"This is the first time I've seen the 'Skyscraper Center' in the Fifth Metropolitan Area."
Zhou Yinglin spoke in a casual tone.
"I thought the skyscrapers in the nine metropolitan areas would be similar, but I didn't expect them to be so much smaller than the first metropolitan area."
Li Ziyuan smiled and said respectfully, "During the Eternal Night War, the entire country worked hard to build nine 'sun pillars'. The first urban area had the largest radiation range, so the volume was increased as much as possible. In the end, a sun pillar was built that can be regarded as the largest in the world."
"After the Eternal Night War, all the sun pillars have been transformed into skyscrapers. The 'Cangting' on the top floor of the skyscraper in the First Metropolitan Area is now known as the 'highest point in the world'. This is the pride of our Zhuxia, and the Fifth Metropolitan Area dare not compare to it."
Zhou Yinglin turned his head and glanced at him.
That eagle-like sharp gaze was like a materialized blade, causing Li Ziyuan to feel phantom pain wherever it passed.
"Boss Li, I asked you to come here today for no other reason than to borrow your authority to help me change the opponent I will be drawing in the competition."
He spoke softly.
"This... Our U19 draw has always been random..." Li Ziyuan hesitated.
Zhou Yinglin's tone did not fluctuate at all:
"You should know that I'm not negotiating with you."
Li Ziyuan's expression changed for a moment, and then he said helplessly:
"yes… "
Zhou Yinglin reached into his pocket and took out a photo. He didn't use any force, he just held the photo between two fingers and shook it.
The photo flew out of his hand in an instant, spinning towards Li Ziyuan. The edge of the photo cut into the clothes on his chest and stayed there, just a hair's breadth away from cutting into his skin.
"No matter how you arrange this person, I must meet him in the ring."
Zhou Yinglin said.
Li Ziyuan carefully took the photo off his chest, picked it up and took a look.
The photo shows an incredibly handsome young man standing on the ring, staring at the scene opposite with a pair of silver eyes.
"…Xue Jing?"
Li Ziyuan said the boy's name in surprise.
He knew this person. He was the most eye-catching dark horse star who suddenly emerged among the U19 team.
Thanks to his good looks and his ability to show off, the U19 team has received a lot more attention than in previous years.
Members of the U19 organizing committee, including Li Ziyuan, all had a favorable impression of the young man because of this.
"this… "
Li Ziyuan was somewhat reluctant.
Zhou Yinglin made such an arrangement on purpose to fight the opponent in the ring, most likely with malicious intent.
Although Xue Jing was also a young man of extraordinary talent, Li Ziyuan felt that he was far inferior to Zhou Yinglin. This arrangement would probably lead to disastrous consequences.
But... he couldn't do anything about it.
Li Ziyuan sighed, nodded, and whispered:
"I understand, Mr. Zhou."
…
Yuancheng, a hidden area.
In the empty and ancient underground temple, in the center area sits a throne made of stone.
Behind the throne is a statue that is tens of meters tall.
It was a majestic god standing up with two feet and six arms. The god's head was a dragon head, and behind the dragon head were a thousand finely carved different snake heads.
This is the 'eldest son of the snake', the 'infinite dragon' - Anandashesha!
Its true image cannot be recognized by mere humans. This statue is merely carved by humans according to their own understanding and cognition, and it is not the real Anandashesha.
On the throne, a young man wearing a black robe and a black hood, with only a pair of eyes exposed, sat upright, his red vertical pupils looking down at the kneeling figure below.
"An Luping, where is Ning Fengwan, the talented leader of the branch sect you mentioned? Why didn't you bring her here?"
His voice was calm and low, ringing clearly in the ears of everyone in the temple, causing countless black-robed Dragon Cult members to bow slightly.
An Luping's forehead was covered with cold sweat. He looked up at the young man on the throne and spoke with trembling lips:
"Son of God, please calm down. There is a reason for this..."
