Chapter 355: Rong Ruihan’s Disappearance, Jun Xiaomo’s Heartache

“Brother Rong!”

When Jun Xiaomo came to her senses, she immediately sat up and glanced anxiously around. Unfortunately, her surroundings were completely pitch-black.

She could tell that the place she was presently at was different from the place that she had been when she first passed out. This was because her surroundings right now were clean – so clean that it almost seemed as though she had left the hellish prison within the spirit tool’s domain.

That said, the faint stench of blood wafting through her nose told her that she was undoubtedly still trapped within the spirit tool’s domain.

She was unable to see Rong Ruihan anywhere in sight. In fact, despite probing around at her surroundings with her divine sense, she could hardly detect even a single living thing around her.

Everything was completely still and silent.

Jun Xiaomo didn’t know how long she had passed out for, and she didn’t know how long it had been since Rong Ruihan had abandoned her and headed out on his own. That said, there was one thing she knew for certain – Rong Ruihan’s life would be in danger if she didn’t find him quickly!

This was because there were still two Invisibility Talismans within her Interspatial Ring. In other words, Rong Ruihan had unilaterally chosen to face the wrath of the fireballs on his own, leaving both remaining Invisibility Talismans for Jun Xiaomo’s use.

It was also for this reason that Rong Ruihan had drugged Jun Xiaomo, causing her to pass out. After all, he knew full well that had he not done so, Jun Xiaomo would never have allowed Rong Ruihan to make such a decision on his own.

“Brother Rong…” Thinking about these things, Jun Xiaomo’s heart grew so heavy that even her breath was getting increasingly ragged. A drop of tear rolled out of her eyes, slid off her cheeks and scattered on her clothes.

No! I’ve got to look for Brother Rong! I can’t allow him to die in here!

Jun Xiaomo gritted her teeth and tightened her fists. After drawing a deep breath, she steeled her resolve and marched deeper into the darkness.

She absolutely had to find Rong Ruihan!

Outside the spirit tool, Ye Xiuwen shut his eyes languidly, almost as though he were resting.

Every single one of the Heavenly Peak disciples were completely dumbfounded when they saw Ye Xiuwen shut his eyes so placidly! There they were, waiting for Ye Xiuwen to return to normal. Yet, despite having waited for several hours on end, Ye Xiuwen only seemed to grow colder and colder towards Jun Xiaomo, much less show any signs of returning to normal.

“Martial Brother Ye, can you at least give us an indication?! When in the world are you going to release Martial Sister Xiaomo? Are you really going to sit by idly and watch her perish in the spirit tool?!” Chen Feiyu stepped forward indignantly and began to press the issue with Ye Xiuwen.

Ye Xiuwen opened his eyes again and smirked as he cast Chen Feiyu a placid glance, “Since when did I ever say that I was going to release her? Haven’t I always taken the position that those two lovebirds can perish together within the spirit tool?”

“Martial Brother Ye, you--!” Chen Feiyu’s eyes were blazing with fury as the bulging veins on his forehead began to throb, “Ye Xiuwen, have you already forgotten how Martial Sister Xiaomo has always been treating you? Why have you suddenly become so unreasonable?!”

Ye Xiuwen snorted, “Of course I’ve not forgotten how she’s always been ‘treating’ me. On the one hand, she’d profess her love for me and sleep with me; and yet on the other hand, she would inextricably entangle herself with other men behind the scenes. Hasn’t she always been treating me this way?”

“You’d never thought about it this way before!” Chen Feiyu placed his hand onto the spirit tool as he continued to lambast Ye Xiuwen, “Is it this thing?! Did this thing make you become like this?!”

A cold gleam flashed across Ye Xiuwen’s eyes. With a sweep of his arm, Ye Xiuwen shot a powerful wave of energy, striking Chen Feiyu squarely on the body and sending him flying back tens of meters until he collided into the trunk of a tree, snapping the trunk cleanly in two.

Pfft! Chen Feiyu spat out a huge mouthful of blood and nearly passed out.

