Jun Xiaomo was equally dumbfounded by the situation, and she furrowed her brows, clarifying, “Mistress? Who"s your mistress?”The leader of the maroon-garbed troupe looked up at Jun Xiaomo. Just as he was about to respond, Ye Xiuwen immediately interjected, “This isn"t a good place to discuss such matters. Let"s find ourselves a private room before we continue our discussion. Innkeeper!”“Yes, yes, coming right away.” The innkeeper knew that he could not afford to step on the toes of people in the cultivation world, so he immediately ran over to Ye Xiuwen obsequiously.“Do you still have a large room available right now? We need a large, quiet place that is more conducive for discussing important matters.” Ye Xiuwen informed the innkeeper of his requirements.“Yes, yes, we still have a premium room available. Dear guests, please follow me.” The innkeeper nodded his head and bowed politely as he responded. Then, as he walked ahead, he discreetly wiped off the sweat that had beaded up on his forehead.I"ve got to give them a room even if there are none right now. It"s obvious that these people aren"t ones that I can afford to cross. Then, when everyone finally made their way into the room, Ye Xiuwen shut the door and applied a Noise-Cancelling Talisman on the seams of the door.The Heavenly Peak disciples were still busy trying to put two and two together, and none of them could wrap their heads around why Ye Xiuwen had gone through all the trouble for a simple discussion like that. On the other hand, a vague, murky idea did surface in Jun Xiaomo"s mind for a fleeting moment, but she failed to latch onto it either.“Speak. What business do you have with Xiaomo?” Ye Xiuwen noticed that Jun Xiaomo was still silently sizing up the troupe of maroon-garbed men, so he took the initiative to clarify matters on her behalf, “While you"re at it, do explain the term of reference, "mistress" as well.”The leader of the troupe was about to kneel with the rest of his men when Jun Xiaomo held them back, “Hang on a minute, don"t kneel down. You may speak your mind while standing. Why are you calling me "mistress"? And just who are you referring to by "master"?”The leader retrieved something from his Interspatial Ring and politely presented it to Jun Xiaomo.Jun Xiaomo"s pupils constricted as soon as she saw the blood coloured jade pendant.Ye Xiuwen also recognized the jade pendant immediately, and he exclaimed in his heart – As expected…“Our master is none other than the first prince of the Inferno Kingdom, Rong Ruihan. Before he left our clan"s grounds and made his way towards the valley to look for Mistress, he had left a standing order that we should all take instructions from Mistress should he encounter any danger or lose his life in the process. We"re already aware that our master is in danger right now. That"s why we had come looking for Mistress, hoping that you"d be able to rescue our master.”“Since you"re Brother Rong"s clansmen, why didn"t you move together with him two nights ago?” Jun Xiaomo responded with a trace amount of criticism in her voice.In fact, rather than saying her criticism was for Rong Ruihan"s clansmen, it would be far more accurate to say that she was condemning Rong Ruihan"s idiocy for infiltrating Dai Yanfeng"s ranks alone. How could he treat his own life so lightly?!“Master had mentioned that it would be far too obvious if everyone moved at the same time, and it would have been far more difficult to slip into the enemy"s ranks undetected. Thus, he had instructed us to wait outside while he entered the valley alone.”Jun Xiaomo began to choke up as soon as the leader finished speaking. Just like that, Jun Xiaomo found herself completely speechless and unable to express her emotions for a protracted period of time.“He must have been prepared for the possibility for death, right? That"s why he"s made such arrangements with you, asking you to take orders from me if anything happened to him, right?” Jun Xiaomo"s voice trembled.The leader of the troupe lowered his head slightly, tacitly acknowledging Jun Xiaomo"s conjectures.“Hah! What a distasteful joke!” Jun Xiaomo exploded with indignation, “Who told him to make such sacrifices? Who told him that I want to owe him such a debt of grat.i.tude?! It was the same in the past, and it"s the same right now – is he trying to force my hand here?! Is he trying to force me to accept the term of reference, "mistress"?!”The Heavenly Peak disciples exchanged glances sheepishly as they wondered just how Little Martial Sister, Martial Brother Ye and Rong Ruihan became so inextricably entangled with each other.“Mistress, please save Master!” The leader of the troupe suddenly knelt down again, and his maroon-garbed subordinates instantly followed suit.Jun Xiaomo"s rage had only manifested for an instant. Right now, she was calm once again, and she looked at the troupe as she instructed, “Don"t call me "mistress", because that"s not what I am! If you want to address me, call me "Miss Jun".”She did not wish for such a contrived t.i.tle to be forced upon her just because she owed Rong Ruihan a great debt of grat.i.tude.“Then, Miss Jun, what about Master…”“Don"t worry, we intend to rescue him either ways. Do you know what kind of predicament he is in right now?” Jun Xiaomo asked.“We"re not too certain of the exact situation. However, we"ve got a spirit tool in our clan"s grounds that gives us an insight to his condition.” The leader explained.“Alright, no matter what the case is, the fact of the matter is that time isn"t on our side.” Jun Xiaomo solemnly relayed to the leader. Although she was slightly miffed about the term of reference, mistress, she knew that there were far more important things to focus her mind and attention on right now. After all, when all was said and done, she was undeniably worried about Rong Ruihan"s predicament, “We plan to make our move this evening. However, the perpetrators should already be expecting us within the valley, and they would most certainly have made preparations. Who knows – they might already have laid out several traps and ambushes against us by now. It"s good that you"re here. Our odds of success have increased slightly with this.”“I wonder if Miss Jun has any plans of action?”