translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
At 7:30pm, the semi-finals for the Hanhua Sword sect were about to begin. The number of online viewers on the live broadcast channel had long since exceeded one million.
The swordsmen in the game had a particularly elegant and handsome design. Coupled with the breathtaking snow scenery of Kunlun Mountain, many players wanted to join the Hanhua Sword sect, and over ten thousand people had signed up for the all sects challenge arena. After more than ten days of auditions, this number was cut down to just sixteen experts from each of the two cultivation flows. Clearly, the strength of the players who persisted until the semi-finals could not be underestimated.
Qin Mo was assigned to group C. The four contestants in this group were Ink Mark and Qingping Swordsman, both from Telecom district 1, Willow Shore from Netcom district 1, and Thousand Miles Of Smoke from Telecom district 2.
Qin Mo had not met the contestants from Netcom district 1 and Telecom district 2 before, but the ID ‘Qingping Swordsman’ was somewhat familiar—— this was a player from the Wind Colour club, and had played several qualifying matches with Qiu Zongping and Yuan Xi. This person had not been in the club when Qin Mo left the team that year, which indicated that he was a newcomer brought up by Qiu Zongping in the past two years.
The live broadcast platform first showed a match from group A of the short sword flow, which happened to include Lin Shuangcheng.
Lin Shuangcheng’s popularity was truly terrible. As soon as the ID of ‘Unparalleled Gentleman’ appeared on the live video, his fans instantly bombarded the screen with a barrage of cheers. Xiao Han could not help but to lament, “He is indeed the god of the esports live platform. His popularity is really high.”
Qin Mo raised an eyebrow. “Is he as popular as you?”
“Of course not,” Xiao Han insisted. “I’m more popular.”
Helpless, Qin Mo could only reply with, “Dragon Song has not taught you well. You don’t know how to be modest.”
Leaning close to Qin Mo’s ear, Xiao Han whispered, “But I am telling the truth. I am a very honest person.”
His lips quirking up in a small smile, Qin Mo decided to ignore Xiao Han, and concentrate on watching the game.
There was no doubt that Lin Shuangcheng would win the match in group A. The live broadcast was then switched over to group B, where another match was broadcasted before the shortsword flow matches ended.
It was 8:30pm, and the players from the longsword flow had entered the preparatory stage. The competition was about to begin.
***
In a training room of the Wind Colour club, Qi Fei scratched his head as he pondered over the other three IDs of group C. “Ink Mark is from Telecom district 1. It’s been said that he is a little strong, but I’m not familiar with the other two!”
Sitting next to him, Yuan Xi solemnly stated, “Ink Mark is not just a little strong. Fight well, and remember not to die too fast.”
Qi Fei was stunned. “Ah? Don’t die too fast?”
Zhou Xuewei chuckled. “Yuan Xi, don’t discourage Xiao Qi like that. The competition hasn’t started; the end result is still undetermined.”
Qiu Zongping also added, “Xiao Qi, just concentrate on your fight. Don’t care too much about the outcome.”
Those who knew the identity of Ink Mark were well aware that Qi Fei had no chance of winning, and could only hope that he did not meet the great god in the first round. Otherwise, Xiao Qi would be beaten by Ink Mark to the point where he would doubt life itself.
The list of matches was soon released—— not only was the first round of group C Ink Mark VS Qingping Swordsman, it would be broadcasted live by the officials.
Qi Fei, who was still unaware of the situation, clenched his fist to cheer himself on. “Ink Mark is very famous in the first district,” he proclaimed excitedly, “I’d like to see just how powerful he is!”
In the Wind Colour club room, those in the know remained silent. How were they supposed to explain it to him?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
***
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“Great god Ink Mark, the guild leader of Mojue guild in Telecom district 1; this is the expert named by the officials on Weibo!” Xiao You exclaimed excitedly in the live broadcast studio. “Before that, there were people on the forum accusing him of using a plug-in on the High Mountain and River dungeon. Facts have proved that not only is he innocent, his skills are also very good!”
A-Nan chipped in. “Furthermore, the auditions have all been randomly matched, and great god Ink Mark’s winning rate is still 100%. In other words, he’s never lost a match, which I believe is enough to prove his strength. I hope that everyone will not maliciously speculate on a contestant; just because it isn’t possible for some people, doesn’t mean it is the same for everyone.”
The two commentators spared no efforts in helping Ink Mark clarify the situation in order to prove that no plug-in existed, and the game’s balance remained unbroken.
The countdown in the competition room ended, and the selected random map was the ‘Kunlun Mountain Snow Cave’
Not only was this the first small dungeon of the sect in the game, but it was a dungeon that all players from the Hanhua Sword sect had visited at least once– in order to collect fragments of the secret book, ‘Sword Rain Fragrance’.
