Even so, Qin Lingyu did not count someone like Yao Mo qualified to be called his love rival. After gazing momentarily at Jun Xiaomo, he quickly turned his gaze away. On the other hand, Ke Xinwen continued to stare daggers at Jun Xiaomo with a fiery gaze in his eyes. In fact, he could barely maintain the smile on his face at this moment.
This stood to reason – Qin Lingyu did not even consider people like Ke Xinwen qualified to be called his “love rival”, much less this array master Yao Mo whose cultivation was so weak that it was not worth mentioning at all. Yu Wanrou would be blind not to choose him and run to others instead.
And on the other side, Jun Xiaomo also saw how Ke Xinwen’s was trying so hard to maintain an appearance of magnanimity and heartiness. In fact, even Jun Xiaomo felt tired watching Ke Xinwen – just how much indignation did he have to suppress in order to prevent any of it from showing on his face at this instant? Jun Xiaomo flicked open her fan to fan herself, at the same time s.h.i.+elding herself from the deadly glare that Ke Xinwen was giving her.
Just this moment, Zhong Ruolan suddenly spoke up. As though she wanted to see the world burn, she commented with a mocking tone, “Oh? Look at the expression on martial sister Wanrou’s face. It seems that you’ve somewhat fallen for our brother Yao here? It’s understandable though. I feel that brother Yao’s appearances and dignified air are both top notch too. It’s not strange that martial sister Wanrou would set him in her sights.”
Jun Xiaomo: Haha…what’s this Zhong Ruolan trying to do? Does she find the amount of hatred heaped on me insufficient?
The thing that left Jun Xiaomo absolutely speechless was the fact that Yu Wanrou did not even bother to deny Zhong Ruolan’s suggestion. Instead, Yu Wanrou only softly said, “Martial sister Wanrou likes to joke. I’m only stating facts here. Brother Yao’s looks are dignified and charming, and he is even an array master with impressive abilities – I’m certain that there are a lot of women out there who greatly admire brother Yao.”
One of the reasons why Yu Wanrou had not spared Yao Mo any compliments was in order to pave the way for the future. This is because she knew that most men liked admiration and praise from women, as that gave them a sense of accomplishment.
How would she have known that this Yao Mo was in fact a lady wearing the appearances of a male? Therefore, no matter how much she was trying to “pave the way”, all her efforts were clearly lost on Yao Mo.
In fact, Jun Xiaomo felt so disgusted with the praise Yu Wanrou had showered on her right now that she was extremely tempted to silence her with a Tonguetied Talisman!
Hearing this, Ke Xinwen’s gaze that was already trained on Jun Xiaomo’s body grew even colder. At this moment, Jun Xiaomo absolutely certain that in the coming days, as long as Ke Xinwen was able to find the right opportunity, he would attempt to make her vanish under Yu Wanrou’s eyes.
As she strongly suppressed the urge to slap a talisman onto Yu Wanrou’s lips, Jun Xiaomo laughed dryly as she responded, “Sister Wanrou and sister Ruolan, you flatter me.”
Even though Jun Xiaomo’s words were spoken rather rigidly, yet most people present did not pick out that little nuance in her words. Rather, several male cultivators even felt that Jun Xiaomo was bragging and showing off, and their impressions of Yao Mo worsened even more.
Did martial brother Ye bring this Yao Mo back to s.n.a.t.c.h all the attention from martial sister Wanrou and martial sister Ruolan?!
Fortunately, thanks to the waiter showing up at the most opportune moment, Jun Xiaomo narrowly averted an impending disaster.
“Food is here~ Dear guests, please enjoy the food…” As the waiter exclaimed, he swiftly walked past Jun Xiaomo’s side and set the freshly made food on the table.
Having browsed around at the market for an entire morning, everyone was already famished by now. The aroma from the various dishes immediately wafted to their noses and excited their palate, and all their attention was immediately s.h.i.+fted away from Jun Xiaomo and onto the table full of dishes.