“Have you heard of the idiom, “the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind”? I"ve deliberated over this matter a little while earlier, and I think that we can employ some smoke and mirrors.” Jun Xiaomo stated with a determined voice.“The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?”“That right. That"s exactly right. That said, we"ve got to make some preparations for now.” Jun Xiaomo explained as a cold gleam flickered across the depths of her eyes.How dare these perpetrators lay a hand on Brother Rong. We"re going to serve them their just desserts!Meanwhile, just as Jun Xiaomo and the others were busy making preparations for the operation to save Rong Ruihan, Xiang Guqing and the rest were also busy making preparations to welcome their guests.Truth be told, Xiang Guqing and the rest hardly believed Jun Xiaomo and the rest of the Heavenly Peak disciples to be a threat to them. After all, had Jun Xiaomo been unable to breach the defenses of the master formation array last night, not a single one of them would have been able to live to see the dawn of the next day. If Xiang Guqing and the rest were able to defeat the Heavenly Peak disciples once, they could most certainly defeat them again.Since Xiang Guqing was the master and owner of the valley, she was in charge of the operations tonight. Even Dai Yanfeng had to listen to her commands.“I think that it would be best if we ridded the world of these Heavenly Peak disciples tonight in one fell swoop.” Xiang Guqing told Dai Yanfeng.“What"s the matter? Weren"t we going to capture them and take them captive?” Dai Yanfeng asked in response.“Hmph. What"s the use of that? There"s no profit in keeping them alive to begin with. Elder Dai, you would be wise to remember your promised payment to us after the event.” Xiang Guqing snorted.“Don"t worry, that little bit of payment isn"t something that the Eternal Summit Sect would be stingy about.” Dai Yanfeng retorted snidely, “But, I"d still like to keep Jun Xiaomo alive.”“What"s the matter? Have you fallen for that little lady?” Xiang Guqing mocked.“Hah. Fallen for her?! Not over my dead body!” Dai Yanfeng gnashed his teeth as a vicious gaze filled with evil intentions flashed across his eyes, “I simply think that a simple death sentence would be far too light for all the transgressions on her part!”“If you ask me, I"d still advise Elder Dai to kill her once and for all. The fact that she is capable of breaking through the defenses of the valley"s master formation array means that she"s got tricks aplenty up her sleeves. She"s the greatest variable among all of the Heavenly Peak disciples.” Xiang Guqing glanced at Dai Yanfeng as she cautioned him.“You don"t have to remind me of that.” Dai Yanfeng muttered coldly, “I know just how to deal with that. Once I pluck out the nerves in her limbs and cripple her cultivation, she wouldn"t be able to do a single thing no matter how capable she is.”“I"m going to grant her a life sentence – one that is worse than death itself!”As Dai Yanfeng barked, he slammed his hand resoundingly onto a nearby stone table, turning it to a pile of stone powder and rubble in an instant.It was as though the stone table were a foreshadowing of Jun Xiaomo"s future.Just like that, the day pa.s.sed quickly, and night slowly crept up over the lands once more. Jun Xiaomo took command over the Heavenly Peak disciples and Rong Ruihan"s clansmen and they soon arrived at the area just outside Xiang Guqing"s valley.“Are you truly prepared to accept the plans I"d made earlier? Please be mindful that tonight"s operation is going to be incredibly dangerous.” Jun Xiaomo turned around, asking Rong Ruihan"s clansmen.Rong Ruihan"s clansmen bowed politely as they responded, “Miss Jun doesn"t have to be concerned about us. We"ve been prepared to follow your orders right from the onset. After all, our lives belong to Master ever since the day we were born.”“Then, alright. Please take care. Even though I"m using you as bait, I don"t want you clas.h.i.+ng with them in a life-and-death battle either. You"ve got to do your best to preserve your own lives, understand?”“Yes. We understand Miss Jun"s orders.” The leader of Rong Ruihan"s clansmen responded politely. Then, he retrieved a talisman from his Interspatial Ring and applied it onto his own body. In the blink of an eye, his appearances turned into that of Ye Xiuwen.The other clansmen also followed suit. Very soon, the clansmen turned into the entire group of Heavenly Peak disciples – there was even a member who possessed Jun Xiaomo"s appearances.This was Jun Xiaomo"s intentions – Rong Ruihan"s clansmen would act as bait, luring out Xiang Guqing and the other perpetrators, while the real Heavenly Peak disciples would hide some distance away, surrounding and flanking the rest of the perpetrators while they are preoccupied with the clansmen.One of the main reasons why she had asked Rong Ruihan"s clansmen to act as bait was because they possessed far greater combat experience and abilities than the Heavenly Peak disciples. That being the case, she knew that there was going a much higher likelihood that they would be able to come out alive when they duked it out with Xiang Guqing and the rest.That said, no matter how much combat experience they possessed, the fact remained that Xiang Guqing and the rest possessed cultivation that were several qualitative levels higher than the clansmen. Thus, despite having issued such orders to the clansmen, Jun Xiaomo continued to be plagued by the guilt and remorse weighing heavily on her heart.Moved by the desire to keep Rong Ruihan"s clansmen alive, Jun Xiaomo even handed all of her remaining defensive talismans to the clansmen, leaving only a few remaining for her Heavenly Peak martial brothers and herself.“We have to succeed in tonight"s operation.”“That"s right. We will definitely succeed.”Everyone had the same thoughts in their hearts just as they were walking brazenly into the valley. Their eyes were now filled with immense courage and fearlessness, as though they were prepared to face death with equanimity.On the other side, Xiang Guqing and the rest remained completely oblivious to all of Jun Xiaomo"s plans. What was an inevitable success to them would soon turn out to be one of the greatest regrets in their lives.
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