Jun Xiaomo subconsciously checked the Alteration Talisman that she had placed on her arm as she thought – Phew. Good thing my cover hasn’t been blown.

Once the Alteration Talisman has been placed onto a person’s body, it would become invisible to outsiders, and only the person using the talisman would be able to determine its location on his body. This would prevent the user of the Alteration Talisman from inadvertently showing the Alteration Talisman to others and reveal that they were under the effects of alteration.

If things proceeded as per normal, this Alteration Talisman would last Jun Xiaomo one week. After one week, she had to replace the same with another Alteration Talisman. Earlier, she had subconsciously rubbed her arm to check on her Alteration Talisman because she felt the onset of her guilty conscience under Ye Xiuwen prying gaze.

Ye Xiuwen continually sized up Jun Xiaomo – this young man chuckled twice before quickly lowering his head and avoiding further eye contact with me. Was this intentional or not? If it was intentional, then this young man must be hiding some guilty conscience in his heart; but if it was not intentional… Ye Xiuwen squinted his eyes suspiciously at the young man. He felt that this young man was not a simple character.

Regardless, this young man’s origin was completely mysterious. Therefore, he had to be guarded about him.

“How did you come to fall from the sky?” Ye Xiuwen saw that the young man only lowered his head and refused to speak, so Ye Xiuwen asked him the greatest query on his mind right now.

“Oh…that…” Jun Xiaomo who wore the appearance of another man was quickly jolted back to her senses, and she immediately gave the response she had already prepared, “Earlier I was on the other side of the woods when I was attacked by a spirit beast. I panicked and I used an Escape Scroll, and the next thing I knew, I found myself falling down in this location.”

Escape Scrolls were separated into different classes as well. The lowest level Escape Scrolls not only teleported a person only a short distance away, it did not even allow the user to choose the location he would end up at. In other words, using a low-level Escape Scroll could very well cause a user to escape one dangerous situation, only to find himself appearing in yet another dangerous place. Therefore, people who were well off in their finances would never consider using low-level Escape Scrolls.

Jun Xiaomo’s excuse was rather effective. At the very least, Ye Xiuwen was unable to find any faults with it.

Ye Xiuwen temporarily set aside the mysterious origins of this young man before he asked Jun Xiaomo yet another question, “Since this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger was jointly killed by both of us, let’s split the loot equally.”

The skin, bones, tendons and teeth of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger were all valuable and useful items. Stronger and higher grade Blackwind Sabretooth Tigers would even leave a highly coveted spiritual core behind when it died. Unfortunately, this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had not even awakened its spiritual awareness. Naturally, its body would not have developed any spiritual core inside of it.

Therefore, when Ye Xiuwen suggested to split it equally, he naturally also meant to divide the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s skin, bones, tendons and teeth.

Even though Jun Xiaomo had only knocked the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger unconscious, it had earlier sustained grievous injuries from Ye Xiuwen’s attacks and was already nearing the end of its life. After it got knocked unconscious, it was unable to operate its spiritual energy to protect its own body and it bled even more profusely as a result. By the time Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo had finished their earlier introductions with each other, it had already bled to death.

However, it was only at this moment that Jun Xiaomo discovered the existence of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger, “Eh?! When I dropped down from the sky earlier, I thought I fell onto something. Who knew that it was actually a Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger!”

Ye Xiuwen: ……

Friend, are you really that slow to catch on?

Ye Xiuwen discovered that he felt a little bit helpless in front of this young man – evidently, this young man’s origin was still shrouded in mystery, yet seeing this young man’s clumsy behaviour made him unsure whether to laugh or to cry, and most importantly it made him feel that there was no point questioning this clumsy buffoon about his origin any further.

“Cough cough…” Jun Xiaomo also realized that her words made her look rather silly, so she coughed awkwardly as she said, “The impact when I fell down was too great, and I think I must have been too dazed to even look at what I had fallen on.”

Ye Xiuwen nodded in understanding as he continued, “So what do you think of my earlier suggestion to split the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger equally?”

Jun Xiaomo waved her hand, saying, “Friend, you were the one who had killed this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger. I only clumsily fell onto it and coincidentally struck it unconscious. I cannot claim any credit for this. You should take all of it.”

When it came to Ye Xiuwen, Jun Xiaomo was even willing to part with five fifth-grade Energy Rejuvenation Pills without batting an eyelid, what more this measly Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger? Furthermore, Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen were currently “strangers”, and she had to find a way to get into Ye Xiuwen’s good books once again.