“Even though this inn doesn’t seem too big, their dishes are still quite decent. They smell and look good, and I’m sure they also taste great!” Jun Xiaomo propped up her chin with her fan as she commented.
She was also hungry. After all, she and Ye Xiuwen had fought off the frenzied spirit animals for an entire morning, and they had to be even hungrier than those other disciples who had only been window shopping at the market!
When the others heard Jun Xiaomo’s comments, they were once again jolted back to their senses and their attention was brought back to what they were discussing before the food came.
“Let’s sit down. If we don’t eat now, the food is going to get cold.” Ye Xiuwen said calmly, offering Jun Xiaomo an out from her predicament, while at the same time telling everyone else that they should cease their earlier discussions at this point.
Jun Xiaomo immediately responded to Ye Xiuwen’s suggestions and swiftly sat down at the table as she looked at Ye Xiuwen with an appreciative smile.
Seeing that even Ye Xiuwen had spoken, the other disciples did not dare to press the issue either. Furthermore, they were indeed also very hungry. Therefore, once Qin Lingyu, Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo started helping themselves to the food, the others immediately followed suit as well.
Sharing a meal together has an interesting way of dispelling tensions and mediating conflicts. During this meal, everyone ate, drank and chat merrily, almost as though the earlier conflict never happened at all. There were even several Sect disciples who used tea as a subst.i.tute for wine and had a few rounds with Jun Xiaomo as a way of welcoming her to the group.
Jun Xiaomo cheerfully obliged each one of them as well as she drank all of the cups of tea offered to her.
However, she was well aware that these disciples were merely feigning civility with her. Given how bad the start of her journey together with them had been, she knew by extrapolation that the rest of the journey would not be much better.
Even so, Jun Xiaomo was someone who had laughed in the face of danger and even death; and these little things could barely be enough to faze her.
She knew that she would just have to deal with the different situations as they arise.
After lunch, most disciples went back to their rooms to take a rest. Ye Xiuwen, on the other hand, brought Jun Xiaomo to the concierge and asked if they had a room available for Jun Xiaomo.
“I’m so sorry, dear guest. Our rooms are all fully booked.” The innkeeper replied apologetically.
The innkeeper certainly did not wish to reject any business that had come knocking on their doors. However, there was nothing he could do about it – somehow, the number of guests staying at their inn was unusually large these few days, and they had been fully booked out every day by lunchtime.
“If that’s the case, are there any other large and reputable inns nearby?” Jun Xiaomo inquired.
She emphasized “large and reputable” because in these small cities, only the large and reputable inns could offer security and safety to their guests. When it came to the smaller inns, it was more difficult to distinguish the ones that ran an honest business from those that scammed their clients or even robbed and killed their guests.
This vigilance that she was showing right now was clearly gleaned from her previous life’s experiences.
“Ah, there is one, but the prices might be on the higher side.” The innkeeper was not trying to poison the well on his compet.i.tion, but he was merely stating facts as things were. That inn’s price to quality ratio was not great, so it could very well still have rooms available for Jun Xiaomo.
“That’s fine, since it’s only for one night.” Jun Xiaomo waved her hand as she replied light-heartedly.
Truth be told, the price of an inn was one thing, but the most important factor to look at was one’s personal safety. Even though she had several talismans in her Interspatial Ring at her disposal, making these talismans nevertheless required a substantial investment of time. Every single talisman she expended meant that she had one less for the future, and it would be tragic if she found herself in a real emergency later on with no more talismans left at her disposal.
Ye Xiuwen furrowed his eyebrows slightly as though he had something to tell Jun Xiaomo. But just in that moment, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Ke Xinwen, who had not returned to his room, was glancing over at their direction.
Ye Xiuwen’s eyes flashed with a trace of suspicion, before he quickly swallowed the words he was initially going to say to Jun Xiaomo.
“…Turn left at the exit, head straight and then turn right at the second intersection. Got it.” Jun Xiaomo clarified the location of the other inn before thanking the innkeeper. She decided to make a trip to the other inn to take look at it.