This familiar scene made the viewers reminisce.
The competition map only showed a portion of Kunlun Mountain’s snow cave. Two huge icicles stoof in the middle of the wide cavern, which the players could navigate around to launch attacks.
Ink Mark refreshed in the lower left corner, while Qingping Swordsman refreshed in the lower right corner. In fact, the refresh point was so narrow that both players needed to walk through an arch-shaped ice gate in order to reach the battle site in the middle of the room.
Although Qi Fei did not have much experience with competitions, in the end, he was still a newcomer selected by Qiu Zongping. Qi Fei was not a poor player, and had familiarised himself with the terrain of this dungeon. After his character refreshed onto the map, he immediately opened the sect qinggong ‘Flicker’, concealing himself behind the huge stone pillar before taking a detour, soon catching sight of a snow-white figure on the opposite side as expected.
Qi Fei’s reaction was extremely quick, immediately attacking Ink Mark with ‘Unrivaled Sword’.
Because this was a targeted skill that would lock on to the target, it couldn’t be dodged. Ink Mark was hit, and his blood volume immediately fell to 80%!
While this skill did not do much damage, the fan-shaped group attack was able to cover a wide range. In addition, it consumed only a small amount of blue and had a short cooldown, which made it the best basic skill for the longsword flow. Especially in a fast mobile battle, the continuous group attack of ‘Sword Horizon’ could be used to grind down the opponent’s blood volume.
Qi Fei launched a series of attacks, but was soon surprised to find—— Ink Mark hadn’t lost any blood!
He had used ‘Sword Horizon’ four times in a row. How could the fan-shaped group attack covering a full 180 degrees in front of him not hurt Ink Mark?
The snow-white sword shadow almost enveloped Ink Mark, but the opponent had used flexible positioning to perfectly avoid the group attack skill… Looking carefully, Qi Fei realised that the other player had circled around the various icicles, using them to resist the attacks that would otherwise have hit him. The rest of the attacks were simply unable to touch him, being out of range. Obviously, Ink Mark had calculated the scope of the skill ‘Sword Horizon’ as well as his corresponding route, using the icicles to skillfully get rid of Qi Fei’s combo attacks.
Qi Fei was unbelievably shocked, having not realised until this moment just how powerful Ink Mark’s movement skills were!
Earlier, when the targeted skill ‘Unrivaled Sword’ hit Ink Mark, he was still somewhat happy, thinking that he could break out a large wave of damage to consume Ink Mark’s blood volume. But as it turned out—— except for the targeted skill, none of his other skills could even so much as touch Ink Mark.
Ink Mark moved quickly, like an unpredictable white shadow, almost blinding Qi Fei with the speed of his movement.
Suppressing his shock and disbelief, Qi Fei opened the ultimate move of the longsword flow—— ‘Skyward Sword’!
The longsword in the hands of Qingping Swordsman pointed straight to the sky, summoning countless white swords around itself, before fiercely launching a storm of swords in all directions!
As the ultimate skill of the sect, this attack had the widest range and dealt the most damage, consumed the most blue, and could ignore all the obstacles within its range.
The attack range of ‘Skyward Sword’ was full screen, similar to that of a Boss Dungeon. This simply meant that as long as the distance between the target and the player was within the specified range, regardless of direction, they could be attacked. Because of this, ‘Skyward Sword’ had been nicknamed by the players of Hanhua Sword sect as a skill that could “explode in place”. The white sword swept around mercilessly like a shockwave after a bomb had exploded. In fact, at a critical moment in a team battle, the longsword player could even dash into the enemy’s lineup and open ‘Skyward Sword’ to cause an explosive attack.
This big move caused Ink Mark’s blood volume to fall further, from 80% to 45%, which showed off its great power.
However, the disadvantage of this skill was also obvious. It simply consumed too much blue; after the skill ended, only a third of Qingping Swordsman’s blue was left.
As much, Qingping Swordsman opened the secret book skill ‘Sword Rain Fragrance’, which did not consume any blue. Countless white sword spirits fell from the sky, forcing Ink Mark into a ‘dizzy’ state. Within three seconds, Qingping Swordsman had rushed towards him and unleashed a wave of attacks, bringing his blood volume down to 15%!
On the live broadcast, many players were commenting eagerly: “The legendary Ink Mark is nothing more than that!” “This is the great god? Don’t be ridiculous, he’s being beaten by the other side!” “Ink Mark is too lame, isn’t he?!” “Haha, Ink Mark is already at residual blood, while the other side is full of blood. Isn’t this simply abusing him?”
