Jun Xiaomo sat there at the pavilion chatting with Ye Xiuwen about everything under the sun, and only returned home after four full hours had passed. By then, she had expected Qin Lingyu to have already departed and gone home. However, the moment she stepped back into her abode, she saw that obtrusive and imposing figure standing by her room door looking coldly at the entrance. Immediately, their eyes connected. 

Whoa—That’s rare! He actually waited for such a long time! Jun Xiaomo’s eyes flashed with a derisive look.

To put things into perspective, in the past, Qin Lingyu calling in on Jun Xiaomo of his own volition was already a rarity. Therefore, having Qin Lingyu wait for her for four hours would be something quite unimaginable. Often, Qin Lingyu would instead summon Jun Xiaomo with a Messenger Paper Crane and she would drop whatever she was busy with and comply immediately. Even the most obedient dogs could not hold a candle to the former Jun Xiaomo.

Thinking about how she had acted in the past, Jun Xiaomo’s heart welled up with a sense of disgust for her former self and a greater sense of hatred for Qin Lingyu.

Qin Lingyu thought that Jun Xiaomo would hurry back, but Jun Xiaomo did not. He thought that Jun Xiaomo would bound over to him happily as usual when she saw him, but Jun Xiaomo did not. Instead, she only furrowed her brows and looked at him with disgust from afar. Seeing this, a thought flashed across Qin Lingyu’s heart – Could it be that the truth between me and Yu Wanrou had truly been discovered by Jun Xiaomo?

Truth be told, if not for this lingering suspicion on Qin Lingyu’s heart, he would not have waited for Jun Xiaomo like an idiot for four whole hours. Ever since Yu Wanrou had been hurt, Qin Lingyu had been meaning to have a chat with Jun Xiaomo to sound her out. However, he did not expect Yu Wanrou to be so clingy to him. At the same time, Qin Lingyu also indulged in Yu Wanrou’s behaviour because he felt with Jun Xiaomo’s daftness and her feelings for him, he would be able to write off this incident by slightly cajoling her. Therefore, he had come looking for Jun Xiaomo only after such a long time.

At the same time, these reasons were all but secondary to his true intentions today. The main reason for looking for Jun Xiaomo today was that he hoped to obtain some spirit tools and spirit medicine from Jun Xiaomo before leaving the Sect on his mission. As He Zhang’s First-Seat Disciple, Qin Lingyu already had several spirit tools and spirit medicine in his possession. But at the same time, the more the merrier – one additional spirit treasure would mean one additional means to preserve his life after all.

In this regard, Qin Lingyu and Qin Shanshan were clearly brothers and sisters – even the way they thought about these matters were exactly the same.

Qin Lingyu saw that Jun Xiaomo simply stood there at the entrance without any intention of initiating the conversation. Therefore, he had no choice but to start things off, “You’re back? I’ve already waited for you here for four hours.”

Qin Lingyu spoke with an uncourteous tone, even carrying with it some trace of anger. His eyes looked coldly on Jun Xiaomo, as though her causing him to wait for four hours was an atrocity.

Jun Xiaomo tugged gently at a lock of hair in front of her chest, plainly stating, “Oh? Is it? But I didn’t ask martial brother Qin to wait for me, did I?”

Reading between the lines – how was it her fault when he waited for her of his own volition?

Qin Lingyu clenched his fists which were hidden by his sleeves. His eyes swiftly ignited with a burgeoning fire, but he quickly suppressed it before it erupted.

He could not afford to burn all bridges right now. At the very least, he had to do all he could to preserve this relationship between them before he could drain out this cash cow that is Jun Xiaomo.

Qin Lingyu quickly adjusted his emotions within two breaths of time, warmly saying to Jun Xiaomo, “Xiaomo, I was slightly too irascible earlier. I was just worried that something might have happened to you because you were out for such a long time. So, when I saw you, I couldn’t help but let my emotions get the better of me. I apologize.”

Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows curiously. This was still the first time she had heard Qin Lingyu apologize to her in her two lifetimes combined. In her previous lifetime, Qin Lingyu would always look haughtily at her, and he would not even wipe off that cold look on his face, much less apologize to her. Regardless of whether it was towards Jun Xiaomo or other female cultivators, Qin Lingyu would always plaster such a look on his face. Worse, the former Jun Xiaomo had even thought that such a cold, frigid look seemed to instill a sense of security in her – Jun Xiaomo truly made herself a laughingstock!

