The middle-aged merchant took a step forward and grabbed Ming Yue by the collar and lifted her above the ground.
"W-What are you planning to do?" Ming Yue stuttered. She was truly afraid at this moment. She had never been in such a threatening situation before and never had a person held so much hate toward her like this person seemed to have.
The middle-aged merchant smirked and moved his face closer to hers. "Of course, I will give back what was given..." Then he sneakily pulled out a knife from his robes and thrust it toward her stomach.
Clang!
It was a sound the middle-aged merchant hadn't expected. He had expected the sound of a squish followed by her warm blood flowing down his hand. Confused he looked down and saw that his knife had indeed hit her abdomen however the tip of his knife had only pierced through her clothes but couldn't proceed any further.
The small silvery bell hanging on Ming Yue's sash had begun to glow and produced a small ringing sound.
Ming Yue looked down and when she saw the knife, her face lost all of its color and warmth. She couldn't believe it. He wanted to kill her?
The middle-aged merchant was shocked when he saw a thin layer of shimmering light cover her body and released her collar as he took a step back.
Ming Yue lost all of her strength in her legs and fell down. She felt like she had failed as a human being to produce so much hatred toward her. What had she done wrong?
"W-Why?" Tears began to flow down her cheeks as she asked this to no one in particular.
Jun Xi flashed into existence in the sky, then he flashed once again and appeared by Ming Yue's side and embraced her while he flung his other arm toward the middle-aged merchant and sent a strong wave of spiritual energy at him.
The middle-aged merchant was hit by the wave of spiritual energy and was flunged 20 meters away before he crashed into a tree and fell lifelessly down to the ground.
Jun Xi held Ming Yue in his arms as three disciples arrived on their flying swords. Two of them checked the middle-aged merchant's condition while the third walked up to Jun Xi and Ming Yue.
The disciple clasped his fist and respectfully greeted, "First Senior Brother!"
"What's going on?" Jun Xi asked without looking at him, focusing all his attention on Ming Yue.
"Reporting to First Senior Brother. That man was imprisoned a few weeks ago after having been found guilty of attacking a mortal on our sect grounds. However, last night he managed to escape from the dungeons and we've been looking for him ever since." The disciple said.
"Escape?" Jun Xi frowned. How was that possible? The dungeons were locked up with several powerful formations, there was no way he could escape from there with his shallow cultivation. The middle-aged merchant was only in the middle stage of the Mortal Realm.
"We still don't know what methods he used to escape or if he had an accomplice." The disciple said.
Just then one of the disciples who had gone to check on the middle-aged merchant came over. "First Senior Brother." He greeted before he turned toward his fellow disciple. "We found this on him." Then he presented a small black cube.
Jun Xi reached into the air and then sucked the black cube into his hand using spiritual energy. As he looked at it his frown deepened.
"First Senior Brother, do you know what it is?" The disciple asked.
Jun Xi didn't say anything as he was silently thinking. How did a mere Mortal Realm cultivator come to possess such a powerful treasure? And where did he get it from? Before he was imprisoned he would've been searched and if he was carrying such a treasure on his body at that time it would have been found. And once the man escaped, instead of running away, he looked for Ming Yue to take revenge? Nothing added up. Unless...
Jun Xi looked down at Ming Yue who was snuggling up in his arms and his eyes turned gentler. He threw the black cube back to the disciple and said, "Report back to elders."
"Understood." The disciple said and bowed. Then he and his two fellow disciples left on their flying swords with the middle-aged merchant who was still alive but unconscious.
Jun Xi rested his chin on top of Ming Yue's head and sighed. "Why didn't you defend yourself? With your level of cultivation, even if your martial arts were weaker, you should have no problem dealing with him."
"I..." Ming Yue bit her lower lip as she thought back on everything that happened and the tumultuous feelings she had had.
"Come on. I'll take you home." He then picked her up and flew back to his pavilion on his flying sword.
Thunk!
An old man in black robes punched the trunk of a tree as he saw how his plan had failed. "Useless!"
His eyes followed Jun Xi as he flew away with Ming Yue and grinded his teeth. "Ming Yue... Yao Yao... I will have my revenge!"
If Ming Yue had seen this old man she might've seen a slight resemblance to a certain Lang He, whom she and Yao Yao had captured on their first mission together.
Back in the main hall of the sect's palace, the three disciples had just finished reporting to the three elders.
The third elder looked at the small black cube in his hands. "A Void Cube?"
"Third Elder. What's a Void Cube?" One of the disciples asked.
"A Void Cube is an ancient treasure that can mask your presence from most formations." The Third Elder said. "But this doesn't explain how he got his hands on it. We need to investigate this carefully and can't let this happen again!"
After the three disciples left, the third elder turned toward the first and second elder and said, "This is serious. I suspect we have a traitor in our sect and it's one of our elders."
The first and second elders nodded in agreement.