In Mojue’s training room, the players who stood behind Qin Mo to watch were quite worried. This was especially true for Shen He, who couldn’t wait to jump over and fight for his master—— why wasn’t Qin Mo fighting? What if he lost like this? Shen He didn’t dare to his master, but he was anxious! Catching sight of his fidgeting, Liu Xiang whispered in his ear, “Don’t worry, just keep watching. Your master won’t lose.”
At this moment, the three second dizziness effect of Sword Rain Fragrance ended, and Ink Mark finally began to fight back.
Qingping Swordsman was about to use another skill, when he saw a sharp sword light headed towards him——
Sword Horizon! Sword Rain Remnant!
Under Ink Mark’s control, the blade that looked like crystalline ice danced out a beautiful fan-shaped sword flower in front, followed by a straight pierce. The Heaven Sun combo was executed with precision and accuracy, instantly silencing Qingping Swordsman in place!
——This was simply a perfect demonstration of the longsword flow operation!
Qingping Swordsman could not release any skills after being silenced, including the sect qinggong. Fortunately, the control effect did not restrict his movement, so he immediately turned on his heel to flee!
Of course, Ink Mark wasn’t about to let him go. Qin Mo made full use of the three seconds of silence control to launch another set of general attacks. Although these basic attacks didn’t cause much damage, his weapon’s additional effect was triggered—— slowing down by 30%!
Qingping Swordsman who had run forward immediately became a tortoise, his movement speed reduced to a fraction of what it had originally been.
This set of control skills combined with ordinary attacks was simply terrible. Although it only reduced 20% of the opponent’s blood volume, Ink Mark had used the simplest and most basic attacks to force his opponent into the negative states of silence and slowdown, which caused Qi Fei to completely lose any combat effectiveness.
Staring at the timer, Qi Fei fought back once the silence effect disappeared, immediately opening a Heaven Sun combo!
However, Ink Mark had long predicted this movement. As Qingping Swordsman made a move, he quickly opened a series of attacks at the same moment—— Sword Horizon, Riverbound Sword!
The snow-white sword light converged into a river and rushed in the designated direction, pushing Qingping Swordsman ten metres away!
This repulsion effect perfectly resolved the other side’s Heaven Sun combo control, by pulling him out of reach.
Next, Ink Mark opened the skill ‘Sword Spirit Heart’. A soft sword light flew out of his hand and wrapped itself around Qingping Swordsman, rooting him in place.
This was followed by the sect qinggong ‘Flicker’—— the white-clothed swordsman on the screen moved ten metres towards Qingping Swordsman in an instant, after which he immediately opened the targeted skill ‘Unrivaled Sword’. His long sword was thrust straight out, mercilessly stabbing Qingping Swordsman in the chest!
With the sound effect of the sword piercing through flesh ringing in his ears, Qi Fei watched as Qingping Swordsman’s blood volume dropped to 55% instantly!
As soon as the control effect of ‘Sword Spirit Heart’ ended, Ink Mark opened yet another control skill—— Sword Rain Remnant!
Without being part of the Heaven Sun combo, Sword Rain Remnant silenced only a single target instead of a group. At the moment the negative state from ‘Sword Spirit Heart’ was released, another control skill him; Qingping Swordsman was once again put in a negative state and couldn’t release any skills.
He turned to run, only for Ink Mark to use a few more general attacks, once again triggering the slowdown effect of his sword, Broken Ice. Magnificent white sword flowers bloomed across the screen as Ink Mark repeated the most basic skill ‘Sword Horizon’, causing Qingping Swordsman’s blood volume to drop again!
Sword Horizon was activated five times in three seconds; in the blink of an eye, Qingping Swordsman was left in a state of residual blood, with only 15% blood!
He had been beaten from full blood to residual blood in a single breath; Qi Fei was shocked to find that he had no strength to fight back in the slightest.
The continuous control flow of Ink Mark really was too terrible, making him lose almost all his combat power!
Although Ink Mark’s speed was not fast, each control skill was used at the right time, causing all the viewers to feel amazed!
Silence, freeze, slowdown all occurred in sequence, completely messing up his opponent’s rhythm; this was truly his most terrifying playstyle!
At least, the slowdown effect ended. Qi Fei immediately used his qinggong skill in an attempt to flee, but Qin Mo wasn’t willing to give him the chance.
——Drifting Sword!
This single attack skill could penetrate obstacles to hit nearby opponents. However, it did not deal as much damage as Unrivalled Sword, and was not a targeting skill, and so could be dodged by opponents.
Qi Fei used his qinggong skill to run behind a nearby icicle, expecting to buy a few seconds to look for an opportunity. However, Ink Mark immediately moved, passing through the icicle to stand before Qingping Swordsman, landing a direct hit on his abdomen with the sword.
