I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 13

This ceremony, called an induction assessment, was more like a test of mutual trust. Imagine—how could someone who unflinchingly faces an arrow from Yin Beiqing be anything but loyal and trusting?

Yan Yu stared at the arrow, forcing herself to remain calm. She began calling for Guipan in her consciousness, but there was no response.

Sleeping in at a time like this? Your master is about to die, don’t you know!

She turned her head and struggled against the iron clasps binding her arms, but they didn’t budge an inch. Yin Beiqing had fixed her hands in place specifically so she couldn’t perform spirit arts, and her frail body had no hope of breaking free.

“Are you ready?” Yin Beiqing whistled, twisting her wrist playfully and tilting her chin to ask.

“Wait, I—” Yan Yu’s words were cut off in her throat.

She knew it! This person didn’t ask the question to get an answer; it was merely a unilateral notification.

Yan Yu watched as the arrow pierced the air, flying past the onlookers and tearing through the wind, aimed directly at her forehead.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see her own gory end.

“Thud!”

The expected pain never arrived. A burst of applause erupted from the crowd, and someone came over to unbind and support the exhausted Yan Yu.

Her legs were weak; only when she stood on the ground did she realize her back was drenched in sweat, making her look quite a mess.

Looking up, she saw the culprit behind this prank enjoying the cheers with a satisfied expression.

Noticing Yan Yu’s gaze, Yin Beiqing walked toward her holding the crossbow.

“Hand.”

Yan Yu didn’t move.

“Take it.” Yin Beiqing handed out her crossbow.

Yan Yu shook her head, her expression a silent question.

“It’s your turn.” Yin Beiqing scratched Yan Yu’s chin with her finger, as if teasing a pet. “Be gentle, don’t hurt me.”

Can you say something a human can actually understand?

Leaving those words behind, Yin Beiqing walked toward the wooden spinning wheel with her hands behind her back. She stood in place and spread her arms, allowing the maids to bind her to the target.

Finally, Yan Yu understood what “your turn” meant. She looked down at the object in her hands.

Yin Beiqing wanted her to shoot back.

“Begin.”

Begin?

“Are you joking? I don’t even know how to shoot.”

“That’s why I told you to be careful.”

Was that even human speech? Was this the kind of thing one could do just by being “careful”?

“Miss Yan, please begin.” A maid walked to Yan Yu’s side and handed her a new arrow. “This is a mandatory ritual for entering the valley.”

Then I’d rather not enter.

“By the way, I forgot to tell you—anyone who enters my Langdie Valley can only leave horizontally.” Yin Beiqing reminded her; it was too late for regrets now.

Yan Yu bit her lip in distress. She couldn’t bring herself to shoot at a living person.

The maid, like a heartless machine pushing a schedule, saw that Yan Yu wasn’t reacting and personally placed her hands onto the crossbow.

“Grip it, pull it back, and that’s it.”

Yan Yu held the incredibly heavy crossbow, her hands shaking. It sounded easy, but she could barely even pull the string.

“If you really kill me with one shot, consider it a ‘Goddess eliminating a scourge for the people.'”

Yan Yu took a long breath, ignoring the taunting nonsense. As long as I fire one shot, right? Then missing on purpose should be fine.

She mobilized the soul power in her body, gathering it in her arms. Only then could she find the strength to lift the massive crossbow.

Her arms trembling, she notched the arrow and aimed at a point about a foot above Yin Beiqing’s head.

But at that moment, the red lotus beast mark on Yan Yu’s forehead flashed. A familiar surge of heat rushed from her heart to every part of her body.

A strange wind whipped up out of nowhere, blowing her dress and long hair, blurring her vision.

“Wait?” Yan Yu felt her hands lose control. A force was pushing against her, forcing the arrowhead to point directly at Yin Beiqing’s heart.

Yan Yu turned pale with fright and tried to lower the arrow, but she was a step too late.

The dark iron shaft, wrapped in a flicker of red and blue fire, traced a powerful arc through the air, lunging violently toward Yin Beiqing’s vital spot.

