Demoness's Art of Vengeance

Hey guys, great news!  Two more top-performing sneak peek Chinese novels licensed from Zongheng have left VIP-only and are available for you to read, each with fifty chapters and a 2/day schedule!  These novels are Yama Rising, translated by Minotauruz (who did the great translation of Demoness' Art of Vengeance) and Star Odyssey, translated by OMA who did Warlock of the Magus World and City of Sin!  Both are veteran and highly capable translators, and I'm excited to bring this to y'all.

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The members of the Dawn Sect discovered that there were new developments between Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu overnight. Previously, everyone could tell that their relationship had become incredibly strained and even icy cold after a night of passion. It was practically at the point where they had washed their hands off each other.

As a result, several people had begun to label Qin Lingyu as a scumbag who refused to take responsibility after the matter.

Naturally, there were some others who delighted in their misery and kicked back as they watched the show. These people believed that Qin Lingyu could do better than Yu Wanrou, and they thus felt that it stood to reason that Qin Lingyu had abandoned her.

Regardless, nobody expected the relationship between Qin Lingyu and Yu Wanrou to have recovered overnight just like that.

In fact, their relationship seemed to flourish and blossom even more than it did before. The two of them were now practically like Siamese twins as they went everywhere together. Yu Wanrou would even tightly wrap her arms around Qin Lingyu’s in an intimate fashion with a soft and blissful smile on her face that yelled “we’re together”.

Their public display of affection dazzled the eyes of all the disciples within the Dawn Sect, and they also shattered the hearts of many hopefuls who were fond of either of the two.

“Martial sister, how can you not be angry! Qin Lingyu had only rescinded the marriage arrangement with you just over one month ago! Just over one month and he’s already hooked up with Yu Wanrou, and they’ve even been intimately involved with each other! Who in the right mind would believe that they hadn’t been up to any shenanigans before this?!” Wei Gaolang waved his fist around with indignation, and he even punched the air as though he were punching an image of Qin Lingyu he projected into that space.

“Why are you getting upset about two inconsequential people, hmm? Little Lang, have you completed your training menu for the day?” Jun Xiaomo smiled mischievously as she questioned Wei Gaolang and interrupted his incessant jabbering.

“Ah! Err, err, err…! Just…just a little bit more…” Wei Gaolang cried out in astonishment before his voice grew increasingly timid as his guilty conscience suppressed his speech.

“Sigh, you only know how to busy yourself with these gossip and stories. Be careful I don’t one day tell your father about the state of your training and let him deal with you properly.” Jun Xiaomo rapped Wei Gaolang’s head as she quipped back.

“Ah, ah – don’t do it, martial sister! I…I’ll get going now.” As he spoke, Wei Gaolang ran off in a jiffy as though there was fire in his pants.

Jun Xiaomo shook her head as she chuckled. Then, she picked up the teapot and made a cup of tea for herself before taking a sip out of her teacup with a gentle poise.

“Oh, as expected! The tea that’s presented as tribute to royalties are different.” Jun Xiaomo chuckled lightheartedly.

This was tea that Rong Ruihan had gifted her by way of a Messenger Paper Crane. He had mentioned that he had too much tea to finish on his own, so he had decided to give some to Jun Xiaomo.

That said, Jun Xiaomo knew that Rong Ruihan was merely looking for an excuse to send tea to her. After all, Rong Ruihan could always have given some tea to his subordinates if he was unable to finish them.

Regardless, she was thankful for Rong Ruihan’s thoughtful gifts. In exchange, she tied a stack of talismans onto the Messenger Paper Crane and sent it flying back to Rong Ruihan. Even if Rong Ruihan had no use of these talismans now, Jun Xiaomo knew that he could always save them for a rainy day. Besides, the stack of talismans hardly took up any space to begin with.

This must be what friendship is all about. Jun Xiaomo exclaimed in her heart, and a warm smile crept up the corner of her lips.

On the other side, Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu’s public display of affection was laced thickly with traces of bragging.

Back when Qin Lingyu and Jun Xiaomo first entered into their marriage arrangement, an incredibly thick swathe of jealousy and heartache completely engulfed Yu Wanrou’s entire being. Then, after she became intimately entangled with Qin Lingyu, but before the marriage arrangement was rescinded, she would feel the urge to declare that Qin Lingyu was hers whenever she saw others cast looks of admiration, jealousy and even hatred at Jun Xiaomo.

Yu Wanrou wanted to be the center of that kind of attention. She wanted to be the focal point of all looks of admiration within the spiritual world.

And now, she had just taken the first baby step to meeting her ambitious goals. Qin Lingyu was the Dawn Sect Sect Leader’s First-Seat Disciple, and he was none other than the person going to succeed the title of Sect Leader in the time to come. Was there any other disciple within Dawn Sect who held a higher position or stature than Qin Lingyu?

Basking in the glory of these looks of admiration, Yu Wanrou’s ambitious heart and self-confidence began to swell and grow.

