novelBreaching the Tiger's Lair
| ← Ch.107 | Ch.109 → |
Translator: Minotauruz
"Aaoooo!"
While Jun Xiaomo was hesitating, the first prince let out a loud howl as he pounced towards her and nudged her slightly as he tried to snatch the Messenger Paper Crane from Jun Xiaomo's hands. His bloodshot eyes were filled with hatred and fanaticism against the owner of this message.
"Alright, be good. Shush!" Jun Xiaomo rapped the first prince's head lightly, and the first prince slowly calmed down again. Then, he continued to half-squat beside Jun Xiaomo as he gazed back at her with a wronged expression in his eyes.
Jun Xiaomo rubbed her temples. She had almost forgotten this man's existence in her room.
The first prince had remained in Jun Xiaomo's room for the entire day. Therefore, Jun Xiaomo had just had the "fortune" of witnessing the entire process of how the first prince had transformed from a state of calm rationality to his present state of frenetic madness.
Even though she was only an observer, Jun Xiaomo could see that this entire process was accompanied by incredible pain and torment. The first prince's body would erupt with an enormous amount of demonic energy like water bursting out of a dam. Large beads of perspiration would fill the first prince's head before trickling down in turn while his lips would be drained of blood. During this entire process, the first prince would struggle to resist the demonic core's hostile takeover of his body as he attempted to maintain his consciousness.
Then, red, serpentine veins would start to creep up from the side of the first prince's irises towards his pupils. Slowly but surely, the innumerable red veins would begin to overwhelm and obscure the white parts of the first prince's eyes as though the demonic core were slowly ebbing away at his rationality. Finally, when the first prince's eyes had become completely bloodshot, the gaze in his eyes would be devoid of any rationality. In its place would remain a primal gaze, like that of a beast. At this moment, the first prince would even leap down from his chair and prowl about on all fours as he howled like a wolf.
Fortunately, Jun Xiaomo had already made the necessary preparations and set up a formation array within her room. Otherwise, the outburst of demonic energy would almost certainly be discovered by the second prince's hidden eyes and ears.
Jun Xiaomo had initially thought that it was going to take a lot of energy and effort to deal with the first prince who had lost all rationality. Unexpectedly, the first prince who had entered a half-man half-beast state was in fact extremely docile and tame towards Jun Xiaomo. He would yowl as he minced towards Jun Xiaomo before hugging her waist and nodding at her obsequiously – almost like how a large dog would act.
Despite that, Jun Xiaomo found herself extremely embarrassed with the present turn of events. She couldn't understand what the irrational first prince's actions meant. Was he treating her as a friend, relative, master... or a potential partner to him?
Jun Xiaomo's final guess made her entire body freeze in shock momentarily, and she expended quite the effort before she managed to suppress the goosebumps-inducing thoughts from her mind.
At the moment, the fact that Jun Xiaomo had just received the second prince's Messenger Paper Crane immediately drew an incredibly adverse reaction from the first prince.
She found herself to be in a little bit of a pickle right now. Even though she had managed to calm the first prince down, she couldn't bear to see the first prince's aggrieved expression replete with doleful eyes either.
And for some reason, Jun Xiaomo started to experience the onset of some ill feelings, but she could not understand where these ill feelings had come from.
"Alright, alright. You wouldn't be able to understand it even if I gave it to you." Jun Xiaomo waved the paper crane in her hands as she explained to the first prince.
In fact, Jun Xiaomo wouldn't have objected if the rational first prince had insisted on seeing it. After all, she could always examine it after the first prince were done with it. However, the present first prince was now devoid of all rationality and ability to comprehend these messages, just like a beast without any spiritual awareness. Therefore, it was a waste of time and effort letting the first prince take a look at things right now.
Rather, Jun Xiaomo attributed the first prince's adverse reaction to the Messenger Paper Crane precisely because of the second prince's lingering aura on the same. After all, beasts did not only rely on the sense of sight when they sized up their opponents – they also used the sense of smell.
Jun Xiaomo sighed heavily. She had no choice but to treat the irrational prince as a large dog right now. This was the only way she was able to explain his every move and action with her.