“Martial Brother Chen!” The Heavenly Peak disciples immediately ran over and began to help him up. Their expressions were all incredibly ashen right now – If even Martial Brother Chen can’t speak some sense into Martial Brother Ye, is there really anyone who can rescue Martial Sister Xiaomo right now?

Is this going to be how Martial Sister Xiaomo perishes?

The commotion among the Heavenly Peak disciples attracted the attention of Xiang Guqing and the rest, especially Zhang Shuyue. Even though Ye Xiuwen had previously threatened to kill all of them if Jun Xiaomo perished within the spirit tool, Zhang Shuyue refused to believe that such a dignified, charming man would do such a vicious thing.

It had to be said that Xiang Guqing and her disciples were the most fortunate among the group of captives as they were under the blessings of the valley’s master formation array. As long as they remained within the valley not only were they much more difficult to kill, they would even experience accelerated recovery from any injuries they sustained.

Thus, despite the fact that they had initially sustained relatively more grievous injuries, Xiang Guqing and her disciples were already well on their road to recovery after the lapse of approximately ten hours.

Right now, Zhang Shuyue was the closest to a full recovery among their numbers, given that her injuries were also the least severe to begin with. Naturally, her heart and mind began to grow livelier once more.

“Master, do you have any way of loosening the ropes on our bodies?” Zhang Shuyue discreetly whispered to Xiang Guqing.

Xiang Guqing’s heart was still irked by the fact that Zhang Shuyue had failed to help her up when she was injured by Ye Xiuwen earlier. Thus, she simply ignored the ingrate of a disciple that Zhang Shuyue was.

Zhang Shuyue bit down on her lower lip. She knew that what she had done earlier was wrong, so she softened her voice as she began to plead with her master, “Master, Disciple was wrong earlier. That said, it appears that Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo are having a tiff right now. Why don’t we take the chance to provoke him and instigate him to stand on our side? This might be the only way to extricate ourselves from this predicament.”

Xiang Guqing chuckled sardonically, “From what Master can see, all of this is just a pretext, isn’t it? The truth of the matter is that you’re still obsessed with that man over there, hmm?”

Xiang Guqing had hit the nail on the head, exposing the intentions hidden in the depths of Zhang Shuyue’s heart and causing her face to flush in embarrassment. Nevertheless, suppressing the stirring feeling within her heart, Zhang Shuyue maintained, “It doesn’t really matter how Master puts it. Right now, this seems to be our best bet if we were to get out of this predicament. Didn’t Master hear what Ye Xiuwen mentioned earlier? If anything happens to Jun Xiaomo, we’re all going to be sent to the grave together with her. Even though Ye Xiuwen appears to be mad at Jun Xiaomo right now, who knows whether he will have a change of heart later and blame Jun Xiaomo’s death on us again? Besides, what’s there to lose if Disciple heads over now to sow some more discord and widen the rift between Ye Xiuwen and the rest of the Heavenly Peak disciples?”

Xiang Guqing glared at Zhang Shuyue with a protracted pause.

Seeing that her master was staring at her for such a long time as though sizing her up, Zhang Shuyue once again began to be plagued by the guilt in her heart, and she subconsciously shifted her gaze away.

Finally, Xiang Guqing sighed softly, “Since you’re so intent on going over there, Master will help you out just this once more.” As Xiang Guqing finished speaking, she retrieved a small shiv from her Interspatial Ring. Then, with a small flick of her wrist, she cut the rope binding up Zhang Shuyue’s hands.

Zhang Shuyue’s face brightened immediately. After softly thanking her master, she began to slowly make her way over towards Ye Xiuwen.

“Master, you were actually able to remove these restraints all this while?” Xiang Guqing’s other disciples were astonished by the latest development. They had initially thought that their master was so tightly bound by the ropes and restraints that all of them had no choice but to sit idly and wait under the tree.

Who would have thought that Master actually had a way of loosening the ropes in such a clean and swift fashion?! Since that was the case, why didn’t she take out this shiv earlier and loosen all of the restraints on our hands?

Almost as though she could guess the thoughts on her disciples’ hearts, Xiang Guqing sighed softly, “Disciple has grown up. Master can no longer take care of her.”

