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Sword’s Divine Judgement, the Blade Master Awakening skill. The user’s attack speed and attack power would increase sharply, and at the moment of execution, sword qi would fly out in a fairly large 360 degree circle.

Huang Shaotian’s Troubling Rain suddenly used this skill as a defensive option rather than an offensive option. The sword qi swept up the surrounding earth, an attack as defense, and without any blind spots either. When Ye Xiu had Lord Grim hid behind his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, Huang Shaotian had guessed that there was an eighty percent chance that Lord Grim would try to close the distance with a movement skill. But whether it was a frontal charge or a Shadow Clone Technique to flicker behind him, his Sword’s Divine Judgement covered all possible options. The instant he used this skill, Huang Shaotian fixed his gaze onto Lord Grim. He wanted to see what sort of tricks Ye Xiu had planned on using.

The sword qi circled around Troubling Rain as he turned slightly to the right. Huang Shaotian thought it was more likely that Ye Xiu would have Lord Grim use a Shadow Clone Technique or a Teleport to attack him directly from behind. This was a technique Ye Xiu frequently used. In critical moments, players would always subconsciously seek comfort and choose the option they were most familiar with.

But no…

The spectators could see better than Huang Shaotian. Lord Grim, who was hiding behind his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, didn’t see the seals required for a Shadow Clone Technique nor the flow of mana for a Teleport.

Lord Grim simply kept the umbrella in its shield form to protect against incoming strikes and then stepped to the right diagonally.

It was a very simple movement, one even a normal player or even someone didn’t know how to play Glory could do.

However, it caught Huang Shaotian off guard.

His Troubling Rain turned right. Lord Grim stepped to the right.

Both sides moved to the right from their perspective, and as a result, they happened to move in opposite directions.

In that instant, Lord Grim suddenly disappeared from Huang Shaotian’s view through just this simple step to the right.

Any player could get their character to take a step to the right, but they definitely wouldn’t be able to make the prediction and calculations required to achieve such a precise outcome.

The distance, the position, the angle, the timing, the speed, etc.

If any one part was slightly off, the vanishing effect would not happen.

It looked to be a simple step, but the skill required to pull it off was the accumulation of ten years of effort.

Huang Shaotian instantly recognized that the situation wasn’t good. Troubling Rain immediately snapped back to where Lord Grim had still been in his sights, but now, Lord Grim was directly in front of him.

Even though Troubling Rain had swung his sword as he turned around, Lord Grim’s attack came faster. After all, his movement skills were attack skills to begin with.

The blood that filled the air was in part due to his own fault.

Fuck!

Huang Shaotian was extremely annoyed. Despite his skill, he couldn’t figure out where he had gone wrong.

Was using Sword’s Divine Judgement a mistake?

Or was it because I was too confident Ye Xiu would move behind me?

These all seemed to be reasons, but also weren’t.

And this sort of feeling was common when playing against Ye Xiu. You had no idea where he saw through you.

It was truly the most disgusting feeling possible!

Could you at least let me know where I made a mistake?

Even Huang Shaotian felt helpless and discouraged at this feeling. It was terrible for one’s morale and fighting spirit.

“DON’T BE TOO ARROGANT!!!” Huang Shaotian typed in chat. Rather than trash talking his opponent, it was more of a reminder to himself. Many people knew that Huang Shaotian’s famed trash talk was often a way for him to focus.

Huang Shaotian had absolute confidence in winning. He had originally been crushing Ye Xiu in every area, yet Ye Xiu had been able to find an opening, a layered strike to both his technique and his mind. So at this moment, Huang Shaotian needed to remind himself not to become lax.

He needed to continue to focus and maintain his calm.

It was just a tiny bite back. All I need to do is keep steady.

Huang Shaotian’s message made him appear flustered and exasperated, but in reality, he was reminding himself to not be like that. He handled the situation very maturely and calmly. He successfully suppressed his urges, and this was the willpower of a true Assassin, of Glory’s number one opportunist.

Even Ye Xiu wanted to praise him.

At this moment, calmly resetting the fight was far more reliable than urgently trying to take back the upper hand. The opportunity Ye Xiu had obtained after machine-like calculations had been calmly dissolved by Huang Shaotian.

“I thought I’d be able to take away at least a quarter of your health. Forget it, it’s my loss!” Ye Xiu sighed in the chat.

“What do you mean ‘it’s my loss’! It was going to be your loss anyways!” Huang Shaotian grinded his teeth. He didn’t seem calm, but at this moment, his Silver weapon Ice Rain pierced through Lord Grim’s heart, striking the fatal blow.

16%.

That was the amount of damage Ye Xiu had been able to deal against Troubling Rain through his counterattack.

It was already quite an impressive number. The spectators felt a bit disappointed at Huang Shaotian. Quite a few people felt like Huang Shaotian’s performance was rather poor. If he had been a bit tougher and directly traded, he definitely wouldn’t have lost that much health.

But the true experts knew better. No one could have handled it better than Huang Shaotian did.

Ye Xiu’s final words weren’t meaningless trash talk. If Huang Shaotian had been a fierce and relentless warrior that traded, perhaps the amount of damage he would have taken would have been above Ye Xiu’s expected number.

The opponent was Ye Xiu!

Those who thought Huang Shaotian could have done better were all blabbering armchair experts.

As Ye Xiu came down from the stage, the stadium was filled with applause.

His Lord Grim had started off with 44% health, and in the end, he was only able to trade it for 20% of his opponent’s health. It looked like a loss, but Glory was never about pure numbers.

Ye Xiu hadn’t disappointed anyone. He had been suppressed to the point of suffocation, yet he had still been able to beautifully bare his fangs and fiercely bite his opponent back. If it had been anyone else facing Huang Shaotian’s dominating play, they would have most likely given up.

What’s more, Ye Xiu had already taken down two of the opposing side’s players. Huang Shaotian had been his third opponent.

Applause. His performance was absolutely deserving of such fervent applause.

That was what every Happy fan thought. As they clapped, they were afraid that they weren’t loud enough and continued to clap louder. As Ye Xiu walked back to his seat, the applause crescendoed, becoming louder and more resonant.

“Good work!” All of Happy’s players stood up and welcomed Ye Xiu.

“The rest is up to you guys,” Ye Xiu said.

“No pressure!” Fang Rui grinned. Happy’s second player appeared on the big screen.

Mo Fan, Deception.

“No pressure, right? Little Mo!” Fang Rui hollered. Mo Fan had already left. He didn’t even look back.

“It’s the playoffs, and he’s still gotta act like that!” Fang Rui mumbled.

Chen Guo wasn’t feeling as playful as Fang Rui.

Mo Fan. He was the first of Happy’s rookies to stand on the playoffs stage.

How will he perform?

Will he be nervous?

Will he make mistakes?

His first opponent is Huang Shaotian. Such a large step won’t be too challenging, right?

Chen Guo stared at Mo Fan’s back. Because Mo Fan practically never talked, she had no idea what he was thinking. She could only worry more.

“Happy’s second player is Mo Fan,” Pan Lin introduced, “He’s a very patient but also very explosive player.”

Patience came from Mo Fan’s incomparable patience in seeking opportunities. Explosiveness came from the mere three ways he knew how to attack.

“Speaking of which, Mo Fan and Huang Shaotian are similar players!” Li Yibo said.

“Uh… I guess so!” Pan Lin said, “There’s a clear difference between them though.”

“Yes. Both are adept at seeking opportunities. But in comparison, Mo Fan is better at waiting while Huang Shaotian is more proactive,” Li Yibo said.

“Of course, if the team competition came and all he did was wait, how could he do well?” Pan Lin said.

“In the end, they come from different places. The habits that Mo Fan acquired aren’t easily eliminated,” Li Yibo said.

Mo Fan’s background was no secret. Anyone who played fairly often in the Heavenly Domain knew of the infamous scrap picker, Deception.

“Then let’s see how this match will turn out!” Pan Lin said, showing his interest in the match.

The new match began.

Troubling Rain had 80% of his health. With Huang Shaotian’s identity as a God against a rookie, this 20% disadvantage was nothing.

The vast majority of people favored Huang Shaotian to win this match.

But Mo Fan couldn’t be underestimated. After all, he had the glory of defeating a God like Sun Xiang. No one could ignore the possibility of an upset.

A scrap picker from the game! And now he was standing on the playoffs stage. Many spectators had complicated feelings. No one had any good feelings towards scrap pickers. However, it had been awhile since they had seen someone walk out from the game and make it to the biggest stage in the pro scene.

Tang Rou and Steamed Bun and all the other rookies had obviously started off in the game, but none of them had the fame that Deception had when he joined the pro scene.

Once a player’s fame reached a certain level, the Club guilds would immediately notice and recruit them. These players would most likely step onto the professional stage before being able to achieve much of a reputation in the game. But Mo Fan was different. He had ignored countless offers and accumulated enormous fame before being pulled into the pro scene by Ye Xiu.

A legendary scrap picker wasn’t a good reputation though. If not for this point, Mo Fan would have perhaps been an incomparably popular player, because he was someone who had truly been born from them. He would have been a symbol of the grassroots community!