Chapter 1 A Little Food Street

Gregorian calendar, May 1st.

Chang'an City, 7:00 PM, a small, nameless food street.

Xia Yan held a skewer of grilled meat in her hand, so happy that she was almost crying, "Waaah~ So, so delicious..."

Tears seemed to well up in her beautiful eyes as she chewed on the meat skewer, looking up at the stars. The starry sky left a beautiful reflection in her eyes.

Due to regional cultural differences, Jiang Xiao initially thought Xia Yan meant Korean BBQ grilled on an iron plate, dipped in chili sauce and wrapped in lettuce leaves, when she said they were going to eat "grilled meat."

Jiang Xiao's hometown was near the Korean peninsula, and the three northeastern provinces were home to many Korean ethnic minorities, so "grilled meat" had become a proper noun for iron plate BBQ.

But when Xia Yan headed straight for a kebab vendor in this alley, he realized that "grilled meat" meant skewers.

The skewers were small, easily grabbed in one hand. With a single swipe, the meat was gone, leaving only the stick. In the blink of an eye, Xia Yan was holding a handful of empty skewers.

She devoured the grilled meat, and finally freed up a hand to give Hai Tianqing a thumbs up.

Xia Yan had visited this ancient city before, so after checking into a good hotel, she planned to take her teammates to Huimin Street (Muslim Quarter).

But Hai Tianqing shook his head. As a top tour guide, he had a more interesting suggestion: It's getting late. Let's just find a university near the hotel and eat in the alley next to it.

Xia Yan hadn't been to university yet and didn't quite understand this kind of culture, but when she walked into this slightly dirty and messy alley, her first reaction was a bit of resistance, and her second reaction was...

So delicious!

Besides eating and praising, she had no other reactions. She had been eating all the way down the alley...

For some reason, seeing her happy foodie appearance, Jiang Xiao suddenly felt especially happy too.

Hai Tianqing grinned and passed on his experience to everyone, "No matter which city you go to, you can always find university alleys like this. They're not famous, they might not be very sanitary, but they're definitely affordable, authentic, and delicious."

What does a stomach ache matter for the sake of good food?

Anyway, Little Pi is here. Bless me!

Xia Shiqi ate his way from one end of the alley to the other like a wild horse, his foodie eyes filled with all kinds of delicious food.

And Jiang Xiao's eyes were filled with the small hotels at the intersections of the alleyways. There must have been more than 20 of them along the way, right?

At this moment,

A question popped into Jiang Xiao's head:

Question: What do the nights in this alley and the evenings of the New Year in the three northeastern provinces have in common?

Answer: They both have a strong smell of gunpowder.

Han Jiangxue keenly noticed that Jiang Xiao kept staring at the hotels in the alley, his eyes wandering, wondering what nonsense he was thinking.

Han Jiangxue hooked her arm around his and made a sharp turn, coming to a small vendor's stall. She specially bought Jiang Xiao a glass of iced sour plum juice, but instead of letting him drink it, she pressed it against his forehead.

Jiang Xiao's scalp went numb,

But he did come back to his senses. He had a sour plum juice glass stuck to his forehead, but he was still thinking about "Bingfeng" (local orange soda), wanting to try it.

Unfortunately, the roadside vendors didn't sell it. The group walked past the stalls and entered a "Chicken Soup Noodles" restaurant.

Jiang Xiao ordered a bottle of Bingfeng and a bowl of oily spicy noodles. The owner replied in a standard local accent, "Che mian or la tiaozi?"

Jiang Xiao was immediately dumbfounded. What did you say?

I can't understand. I'm just eating noodles. Do you have to ask such professional questions?

The next day, photos of the Jiang Xiao team wandering the food alley at night were uploaded to the internet. After all, this was a university alley, although not Star Warrior University, the students still paid attention to this annual event, and many people recognized Jiang Xiao's team.

Chang'an City, as the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties of China, can be described as a place of outstanding people and hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

This was especially true in early May, as various teams and forces poured into the city for the National High School League, and news was updated in real-time, making people overwhelmed. You could see all kinds of big shots in various media.

So the appearance of the Jiang Xiao team was like a small stone thrown into the sea, not making much of a splash.

May 2nd,

At 8:00 AM, the event organizers announced the competition venue on the official website – the Ancient Imperial Mausoleum!

Jiang Xiao and the others were eating steamed dumplings at Defa Chang near the Bell and Drum Tower Square when they received this news.

As soon as this news came out,

Without thinking, Jiang Xiao seemed to hear the wailing of the participating students.

Jiang Xiao could find the shadows of other participating students on Li Weiyi across the table.