An Luping roughly recounted his experiences in Qingcheng during this period, but he exaggerated a little and cleared himself of all blame.
After listening, the young man called the Son of God tilted his head slightly, propped up his head with his right fist on the armrest, and said calmly:
"So, the reason lies with the man named 'Xue Jing'?"
An Luping said respectfully: "You can say that!"
The Dragon Sect's Son shook his head and said, "This foolish and ignorant woman is so obsessed with worldly relationships that she doesn't understand how great an honor it is to be able to worship His Majesty Anandashesha."
An Luping whispered, "Your Highness, the Son of God, soon, Xue Jing will come to the source city to participate in the 'U19 Competition' held by the mortal world. Ning Fengwan will be with him all the time, so she should come with him..."
The Son of God nodded: "In this case, it would save us the trouble of traveling a long distance... After they arrive, we will invite them to the temple, remove the excess 'impurities', and see if the Ning Fengwan you mentioned has the potential to become the 'Prince' of my sect."
"The more people who are qualified to give birth to offspring for this Son of God, the better... After giving birth to a thousand offspring, a true 'Shesha' will naturally be born among them."
"If 'Shesha' happens to be the daughter of Ning Fengwan, then she will become the Holy Mother of the 'Infinite Era', with a status equivalent to Mary in Christianity."
An Luping complimented: "It's her honor."
…
In Yuancheng, in a spacious dojo.
A girl... or was it a boy? She was kneeling in the center of the dojo, her upper body straight as a pine tree, her flawless and delicate hands flat on her thighs.
He had an extremely handsome face, and it was hard to tell whether he was male or female. He had a feminine beauty, yet also some masculine features. His waist-length hair was tied into a high ponytail and hung behind him.
He was wearing a gorgeous black men's haori, and a very beautiful old long sword was placed on the ground beside him. He sat there upright, as quiet and beautiful as a painting, like a beautiful boy who walked out of a comic book at the end of the Edo period.
Otogi Suzuka was staring intently at the holographic image playing in front of her.
In the scene, the silver-eyed boy crossed paths with his opponent without looking back. His opponent was covered in countless knife wounds and slowly fell to the ground.
"Sakura Mangetsu (サクラミツツキ), 面白い奥义だ (Sakura Mangetsu, what an interesting secret)."
He spoke with great interest in the Far Eastern language, and his voice was a bit androgynous, making it difficult to distinguish between male and female.
"Mr. Xue, it seems like he will be a good opponent. I am really looking forward to it."
When he spoke again, he spoke fluent and authentic Chinese, and it was hard to tell that he was a foreigner at all.
At this time, the sliding door next to it was pushed open, and a maid in a kimono knelt on the ground, leaned forward and said respectfully:
"Lord Suzuka, another challenger has arrived."
Upon hearing this, Otogi Suzuka stood up and smiled brightly:
"It just so happens that I just saw something good and now I'm a little itchy."
"Zhu Xia is truly a treasure trove that seems endless, and it can always bring me surprises..."
…
Chapter 211: Entering the Inner Ring, the Privileges of the Sixth Agency, and the Sky Pirates Again
Three days later.
In the southern part of Qingcheng, White Crow’s temporary base.
Xue Jing dragged a black trolley suitcase and walked towards the apron not far away.
The cat squatted on his shoulder and licked its right front paw to wash its face.
This time when he went to Yuancheng to participate in the competition, he only brought his cat with him.
Xue Wan originally wanted to go along, as she had never been to an inner-ring city, but Xue Jing refused.
One reason was that she did not have the stay permit for the inner ring area and could not stay for a few days. The other was that Xue Jing had a feeling that this trip would not be peaceful, so for safety reasons, he did not let Xue Wan go.
Although she was a little jumpy at ordinary times, Xue Wan still knew what to do at the critical moment. Seeing Xue Jing's serious attitude, she immediately said that she would stay at home.
A beautiful pure black streamlined plane was quietly placed on the tarmac. Next to the door of the plane stood a young man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. He was wearing a navy blue tactical uniform and a talisman-like paper pendant on his left ear.
