As expected, the other inn was not as crowded as the inn which Ye Xiuwen had put up in. This great hall had only a few tables occupied by guests, while most of the other tables were presently empty.
However, this was partially also due to the fact that most guests had already taken their lunch by now and had all returned to their rooms to rest.
“Innkeeper, could we know if you still have rooms available?” Jun Xiaomo walked up to the front desk of the inn as she asked politely.
Few guests would usually come looking for lodging at this time of the day, so this innkeeper was even taking his afternoon nap right now. As soon as he heard Jun Xiaomo’s inquiry, he quickly came to his senses and enthusiastically responded, “Heyyo! Let me have a look for you!” Seeing that he had new guests, the innkeeper was once again filled with vigor. He flipped through his guest book quickly before looking back at Jun Xiaomo, saying, “Dear guests, I’m so sorry but the best room I have left is a mid-grade room. Would that be alright for you?”
Jun Xiaomo glanced over at the price list, and it immediately occurred to her that the prices of this inn’s rooms were on average over ten spirit stones more than the other inn.
No wonder everyone would pick that inn over this one.
Nevertheless, Jun Xiaomo smiled as she responded, “That’s alright. Then I’ll trouble you to prepare a mid-grade room for me please.” Being out on travels right now, Jun Xiaomo naturally managed her own expectations. As long as she had a place to rest and a roof over her head, she did not require much else for her lodging. After all, regardless of how exquisitely well-designed these rooms were, they were not her home, and she was going to be on her way the very next day.
“Excellent-o!” The innkeeper registered Jun Xiaomo’s details in his guest book, accepted payment in spirit stones, and then directed an attendant to bring Jun Xiaomo to the fifth room on the second floor. Ye Xiuwen also followed suit.
“Dear guests, this is your room. Please let me know if you have any other requests. I’m the attendant in charge of rooms on this floor.” The attendant bowed to Jun Xiaomo as he said.
“Alright, there’s nothing much for now. Thanks.” After Jun Xiaomo nodded to the attendant, the attendant bowed again before taking his leave.
Jun Xiaomo entered the room and immediately sized up the room’s furnis.h.i.+ngs and decors. Even though this was only a mid-grade room, its overall designs and furnis.h.i.+ngs were pretty decent. The room was spick and span, and there was even a scented incense diffusing calming and soothing aromas in the room.
“Seems that I’ll be staying here tonight. It turned out much nicer than I expected. Those few spirit stones were well spent after all.” Jun Xiaomo sat down as she poured out a cup of water for Ye Xiuwen and herself.
Ye Xiuwen did not immediately step foot into the room. He stood at the entrance and probed about his surroundings with his divine sense for a while, before finally stepping into the room and closing the room door.
Jun Xiaomo paused in her actions as she turned to look at Ye Xiuwen, giving him an inquisitive look – Is that Tracker Paper Crane still around?
Ye Xiuwen shook his head. It was unclear whether that meant that “the crane is no longer there”, or “I can’t tell whether the crane is still there”.
However, since Ye Xiuwen did not speak, Jun Xiaomo also would not clarify her queries for now. After all, some higher-grade Tracker Paper Cranes were even equipped with the ability to listen in on its target. Since their goal was to find a method to deal with this scheming person, they naturally did not want to unduly alert him.
Ye Xiuwen sat down at the table, lifting his cup and slowing sipped a mouthful of water.
Jun Xiaomo knew that Ye Xiuwen was now attempting to determine more carefully the existence of the Tracker Paper Crane, and this required a completely still and quiet environment. Therefore, Jun Xiaomo did not make any sounds to disturb Ye Xiuwen, and she sat there drinking her water, admiring the expressions Ye Xiuwen made when he was serious.
Alright, even though she could not see anything under his veiled conical hat, she could still imagine what Ye Xiuwen looked like.
After a while, Ye Xiuwen finally spoke up, “It shouldn’t be around anymore. It seems that that person’s main goal was to find out where you would be lodging tonight. If he’s going to take any actions, it would likely be in the still of the night later.”
