The two chatted for a few more minutes before falling silent; the car was almost at Tianhai City.
Lin Xiuran understood Gu Yue's sudden action was a test, but he wasn't afraid as long as he handled it calmly.
Upon arriving in Tianhai City, officials from the Donghai City delegation had already contacted the Tianhai City side.
Both sides acted efficiently, and the students were immediately accommodated in a luxury hotel. The hotel was unique, half of its building was in the sea, and every room offered a view of the ocean, giving one the feeling of embracing the sea.
Tomorrow was the opening ceremony of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition, followed by the draw, and then the competition. This was what Wu Changkong told them—it couldn't be simpler. He didn't give them any instructions on how to approach the competition.
Lin Xiuran had registered for the forging competition, the individual soul master competition, and the three-person team competition.
Therefore, he had quite a few competitions and was very busy, even though he wasn't scheduling them in a fixed timeframe.
He didn't register for the forging competition under the name of the Forging Masters Association, but rather as a student of Donghai Academy. That's why Tang Wulin was called to the Forging Masters Association, while he wasn't.
Before the evening special training, Lin Xiuran was a little hungry, so he decided to go out and get something to eat by himself.
Tianhai City was economically developed, and its food was incredibly diverse, with a dazzling array of seafood products. Even Lin Xiuran hadn't seen many of them before.
He randomly picked a small restaurant and went inside.
Although it was already evening, it was still very crowded, demonstrating the restaurant's popularity.
Lin Xiuran also approved of the place; with so many people, the food must be delicious.
Finding no empty tables among the noisy customers, Lin Xiuran called to a nearby waiter.
"Are there no seats here?"
The waiter was enthusiastic: "Yes, you can share a table, I'll show you."
Following the waiter, Lin Xiuran was quickly led to a table. This table was relatively small, the kind that could seat four people facing each other.
As soon as he arrived, the first thing that caught his eye was the mountain of food scraps on the table in front of him. Obviously, this was all the work of the chubby boy in front of him, comparable to Tang Wulin's.
There were already two people sitting opposite him, one of whom was the chubby boy Lin Xiuran had noticed, and also the one who had started all those food scraps. He looked quite young. He didn't even notice Lin Xiuran, only focused on eating the food in front of him.
The other girl also looked quite young, about the same age as the chubby boy, wearing the same green tracksuit as Xu Lizhi. However, the clothes that looked somewhat bulky on Xu Lizhi appeared slender and well-fitting on her. Her golden ponytail was pulled back, and her large, beautiful blue eyes with long eyelashes were stunning.
But at this moment, she wore a stern face, staring coldly at Lin Xiuran.
If Lin Xiuran hadn't been unfamiliar with her, he would have truly believed he owed her at least a hundred million Federal Credits. Ignoring
her, he simply picked up the menu and began examining it carefully, having only been asked to share a table by the restaurant staff.
"Who told you to sit here? This is our table."
Before he could even order, a cold voice rang out.
Sure enough, it was the girl in front of him; she clearly wasn't going to let them share a table so easily.
Lin Xiuran frowned slightly: "It's just sharing a table. The restaurant staff brought me here. If you're not satisfied, you can go find the owner."
Ye Xinglan still looked at Lin Xiuran warily, her cold gaze sweeping over him.
Ye Xinglan's tone was harsh: "Who knows if you have any ulterior motives?"
"You're sick!" Lin Xiuran cursed under his breath, then handed the menu to the restaurant staff next to him. "You!"
Ye Xinglan was about to explode in anger when the chubby boy beside her pulled her back.
"Sister Xinglan, it's just sharing a table. Harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth."
After being pulled back by the chubby boy, Ye Xinglan glared at Lin Xiuran one last time, then snorted coldly before stopping her outburst.
Lin Xiuran naturally saw all of this, but as long as the other party didn't deliberately cause trouble, he didn't intend to pay any attention to her.
It's better to avoid trouble and get back to cultivation as soon as possible.
Thinking this, the food was served quickly, and Lin Xiuran ate quickly. Nothing is more exciting than becoming stronger and acquiring new power.
Naturally, he didn't have time to pay attention to Ye Xinglan.
However, halfway through, Lin Xiuran suddenly received a soul communication call.
"Teacher Wu, I'm eating out."
"Okay, come back soon. I'll rest immediately when I get back, so it won't interfere with tomorrow's competition."
He hung up quickly. The call was from Wu Changkong, very concise. He just asked what Lin Xiuran was doing since he wasn't in his room.
After answering all the questions, Lin Xiuran hung up the phone.
"Heh, you're participating in the competition too?"
Ye Xinglan's eyes held a hint of contempt, her words clearly mocking Lin Xiuran.
After all, she was quite proud; as a student of Shrek Academy, participating in an exhibition match, she naturally looked down on students from other academies.
Lin Xiuran put down his chopsticks. He knew she had overheard some of his conversation with Teacher Wu, and said coldly, "Whether I participate or not is none of your business."
Ye Xinglan also said indifferently, "At your age, participating in this kind of competition, aren't you just cannon fodder? What, did your academy send you here to experience life?"
"During the competition, I hope you'll still be this defiant." Lin Xiuran finished speaking, then stood up, asked the waiter to pack up his food, and walked out.
With this woman in front of him, he had no appetite to eat anymore.
Ye Xinglan watched Lin Xiuran leave without saying anything more, but a glint of shrewdness flashed in her eyes.
"Wait, it's just a competition."
Xu Lizhi seemed to sense something was wrong and hurriedly pulled Ye Xinglan back, advising, "Sister Xinglan, don't do anything rash. We're just participating in an exhibition match."
Ye Xinglan simply pressed her head back into the pile of food, saying, "Go eat, I know what I'm doing."
However, she clearly didn't listen to Xu Lizhi's words, her eyes filled with deep thought.
The opening ceremony of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition was held at the Tianhai Stadium, a massive stadium capable of holding 80,000 people simultaneously. It was also the largest stadium among all the cities in the entire Tianhai Alliance.
The Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition was the biggest event for the East China Sea economic zone and attracted the attention of the entire Federation. Every year, the competition produced some outstanding talents.
(The Tianhai Alliance segment is basically the only part that fits the plot.)
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(End of Chapter)