However, this was a "large dog" that was wearing the clothes of the royalty – it was a sight to behold no matter how one looked at it.
"Aaooo!" The first prince noticed that Jun Xiaomo had stopped moving, and it once again embraced her at the waist.
Jun Xiaomo reassuringly patted the first prince's head, just like how she would treat her little packrat. Then, she furrowed her brows. After a few moments of deliberation, she finally made up her mind.
She was going to make a trip to the second prince's residence.
Having made up her mind, she crumpled the Messenger Paper Crane into a ball and placed it atop her palm. Then, she operated the true energy within her body and converted it to spiritual energy. Slowly, the Messenger Paper Crane ignited and started to burn up. Finally, it was reduced to nothing more than ashes as they fell to the ground. A cold breeze swept into the room, and the ashes were picked up and tossed away.
As Jun Xiaomo looked out of her window at the bright moon hanging in the sky, her eyes flickered with a cold, intense gleam.
She knew that the second prince would certainly have prepared some "good stuff" to welcome her. Yet even though there was only a glimmer of hope, she knew that she had to at least try.
After all, the Blackmoon Grass was not something that was easy to come by. If they missed out on this opportunity, who knows how long they would have to wait before they could encounter the next one?
The scar on Ye Xiuwen's face was the stumbling block in Jun Xiaomo's heart. Unless she could quickly rid the scar on her martial brother's face, this stumbling block would always remain etched in the innermost part of her being.
This was why she was incredibly unwilling to let this opportunity slip by when the Blackmoon Grass were just dangling in front of her right now.
Furthermore, what the second prince wanted was not her life. Therefore, the second prince's residence couldn't really be called the tiger's lair. She firmly believed that it would not be too difficult to achieve all of her objectives successfully as long as she took all the necessary preparations.
Having thought these things through, she brought her little packrat out of her clothes and placed it on the table. Then she instructed the two "animals" in front of her sternly, "I'm going out for a while because I've got some matters to deal with. Be obedient and stay here, understand? You're not allowed to run about outside."
"Ao!"
"Squeak squeak"
Just like that, a "wolf' and a "packrat" continued to stare at Jun Xiaomo with eyes that were filled with objections and worry.
Despite that, Jun Xiaomo was unrelenting. She rubbed her forehead as she retrieved several Confinement Talismans from her Interspatial Ring, just as an added preventive measure. Then, she set up a small and simple formation array around the first prince and her little packrat. As long as this formation array remained active, no one would be able to leave or enter the domain of the formation array.
Apart from this formation array, Jun Xiaomo had also prepared several defensive formation arrays within the room.
Having made all these preparations, Jun Xiaomo patted her two "pets", before slapping on herself a Windsail Talisman as she leapt out of the window and vanished into the darkness of the night.
Squeak squeak... A strange premonition told the little packrat that it was not a good thing for Jun Xiaomo to go out so late at night. Therefore, it started clawing away at the talismans in an attempt to get out.
The first prince glanced lazily at the little packrat. Then, with one sweep of his hand, he removed the few pieces of talismans that had been prepared by Jun Xiaomo.
The little packrat:......
Just like that, the first prince walked out of the formation array with ease. Just as the little packrat was about to follow suit, the first prince suddenly turned around and placed the talisman papers back in their respective locations.
As a result, the little packrat cold only continue to remain confined within the domain of the formation array. It stared indignantly as the first prince leapt out of the window, vanishing into the night with a few leaps, just like Jun Xiaomo had done.
A few rooms down the walkway, Ye Xiuwen tossed and turned about in bed, but he could not fall asleep. Therefore, he got up and walked to the window to gaze at the serene, moonlit skies outside.
The hazy glow of the moonlight dimly illuminated the world as though covering the world with a thin layer of silk.
It suddenly dawned on Ye Xiuwen that he had not thought about his little martial sister for a long time. It was as though his little martial sister's place in his heart had slowly but surely been seized by that young man.
No, there are even times when their actions make them seem like the exact same person...
