Chapter 89: The Strong Prevails; Public Approval

Translator: Minotauruz

Everyone stared at the back of Di Yue’s large frame right now in shock. In an instant, the atmosphere around them became completely still and silent.

Qin Lingyu squinted his eyes and a deep sense of displeasure swelled up from the depths of his heart. He thought the same as the other – he was the one who had saved Di Yue. But seeing that Di Yue had suddenly thanked Ye Xiuwen when he awakened from his state of unconsciousness, Qin Lingyu felt a deep sense of indignance as though his efforts had been claimed by someone else.

Ye Xiuwen stood there, silent and expressionless. He was in fact the one who had saved Di Yue’s life, and he graciously accepted this sincere gesture of appreciation from Di Yue.

As the Dawn Sect disciples recovered from their earlier shock, they intended to demand an explanation from Di Yue. Unexpectedly, Di Yue continued to remain kneeling there, holding the position of his kowtow. Furthermore, no one could tell the expression on Di Yue’s face because he still had his head planted to the ground.

Yi Hong and Di Yue had always been part of Ye Xiuwen’s team, and they naturally interacted more with each other than anyone else. Therefore, Yi Hong walked over to Di Yue and patted him gently on the back, calling him, “Di Yue, Di Yue.”

But Di Yue did not respond.

Sensing that something was wrong, Yi Hong immediately lifted Di Yue’s head and looked at his face –

This fella! To think that he’d brace himself and run over to martial brother Ye’s to thank him, but then fainted in the midst of a kowtow due to his serious injuries!

The other disciples also noticed this. Yet even as they were rendered speechless by Di Yue’s actions, they were all the more curious as to how Ye Xiuwen had rescued Di Yue right now. Logically speaking, shouldn’t the person who saved Di Yue be martial brother Qin or Yao Mo? After all, Yao Mo was the one who had slain the Demonvine.

Their curiosity continued to tickle them to no end like the scrambling of a cat’s claws against a scratching post. It was insatiable, and they longed for Di Yue to once again regain his consciousness so that they could hear his account of the incident.

Ye Xiuwen sighed in his heart, before retrieving a recovery pill from his Interspatial Ring. Then, he placed it into Di Yue’s mouth, pressed an acupoint on Di Yue’s neck, and forced Di Yue to swallow the pill.

This medicinal pill was much better than the one which Qin Lingyu had fed to Di Yue, and it was much more effective at healing the severe injuries, even the internal injuries, sustained by Di Yue.

Naturally, Ye Xiuwen did not give him the best medicine he had with him. After all, his duty extended only to preserving Di Yue’s life, but not to the extent of charitably healing all of Di Yue’s injuries. Ye Xiuwen wasn’t a saint, and what he did was already better than what most people would have done for Di Yue in the circumstances. Besides, he and Di Yue were hardly more than acquaintances who had barely interacted with each other to begin with.

“Ah yes! It’s finally out!” The young man’s clear and crisp voice resounded from where the Demonvine had been, and his voice carried traces of joy and excitement with it. It was as though he had found a treasure!

That young man’s voice caught everyone’s attention, and they all looked over at Yao Mo’s direction. Then, they discovered that his entire body was covered in dirt right now, and this young man looked to be in a sorry state as he half-knelt on the ground, carrying fondly what looked to be a……root of a tree.

What disgusted them even more was how that root seemed to have innumerable blisters on them that looked almost like tumours of some sort. Worse, these blisters would pulsate and throb ever so frequently, as though they each contained a heart within them.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

My goodness! What on earth is that?! This was the immediate response in every single disciple’s minds right now. Furthermore, the two female cultivators, Zhong Ruolan and Yu Wanrou were even less fond of such things. They both instinctively retreated one step and covered their noses and mouths with their scarves, as though that would lessen the impact of that hideous looking root!

It was only at this moment that Jun Xiaomo discovered that she had attracted all sorts of responses from the disciples. She stood up and retrieved a large cloth sack from her Interspatial Ring. The cloth sack had a formation array drawn onto it. She stuffed the blistered Demonvine root into the cloth sack, before finally tying up the mouth of the bag.

Then, a blue light glowed brightly and faded away, and the formation array was now active. Yet to the eyes of the unlearned onlookers, there were no changes to the state of that cloth bag at all.

Jun Xiaomo gingerly patted the bloated cloth bag. Then, she stored the cloth bag back into her Interspatial Ring as she glanced over at the other disciples and remarked, “What kind of expression is that? Do you despise how this Demonvine’s root looks? Tsk. You’re all such daft and uneducated people. Don’t you know what kind of treasure this is?”

