After leaving Ye Xiuwen’s abode, Jun Xiaomo did not head home immediately. Instead, she ran out aimlessly without a destination in mind, draining the energy in her body in order to wear down the frustrations in her heart.

She ran on and on, until she was finally so worn down that she could run no longer. As she stopped, she did not even consider where she had run to. Regardless, she plonked down on a big, green boulder nearby and just stared vacantly into the space ahead of her.

The sun was setting far off in the distance, igniting the sky with streaks of crimson red. This scene was so warm and stifling that in seemed to agitate the vexations in Jun Xiaomo’s heart even more.

“It’s…everything has been ruined.” Jun Xiaomo bit down on her lips, mocking herself. Her eyes were filled with distress and reluctance.

In this second life, she had thought that it would be much easier to stand at the pinnacle of the world, and she would be able to protect those whom she loved from the evil, scheming monsters from her previous life. In the end, she painfully crippled her cultivation arts, found a way to mask her demonic energy, yet was unable to grasp the nub for reverting true energy to a usable form.

In this second life, she had thought that it would be easy to get rid of that scumbag Qin Lingyu and repair her relationship with martial brother Ye. In the end, not only was the marriage arrangement difficult to rescind, her relationship with Ye Xiuwen was even becoming more and more strained.

What’s the point of being reborn? Is it so that I can taste defeat once again?!

The rims of Jun Xiaomo’s eyes reddened, but no tears came out. Jun Xiaomo’s slightly damp eyes and tightly pursed and quivering lips spoke volumes of her inability to calm herself down at this moment.

She thought of how her parents and her martial brothers and sisters had died in her previous life – it had all been because they were protecting her!

If not for their protection, her parents would not be accused of harbouring and concealing a demonic cultivator and be persecuted by the “righteous and upstanding” sects; if not for their protection, the martial brothers and sisters from Heavenly Peak could have flourished and left the Sect to establish their own futures; if not for their protection, martial brother Ye would not have the burden that is Jun Xiaomo foisted on him at such a young age, and eventually fall into the trap laid by Zhang Shuyue…

With their cultivation, it was only a matter of time if they stood at the pinnacle of the cultivation world, rather than tragically perishing under evil claws of the schemers…

Do I even deserve to exist? Do I deserve to be reborn?

Jun Xiaomo started to doubt her recent efforts; and even started to doubt the reason for her existence.

If she were still the Jun Xiaomo from her last life, with no burdens and cares left in this world, then she naturally would not be so easily wavered by such a small setback. But right now, she was sixteen years-old and she still had her loved ones living by her side. Under such conditions, Jun Xiaomo could not help but feel burdened by her cares in this world.

The thing that she was most concerned with would be the loss of her loved ones. This was the greatest fear in her life.

Just as Jun Xiaomo was immersed in her own thoughts, a squeaking sound broke her train of thoughts. She lifted her eyes and saw a white shadow flash by, instantly shooting into her chest.

In that instant, she felt a warm feeling in her bosom. Right there, a plump and furry little bundle was trembling and scuttling anxiously, as though it were trying to burrow directly into her chest. The rustling of footsteps and human voices could be heard some distance away. Jun Xiaomo could vaguely make out words that seemed like “see where it’s run off to”.

Jun Xiaomo recognized one of the voices – it belonged to Ke Xinwen, a disciple from Pill Cauldron Peak who liked Yu Wanrou. Even though his life did not end well in Jun Xiaomo’s previous life, that did not change the fact that he was one of the main culprits responsible for framing and harming Ye Xiuwen.

His motive was linked to the upper-tier sect’s selection of their Chosen Disciples – particularly when Frozen Sword Sect’s Sect Elder Weiran had selected Ye Xiuwen instead of Ke Xinwen. As a result, Ke Xinwen resented Ye Xiuwen, and actively tried to trip up Ye Xiuwen at every opportunity possible. Once, his sabotage even almost cost Ye Xiuwen his life. Moreover, Ke Xinwen had picked a fight with Jun Xiaomo on several occasions under the instructions of Yu Wanrou – and he did not even realize that he was being used by Yu Wanrou!

If not for the fact that Jun Xiaomo’s present strength were insufficient, Jun Xiaomo was determined to show him a thing or two.

Despite that, it was still possible to cause him some trouble within her current means.

Thinking about this, Jun Xiaomo retrieved a fourth-grade invisibility talisman from her Interspatial Ring, slapped it on the furry little bundle, and softly said, “If you don’t want to let those people find you, you’d better stay still and not make a single peep of sound!”

At that instant, the squeaking sounds stopped, and the furry little bundle silently bit on its claws in Jun Xiaomo’s bosom.