“Oho!” Ying Fan, sitting in the VIP section, whistled and turned to speak to the person beside her. “Sister Ruan, I told you—this sickly girl is even less afraid of death than I am.”

Ruan Yuemian sat upright in her chair, head lowered as she sipped her hot tea, not even granting them a glance.

“Excellent! Hahaha, excellent! Yay! Murder! Murder!”

Ying Fan couldn’t take it and shook her head, placing a palm on the head of the girl cheering beside her. “Xue Ji, stop laughing, okay? Your voice is so shrill it’s giving me goosebumps.”

The bindings were nothing to Yin Beiqing, yet she lay there, watching the arrow fly toward her chest with her own eyes.

“Yin Beiqing!” Yan Yu cried out in panic.

Under the mask, a certain someone’s lips finally curled into a satisfied, triumphant smile.

In mid-air, the rapidly flying arrow suddenly shifted direction. Yan Yu was about to heave a sigh of relief, but a second later, she saw that it hadn’t been deflected away—it only shifted slightly upward before burying itself deep into Yin Beiqing’s shoulder.

The injured Yin Beiqing acted as if nothing had happened. She shattered the iron rings binding her with her own power, jumped down, and pulled the arrow out with her right hand without hesitation.

She seemed blind to the wound and deaf to the pain. Step by step, she walked toward Yan Yu, her tone complaining, “Sickly girl, you hurt me.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you, I don’t know what happened…”

“Shh.” Yin Beiqing pressed a finger against her lips. “Do you know what I hate hearing most?”

Explanations.

After answering in her heart, Yan Yu shut her mouth gloomily. She frowned as she inspected the shoulder wound. “It’s pierced quite deep. You should find some medicine for it quickly.”

Yin Beiqing leaned in and took her hand. “There are more important things to do right now.”

Yan Yu turned with her, only to realize that the crowd of onlookers from before was now kneeling in a dense mass below the beast throne.

It was Yan Yu’s first time seeing the back of the proud Ruan Yuemian’s head. It seemed the only person who could make her bow in submission was the madwoman standing beside her.

The final stage of the induction ceremony was for Yin Beiqing to personally bestow a token upon the new member.

“Miss Yan, please kneel,” the maid whispered a reminder.

“No matter. How could the Goddess be like everyone else?”

Yan Yu sucked in a breath. She hadn’t forgotten the dark mass of people kneeling behind her. Yin Beiqing’s words were a perfect way to attract hatred—how was she supposed to get along with her “colleagues” after this?

A second-class maid held up a tray before Yin Beiqing. Yin Beiqing pulled out a bone fan from nowhere and flipped back the white cloth covering the tray.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yan Yu saw a pair of translucent “Ding-Dang” bracelets.

Before she could look for long, Yin Beiqing slipped the bracelets onto her wrists; they were a perfect fit.

The bracelets were slender and felt very light. With every movement of her wrists, the two jade bangles bumped into each other, creating a crisp and pleasant clinking sound—hence the name “Ding-Dang bracelets.”

Yin Beiqing clapped her hands, looking at Yan Yu as if looking at a piece of art she had crafted herself. “Welcome to the Valley, my dear Lady Goddess.”

She emphasized the last four words, and no matter how one heard it, there was a chill that made one’s skin crawl.

Entering the valley was supposed to be a good thing, but Yan Yu couldn’t smile at all.

Yin Beiqing, however, was in high spirits. She took Yan Yu’s hand and walked before the crowd.

“From this day forth, the Goddess is officially a member of our Langdie Valley. This is a blessed omen and my great fortune. Therefore, her words are my words. None of you shall be negligent. Have you all heard me!”

“Yes! Valley Lord!” The maids’ collective response was so loud the ground seemed to tremble three times.

Yan Yu looked down and met the seven pairs of eyes in the front row, each containing different emotions.

A sheep entering a tiger’s den.

That was her most instinctive thought in that moment.