Chapter 284: Ye Xiuwen Falls into An Illusion

Translator: Minotauruz

Amidst the roiling white fog, Ye Xiuwen released his divine sense and walked forward silently and gingerly.

Visibility was so bad that he was unable to even see the fingers on his own outstretched arm. The surroundings were deathly silent – there were no sounds of rustling leaves with the wind, and there was no chirping of the crickets or cooing of the birds. In fact, one could hardly even hear his own footsteps in this peculiar place.

Ye Xiuwen knew that he had undoubtedly already entered the domain of the Dawn Sect’s protective formation array. That said, his understanding of formation arrays was limited, and he did not know exactly what awaited him within the formation array.

Then, the white fog gradually dissipated, and an exit seemed to open up ahead of him. Thus, Ye Xiuwen began to walk through the opening. An intense bright light shone, and he discovered that he had just been transported to a rather familiar place.

This is...

“Martial brother Ye!” A clear, crisp voice rang out from behind. Ye Xiuwen immediately turned around ferociously and saw a lady dressed in a faint pink skirt skipping into his scope of vision.

“Xiaomo...?” Ye Xiuwen’s pupils constricted as he transfixed his gaze on the lady.

“Martial brother Ye, what’s the matter? Why do you appear so shocked to see me?” The lady in pink stretched out her hand and waved it about in front of him.

He immediately grabbed hold of her wrist. Intense emotions could be seen roiling ferociously in the depths of his eyes, as though they were slowly escalating into a massive hurricane.

“You’re Xiaomo?!” Ye Xiuwen barked, spitting out each syllable with a complex gaze in his eyes. There was no longer any coolness or placidity to his voice. Rather, it seemed very much like he was suppressing something within him.

“Ow...martial brother, you’re using too much strength. It hurts.” The lady in pink pouted her lips and furrowed her brows with a slight measure of displeasure.

Ye Xiuwen’s eyes flickered, before he slowly loosened his grip around her wrist.

As soon as Ye Xiuwen let go of her wrist, the lady in pink began to rub the parts that had already begun to turn red. As she rubbed her wrist, she began to mutter under her breath, “Martial brother Ye, you’re kinda strange today...”

Ye Xiuwen’s gaze remained deep and abstruse. He took one step forward, before placing his palm gently on the lady’s head, just as he had done so many times in the past.

The lady in pink lifted her head and stared back at him with some measure of bewilderment in her eyes. Then, almost as though she had thought of something, she smiled radiantly at Ye Xiuwen, “Martial brother Ye, you must’ve been too excited because you’ve not seen me for far too long, isn’t it?”

Her bubbly eyes glistened faintly in the warm radiance of the sunlight, making them seem like the brightest of stars scattered throughout the night sky. As Ye Xiuwen gazed into her eyes, he was momentarily dazzled by the brilliance of her expression.

Ye Xiuwen grimaced as he refocused his eyes. Then, slowly, his gaze shifted down the lady’s tender, white cheeks and paused on the luscious pink lips.

His heartstrings twinged lightly as he continued to gaze at her. Then, his long arm slid down from the top of the lady’s head, following the lines of her beautiful cheeks, until he finally stopped at where her lips were.

Almost as though he was completely enthralled, Ye Xiuwen bent over and motioned towards the lady in pink.

The lady’s fair cheeks began to flush with a gentle red hue. She stretched out her hands and grabbed tightly onto Ye Xiuwen’s clothes, but she did not push him away.

Then, as Ye Xiuwen gradually drew closer, she fluttered her long, beautiful eyelashes at him with some measure of bashfulness.

Finally, when Ye Xiuwen’s breath were but a few centimeters away from the lady, he suddenly paused. She could already feel the warm breath from his nostrils on her face.

“Even though you look a lot like her, you’re still nothing more than an illusion. You’ll never be able to replace the real her.”

As Ye Xiuwen’s voice resounded in her ears, the lady in red widened her eyes in astonishment. She looked back up, straight into Ye Xiuwen’s eyes.

Ye Xiuwen backed away from the lady in pink once more. He smiled at her again. However, there was some measure of bitter astringency lacing his smile this time, “If she were still alive, she would no longer be merely fifteen or sixteen years-old anymore.”