Why was Qin Lingyu so cold and frigid? Wasn’t it because he just didn’t care about anyone because he thinks that no one is deserving of him? Yet because of that, it’s even weirder that Yu Wanrou managed to win him over, and even tamed him to the point where he was willing to share Yu Wanrou with over ten other male cultivators. 

Jun Xiaomo’s heart swelled up with disgust for the former Jun Xiaomo’s obsequious attitude towards Qin Lingyu. In her previous life, as she grew stronger and collected more life experiences under her belt, she had on one occasion grown suspicious of the real reason why Qin Lingyu drew close to her. This was because in the several years that Ye Xiuwen sheltered her and saved her from her persecutors, Qin Lingyu had not once appeared to help her.

If Qin Lingyu’s love for her was real, then how could he allow her to be embroiled in such a difficult situation and not once think of saving her? Even if he did not save her, how could he not even try to locate her whereabouts if he truly cared for her?

It was only after Jun Xiaomo had attained the Nascent Soul cultivation stage that she once again encountered Qin Lingyu. At that time, Qin Lingyu told her that he had not forgotten their marriage arrangement, and that he had hoped that they could rebuild their estranged relationship. By then, Jun Xiaomo had already experienced and learnt of the nuances of interpersonal relationships, and she did not easily trust people. Furthermore, Qin Lingyu was a person who had disappeared from her life for decades by that point. Therefore, when he suddenly appeared in her life again, she naturally put up her guard against him.

But even though Jun Xiaomo was guarded against Qin Lingyu then, she had never thought of harming him. After all, he was someone whom she had deeply loved in the past. Even with the ebb and flow of time, this type of affection did not wane easily, and she could not bring herself to harm Qin Lingyu. The Qin Lingyu then had also attained the Nascent Soul cultivation stage, but spiritual cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage could not hold a candle to demonic cultivators of the same level. Furthermore, Jun Xiaomo even had several high-grade formation arrays and talismans at her disposal, so if Jun Xiaomo wished to dispose of Qin Lingyu at any point in time, it was well within her means.

After Qin Lingyu discovered that Jun Xiaomo did not have any intentions to harm him, he started following by Jun Xiaomo’s side and even helped her with some of her troubles. Even though Jun Xiaomo did not openly express her thoughts then, she was silently moved in her heart by Qin Lingyu’s actions.

She had been lonely for too long.

Then, on one occasion when Qin Lingyu saved a heavily-wounded Jun Xiaomo, and they finally “knew each other inside-out”, Jun Xiaomo once again opened her heart to Qin Lingyu and fell deeply for him.

Perhaps she did not like Qin Lingyu as much as she thought, or perhaps she developed a reliance on him after having been alone for too long; but Jun Xiaomo did treat very well both Qin Lingyu and Qin Shanshan who reunited with them later on.

Yet when she was on the brink of death, she was informed that Qin Lingyu never had “such relations” with her before – all her previous stirring of emotions and her sacrifice for Qin Lingyu had become nothing more than a tragic comedy!

Could it be that her life-threatening injuries might even have been part of Qin Lingyu’s orchestrations? He needed the right opportunity to draw close to the Jun Xiaomo then, and what better way than to save a damsel-in-distress?

Right now, Jun Xiaomo found Qin Lingyu’s face absolutely repulsive. Every time she saw this face, she could not help but recall her past hurts which caused her heart to swell up with roiling emotions and immense hatred.

It was a pity that she had no way of dealing with Qin Lingyu yet, otherwise she would settle the score from her previous life right this moment! Considering all the atrocities that he had committed against her, she had been too easy on him previously by allowing him to simply perish with her in a blood rite.

Jun Xiaomo lowered her eyes, forcefully suppressing the roiling emotions within her. 

Qin Lingyu thought that her silence meant that her attitude towards him had softened. Therefore, he walked over to Jun Xiaomo, saying, “I will be travelling out of the Sect for a mission in a while, and I wanted to bid you farewell for a while. I don’t want these small things to strain our relationship.”