The disciples who had been called “daft and uneducated”: ……

Zhong Ruolan wasn’t the type of person who could rein in her emotions. She perceived that Jun Xiaomo’s provocative words had clearly labelled her as a daft and uneducated person as well. Thus, her emotions roiled, and she shrilly refuted, “If it’s such a treasure, then why haven’t any of us heard about it before? All of us here are clearly senior to you, so what basis do you have to speak off the cuff so arrogantly to us? Absurd!”

“Since you haven’t heard about it before, then how can you say that I’m speaking off the cuff and arrogantly?” Jun Xiaomo immediately rebuffed her with a lackadaisical tone, “Just because you’re senior to me in age, does that necessarily translate to knowing more than me? What kind of logic is that? I bet none of you even know what formation array I’d drawn on that cloth bag where I’d kept the Demonvine root, huh?”

Hearing this, Zhong Ruolan was momentarily rendered speechless. She couldn’t think of any way to substantiate her objections.

On the other hand, the other disciples did not have the intention to dispute Yao Mo’s allegations that they were “daft and uneducated” to begin with –

Even though they felt frustrated and indignant in their hearts, they had all learnt over the past few days of interaction with Yao Mo that they should never, ever, verbally contend with Yao Mo in a battle of wits. There was no way they could come out on top; and the only thing they would leave with was increased blood pressure, if not an aneurysm.

A meaningful look flashed across Qin Lingyu’s eyes as well. He was unable to determine what that blistered Demonvine root could be used for. But one thing he knew – if Yao Mo saw it as a treasure, then it had to be something good.

At this moment, it suddenly dawned on Qin Lingyu that this young man Yao Mo was becoming more and more mystifying and mysterious to him. Not only was his background and his identity shrouded in secrecy, even the things he knew about were completely unorthodox yet practical at the same time. It was absolutely peculiar.

At the same time, Yu Wanrou also found Yao Mo to be an increasingly complicated character. She deliberated for a moment, before deciding that she should make another attempt at seducing him.

She looked at Yao Mo softly and said, “Brother Yao, your talismans are incredibly impressive. Earlier, when the Demonvine rushed towards you and martial brother Ye, you applied a talisman on each of you, and the Demonvine immediately ceased to pursue you and martial brother Ye. I’m extremely curious as to what these talismans might be.”

Yu Wanrou knew that most men loved expressions of commendation and adoration from women, and she believed that Yao Mo would not be an exception to the norm either.

Unfortunately, how would she have known that Yao Mo was not a male cultivator to begin with? There was no way Yao Mo was going to fall prey to Yu Wanrou’s charms.

Jun Xiaomo played with the hair at the side of her head as she raised her eyebrows and asked inquisitively, “Does sister Yu really want to know?”

Yu Wanrou curled her lips into a shy smile and responded, “Of course. Furthermore, I think that it’s extremely impressive of brother Yao to have thought of such a solution. At the very least, this kind of thing never occurred to me at all.”

Jun Xiaomo smiled as she threw a bewildered look at Yu Wanrou. Just as Yu Wanrou was about to lower her head and put on a shy and embarrassed expression, Jun Xiaomo nonchalantly tapped on her chin as she quipped, “Why should I tell you, hmm? I don’t feel like telling you at all.”

Yu Wanrou: ……

The smile on Yu Wanrou’s face froze at this moment. It was this moment that Yu Wanrou finally realized that Yao Mo was simply toying with her feelings, and there was no way that Yao Mo would fall prey to her charms at all.

Hmph! It’s such a waste of my efforts! Yu Wanrou thought with a huff. This was the first time that her efforts had been foiled and thwarted so thoroughly.

Forget it. The extent of Yao Mo’s potential is still pretty much an unknown, even with these few small victories of his. Who knows if this fella’s victories aren’t more than mere coincidences?

Yu Wanrou refused to accept that her charms were unable to move a young fellow in his teens. Therefore, she decided to set aside her thoughts of seducing Yao Mo at this instant and shelf her thoughts to subdue Yao Mo for her own benefits.

On the other hand, Jun Xiaomo couldn’t care less about this group of people before her to begin with. If not for the fact that the Demonvine’s roots were an important element in crafting the cure for the scar on her martial brother Ye’s face, she wouldn’t even have bothered burning and razing that Demonvine to the ground.

The lives of Qin Lingyu and the others were completely outside the ambit of her consideration to begin with. In fact, it wouldn’t have been a bad thing if the Demonvine could have tormented them for just that little bit longer.

Rumble… Just at that moment, Jun Xiaomo’s stomach growled loudly. It had already been a long time since the last time they ate. After an arduous battle and a tumultuous breakthrough to the second level of Qi Mastery, her stomach had long since been devoid of any nutrients.

Jun Xiaomo immediately ignored all who were around as she minced over towards Ye Xiuwen’s side and fluttered her eyes at him, asking with puppy eyes, “Brother Ye, I’m hungry. Shall we go whip up something to eat?”

