This was the second time that she had awakened in martial brother Ye’s bosom.

The first time was a few days ago in that inn, where she had slept in a sprawling position and inadvertently embraced Ye Xiuwen in her sleep. And this time, even though she had been wrapped up as tightly as a dumpling and held tightly in Ye Xiuwen’s embrace, she somehow managed to stretch her arms out and cling onto Ye Xiuwen by the waist!

Just as the dazed Jun Xiaomo finally managed to rouse to her senses, this sudden realization caused blood to shoot up to her brains and stupefy her once more.

Jun Xiaomo immediately retracted her hands and shrunk back into her blankets, hoping that this would allow her to hide her present embarra.s.sment.

From Ye Xiuwen’s perspective, this young man had opened his eyes hazily and gazed at Ye Xiuwen in a daze. Then, as the young man realized what was going on, his eyes immediately opened wide as he stared at Ye Xiuwen and his ears flushed red – evidently embarra.s.sed about the situation.

Right now, the young man looked like he was trying to shrink back into his blanket to hide from the world. This even caused Ye Xiuwen to second guess his actions and contemplate whether he had done something terrible to that young man.

Ye Xiuwen patted Yao Mo’s head helplessly as he said calmly, “Alright, last night you were still complaining that you were feeling cold, and you even kept inching closer to the fire. I had to hug you tightly to prevent you from getting burnt.”

Ye Xiuwen’s matter-of-fact expression immediately caused Jun Xiaomo to wonder whether she might have been overly amplifying the awkwardness in her heart. After all, wasn’t she a young man right now? This should be something very normal, shouldn’t it?

But if one day martial brother Ye discovers my true ident.i.ty, how awkward is this going to be… Jun Xiaomo lamented in her heart.

Seeing the distressed expression on the young man’s face, a query suddenly surfaced on Ye Xiuwen’s heart and he asked sincerely, “Little Mo, do you treat everyone with so much trust?”

“Ha-?!” Jun Xiaomo did not know what exactly Ye Xiuwen meant with this question.

“Last night when you sucked out the poisonous blood in my wound, you must have known what the consequences would be, right? We’ve only known each other for a few days, so how could you trust me not to steal all of your belongings in your Interspatial Ring?”

Ye Xiuwen’s cultivation level was higher than Jun Xiaomo’s cultivation level by over ten levels. If he wanted to take Jun Xiaomo’s things for himself, it would be extremely easy – just like taking candy from a baby. Furthermore, things would become even easier after Yao Mo had sucked out the poison from Ye Xiuwen’s body and become weak and unable to fend for himself.

“I don’t believe you would take the things in my Interspatial Ring.” Jun Xiaomo lifted her chin as she retorted.

“Oh? Why is that? Do you treat everyone with the same level of trust?” Ye Xiuwen raised his eyebrow as he probed further.

“Nonsense! I only place this level of trust in you; how could I dare to place this kind of trust in anyone else?! Besides, even if I put up my guard around the others, they might still end up scheming against me!” Jun Xiaomo glared at Ye Xiuwen as she once again refuted him, evidently displeased with his sudden questioning.

Ye Xiuwen hooked his lips wryly as he asked meaningfully, “Then can you tell me why you feel that you can especially place your trust in me?”

Then, Jun Xiaomo immediately realized her mistake and she stared at Ye Xiuwen vacantly.

Just how was she supposed to answer that?! Could she say that she had some form of omniscient eyes that enabled her to discern that Ye Xiuwen was a good person? If she did, wouldn’t she sound like a complete and utter fool?!

And besides, why does it always seem like his words carry a deeper meaning beyond face value?

Ye Xiuwen’s smile slowly subsided. He looked sternly at Jun Xiaomo as he calmly said, “Little Mo, do you know – something tells me that you know me from somewhere.”

Jun Xiaomo’s eyes grew even wider at this statement. Her jaw dropped, and she remained in a daze for a long time, before she finally managed to chuckle dryly and stammer in response, “Ha…haha…how…how can it be…haha…brother Ye, you’ve never seen me before either, huh…”

Ye Xiuwen’s eyes gleamed, and he was now almost seventy percent confident that his last conjecture must be true. His earlier statement had been more probative than it was conclusive, but he knew from the young man’s reaction that his conjecture had been right.

This would also explain why Yao Mo could wholeheartedly trust Ye Xiuwen in the first place.

“Alright, I won’t force you to say it. You can tell me when you feel that the time is right.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo’s head as he said warmly, “And I have to thank Little Mo for expelling the python’s poison from my body. If not for you, I would probably still be writhing on the ground in pain right now.”

Jun Xiaomo heaved a sigh of relief in her heart as she smiled radiantly and said, “Don’t stand on ceremony with me, brother Ye! I’ve long since considered you a good friend who’s gone through thick and thin with me!”

