How do I intend to buy it? Of course I’m expecting my future sister-in-law to buy it for me!

Qin Shanshan thought this in her heart, but she dared not express it. Jun Xiaomo’s present gaze was too terrifying. It was as though the coldness in her gaze penetrated her body, sending chills straight to her soul.

Seeing Qin Shanshan struggling to speak but having no words to express herself, Jun Xiaomo chuckled coldly, saying, “Qin Shanshan, if you have the gall to suggest that I buy this hairpin, why don’t you have the guts to say it?”

Having been exposed by Jun Xiaomo, Qin Shanshan no longer concealed it. Cognizant of the feelings Jun Xiaomo had for her brother, she unabashedly said with renewed confidence, “I’m only borrowing two mid-grade spirit stones from you to buy this hairpin! Your father is a Peakmaster; this little bit of money is nothing to you at all. We are fellow disciples from the same Sect! Do you even have any regard for our friendship?!”

“Ah--? Regard for fellow disciples and friendship?” Jun Xiaomo looked as though she had just thought of something hilarious. Stifling a cold chuckle, she stared at Qin Shanshan and asked slowly, “Qin Shanshan, back when you instigated me to enter the Sect’s forbidden ground, what regard did you have for your “fellow disciple”? When I got punished by the Sect Elders and lay completely bedridden, what regard did you have for our friendship? When you stabbed me in the back under the guise of cordiality, what regard did you have for our relationship? Don’t you think that the ‘regard’ you have is completely and utterly laughable?!”

Before Jun Xiaomo was finished, she suddenly took a step forward. Qin Shanshan took a step back in fear, only to find herself caught by Jun Xiaomo by her sleeves.

“And, how dare you say that you are only ‘borrowing’? You just take an account now of what you have made me buy for you on the pretext of pleasing your brother. Have you ever repaid me for these things? This dress…these earrings…this bracelet…even this Interspatial Ring …”

For every item which Jun Xiaomo pointed out, she stretched her hand to touch each of them. This caused Qin Shanshan to tremble uncontrollably – both in humiliation and rage. The commotion here also attracted many onlookers, whose prying eyes seemed to burn a hole through the outer appearances of Qin Shanshan and expose her true rotten core, causing her soul to ignite with fury and embarrassment.

Qin Shanshan had always maintained a good reputation. Therefore, as Jun Xiaomo publicly revealed her ungrateful and covetous nature, she inadvertently also tore of Qin Shanshan’s mask and trampled her reputation underfoot. To Qin Shanshan, this was much more painful than if she had been physically beaten up.

Jun Xiaomo had not physically assaulted Qin Shanshan, yet Qin Shanshan’s felt as though she had just been slapped on the face. She was so furious that she wanted to just tear that mouth in front of her into pieces!

Unfortunately, every single word spoken by Jun Xiaomo was the truth. Furthermore, this was the first time that Qin Shanshan had seen Jun Xiaomo act in such a domineering manner. Thus, Qin Shanshan was left completely speechless, unable to refute anything said by Jun Xiaomo.

After finally expressing all that had been repressed in her heart, Jun Xiaomo felt much better. She shoved Qin Shanshan to the side, picked up that Purple Phoenix Feather Hairpin and said to the stunned merchant, “I’ll take this hairpin.”

“Ah?” The merchant was still trying to process what Jun Xiaomo had just said. He had thought that the transaction was lost given how things had panned out.

Jun Xiaomo retrieved two mid-grade spirit stones from her Interspatial Ring and tossed them over to the merchant. Seeing this, the merchant’s eyes brightened, and gladly received Jun Xiaomo’s payment.

Jun Xiaomo picked up the hairpin and waved it in front of Qin Shanshan. The beads on the hairpin clacked against each other, emitting a crisp sound pleasant to the ear.

Qin Shanshan thought that Jun Xiaomo had finally relented and bought that hairpin for her to ease the tension. She began to deliberate in her heart how she would make life difficult for Jun Xiaomo. Who told her to bring it upon herself?!

Unexpectedly, after waving the hairpin in front of Qin Shanshan, Jun Xiaomo proceeded to keep the hairpin in her own Interspatial Ring.

Qin Shanshan: ……

Jun Xiaomo played cheekily with the hair running down the side of her head, mouthing to Qin Shanshan – Not. Giving. To. You.

Following which, she grinned and left the store jauntily. Qin Shanshan could only stare at her back as she left.

Qin Shanshan was extremely disgraced. Her eyes welled up with tears of humiliation and fury. Stamping her foot on the ground, she bellowed, “Jun Xiaomo, you slut! I will make you regret it!”

I will…I definitely will report this incident to my brother. Then, Jun Xiaomo can come back crying and begging me for forgiveness. Qin Shanshan hardened her heart.

Presently, Qin Shanshan had not realized that Jun Xiaomo was no longer that silly girl who was completely submissive to Qin Lingyu’s beck and call.

---------------------------------------

Because of how she had served on Qin Shanshan a little bit of her just desserts, Jun Xiaomo’s journey back to the Sect was filled with joy and elation. She accounted for the pills and medicine in her Interspatial Ring, ensuring that she was well prepared, before hastening her steps.

Her mother would get upset if she left the Sect for too long. The Jun Xiaomo today paid great attention to the feelings of her loved ones.

As she drew close to the woods just outside Dawn Sect, Jun Xiaomo saw in the distance a white figure flash by, disappearing into the woods.

Martial brother Ye?! Even though it was only a glimpse, there was no way Jun Xiaomo would not recognize that familiar figure. Tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes, and Jun Xiaomo sped after that figure without hesitation.

