Chapter 319: Jun Xiaomo’s “Brilliance”

Translator: Minotauruz

Zhang Shuyue had initially intended to strike fear in the hearts of Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen by revealing the fact that they were currently being persecuted, just so that they would remain at the valley and not leave for fear of persecution. However, after brooding over it for a little while longer, she discovered that this method might not necessarily work as well as she had hoped. After all, she was the only person in the valley right now. Her life might well be at risk if she attracted the ire of the Heavenly Peak disciples in any way.

This was particularly so with Jun Xiaomo, who evidently couldn’t see eye to eye with her. After all, if Jun Xiaomo embellished her story to her martial brothers and presented herself as the party who was being bullied, there was a good chance that the Heavenly Peak disciples would all direct their anger straight towards Zhang Shuyue.

Thus, Zhang Shuyue revisited the drawing board and thought for a long time, before she finally came up with a far more effective plan.

Her lips curled into a wicked smile, and a gleam flashed in the depths of her eyes.

The sun was already shining brightly on the lands. Approximately one hour had already passed since Zhang Shuyue returned crying to her room. She adjusted her clothes and composed herself. When she was finally certain that she appeared completely fine, Zhang Shuyue plastered a warm smile on her face and made her way out of her room once more.

Her destination was not Ye Xiuwen’s courtyard this time; instead, it was where the other Heavenly Peak disciples were residing.

“Brother Zhou, are you guys heading out so early again?” Zhang Shuyue called out to another one of the Heavenly Peak disciples.

Zhou Zilong was just about to head out with another two Heavenly Peak disciples when he saw Zhang Shuyue walking towards them. He smiled brightly as he responded, “That’s right. Martial Sister Xiaomo has already regained consciousness yesterday. She’s just tided over the most difficult phase of recovery from her grievous injuries, and her body must be incredibly weak right now. That’s why we’re thinking of heading out to buy some herbs and tonics to nourish her body a little bit.”

Zhou Zilong’s abilities ranked among the top five of all of Jun Linxuan’s disciples. He was one of the archetypical disciples under Jun Linxuan’s charge, possessing a straightforward and forthcoming character, while his heart remained completely free of schemes and ploys.

“Sister Xiaomo is really blessed to have such caring martial brothers watching over her.” Zhang Shuyue exclaimed aloud. Then, she lowered her head slightly, “It’s a pity that I’ve got neither any older martial siblings nor martial brothers...”

It was a fact that Zhang Shuyue did not have any martial brothers. But this was simply due to the fact that Xiang Guqing had never been willing to accept male disciples. However, to those who were unaware of this fact, Zhang Shuyue appeared to be envious of the fact that Jun Xiaomo had others who doted on her, while she was relegated to guarding the valley all by herself.

Zhou Zilong scratched his head with some measure of distress as he quipped, “Actually, it’s because Martial Sister Xiaomo has been really good to us as well. If not for her, we’d all be dead by now.”

Zhang Shuyue cursed with bitter resentment in her heart – I didn’t expect that. Did Jun Xiaomo really rescue their lives before? I’d still thought that Jun Xiaomo was just an unruly and wild little brat that doesn’t know any better.

If Jun Xiaomo was simply just an unruly and brash lady that she had thought, it wouldn’t take as much on her part to create a rift dividing Jun Xiaomo from her Heavenly Peak martial brothers. But if her martial brothers owed Jun Xiaomo a debt of gratitude for saving their lives, things were going to be far more difficult for Zhang Shuyue.

That said, Zhang Shuyue had only just begun to carry out her plans, and she would never be able to live it down if she were to simply give up now without attempting anything more. Thus, she gritted her teeth and resolved to power on.

Zhang Shuyue smiled gracefully towards Zhou Zilong and the other disciples once more, “Seems like Sister Xiaomo is just a really endearing person through and through, isn’t she? When I visited her yesterday and saw her pale face that was drained of the colour of blood, my heart broke. How about this, I’ve got some time to spare today as well. Shall I accompany Brother Zhou and the rest out for a walk to see if there’s anything good to buy back for Sister Xiaomo?”

“Wouldn’t this be too much trouble for Miss Zhang? We’re aware of the path out of this valley too.” Feeling sorry for inconveniencing Zhang Shuyue, Zhou Zilong rejected her suggestion politely.