Jun Xiaomo eyes momentarily quivered. She looked up in surprise and anxiously asked, “Travelling? What travels?”

As expected, she still cares very much for me. As Qin Lingyu observed Jun Xiaomo’s reactions, his heart swelled with more confidence. Reverting to his usual plain and confident tone, he added, “Have you forgotten? I’ve already attained the peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery. According to the Sect’s regulations, all disciples who attain the peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery must travel out of the Sect for a mission, so that we may swiftly step into the Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation.”

“Peak twelfth level of Qi Mastery…travelling out of the Sect…damn it! I actually forgot about this!” Jun Xiaomo murmured to herself, subconsciously twisting her eyebrows into a knot.

Of course, she was not concerned about whether Qin Lingyu stayed within the Sect or not. Rather, she was concerned about Ye Xiuwen. She wanted to continue learning sword arts from Ye Xiuwen, and at the same time foster their relationship. But now that Ye Xiuwen was travelling out of the Sect, who else could she turn to for her sword arts?

It must not be understated that without any combat experience, her cultivation level could not increase one single bit.

Jun Xiaomo bit down on her lower lip as her heart grew increasingly flustered. At the same time, Qin Lingyu misunderstood Jun Xiaomo’s reactions and thought that Jun Xiaomo could not bear to see him go, and his eyes flashed with a gleam.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be away from the Sect for too long. It will at most be a year before I will be back. But…” Qin Lingyu was all set to segue the conversation to the spirit tools and spirit medicine, yet he was quickly interrupted by Jun Xiaomo’s frustrated voice.

“What does that have anything to do with me!” Jun Xiaomo was deeply upset with Qin Lingyu’s “adoring” attitude towards her. Jun Xiaomo knew deep in her heart that Qin Lingyu would only appear this way before her when he wanted something from her. Otherwise, it was exceptionally rare to see any type of warm expressions on Qin Lingyu’s face.

Having been interrupted by Jun Xiaomo, Qin Lingyu found himself lost for words. He was no longer able to broach the subject about the spirit tools and spirit medicine at all, and the words he had prepared all found themselves lodged in his throat.

Jun Xiaomo looked straight at Qin Lingyu with indifferent eyes, saying, “It doesn’t concern me even if you die outside the Sect. Qin Lingyu, don’t you think for one moment that I don’t know why you are here. You want to obtain some spirit treasures from me? Don’t even think about it!”

Hearing this, Qin Lingyu’s face turned from a sickly green to a pale white. Despite this being his original intention, Qin Lingyu was nevertheless a person who cared deeply about his appearances and reputation and he never wanted his thoughts to be exposed in broad daylight.

Besides, Jun Xiaomo’s attitude towards him dealt a great blow to his self-confidence. Qin Lingyu always thought that that he had complete control over Jun Xiaomo because he had completely charmed her with his outstanding personality and disposition. Therefore, Jun Xiaomo was always at his beck and call, and she would deliver to him anything he asked for.

But now, when Jun Xiaomo, a person whom he never held in his sights, actually looked at him with a mocking, disgusted and cold glare, Qin Lingyu felt deeply upset and uncomfortable.

Thus, his expression suddenly turned frigid, and he coldly quipped, “Jun Xiaomo, don’t you dare go too far. When your cultivation level has fallen to the first level of Qi Mastery, I didn’t even say anything about rescinding the marriage agreement and abandoning you. What else do you want? I’ve even waited here for you for four whole hours. Quite apart from how late you are, you didn’t even bother explaining where you have been. Is this how a fiancée should be acting?!”

Jun Xiaomo glared at Qin Lingyu, curling her lips, she said, “Okay, since this fiancée is not qualified, then let’s rescind the marriage arrangement. I don’t mind.”

Qin Lingyu immediately squinted his eyes, and the veins on his forehead bulged out as blood rushed to his head in his fury.

He was indeed dissatisfied with the marriage arrangement. If not for the fact that there were eye-watering benefits to be had from such an arrangement, he would certainly not have agreed to this. But at the same time, he felt that if the marriage arrangement were to be rescinded, he should be the one raising it. Jun Xiaomo’s role was to be completely infatuated with him, and she should not be the one raising the issue of rescinding the marriage.

But in the end, these “should nots” had all become eventualities, and the unexpected had indeed occurred.