That day, Dugu Qianye was studying the thods of Artifact Refining in her room when Little Linzi burst in and said urgently, "Qianye, hurry and co with ."
Dugu Qianye closed the book and asked, "What happened?"
Little Linzi pulled her and ran outside while explaining, "Lord Heavenly Venerable has arrived, and all Patrol Team mbers must go to the forbidden area to stand by!"
Yong Xing is here?
A shock went through Dugu Qianye’s heart as she wondered if there was any way to avoid Yong Xing, afraid of being discovered by him. But before she could think it through, Little Linzi had already dragged her out, managing just in ti to make a secret gesture towards the room, signaling Yan Yi and the others to stay put. If they followed her out, they would definitely be discovered by Yong Xing. If she was alone, she could adapt spontaneously.
"Little Linzi, why would Lord Heavenly Venerable co? What are we going to do?" Dugu Qianye asked as she was pulled forward by Little Linzi.
"Lord Heavenly Venerable cos to the forbidden area every once in a while, and each ti he does, we Patrol Team mbers must go ahead and re-scout the area near the forbidden grounds. If we let soone take advantage of the situation to sneak in, or if Lord Heavenly Venerable finds soone has broken into the forbidden grounds, then our entire Patrol Team is finished! Qianye, let’s not talk anymore, we must hurry over," Little Linzi said, and then started to sprint, dragging Dugu Qianye along.
By the ti Dugu Qianye and Little Linzi arrived at the forbidden area, most of the Patrol Team mbers were already there. The Patrol Team Captain glared fiercely at the two of them and said, "Lord Heavenly Venerable has now visited many tis, and the rules don’t need to be repeated. I will assign each person’s area of responsibility now. You, go to the East Five district. You, go to the East Four district. You,..." The captain assigned an area to each mber one by one, and after everyone was assigned, waved his hand for people to take their positions.
The area Dugu Qianye was assigned to was not too far from the entrance of the forbidden grounds. She followed everyone to the area she was responsible for, worrying whether being too close to the entrance would lead to being discovered by Yong Xing, when she heard a man next to her complaining that the place he was assigned was too far away.
"Er Leng, you seem quite dissatisfied with the area you’re responsible for?" Dugu Qianye approached the man and said. She had just heard he seed to be assigned to the furthest area.
Er Leng looked at Dugu Qianye and said, "I guess I don’t have a chance this ti. The place you’re responsible for is not bad; you must seize the opportunity!"
"Opportunity? What opportunity?" Dugu Qianye asked.
Considering that Dugu Qianye had only been there for a few months and wasn’t familiar with the situation, Er Leng thoughtfully reminded her, "Lord Heavenly Venerable has already visited several tis, and each ti he picks a batch of people from our Patrol Team. Your position is quite close to Lord Heavenly Venerable; you need to perform well, and if discovered by Lord Heavenly Venerable, you could rise to great heights."
Dugu Qianye shook her head and said, "I just want to study Artifact Refining skills in the Sect; I don’t have any aspirations for other things. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to go even if Lord Heavenly Venerable took notice of !"
"Really?" Er Leng looked at Dugu Qianye excitedly and said, "The chance of your area being chosen is quite high! Because it is said that there’s a path right there. The person there last ti was chosen!"
"Really?" Dugu Qianye feigned surprise, then sighed and said, "I wonder if I could refuse if I’m chosen."
Er Leng looked at Dugu Qianye naively, then suddenly had an idea and said, "Of course you can’t! If you’re chosen, you must go, otherwise it would anger Lord Heavenly Venerable, and you could lose your life! If you really don’t want to be chosen, well, considering we’ve lived together for so long, how about we switch places? You go to my area, and I’ll stay here. That way, you won’t have to worry about being selected, right?"
Dugu Qianye hesitated for a mont, feigning indecision, and said, "Can we do that? If the captain finds out, won’t we be punished?"
"It’s no big deal; people have swapped places before. The captain knows and won’t say anything." Er Leng said, "If there’s any problem, how about I take the bla for you?"
"Really?" Dugu Qianye asked.
Er Leng patted his chest and said, "Of course! Who else should we take care of but you, being the only woman on our team, right?"
After thinking about it, Dugu Qianye agreed when she reached her assigned area and said, "Alright then, you stay here, and I’ll go to your spot. Which area is yours?"
A triumphant smile flickered in Er Leng’s eyes as he pointed behind the mountain and said, "I’m at the very back, right behind the mountain."
"Eh, that’s so far!" Dugu Qianye remarked.
Worried that Dugu Qianye might have second thoughts, Er Leng said, "It’s not far, you’ve already agreed to swap with , you’re not thinking of going back on your word, are you?!" After speaking, he glanced at the others as if to say that everyone had seen the agreent and she couldn’t back out.
Dugu Qianye nodded and said, "Alright then, I’ll stay here and you go there. But rember, if anything happens, you have to take care of it for !"
"Absolutely, absolutely!" Er Leng said with a laugh, "You should hurry. It’s a bit far, and you won’t make it on ti if you don’t move quickly!"
Dugu Qianye nodded and continued walking with the others. Little Linzi approached and said, "Why would you swap when you’ve got such a good spot? You might have a chance to leave this place from there!"
Dugu Qianye shook her head and said, "That’s not the opportunity I want." Then, she leaned closer to Little Linzi and said, "I’ve heard that the Heavenly Venerable has a terrible temper, akin to bedding down with a tiger! If I get chosen to go there and am not prepared, I wouldn’t even know how I’d die!"
Little Linzi thought it over and felt that made sense. Although he had always been on the Patrol Team, when he returned to the Sect, he still heard quite a few things. Compared to his own life, prospects didn’t seem so important! His assigned area was right next to Dugu Qianye’s. They quickly arrived, and he said to Dugu Qianye, "Be careful with everything!" He watched as Dugu Qianye walked towards the back of the mountain by herself and shook his head, sighing.
Despite being such a young girl, she seed to understand the ways of the world so clearly, which likely ant she had suffered in the past.
Dugu Qianye bade farewell to Little Linzi and without speaking to anyone else, briskly headed toward the back of the mountain. She hurried, fearing that Yong Xing might arrive if she was late. Just as she turned the corner, Jian Fengxing and Jian Yuezhi appeared with a group of people.
Jian Yuezhi glanced at the forbidden area’s gate but didn’t see Dugu Qianye. He looked around but still didn’t find her. He assud she must have been bullied again, being sent to the farthest place.
However, knowing that Dugu Qianye didn’t like such scenes, this arrangent might even be to her liking, so he restrained his feelings and stood quietly behind Jian Fengxing.
Ding Ru stood behind, watching Jian Yuezhi’s every move attentively. Seeing him searching for Dugu Qianye as soon as he arrived made her teeth itch with hatred. After recovering from her injuries, she had originally wanted to kill Dugu Qianye but had been sent away on a mission suddenly and had only returned a couple of days ago. She had Ding Li coax the Patrol Team to harass Dugu Qianye and even look for a chance to rape her. She promised that whoever hard Dugu Qianye would be pulled out of the Patrol Team by her. But those wastes, far from succeeding, ended up either sick or poisoned.
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