In the next two hours that followed, Jun Xiaomo managed to set up several formation arrays within the room in preparation for her guest that night. Then, she prepared to leave with Ye Xiuwen for his room. Just before leaving the inn, Jun Xiaomo even used a drop of her own blood to create a Humanoid Puppet and set it on the bed, as though Yao Mo was sleeping.
Since they wanted to put up a false front, they naturally had to go all out. Otherwise, once the “guest” discovers that there was no one in the room, he might very well guess where Yao Mo had gone and leave the place, in which case all the formation arrays set up by Jun Xiaomo would have gone to waste.
Ye Xiuwen stood by the side as he watched Jun Xiaomo busy herself. He was unable to render any a.s.sistance to her given his limited knowledge of formation arrays. Then, when he saw Jun Xiaomo bring out a small paper man and create a Humanoid Puppet from it, Ye Xiuwen raised his eyebrows curiously. He had just discovered that this young man was much more meticulous than he looked.
“Alright!” After setting the Humanoid Puppet on the bed, Jun Xiaomo clapped her hands together and covered the puppet with a blanket.
From the outside, one could vaguely make out the shape of a human being underneath the blanket, as though someone were sleeping underneath.
“It’s such a pity that my cultivation is too low, and I can’t make this Humanoid Puppet move. Otherwise, I could even turn this into an offensive weapon and cause some serious problems for that person who’s scheming against me! Hmph!” Jun Xiaomo boasted as she proudly raised her chin.
Ye Xiuwen pretended to cough into a fist, preventing a smile from eking out on his face.
He just realized how impish this young man actually was – he would sometimes act a little bit clumsily, while at other times he would be so smart and meticulous that others could only gasp in admiration.
As to the fact that the person scheming against this young man was very likely to be a fellow disciple from the Sect, Ye Xiuwen knowingly turned a blind eye to this. Since Ke Xinwen had wanted to hurt someone, he had better be prepared if others set up countermeasures against him as well.
“Ah…I feel like I’m forgetting something as well. What could it be?” Jun Xiaomo racked her brains as she went over the checklist of what she had to do. However, it was almost as though she had used too much of her brainpower earlier, and she currently drew a blank on what it was exactly she had forgotten.
On the other side, Ye Xiuwen chuckled softly as he suggested, “Aren’t you forgetting your Invisibility Talisman? Or do you intend to brazenly walk back to my room with me?”
Since Yao Mo had decided to pretend that she was still staying at this inn, she naturally could not be seen going back to the inn where the others were staying at. Otherwise, how would she explain the existence of two Yao Mo’s?
“That’s it! That’s what I’ve missed out!” Jun Xiaomo smacked her head as she promptly retrieved an Invisibility Talisman from her Interspatial Ring and slapped it on herself. The Invisibility Talisman immediately glowed with a blue light and enveloped Jun Xiaomo in its dazzling eruption of light. Then, as the blue light faded, Jun Xiaomo’s physical body also disappeared right in front of Ye Xiuwen’s eyes.
“Brother Ye, how is it? This Invisibility Talisman is not too bad, isn’t it?” The young man’s voice resounded in the empty room. If others witnessed the present scene, they would definitely think that something strange is going on.
Ye Xiuwen hooked is lips as he smiled wryly and said, “Mm, it’s not bad.”
“That’s right. I also think so.” Jun Xiaomo responded pridefully, causing Ye Xiuwen to once again cough into his fist to suppress the laughter welling up from within.
What’s with this young man’s personality – the similarity to little martial sister is uncanny! That talisman isn’t even drawn by him, so what’s he so proud about?
However, that’s where Ye Xiuwen had got it wrong. This talisman had in fact been drawn by Jun Xiaomo. She had prepared for herself several different types of talismans in preparation for situations exactly like this.
Of course, this Invisibility Talisman drawn by Jun Xiaomo was still of a rather low-grade. Therefore, the effective period of invisibility is still not too long. As for high-grade Invisibility Talismans, not only would the effective period of invisibility be extremely long, some of them could even mask a person’s voice and conceal his aura, achieving the effect of making a person vanish completely!
Under the effects of Jun Xiaomo’s present Invisibility Talisman, as long as a person was of the Golden Core stage of cultivation or higher, he would be able to discover her existence with one look from their eyes. After all, it was easy to conceal her physical appearances, but it was much more difficult to conceal her voice and aura. However, Ke Xinwen’s present cultivation was only at the twelfth level of Qi Mastery, and the Invisibility Talisman used by Jun Xiaomo was more than enough for her purposes. As long as Ke Xinwen was not alerted to the fact that Jun Xiaomo had followed Ye Xiuwen back to the inn, then there was no way their plan could go wrong.
“Alright, if everything is in order, then let’s depart.” Ye Xiuwen stood up as he spoke to the invisible Yao Mo.