Xiang Guqing’s disciples exchanged puzzled glances with each other. None of them knew what Xiang Guqing meant with that enigmatic expression of hers.

“It’s not that Master didn’t want to loosen the ropes for you. Rather, the fact remains that none of us would be able to escape under Ye Xiuwen’s watchful gaze even if we loosened the ropes restraining us earlier. Don’t underestimate Ye Xiuwen. Under the suppressive effects of Jun Xiaomo’s formation array, there’s no way that any of us would be able to defeat Ye Xiuwen without Dai Yanfeng’s aid.”

Then, turning her attention towards Zhang Shuyue as she slowly made her way over towards Ye Xiuwen chirpily, Xiang Guqing continued, “Over the last five hours or so, Master has been thinking and reflecting about this entire incident. Shuyue’s behaviour has disappointed Master time and again, and Master can’t help but wonder whether Shuyue had played up her innocence and grievances with Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen in order to instigate Master to action in the first place.”

“Master…” Xiang Guqing’s disciples invariably possessed deep feelings towards their master. After all, they had been abandoned by their respective parents since they were young, and it was Xiang Guqing who had adopted them and given them a home in the valley. It was only under Xiang Guqing’s ceaseless care and doting that her disciples had managed to find their footing in life and found a reason to live on.

Thus, Xiang Guqing was almost akin to a mother to all of them.

It was for this reason that Xiang Guqing was so thoroughly embittered by the fact that she had been used by Zhang Shuyue. Back then, if not for Zhang Shuyue’s misleading representation that she had been used and abandoned by Ye Xiuwen, she would never have responded to the Eternal Summit Sect’s bounty in fury and stirred the collective wrath of the Heavenly Peak disciples.

This is fine. She’s a grown lady now. It’s still undoubtedly a good thing if Zhang Shuyue can persuade Ye Xiuwen to release us. Consoling herself with these thoughts, Xiang Guqing shut her eyes and grew silent.

After sending Chen Feiyu flying through the air, Ye Xiuwen shut his eyes, folded his arms and sat by a tree, leaning lazily against its trunk.

With a heart filled with anxiety, Zhang Shuyue slowly walked towards Ye Xiuwen. Right now, she was so nervous that her palms were dripping with sweat.

Tightly clenching her fists, she continued to make her way towards Ye Xiuwen, only relaxing her fists when she finally arrived by Ye Xiuwen’s side.

Zhang Shuyue did not bother to muffle the sound of her footsteps. Thus, Ye Xiuwen opened his eyes languidly and looked at her just as she arrived by his side.

Zhang Shuyue’s breath grew disorderly, and her heart began to thump faster and harder. In that very moment that they locked eyes, she discovered that Ye Xiuwen’s gaze was now so deep and profound that it appeared to devour her soul.

She was somewhat frightened, yet also somewhat expectant.

She was frightened by the prospects that Ye Xiuwen would treat her in the same manner that he did Chen Feiyu, sending her flying with the flick of his sleeves. At the same time, she was also somewhat expectant and hopeful that Ye Xiuwen would indulge her and entertain her advances.

After all, Ye Xiuwen currently no longer seemed to care about Jun Xiaomo’s life or death. Did this not also mean that she would have a chance to earn Ye Xiuwen’s heart once more?

Ye Xiuwen didn’t ask Zhang Shuyue how she managed to loosen her restraints and walk over to his side. All this while, he simply continued to gaze placidly at Zhang Shuyue as though everything were within his expectations. There was neither astonishment nor indignation in his heart.

Zhang Shuyue’s heart began to thump quicker and quicker, and her face began to flush with a pink hue.

Then, mustering all of her courage, she boldly sat down just beside Ye Xiuwen and leaned into his arm slightly. Lifting her head slightly, she caressed Ye Xiuwen’s chiseled face as she gazed hazily into his eyes, “Brother Ye, have you finally realized that Jun Xiaomo is no longer deserving of your love and affection?”

Ye Xiuwen neither brushed her hand away nor denied her suggestions.

In other words, Ye Xiuwen appeared to have tacitly agreed with Zhang Shuyue.

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