Nine Star Burden

Chapter 175: Xing Lang’s Team

Ten days later in the Jiangbin City Railway Station.

“Jiang Xiaopi, who has been through a lot,” Xia Yan said as she opened the door of the soft sleeper of the train and sat down on the bottom bunk. She then turned to look at Jiang Xiao and finished her sentence. “Sleep on the top bunk. Your sister and I will take the bottom one.”

“Okay, I’ll be on top of you. I’ll be on top of you…” Jiang Xiao said smilingly as he inched forward and sat beside her. “Are you still angry? It’s such a trivial matter.”

She glanced at Jiang Xiao with an intense and furious gaze in her eyes. Even though it had been ten days since he lied to her, she still bore a grudge against him for it.

She specially ate plenty of pig skin that day in a bid to prepare herself to get whipped by Han Jiangxue.

However, nothing happened in the end. The silly Xia Yan had been feeling fearful until she saw the peculiar smile on Jiang Xiao’s face and realized that she had been deceived. She then flew into a rage immediately…

Is Xia Yan exasperated because she’s been deceived? Or is it because she didn’t get whipped…

In the past ten days, Xia Yan had begun to take revenge on him during training, but to her surprise, Jiang Xiao’s swordsmanship improved tremendously. Be it in terms of basic skills, techniques, or creativity, his swordsmanship managed to impress her.

Although she was playful during her younger days and only started picking up swordsmanship seriously in Year One, she had been training for at least two years. After seeing Jiang Xiao’s speed of improvement, she felt an unprecedented sense of threat.

Without a doubt, she would gain victory over him during every competition.

However, Xia Yan knew that it was because she was superior to Jiang Xiao in terms of physical quality. If it was simply based on swordsmanship and technique, she wasn’t sure if she could defeat him.

That made Xia Yan secretly admire Jiang Xiao for his hard-working attitude. She thought, He must have used his sword every day in the snowfield for a month. Besides, he’s also extraordinarily talented in sports. That’s probably why he achieved those results.

She then thought about herself and said in her heart, Ah… Xia Yan, you need to buck up and put in more effort.

Of course, although she felt a sense of urgency to improve, she wasn’t selfish in nature and so didn’t hold back when teaching him. After seeing how solid his basic skills and techniques were, she decided to impart the Xia Family Swordsmanship to him.

Jiang Xiao was extremely touched by her decision. However, he had no idea that when he used his Skill Points to forcibly upgrade his Xia Family Swordsmanship to Silver Quality, the internal Star Map had already added more things to it.

Not only had the moves and techniques been deeply etched in Jiang Xiao’s mind, but they had also fused with his muscles.

Jiang Xiao even wondered if more creative swordsmanship techniques would pop in his mind after he upgraded his Xia Family Swordsmanship to Gold Quality.

Was this considered integration? Once he managed to master a certain technique well, he would work hard to create breakthroughs and gain enlightenment. He would also try to come up with techniques that were more amazing and in-depth.

However, Jiang Xiao no longer had any Skill Points that could be used for Xia Family Swordsmanship. He only had 14 Skill Points left in his Star Map.

There were still four more days to go before the Beijiang Province High School League and the teachers in school had already helped them sign up a long time ago.

According to the official rules, the students had to report to the venue three days in advance for verification, as well as get their food and lodging arranged.

Hence, at this moment, the team was on its way to Guanlin City by rail.

Apart from Jiang Xiao’s team, there were two other teams also on the way to Guanlin City.

One of the teams was Xing Lang’s team.

The other team was from Year Three Class 2, whose members were far more outstanding than the students in Class 1.

Jiang Xiao didn’t think that that team from Class 2 was wonderful, but after interacting with them for half a semester, he gained a new understanding and impression of them.

The melee fighter Xing Lang was rather short, standing at just a little over 1.7 meters. He was stocky and strong and had a straightforward character.

The Shield fighter Zheng Jiang was tall and buff, standing at 1.89 meters tall. He had an ice shield that was derived from the Ice Cave in the special Dimensional Space in Zhongji and Liaodong Provinces. However, he was stabbed in the back by the officials…

Logically speaking, the Beijiang Province High School League was usually held in the snowfields and Zheng Jiang’s ice shield would give him a huge advantage. The snowfield would be a good location too because it would help his shield freeze faster.

Yet, what happened?

The league was actually held in the Arsenal where the scenery was wonderful and the weather was pleasant. That made Zheng Jiang infuriated…

It was not that Zheng Jiang couldn’t use his Ice Shield in the Arsenal, but rather the speed of condensation was much faster in the snowfield. The disparity was huge.

