CHAPTER 371: CHAPTER 329: FEAR

"Students, your individual rooms have been allocated. Please pay attention to following the rules during the journey on the flying ship..."

Ji Xiuying stood at the front of the conference room, solemnly explaining various precautions to everyone.

Even though the Sword Team members were intimidated by Ji Xiuying’s authority and dared not speak casually, the expressions on their faces were full of excitement.

Lan Tianshou and Lan Tiange were no different. It was also their first time going to the Central Star Realm to participate in the Sword Dao finals.

Two years ago, they lost to Golden Source University and failed to qualify through the additional match, missing out on the finals.

This year, they finally had the opportunity to go to the Central Star Realm and broaden their horizons.

Most of the Sword Team members, including Lan Tianshou, were noble youth. However, the Central Star Realm was too far and too vast.

They were all young and hadn’t had the chance to see the Central Star Realm.

This trip to the finals was essentially a funded tour for everyone. No one was concerned about the competition results, so there was no pressure at all.

The oldest Sword Team member was only twenty-two, technically all youngsters. Naturally, they were in high spirits and extremely excited.

Ji Xiuying understood their feelings but still needed to clarify important points ahead of time.

"This time, the finals are hosted on Taiwei Star in the Beidou Star Realm. This star realm values tradition and etiquette, so don’t be too frivolous when you arrive on Taiwei Star..."

The finals are hosted alternately by various star realms in the Central Star Realm. The so-called Central Star Realm is actually a general term.

To be precise, the Central Star Realm consists of thirty-six star realms. The Beidou Star Realm ranks in the lower middle among the thirty-six star realms. But compared to the Twelve Star Domain, the Beidou Star Realm is much stronger.

Ji Xiuying didn’t want her disciples to cause any trouble, so she took advantage of the journey to explain various taboos to them.

Lan Tianshou and others weren’t very attentive, as Taiwei Star was also a famous big city, and such open tourist cities couldn’t have too many special taboos.

Once Ji Xiuying finished and left, everyone started discussing eagerly.

"I heard Taiwei Star has a complete ancient lecture hall where top powerhouses left their original works back in the day. We can go and see. If we’re lucky, we might gain some insight and advance to Gold..."

"Taiwei Star has opened up an ancient civilization site where tourists can excavate freely. Whatever we find, we can take. Let’s go and see if we can discover some marvels..."

"Boring, I heard Taiwei has a Chunxi River where the girls are famous throughout the Alliance!"

"Pervert!"

Listening intently, Lan Tiange suddenly noticed someone making an obscene joke and couldn’t help but curse.

The person embarrassedly smiled and quickly slipped away.

A group of boys exchanged knowing smiles and left as well.

There was a pretty girl nearby, so the conversation never got too exciting.

Lan Tiange cursed again: "Such behavior."

She said to Lan Tianshou, "Brother, you’re not really going to Chunxi River, are you?"

"Of course not."

Lan Tianshou shook his head, "They’re just curious to see, no other intentions."

Bai Yunfeng also said, "Yeah, it’s really just for fun."

Lan Tiange was still skeptical, but she couldn’t control others in such matters. She could only change the subject: "Why haven’t I seen Gao Xuan and Yun Qingshang?"

"Haha, why would they come?"

Bai Yunfeng chuckled. Given Gao Xuan’s current status, Ji Xiuying wouldn’t dare to chatter too much with Gao Xuan.

Actually, it’s better that Gao Xuan didn’t come. If Gao Xuan were here, everyone would feel uneasy.

Over the past few months, Gao Xuan has completely turned the Twelve Star Domain upside down, and now the Xiao Family’s dominance was strongly pushed by Gao Xuan.

Fortunately, the Bai Family was only a second-tier noble family. Amid this huge turmoil, they even gained some opportunities.

The top-tier noble families were disbanded, and without going into specifics, the market share they occupied would be partially redistributed. Just by following the Xiao Family and picking up scraps, other small noble families were already nearly overwhelmed.

Many small noble families understood that this was actually the Xiao Family’s strategy. Destroy the top-tier families and support the small and medium families.

This way, the power of the noble families became more balanced, with only the Xiao Family being overwhelmingly powerful. By that time, the Xiao Family could naturally become the ruler of Taurus and do whatever they wanted.

The scattered medium and small noble families could never unite to compete against the Xiao Family.

This strategy was simple yet successful. The various medium and small noble families were especially happy to see this happen.

Families like the Wang Family, Lin Family, and Yu Family realized that to restore their power, they first needed to fight against the other small noble families. So, it was natural for all the medium and small noble families to unite around the Xiao Family.

After two months of turmoil, the Xiao Family had already secured their position and forcibly swallowed most of the profits.

Based on the current situation, the Xiao Family’s dominance over Taurus isn’t likely to change in the short term.

The members of the Sword Team, all individually brilliant, naturally knew Gao Xuan’s significance. They knew how to posture before Gao Xuan.