Li Weiyi had already put down his chopsticks. It wasn't that the steamed dumplings weren't delicious, but that he was really worried.

The Ancient Imperial Mausoleum, that was not a place for people to go, okay!?

You're letting this group of Nebula stage children enter such a place? And it's a competition?

The Ancient Martial Army Corps here appear in groups! They are stronger than the male swordsmen and female archers in the armory, and their Star Techniques are also more powerful.

If you single one out, maybe they are not scary, but when they gather into a team, it is really dangerous.

What's even more terrifying is that the Gold-level Boss creatures inside also have a high probability of appearing in teams!

Of course, Li Weiyi would not desert, let alone shrink back. He knew that everything he had today was obtained through the team.

But Li Weiyi was really suffering. He had clearly been admitted to a key military academy, but now he had to go into the Ancient Imperial Mausoleum with his team to risk his life...

Hai Tianqing put down his phone, his face equally solemn. He knew that this team would be busy for the next few days.

Han Jiangxue paused as she picked up a steamed dumpling, but her expression didn't change much. She continued to put the steamed dumpling on Xia Yan's small plate.

The foodie Xia looked carefree, watching Han Jiangxue put food on her plate. She smiled happily like a flower, grinning foolishly at Han Jiangxue.

Then she heard Han Jiangxue ask, "Little Pi, what's in the Ancient Imperial Mausoleum?"

This kind of inquiry was familiar. Back then, before entering the armory, Han Jiangxue had tested him like this.

Jiang Xiao ate the steamed dumpling, speaking vaguely, "A group of weird human-shaped creatures with half a skeleton and half rotten flesh."

"Types, Star Techniques, Ranks," Han Jiangxue asked.

"This..." Jiang Xiao looked a little embarrassed and said, "There's a lot, right? Should I say them all?"

Han Jiangxue glanced at Xia Yan and said, "Tell us, make her a little nervous."

Xia Yan paused as she picked up her chopsticks and smiled sheepishly.

Jiang Xiao thought for a while, he had done a lot of homework, and said:

"Ancient Martial Fire Archer: Silver rank, Flame Arrow (Bronze quality), Explosive Arrow (Silver quality).

Ancient Martial Ice Archer: Silver rank, Frozen Arrow (Bronze quality), Rapid Freeze Arrow (Silver quality).

Ancient Martial Poison Archer: Silver rank, Poisoned Arrow (Bronze quality), Plague Arrow (Silver quality).

Ancient Martial Battle Axe, Ancient Martial War Hammer: Silver rank,

Heavy Blow (Silver quality),

Rampage (Rampage, not Berserk, Star Technique effect: accelerates stamina consumption, slightly increases self-speed, Silver quality).

Ancient Martial War Spear: Silver rank,

Thrust (condenses star power, focuses on one point, making your thrust more penetrating, Silver quality),

Burst (infuses star power into the weapon in a unique way, making your attack more damaging, but the weapon will also be damaged faster, Silver quality)."

"Not bad." Han Jiangxue nodded with satisfaction. The small fries have been mentioned, now it's time for the main event.

He can remember the small fries clearly, let alone the big Bosses?

Jiang Xiao had been eyeing the Boss Star Techniques here for a long time. If he could have two more Star Slots, maybe he would really attack the Bosses of the Ancient Martial Army Corps.

"Ancient Martial Warlord: Gold rank, Heavy Blow (Silver quality), Rampage (Silver quality), Thrust (Silver quality), Burst (Silver quality)."

"Ancient Martial Arch-General: Gold rank, Explosive Arrow (Silver quality), Rapid Freeze Arrow (Silver quality), Plague Arrow (Silver quality), Requiem Arrow (Silver quality)."

Speaking of this, Jiang Xiao paused and continued to say the last species:

"Ancient Martial Soul, Gold rank.

Ossification (accelerates the growth of the Ancient Martial Army Corps' bones, Silver quality),

Bone Shield (condenses star power, gathers surrounding corpses and remains, and creates a white bone shield, Silver quality),

Bone Wall (condenses star power, gathers surrounding corpses and remains, and builds a white bone barrier, Silver quality),

Bone Prison (condenses star power, surrounds the target and builds a prison made of corpses, Silver quality)."

"Hey hey~ This young man is not bad, ah!" A young man's voice came from behind.

Jiang Xiao turned his head and looked over. In the noisy restaurant, at a table two tables away, he saw a young man smiling and nodding at Jiang Xiao, very friendly.

Jiang Xiao raised his eyebrows. There were also five people at this young man's table. Four of them were about the same age as Jiang Xiao, and the other was a middle-aged woman. It could be seen that this should be a configuration of a participating team? A teacher with four students?