“Mhmm, mhmm!” Jun Xiaomo forcefully nodded her head, looking ahead with her eyes wide open, hoping that Ye Xiuwen would be able to see the eagerness and the desire in her heart through her eyes.

Ye Xiuwen looked silently at Jun Xiaomo, but he did not give his response immediately. This silence made it seem as though he was deliberating about it; but it also made it seem like he was tacitly refusing her request.

Either way, Jun Xiaomo could not make out what Ye Xiuwen’s silence meant. Because of this, Jun Xiaomo had no choice but to shelf the spiel she had prepared to convince Ye Xiuwen and continue looking at Ye Xiuwen in anticipation. 

Okay…this pose is rather difficult to maintain; my eyes are already starting to feel sore…

Ye Xiuwen wryly curled his lips. It had to be said that Jun Xiaomo’s two big, pearly eyes were so expressive that they would melt someone’s heart easily – especially when her eyes were now laced with tears that seemed to balance precariously on the rims of the eyes. But…

“I can’t.” Ye Xiuwen denied Jun Xiaomo with a peremptory tone. 

“Why not?!” Jun Xiaomo’s spirits fell immediately, as she promptly plonked back down onto one of the stone chairs, discouraged.

She had thought that he would accede to her request as long as she entreated and implored Ye Xiuwen. Unexpectedly, Ye Xiuwen not only denied her, he did so with such unwavering determination.

His declination was so firm that Jun Xiaomo even lost all hope of convincing Ye Xiuwen.

“Xiaomo, if you were still at the eighth level of Qi Mastery, I would have no issues bringing you out of the Sect with me. But now you are only at the first level of Qi Mastery. With my current abilities, I have no means to ensure your safety, do you understand?”

Ye Xiuwen was not sure of the true reasons why Jun Xiaomo was so insistent on travelling out of the Sect with him, and he only thought that Jun Xiaomo was being playful and wanted to go out to see the world.

“That’s not going to be any problem. My Interspatial Ring has several life-preserving spirit treasures and talismans. And, I also have a number of tricks up my sleeve for saving my own life. Martial brother, I won’t be a burden to you at all. Really!” Jun Xiaomo made her pitch to Ye Xiuwen with such sincerity that she was just short of raising three fingers and swearing on it.

In this regard, Jun Xiaomo was also telling the truth. In her previous life, she had faced countless attempts at her life by her persecutors and yet escaped on every single one of these occasions. As these numbers increased, she naturally also developed more and more skills, methods and techniques for preserving her own life. In this regard, her rich and vast life experiences could even be considered an invaluable treasure on its own.

Unfortunately, only Jun Xiaomo knew of this “invaluable treasure” of hers. Even if she told Ye Xiuwen about her rebirth, it is not exactly certain that he would believe what she was saying. 

Hearing Jun Xiaomo’s “sales pitch”, Ye Xiuwen coughed lightly in order to stifle his laughter – Jun Xiaomo’s solemn and sincere delivery of an ostensibly nonsensical spiel was so absurd that even elicited rare smile on Ye Xiuwen’s face.

Quite apart from what she’s trying to achieve here, this little martial sister seems like she is …praising herself?

If Ye Xiuwen could see how Yu Wanrou had acted in Jun Xiaomo’s previous life, he would come to learn of the concept of “selling oneself”. And this description was perfectly suitable for the present Jun Xiaomo as well.

“Alright, I know martial sister is very capable. But if you truly wish to travel out of the Sect to experience the world, you can only do so after you’ve attained the eighth level of Qi Mastery. If you only want to leave the sect to have a looksee, it’s best to ask your mother to bring you. Only she would have the abilities to protect you, understand?”

Ye Xiuwen patiently and warmly explained the situation to Jun Xiaomo.

“I know martial brother’s reservations, but I also firmly believe that martial brother has the capability to protect me! Doesn’t martial brother have a little bit of confidence in his own abilities?” Having decided to go all out, Jun Xiaomo even tried to provoke Ye Xiuwen into agreeing with her in order to have her way.

Ye Xiuwen could not help but hook his lips wryly, before he reluctantly shook his head, saying, “I truly have no confidence in my own abilities.”

Sigh. Even my provocations aren’t working. Jun Xiaomo’s heart grew more frustrated as she clung onto her own hair in vexation.

