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Chapter 263: Qin Shanshan’s Invitation, Onwards to the Dawn Sect

Translator: Minotauruz

Qin Shanshan was stunned by the fact that a calm, cool and dignified person like Ye Xiuwen would suddenly crush and shatter a teacup.

In the blink of an eye, she completely forgot about how she had just moments ago been garrulously jabbering about the Heavenly Peak and delighting in their misery, and she simply stared at Ye Xiuwen with a flabbergasted look in her eyes. It was almost as though someone had choked and stifled her speech, muting her.

Yet Ye Xiuwen simply raised an eyebrow placidly as he called the waiter over, “Waiter, could you please bring me a new teacup?”

“Mm, mm. I’ll be right over...” The waiter hurriedly ran over and cautiously swept the shattered pieces of the teacup into a bin, bowed to Ye Xiuwen, before running off.

Moments later, the waiter brought a fresh new teacup over to their table, and he politely and gingerly placed the teacup in front of Ye Xiuwen. He did these things with an extremely light touch, as though he were afraid to startle Ye Xiuwen.

While the waiter was doing all these things, the entire table remained completely silent, as though they were all on edge right now. The only thing that the male disciples did from time to time was to cast a curious, inquisitive glance at Ye Xiuwen.

The tension at the table continued until Ye Xiuwen received a new cup and made himself a new cup of tea.

“Why are you all staring at me?” Ye Xiuwen sipped at his tea as he glanced about at his surroundings, asking curiously.

He did not explain why he had earlier shattered his teacup. At the same time, it was precisely because of his broad and levelheaded attitude that caused everyone at the table to begin to cast aside any measure of suspicions for him.

Perhaps the teacup was just of poor quality. One of the Dawn Sect disciples thought to himself. He attempted to tighten his grip around the teacup to the point where his hands were starting to feel pain, yet the teacup did not even reveal a single crack on it.

Qin Shanshan had never felt any measure of suspicion towards Ye Xiuwen to begin with, and the sudden occurrence of the teacup shattering has simply broken her train of thought. Now that everything seemed to be back to normal, she was once again filled with the desire to continue her earlier spiel.

She had bottled up these thoughts in her heart for far too long now. After all, she had since time immemorial found Jun Xiaomo to be a thorn in her side. She felt that Jun Xiaomo was truly fortunate to have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, so much so that she could get anything she wanted if she just asked for it. How could anyone be so blessed like that? In contrast, she was like a little star that was struggling hard to twinkle just so that she could draw others’ attention away from the bright moon that was Jun Xiaomo, and she had continued to look upon Jun Xiaomo with envy and abject jealousy.

As a result of Jun Xiaomo’s close connection with the Heavenly Peak, Qin Shanshan naturally grew to hate the entire Heavenly Peak as well. Back when the Heavenly Peak was still at the peak of its heights, Qin Shanshan could only talk about these things discreetly or using innuendoes. But now that the Heavenly Peak had declined and fallen from its heights, she could blatantly slander them all she wanted – why wouldn’t she jump at any such opportunities to vent her frustrations?

Qin Shanshan continued to flap her lips as she talked about the Heavenly Peak and Jun Xiaomo with delight, and her face was filled with vigor and passion. On the other hand, Ye Xiuwen merely drank a few cups of tea and took a few small bites of the dishes that had been served to their table. As Qin Shanshan continued to jabber on, he did not even respond to a single one of her statements.

However, Qin Shanshan didn’t mind this one bit. To her mind, Jun Ziwen was by nature a cold and distant person. In fact, she would find it much more suspicious of he began to show passion and interest in what she was saying.

Ye Xiuwen’s current attitude only served to increase Qin Shanshan’s desire to win over his heart for himself. There was not a single shred of suspicion in her heart.

Thus, for the rest of this entire meal, Ye Xiuwen sat at the side completely taciturn; Qin Shanshan continued garrulously with passion and vigor; while the rest of the Dawn Sect disciples faded into the background until the peculiar lunch ended.

That said, Qin Shanshan did begin to find that Ye Xiuwen was simply far too cold as they drew close to the end of the meal. He had not made more than ten statements over the course of the entire meal. Apart from that, he had remained completely silent as he listened to Qin Shanshan, and she couldn’t even see a single ripple of emotion on the placid expression on his face.