“Don’t worry about it at all. After all, Sister Xiaomo isn’t only your martial sister; she’s also Brother Ye’s martial sister.” As she finished speaking, her face flushed slightly with some pink hues, and she lowered her head bashfully.

So she’s doing all of this for Martial Brother Ye... Realization dawned on all of their hearts at the same time, and they all felt as though they had grasped the truth of the matter.

From what we can tell, Miss Zhang must like Martial Brother Ye very much, doesn’t she? Sigh, I pity Little Martial Sister. I think she likes Martial Brother Ye as well.

The small group of Heavenly Peak disciples couldn’t help but sigh in their hearts for Jun Xiaomo’s plight. To their minds, they had already assumed that Zhang Shuyue and Ye Xiuwen had already confessed their feelings for each other by now.

“Since that’s the case, then we’ll have to thank Miss Zhang on behalf of our Little Martial Sister for now.” Zhou Zilong sincerely thanked her from the bottom of his heart.

“No need for thanks! I’m very happy to be able to do something for Sister Xiaomo as well.” Zhang Shuyue revealed a faint smile on her face, yet her heart was cursing and swearing at Jun Xiaomo hatefully!

Thus, Zhang Shuyue and Zhou Zilong headed out of the valley with some other martial brothers, and into the trap that Zhang Shuyue had carefully laid out for them.

On the other side, after a verbal tussle with Zhang Shuyue at the break of dawn, Jun Xiaomo returned back to the room and fell straight back into a deep slumber.

Perhaps it was the release accompanying the assurance that she had finally disposed of something that had been weighing on her mind for the longest time, but Jun Xiaomo slept unbelievable well and comfortably this time. In fact, she slept so soundly that she slept through the most part of the morning, and only woke up closer to lunch-time.

“Ungh...I think I’ve never slept like that for the longest time.” Jun Xiaomo stretched lazily as she exclaimed.

A cool, deep chuckle echoed from the side, “Seems like the last few days of sleep still hasn’t been enough, huh?”

Jun Xiaomo’s body stiffened slightly as she turned her head to where the voice came from. There, she saw Ye Xiuwen seated by the tableside, sipping at a cup of tea leisurely as he teased her with a gentle yet mischievous smile on his face.

“Cough.” Jun Xiaomo coughed dryly, and she immediately retracted her arms from mid-stretch, concealing her earlier lazy disposition as she responded, “You can’t blame me either. I’d been in a state of comatose due to my grievous injuries. That can’t be considered proper sleep!”

“Alright, that’s not counted as proper sleep. It can only be considered passing out.” Ye Xiuwen chuckled as he went along with the flow, “It’s such a pity. Martial Brother was still thinking that you might find this bed particularly nice to sleep in.

It was only at this mention that Jun Xiaomo recalled how this bed was not exactly hers. Put differently, she had completely taken over Ye Xiuwen’s bed for the entirety of the last night plus the better part of the morning. Given what she had done, perhaps her martial brother might not even have had a place to sleep for the last night.

Slightly embarrassed, Jun Xiaomo rubbed her nose as quipped awkwardly, “Erm, actually...Martial Brother could have just carried me back to my room too...”

Ye Xiuwen raised his eyebrows curiously, before his smile deepened. However, he consciously refrained from discussing this matter any further.

“Alright, it’s not getting any earlier. Go get yourself washed up, and we can head out. We won’t want to keep the other martial brothers waiting.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo’s head as he tactfully changed the topic.

“Mm, mm. Alright.” Jun Xiaomo nodded her head and she clambered out of bed in a hurry. Yet in her haste, her legs got caught in her blanket, and she fell from the bed.

Fortunately, Ye Xiuwen was able to catch her in time. Thus, Jun Xiaomo fell straight into Ye Xiuwen’s bosom, causing Ye Xiuwen to let out a pained groan.

It couldn’t be helped – Ye Xiuwen had not fully recovered from his injuries. Now that Jun Xiaomo had bumped straight into his bosom where some of the injuries were located, how could Ye Xiuwen not wince in pain?

Jun Xiaomo immediately apologized, “I’m sorry! Martial Brother, did I aggravate your injuries?” As she spoke, she scrambled to do all she could to clamber back up from Ye Xiuwen’s bosom.

Ye Xiuwen didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry as he tousled her hair, quipping, “And to think you’ve trained diligently in the Proving Ground for over three hundred years. How can you still be so clumsy after all that? And given how you’re scrambling about right now, are you just looking to trip and fall again?”

