novelKe Xinwen's Failed Schemes
| ← Ch.076 | Ch.078 → |
Translator: Minotauruz
Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen remained in the cavern for slightly over two hours. It was only after they had fully ascertained that they've left no stone unturned that they walked to the Teleportation Array at the stone bed.
"We probably won't be able to return to this place anymore." Before activating the formation array, Jun Xiaomo looked down at the empty stone bed as she said regretfully.
The writings on the stone bed had vanished completely, as though its owner was now fully satisfied, having entrusted her final wishes and the Blood Jade to this stranger standing before the bed right now.
"Mm." Ye Xiuwen responded softly, patting Yao Mo's head as he said, "Let's go. Finding senior's child and fulfilling her final wishes is the greatest form of gratitude and repayment we can give."
The value of the things that they had recovered from this cavern far outweighed the simple request left by Jiang Yutong. In fact, Jiang Yutong's good nature and kind-heartedness could be seen from the fact that she did not even seek revenge in her final will.
Even so, if the stars were aligned in her favour as she carried out the task requested by Jiang Yutong, Jun Xiaomo did not mind throwing in "revenge" as a bonus for her senior. At the very least, Jiang Yutong's death would not have been in vain this way.
Jun Xiaomo smiled at Ye Xiuwen, before imbuing the formation array with her spiritual energy.
As the blue light from the formation array slowly intensified and engulfed them, Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen clasped their hands together respectfully and solemnly said, "Thank you, senior."
Then, an after an intense flare of blue light, Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen vanished from the cavern. At the same time, the entrance to this cavern became completely sealed off as well.
Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen had been transported to a location with verdant and lush fields, where reindeers could be spotted some distance away quietly grazing on the moist grass speckled with glistening morning dew. Not far away, a small stream flowed quietly along as large, plump fishes darted about leisurely within the stream's clear waters.
"Seems like senior even carefully planned out where she would send us through that Teleportation Array. I'd thought we would simply be transported back to the entrance of the cavern!" Jun Xiaomo exclaimed in surprise as she mentally noted her gratitude to Jiang Yutong. At the same time, she also grew more remorseful for Jiang Yutong's tragic demise.
The cavern's entrance was the place where they had initially entered the cavern, and it was surrounded by a large field of Firescale Grass. But right now, they could not see any Firescale Grass no matter where they looked. Evidently, they had been teleported some distance away from the entrance of the cavern.
Ye Xiuwen also calmly spoke, "Perhaps the entrance has finally been sealed."
Jun Xiaomo was caught by surprise, but as she thought about it, she understood what Ye Xiuwen meant.
Indeed, the cavern's entrance was a distance away from them, and it could well have been sealed forever. This was also a nice form of closure – at the very least, no one would be able to enter and disturb the final resting place of their respected senior anymore.
After adjusting her emotions for a little bit, Jun Xiaomo lifted her head as she said to Ye Xiuwen, "Brother Ye, I'm afraid that the wild boar that we've caught is probably no longer around. Shall we hunt a reindeer to satiate our appetite instead?"
Jun Xiaomo's stomach growled timeously as her eyes looked pleadingly at Ye Xiuwen – she looked completely like a glutton at this moment.
Ye Xiuwen laughed at her as he tousled Jun Xiaomo's head and said, "Sounds good. I've not tried Little Mo's culinary skills too! I'm sure it must be pretty good."
Jun Xiaomo lifted her chin proudly as she said, "That's a given! It's necessary to have some good culinary skills after all!"
While Jun Xiaomo did not know how to prepare regular homemade food, she was nevertheless decently proficient at preparing wild game meals. This was a natural byproduct of her having been on the run in the wilderness for the most part of her previous life.
Ye Xiuwen's actions were incredibly swift, and these reindeers could hardly hold a candle to the wild boar they had hunted earlier. Wild boars still possessed relatively strong offensive capabilities; while reindeers had almost no offensive capabilities at all. With one flash of Ye Xiuwen's blade, one reindeer's head landed on the floor. The other reindeers immediately galloped away in shock. But moments later, when they realized that Ye Xiuwen was not pursuing any of them, they slowed down and began to graze leisurely once again.
Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo dragged the reindeer's carcass to the nearby stream and washed and prepared it for their travels. Then, Jun Xiaomo kept the entire reindeer within her Interspatial Ring.
This place was not suitable for starting a fire, and it was best if they returned to the woods before doing so.
"That... brother Ye, do we still have to go back to the others?" Jun Xiaomo hesitated as she asked Ye Xiuwen.