This feeling really was as if Qi Fei foolishly sent himself before the sword to be killed!
——Ink Mark has killed Qingping Swordsman. The match has ended; Ink Mark is the victor!
Warm applause immediately broke out in the Mojue team’s training room. Smiling, Xiao Han stepped forward to help massage Qin Mo’s shoulders. “Xiao Mo’s play was very handsome.”
Shen He nodded, praising Qin Mo. “Master is too handsome, directly killing his full blood opponent!”
At that moment, the ten seconds delayed live broadcast finally showed the scene of Ink Mark killed Qingping Swordsman.
The viewers who were watching the live broadcast looked dazed, and were unable to believe the results. At the beginning, Qingping Swordsman took the initiative; Ink Mark was cornered and beaten to 15% blood. As a result, the residual health Ink Mark suddenly counterattacked, and when Qingping Swordsman had no ability to fight back, he was killed by a skillful use of continuous control and movement.
It was a splendid reversal.
Netizens who had just scolded Ink Mark immediately quietened down, but those who knew the skills of the Hanhua Sword sect burst into excited chatter. “Ink Mark 666!” “Big moves are useless, secret books are also useless. Just basic skills alone have killed Qingping Swordsman, clearly the level gap between them is practically non-existent!” “Ink Mark is too strong, so he gave away three moves in the beginning, do you understand?” “Great god Ink Mark really lives up to his reputation!” “Ink Mark is my husband, no one can steal him away!” “My husband is too powerful!” “My husband’s move Drifting Sword can penetrate even icicles, it’s perfect enough to be used as teaching material!”
Looking at the dense barrage, Shen He scratched his head doubtfully. “Master, did you intentionally give him an advantage at the beginning?”
Qin Mo smiled. “This newcomer is from the Wind Colour training camp,” he commented lightly, “I don’t want cause the little guy to lose too badly.”
So he allowed Qingping Swordsman to execute a few skills, and only started to retaliate when his own blood volume had hit 15%. In the end, a continuous series of control skills emptied the other party’s blood volume in a single breath.
If he had chased the little guy with his full strength at the beginning, he might have actually killed him without taking any damage, which would hurt too much.
After all, Qin Mo still had some feelings for Wind Colour, and as such helped Qiu Zongping and the newcomer to save a bit of face.
Looking at Qin Mo’s calm expression after winning the game, Xiao Han realised—— the more he observed the other person, the more he liked him.
His Xiao Mo was very strong, but wasn’t willing to bully or abuse the younger generation with his strength. Instead, he had helped the newcomers from Wind Colour to save face in the competition. Today’s Qin Mo was no longer the flustered little prince who lost to Cat God three years ago—— he already had the courage and demeanour that a great god of the esport circle should have, as well as the calm and serenity of an expert.
I wonder, if Qin Mo were to have a rematch with Cat God now, who would win? The winner for that match would be a lot less certain than the winner here! Still, I appreciate every effort Qin Mo has done so far to encourage the newer gamers.
On an evil note, I wonder if Xiao Han saw all the commenters calling Qin Mo husband >:)
Hmm, difficult question, I will look forward to it Lol 👀
Maybe Qin Mo will win from cat god now, cause cat god already retired for a long time and maybe.. become rusty 😂
I think he will shamelessly said Qin Mo is his wife, so others have no chance 🤣
HanHan keluarga kami juga dengan senang hati nyebarin makanan anjing. Kyaaa! Enak, butuh lebih banyak! XDCukup gunakan keterampilan dasar, kuasai penuh pengetahuan tentang setiap skill, dan kontrol dengan tepat. Kyaa MoMo emang tampan, apalagi sekarang kalem-kalem gimana gitchuu UwU Sempet sedih sih waktu di narasi bilang kecepatan MoMo nggak terlalu cepat, jadi keinget alesan MoMo pensiun dini dulu QAQ
Apa ntar bakal ada yang ngebuka alesan MoMo dulu keluar ke publik? Mulut netizen kan pedes-pedes. Mesti bakal banyak kontroversi waktu MoMo kembali. Butuh face-slapping buat para netizen pwease (/ω＼)
Qi Fei malah bingung 😏
Iya dia pensiun karena kecelakaan, aku malah nangis pas TL bagian itu, 2 chapter aku nangis QAQ
Hmm, untuk alasan dia keluar kesebar ke publik sih? Sejauh yang aku TL blm ada, tapi belum tau di chapter2 berikut nya lagi 👀
Makasih updatenya!! ^_^
Sama2 😍
The spoiled little apprentice of Xuefeng really grew well. Very handsome move!
Thanks for the chapter
That spoiled little apprentice already become a grown man with responsibility and OP too >_<
You’re welcome!!
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter!