Three days later, "China Ichiban" world.

Guangzhou City.

In the suburbs, a pavilion in the dead of night.

In the darkness, the figures were staggered, and each other was a little vigilant, separated by at least a meter.

Xia Yan wears a black cloak and uses the hood to hide his face well, if he really doesn't want to be exposed, according to Yan Xian, he can wear a mask and be a cold mask man, the type of person who doesn't talk much.

After he arrived, he found that ninety percent of the people present were dressed similarly to him, all wrapped their hands with their heads wrapped, and not an inch of skin was exposed.

No one spoke, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

In the wilderness, the sound of the night wind whistling is especially real.

As a participant in the "imperial examination" in the bright world, Xia Yan secretly compared it and sighed.

Sure enough, the "ring" of the dark world.

The opening part of the contestant's appearance is full of darkness and coldness.

"Da Da Da-"

Soon, the dead silence was broken by the sound of horses' hooves.

"Everyone's here?" But it was a female voice, and the steward in charge of counting the number of people hurriedly trotted to the horse, clenched her fist at the woman in the black robe on the horse's back, and said, "There are still seven people who have not arrived." ”

"There's no need to wait."

The woman waved her hand, her style was capable, and Xia Yan and the others could detect her under the hood and glance at her cold gaze.

So, the woman rode in front, and the steward and the miscellaneous soldiers of the dark cooking world escorted the ringmates of this year's ring, walking on either side of them, and the group deviated from the official road and headed for a powerful dock fort in the mountainous suburbs.

Wubao can be understood as a Chinese-style castle.

Looking from a distance, the dock fort located at the foot of the mountain is in a square shape, and actually standing under the gatehouse of the dock fort, Xia Yan couldn't help but stretch out his hand and gesture, and visually inspected the "city wall" in front of him, which was seven or eight meters high.

There are regular holes in the walls, which are arrow holes.

If it weren't for the fact that there were still scattered houses around the dock fort, it looked like a clean small village, Xia Yan really suspected that this dock fort was really a heroic and powerful self-preservation land with the ability to protect itself in the troubled times.

Inside is densely built, and there is not much light.

Everyone walked in a straight line, and as they walked, another doorway appeared in front of them, and another fort within a fort lay out in view.

"Bang-"

The heavy door closed behind everyone's backs, and the dark minions hidden behind the door before put down the horizontal wood and buckled it to death, and then stood in the dim light of the lantern with his hands, his expression solemn, not moving at all, like terracotta warriors.

The woman who led the way on horseback abandoned her horse and staggered up a narrow staircase.

Xia Yan looked at her back and faintly felt familiar.

It is said to be a castle within a fort, but it is better to say that it is a building within a building.

Similar to the structure of the tulou, the square patio area is completely empty, and you can see the starry sky full of stars when you look up.

The three-story building on all four sides was filled with lanterns, and the spectators seemed to be impatient to wait, and when they finally arrived, they crowded to the railing and pointed to the patio below.

"It's not going to be good this time."

"That's it?"

"About a hundred people, a group of 10 people, exactly 10 groups, if only one person is taken from each group, it will soon be a fierce duel between ten qualified people!"

These spectators, both men and women, old and young, are very wrong to treat them as ordinary passers-by.

Xia Yan's eyes swept away, and near the railing on the second floor, which was closest to him, he found several familiar faces.

'Dumpling Brothers'?

The figure of a tall and a thin person, a while ago in the paradise forum, there are screenshots of characters from all angles, although Xia Yan did not personally mix with the Guangzhou Spring Festival Dumpling Conference, but you can also remember the faces of important characters from these screenshots.

Hey, there's also an elder of the Guangzhou Kitchen Association?

Almost meeting the other party's gaze, Xia Yan hurriedly lowered his hood.

The reason why he knew this elder was because he settled in Elder Guan's mansion, as the chief scoop of the kitchen association, Elder Guan often entertained these colleagues who came to visit, and Xia Yan always met when he entered and left the mansion.

"Compared with the official assessment of the light world, why does this 'ring' of the dark world feel like a martial arts conference." Xia Yan complained secretly.

It's not that this elder is a twenty-five boy or something, there is a high probability that he was invited to participate in the event.

Xia Yan cautiously observed the people next to him.

In addition to him, the other "players" obviously also noticed that they were not as calm as they were on the road, and some of them still whispered, and then fell into a state of suspicious muttering.

"Why are there many time-honored owners in Guangzhou?"

"Hey, isn't that the boss of the 'Dongjiang Restaurant'? I heard that his son Han Wu was eliminated in the 'imperial examination', and suddenly evaporated from the world in the past few days, should it be ......"

Hearing someone talk about this, Xia Yan subconsciously set his eyes on a tall figure in a black robe.

This person, in the crowd of "players", is like an iron tower, with an eye-catching figure.

And the fierce man who was looked at sideways let out a snort, as if he didn't bother to explain anything, but there was also a tacit implication.

"Rub, it's not the same people, right?"

The corners of Xia Yan's mouth twitched, "I hope to have some ruthless characters, otherwise the 'bomb card' I prepared will be meaningless." ”

The voice fell.

shoulder, was gently patted.

"Mr. Yan, please come over and talk about it." A minion of the Dark Realm politely said that he and the guards around him were all dressed in the same leather armor, cloak, and waist sword.

Hearing that it was Mr. Yan, Xia Yan didn't have any suspicious concerns, nodded, and followed the little soldier up the stairs.

His figure, who came out of the crowd and broke away from the crowd of "players", naturally attracted a large amount of attention.

At first, it caused shocking discussions.

However, when I saw Xiao Bing leading Xia Yan over the second floor and up to the third floor, and the guards between the second and third floors quickly gave way to the passage, these voices suddenly disappeared.

"Disciple!"

"Which Heavenly Throne is it?!"

Third floor.

Compared with the crowded grandstand on the second floor, on this floor, the situation is like the lobby of an inn with bleak business, with tables and tables, even if there are people, they are also alone, and there is no scene of gathering in groups of three or five together, drinking and eating tea.

Therefore, it is obvious that the "spectators" on this floor are the real dark culinary people.

Xia Yan walked to a private seat isolated by a bamboo curtain, and saw his old acquaintance 'prodigal son' Yan Xian, smiling, no shoes on, sitting cross-legged on the couch, elbows propped up a low-leg tea table, there was a copper aromatherapy burner on the table, and curling smoke came out.

Dressed in wide clothes and belts, coupled with the bohemian smile written on his face, Xia Yan couldn't help but be in a trance, thinking that there was a certain Wei and Jin celebrity sitting on the couch.

"Coming?" Yan Xian continued to support his cheek with one hand, and raised his other hand and waved it casually.

"Sit-"

Seeing Xia Yan looking at him with a strange expression, Yan first patted the wooden couch under his buttocks, then pointed to the empty seat next to the coffee table, and explained:

"You're different, you don't have to participate in rounds of selection, so you can sit back and relax for a long time."

Xia Yan just wanted to take off his shoes and sit on it, next to the bamboo curtain, on the private seat next door, there was a vague burly figure, which suddenly moved, and a majestic and low voice came:

"Directly entering the final ring, this is the privilege of the disciples of the 'Five Tiger Stars' and the objects of the promotion."