“Alright. Ah, hang on. Let’s me slap a Noise-Cancelling Talisman on my little packrat. Otherwise, our cover would be blown if he even makes a peep of sound.” Jun Xiaomo explained as she retrieved another talisman from her Interspatial Ring.
Squeak squeak! Since the little packrat was hiding on Jun Xiaomo’s body, it had also become invisible. Therefore, Ye Xiuwen only heard the little packrat’s objections through his squeaks.
“Be good, don’t move around so much. It’s just one Noise-Cancelling Talisman. Once the coast is clear I’ll take it off for you, alright?” Jun Xiaomo a.s.sured Packie.
Squeak squeak squeak! Squeak squeak squeak! The little packrat’s objections became even more violent. However, just as Ye Xiuwen was about to ask Yao Mo whether he needed his own help or not, the little packrat’s squeaking suddenly disappeared, and there was once again silence in the room.
“Who knew that this little fella would despise the Noise-Cancelling Talisman so much, huh.” Jun Xiaomo chuckled as she said bemusedly. It took her some effort before she managed to finally slap on that Noise-Cancelling Talisman on her little packrat.
Ye Xiuwen had a feeling that this little packrat was somehow different from the others. It’s behaviour was too human-like. However, as an outsider, it was not really his place to make such comments either.
I’ll let these owner and pet duo continue to torment each other then.
As he thought about it, Ye Xiuwen stepped out of Jun Xiaomo’s room. After giving Jun Xiaomo some time to leave the room as well, he finally shut the door behind him.
“Dear guest, are you leaving already?” The floor attendant wore a smile on his face as he respectfully asked Ye Xiuwen.
“Mm, that’s right. Oh yes, and my friend is a little bit tired, so he’s gone to bed early. If he doesn’t call for any a.s.sistance, then don’t go in and disturb him.” Ye Xiuwen cautioned the attendant.
“Oh, oh. Alright. I understand, I understand.” The attendant hastily nodded his head.
“Alright, thanks very much.” Ye Xiuwen responded in a refined manner.
“No need, no need. It’s all in a day’s work. Please watch your step as you leave, dear guest…”
The attendant bowed respectfully to Ye Xiuwen once more as he admired Ye Xiuwen’s dignified air about him, deducing that he must be from an aristocratic family. How he wished that he got more guests like this, rather than the usual riff-raff off the streets – then he would not be subject to their usual hollering and demands.
Ye Xiuwen turned around and walked down the stairs, and invisible Jun Xiaomo followed closely behind him.
These two inns were not located too far from each other, and Ye Xiuwen managed to return to his own inn in no time.
At their inn’s great hall, Ye Xiuwen once again met with Qin Lingyu, Ke Xinwen and the other disciples. They were currently huddled together as though they intended to go out again.
But that was only to be expected. After all, Jun Xiaomo had spent more than two hours’ worth of time setting up the various formation arrays in her room, and this was more than enough time for the other disciples to have had their afternoon nap.
“Brother Ye, you’re back. Eh? What about that brother Yao?” One of the other disciples noticed Ye Xiuwen return to the inn alone, and he immediately greeted and inquired of Ye Xiuwen.
“This inn has no more guest rooms available, so I’ve sent him over to another inn. He’s a bit tired from today, so he’s retired for the day and did not come back with me.” Ye Xiuwen explained calmly. Even though he was clearly lying, no one around could tell from the way he spoke.
After all, under the direction of Peakmaster Jun Linxuan, the disciples of Heavenly Peak were all known to be righteous cultivation fanatics who were simple-minded. Who would have thought that under the right circ.u.mstances, Ye Xiuwen would be able to tell a white lie without even batting an eyelid?
“It’s good that he didn’t come back with you. Then we won’t need to bother ourselves with this burden of an array master.” Another straight-talking disciple scorned, evidently annoyed by the way Yao Mo had acted earlier.
Truth be told, among all the Dawn Sect disciples who were present, none of them respected this array master Yao Mo. They all felt that his cultivation level was too low, and allowing him to follow them would be tantamount to accepting a burden.
Furthermore, the martial sister they were all fond of, Yu Wanrou, had even expressed her strong interest in this Yao Mo character, and this further catalyzed their contempt for him.
Yet Ye Xiuwen completely ignored the expressions of these disciples as he calmly added, “Tomorrow, Yao Mo will be leaving and travelling with us.”
“What?! Why do we have to bring him along?” Several disciples looked at Ye Xiuwen with a face of astonishment, especially those disciples who were fond of Yu Wanrou who looked like they were all ready to protest.
They had thought that Yao Mo was only going to join them for a meal, and then they were going to part ways from there. Who knew that their martial brother Ye had actually intended to bring that array master at the first level of Qi Mastery into his own team!