It’s such a smart little fellow. Jun Xiaomo thought as she stroked its ears, while a strange look flashed across its eyes – in the cultivation world, the animals with awakened spiritual senses are invariably monarch-grade animals. Is this little fellow just smart or is it…

Jun Xiaomo did not have the luxury of time to ponder over this matter. In no time, a few people came running out of the woods nearby. When they saw Jun Xiaomo sitting on the boulder, they were momentarily stunned – they did not expect to see Jun Xiaomo here.

Ke Xinwen’s eyes revealed a look of disgust. He liked Yu Wanrou, and he naturally despised Jun Xiaomo, a person reputed to have picked on Yu Wanrou. Especially today, when his beloved martial sister Wanrou lay on her bed recovering from her injuries; while on the other hand Jun Xiaomo, rumoured to have her cultivation level fall to the first level of Qi Mastery, was instead frolicking about. This further aggravated Ke Xinwen’s hatred for Jun Xiaomo.

Ke Xinwen firmly believed that Yu Wanrou had been hurt by Jun Xiaomo!

Jun Xiaomo could immediately tell what Ke Xinwen was thinking, and she laughed at him in her heart.

This person’s displeasure could not even tickle her, much less harm her. Besides, as long as the demonic energy did not erupt from her body, and she remained the daughter of the Heavenly Peak Peakmaster, then no one would dare to even contemplate harming her in the first place.

Of course, the “harm” here would refer to the bodily type. As for the things which people said behind her back, these were matters which fell outside Jun Xiaomo’s ambit of consideration.

“Jun Xiaomo, did you see a white packrat running through here?” Ke Xinwen coldly asked. 

Jun Xiaomo glanced over at him dispassionately, responding snidely, “When you’re asking someone for help, shouldn’t you at least add the word, ‘please’?”

Ke Xinwen’s face froze momentarily. That packrat was something that he bought as a gift to cheer up his bedridden martial sister Yu Wanrou. However, the moment that packrat saw Yu Wanrou, it viciously scratched her before slipping away at lightning speed!

How maddening! Mark my words, if I catch that packrat, I will definitely shred it into pieces.

Thinking of this, Ke Xinwen’s desire to catch that packrat momentarily exceeded his hatred for Jun Xiaomo. Therefore, he suppressed the rage for Jun Xiaomo within his heart and asked Jun Xiaomo again, “Can martial sister Xiaomo please tell me if she has seen a packrat run through in this direction?”

Jun Xiaomo lazily swept her gaze across Ke Xinwen and his entourage before pointing out a direction, saying, “I’m not sure about a packrat, but I did see a white shadow dart over in that direction.”

Ke Xinwen’s face immediately lit up, declaring, “It must be that little bastard!” Saying that, he waved his hand and swiftly led all of his other martial brothers towards that direction pointed out by Jun Xiaomo.

As Jun Xiaomo looked at their silhouettes disappearing into the distance in the direction she had pointed out, she coldly chuckled to herself, mouthing the words – enjoy the search. Then, she lifted up the furry little bundle in her bosom, leisurely hopped off the boulder she was on, and walked in another direction.

This little encounter had interrupted the earlier despondence she had; and the vexations of her heart had also dwindled substantially. Earlier, she was in a poor state of mind because her thoughts were fixated in that dead-end scenario, constantly amplified into a downward spiral by her emotions. Yet now when she took a step back and assessed the situation, she realized that even if she were out of the picture, the schemers like He Zhang and gang would still not let her parents off the hook because they had long since planned on seizing the riches belonging to Heavenly Peak.

Therefore, the only thing that she could do is to get stronger, and stronger, and stronger – until absolutely no one could stand in her way!

“Thank you, little fella!” Jun Xiaomo believed in fate – this furry little bundle had appeared in the most opportune time when she had firmly driven herself into a rut, and ran interference against her train of destructive thoughts, allowing her to see past her earlier fixations. This was also a type of fate.

Squeak, squeak~ The snow-white little bundle in Jun Xiaomo’s bosom happily gnawed at its claws, occasionally rubbing itself against Jun Xiaomo’s palm. It was extremely endearing.

“I wonder what species of packrat you are?” Jun Xiaomo inquisitively lifted the packrat in front of her face and closely examined it – there are a lot of different species and different grades of packrats; and the different species of packrats had different types of abilities.

“Eh? This is…” Jun Xiaomo’s eyes widened in amazement as she fixed them on the fiery-red coloured specks in the middle of the packrat’s paws, “It seems you are a Demonic Packrat!”

If she had not pried open the thick fur of this little packrat, she would never have noticed this tiny detail.

Squeak, squeak~ The packrat cheerfully responded. It was unclear whether it was acknowledging Jun Xiaomo’s words, or whether it simply liked this human which had inadvertently become its new master.