“Haha…” Ye Xiuwen tousled Jun Xiaomo’s hair, making it look even more disheveled than it already was.

Jun Xiaomo also looked at Ye Xiuwen with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

Squeak squeak! The little packrat had worn itself out last night, and it had just been roused from its slumber by the conversation between Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo. Yet the last thing it expected to see when it first woke up was Jun Xiaomo gazing into Ye Xiuwen’s eyes as she smiled. This caused the little packrat to feel immense displeasure.

As a result, the little packrat scampered into Jun Xiaomo’s bosom, squeaked incessantly and even clawed gently at her clothes just to grab her attention from Ye Xiuwen.

“Oh, the little fella is awake as well!” Jun Xiaomo smiled lightheartedly as she stroked the little packrat’s fur, before picking it up and giving it a small kiss, saying, “Thank you, little fella. If not for your discovery of this cavern yesterday, brother Ye and I might well have ended up as that Green Elder Python’s food already.”

Furthermore, there was still the Firescale Gra.s.s at the entrance to this cavern which was useful for repelling Green Elder Pythons.

The little packrat was immediately dazed by Jun Xiaomo’s kiss. It pulled its claws back close to its furry body, and its black beady eyes gleamed brightly as it seemed to stare at Jun Xiaomo’s…lips.

However, Jun Xiaomo did not notice the little packrat’s strange expression and body language. She only found it extremely cute how this little packrat had curled up into a little ball of fur, and she could not help but continue to stroke its little back.

Ye Xiuwen also laughed out loud, as he stretched out his hand to stroke the little packrat’s head, saying, “Not only did you save Little Mo here, you’ve also saved me. If not for the fact that you attacked the Green Elder Python with that strike of yours, I wouldn’t have been able to escape that situation up there so easily.”

“Oh? Is that right! You’re too amazing, little packrat!” Jun Xiaomo exclaimed in joy.

Squeak squeak! The little packrat lifted its paws and puffed up its chest before it fussily pushed away Ye Xiuwen’s fingers – only Jun Xiaomo was allowed to scratch its head!

Seeing this, Ye Xiuwen helplessly retracted his hand. It had just dawned on him that Yao Mo’s little pet seemed to particularly despise himself, despite the fact that it had saved his life once.

“Pfft!” Jun Xiaomo could no longer hold her laughter in. Moments later, she brought the conversation back to their present predicament, “Oh that’s right – how are we going to leave this place? Should we use an Escape Scroll?”

The entrance to this cavern was directly overhead, and that entrance was long and narrow – it was not a viable option to leave that way.

Ye Xiuwen also furrowed his brows, saying, “We can try using the Escape Scroll.”

But he had a hunch that an Escape Scroll would not have any effects within this cavern.

Jun Xiaomo immediately took out an Escape Scroll and placed two spirit stones on it. The two spirit stones instantly vanished, and the Escape Scroll glowed momentarily. Then, the light faded away and nothing else happened.

Generally, Escape Scrolls required a short activation time because the Escape Scrolls would automatically search for a suitable location to send its user to. Therefore, Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen waited for a few moments after the Escape Scroll’s light faded away. But in the end, just as Ye Xiuwen had suspected, the Escape Scroll did not glow with a successful teleportation light at all.

“Tsk. Seems like it’s easy to enter this place, but it’s going to be difficult to leave, huh.” Jun Xiaomo commented in frustration.

Ye Xiuwen had already suspected things would be as such, so he did not find this to be a surprise.

“Let’s go. This place doesn’t look like a natural cavern. It should be man-made. Since we can enter it, there must be a way to leave. Let’s take a look around then.”

The cavern they were in were surrounded by three walls, and there was a small path located on the final wall which led them a long, windy path deeper into the cavern.

“I guess we can only go down that road and see where it takes us.” Jun Xiaomo sighed helplessly. Then, she retrieved a Nightgleam Pearl from her Interspatial Ring and held it in her hands to illuminate her surroundings.

It was not possible for them to be hefting a bunch of burning straw around as they explored the cavern. Therefore, she retrieved Nightgleam Pearls to illuminate the way. Jun Xiaomo used one herself, and she also gave Ye Xiuwen one for his own use.

The Nightgleam Pearl did not give off as much light as the burning straw did, but it did the job.

Ye Xiuwen chuckled lightly as he looked at the Nightgleam Pearl in his hand before he decided to take the lead in the exploration of the cavern.

“Ah! Brother Ye, wait for me!” Jun Xiaomo did not expect Ye Xiuwen to start walking ahead without any warning, and she scuttled off hastily after Ye Xiuwen. Jun Xiaomo’s little packrat had been placed back into a bag hanging by the side of Jun Xiaomo’s clothes, and it leaned on the rims of the bag, looking at the surroundings.