Qin Shanshan gritted her teeth. It was difficult to come across such an outstanding male cultivator – even the male cultivators surrounding Yu Wanrou could hardly hold a candle to Jun Ziwen. Thus, she was extremely reluctant to let him run off just like that.

That said, she had already said everything there was to say about the Heavenly Peak, and she was certain that the man was going to suggest that they part ways from here. What else could she do to keep him around?

Qin Shanshan steeled her resolve once more – No! I’ve got to find an excuse to keep this man around by my side. That’s the only way I can continue to wear him down until he succumbs to my charms. With my beauty, I don’t believe that he would be able to resist me for such a long time!

Thus, Qin Shanshan’s mind began to churn and spin as she considered several options available to her. Finally, she settled on one – What if I find a reason to bring him back with me to the Dawn Sect?

Qin Shanshan softened her voice and gazed at Ye Xiuwen with eyes filled with emotions as she suggested, “That’s right, brother Jun, would you be keen to make a trip back to the Dawn Sect with me?”

Ye Xiuwen’s hand that was holding on to his teacup quivered slightly, and he tilted his head as he asked placidly, “Follow you back to the Dawn Sect? What for?”

He did want to make a trip back to the Dawn Sect with her, but the vigilance in his heart meant that he could not readily agree to Qin Shanshan’s suggestion just like that.

Qin Shanshan was Qin Lingyu’s sister after all. With Qin Lingyu’s scheming mind, how would he know whether she had something up her sleeves or not?

Besides, “Jun Ziwen” and Qin Shanshan had only just got to know each other for a short period of time, and there was no reason for Qin Shanshan to suddenly invite him to the Dawn Sect as a guest.

It had to be said that Ye Xiuwen had overestimated Qin Shanshan’s intellect and underestimated his own charms.

“I was just thinking...” Qin Shanshan bit down on her lower lips. With brother Jun’s cold and distant personality, she might just scare him off if she made her feelings for him known explicitly. Thus, she thought to keep him back under a different pretext, “I was just thinking that since brother Jun is so interested in the outcome of the Heavenly Peak disciples, why not follow me back to the Dawn Sect to have a look? Even though Jun Xiaomo, the lady who offended you, is dead, seeing the plight of the other disciples is still the same.”

Qin Shanshan firmly believed that the bait she had just dangled in front of Ye Xiuwen was rather tempting, and she looked at Ye Xiuwen expectantly.

Qin Shanshan’s bait was indeed attractive. However, the real reason for which Ye Xiuwen desired to infiltrate the Dawn Sect was completely inconsistent with what Qin Shanshan thought it was.

“Martial sister, the holding place for the Heavenly Peak disciples are the forbidden grounds within the Dawn Sect. We can’t step foot within its locality.” One of the Dawn Sect disciples couldn’t help but remind Qin Shanshan about this.

This disciple was not like the simple-minded buffoon that Qin Shanshan was. Even though Jun Ziwen had stated that he was an enemy of Jun Xiaomo, was anyone really able to verify the veracity of what he had alleged?

Furthermore, the forbidden grounds, as the name suggested, was a place that not even the ordinary disciples within the Dawn Sect were allowed to enter. How could Qin Shanshan simply allow an outsider like Jun Ziwen enter the forbidden grounds just like that?

Who did Qin Shanshan think she was? Was she the Sect Leader of the Dawn Sect?

Qin Shanshan was incredibly displeased by how that disciple had raised a countervailing consideration against her earlier suggestion. She glared at him as she barked, “Isn’t it just a holding place where a few convicts are being held? What’s the harm in letting him take a look? I don’t believe that master He Zhang would punish me for something as small and insignificant as this. My brother is still his disciple after all!”

The Dawn Sect disciples exchanged glances sheepishly once more, before completely sealing their own lips shut.

They knew that people like Qin Shanshan could never be persuaded otherwise once they had made up their minds. In fact, the more one attempted to persuade them, the more she would attempt to do otherwise. Besides, they couldn’t risk offending her, because she would hardly hesitate to smear and tarnish their good name before her brother. They only had everything to lose.

Thus, as they thought about it, the Dawn Sect disciples simply looked down and twiddled their thumbs as they washed their hands off the entire matter.

Ye Xiuwen lowered his eyes and looked at the swirling tea in his teacup as he collected his roiling emotions.

Given how things had turned out, this was his best shot. If he sought to infiltrate the Dawn Sect using other means, he might not even be able to breach the outermost layer of Dawn Sect’s protective formation array.