Ye Xiuwen deliberated for a moment, before reluctantly nodding his head, saying, "That's right. Two of the martial brothers there had followed me out on these travels, and I can't just leave them behind."
"But, but... they clearly don't respect brother Ye at all!" Jun Xiaomo retorted furiously, "They're brother Ye's team-mates in name, but it seems as though their allegiance is completely with Ke Xinwen and Qin Lingyu and their lackeys! Can't you just leave them be and let them fend for their own survival?!"
"Since they belong to my team, then they are part of my responsibility. I can't just discard them like that." Ye Xiuwen calmly responded.
"Responsibility. Responsibility! It's always your responsibility! Why are you so rigid all the time!" Jun Xiaomo eyes reddened in fury as she glared furiously at Ye Xiuwen as though she were trying to bore a hole through Ye Xiuwen with her eyes right now.
He had treated Jun Xiaomo the same way in her previous life as he was treating those two martial brothers right now. At this moment, Jun Xiaomo wanted so much to dig out that part of Ye Xiuwen's heart that was so obsessed with responsibility!
It was fine if Ye Xiuwen were only responsible towards her. After all, she was Jun Linxuan's daughter, and Ye Xiuwen would naturally want to show his gratitude to Jun Linxuan for saving his life by taking care of his daughter. This was quite reasonable. But those two martial brothers were clearly ingrates! Why did martial brother Ye have to care about them in the first place?!
Ye Xiuwen gave a bemused look at this young man fighting for his injustice right now. Before Jun Xiaomo's emotions escalated any further, he gripped firmly on that young man's shoulders, gently patted it and said, "Brother Ye understands this. Thanks, Little Mo. However, even though they prefer following Ke Xinwen and Qin Lingyu, they've never once done anything untoward against me; at best, they've only just been ignoring me. Furthermore, have you ever considered what would happen should something bad happen to my two team members once I abandon my team and traveled on my own? How would I explain this to the Sect Elders later on? Do you think they will simply drop the matter and not blame me for not taking responsibility for them?"
Jun Xiaomo bit down on her lower lips as she thought about it – she finally understood all of his considerations.
Since Ye Xiuwen was the team leader of a small team, if something happened to his team members while Ye Xiuwen was not around them, the schemers within the Sect were bound to embellish the facts and frame Ye Xiuwen for their untimely demise.
Besides, Ke Xinwen and Qin Lingyu had not once succeeded in their schemes against Ye Xiuwen, and they must be extremely frustrated with him by now. It was almost a certainty that they would be capitalizing on any opportunities they could to make Ye Xiuwen suffer under their hands.
It must be said that Jun Xiaomo had a perfect grasp of the contemplations of these schemers.
"Alright, I understand." Jun Xiaomo puffed up her cheeks in a huff again, glaring at Ye Xiuwen before murmuring in a low voice, "Since brother Ye thinks we should go back to the rest, then let's be on our way."
Ye Xiuwen grinned as he rubbed Jun Xiaomo's head, chuckling as he said, "Don't worry, brother Ye isn't a fool who would suffer and take things lying down just because he's responsible."
Jun Xiaomo lifted and tilted her head and gave Ye Xiuwen a quizzical look as she asked, "What do you mean?"
Ye Xiuwen continued to grin at her as a cold gleam flashed across his eyes, but he chose to remain silent.
The Sect's requirements were that the team leader had to "do his best" to protect his team members. But there was room for interpretation when it came to what exactly "doing his best" entailed. At the very least, the Sect would certainly not insist that the team leader gives up his life to protect his team members.
Therefore, even though Ye Xiuwen was going to return to the rest, since those two team members did not cherish his protection, then he would similarly be cursory about it.
In any event, Ye Xiuwen had never been an altruist who could not distinguish good from evil. He was eighty to ninety percent certain that their encounter with the Green Elder Python had been a result of Ke Xinwen's schemes. If he did not return to the rest, how was he going to "repay" this culprit for his invaluable gift to them?
However, in Jun Xiaomo's eyes, Ye Xiuwen had always been that warm and kind martial brother of hers. Therefore, she had overlooked the cold glimmer in Ye Xiuwen's eyes at that very last moment.
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On the other side, Ke Xinwen and Qin Lingyu had once again had an uneventful night, and the members of their entourage only slowly roused from their slumber when the sun hung high in the sky.
The bonfire in the center of the camp site was still glowing and flickering with dim red embers as it emitted sporadic crackling sounds. After everyone roughly freshened themselves up, they retrieved some dry rations from their Interspatial Rings and started to munch on them.