“Sister Wanrou, those people are talking nonsense again!” Qin Lingyu’s younger sister, Qin Shanshan, came running to Yu Wanrou’s side with a look of indignation on her face. She clung onto Yu Wanrou’s arm as though she were feeling aggrieved for Yu Wanrou.

If not for a scheming glimmer peeking out from the depths of her eyes, perhaps what she had just done might be rather persuasive.

Yet, Yu Wanrou noticed every bit of the scheming glimmer that was in Qin Shanshan’s eyes. That said, she knew that she needed Qin Lingyu right now, and she could hardly afford to offend her little ancestor that was Qin Shanshan.

Qin Lingyu had just left the room, so Yu Wanrou could only calm her heart and softly respond, “What did they say which made our dear Shanshan so upset?”

“They said that brother and sister Wanrou had bullied Jun Xiaomo, and they’d even said that sister Wanrou was the third wheel that had broken up their marriage arrangement to begin with. Worst of all, they’d even said that brother was a scumbag!” Qin Shanshan decried with indignation before lowering her volume as she whispered to Yu Wanrou, “Sister Wanrou, I believe that Jun Xiaomo must have been the one who had spread all of these rumours around. She must be jealous of your relationship with brother, and so she decided to spread all sorts of false rumours about the two of you.”

Qin Shanshan was the same type of person as Yu Wanrou – they both hated Jun Xiaomo, and they were both jealous of what she possessed. In particular, Jun Xiaomo had on several occasions torn apart Qin Shanshan’s pretenses and trampled on her pride in public. Thus, Qin Shanshan viewed Jun Xiaomo as the thorn in her side that was to be removed no matter the cost.

At the same time, Qin Shanshan could hardly hold a candle to Qin Lingyu in terms of her talent for cultivation, and she had thus always been treated as a slightly invisible existence in the Sect. If not for the fact that she had the backing of her outstanding brother, she might very well have faded into anonymity amidst the rest of the disciples. But it was also precisely because of this that Qin Shanshan hated the fact that Jun Xiaomo possessed everything she wanted – strong backing in the form of her parents, as well as an immense talent for cultivation.

It had to be said that Jun Xiaomo had in fact treated Qin Shanshan extremely well before the relationship between Jun Xiaomo and Qin Lingyu broke down. Back then, Jun Xiaomo would from time to time give Qin Shanshan delightful gifts that she had happened to come across. However, Qin Shanshan had always believed that Jun Xiaomo had always given her mere hand-me-downs or things that Jun Xiaomo no longer wanted to use.

Thus, the more Jun Xiaomo gave, the more jealous Qin Shanshan grew. How she wished that she could have a Peakmaster as her father as well. That way, she could ask her father directly if she coveted anything, and she would no longer need Jun Xiaomo to render gifts of charity to her!

It could be seen from the likeness of their character that an older brother truly begets a similar younger sister. Those who were overtly selfish would always view themselves as the center of the world. That was the “fair equilibrium” of what the ideal world ought to be.

Now that Qin Lingyu and Jun Xiaomo had thoroughly washed their hands off each other, Qin Shanshan’s stream of benefits had naturally also dried up. Truth be told, she had initially regretted in the fact that she had not asked Jun Xiaomo for more before the relationship between Jun Xiaomo and Qin Lingyu broke down.

That said, she had just come up with another idea –

She wanted to instigate and aggravate the rivalry between Yu Wanrou and Jun Xiaomo, and have Yu Wanrou teach Jun Xiaomo a lesson.

Qin Shanshan knew that Yu Wanrou maintained a good reputation throughout the Sect, and this was one of the building blocks for her idea to begin with – she believed that Yu Wanrou could capitalize on her way with people to trip up Jun Xiaomo.

That said, how could Yu Wanrou be any less crafty than Qin Shanshan when it came to schemes and ploys? How could she not know Qin Shanshan’s true motives for seeking her out today?

Truth be told, from what Yu Wanrou understood of Jun Xiaomo, she knew that Jun Xiaomo could hardly care less about her present relationship with Qin Lingyu, much less actively spread rumours to smear their reputation.

If one were to consider the people in the Sect who were most likely to smear and tarnish their reputation, the little lady beside her most certainly placed higher in terms of likelihood than Jun Xiaomo did.

That said, Yu Wanrou could hardly be bothered to be calculative about these things because she knew that she was not in a position to deal with Qin Shanshan at this point in time. Furthermore, given their respective relationships with Qin Lingyu, she knew without a doubt that Qin Lingyu would take Qin Shanshan’s side if she were to get into an argument with Qin Shanshan.

Furthermore, every time Jun Xiaomo walked past Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu while they were publicly displaying their affection, Jun Xiaomo would only cast upon them a disdainful look before walking away confidently and freely, as though they had nothing to do with her.

Jun Xiaomo’s nonchalance made everything that Yu Wanrou had schemed and executed seem like nothing more than a circus act – this thoroughly incensed Yu Wanrou.

The person that Yu Wanrou wanted to defeat and trample on the most was Jun Xiaomo.