After all, this entourage would be braving the wilderness and their journey would be fraught with many dangers, so how would they have the time and capacity to look after this piece of trash at the first level of Qi Mastery?
“This was my decision when I had brought him back with us. As for his being a burden…” As Ye Xiuwen glanced over at the group of disciples who were ready to protest, he articulated each and every one of his words clearly with emphasis, “I can a.s.sure each of you, he will not be a burden to us at all.”
All this while, Jun Xiaomo stood at the side observing their interactions silently. When Ye Xiuwen stood up for her without any hesitation, she could not help but smile warmly to herself.
She had an unwavering trust in her martial brother, so why wouldn’t her martial brother place some form of trust in her as well? This was despite the fact that she was now interacting with her martial brother as a complete “stranger”.
Perhaps this could also be considered a tacit approval between martial brother and sister. Jun Xiaomo thought to herself as she grinned with her eyes.
Most of these disciples were still rather reverent of their martial brother Ye Xiuwen. This was not because Ye Xiuwen had a fierce and imposing air about him, but rather because Ye Xiuwen had always carried himself in a respectable, dignified manner. Furthermore, Ye Xiuwen’s somber and serious personality made the other disciples instinctively shun him. Therefore, these disciples were all reticent to directly refute what he had said.
Especially in times like these, when Ye Xiuwen had made his intentions patently clear, the other disciples did not dare to speak up against him even if they did not believe what Ye Xiuwen had said.
On the other hand, Qin Lingyu and Ke Xinwen did not fear Ye Xiuwen as much. But they absolutely did not consider Yao Mo to be any form of threat or burden to them.
After all, this were merely an array master at the first level of Qi Mastery. If it turns out that he did drag down the entourage, then all they had to do was to toss him aside in the wilderness to fend for himself. This was Qin Lingyu’s thoughts right now, but he revealed none of it on his cold and suave look on his face.
As for Ke Xinwen, he had never intended for Jun Xiaomo to live to see the light of another day. Ye Xiuwen’s decision naturally did not mean too much to him.
With everyone brooding over their own thoughts, the atmosphere between these disciples momentarily became thick and stifling.
Then, Yu Wanrou suddenly stood up and enthusiastically and warmly suggested, “Actually, meeting each other in these circ.u.mstances is also a kind of fate, so why bother about matters of whether he is a burden or not, right? It’s only a pity that brother Yao doesn’t have the time to join us this afternoon. We intend to go over to the other market in town to see if they have the supplies we need for the next leg of our journey.”
Even though they had gone to the eastern market in town for the entire morning, most of their purchases had been some exquisite-looking but practically useless trinkets, or some insignificant cultivation books. Just a little while ago, their attendant informed them that the western market sold talismans, herbs, medicine and other necessities. Therefore, they had decided to spend the afternoon at the western market, taking a look at their wares and buying what was necessary.
“Brother Ye, do you want to come along with us?” Yu Wanrou asked softly as she gazed coquettishly at Ye Xiuwen as though she were hinting at something.
Jun Xiaomo almost choked as though she had swallowed a fly – Yu Wanrou was so well-practiced in her seduction tactics that these expressions had already become habitual to her. She could even make such an expression at Ye Xiuwen even though she clearly took no interest in him!
However, it couldn’t be helped that there were so many male disciples who liked such coquettish looks from Yu Wanrou. Of course, these did not include Ye Xiuwen.
Ye Xiuwen calmly rejected, “I’m sorry. I’m feeling a little bit tired today and I’d like to return to my room early to rest. You may go without me.”
“I see. Then alright. Martial brother, have a good rest. We’ll be departing early tomorrow morning.” Yu Wanrou continued considerately.
“Mm, alright. I hope you guys have fun too.” As Ye Xiuwen finished, he nodded indifferently to the others, and then headed straight to his room.
Ye Xiuwen’s indifference did not attract Yu Wanrou’s ire, because she had long been aware that Ye Xiuwen was a disfigured person, and the male disciples with unappealing looks naturally fell outside the scope of Yu Wanrou’s considerations.
However, even though Ye Xiuwen’s indifference did not attract Yu Wanrou’s ire, it did not mean that the other disciples did not mind his att.i.tude either. While they did not dare to express their displeasure in front of Ye Xiuwen, that did not prevent them from speaking about him behind his back – some said that Ye Xiuwen acted on his own and brought an addition to the team without caring about what others thought; while other said that Ye Xiuwen’s att.i.tude was too cold and did not hang out with the others enough; and yet others said that Ye Xiuwen was arrogant and aloof…
As they listened to the complaints of these other disciples, Qin Lingyu’s eyes glimmered with a meaningful gaze; while Ke Xinwen mocked in his heart –
So what if you have strong abilities? If you don’t maintain good relations, n.o.body would care if you die outside the Sect…