translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
Wind Colour, training room.
Qi Fei looked at the grey screen in front of him, puzzled. At the beginning of the game, he kept cornering Ink Mark, and managed to beat him to residual blood before Ink Mark began to fight back. As a result, Qi Fei had been killed by a set of control skills. Clearly, the other side obviously had the strength to eliminate him in one breath, but if so, why had he been beaten to residual blood at the beginning?
Yuan Xi was a straightforward man, unable to hide anything in his heart. Seeing Qi Fei scratch his head, Yuan Xi couldn’t help reminding him, “Haven’t you figured it out? He let you hit him!”
Qi Fei paled, looking like he had just seen a ghost. “Why would he let me successfully attack him?”
Sighing, Yuan Xi explained. “Wouldn’t you lose face if he had seckilled you while still at full health? You’d have been cursed to death by the netizens. By allowing you to push him to residual blood, the netizens will at least think you are both of similar strengths; the battle will seem more equal, because you can hit him and he can hit you back. In the end, although you lost the battle, you still maintained a good image during the fighting, didn’t you?”
This statement was quite reasonable. If the other party had seckilled him without losing even a bit of blood, the netizens would definitely mark him down as a rookie. Still, Qi Fei couldn’t understand. “Why did he want to help me save face?”
“When playing against newcomers with a large skill disparity, many great god players will often not do their best.” Zhou Xuewei explained. “Back then, Cat God met the handsome little prince Qin Mo in the online game and gave him three moves. In the end, Qin Mo still lost the game. Have you heard of this story?”
Qi Fei nodded vigorously. “Of course. I’ve also heard that Cat God was a great god in the same generation as the little prince’s master. Besides, it’s normal for masters to give their apprentices a bit of face, but that doesn’t apply here. Why would Ink Mark give me this benefit? I’m not his apprentice after all.”
Yuan Xi really wanted to tell the truth– because Ink Mark really is your elder! He was the former vice captain of our Wind Colour; Qiu Zongping was taught by him, and you were taught by Qiu Zongping. From this point of view, weren’t you basically his martial nephew? He saw that you were from Wind Colour, and affectionately left you a little face!
Though, as he had promised Qin Mo to keep his return a secret, Yuan Xi had to stop talking.
Seeing Qi Fei’s confused expression, Qiu Zongping only smiled. “Xiao Qi, don’t worry too much about why he showed you mercy. In the game with Ink Mark earlier, he gave you some warnings in the process of killing you– don’t rush to open a big move when facing an opponent, don’t rush to attack, and pay attention to your back when running away. He’s taught you a lot in this game, so make sure to study it carefully.”
“Oh. Alright, I’ll watch the video again after the end of the group match.” Scratching his head, Qi Fei turned to look at Yuan Xi. “Where did this great god come from?”
“Don’t ask so much, just know that he’s a big god from afar.” Yuan Xi replied seriously.
“…” What was a big god? Qi Fei still didn’t understand who the other party was, but since both captain Qiu and Yuan Xi were in awe of this person, Ink Mark’s origins probably weren’t simple. Perhaps they were a well-known senior god? Since even the captain was afraid of this great god, it was normal for a rookie like him to be abused. Thinking like this made Qiu Fei feel a little better, at least.
Both Willow Shore and Thousand Miles Of Smoke were far inferior to Qi Fei, and were killed by Qin Mo in the next two matches, allowing Qin Mo to enter the top eight of the elimination round as the first in the group.
After losing to Ink Mark, Qi Fei managed to regain some confidence and won his next two matches. As for Ink Mark’s merciful behaviour, only first class players in the professional circle caught hints of it, and the online evaluation did not overwhelmingly slam Qingping Swordsman as too lame. In addition, he qualified for the top eight as second in the group, causing netizens to affirm his strength. Some people even thought that he lost to Ink Mark in the first game because he had been too careless.
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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——That’s right, control!
The most important part of the longsword flow was to control the field, not to attack blindly.
The biggest difference between the longsword flow and the shortsword flow of the Hanhua Sword sect was also precisely this. While both were swordsmen, the shortsword flow was more inclined to short-range attacks. If the longsword flow players were to blindly attack also, what difference would there be between the two cultivation routes?
The key point of the longsword flow was not how much damage you inflicted. Rather, it was whether you managed to control the field at the most appropriate time.
This was true for single matches, and especially so for team fights.
The close attack style was only suitable for rookies; the key to a duel between experts depended on their control of the field.