Seeing how his martial sister looked absolutely disappointed and frustrated, Ye Xiuwen’s eyes flashed, gently clinking the rim of his teacup and curiously inquired, “Martial sister, if I may ask, why do you insist on going with me?”

He initially thought that Jun Xiaomo was only being playful; but as it turns out, things may be more than meets the eye. His martial sister was not a fool, and naturally would be aware of the dangers faced by a cultivator at the first level of Qi Mastery travelling out of the Sect.

Jun Xiaomo puffed up her cheeks as she realized that her only hope lay now with telling Ye Xiuwen the whole truth.

“My cultivation has met with a slight problem…” Jun Xiaomo pinched her index finger and her thumb together as though indicating that the problem were really insignificant, “Since my cultivation level fell back to the first level of Qi Mastery, my body has also met with some changes. As it is right now, my cultivation speed seems to abound under stressful conditions or emergency situations; but if I merely meditate, my cultivation progress would come to a complete standstill.”

Jun Xiaomo told Ye Xiuwen the truth, leaving out only the fact that she had become a demonic cultivator.

“So, it’s like that…” Ye Xiuwen slowly ruminated on the new information he had just learnt of.

This is not a common occurrence, but at the same time it is not unheard of. No wonder Jun Xiaomo asked me to teach her sword arts. She must be hoping to use the combat experience to increase her cultivation speeds.

Ye Xiuwen quickly understood the gist of the matter, and he sighed, saying, “It seems that martial sister is destined to walk down the path of a sword cultivator then.”

Given the condition with Jun Xiaomo’s body, she was not suited to cultivation through meditation; and perhaps she would be more suited to understanding the sword instead. If his martial sister had some talent in this regard, it would not necessarily be a bad thing to start her early and guide her down the path of a sword cultivator.

Even though the path of a sword cultivator is long and arduous, the benefits one reaped as a result were very apparent. This was because sword cultivators would have both a strong physique and flexibility in the ways they wield the sword. Compared with other spiritual cultivators, they would almost always be stronger in terms of both defensive and offensive capabilities. Furthermore, the sword cultivators could even accumulate, refine and imbue their “sword” with the various spiritual elements in the world; and in turn their “sword” would hone and grow with them. Therefore, the potential of a sword cultivator was almost limitless.

This “high difficulty; high reward” trait of sword cultivators was very similar to the cultivation path taken by demonic cultivators in general. It was no wonder that Ye Xiuwen felt that Jun Xiaomo was a good sprout suited for sword cultivation.

Having heard Ye Xiuwen’s intention to guide her in the ways of sword cultivation, her eyes brightened, expectantly asking, “Then martial brother, does this mean you’ve agreed to bring me with you on your travels?”

Ye Xiuwen smiled wryly as he glanced over at Jun Xiaomo, replying, “Since when did I agree to take you along with me on my mission?”

“That…” Jun Xiaomo’s heart sank again. Having her hopes raised and then only to have them dashed again did not feel good.

“These are two separate matters. Even though I do have the intention of guiding you in the ways of sword cultivation, but I still won’t take you along with me on my mission. Martial sister, the world outside is much more dangerous than you think. This is a risk I cannot afford to undertake, because it would aggrieve your parents – my master and his wife. Besides, your cultivation is not contingent on leaving the Sect – you can still look for sparring opportunities within the Sect to improve your cultivation.” 

Jun Xiaomo puffed up her cheeks in exasperation – she had also thought about this matter before, but apart from her parents, she only trusted in Ye Xiuwen, and therefore only wanted to practice her cultivation with him.

“Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll work out a training schedule for you over the next few days and include some sparring content as well. We’ll make any necessary adjustments after you’ve tried it out. Let’s target to finalize the training schedule before I leave the sect, and then you can simply adhere to the finalized schedule for your cultivation.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo’s head as Jun Xiaomo looked at him listlessly.

“Martial brother, how about if I gave you five fifth-grade Energy Rejuvenation Pills in exchange for your agreement to take me along with you on your mission? Will you agree to this condition?” Jun Xiaomo pleaded in a melancholic manner.

Ye Xiuwen smiled with an almost pained expression as he looked at Jun Xiaomo, but he nevertheless shook his head with peremptory insistence. 

As expected…martial brother isn’t the type of covetous scumbag like Qin Lingyu. Even with five fifth-grade Energy Rejuvenation Pills I wasn’t able to tempt him. Sigh.

