Chapter 13 July 13th

It was afternoon on July 13th.

The sun was gradually setting, and the Olympic Sports Center in Bai Lin City was a scene of bustling activity, filled with cheers and applause.

On the green field, Jiang Xiao held his Fang Tian Halberd in his left hand, resting it behind his back, and raised his right hand high, signaling to the audience in all directions.

In the opposing half of the field, a team of medical personnel was busy rescuing a contestant.

The host, Li Li, excitedly shouted, "Top 16! After two years, Pi God is still strong, living up to expectations, and once again advancing to the Top 16!"

Ye Xunyang said with emotion, "As of now, all of the individual matches for the China National Team have ended, with a total of 4 players advancing to the Top 16. It seems that the performance of this year's China National Team is much better than the previous one."

Li Li hurriedly looked at the computer in front of her and said, "The players entering the Top 16 are: Zheng Xiyou, the female soldier king from Xiangnan Military Academy! Piao Miao, the pride of the Ni Huo tribe from Cainan Star Martial University! Yi Qingchen, known as the disciple of Jiu Xing Du Nai from Zhongyuan Star Martial University! And Jiang Xiaopi from the Imperial Capital Star Martial University!"

Ye Xunyang looked satisfied. As hosts, they followed the national team on their expedition. In the process, through the commentary of one match after another, they had already formed a special emotional bond with the national team players.

Ye Xunyang sighed, "Three of the four Chinese team players entering the World Cup Top 16 are actually medical support personnel, which is really..."

"Haha, the camera is on another Chinese team!" Li Li suddenly said with a smile, "The Imperial Capital Star Martial University team, who are also Jiang Xiaopi's team competition teammates, have already entered the Top 14 in the neighboring National Team team competition!"

The trio from the Imperial Capital Star Martial University sat in the first row on the east side of the stands.

At this time, Xia Yan was waving at Jiang Xiao. She had a heroic face, but cheered like a little girl. This scene was transmitted to thousands of households through the TV screen, making people couldn't help but laugh secretly.

Jiang Xiao's figure also entered the camera. He tried to raise his hand and bumped fists with Gu Shi'an and Han Jiangxue one by one. When bumping fists with Xia Yan, he was suddenly pulled by Xia Yan.

On the track behind, the reporter He Huan looked at this scene with a smile, patiently waiting for Jiang Xiao to celebrate with his teammates.

Xia Yan bent down, hugged Jiang Xiao's short hair head with both hands, and heavily imprinted her lips on his wet head: "Great! Pipi! Here's a reward for you! Mwah~"

Jiang Xiao struggled and retreated, but he couldn't compare with Xia Yan in terms of strength attribute.

It was only with Han Jiangxue's obstruction that Jiang Xiao escaped from the "devil's clutches".

"Congratulations, Jiang Xiaopi! As the last player to secure a spot in the Top 16, what do you want to say?" He Huan hurried forward and asked with a smile.

Jiang Xiao looked disgusted, wiped his head, and shook off the water droplets, saying, "There's nothing to say, I just hope I don't meet a Chinese opponent in the next round."

The water droplets were of course not Xia Yan's saliva, but the water from the Rain of Tears Star Technique that Jiang Xiao had summoned during the battle, but Jiang Xiao's action made Xia Yan look bad.

"Uh..." He Huan was obviously stunned for a moment, and followed Jiang Xiao's train of thought, saying, "What you are worried about is also what we Chinese people are worried about. In the Top 16, our Chinese players occupy 4 seats, and the probability of being drawn together is not low."

Jiang Xiao grinned and said, "This reminds me of Xie Yan from the previous competition. If there had been no internal conflict, his results could have been much better."

He Huan nodded, pulled the topic back, and said, "Tomorrow is the ranking match for the loser group in the team competition, and you will have a very rare rest time.

Since the start of the World Cup, you have had two matches every three days. Are you tired? What supports you to get to where you are now?"

What supports me to get to where I am now?

Jiang Xiao smiled, turned slightly, and pointed to the audience seats in the back that were a sea of red.

The cameraman followed Jiang Xiao's guidance and captured the boiling audience seats in the camera.

Outside the camera, Jiang Xiao waved his hand to He Huan and turned to leave.

"Heh..." He Huan sighed and did not chase after him. He looked at Jiang Xiao's departing back and couldn't help but pick up the microphone and say, "This is the most wonderful answer I have ever received in my interviewing career."

In the locker room, Jiang Xiao, who pushed the door open, saw Yi Qingchen waiting patiently.