The wild rabbits and wild boar that they had snagged for a change of taste had all been discarded to the side, and no one wanted to touch those black, charred objects.
That's right. No one in the right mind would identify those black, charred objects as things that were... edible.
Ke Xinwen had wanted to impress the lady he was fond of. So, after he returned to the camp site last night, he immediately started a bonfire and roasted both the rabbit meat as well as the wild boar that had been killed by Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo.
The other disciples also tried to help out as well. After all, Ke Xinwen was their senior martial brother, and they could not sit idly by and allow Ke Xinwen to cook meat and serve them.
The only people who remained seated while the others busied themselves were Yu Wanrou, Zhong Ruolan and Qin Lingyu. The three of them simply sat where they were and stared at the disciples who were busying themselves with the roasting process.
At the same time, everyone had thought that roasting wild game was an extremely easy thing to do. In the end, their efforts had been in vain because of their complacence. Nothing that they had roasted was edible.
The rabbit's flesh had been charred beyond belief, and all the moisture in the meat had completely dried up and vaporized. Biting into it was no different from biting onto a salty piece of charcoal – apart from the charred, burnt taste of the meat, they could only taste salt. It was completely inedible.
On the other hand, the wild boar's meat had been much tougher than expected, and they had overcooked the outside but undercooked the inside. Therefore, the first few mouthfuls were filled with the same charred, burnt tastes, and after a few more bites the taste would evolve to the disgusting stench of blood. A closer look would reveal that the inner part of the wild boar's meat was completely raw and bloody.
Therefore, everyone had quickly tossed aside these few pieces of meat, while Ke Xinwen could only retreat in frustration at his failed attempt to please the lady he was fond of.
After finishing up with their dry rations, one of the other disciples commented, "Since brother Ye is still not back yet, do we still have to go out looking for him today?"
Qin Lingyu thought for a moment before calmly replying, "Let's give it another shot. After all, we've come out on these travels together, and it would not be good to lose someone along the way. Besides, Yi Hong and Di Yue, both of you are travelling under martial brother Ye as your team leader. By right, he should be the one looking after you guys."
Yi Hong and Di Yue both looked at each other with frustration in their eyes.
It would be great if Qin Lingyu and Ke Xinwen were their team leaders instead. It was so difficult to get along with martial brother Ye, who always seems to prefer to act alone. Right now, he had even disappeared from the rest of the team.
However, they had clearly omitted from their considerations the fact that they were the ones who had rejected Ye Xiuwen's suggestions to practice cultivation early in the morning, just so that they could loiter about and curry favour with Ke Xinwen and Qin Lingyu.
Ke Xinwen nodded his head in approval, adding, "I also think it's better if we tried looking for them again. Perhaps martial brother Ye had only been caught up with an exigency or emergency which delayed his return to the camp site."
Ke Xinwen had even said all these things with a straight-face replete with a concerned look in his eye, as though he truly cared for Ye Xiuwen's safety.
But at this point in time, only he and Qin Lingyu were aware that Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo might well have had an unfortunate encounter and would no longer be able to return. After all, given Ye Xiuwen's personality, there was no way he would willingly stay away from the group unless something happened to him.
Qin Lingyu's only regret was that he was unable to secure the treasures within Yao Mo's Interspatial Ring. But apart from that, he was nevertheless rather pleased with Ye Xiuwen's untimely demise.
Ke Xinwen was naturally even more pleased with the outcome – he had got rid of two thorns in his flesh with one fell swoop. This was an outcome deserving of great celebration!
Just at this moment when Ke Xinwen was about to smile in deep satisfaction, a voice resounded from a short distance away, stifling the smile on his face –
"Ah, it's almost lunchtime and everyone's still gathered here. Does this mean that everyone's waiting for our return? I'm so touched~!" The clear voice of a "young man" resounded from behind them, yet its contents clearly got under the skins of several disciples here – was this really the tone of a person who was touched? Or was it someone who was simply mocking them?
Ke Xinwen immediately turned around, and two completely unscathed Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo stood right there in the center of his field of vision.
"You... You're actually fine?!" Ke Xinwen's eyes widened as he exclaimed.
Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows as she remained calm and asked curiously, "Oh? Could brother Ke explain to us why we shouldn't... shouldn't be fine?"
Jun Xiaomo mimicked the manner in which Ke Xinwen stammered. Her expression and her tone were sufficient to anger Ke Xinwen to no end!
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