There was not a single occasion when she did not think about stepping over Jun Xiaomo and trampling Jun Xiaomo beneath her feet. She wanted to see whether Jun Xiaomo would reveal a sorry and tragic look on her face when that time came.

That said, none of her schemes to date had worked. She had snatched Qin Lingyu away, won over the hearts of people within the Sect, had her way with people, thought of many ways to smear and tarnish Jun Xiaomo’s reputation, and even watched on in delight as Jun Xiaomo fell from the graces of a talented cultivator when her cultivation was crippled…

Despite all of that, Jun Xiaomo had never revealed a tragic or sorry look on her face at all. It was as though everything was within her grasp and control. The only thing that had made Jun Xiaomo lose her cool to date was Ye Xiuwen’s disappearance.

All of this made Yu Wanrou feel incredibly defeated, and hardly accomplished at all. It was as though she had primed her strongest attacks to strike her rival that was Jun Xiaomo, only to find out that her opponent had simply run off the arena and never had the intention to compete to begin with.

Now that Qin Shanshan brought up all of this, and notwithstanding the fact that she was displeased that Qin Shanshan was using her to deal with Jun Xiaomo, Yu Wanrou’s heart began to feel provoked to action.

Since Jun Xiaomo hardly cared about her relationship with Qin Lingyu, then there was no reason to engage her on that front either. What about the opportunity to enter a Greater Sect? Qin Lingyu had already discussed matters with He Zhang, and Yu Wanrou would very soon be able to enter the Limitless Sect through Qin Lingyu’s “backdoor” to delve deeper into her cultivation there. However, Jun Xiaomo would still have to remain here at the Dawn Sect, and her prospects of entering a Greater Sect was still very much an unknown for now.

In fact, Yu Wanrou believed that Jun Xiaomo was no different from the other disciples from the Heavenly Peak – every single one of them was a stubborn buffoon.

Qin Lingyu had extended an olive branch to Jun Xiaomo before, yet this was outrightly rejected by Jun Xiaomo. In Yu Wanrou’s eyes, as much as her heart ached that Qin Lingyu would pick Jun Xiaomo over herself, she also mocked Jun Xiaomo’s naivete and ignorance.

As long as one could gain entry to the Greater Sect, what did it matter what form her entry took? No matter how great their hatred and indignation, was there anything that they could not set aside temporarily when presented with such a prime opportunity?

Furthermore, in Yu Wanrou’s eyes, Jun Xiaomo and Qin Lingyu could not be considered to have any deep animosity or hatred for each other to begin with. After all, any amount of animosity between them could only have arisen from the incident during their travels – how great could that have been?

It’s amazing that Jun Xiaomo would be so insistent on picking that disfigured martial brother of hers. Yu Wanrou mocked in her heart. If it had been her, she would most certainly have picked Qin Lingyu over Ye Xiuwen any day.

“Sister Wanrou, Jun Xiaomo has spread lies and rumours to smear and tarnish both brother Qin and your names! Are you really going to take it lying down?” Qin Shanshan noticed that Yu Wanrou had hardly given her any form of response, so she added fuel to fire and pressed the issue.

A trace of displeasure flickered across the depths of Yu Wanrou’s eyes, but this very quickly became a bright glimmer.

“Let’s go, Shanshan. We’ll go take a look at the Discussion Hall.” Yu Wanrou smiled softly at Qin Shanshan as she quipped.

“Discussion Hall?” Qin Shanshan couldn’t understand why Yu Wanrou had all of a sudden mentioned the Discussion Hall – what did this have to do with Jun Xiaomo to begin with?

“Doesn’t Shanshan know? There’s going to be several sect elders from Greater Sects coming to earmark their chosen disciples today.” Yu Wanrou curled her lips into a smile as she explicated.

“Oh, but that doesn’t have anything to do with me.” Qin Shanshan murmured.

What did the earmarking of Chosen Disciples have anything to do with her? With her current cultivation abilities, there was no way she would be selected to begin with. Her only hope right now was that Qin Lingyu could put in a good word for her when he entered the Limitless Sect later on.

“We’ll find an opportunity to inform Jun Xiaomo that some sect elders from the Greater Sects have taken an interest in her as a potential Chosen Disciple. Then, when she shows up and discovers that everything was nothing more than an ‘illusion’, she will become the laughingstock of everyone present, while we’ll have a good show to watch. Isn’t that a good idea?”

Yu Wanrou spoke with a soft and warm voice, and her expression remained just as harmless and docile as it had been. That said, the contents of what she had just said made Qin Shanshan shudder coldly.

“Hah…haha…excellent, that’s really great…haha…” Qin Shanshan smiled as she stammered. That earlier look that she had plastered all over her face while she had been scheming had been completely shattered to pieces.

Qin Shanshan had suddenly discovered that her present “sister-in-law” was far less weak and soft that she appeared to be. In fact, the profound schemes of her heart were hardly commensurate with her age.

How ignorant and daft must Qin Shanshan have been to think that Yu Wanrou was in any way an easier target than Jun Xiaomo had been in the past?

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