After that incident with the Heavenly Peak, Ye Xiuwen had reason to believe that He Zhang would already have changed the protective formation array that sequestered the Dawn Sect’s grounds from the rest of the world. He Zhang would never allow Jun Linxuan and the other Heavenly Peak disciples to bypass the formation arrays so easily and enter the Dawn Sect’s forbidden grounds so that they could rescue the remnant Heavenly Peak disciples that had been captured.

Thus, Ye Xiuwen made up his mind to follow Qin Shanshan back to the Dawn Sect.

As soon as Ye Xiuwen nodded his head in agreement, Qin Shanshan’s heart thumped with joy. Her ears even flushed red as she thought to herself – Has Jun Ziwen taken an interest in me as well? Isn’t that why he accepted my invitation so readily?

No matter what, she firmly believed that she would be able to win the heart of this man in the period of time to come!

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Just like that, Ye Xiuwen joined up with Qin Shanshan’s expedition group and they slowly made their way back towards the Dawn Sect.

Qin Shanshan knew that Ye Xiuwen hated seeing her wreak havoc on the streets with her Hellfire Lion, so she kept the Hellfire Lion back in the specially made cage for her, before storing it back into her Interspatial Ring. Then, they began to trek back on the road where they had come from.

The other reason for her decision was the fact that she would not be able to draw close to Ye Xiuwen had she chosen to ride on her Hellfire Lion. That was most certainly not what she wanted.

Unless Ye Xiuwen was willing to climb onto the back of the Hellfire Lion and ride the lion whilst holding Qin Shanshan around the waist, Qin Shanshan knew that she had to abandon any notions of riding her mount. Going on foot was the only way she could draw closer to Ye Xiuwen.

That said, Qin Shanshan’s mind did pause and linger for a moment on the thought of how blissful it would be if they shared the same mount. That said, she knew that Ye Xiuwen heart was not moved by her just yet, and he would never harbour any intentions for intimacy like that.

Over the last next days of interaction, Qin Shanshan discovered more about Ye Xiuwen’s cold and distant attitude – she discovered that not only was Ye Xiuwen completely unfazed and unmoved by the things around him, he also had a slight over-obsession about cleanliness, and he would never make skin-to-skin contact with anyone around if he could help it.

Every time Qin Shanshan attempted to “stumble” and “fall” onto Ye Xiuwen’s bosom, she would feel a gust of wind sweep past her ear, and Ye Xiuwen would appear at a location that was three meters away from where she was, and he would then continue plodding along on the way without even casting a glance back at her. She could not even touch the sleeves of Ye Xiuwen’s clothes.

Qin Shanshan was both embarrassed and upset. On the one hand, she was infuriated that she had fallen for someone as unmoving as a still boulder, while on the other hand, she wanted so badly to steal Ye Xiuwen’s heart and make him fall head over heels in love with her.

After all, if a blockhead like brother Jun falls in love with a person, he would most certainly be wholeheartedly loyal and devoted to that person, right? Qin Shanshan bit down on her lower lip and the fire in her eyes reignited with even greater passion as she stared at Ye Xiuwen’s back. It was as though she were a raging fire that was about to consume Ye Xiuwen.

It was not that Ye Xiuwen was completely oblivious towards the impassioned gaze in Qin Shanshan’s eyes. Rather, he simply found Qin Shanshan’s desire to win his heart laughable.

Ye Xiuwen did not have any deep or profound impression of Qin Shanshan to begin with. Otherwise, he would not have failed to recognize her back when they first encountered each other on the streets.

But he had previously heard of Qin Shanshan’s propensity for mockery and ridicule. Qin Shanshan was not fond of Jun Xiaomo, and she had in a similar fashion disdained every single person hailing from the Heavenly Peak. Even he, the First-Seat Disciple of the Heavenly Peak was made the object of her ridicule with labels such as “disfigured” and “terrifying”.

Furthermore, Ye Xiuwen’s abilities at the time were similar to Qin Lingyu’s abilities, and Ye Xiuwen had perhaps even had a slight edge over Qin Lingyu’s prowess. As Qin Lingyu’s younger sister, Qin Shanshan naturally didn’t mind helping her brother smear and tarnish the reputation of his rivals.

If Qin Shanshan ever learnt that Jun Ziwen was none other than Ye Xiuwen, she might well be so regretful of her present actions that even her face would turn green.