Chapter 135: The One Who Broke the Marriage Arrangement

Translator: Minotauruz

Jun Xiaomo returned a frigid gaze back at Qin Lingyu. One could see traces of Yao Mo’s disposition on Jun Xiaomo’s look of wariness right now.

Qin Lingyu took a few steps forward. Jun Xiaomo immediately turned her body around, stepping in front of Ye Xiuwen and shielding him behind her back.

This was a protective posture. Whenever Yao Mo and Ye Xiuwen had battled together against enemies in the past, they had developed a tacit understanding to entrust their backs to each other as they fended off the attacks for one another. It was the same right now. Jun Xiaomo stood in front of Ye Xiuwen as though it had become second nature to her.

When the other Dawn Sect disciples saw this previously, they had cast looks of admiration towards them, applauding them for the level of trust that Yao Mo and Ye Xiuwen could have for each other. This was something that could only be done on a subconscious level when they had fully let down their guard around each other. This was something that the Dawn Sect disciples were evidently unable to do around each other. After all, when faced with the temptations of profits and the risk of their lives, they would invariably choose to sacrifice their companions for their own gains.

But now that Yao Mo had turned into Jun Xiaomo, the disciples once again reassessed at the interaction between Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen with some measure of suspicion. The disciples looked straight at Qin Lingyu with all types of expressions – pity, delight in Qin Lingyu’s misery, or even with interest as the drama unfolded.

Then, their thoughts shifted to the period of time that Yao Mo and Ye Xiuwen had resided together and partaken of meals with each other, and none of them could help but wonder to what extent Qin Lingyu had been made into a cuckold right now – after all, all of this was done under Qin Lingyu’s very own watchful eyes!

And if these thoughts had crossed the minds of the other disciples, how could they not have crossed Qin Lingyu’s mind either? The bulging veins on his forehead throbbed violently as he forcibly eked out a stiff smile. Then, with gritted teeth, he articulated his words fervently, “What do I think? I can only say this – Jun Xiaomo, you’re truly capable. We’ve not seen each other in such a long time, and yet when you finally see me, this is the kind surprise you give me, hmm?”

Jun Xiaomo curled her fingers around a bunch of hair hanging down the side of her face as she responded wryly, “It can’t be considered a very ‘long time’, can it? I mean, didn’t martial brother Qin lead the other Dawn Sect disciples in a fervent pursuit for the lives of martial brother Ye and I just a few days ago? If you want to talk about a ‘surprise’, wouldn’t you say that attempted murder of a fellow disciple is almost certainly a greater surprise? I wonder how the Sect Elders are going to punish you when they hear about this. You know, I’m truly worried for you.”

Even though Jun Xiaomo mentioned that she was “worried”, a smirk had in fact crept up her face when she said it. She was evidently filled with anticipation rather than worry.

Qin Lingyu swept a cold gaze back at Jun Xiaomo before he coldly refuted, “Xiaomo had better worry for herself first. The Inferno Kingdom’s first prince is a demonic cultivator. The Sect Elders have already been alerted to the fact that you and martial brother Ye are colluding with a demonic cultivator. Who knows – they might be on their way to capture you right this moment!”

Qin Lingyu had earlier allowed Ke Xinwen to report this news to the Sect so that he could leave himself some room for manoeuvre in the case of any exigencies. But now that Jun Xiaomo had thoroughly provoked him, all of these considerations had gone straight out of the window. He was so incensed right now that his only wish was to see Jun Xiaomo squirm in anxiety and helplessness.

But his hopes were dashed by Jun Xiaomo’s reaction. Her facial expressions revealed that she hardly cared about these matters.

Jun Xiaomo lifted her head and locked eyes with Qin Lingyu as she craftily responded, “Martial brother Qin, you allege that the first prince is a demonic cultivator, but do you have any proof of this? If you don’t have any proof, then I would advise you not to make false allegations. Otherwise, you might be guilty of the charge of slander. Don’t you dare think for a moment that He Zhang will be able to protect you for the rest of your life!”

The moment that He Zhang becomes incapacitated like he did in my previous life, that’s when I will begin to deal with you properly! Jun Xiaomo silently added in her heart as she continued to stare coldly at Qin Lingyu.