However, since they’re all peers, being overly respectful in front of Gao Xuan was a bit embarrassing.

Therefore, Gao Xuan not showing up was the best outcome.

Lan Tiange suddenly suggested, "Let’s go find Gao Xuan to hang out. Anyway, we’re stuck on the spaceship for over thirty days..."

Bai Yunfeng quickly waved his hand, "Forget it, I’ll skip the excitement. I’m going back to play games..."

The interstellar spaceship can’t connect to the Celestial Net only during space jumps; other times, it can almost always be connected.

Although the fees are calculated separately, for noble youths, this amount of money is nothing.

What’s there to talk about with Gao Xuan? Isn’t it better to play games or flirt with girls in this time?

Bai Yunfeng knew his limits; Gao Xuan was not someone he could latch onto. Of course, if he were a girl, he might give it a shot.

After all, Gao Xuan was famously indulgent and never turned away beautiful women.

Bai Yunfeng discreetly glanced at Lan Tiange; she was obviously determined to offer herself to Gao Xuan.

Tsk tsk, women have it good...

After Bai Yunfeng left, Lan Tiange said somewhat dissatisfied, "What did Bai Yunfeng mean with that look before he left?"

Lan Tianshou chuckled awkwardly, "How would I know."

"Let’s go find Gao Xuan," Lan Tiange tugged on Lan Tianshou’s arm, wanting to drag him along to find Gao Xuan.

Lan Tianshou looked troubled, "I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go, you go by yourself."

He knew very well that Gao Xuan liked beautiful women, and he’d only feel awkward going there.

However, Helen didn’t come this time. Those beauties from the Xiao Family didn’t come either. Gao Xuan only had Yun Qingshang with him.

Yun Qingshang looked more like Gao Xuan’s sister. The two had a close but not ambiguous relationship.

Now was Gao Xuan’s relationship downtime, and with his character, he would definitely welcome Tiange.

However, Lan Tianshou felt embarrassed to go along, it was like selling out his sister for glory.

Being from the direct lineage and raised in luxury, Lan Tianshou was somewhat of a romantic, and he really couldn’t bring himself to do such things.

Lan Tiange also felt embarrassed; she couldn’t quite bring herself to go find Gao Xuan alone. She had to coax her brother repeatedly.

Having no choice, Lan Tianshou, remembering his father’s instructions, steeled himself and accompanied Lan Tiange to find Gao Xuan.

Although this was a cargo ship, it had the most luxurious first-class cabins. Because there were only a few of these first-class cabins, Lan Tianshou and the others couldn’t get a spot even with money.

However, their permissions were enough to go through the Light Computer’s security check to enter the first-class cabin area.

The furnishings and setup here were clearly a notch higher.

At Gao Xuan’s door, there was even a lifelike female robot standing there.

Lan Tianshou was envious; on a cargo flying ship, every kilogram of weight was precious. Their room had simple furnishings. Even though everything was fully automated, there was no household robot service.

For someone like Lan Tianshou, who came from a noble family, he was really not used to it.

Lan Tianshou explained his purpose to the female robot, and in less than a minute, the door opened.

Gao Xuan came out wearing casual home clothes and barefooted, greeting Lan Tiange warmly, "Come in and have a seat."

Lan Tianshou initially wanted to follow inside, but suddenly realized something was off. Gao Xuan didn’t actually invite him in.

He quickly laughed awkwardly, "I have something to do, I’ll go first."

Gao Xuan waved, "I won’t see you off then."

Lan Tianshou kept a smiling face until the heavy door silently closed. Only then did he retract his smile, showing a very complicated expression.

He sighed silently, unsure if he was lamenting his own obsequiousness, his sister, or his father’s instructions.

In any case, Lan Tianshou suddenly found life to be really difficult.

Lan Tiange, however, didn’t have such complicated thoughts; she didn’t find being with Gao Xuan difficult at all.

On the contrary, she just liked Gao Xuan’s looks, liked his humor. Liked his charm.

As for the martial arts swordsmanship everyone feared, she actually didn’t care much about it.

There were too many strong people in this cosmos, and Golden Sword Saints were countless.

But Gao Xuan’s looks were unparalleled through the ages, unmatched by anyone.

Even though Gao Xuan dressed casually, he remained incredibly handsome, dazzling beyond compare.

In the closed room, facing Gao Xuan alone, Lan Tiange felt a bit nervous, her palms sweating.

She forced a smile and said, "Your room is so big, why is Qingshang not around?"

Gao Xuan smiled, "Qingshang lives alone."

He sighed and said, "The room is too big. I feel scared sleeping alone. Can you keep me company..."

This excuse was especially poor; with Gao Xuan’s strong swordsmanship, afraid? Who is he kidding.

Yet Lan Tiange believed it, her face immediately turned red, but her eyes were sparkling with excitement, "Sure, I’ll keep you company..."