“Brother Ye!” Jun Xiaomo anxiously called out this familiar name, frantically looking for that white figure.

The vivid image of Ye Xiuwen lying in a pool of blood flashed across Jun Xiaomo’s mind, as though it were something that happened in recent memory. This was one of her past life’s greatest regrets and also turned out to be one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the path of her cultivation.

She had been the cause of Ye Xiuwen’s death.

After her parents’ death in her previous life, Ye Xiuwen, as the First-Seat Disciple of Heavenly Peak, naturally assumed the mantle of leadership over Heavenly Peak and stepped into the shoes of Jun Xiaomo’s father. By then, Jun Xiaomo’s spirit had been so eroded by the demonic energy within her that she was on the brink of losing her mind. Heavenly Peak had not been wiped out then. If Ye Xiuwen had handed Jun Xiaomo over to the Sect to be dealt with in accordance with the Sect’s rules and regulations, then perhaps Heavenly Peak would never have been decimated. However, because Ye Xiuwen respected and gave precedence to the wishes of his master and teacher, he took it upon himself to shelter and hide Jun Xiaomo.

Not one; not two; but three full years of hiding.

Within these three years, all of the martial brothers and sisters on Heavenly Peak knew of the existence and whereabouts of Jun Xiaomo, yet they all continued to claim that Jun Xiaomo had long left the Sect, and that they did not know where she went.

Day and night, they continued to protect this martial sister of theirs, each in their own little ways, until finally some so-called “righteous” and “upstanding” sects barged into their premises, completely slaughtering them in one night.

These “righteous” and “upstanding” sects had attacked Heavenly Peak under the banner of a righteous crusade against the Lady Demoness. However, once they set foot on Heavenly Peak, they seemed to turn into bandits instead – their cultivators began combing through every nook and cranny on Heavenly Peak for medicines, treasures, spiritual equipment, spirit stones and the like. It was as though they had completely forgotten their “business” to begin with.

The tragedy of the massacre at Dawn Sect’s Heavenly Peak did not gain any pity from the world. Numerous cultivators even felt that Heavenly Peak deserved it. After all, they deserve to be massacred if they had sheltered and concealed a demonic practitioner.

But did they truly deserve it? The fact was that Jun Xiaomo had never harmed a single person before the Heavenly Peak massacre! Apart from the demonic energy within her body, she had never done anything evil deserving of such judgment.

In order to conceal their true objective of seizing Heavenly Peak’s bountiful resources and treasures, these “righteous” and “upstanding” sects went out of their way to paint Jun Xiaomo as a murderous, evil-doing demonic cultivator! Even though Jun Xiaomo had in fact not even left Heavenly Peak for three whole years, these schemers were still able to frame her and implicate her with crimes she never did!

In other words, the logic of the world dictated that if Jun Xiaomo’s body contained demonic energy, she was a demonic cultivator and deserved to die.

After the massacre at Heavenly Peak, Ye Xiuwen managed to escape with Jun Xiaomo, falling from the grace of a glorified Peakmaster to that of a persecuted fugitive charged with sheltering a Lady Demoness.

Jun Xiaomo then had become dazed and muddleheaded because of the series of psychological blows to her, from the death of her parents to the massacre of Heavenly Peak. If not for Ye Xiuwen’s constant protection, she would long have perished under the hand of these “righteous” and “upstanding” sects.

Then, while they were at large, Ye Xiuwen encountered a lady cultivator whom he fell in love with. Seeing that Ye Xiuwen now had love in his life, Jun Xiaomo was afraid that Ye Xiuwen would abandon her and no longer care for her. They quarreled and fell out, and Jun Xiaomo left him in a fit of rage, only to be captured by her persecutors.

This also turned out to be the final time that Ye Xiuwen would come to save Jun Xiaomo, because this time, he perished in the process of doing so. Worse, he perished under the blade of the woman that he loved.

As it turned out, that lady cultivator was under orders to draw close to Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo and never had feelings for Ye Xiuwen in the first place.

Over seventy years later, Jun Xiaomo still had that lady’s looks and name firmly etched in her mind – Zhang Shuyue. If she encounters this lady in her present life, she must definitely let her experience the taste of a blade stabbed through the heart!

“Brother Ye…” Jun Xiaomo leaned against the tree, covering her red, puffy eyes with both hands.

She understood that she really should not be blinded by the hatred from her past life. This was dangerous for any cultivator – the festering of such hatred could cause one to veer from the path of cultivation, and worse, lose all rationality.

She had been reborn, and those people whom she cared for are all well and alive in this world, living by her side. Instead of building her life around vengeance, she would do well to protect those around her and create a blissful and safe environment for those whom she cared for.

Having thought things through, Jun Xiaomo gradually calmed herself down, put down her palms and let the dampness of her eyes fade away.

Apart from her eyes mildly reddened rims, there was no other trace of Jun Xiaomo’s earlier emotional outburst.

Just then, the shrubs not far away rustled briefly.

“Who’s there?!” Jun Xiaomo looked sharply at the source of the noise.

A pink figure emerged from behind the shrubs. The slender figure touted a leisurely gait, and a small, pale face featured large, glistening eyes. As she gazed over with her tender eyes, that image was like a painting that evoked emotions of benevolence, kindness and mercy in people, causing people to feel pity and compassion for her, and at the same time want to pamper and shower her with love and gifts. That look was one that would make countless people in the world bring out their prized belongings and offer them to her on bent knees.

“Yu Wanrou?” Jun Xiaomo raised her eyebrows, eyes flashing with an indiscernible trace of coldness.