Jun Xiaomo thought about how she invested so much of her time and effort before she was finally able to break through Ye Xiuwen’s guarded heart, and she could not help but feel stifled about using the Alteration Talisman. Once she stuck on the Alteration Talisman, she would appear to be a different person, and she would have to win over Ye Xiuwen’s trust all over again. Wasn’t this too much of a hassle?

Ye Xiuwen did not know the ponderances of Jun Xiaomo’s heart. Without a word, he walked ahead to the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger and begun to dismember and carve out the useful portions of its body.

Even though butchering and carving out parts of a spirit beast was considered a bloody and violent process, under Ye Xiuwen’s nimble hands, this process went on in a very orderly and dignified fashion. At the end of the entire process, Ye Xiuwen still looked as dignified as ever, as though he were completely unfazed by the blood and gore he had just faced.

Of course, this was ignoring the bloodstains that got onto his body during the earlier battle with the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger.

While Jun Xiaomo was astonished by Ye Xiuwen’s quick and nimble actions, she also sighed in her heart for the scar on Ye Xiuwen’s face. If not for the fact that her martial brother’s appearances had not been ruined by that dastardly demonic energy, there was no doubt that countless women would be throwing themselves at Ye Xiuwen. 

When Jun Xiaomo thought about how Zhang Shuyue had seduced Ye Xiuwen in her previous life, her heart once again swelled with waves of unease and heartache.

How could such malicious people like Zhang Shuyue deserve martial brother Ye?! Not a chance! She was determined to sieve through all his suitors to find one who is truly qualified to be Ye Xiuwen’s wife!

As Jun Xiaomo’s mind wandered, Ye Xiuwen had already completed the process of carving out and extracting out the valuable parts of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s carcass. He picked up a pair of the tiger’s giant fangs and a tendon, walked over to Jun Xiaomo and said, “This is for you.”

The Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s giant fangs and tendons were all valuable items. The former could be ground down to make smaller and more intricate items that could be imbued with formation arrays to become a defensive item; while the latter could be refined into a low-grade weapon.

Even though the weapon would be of a low grade, but if a cultivator at the Qi Mastery stage were able to obtain a whip made out of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s tendon, his combat prowess would nonetheless be greatly magnified.

“Didn’t we agree that it’s all yours? I can’t take this…” Jun Xiaomo waved her hands as she obstinately refused.

“If you didn’t appear when you did, I would’ve been unable to obtain these valuable resources. Therefore, we should split these things fifty-fifty.” Ye Xiuwen was right. If Jun Xiaomo had not appeared in the sky and landed on the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s head, then he would have used his Escape Scroll to leave the place. After all, it would not be wise to deal with a spirit beast’s self-denotation head on without sufficient defensive items.

Jun Xiaomo bit down on her lower lips, deliberated for a moment, before her eyes brightened as she said, “I don’t want these resources. But in exchange, can you let me follow you?”

Jun Xiaomo could not help but feel that this was a great opportunity for her. She was still perplexed about how she would broach this suggestion to Ye Xiuwen.

After all, given Ye Xiuwen’s habits and personality, he might not be willing to let a young man with a mysterious origin follow him. If that were the case, they would have no choice but to part ways after splitting the loot from the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger.

That would certainly be unacceptable to Jun Xiaomo. In the first place, her sole intention in coming to this place was to follow Ye Xiuwen on his travels.

Indeed, Ye Xiuwen’s original intention was to part ways with this young man before him once they had split the loot. Ye Xiuwen was generally quite guarded against strangers. Furthermore, it did not help that Jun Xiaomo’s present appearance was shrouded in mystery. Naturally, Ye Xiuwen had never considered interacting with this young man any further. But now that Jun Xiaomo made her suggestion, Ye Xiuwen raised his eyebrows curiously.

“I’m not used to travelling with strangers.” Ye Xiuwen said indifferently, hoping to curtly dismiss this young man’s idea of travelling together.

“Don’t--…that…My name is Yao Mo[1]. Now that you know my name, we can’t be considered strangers anymore, right?” After Jun Xiaomo gave herself a new name, she asked Ye Xiuwen with a thick-skin.

Ye Xiuwen: ……

Was ‘strangers’ something defined so simply? Knowing a person’s name meant that we were no longer strangers?

Ye Xiuwen discovered that ever since he encountered this mysterious young man who fell from the sky, he had already found himself left speechless several times. But then, ‘Mo’……

The last syllable of his name, “Mo”, triggered some threads of thought in Ye Xiuwen’s mind, and Ye Xiuwen’s train of thought wandered off, even if it were for only a brief moment.