“Brother Ye, it seems that we’ll be separated for the night then.” Jun Xiaomo sighed as she said to Ye Xiuwen.
Ye Xiuwen nodded, saying, “I’ll go with you to have a look at the other inn.”
Hearing this, Jun Xiaomo’s eyes immediately brightened as she said genially, “Then I’ll thank brother Ye in advance!”
She liked hanging around her martial brother. Ever since their interactions in her previous life, she found that Ye Xiuwen brought to her a deep sense of security.
Squeak squeak! The little packrat once again peeked out of Jun Xiaomo’s clothes as it gnashed its teeth at Ye Xiuwen and waved its little paws about, almost as though it were displeased that Ye Xiuwen were going to follow them.
“Stop being rude! This is brother Ye!” Jun Xiaomo chided the little packrat as she tousled the hair on its head with her index finger. Seeing this, the little packrat immediately bit onto Jun Xiaomo’s finger. However, it also did not bear to use too much force, and it barely left any marks on Jun Xiaomo’s finger at all. In fact, Jun Xiaomo was even slightly tickled by the little packrat’s fur, and she chuckled lightly.
“Alright, be good~ Are you hungry? I’ll give you some pine nuts in a bit.”
Earlier, Jun Xiaomo had fed her little packrat while she was eating, and she thought that her “multi-tasking” had resulted in the little packrat not having its fill right now.
Miscommunications indeed arise when people spoke in different languages.
Hearing this, the little packrat let go of Jun Xiaomo’s finger angrily. After it fiercely glared at Jun Xiaomo with its black, beady eyes for being daft and unable to understand it, it quickly slipped back into Jun Xiaomo’s clothes and buried its head into her clothes.
“This little packrat exhibits some human-like behaviour.” Ye Xiuwen pointed out objectively.
“Indeed. I also think that my little packrat is quite spiritually aware.” Jun Xiaomo said proudly, raising her chin as though she were claiming credit for the fact that her pet had great spiritual awareness.
Ye Xiuwen’s lips curled into a wry smile. It once again crossed his mind that this young man was very similar to his little martial sister in certain ways. But in any event, this was not something he was going to tell the young man about.
“Let’s make haste and head over to the other inn right now. We don’t want to be late and miss out on all the available rooms.” Ye Xiuwen calmly reminded Jun Xiaomo of the important task at hand.
“Ah! That’s right!” Jun Xiaomo smacked her head, “Then let’s get going quickly!” As she finished, she quickly strode in the direction of their inn’s exit.
Ye Xiuwen followed quickly behind her. Just before leaving the inn, he secretly glanced over at Ke Xinwen once again.
Even now, Ke Xinwen was still openly staring at Jun Xiaomo’s back with dark and murky gaze.
Ye Xiuwen squinted his eyes and picked up his pace as he followed behind Jun Xiaomo.
After departing some ways from the inn, Ye Xiuwen turned his head around and looked at the spritely Jun Xiaomo as he said with a somber expression on his face, “Yao Mo, be careful of Ke Xinwen.”
Jun Xiaomo was momentarily stunned, before she quickly recovered and understood what Ye Xiuwen was trying to say.
Earlier, her thoughts were still immersed in some other matters, and she was only jolted back to her senses when Ye Xiuwen said these things to her.
“Mm! I’ve got it. Brother Ye doesn’t have to worry too much.” Jun Xiaomo lifted her head and smiled radiantly at Ye Xiuwen, even as her heart grew warm from Ye Xiuwen’s concern for her.
Once Ye Xiuwen had decided to protect someone, he would be absolutely serious about it.
Jun Xiaomo knew that since Ye Xiuwen had agreed to bring her back with him, he would also in some ways a.s.sume responsibility over her protection. At the very least, he was not going to let people like Ke Xinwen hurt her, much less take her life.
