Lu Jiu Que blinked and hurriedly forced a smile. Wiping away all traces of tears beneath her eyes, she said, "Yes, Aunt Chang. I know! I'm going to take part in the test. You have a good rest."
Aunt Chang froze and insisted on staying up. She said, "Oh, it's already so late. Aunt Chang will get up right away and prepare breakfast for you…"
Lu Jiu Que pressed her back down and said with a smile, "No need, there's no need. Aunt Chang, you go ahead and sleep for a little while longer. There'll be breakfast for us at the test venue."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
In truth, Aunt Chang's physical strength was somehow failing her. Under Lu Jiu Que's attentive gaze, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep again.
Lu Jiu Que tucked Aunt Chang in under her quilt and put on her disguise before she went out to buy breakfast for Aunt Chang, then rushed over to the venue of the sect test.
On the way, there was an unprecedented longing rising in Lu Jiu Que's heart.
She had to enter the sect!
She simply had to!
…
The venue of the sect test was the most central square in Fish Dive City. At this very moment, the square, which was usually vast and majestic, was crowded with a sea of people. Only the middlemost performance stage was kept empty.
In the middle of the stage, there was a dark and well-polished steeple that was about three stories high with methodical, puzzling, and beautiful symbols carved all over it.
The performance stage was next to a platform of five layers. There were seats arranged and placed on each one of these five layers.
Following the increase in level, the number of seats became fewer and fewer. At the topmost layer, there was only one seat set in place, and it was carved out of white jade.
Even though it was so far away from her, Lu Jiu Que could still feel the bright, pure, and otherworldly aura that this white-jade seat was emanating…
What?! What was this?!
This was the exact same aura that she had felt from the Great Demon King, was it not?!
Could it be… There was really someone coming from the Pantheon!
This… Then would the truth about her pretending to be an apostle of the Pantheon as she went around deceiving and swindling people be exposed so soon?
The corners of Lu Jiu Que's mouth twitched, and she asked softly, "This… Has the Pantheon sent an apostle here?"
That person cast a look at Lu Jiu Que and saw that she was dressed in rags. He laughed coldly and impatiently said, "You wish. You must have heard that an apostle of His Excellency, the Son of God, has come to Fish Dive City, so you wanted to take a look, right? You think this great being is someone you can see whenever you please? This seat of the Pantheon is merely for ceremonious and traditional purposes. You aren't qualified to see the apostle of the Son of God himself!"
So that was it. So long as it wasn't really someone coming from the Pantheon, everything would be fine.
Just as Lu Jiu Que was huffing a sigh of relief, the rude person said with displeasure, "Why are you standing here? This is the line for people coming here to take the test. Hurry up, hurry up, move. Step aside."
Lu Jiu Que didn't argue back. She surveyed the area once and spotted the back of Ye Hui, who was looking all around. She stepped forward and went up to him.
At the sight of Lu Jiu Que heading over to the Qing Yan Empire's line, the rude person was stunned and completely froze in place. This strange person with horns sticking out of his head was actually a test-taker of the Qing Yan Empire?!
This… When had the Qing Yan Empire become so strange?
"Ye Hui, what are you looking at?"
Upon hearing Lu Jiu Que call out his name, the young man was so scared that he jumped. If one took a careful look at him, one would find that he had gone a little red in the face.
He hurriedly turned back to look at Lu Jiu Que and raised his voice while his eyes darted about aimlessly. Then suddenly, he shouted, "I… I… I wasn't looking for you. I was just looking for…"
Lu Jiu Que raised her eyebrows and said with a smile, "Oh, so it turns out that you were looking for me. Why?"
"I—"
"Ye Hui! Quickly move far away from that source of poison. Have you forgotten how you were all poisoned yesterday?"
The sound of an angry female voice interrupted Ye Hui's words. Lu Jiu Que turned around to look toward the sound and saw a youthful lady walking over in big strides.