In fact, he had already known from the onset that the lady who had appeared were nothing more than an illusion. However, despite knowing that truth, he had still been unable to repress the urge to get closer to her.

As soon as Ye Xiuwen’s voice echoed out, the tactile sensation on his hand suddenly vanished, and the image of the lady in pink began to blur and fade into the surroundings.

Gradually, his surroundings were enshrouded with the white fog once more, and Ye Xiuwen’s gaze began to be obscured and blurred by the fog...

“Strange. Why hasn’t he woken up yet? I’ve already let him sniff the essence of the Soul-Awakening Grass a few times...” A voice muttered to herself beside Ye Xiuwen’s body.

Then, with a groan, Ye Xiuwen began to come to as he slowly opened his eyes once more.

“Eh? You’re finally awake...” A blurry figure entered the scope of his vision. It took him a few moments to regain sufficient clarity of mind to recognize the person staring back at him with wide eyes.

“Tong...Miss Tong?” Ye Xiuwen found it a little strange, because he noticed that the lady staring at her was squatting down. Then, it took him yet another few seconds to register the fact that he was lying on the ground. He didn’t even know when he had laid down on the ground like that!

“Hmph! I’ll say. I’ve told you to go on with the identity token I’d given you, yet you insist on coming back to look for me. See what happened to you? You were almost trapped forever in the protective formation array’s illusion earlier!” The pink-garbed “Qin Shanshan” muttered with disapprobation under her breath.

Ye Xiuwen curled his lips into a wry, weary smile as he responded, “It can’t be helped. I couldn’t just stand there and watch Miss Tong get trapped in the Sect’s protective formation array without doing anything either.”

“Alright, alright. I know you did this out of the goodness of your heart.” Jun Xiaomo pouted her lips as she flicked the Dogtail Straw in her hands. Then, her eyes gleamed as she waved it in front of Ye Xiuwen’s nose, “Do you have the strength to get up now?”

“Achoo...” Ye Xiuwen let out a small sneeze. He felt rather exasperated by “Qin Shanshan’s” childish, impish behaviour. However, when he looked straight back at her, he could only see a pleased look in her eyes.

With a lighthearted chuckle, Ye Xiuwen discovered that the earlier sullenness accompanying the illusion he had just seen had dissipated quite substantially. Then, when his strength began to return to his body, he clambered up to his feet and massaged his limbs as he patted the grass and dirt off his body, “I’m thinking, given Miss Tong’s proficiency with formation arrays, you must know what we’ve got to do to leave this formation array, right?”

The surroundings still appeared to be rather peculiar, so Ye Xiuwen was almost certain that they were still trapped within the domain of the Sect’s protective formation array right now.

“Hmph! Of course I do! How can such a simple formation array confound me?” Jun Xiaomo raised her chin and boasted pridefully.

Ye Xiuwen chuckled at her amusing expression, and he curled his lips into a smile as he shook his head helplessly.

On the other hand, Jun Xiaomo stretched herself and immediately stood up, but her legs buckled slightly. “Ahh!” She cried as she lost her balance and fell forward.

Fortunately, Ye Xiuwen stretched out his arm and caught her with his quick reflexes.

In that moment, Jun Xiaomo could feel that she had been enveloped by a cool, refreshing aura. In turn, this aura was something that seemed incredibly familiar to her.

She suddenly grabbed hold of Ye Xiuwen’s sleeves. Her pupils flickered vigorously, and she almost let slip a reflexive question that had arisen in the heat of the moment – Are you martial brother Ye?

“What’s the matter?” A voice called out from above Jun Xiaomo’s head, breaking her train of thought and jolting her back to her senses.

In the very next moment, she remembered that she still had duties and responsibilities to fulfil right now. In any event, there was no rush if she really wanted to determine his true identity. After all, there was still the agreement with Jun Ziwen. On the other hand, if she failed to accurately guess his identity and instead disclosed her own through her insipid questions instead, she might risk jeopardizing her plans to rescue the Heavenly Peak martial brothers of hers.