The disciple of Jiu Xing Du Nai was designated to compete in the Olympic Stadium due to her popularity and topicality. She had already won the second match in the morning, but she had not left.

In fact, she was watching the match through the television in the locker room, which was no different from watching the match in the hotel, but this short-haired girl stubbornly stayed here.

Yi Qingchen imitated Gu Shi'an's movements in the previous scene, sat on the bench, raised her hand, and stretched out her right fist.

Jiang Xiao also clenched his right fist and gently bumped fists with her, saying, "You don't have to wait for me."

Yi Qingchen pouted, lowered her head, and said, "You haven't agreed to take me as your disciple yet."

Jiang Xiao casually leaned the Fang Tian Halberd against the closet and said, "I agree."

Yi Qingchen lowered her head and continued, "I know you are very busy, you may... ah?"

As she spoke, Yi Qingchen felt something was wrong. She suddenly raised her head, her beautiful big eyes full of confusion, and looked at Jiang Xiao sitting on the bench, saying, "You agreed?"

"Ah, agreed." Jiang Xiao wiped his wet hair with both hands and said, "Disciple, why don't you hurry up and get a dry towel for your teacher? How can you be a good disciple with such poor eyesight?"

"Oh, oh!" Yi Qingchen hurriedly stood up and walked quickly to the bathroom. After taking two steps, her body flickered and disappeared.

The next moment, Yi Qingchen's body flickered and appeared in front of Jiang Xiao.

After waiting for two seconds, Yi Qingchen realized that Jiang Xiao had no intention of taking the towel. She hesitated for a moment and still put the towel on Jiang Xiao's head, kneeling down and gently wiping Jiang Xiao's hair.

Jiang Xiao's voice came from under the towel: "In your Central Plains, do people use auspicious beasts as mounts?"

"Huh?" Yi Qingchen was slightly surprised and said, "Auspicious beasts in the Night City's other dimension space? They... can be ridden, but they have low intelligence and are a bit irritable. Moreover, their limbs are too short, and the height is not suitable for combat when sitting on them.

Yi Qingchen pursed her lips, and seemed to have thought of the cute image of the auspicious beast in her mind, and a gentle smile appeared on her face: "What's more, the heads of the auspicious beasts are too big, which greatly obstructs the view, and they are not a good choice for mounts."

"Hmm." Jiang Xiao's whispered voice continued to come, "What about the Shuang Ye Yuanyang (Double Night Mandarin Duck)?"

Yi Qingchen shook her head: "Shuang Ye Yuanyang and Shuang Ye Yang? They are equally irritable, have low intelligence, and have no loyalty at all.

Moreover, their size is too small to be used as mounts.

On the surface, they may look big, but that's after they spread their wings. In fact, their bodies are very... um, very thin."

Very thin?

Jiang Xiao sighed deeply in his heart.

At the same time, inside the Other World.

In a wilderness filled with strange rocks, Jiang Xiao and others stopped.

As the Silver Partner Seven raised their fists high, the ghost monk team of two hundred all stopped.

Under the dark night, ghost-faced monks wearing bamboo hats and cloaks stood silently in place, and a sinister aura permeated the air.

"Ree~~~"

"Ree~~~"

Two particularly melodious bird songs rang out, tearing through the night sky.

Everyone's eyes moved away from the ruins in front of them, and they all looked up at the two giant, colorful mandarin ducks in the sky.

Humans named them "Shuang Ye Yuanyang" and "Shuang Ye Yang," but in fact, their huge size and slender tail feathers were more like the phoenixes in Chinese mythology.

It's just that their heads are very close to the image of mandarin ducks.

The layers of gradient-colored, colorful feathers can be described as dazzling, as if they should only appear in dreams.

A pair of entangled and circling Shuang Ye Yuanyang flew around the team for a while, did not launch an attack, and flew to a strange rocky wilderness that resembled ruins.

Jiang Xiao slowly stretched out his hand, and a colorful feather emitting a faint fluorescent light slowly fell and landed on Jiang Xiao's palm.

The area full of giant rocks is named Night City by humans because those strange rocks will occasionally piece together the appearance of human buildings, some like stone houses, some like stone bridges, and some like stone gates.

But no matter what they look like, they are all the work of nature, and no creatures participated in the construction. Moreover, on Earth, this other dimension space is dark day and night, hence the name "Night City."

Jiang Xiao caught the colorful feather and gently twisted the soft feather.

Beside him, Yue Yuchen said, "The auspicious beasts and Shuang Ye Yuanyang have gentle natures and high intelligence. Under normal circumstances, they will not choose to fight other species."

