Demoness's Art of Vengeance
Chapter 88: The Burden of Engagement

Chapter 88: The Burden of Engagement

Translator: Minotauruz

Jun Xiaomo heart swelled with elation as she witnessed Qin Lingyu’s dumbstruck look. She felt awash with joy at this moment, just like someone who had just taken a cold, refreshing shower on a hot, grimy summer day. Every single fiber in her being was now tingling with this refreshing sensation emanating from the look on Qin Lingyu’s face right now.

Didn’t this fella want to team up with Ke Xinwen to scheme against martial brother Ye and I? I want to see how he’s going to deal with the present situation.

In all these years, Qin Lingyu had accumulated countless treasures and precious possessions through the convenience of his position and stature in the Sect. These treasures had all been “gifted” to him by the earnest disciples within the Sect, and Qin Lingyu also welcomed these gifts with open arms, as he stored each and every one carefully within his Interspatial Ring.

At the same time, these “earnest disciples” did not have many possessions to begin with. Even if they all pooled together their most prized possession within their respective Interspatial Rings right now, the value of their combined possessions would be far less than the value of the pills that Jun Xiaomo had just asked Qin Lingyu for.

These pills sought by Jun Xiaomo were not commonly seen – especially the fifth-grade Revitalization Pill and the sixth-grade Energy Convergence Pill. The pillmaster would have to overcome a pill tribulation when forging each of these pills. Therefore, these pills were much harder to come across than the other more common pills. In fact, they were so valuable and precious that one might not even be able to obtain one of these pills with ten-thousand superior-grade spirit stones.

Naturally, Qin Lingyu had always stored these pills safely and securely within his Interspatial Ring. In fact, he would be reticent to even talk about, let alone reveal the existence of these pills in front of others.

Furthermore, one other reason why he had always kept these pills in storage was the fact that he had never encountered a situation so serious that he had to consume these pills either. In other words, there was simply no impetus for him to deplete these precious resources of his which he was saving for a rainy day.

But right now, Yao Mo had in one breath demanded the five most precious medicinal pills within Qin Lingyu’s possession! To Qin Lingyu, this was tantamount to asking for five pieces of flesh straight from his body!

Jun Xiaomo noticed the fuming gaze in Qin Lingyu’s eyes and the throbbing of the bulging veins on his forehead. She retrieved a folded fan from her Interspatial Ring and flicked it open, before leisurely remarking, “It’s public knowledge that the Dawn Sect’s Sect Elders and Sect Leader have always been very generous. Brother Qin, as the Sect Leader’s First-Seat Disciple, I imagine that the gifts you’ve received from them over the years wouldn’t be too shabby either. Since that’s the case, I don’t think my request of only five medicinal pills is too outrageous. Who knows, their combined value might well be only a tiny fraction of the wealth of invaluable medicinal pills and priceless treasures you have stored in your Interspatial Ring! Unless, brother Qin doesn’t think that your lives are worth as much as these medicinal pills, and my request for this measly gift of gratitude is too much?”

Jun Xiaomo intentionally emphasized her final sentence in a meaningful manner as she glanced over at Qin Lingyu with a mocking look in her eyes.

In fact, the Dawn Sect disciples had all felt rather indignant when Yao Mo had first asked for this gift of gratitude with an outstretched arm, because they all thought that Yao Mo was being petty and ridiculous here. Yao Mo had only incidentally saved our lives, so what basis did he have for making such outrageous demands off the cuff? Does he not know what avarice means? Revitalization Pill; Qi Nourishing Pill, Fire Decoction Pill, Energy Convergence Pill and Soul Rarefication Pill – none of the pills listed by Yao Mo are things that could be easily obtained! Even if martial brother Qin had these pills within his possession, why would he just give them to an outsider?!

However, after Jun Xiaomo had made her spiel, the disciples began to change their minds about the matter.

It’s true. Martial brother Qin’s different from the rest of us. Even though these five pills seem to be invaluable and priceless to us, these same items may be worth much less in the eyes of martial brother Qin. He is the First-Seat Disciple of the Sect Leader after all. He’s always been able to obtain whatever medicinal pills he desired; and some of us here have even given martial brother Qin some “gifts” in order to get into his good books.

There was no need to even mention the fact that Qin Lingyu still had that cash cow of his, Heavenly Peak Peakmaster’s daughter, Jun Xiaomo, who would from time to time offer up invaluable presents to him.

Having contemplated these things, the Dawn Sect disciples eventually changed their minds and felt that Yao Mo’s request wasn’t too farfetched at all. Furthermore, these disciples all prided themselves in being the cream of the crop in Dawn Sect, and they naturally perceived their lives to be worth much more than those five measly pills. Therefore, the disciples all turned their attention eagerly to Qin Lingyu, hoping intently that he would make the right decision and validate their innermost feelings.