Thus, she fervently suppressed the urge to blurt out the question for Jun Ziwen, shook her head and responded, “Nothing much. I’d just been squatting down for too long, and my legs are numb.”

Ye Xiuwen furrowed his brows. For a moment there, he was almost certain that “Qin Shanshan’s” spirits had dipped substantially.

“Do you need to take a rest before we continue on our way?” Ye Xiuwen lent Jun Xiaomo a hand as he asked softly.

With her head hung low, Jun Xiaomo shook her head somewhat listlessly.

“What’s the matter?” Ye Xiuwen warmly asked, wondering why her spirits had fallen so much.

Once more, it occurred to Jun Xiaomo that when this man in front of her softened his tone of voice and laced it with some measure of warmth, his disposition and aura became an almost exact replica of her martial brother Ye’s...

She bit down on her lower lips as she furiously suppressed the chaotic thoughts wreaking havoc in her mind. Then, she looked back up with a grimace as she muttered, “It’s nothing much. Time’s of the essence. We should be on our way...”

Ye Xiuwen understood that the real cause was tied to something that she could not speak of just yet. Or perhaps, something which had occurred earlier was tugging at her heartstrings right now.

“Alright. If you’re really upset about something, you can consider speaking about it as well.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo’s shoulder. He discovered that he had a soft spot for this lady who seemed rather similar to his little martial sister.

Jun Xiaomo nodded her head. Then, suddenly, her spirits perked up once more as she furrowed her brows, “Somebody’s nearby.”

“Who?”

“Shh...” Jun Xiaomo put her finger to her lips as she softened her voice, “It should be Qin Lingyu. I’d almost forgotten about him.”

“He’s here as well? I presume he’s here to look for Qin Shanshan, right?”

“That should be the case. But I do find it strange. I don’t think he bears such deep feelings of concern for his sister. Why would he do so much to ascertain that Qin Shanshan is alive?” Jun Xiaomo remarked with disdain.

“Perhaps it’s just because they’re brothers and sisters.” Ye Xiuwen shrugged.

“No, brother Jun, you don’t understand Qin Lingyu. Apart from himself, there’s nothing else in his heart that’s worth his time and efforts. The day that he develops affection for his kin is the day that the sun rises from the west.” Jun Xiaomo refuted contemptuously.

Ye Xiuwen was slightly taken aback by Jun Xiaomo’s harsh comments, and a trace of perplexity arose in his heart.

“You...seem to hate Qin Lingyu?”

“Hate? I wouldn’t say that. He’s an inconsequential person to me. At best, you can say I dislike him very much.” Jun Xiaomo explicated with a frigid expression. She seemed a completely different person than before.

“Inconsequential person huh...but...it seems like you’re rather familiar with him?” Ye Xiuwen turned around and looked at Jun Xiaomo.

Jun Xiaomo glanced back at Ye Xiuwen’s inquisitive gaze as she shrugged it off, “I’ve done my research on him. Can’t I?”

“Is that so...” Ye Xiuwen smiled to himself, but he knew better than to press the issue.

“Shh...soften your voice. He’s coming over.” Jun Xiaomo did a shushing gesture once more. At the same time, Ye Xiuwen released his divine sense, and he also discovered Qin Lingyu’s approach.

Jun Xiaomo glanced about at the surroundings, before she suddenly pointed towards the tallest tree nearby as she quipped, “You’re a wind-based spiritual cultivator, right? Are you able to fly up there?”

Ye Xiuwen nodded his head, “I could do that. Why do you ask?”

Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows. A mischievous glint could be seen in her eyes as she responded, “Take me along and fly up there. Then, we’ll perch at the highest point and watch a good show.”

“A good show?” Ye Xiuwen paused for a few moments, before he chuckled lightheartedly, “Alright.”

As he finished speaking, he put his arm around Jun Xiaomo’s shoulder and flew up to the highest branch of the tallest tree nearby.

Thus, as Qin Lingyu followed “Qin Shanshan’s” residual aura and finally arrived at the spot that Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen had been just moments ago, he was greeted by nothing more than a bunch of dried leaves on the ground...together with the “welcoming gift’ that Jun Xiaomo had prepared for him.