Chapter Seventy Three.

Duan Xinyue is busy packing things in his room with the help of Qin Lanhua. He's planning to make a trip to the North,Beihua County. Beihua County is famous for its medicinal herbs and Duan Xinyue wants to go there to collect herbs since nowadays most medicinal herbs have become extinct in Long Gong County.

"Are you sure about the trip? Our county is in chaos right now."

"I will ask Lei-xiong or Madam Ruo to protect you guys whenever he can."

"Madam Ruo has a different identity now I don't think she will keep staying here."

"I'll try to come back as soon as I can. Right now I'm going to Ziran Sect to bid them farewell and I'll leave tomorrow at dawn."

As planned Duan Xinyue goes to Ziran Sect. When he enters the compound the first person he notices is Mu Zixin lying under a tree. He silently approaches him and tickles him receiving grunts in response because of the disturbance. Mu Zixin finally opens his eyes and he's surprised to see Duan Xinyue.

"Hero Duan,why are you here?"

"If you are here,why can't I be here too?"

"That's not what I meant."

As Mu Zixin looks around he catches a sight of Chen Ruolan standing from a distance watching them. Duan Xinyue follows Mu Zixin's gaze and quickly analyzes the whole awkward situation. Duan Xinyue signals Chen Ruolan to come.

"What are you doing?"Mu Zixin asks trying to get up and go away but Duan Xinyue grips his wrist tightly.

"Why are you acting like a moody young lady?"

Chen Ruolan comes and greets Duan Xinyue. Even though her focus is on Duan Xinyue she keeps stealing glances at Mu Zixin. With the help of Duan Xinyue,the two finally reconcile with a hug being their reconciliation covenant.

Duan Xinyue walks ahead to White Pavilion.

"Weren't you here the other day? You think you can come to our sect the way you want?" Hong Yi asks coldly yet jokingly blocking Duan Xinyue from getting in.

"I'm here to bid farewell to your master."

"Farewell? Are you suffering from a terminal illness and you're going to die?"Hong Yi jokes.

"What terminal illness? I am going on a trip to the North,"Duan Xinyue brags.

"The North?"

"That's right. I'm going to Beihua County."

Lei Qiang who just came out of his room instructs Hong Yi to let Duan Xinyue in.

"Lei-xiong, I'm here to bid you guys farewell."

"What are you going to do in the North?"

"It's a secret mission,"Duan Xinyue says smiling mysteriously.

"Secret mission? Can my master tag along?"Hong Yi asks ignoring the glare from Lei Qiang.

"It's a dangerous trip and I don't want to put your master in danger."

"If it's such a dangerous trip then why are you so excited about it?"

"The fact that it is dangerous is what makes it fun, adventurous and worthwhile."

"You're such a daredevil."

"So Lei-xiong,do you want me to kiss you on the cheek as your farewell gift?"

"If you really want to give me a farewell gift then you should make sure you don't die in the North otherwise if you die we won't be able to find your corpse and hold a grand funeral for you,"Lei Qiang says sarcastically.

"Lei-xiong you're such an ill-wisher. If you don't want my kiss then I'll go to say my farewell to Yichen."

After bidding his friends farewell, Duan Xinyue finally goes back to Qingfeng Pavilion. To his surprise,there is a letter lying on his bed. He gets disappointed about the abrupt meeting he's supposed to attend. He feels this meeting is bound to disrupt his plans. The following day, the invited young men attend the meeting. This time ,all the other officials and also Madam Ruo attend the meeting to offer Lord Du Yuan a few suggestions. Duan Xinyue has not arrived yet and this kinda leaves his whereabouts an unanswered question in everyone's mind. To clarify this matter,Lord Xu Kong takes the initiative to ask Yuan Ye about Duan Xinyue's whereabouts.

"Replying to Your Lordship,Mister Duan left for a trip to the North at dawn ."

"A trip to the North? What kind of trip ?"

"He didn't reveal the details."

Lord Du Yuan delays to start the meeting because he has glimmer of hope that Duan Xinyue might show up and the officials start complaining. They don't feel it's worth to keep waiting for just one person.

"Distinguished officials,please calm down. Let's start the meeting,"Lord Du Yuan announces.

To their surprise, Duan Xinyue walks in proudly dressed in white and apologizes for being late. Since he has already wasted the others' time Lord Du Yuan doesn't bother to ask Duan Xinyue about his trip. He goes straight to discussing the agenda of the meeting which receives a positive response from the officials. The possible candidates to be appointed to train the soldiers are Duan Xinyue, a guy called Meng Liang and another one called Liu Fei. The officials agree to vote. Duan Xinyue is praying inwardly not to be chosen. He seems very nervous. Duan Xinyue knows his reputation is too bad to be voted for but to his surprise,he emerges the winner.

"Mister Duan,are you willing to embrace the duty of training the soldiers?"Lord Xu Kong asks.

Everyone pays their attention to Duan Xinyue waiting for his response.

"Didn't you say he's going on a trip to the North?" One of the officials suddenly asks.

Duan Xinyue is in a dilemma between becoming the new general and going on his precious trip. Lei Qiang on the other hand feels conflicted in his heart. He definitely doesn't want Duan Xinyue to go on the trip but judging from Duan Xinyue's excitement about the trip, he's bound to choose the trip over becoming a general and this is what makes Lei Qiang sad.