Jiang Xiao certainly wouldn't doubt these words from Yue Yuchen.

It's just that the creatures in this Night City, after layers of projection, have arrived in the other dimension space on Earth and have become irritable and mindless creatures.

Jiang Xiao asked, "Can the auspicious beasts be used as mounts? For the ghost-faced monk clan to ride."

Li Haoge thought for a while and said, "It's entirely possible. Our human physique is not suitable for riding auspicious beasts, but the physique of the ghost monk clan should be very suitable, but..."

Jiang Xiao: "Hmm?"

Li Haoge said, "The ghost monk clan are all infantry. They believe more in their own legs and are unwilling to have mounts."

Jiang Xiao turned his head to look at the ghost-faced monk clan, his eyes swept over the Silver Partner Seven one by one, and said, "What they think is not what we need to consider. The Fang Tian Halberd should be a weapon on horseback."

Hearing this, the Silver Partner Seven, including those ghost monks holding the Fang Tian Halberd, all lowered the brims of their hats, their movements being exactly the same.

Obviously, these ghost monks were somewhat resistant to Jiang Xiao's decision.

Yue Yuchen said, "Since Jiang Tuan (Jiang Leader) has decided this way, then I will make a suggestion. The auspicious beast clan is gentle and has high intelligence. We don't need to fight and tame them, we just need to negotiate with them using food."

Jiang Xiao asked curiously, "Do you know a lot about the characteristics of auspicious beasts?"

"Hmm." Yue Yuchen nodded, "Ye Gu Ta used to raise auspicious beasts, but..."

Jiang Xiao: "Hmm?"

Yue Yuchen shook his head and sighed softly: "Auspicious beasts are one of our food sources. As I raised them, I developed feelings for them and was unwilling to kill them anymore, but Ye Gu Ta needed food, so I stopped raising them."

Jiang Xiao nodded silently and said, "Let's go, we'll find them some food."

Li Haoge: "In this Central Plains, besides the ancient tower and the Night City, there are only shadow creatures and Star Grotto creatures left, which can all be used as food."

He Yun's old voice suddenly came, "After traveling for two days, everyone is very tired. Since the creatures in this Night City are gentle, let's rest here for the night."

"Hmm... alright." Jiang Xiao said, "Organize the team, rest in the megalithic array, no fighting allowed!"

Problems should always be viewed with a dialectical perspective.

The ghost monk clan, which should have been belligerent, after experiencing a battle in which their homeland was destroyed, these two hundred or so surviving ghost-faced monks were very obedient and tried their best to suppress their nature.

The silent ghost monk legion entered the edge of the Night City. Under the watch of the human Star Warriors and the Jin Partner 7 and Silver Partner 7, no ghost monk asked for trouble.

Jiang Xiao found a giant rock, supported the stone with one hand, slowly sat down, and sighed deeply.

He raised his head, and in the beautiful night sky, Shuang Ye Yuanyang emitting a faint glow flew by from time to time.

At the same time, in the Earth's Olympic Stadium locker room.

Jiang Xiao said in a low voice, "Their bodies are not thin..."

"Jiang Xiao!" The locker room door was suddenly pushed open, and Xia Yan ran in with a happy face, but her expression froze slightly.

In front of her, Jiang Xiao was sitting on a bench with his elbows on his knees. And in front of him, Yi Qingchen, known as the disciple of Jiu Xing Du Nai, was kneeling down and wiping Jiang Xiao's hair.

Jiang Xiao didn't look up, just waved his hand: "Let me introduce you, this is my disciple, Yi Qingchen."

As he spoke, Jiang Xiao grabbed the towel on his head and said, "The one with long hair is my sister, Han Jiangxue. Go pay your respects."

Yi Qingchen stood up, strode towards Han Jiangxue, and extended her right hand in a friendly manner: "Hello."

Xia Yan pouted, of course knowing about Jiang Xiao's order to accept a disciple, she looked at Yi Qingchen up and down at close range, looking at the body lines of the short-haired girl, and secretly compared them.

After a few seconds, Xia Yan pouted unhappily, seemingly unable to tell the difference...

Then she saw Xia Yan leaning to the side, her elbow resting on Yi Qingchen's shoulder, and joked, "I'm Jiang Xiao's master, what should you call me?"

"Uh..." Yi Qingchen scratched her short hair, her posture actually resembling Jiang Xiao's, and her face was a little embarrassed, "This..."

Jiang Xiao: "Ignore her, let's call each other as we see fit, you can call her Stinky Sis."

Xia Yan: ???