can’t buy.