Despite the fact that this young man’s face was covered in dirt right now, his expressions made him seem like a little tabby cat. As a whole, an adorable tabby cat.

Ye Xiuwen looked at Jun Xiaomo comically as he wiped off the dirt on Jun Xiaomo’s cheeks with his thumb. Then, he patted Jun Xiaomo’s head as he responded, “Alright. You’ve just succeeded in your breakthrough as well, so you should have some food to replenish your body’s energy.”

As Ye Xiuwen’s thumb ran across her cheek, Jun Xiaomo felt that her cheeks seemed to experience a faint, burning sensation.

By now, the other disciples had already grown used to this type of interaction between the two of them. As a result, their originally awkward response had become far more diluted right now.

However, another thought crossed Qin Lingyu’s mind. He furrowed his eyebrows as he interjected, “It’s not clear whether there’s still any dangers residing within these woods. Perhaps it might be a better idea to eat only after we’ve left the woods.”

The other disciples found Qin Lingyu’s suggestions to be logical and reasonable, and they all nodded their heads enthusiastically in agreement.

Most importantly, they would be able to enter a small town once they left these woods, and they would no longer have to gnaw at these tasteless, dry rations any further. Therefore, they naturally would prefer Qin Lingyu’s suggestion to look for food only after they’ve left these woods.

Furthermore, if they ate in the woods, they would almost certainly be put through the misery of once again being able to witness Yao Mo’s culinary skills without being able to taste it. It was a torment on all three fronts of sight, smell and taste.

Jun Xiaomo glanced at everyone lazily as she responded grumpily, “Don’t you guys know that there wouldn’t be a single living thing left within a fifty-kilometer radius of where the Demonvine is located? So, what kind of dangers are you talking about?”

Hearing this, the disciples’ faces immediately turned red with fury, and then a sickly green as they thought about the prospects of having to experience Yao Mo’s culinary skills again. They realized that their own ignorance had become more apparent than ever since the day they had encountered Yao Mo.

They were truly ignorant of the fact that the Demonvine’s attack radius spanned fifty-kilometers wide.

At the same time, Qin Lingyu was displeased that Yao Mo seemed to be challenging his authority. Therefore, he continued, “It’s better to err on the side of caution. It would be disastrous if we encountered any further dangers right now.”

“Even if we encountered any additional forms of danger, wouldn’t our chances of getting away be higher if we replenished our energy right now? Look at all of you right now. All of you look completely weary and worn out from your escape from the Demonvine earlier. Are you sure you would be able to escape the pursuit of another spirit beast if we encounter one later?” Jun Xiaomo chuckled sardonically as she quipped.

Even though the disciples were extremely displeased with Yao Mo’s attitude right now, they could not refute the logic behind his words.

Furthermore, Yao Mo’s unorthodox combat abilities were truly formidable. The cultivation world had always been a place ruled by the strong. Therefore, even if the disciples found themselves displeased with Yao Mo’s character, they would nevertheless have to give him some latitude on account for his formidable strength.

Qin Lingyu squinted his eyes, but he remained silent. He looked as though he was plotting something; and at the same time, he looked as though he was also sincerely testing the veracity of Yao Mo’s logic.

Then, one of the disciples looked cautiously towards Qin Lingyu as he suggested, “That…martial brother Qin, I also think brother Yao’s words are rather reasonable. Perhaps we should really take some time to adjust ourselves?”

“That’s right, that’s right…” Once the others heard that disciple’s suggestions, several others immediately chimed in in agreement.

“Then let’s all take some time to adjust ourselves. Quickly rest up and recover your energy and have some food if necessary. We’ll leave this place in about two hours.” Qin Lingyu boomed with a deep voice as he acquiesced to that disciple’s suggestions. The disciples immediately heaved a sigh of relief, before they all scattered about to look for their own little resting place.

Then, after the other disciples went about to do each their own things, Ke Xinwen walked over to Qin Lingyu side and sarcastically quipped, “It seems that someone’s authority has been challenged, hasn’t it? Look, the balance has started to shift in favour of that young fella Yao Mo. Who knows whether they’re starting to find that this Yao Mo fella is even more formidable than the Sect’s First-Seat Disciple, huh? At the very least, he didn’t turn tail and run at the earliest sign of trouble when the Demonvine charged at them.”

“You’d better shut your damn trap if you don’t want to experience the effects of the poison again.” Qin Lingyu shook of Ke Xinwen’s provocations coldly.

Ke Xinwen’s face immediately grew pale in fright, before he glared at Qin Lingyu as he took his leave.

Then, Qin Lingyu was alone. He cast a deep, profound gaze at Jun Xiaomo, before he quickly collected the tumultuous emotions roiling within him.

Time is on my side. A mere array master……