It was Ning Yuantai.
Xue Jing walked towards him slowly, dragging the suitcase with one hand and waving to Ning Yuantai with the other hand, saying hello:
"Young Master Ning."
Ning Yuantai scratched his head when he heard this title: "Brother Xue, I am not a rich young man. I have come this far entirely on my own."
Xue Jing laughed, "Very good, the character is very stable."
As he said this, he looked at the plane next to him.
He was very familiar with this plane. After all, he had taken it two or three times before. It was the Dragon Core plane belonging to Bai Ya.
The only difference was that compared to the last time, the wings and nose of the plane were equipped with some devices that Xue Jing didn’t quite understand, and they looked very much like weapons.
A few days ago, he called Xu Ren and asked which channel would be faster to get to the inner ring.
Xu Ren asked him to wait a moment and then hung up the phone. After a while, he called again and said that Commander Bai Ya had heard about this and said that he would send a dragon core plane to pick him up and it would take off at any time and arrive quickly.
So today has come.
"Isn't this White Crow's plane? Why are you here to pick me up?"
Xue Jing asked Ning Yuantai curiously.
"I mentioned it to Bai Ya and told them that I am familiar with you, so they let me come over." Ning Yuantai explained.
In terms of familiarity, it should be the Void Blade and the Mandrill... But it doesn't matter. Xue Jing smiled and said:
"Let's go, can we set off now?"
Ning Yuantai nodded and said, "No problem, we can set off now."
The cabin door opened with a hiss, and Xue Jing and Ning Yuantai walked into the cabin.
On the way, Ning Yuantai suddenly discovered that the extremely beautiful black cat on Xue Jing's shoulder was squinting and staring at him with its emerald-like vertical pupils. There was an inexplicable sense of danger in it, which made Ning Yuantai shudder.
He couldn't help but wonder:
"Brother Xue, what is this cat?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Jing reached out and touched Mao Mao's chin, blocking the overly obvious malice in her eyes, and said with a smile:
"I have it, and it's too clingy. It meows anxiously when I can't see it for a day, so I have to take it with me."
Ever since Ning Yuantai went to Xue Jing's house twice to deliver the divine relic, and each time he ate up all the food and left the cat to eat instant noodles, she had a lot of dissatisfaction with this man who also had the surname Ning.
This time seeing him in person, the snake-killing elite in Cat's Claw became a little excited.
After thinking for a while, Xue Jing said, "This cat doesn't get close to anyone except me. It's best not to touch it... It's quite dangerous."
Ning Yuantai could sense the inexplicable murderous aura coming from this cat. Although it looked extremely good, he really couldn't think of touching it. Hearing this, he quickly nodded and said:
"I see!"
After both of them boarded the plane, the cabin door closed.
After a while, accompanied by the sound of the engine starting, the Dragon Core Plane, under the influence of the Dragon Seed force field, floated in the air like an alien flying saucer, rising continuously into the sky, getting faster and faster, and soon arrived at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
Then the dragon seed force field turned, the plane broke through the airflow, let out a sharp roar, and flew rapidly towards the north.
In the cabin, in addition to Xue Jing and Ning Yuantai, there were more than twenty members of the "White Crow" and "Zhi Ge" wearing tactical uniforms and fully armed. When they saw Xue Jing, they all saluted with serious expressions and called him "Master Jing".
Xue Jing smiled and nodded in response, then he and Ning Yuantai walked into the small compartment where the leaders were seated.
"Speaking of which, if White Crow hadn't sent this dragon core machine to pick you up, it would have been quite troublesome to get to the Inner Ring within a day or two."
Ning Yuantai sat down on the soft chair, took out a bottle of soda from the small refrigerator in front of him, and spoke casually.
Xue Jing put the cat on the ground, letting her move freely, and replied: "Oh? What do you mean?"
“The inner ring is… more chaotic.”
Ning Yuantai said tactfully.