“Phew. It’s good that it’s no longer around. I was almost about to lose it there. It’s so stifling having to act as though I’m unaware when someone is tracking me.” Jun Xiaomo flicked open her fan and fanned herself vigorously as though she were blowing away two hours’ worth of frustrations that she had experienced earlier.
And the reason why her frustrations stretch for the preceding two hours was precisely because Jun Xiaomo’s heart was already filled with immense displeasure ever since she met and interacted with Qin Lingyu, Ke Xinwen and their entourage.
After all, there were several nemeses from her previous life in that crowd, and yet she was unable to do anything about it because her present strength was insufficient. How could she not feel dismayed and exasperated?
Ye Xiuwen looked at Yao Mo’s carefree and light-hearted demeanor, and he made a bemused expression on his face. Yao Mo’s expressions and demeanor in front of the others were completely different – he even wore that dignified, aristocratic appearance and fooled almost everyone there.
Yet Ye Xiuwen also knew that it was because Yao Mo trusted him that he was willing to reveal his true self to Ye Xiuwen at this instant. Therefore, he would not let Yao Mo’s trust be misplaced.
“It’s not going to be safe for you to stay her alone tonight. Why not move back to my room and stay with me?” Ye Xiuwen calmly but seriously suggested.
“Ha-?!” Jun Xiaomo was dumbfounded. She would never have thought that this was what her martial brother meant when he said, “I will protect you”!
Move…move back to martial brother’s room? Then what was the point of going through the trouble of finding a room in this inn to begin with?
As though he understood the hidden meaning under Jun Xiaomo’s earlier exclamation, Ye Xiuwen went on to explain his rationale, “If you didn’t find a room here and directly came back to my room, then the person tracking you would definitely discover that we’ve already been alerted to his intentions. Then, he might well resort to even more insidious methods to deal with you. But now, since he knows you’re going to be lodging here, he won’t think too much about it and he would simply come here to dispose of you. My intention is to let him make a wasted trip. By then, even if he guesses that you’re residing in my room, he won’t be able to come up with another plan to deal with us on the spot.”
“Cough cough cough…” Jun Xiaomo choked on a mouthful of water and coughed violently. Once she recovered, she stammered, “But…but I might be imposing on you if I stayed at your room, right?”
I’m a girl after all! How can I live together with her martial brother like that!!! Especially once I expose my true ident.i.ty, how am I going to face martial brother afterwards…
Besides, she knew that Ye Xiuwen did not like others to come too close to him. In her previous life, she had resided in Ye Xiuwen’s abode for three whole years, but her room and Ye Xiuwen’s rooms were nevertheless separated by a whole yard in between them, and they never once rested in the same room together. Furthermore, males and females should not be so closely a.s.sociated. Even if they did not do anything indecent in the same room, others might easily misunderstand them.
The little packrat also heard Ye Xiuwen’s suggestion, and it promptly peeked out from Jun Xiaomo’s clothes, leapt on the table, and angrily squeaked away at Ye Xiuwen as it waved its paws about in fury.
It was almost as if it was saying – I will protect my master. Mind your own business!
Ye Xiuwen frowned a little, as though he understood what this little thing meant as it squeaked furiously.
“Let something as small as you protect Yao Mo, are you sure?” Once Ye Xiuwen said these words, he immediately caught himself. He had never thought there would be one day when he would be responding to a little packrat’s squeaks.
Yet the most amazing thing was that this little packrat seemed to understand Ye Xiuwen’s words. It immediately slowed down the frequency of its squeaks and rubbed its paws on its cute little cheeks. Then, it curled up into a ball of fur on the table, buried its head in its body and stopped squeaking altogether.
“Pfft!” Jun Xiaomo laughed out loud, and the earlier awkwardness in her heart also subsided substantially. However, she still felt that it might not be a great idea for her to reside with Ye Xiuwen, so she turned down Ye Xiuwen’s good intentions, saying, “I appreciate brother Ye’s concerns. But I’ve already brought enough troubles to brother Ye, and I don’t want to keep imposing on brother Ye to help me deal with all these issues.”