“And besides…” Jun Xiaomo puffed up her cheeks as she added, bringing Ye Xiuwen’s thoughts back to reality, “Given my cultivation at the first level of Qi Mastery, it’s too difficult for me to survive in these woods on my own. Can you bear to leave me here and let me be devoured by a spirit beast?”

Jun Xiaomo looked at Ye Xiuwen with puppy eyes, hoping that he would soften his heart and allow her to travel together with him.

Ye Xiuwen furrowed his eyebrows. Just as he was about to tell Jun Xiaomo that she could continue using her Escape Scrolls, he suddenly sensed another wave of danger approaching quickly!

“Careful!” Ye Xiuwen pulled Jun Xiaomo behind him as he swiftly turned around and unsheathed his sword, sending out a deadly wave of sword intent. The shadow that were lurching towards him at this moment shrieked as it momentarily retreated and appeared a distance away. There, it stared viciously at Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo.

A Vampire Demonrat! Why would a Vampire Demonrat appear in a place like this?! If the appearance of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger was a mere coincidence, then the appearance of this Vampire Demonrat certainly caused Ye Xiuwen to grow much more suspicious of their origins.

Vampire Demonrats were not considered demonic creatures because they still absorbed spiritual energies from their surroundings. However, they often moved about at night in swarms, and encountering such a swarm at night was tantamount to meeting a ghost at night – it sent chills down a person’s back and gave people goosebumps. As such, “demon” became a part of its name.

But now, a Vampire Demonrat had appeared in broad daylight. Furthermore, this Vampire Demonrat stared at them with bloodshot eyes, similar to the one possessed by the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger. Clearly, it was in a frenzied state as well.

A single Vampire Demonrat could not threaten Ye Xiuwen given his abilities. However, it was a different matter altogether if they appeared in a swarm.

“Quick, let’s run while there’s only one Vampire Demonrat right now.” Jun Xiaomo muttered under her breath to Ye Xiuwen.

Ye Xiuwen nodded, signifying that he had the same intention as well.

However, just as they searched for an opportunity to escape, Vampire Demonrats started emerging from the woods nearby! One, two, three…in the end, an entire swarm of Vampire Demonrats appeared. The swarm of Vampire Demonrats surrounded Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen, staring at them viciously with their beady little eyes. Anyone who saw this would have chills immediately sent down his back.

Ye Xiuwen clenched the sword in his hands as his expression turned cold and serious.

Under normal conditions, his best option would naturally be to escape this place with an Escape Scroll. But, what about this person here?

The Escape Scroll in Ye Xiuwen’s Interspatial Ring could only send one person away. If he were to escape, he naturally would not be able to bring this young man along.

Even though they had only met a short while ago, Ye Xiuwen found that he could not find it in him to harden his heart and leave this young man in the lurch.

Should I leave on my own, or…perhaps we can each use one Escape Scroll.

After much deliberation, Ye Xiuwen finally decided to retrieve two Escape Scrolls from his Interspatial Ring. Just as he was about to do so, the young man beside him suddenly turned his head and whispered in his ears, “Friend, do you trust me?”

Ye Xiuwen raised his eyebrows slightly as he found this young man was implying something.

“If you believe me, we can kill this swarm of Vampire Demonrats together. How about it?” Jun Xiaomo hooked her lips wryly as she declared with confidence.

This time, because Jun Xiaomo raised her head when she spoke to Ye Xiuwen, Ye Xiuwen was able to look straight into her eyes.

In her eyes, Ye Xiuwen saw no fear and no hypocrisy. If it were anyone else, perhaps they would immediately mock Jun Xiaomo for bragging – after all, how could a person at the first level of Qi Mastery possible deal with this swarm of ferocious Vampire Demonrats?

However, Ye Xiuwen believed his own eyes, and he also believed what he saw in Jun Xiaomo’s eyes –

This young man’s confidence stemmed from a confidence in his own abilities. Despite being at the first level of Qi Mastery, perhaps he might have a way to deal with their current predicament.

“Alright.” Ye Xiuwen found that this young man piqued his curiosity.

He wanted to know exactly how this young man at the first level of Qi Mastery intended to deal with an entire swarm of Vampire Demonrats.

Jun Xiaomo smiled wryly as she responded, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.”

[1] The character for ‘Yao’ means handsome; while the character for ‘Mo’ is the same as the ‘Mo’ in Jun Xiaomo, and it means stranger. Therefore, Jun Xiaomo was practically naming herself handsome stranger. Oh, the irony.