One person... Ye Xiuwen clenched his fists as complicated emotions began to roil in his heart.
Just at this moment, the swift, leaping motion of a slim figure entered his field of vision out of the corner of his eye. This figure darted past his window with immense speed, but Ye Xiuwen immediately recognized who the person was – it was Yao Mo!
It's already so late, where's Little Mo going to?!
With only questions and no answers in his heart, Ye Xiuwen began to feel suspicious and worried. Therefore, he made up his mind in the next moment to give chase as well. Ye Xiuwen leapt out of his window, masked his aura and ran behind Jun Xiaomo as he tailed her.
At this moment, Jun Xiaomo was completely unaware that she had two "tails" behind her right now. Under the cover of the night, she finally arrived at the second prince's residence.
The reason why she knew the location of the second prince's residence was the fact that they always had to pass by the second prince's residence on the way to the auction house. Whenever they passed by this extravagant, lavish place, the second prince would always look around at the disciples and boast that this was his residence within the Xingping County.
As expected, this only drew looks of admiration from Yu Wanrou and Zhong Ruolan; while at the same time looks of jealousy and ambition filled eyes of the male disciples in the entourage.
Unfortunately, the second prince found it a pity that Yao Mo would only look calmly at the residence without any form of covetous expression on his face. Even though this disappointed the second prince, it only served to increase the second prince's desire to devour Yao Mo.
Right now, this place looked completely different than it did in the day. The street in front of the residence was no longer bustling with crowds of people, and only a few guards remained standing there.
When they saw Jun Xiaomo's figure approaching them, the guards immediately recognized her as one of the people whom the second prince had taken to the auction house. Moreover, the second prince had personally instructed the guards to allow this particular person entry to his residence.
Therefore, the guards duly opened the gate to the second prince's residence as they gestured to Jun Xiaomo, inviting her in. On top of that, they told Jun Xiaomo to wait at the front of the residence for a while, and the second prince's attendant would be with her shortly.
After Jun Xiaomo stepped into the residence, the main gate to the residence slowly closed behind her.
The second prince's grand eunuch had not arrived yet. Therefore, the surroundings were completely still and silent, and Jun Xiaomo was the only one who stood in the middle of the residence's grounds.
At this moment, Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows and a mischievous smile crept up the corner of her lips. Then, she retrieved two talismans from her Interspatial Ring...
A few moments later, the second prince's grand eunuch trotted over towards Jun Xiaomo. Then, he bowed politely to Jun Xiaomo as he apologized courteously, "Master Yao, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. My master has thrown a banquet to host the experts from Dawn Sect, and this servant has rushed over as soon as he finished his duties there."
"Ah, if that's the case, then Qin Lingyu and the others must still be around, isn't it?" Jun Xiaomo responded curiously with a raised eyebrow.
Since he had just "finished his duties", then wouldn't the natural implication be that the guests haven't left yet? However, it's already getting so late! What are they still doing in the second prince's residence? Is this normal?
The grand eunuch bowed slightly as he explained, "Master Qin and the rest have already grown tipsy from their drinks, so they have decided to put up in this residence's guest rooms for the night."
Jun Xiaomo nodded her head, but she said no more.
The second prince had in fact also sent messengers inviting her and Ye Xiuwen to attend this banquet. However, they had both grown sick and tired of dealing with the second prince's relentless advances. Therefore, they made up an excuse to turn the second prince down.
Unexpectedly, Qin Lingyu and the others were still around.
Is this a coincidence, or is it...
Just as Jun Xiaomo continued to walk ahead with these thoughts pressing on her mind, she suddenly discovered that the grand eunuch seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Then, she discovered another peculiarity – the path leading out of the residence had disappeared!
She found herself presently located in a little courtyard surrounded by walls. The second prince stood at the center of the courtyard, holding a box containing the Blackmoon Grass. A sly grin was plastered over the second prince's face right now as he gazed longingly at Jun Xiaomo. At the same time, his eyes flickered with excitement and delight, like a hunter that had just caught his prey.
| ← Ch. 107 | Ch. 109 → |