However, Ye Xiuwen interpreted Jun Xiaomo’s refusal as a polite rejection for occupying his own room. Therefore, he changed tact and insisted with a warmer tone, “It’s fine. This is the best method to deal with the person tracking you.”
Indeed, with a cultivator at the twelfth level of Qi Mastery guarding her, Ke Xinwen would never dare to rush into Ye Xiuwen’s room to attack Jun Xiaomo.
At this moment, Jun Xiaomo knit her eyebrows into a thick knot as she said with a troubled expression on her face, “That…I could set up some formation arrays here.”
This was in fact Jun Xiaomo’s intention right from the outset. She would meet Ke Xinwen’s carelessness and complacency with her preparations by setting a ma.s.sive trap and stumbling block for Ke Xinwen!
Ke Xinwen completely did not understand the ways and working of an array master. He had always thought with abject complacency that array masters at the first level of Qi Mastery were hardly going to be any concern to him. However, what he did not appreciate was the fact that the greatest advantage formation arrays had over spells, talismans and pills were that they barely required any spiritual energy to activate these formations. This was because their main source of spiritual energy was the energy within the spirit stones that formed part of these arrays, and not the array master’s spiritual energy. Therefore, even an array master at the first level of Qi Master would still be able to set up killer formation arrays as long as he has enough time and a profound understanding of formation arrays.
If a cultivator had sufficient combat experience, then he would understand this point extremely clearly – the best way of dealing with an array master was to dispose of him as quickly as possible, rather than drag things out. This was because once an array master had the luxury of time to set up his own formation arrays, the result would be extremely difficult to deal with.
On the other hand, Ye Xiuwen understood this point. However, he did not think that Yao Mo would be able to rest well without any concerns just because he had a little bit of time to set up his formation arrays.
“This room is too small. It’s not going to be easy to set up formation arrays. Furthermore, you don’t have a lot of time to prepare, and it seems unlikely that you would be able to set up any strong formation arrays with the limitation of time. Once the perpetrator breaks through your formations, you will certainly be in danger.”
Ye Xiuwen’s a.n.a.lysis was on point. It was a well-known fact that setting up formation arrays in large, open s.p.a.ces were much easier. In comparison, the room was too small and contained too many things that would obstruct and hinder the setting up of these formations. Therefore, if Jun Xiaomo were to set up her formation arrays, she would have to take these things into considerations and work around these restrictions.
“This…” Jun Xiaomo found herself at a loss, and she could not find any good ways to rebut Ye Xiuwen’s opinions.
“Then, it’s settled.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo’s shoulders firmly as he concluded their discussions unilaterally.
Jun Xiaomo also knew that no matter what other reasons and excuses she put up at this point would be immediately rebuffed by Ye Xiuwen because his method was truly the safest. She would be wise not to reject his good intentions anymore.
It’s so frustrating… Jun Xiaomo once again found herself in a tricky position because of her foolish decision to follow Ye Xiuwen as a male cultivator.
Forget it. Cheer up! Let’s prepare some “gifts” for our “guest” tonight! Jun Xiaomo gritted her teeth and decided to take out her frustrations on her unfortunate perpetrator.
Indeed, even though Jun Xiaomo had come to terms that she would be staying at Ye Xiuwen’s tonight, she had not dismissed her earlier intentions to set up formation arrays within this room. However, she would be making some alterations to her earlier plans.
Her earlier intention was to set up only defensive formations. However, how that she was no longer going to be living in the room, there was no need for any more defensive formations.
At this moment, Jun Xiaomo hooked her lips into a wicked smile. If people from her previous life saw this wicked smile on Jun Xiaomo’s face right this moment, they would immediately know that Jun Xiaomo was scheming against someone.
But now, the person being schemed against was still confidently sitting in his own room in the inn, planning his course of action to dispose of this thorn in the flesh, Yao Mo.
It’s not his first time killing someone anyway. When he first entered the Dawn Sect, he had already killed a talented martial brother who had exceeded him in all he did.
Therefore, as he fantasized about how Yao Mo would die a horrible death tonight, Ke Xinwen’s face glowed with a sinister, macabre smile.