Jun Xiaomo finally stopped scrambling about, and she stuck out her tongue and lifted her head once more, “It’s not like I want to trip and fall and be so clumsy. It’s just that for some strange reason, my idiocy seems to take over my mind whenever I’m in front of Martial Brother.”

As he gazed at Jun Xiaomo’s eyes gleam brightly as she unabashedly claimed to have been overcome with her own idiocy, Ye Xiuwen’s heartstring were moved once more. In the next moment, he embraced Jun Xiaomo around her waist, lowered his head slightly, causing his gaze to become deep and abstruse, and then he lifted his hand to caress Jun Xiaomo’s face.

Jun Xiaomo was still completely oblivious to Ye Xiuwen’s intentions, and she was still laughing at herself in a self-deprecating manner.

Silly little girl... Ye Xiuwen sighed lightly, before immediately planting a kiss on Jun Xiaomo’s lips. Then, he released Jun Xiaomo and patted her head, “Let’s go. Don’t let the other martial brothers wait for too long.” As he finished speaking, he immediately walked out of the door to his room.

Jun Xiaomo’s eyes instantly widened as she stared vacantly at Ye Xiuwen’s back as he left the room. After a long time, her heart began to thump quicker and quicker –

This...is this really the cold, distant Martial Brother I once knew? What...what kind of a sneak attack was that?!

That said, even though her mind was complaining about Ye Xiuwen’s actions, the true reaction of her heart was ostensibly revealed through the redness of her face right now.

On the other side of the door, Ye Xiuwen chuckled lightheartedly to himself.

Since his Little Martial Sister was so slow to react to the situation, then all he had to do was to make up for it by being slightly more active – this was the conclusion that Ye Xiuwen had come to after dallying for so long and missing out on so many opportunities in the past.

After all, there was a good possibility that their relationship would forever remain as nothing more than that between mere martial siblings if he were going to wait for Jun Xiaomo to take up the mantle as the active one.

Jun Xiaomo was unaware that she was already being led by the nose by Ye Xiuwen’s actions. She patted on her red, flushed cheeks as she hurriedly ran forward, catching up to Ye Xiuwen. Then, shoulder-to-shoulder, they made their way towards the dining hall.

It was already about time for lunch, yet Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen had not appeared in the dining hall yet. Thus, the other martial brothers who were all already waiting at the dining hall couldn’t help but consider sending people to call upon the two of them.

Just as they were hesitating and deliberating further, Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo appeared on the horizon at the same time. In fact, what was most astonishing was how Jun Xiaomo even appeared to be linking arms with Ye Xiuwen as they both made their way over to the dining hall!

“What’s the matter? Is there something on my face?” Jun Xiaomo released Ye Xiuwen’s arm and rubbed her face in bewilderment.

Jun Xiaomo found it strange that all of her martial brothers appeared to be staring at her in astonishment. Was it very surprising to see her appearing at the dining hall to begin with? Could they be under the misimpression that she was still unconscious, and thus be astounded to see her awake and kicking right now?

It can’t be. Martial Brother Zhou and the rest had even visited me yesterday. Jun Xiaomo continued to process the situation as she glanced back at everyone with a perplexed gaze.

As Jun Xiaomo’s gaze swept across their bodies, her martial brothers couldn’t help but cough dryly. Then, one of the Heavenly Peak disciples asked awkwardly, “Martial Sister Xiaomo, why have you come together with Martial Brother Ye?”

He was not a gossipmonger to begin with. However, everyone had initially thought that Ye Xiuwen and Zhang Shuyue were already an item, only to discover now that their Little Martial Sister and their Martial Brother Ye appeared to be on even closer terms. Just what is going on?

Jun Xiaomo glanced back curiously as she responded innocently, “Is it strange that I’d come over together with Martial Brother Ye? I’d been sleeping in his room last night.”

Pfft! Several Heavenly Peak disciples spat out the tea in their mouths as though in a concerted fashion. One of the disciples even stared at Jun Xiaomo with great astonishment –

Martial Brother Ye and Martial Sister Xiaomo have already slept together?! They’re really too quick, aren’t they!!! Then what about Zhang Shuyue?

“Cough cough...” Ye Xiuwen coughed dryly into his fist as he fought hard to suppress the swelling bemusement in his heart.

He had previously already thought that Jun Xiaomo was slow to catch on, but who could have expected her to be this unbelievably “amazing” and “brilliant”?