Of course, none of the disciples would acknowledge the fact that they were secretly also jealous of the fact that Qin Lingyu possessed such an immense amount of wealth and resources......

Jun Xiaomo took in the expressions of each and every disciple present, including the traces of hidden jealousy and greed in each of their eyes. Then, a smile crept up the corner of her lips.

The human psyche is an incredible thing. An originally disadvantageous situation was turned around completely in her favour with one simple provocative spiel from Jun Xiaomo. In her previous life, Jun Xiaomo had on innumerable occasions been made the object of ridicule or found herself with the shorter end of the stick. Over time, she naturally acuminated her skills and learnt to take advantage of a person’s clandestine side and use it against them.

Didn’t Qin Lingyu want to put on a pretense of magnanimity and generosity and appear to be sanctimonious and dignified to the others? Didn’t he want to incite discord between the Dawn Sect disciples on the one hand, and martial brother Ye and Jun Xiaomo on the other hand? Even if Ye Xiuwen couldn’t be bothered to even feign civility with these people any longer, Jun Xiaomo nevertheless felt indignant and aggrieved for Ye Xiuwen!

Right now, she wanted to see how Qin Lingyu was going to choose between his personal benefit and his personal reputation!

Jun Xiaomo certainly placed Qin Lingyu in quite the spot. Qin Lingyu knew that his position and stature in the eyes of these disciples would be diminished greatly if he did not resolve this matter satisfactorily.

Damn! Of all the medicinal pills possible, why did Yao Mo have to pick these five types of medicinal pills?! Qin Lingyu cursed in his heart, and his eyes quivered with the fluctuations of his roiling emotions.

But in the next moment, he was quickly reminded of the treasures within Yao Mo’s Interspatial Ring. This was his original objective to begin with! Furthermore, who knows whether Yao Mo’s Interspatial Ring would contain much more invaluable treasures? So what if he gave these five pills to Yao Mo right now? It was only a matter of time before Yao Mo’s Interspatial Ring became his possession. At that time, wouldn’t these five pills naturally return to him?

After thinking through these matters, his originally roiling emotions gradually subsided, and he immediately felt much more at ease.

“Brother Yao’s words make sense. My thoughts had been slightly misguided earlier. How about this – let me offer brother Yao the five pills you’ve sought right now as a gift to express all of our gratitude. What do you think?” Qin Lingyu bowed courteously, and his facial expressions hardly seemed contrived at all.

“Oh? That forthright?” Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows curiously. After all, she never knew Qin Lingyu to be such a magnanimous person to begin with.

“That’s right. I’ll be frank with brother Yao. Even though these five medicinal pills are difficult to obtain, I happen to have these five medicinal pills in my Interspatial Ring right now. Therefore, I can gift these medicinal pills to brother Yao right now.” As he finished speaking, he promptly retrieved five small jade bottles from his Interspatial Ring and presented them to Jun Xiaomo.

As Jun Xiaomo stretched out her hand to receive the jade bottles, she noticed out of the corner of her eyes a diabolical look flash across Qin Lingyu’s eyes before it quickly disappeared. Then, she chuckled sardonically in her heart.

Jun Xiaomo received the five jade bottles from Qin Lingyu. She opened them one by one and took a whiff from each one. After she ascertained that the jade bottles indeed contained the medicinal pills that she had asked for, she joyfully stored them in her Interspatial Ring.

“Thank you, brother Qin.” Jun Xiaomo made a fist and palm salute to Qin Lingyu.

“Don’t mention it. Since brother Yao saved us Dawn Sect disciples, then you’re naturally our benefactor. These five measly pills don’t mean too much in the circumstances.” Qin Lingyu waved his hands about as he responded, as though he truly did not mind giving away these five medicinal pills to Yao Mo.

“Excellent!” Jun Xiaomo laughed heartily – she truly felt pleased by the fact that she had managed to extort these few medicinal pills from Qin Lingyu at this moment.

Besides, one of these pills had been gifted by her to Qin Lingyu while she was still mesmerized by Qin Lingyu and obsessing over him. It could hardly be considered outrageous to be asking for it back right now.

Seeing this, Qin Lingyu also joined in and laughed heartily. Yet at the same time, he thought coldly in his heart – I only wonder if you’ll live long enough to be able to use these medicinal pills...

Jun Xiaomo looked on bemusedly as Qin Lingyu continued laughing hypocritically. She could tell what exactly was running through his mind right now with just one glance.

Her eyes curled up in joy and she reveled in her pleasure as she thought to herself – Do you really think that you’ll be able to get these back? Dream on, my dear “fiancé-in-name”!