Jun Xiaomo thought about it, before saying to Ye Xiuwen, “Oh yes, brother Ye, since I’m already calling you brother Ye, you don’t have to call me Yao Mo anymore. It feels so distant. Maybe you could call me Little Mo instead?”
Little Mo, Xiaomo – they both sounded exactly the same. This would allow her to feel even closer to Ye Xiuwen whenever he calls her.
Little Mo…Ye Xiuwen could not help but once again be reminded of his little martial sister. But this time, he was able to recover from his dispiritedness very quickly.
“Alright, Little Mo.” Ye Xiuwen nodded as he suppressed the awkwardness in his heart.
Jun Xiaomo also smiled radiantly at Ye Xiuwen in response.
Suddenly, Ye Xiuwen stopped in his tracks, and he furrowed his eyebrows slightly.
“What’s going on?” Even though Jun Xiaomo was unable to see Ye Xiuwen’s expressions under his veiled conical hat, but she could tell from Ye Xiuwen’s actions that something was not right.
Ye Xiuwen did not immediately answer Jun Xiaomo, but instead, he released his divine sense and probed around at their surroundings.
Shortly after that, Ye Xiuwen replied with a grimace, “I think someone might be following us using a Tracker Paper Crane.”
Ye Xiuwen and Ke Xinwen were both at the peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery, so even if Ke Xinwen had used a Tracker Paper Crane on them, Ye Xiuwen could only vaguely sense this.
But Ye Xiuwen trusted in his senses.
“Could it be Ke Xinwen who’s tracking us?” Jun Xiaomo was at the first level of Qi Mastery, and naturally she would not be able to sense the existence of the Tracker Paper Crane unless she used a True Sight Talisman.
After all, Tracker Paper Cranes could conceal themselves as they followed their target, and while they remained effective, they would be able to report on a real-time basis the rough location of their target.
If it were Ke Xinwen, then everything would make sense. He obviously wanted to learn of the location of Jun Xiaomo’s lodging so that he could sneak over at night and dispose of his love rival, Yao Mo.
The norms of the cultivation world were quite different from the mortal world. After all, as long as no one decides to pursue the matter, it was not uncommon or unacceptable for cultivators to kill another cultivator.
“Unless you’ve got other enemies, there’s a good chance that it is him.” Ye Xiuwen said coldly.
Having realized that she had very quickly become Ke Xinwen’s target, she was momentarily flabbergasted.
“Where would I find so many enemies… It’s just my dumb luck that Yu Wanrou had repeatedly drawn so much hatred to me today.” Jun Xiaomo said in dismay. She had always been the one to put people in a difficult position; and this time she was finally getting a taste of her own medicine.
Furthermore, the fact that Yu Wanrou had done so unintentionally made her so annoyed that she wanted to cough up blood.
“Let’s ignore it for now, and pretend that we’re unaware.” Ye Xiuwen intimated as he proceeded to walk ahead.
“Mm, mm. I also think so.” Jun Xiaomo nodded as she picked up her pace and followed along as well.
After thinking for a moment, Ye Xiuwen turned around to look at Jun Xiaomo as he said, “Don’t worry. I have a way to ensure your safety.”
Seeing Ye Xiuwen’s serious expression, Jun Xiaomo could not help but look at Ye Xiuwen with an appreciative expression, responding in a similarly serious fas.h.i.+on, “Mm. I know that, and I trust brother Ye.”
That’s right – she had always believed Ye Xiuwen, not only for his personality, but also for his abilities.
In fact, Jun Xiaomo had her own ways of dealing with Ke Xinwen. In her past life, she had been the notorious Lady Demoness which had eluded the clutches of these righteous, reputable sects for countless years after all. How could she not have the means to preserve her own life right now?
That said, Jun Xiaomo also cherished the fact that she could once again experience Ye Xiuwen’s protection and shelter over her in this life.
At this moment, Jun Xiaomo wondered whether the countermeasures in her mind were the same as what martial brother Ye was thinking of, and her eyes revealed a meaningful and irreverent gaze.