“Enough! Martial sister Jun, can the name of our Sect Leader be thrown around by you so casually like that? You’ve truly become no different from a demonic cultivator!” One of the disciples beat his breast indignantly as he decried. He acted as though a person’s reasonableness was commensurate with the volume of his voice.

However, even this disciple knew that he could not say for sure whether the first prince was indeed a demonic cultivator or not. After all, this was only something that the Grand Vizier had alleged, and the Dawn Sect disciples had never seen it with their own eyes.

What if this were nothing more than a ploy that the Grand Vizier had hatched so that we would agree to kill their martial brother Ye and the rest?

As his thoughts turned to how they had endorsed Ke Xinwen’s letter reporting this matter to the Sect, this disciple’s heart immediately swelled with unease and unrest.

This disciple was not the only one who thought this way. Several other disciples also shared this thought at this very moment. But they chose to remain taciturn and keep observing as matters unfurled.

Jun Xiaomo meaningfully curled her lips into a slight smirk as she swept her gaze over each any every disciple from Dawn Sect right now. As her gaze swept over each one of them, that disciple would feel their uneasiness amplified by magnitudes.

Jun Xiaomo was simply too unfazed and unflappable right now. Such a display of steadfastness on Jun Xiaomo’s part made them second guess the basis for their initial decision to hunt down Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen in the first place.

If the first prince was not a demonic cultivator, then there was absolutely no way that they would be able to shirk off the charge of attempted murder of their fellow disciple. With Qin Lingyu and Ke Xinwen’s esteemed statuses, one being the First-Seat Disciple of the Sect Leader and the other being the First-Sect Disciple of the Pill Cauldron Sect, perhaps nothing much might happen to them. It was as Jun Xiaomo had said, their masters would naturally do their best to protect them.

But the rest of the disciples were in a far greater predicament. It was quite likely that they would be made into scapegoats and excommunicated from the Sect.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Ke Xinwen had always hated Yao Mo and Ye Xiuwen. This hardly changed a bit when he learnt that Yao Mo was in fact Jun Xiaomo. Therefore, he continued to transfix his cold gaze on the two of them, like how a vicious, poisonous snake did as it prepared to strike at its enemies.

Yu Wanrou had also watched on silently at all these things. The fact that Jun Xiaomo would give up on her pursuit of Qin Lingyu should have given rise to immense pleasure on her part.

However, she was hardly pleased at this moment. She thought about how Qin Lingyu had seemed to neglect her throughout the entirety of these travels; while Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen had only develop a closer rapport with each other. Suddenly, she felt like a complete loser.

She had clung on so tightly to a person that even Jun Xiaomo did not relish. What was the point of it all?

What was more ludicrous was the fact that she had always thought about how Jun Xiaomo would be jealous of her. She had thought that as long as she won over Qin Lingyu to her side, then she would be able to sit on her high horse and look down at Jun Xiaomo as she wore that defeated expression on her face.

At this moment, Yu Wanrou subconsciously shifted her attention away from Jun Xiaomo and onto Ye Xiuwen’s body. It was only at this moment when she realized that Ye Xiuwen had already removed his veiled conical hat –

This was the first time that Yu Wanrou had seen Ye Xiuwen’s appearances without his veiled conical hat. She had often heard rumours about how Ye Xiuwen’s appearances had been ruined. But no matter how descriptive these rumours had been about that terrifying scar on Ye Xiuwen’s face, they did nothing to mitigate the impact of witnessing it for the first time.

That long, murky scar that ran across Ye Xiuwen’s face from the left side of his forehead to his right lower jaw ruined Ye Xiuwen’s appearances entirely. Demonic energy coursed slowly within the scar and threatened to seep out at the edges of the scar, creating shadows of movement under Ye Xiuwen’s skin as though the scar were a living thing. What was perhaps the most terrifying was the fact that the flesh surrounding the scar even seemed to be corroded by the incursion of demonic energy. It was a horrific, ghastly sight.

“Uhk...hurgh...” Yu Wanrou immediately covered her mouth and turned her head away.

Jun Xiaomo’s gaze had coincidentally just swept over Yu Wanrou. Therefore, she noticed that Yu Wanrou had retched at the sight of Ye Xiuwen. A sense of indignation swelled up in her heart immediately. Jun Xiaomo furrowed her brows and shouted, “Yu Wanrou! You’re looking for trouble!”

