"Everyone be quiet, now let's talk about the arrangements for leaving the mountain."
Outside the sect's main hall, a group of outer disciples stood in line, quietly waiting for today's task arrangements.
Gu Yuan, Yi Wen, and Yi Wu were also among them.
"Now I start to read the name, and when I read it, I will get out of the queue and wait for orders..."
As the inner disciple who was managing the sect's tasks finished reading the list in his hand, a total of thirty outer disciples, including Gu Yuan, stood out in the queue of outer disciples.
For these selected outer disciples, the inner disciples who issued the mission did not pay much attention to them.
After counting the number of people correctly, he directly handed over the task to these thirty people to find out for themselves, and then left in a hurry.
It turned out that a group of extremely vicious bandits had recently arrived near the villages and towns at the foot of the mountain outside the mountain.
They have looted nearby villages and towns many times, causing many deaths and numerous injuries to civilians.
Although the bandits only wreaked havoc in the villages and towns of Shanwaishan, they did not dare to set foot in Shanwaishan outside the sect.
However, the sect has many exchanges with the people in the villages and towns of Shanwaishan, and the goods purchased on weekdays are also provided by the people of Shanwaishan.
The behavior of the bandits directly angered the elders in charge of external affairs of the sect.
This is why today we have the task of selecting thirty outer sect disciples to go out to the mountains to patrol nearby villages and eliminate bandits.
According to the requirements of the mission, thirty outer disciples freely formed two patrol teams of equal numbers, responsible for patrolling and guarding more than a dozen villages and towns near Shanwai Mountain.
"Yang Shuo, let's go with you..."
Yang Shuo is also an outstanding talent among the outer disciples. He is one of the people most likely to be selected to become an inner disciple. There are inevitably people around him who follow him.
In less than a moment, fourteen outer disciples took the initiative to join in, forming a patrol team of fifteen people.
The remaining outer disciples look at me and I look at you, but no one is willing to take the lead and form another patrol team.
In the end, relying on everyone's recommendation, Ruan Xiuwen, who is usually popular and good-tempered, was selected as the captain of the other patrol team. Gu Yuan also naturally became Ruan Xiuwen's because he did not praise Yang Shuo's bad feet.
Team members.
After arranging the team members, the two patrol teams composed of outer disciples set off together.
After leaving Shanwai Mountain, the first place the two teams arrived at was a small village called Baixi Village.
There are about a hundred households and several hundred people in the village.
Most of them make a living by collecting herbs, cutting firewood, and hunting. Only a handful of families own a small number of fields for farming.
When the village chief, Chen Bo, learned that the sect's patrol team had appeared, he was particularly excited. He pulled the two captains Yang Shuo and Ruan Xiuwen and kept chattering.
The village also prepared sumptuous meals for the two patrol teams to thank the patrol teams for going down the mountain to eliminate the bandits who caused trouble for them.
Ruan Xiuwen is honest and dull, not good at words, and his behavior at the wine table seems a bit passive.
Yang Shuo, on the other hand, had a good background and a conceited temperament. When faced with the villagers' request to exterminate the bandits that caused trouble at the wine table, he readily agreed and won the favor of all the villagers.
"Hey, luckily we reacted quickly and followed a capable captain like Yang Shuo."
"It's not like you, following this submissive guy like Ruan Xiuwen."
"I don't know if the bandits will come and he will be frightened and faint..."
At Gu Yuan's table, people from the two teams mingled and ate together. During this period, Li Changping, a member of Yang Shuo's team, compared the performance of the two captains in front of the village chief, boasted about Yang Shuo, and laughed at him.
Gu Yuan and others following Ruan Xiuwen's team.
Gu Yuan kept silent and kept eating quietly, watching the people in Yang Shuo's team acting like monsters.
In fact, the conflicts between the outer disciples have become more and more intense in the past few days.
Yang Shuo and Ruan Xiuwen both had good backgrounds, and among the outer disciples, they were the richest ones.
Because of their family backgrounds, the outer disciples divided themselves into two factions.
But although Ruan Xiuwen comes from a good family, he is too honest and dull. He does not know how to package and show off himself like Yang Shuo, let alone win people's hearts.
So slowly, the people following Ruan Xiuwen also moved away from him. Even if they did not seek refuge with Yang Shuo, they chose neutrality.
Ruan Xiuwen lost power, but Yang Shuo still did not let go of belittling and ridiculing Ruan Xiuwen.
Many of the outer disciples who followed Yang Shuo often made things difficult for Ruan Xiuwen in order to please Yang Shuo.
Like tonight, it is the usual method of Yang Shuo's followers to lift Yang Shuo to the sky and trample Ruan Xiuwen to the ground.
"Don't go too far."
Liu Tao, an outer disciple who temporarily joined Ruan Xiuwen's patrol team, couldn't stand the sarcasm of members of Yang Shuo's team and couldn't help scolding him.
Unexpectedly, the other party looked disdainful and laughed.
"I advise you to take care of yourself first!"
"The news I received is that this bandit team that is harassing nearby villages and towns is not an easy one."
"There are many masters among the members, and all of them are murderous."
"If you follow a captain like Ruan Xiuwen, you should pray more that your team will not encounter that bandit team during the next patrol."
"If your entire army is wiped out by these bandits, it will bring disgrace to our sect."
"You..." Liu Tao was furious. Unfortunately, he was surrounded by villagers from the village. As a sect disciple who was outside, even if he was an outside disciple, private fights and internal strife were prohibited when he was performing tasks outside.
Li Changping obviously also knew that this sect rule restricted Liu Tao, and knew that the other party would not dare to do anything in front of the villagers, so he acted so confidently.
As for telling the village, Li Changping was even less afraid of Liu Tao's revenge.
How many people in Ruan Xiuwen's team can be Yang Shuo's opponents?
The two captains who were eating with existence must have noticed the situation at the next table.
The two of them said goodbye to the village chief, then stood up and came to Gu Yuan's table.
"What are you doing?
Don’t you know the rules prohibiting internal strife when working abroad?”
Yang Shuo glanced at the people present drunkenly, and scolded somewhat unhappily.
Li Changping, who had been boasting about Yang Shuo just now, immediately showed a flattering smile and stood up from his seat holding a glass of wine.
"Senior Brother Yang, don't be like these people."
"Yes, Senior Brother Yang, they just don't want to see how good our team is..."
Li Changping's words made Yang Shuo nod frequently.
Even before drinking, Yang Shuo was quite dissatisfied with Ruan Xiuwen and the team led by Ruan Xiuwen.
Now after a few glasses of wine, he has revealed his true colors.
He directly threatened Ruan Xiuwen and others present with vicious words:
"You should recognize the facts and don't cause trouble here.
If one day your patrol team encounters that group of bandits, I will at least ask my team to run faster and go over to support you..."
With that said, Yang Shuo turned around and took advantage of the alcohol to poke his finger in front of Ruan Xiuwen.