Just like that, Jun Xiaomo subconsciously made a mental note to bear this “burden” of her engagement. Yet to others, it merely seemed like Jun Xiaomo and Qin Lingyu were burying the hatchet and resolving things amicably.

Ye Xiuwen noticed the renewed civility and even harmonious interactions between Yao Mo and Qin Lingyu. Yet somehow, the sight of this made him feel rather uncomfortable, even though he couldn’t put a finger on why this was so. Therefore, he walked to Jun Xiaomo’s side and patted her head as he queried, “Little Mo, didn’t you say that the Demonvine contains something that you need? Would you like to go harvest it?”

“Ah! That’s right! I’ve almost forgotten!” Jun Xiaomo smacked her head, berating herself for forgetting something so important to her. Then, she turned around hastily and dashed towards where the Demonvine’s main vine had been located, explaining, “This thing has to be harvested within three incenses’ worth of time! Otherwise, it’s effects won’t be as strong. Gosh! Good thing brother Ye reminded me!”

Jun Xiaomo quickly made her way to the Demonvine’s ashes and swept away the top layer of ashes with her feet. Then, she started digging at the layer of soil underneath. Once the Demonvine’s roots were revealed, she held onto the thickest ones and yanked hard at the roots.

Ye Xiuwen looked at this young man’s candid actions, and his lips curled into a smile involuntarily.

Naturally, one of the other reasons for his smile was the fact that he had succeeded in breaking the eye contact between Yao Mo and Qin Lingyu to begin with.

Due to the veiled conical hat obscuring his face, no one could tell the expressions on Ye Xiuwen’s face at this moment. The disciples quickly forgot about their benefactor Yao Mo, and they all promptly turned their attention to Qin Lingyu as they showered him with praise and compliments –

“Martial brother Qin is truly magnanimous and generous! You’re absolutely deserving of the title of heir to Dawn Sect!”

“That’s right, that’s right! With that, it’s as though our lives had been saved by martial brother Qin as well. It was a good decision to follow martial brother Qin on these travels! Martial brother Qin is always looking out for us!”

“These five medicinal pills are all extremely meaningful to brother Qin. We never expected martial brother Qin to simply give them away like that for us. We’re truly moved and touched by your actions.”

......

Qin Lingyu stood in the midst of these martial brothers as he allowed them to continue to shower praises and heap compliments on him. His heart was absolutely satisfied with the way things turned out right now.

He had crafted this course of action so that his martial brothers within the Sect would owe him. With that, it would be much easier for him to “recover” this debt in future – and possibly with interest.

Just this moment, Di Yue gasped for air as he finally roused from his state of unconsciousness. He had earlier consumed the medicinal pill which Qin Lingyu had fed to him and thus managed to overcome the greatest catastrophe he had faced in his life thus far.

Right now, he was supported by two of his martial brothers on their shoulders. He slowly struggled to lift his head as he looked at his martial brothers and sisters around him, yet he did not even feel moved by their presence around him.

Even though he was still in a bit of a daze, he hadn’t forgotten how these travel companions of his had abandoned him and turned tail at the earliest sign of danger.

That scene would forever be etched in Di Yue’s memories. This also allowed Di Yue to understand that the “Sect fraternity” that these travel companions always talked about was something that was built on shallow grounds – that notion collapses at the earliest signs of distress.

This is a joke!

Di Yue hacked twice, and the pungent stench of blood immediately filled every corner of his mouth. At this moment, everyone finally realized that Di Yue had regained his consciousness.

“Oh, Di Yue! You’re awake!” One of the martial brothers supporting Di Yue cried out with a pleasant surprise –

It was a truly pleasant surprise to that disciple. Di Yue had a large frame, and this disciple felt that it was getting too heavy for him to support Di Yue much longer, not to mention that pungent and nauseating stench of blood emanating from him which assaulted his senses.

However, Di Yue did not respond to him. Instead, Di Yue turned his head and looked around at the crowd until he finally spotted Ye Xiuwen’s figure.

Seeing this, Di Yue quickly left the two people supporting him and hobbled towards Ye Xiuwen. Then, he knelt to the ground heavily and solemnly and sincerely kowtowed to Ye Xiuwen. With his head to the ground, he earnestly proclaimed, “Di Yue sincerely thanks martial brother Ye for saving his life!”

Even after he finished speaking, he continued to kowtow to Ye Xiuwen with his head firmly planted to the ground.

All the other disciples were in abject shock at this moment –

What’s going on?! Isn’t the person who saved Di Yue’s life martial brother Qin? We just witnessed with our own eyes how martial brother Qin fed him the medicinal pill after all......