Only, how much had she hoped that her martial brother would be “bought over” by these five pills of hers…

With this, she had played all her cards available to her. Dejected, Jun Xiaomo lay her head down on the table and buried her head into her arms.

On the other side, Qin Lingyu had arrived at Jun Xiaomo’s abode together with a wan-looking Yu Wanrou just as Jun Xiaomo was attempting to convince Ye Xiuwen.

Despite having agreed to apologize to Jun Xiaomo, yet when Yu Wanrou arrived at this exquisitely designed and furnished abode, her heart once again swelled with jealousy and indigence.

She was jealous that Jun Xiaomo was literally born with a silver spoon in her mouth; and yet she was indignant that Jun Xiaomo had time and again defeated and suppressed her. Even though she was certain that the contents of her spectral demiplane would pave the way for her counterattack against Jun Xiaomo in future, she was nevertheless extremely dispirited at present because she still had to apologize and lower her head to Jun Xiaomo.

At this moment, Yu Wanrou cursed from the bottom of her heart that this despicable Jun Xiaomo would quickly meet with an accident so that she would not answer the door at all!

As though the heavens had answered Yu Wanrou’s prayers, Qin Lingyu knocked on Jun Xiaomo’s door for a long time, yet no one responded.

“Could she have gone out this early?” Qin Lingyu thought aloud. It suddenly dawned on him that Jun Xiaomo had not of her own volition looked for him for a long time. At present, he was unable to even hazard a guess as to where Jun Xiaomo might have gone to this early in the morning.

Yu Wanrou’s heart secretly leapt with joy, wondering whether this means that she would no longer have to apologize to Jun Xiaomo today. Unfortunately, Yu Wanrou had underestimated the allure of these two fifth-grade Energy Rejuvenation Pills. Within moments, Qin Lingyu had already retrieved a Messenger Paper Crane from his Interspatial Ring, recorded his message, cast a spell on it, and sent the paper crane on its way towards Jun Xiaomo.

He had placed one strand of Jun Xiaomo’s hair on the Messenger Paper Crane so that it could locate Jun Xiaomo and bring her back.

Yu Wanrou looked at Qin Lingyu’s lack of any hesitation in performing all these tasks. In that instant, her face froze, and she fiercely bit down on her lower lip.

Over these last two days, Qin Lingyu had time and time again swept her to the back of his mind over some meagre benefits. Even though she had already prepared her heart for all these, she still could not help but feel indignant over this fact.

She felt disappointed, and she felt her heart freezing over.

Should she really be placing all of her hopes and trust in Qin Lingyu? Yu Wanrou’s eyes quivered as she contemplated. She was not certain anymore. 

On the other side, as Jun Xiaomo lay on the table pondering whether any other options were available to her, Qin Lingyu’s Messenger Paper Crane swiftly fluttered over into her hands.

This time, because Ye Xiuwen had not activated the bamboo forest’s formation array, the Messenger Paper Crane had no difficulties locating Jun Xiaomo.

As she inspected the Messenger Paper Crane, Jun Xiaomo roughly guessed who the sender was. She leisurely held onto the paper crane while toying with it, but she refused to open it.

“Why don’t you open it and take a look?” Ye Xiuwen found the presently pouting Jun Xiaomo rather adorable, and rather pitiful at the same time.

As she smirked dolefully, Jun Xiaomo replied plainly, “I’m already in a bad mood. I’m not sure hearing a certain person’s voice would make things much better.”

Ye Xiuwen raised his eyebrows quizzically. Given Jun Xiaomo’s response, he had also roughly guessed who the sender of this paper crane was. Therefore, he left Jun Xiaomo to her own devices and slowly sipped at his tea.

After mulling over things for a little while longer, Jun Xiaomo opened the paper crane in her hands, and immediately a deep voice resounded in the pavilion –

“Xiaomo, I’ve brought Yu Wanrou to your abode.”

In other words, Qin Lingyu was hoping to quickly obtain those two fifth-grade Energy Rejuvenation Pills from Jun Xiaomo.

After hearing the contents of this paper crane, Jun Xiaomo could not help but curl her lips into a wicked smile.

Ah! How timely! I was just feeling extremely frustrated – and someone has shown up at my door looking for some abuse!