Ye Xiuwen decided to take the lead because the person in front was the most likely to encounter any danger.

He walked ahead cautiously while at the same time releasing his divine sense ahead to probe about the surroundings. As they walked on, they did encounter anything out of the ordinary apart from the gradually falling temperatures in their surroundings.

“Brr…Is there a cooling device here or something? How come it’s getting so cold?” Jun Xiaomo folded her arms as she complained with a quivering voice.

“Do you need to put on more layers of clothing?” Ye Xiuwen turned around and asked. He always kept a stash of warm clothing in his Interspatial Ring for situations like this.

“Ah…that’s not necessary. Haha, thanks brother Ye.” Jun Xiaomo waved her hand immediately, thinking that it might become even more awkward if she started putting on her martial brother’s clothing.

Ye Xiuwen also nodded his head as he nagged, “Alright, don’t force yourself. Let me know if you can’t take it anymore.”

“Alright.” Jun Xiaomo smiled in response.

Just this moment, something happened! Without any warning, the little packrat squeaked twice, jumped out of its bag and sped into the darkness ahead.

“Packie!” Jun Xiaomo immediately called out as she instinctively gave chase after her little packrat.

Seeing this, Ye Xiuwen furrowed his brows, feeling slightly annoyed at their recklessness. However, he had no choice but to speed up ahead as well.

As they ran on, the little pa.s.sageway suddenly broadened. Within moments, as they turned at a kink in the pa.s.sageway, a completely different scene emerged in front of them –

The pa.s.sageway opened into a ma.s.sive cavern that was about three times larger than the room at the entrance. The four walls of this cavern were neatly lined with embedded Nightgleam Pearls which together illuminated this room pleasantly.

But the most amazing thing was the ma.s.sive formation array that was located in the center of this room. This formation array was formed by a nine-by-nine grid of eighty-one superior grade spirit stones, and some black liquid seemed to crawl along the engravings of the formation diagram and flow into an altar in the center of the formation array. That altar looked like the eye of the formation array, and it was also the location where the black liquid seemed to have congealed and form an ink-black round object that seemed to gleam with brilliance under the soft illumination of the Nightgleam Pearls.

“This is…” Jun Xiaomo at it with widened eyes in surprise.

The little packrat’s reaction was even more extreme. It had sprinted towards the eye of the formation array without any form of restraint. Then, with one leap, it sprung up to the stone altar and drew close to that ink-black round object that was on the stone altar. There, it closed both of its eyes as it basked in the stone’s energies and began absorbing it.

Ye Xiuwen had also followed closely behind. As he entered the room, he suddenly felt a jolt of discomfort on his face before he cried out “Ah!” Ye Xiuwen immediately clutched at the scar on his face.

“Ah! I almost forgot!” Jun Xiaomo heard Ye Xiuwen’s exclamation and immediately turned around and ran towards Ye Xiuwen. Then, she quickly took out a talisman and placed it on Ye Xiuwen’s body.

Instantly, a cold, refres.h.i.+ng wave swept gently across the scar on his face, and that initially burning sensation on his scar simply vanished.

“You…” Ye Xiuwen had not expected Yao Mo to be carrying such a talisman on him. It had to be known that the scar on his face was very peculiar because it was caused by demonic energies to begin with. Therefore, only a Demonic Dispersing Talisman would be able to grant him temporary relief from the corrosive effects of the demonic energy.

“Cough…I’ll explain this next time.” Jun Xiaomo quickly glanced around as she said.

The only reason why she had prepared this talisman was for Ye Xiuwen. As for herself, she was a demonic cultivator to begin with, and she was naturally not afraid of the corrosive properties of demonic energy, or demonic energy itself for that matter.

Ye Xiuwen patted her shoulder, saying warmly, “Thanks, Little Mo.”

Jun Xiaomo immediately coughed twice into a clenched fist as she replied abashedly, “Didn’t I say you don’t have to stand on ceremony with me?”

Squeak squeak! The little packrat opened its eyes again as it glanced over at the two of them and broke up their interactions.

Ye Xiuwen did not get angry, and he only shook his head helplessly as he asked Jun Xiaomo, “Little Mo, you know this formation array?”

He had clearly noticed the expression Yao Mo had made earlier which told him that Yao Mo knew what exactly this formation array did.

Jun Xiaomo remained silent for a few moments, before she slowly responded, “Mm, I know this. This should be a Demonic Gathering Array…”

“Demonic Gathering Array!” Ye Xiuwen ferociously clenched his fists. Anyone would be able to see the roiling emotions in his eyes right now.