As she said that, she motioned to strike at Yu Wanrou!

Ye Xiuwen immediately held back Jun Xiaomo, preventing her from acting rashly. He patted her shoulders as he cajoled, “Martial brother is fine...don’t be angry...”

Ye Xiuwen could hardly care about how others viewed him. In fact, he could completely ignore the scar on his face as long as the people who mattered to him were able to look at him normally.

He was once again reminded about his encounter in the illusory world, where the counterfeit little martial sister of his looked at his face in terror and disgust. Ye Xiuwen’s eyes darkened, and he subconsciously tightened his grip around Jun Xiaomo’s shoulder.

Jun Xiaomo had not gotten used to the fact that she was no longer wearing that persona of Yao Mo any longer. Therefore, she hardly found her intimacy with her own martial brother strange. Yet the other disciples wore expressions of realization when they witnessed the interactions between Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen right now.

As expected, martial brother Qin has been made a cuckold. This was the unanimous thought among all the other disciples.

Qin Lingyu felt that his pride and reputation had been thoroughly trampled by vulgar woman before his eyes today. He wanted so much to tear apart that illicit couple and kill them in the cruelest way possible.

Qin Lingyu remained taciturn, but his vicious – almost diabolical – gaze revealed the ponderances of his heart.

Jun Xiaomo locked eyes with Qin Lingyu, and she understood what was running through his mind right now.

Then, a realization dawned upon her, and she suddenly found this entire situation rather laughable. In her previous life, Qin Lingyu had humored Jun Xiaomo on the surface while he actively tangled himself in bed with Yu Wanrou. Even then, he never once considered his own actions as a form of betrayal to Jun Xiaomo. But now, despite how things between her martial brother and her were still extremely kosher, Qin Lingyu had already sought to pin on her the charge of betraying their marriage agreement. Just what basis did he have for this!

Jun Xiaomo chuckled coldly as she remarked, “Qin Lingyu, don’t look at me with that kind of gaze. You know full well what you’ve done. Hmm? Have you already forgotten the ecstatic feeling of tussling with your martial sister Wanrou in bed?”

Jun Xiaomo’s remarks were incredibly explicit, causing the other Dawn Sect disciples to immediately reel with shock.

“What?! Martial brother Qin and martial sister Wanrou have already...?”

“It cannot be. We’ve never seen them behave intimately with each other.”

“Perhaps Jun Xiaomo is trying to pry our attention away from her with some baseless rumours?”

......

The disciples whispered and speculated among themselves, but none of them believed Jun Xiaomo’s allegations at this moment. After all, Qin Lingyu’s pretense had been so flawless that none of them could imagine something going on between Qin Lingyu and Yu Wanrou.

On the other hand, Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen had undeniably shared a bed before.

Naturally, Jun Xiaomo had been “Yao Mo” when all of that had happened.

When Qin Lingyu heard the discussions emanating from behind him, he smiled grimly as he replied Jun Xiaomo sarcastically, “How’s that, Jun Xiaomo? You’ve also heard what the others are saying, hmm? Are you finally clear on who’s betrayed who now? If you want to smear and tarnish the pure and innocent relationship between martial sister Wanrou and I, you’d better have some proof.”

Jun Xiaomo calmly nodded her head as she immediately rebutted, “Do you want proof? Fine.”

Qin Lingyu’s heart immediately shuddered, and a sense of unease swept over him.

Then, in the next moment, Jun Xiaomo retrieved a large formation diagram from her Interspatial Ring and tossed it to the ground. The formation diagram instantly unfurled itself in the open space between Jun Xiaomo and Qin Lingyu.

“Qin Lingyu, do you dare to resolve our dispute with a confrontation on the Authentication Array?” Jun Xiaomo raised her brows as she revealed a vicious grin on her face.

The Authentication Array. As long as a person standing on the heart of the formation array told a lie, that person would incite the wrath of the heavens and be punished by a wave of Threefold Empyrean Lightning.

By now, everyone had witnessed with their own eyes Yao Mo’s peculiar formation arrays and talismans. Thus, nobody suspected the veracity of the formation array laid out on the ground right now.

Most importantly, Qin Lingyu had never expected Jun Xiaomo to resort to such tactics. He was completely frozen in shock.