Zhang Hui had a relatively thin figure and was much shorter, at 1.7 meters tall. However, he was much more lethal and was a melee fighter good at using the dagger.

He was a true king of output in the team, and even a Rules Awakened could not compare to him.

It was said that his parents were merchants who specialized in foreign trade and were affluent.

He was wearing an authentic pair of limited edition Air Jordans on his feet, which were said to have cost tens of thousands of yuan. Jiang Xiao had no idea why they were that expensive, but he reckoned that there must have been some incredible technology in the sole that would make him fly…

The last member was the female Rules Awakened, Liu Chang. When Jiang Xiao heard her name for the first time, various familiar faces from elementary school to university appeared in his mind. He knew several Liu Changs, some of which were male and some female.

This Liu Chang was a bespectacled, ponytailed girl with a feisty character. She was also 1.67 meters tall.

The train was moving fast because of the first carriage at the head.

Under Xing Lang’s leadership, the team had long formed their own fighting style. They were reckless and brutal!

To their surprise, the team had already found the room that Jiang Xiao’s team was in before the train even started moving.

Xia Yan initially wanted to drive to the venue, but due to the fact that it was too far away and the school had strictly forbidden them from doing so, they had no choice but to take the train. At the thought of the 12-hour ride, Xia Yan felt like she was on the verge of breaking down. Hence, she decided to fork out the money to change to another sleeper.

There was a total of four beds in the room that could fit four people.

Although Xing Lang’s team was clearly affluent too, the four of them decided to settle in a room not too far from Jiang Xiao’s.

While Xia Yan and Jiang Xiao were bickering, Xing Lang knocked on the door.

“What’s the matter, little steel cannon?” Xia Yan asked.

“Haha.” Xing Lang smiled and pointed at Li Weiyi, who seemed all aggrieved about sleeping huddled up on the top bunk. “Now you know the disadvantages of having long legs, eh?”

With a look of dismay, Li Weiyi curled his legs up and remained silent.

Upon hearing his words, Han Jiangxue, who was changing her shoes on the bunk bed below, stood up to look at Li Weiyi. “Don’t bother, you can take the bottom bed.”

“Alright,” Li Weiyi answered as he leaped off the bed while supporting himself with both hands.

Xia Yan glowered at Jiang Xiao and said, “I’ll sleep on the bed opposite hers. You take the bottom bed.”

Jiang Xiao scratched his head and said, “Ah, sure, go up then.”

Xia Yan retorted, “Can’t I sit here for a while!?!”

Jiang Xiao frantically pleaded. “Of course you can. Suit yourself. The two of us can sleep together too.”

“Huh? My temper…” Xia Yan immediately pinned Jiang Xiao against the bed.

Han Jiangxue stared at the two of them helplessly while they bickered, after which she turned around to look at Xing Lang. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

A thin figure popped up and leaned against the door smilingly. “We’ve already developed good feelings for each other after being schoolmates and sparring partners for two and a half years. I just dropped by to say hello. We’ll at least be able to look out for each other when we’re in the Arsenal later.”

Han Jiangxue looked at Zhang Hui, who appeared out of nowhere. She said, “Each of us will have to be equipped with camera equipment provided by the official authorities.”

“Sis, you’re reading too much into things. The rules of the league change every year and there are real-time surveillance cameras at the venue too. We’re not trying to cheat,” Zhang Hui said while fiddling with a small wooden rod in his hand. He didn’t mean any harm and simply had a habit of fiddling with things in his hands. He would usually fidget with a real dagger in school.

Zhang Hui continued with a mirthless smirk, “What I mean is, we ought to look out for each other while obeying the rules.”

Han Jiangxue frowned because she disliked Zhang Hui.

Xing Lang patted his chest and said, “We still don’t know the rules of the competition. If we’re allowed to look out for each other, it’d, of course, be great.”

Zhang Hui interjected, “At worst, we can let live.”

Han Jiangxue quite liked Xing Lang. In fact, most people would like Xing Lang’s bold, straightforward, and loyal character.

Xing Lang ignored Zhang Hui and said confidently, “You can also rest assured. We all have self-awareness and won’t drag you down or stab you guys in the back. If we’re made to fight each other because of the rules, you don’t have to show us any mercy either.”

“Beer, assorted beverages, mineral water, peanuts, melon seeds, Eight Treasure Porridge~” called the middle-aged woman pushing a trolley of food forward. She stopped in front of Xing Lang and said, “Kid, please move back a little.”

Xing Lang remained silent.