Ink Mark used a seamless control of silence, slow down and freeze, following it up with silence and slow down again to take away Qi Fei’s blood in one breath. This could be regarded as a good lesson for Qi Fei. Though, the reason why Qi Fei was not able to realise the essence of the longsword flow before now could be attributed to his previous qualifying matches, in which he followed Qiu Zongping and Yuan Xi around. Often, Yuan Xi used his very aggressive pet to disable the opposing team’s back row; Qi Fei only needed to move forward to support his attack. He seldom took the initiative to control the field and find opportunities for his teammates, because Qiu Zongping would do this.
However, after today’s match with Ink Mark, Qi Fei found that the control field of the longsword flow was actually very terrible!
In the lineup of the Mojue team, Ink Mark existed as a melee field control instead of the main attacker. In fact, the assassin was the output player. Next time, if captain Qiu sent him to play in the team battle, he would take the initiative to control the field and help his teammates find opportunities, and not blindly output damage.
Feeling enlightened, Qi Fei messaged Ink Mark in the game. “Big god, thank you for your guidance!”
Confused, Qin Mo replied, “Big god?”
“Yes!” Qi Fei sent back, excited. “Yuan Xi says that you are a big god who came from afar!”
“……” Helpless, Qin Mo could only reply with “Don’t listen to Yuan Xi’s nonsense. I’m not a big god.”
Qi Fei sent many worshipping emojis along with his next message. “In the beginning, I was too hasty and couldn’t keep up with your control rhythm; the fact that I lost today isn’t undeserved. Thank you for helping me save some face, so that I wasn’t shot to death by the netizens. Haha, though the viewers have said that I could fight with you on equal grounds, and that I lost because of carelessness, I know that my level is still very far away compared to yours!”
To see this little guy use “you” in such a respectful manner made Qin Mo feel quite old indeed.
In the end, Qin Mo interrupted him with a quick: “You’re welcome. Your state of mind is very good; just continue to work hard.”
Qi Fei replied, “Thank you, big god!”
From this exchange, it was clear that Ink Mark not only knew Yuan Xi, but was likely to have a connection with the Wind Colour club. Qi Fei’s attitude became more respectful when he thought about this. “I still have a long way to go before I can catch up with you, so I will practice hard! Today’s match was just a national challenge arena meant for entertainment, so I still have some time. Hopefully, after the professional league officially starts next year, I’ll be able to hold out under your onslaught for a few more moves!”
Qi Fei sent a row of flowers before withdrawing from the conversation. From this exchange, Qin Mo felt that Qiu Zongping had educated the little guy well; Qi Fei knew how to reflect on his own mistakes and found the reasons why he lost the game. Clearly, he had watched the video several times and carefully studied the key points. With this good understanding, he could be regarded as a child worthy of being taught.
Unlike the teenager who left Dragon Song. Not only did he not reflect on his own shortcomings, he also put the blame of his mistakes on others.
Speaking of which, Xu Sizhe had left angrily at that time, with the expression of “Just you wait, I’ll come back for revenge” written all over his face. How were there no signs of him until now? Thinking of this, Qin Mo could not help asking, “Xiao He, please show me the list of summoners in the top eight. Is there anyone who looks like they could be Xu Sizhe?”
All the competitions scheduled for Saturday were over, and the officials had announced the top eight players from each sect. Hearing this, Shen He immediately opened the website to search. “Ordinary Person, Dead Soul, Drunken River, Bone White Grief, Mechanical grand Master, Blue Mountains of Zhuge, Little White Cat, and Green Jadeite Bowl are the top eight summoner players.”
Ordinary Person was Qiu Zongping; while his name was ordinary, his strength was far from it. Dead Soul was Yuan Xi, while Drunken River was Shen He, and none of the remaining five were particularly similar to Xu Sizhe’s name. Little White Cat could be ruled out completely; with Xu Sizhe’s proud temperament, he absolutely wouldn’t use a cute name like ‘Little White Cat’. Furthermore, Little White Cat’s winning rate was only 85%, so they should be a folk expert who had reached the top eight, and not a professional player.
According to the rules of the cross fight between groups A and C, as well as groups B and D, since Shen He came first in his group, he would fight with the second ranked in group D, Little White Cat. This player had the lowest winning rate when compared with the others, so Qin Mo was not too worried.
***
At 10:00am the next morning, the semi-finals between the top eight officially began, with players of the mechanism flow being the first to compete. Although Little White Cat summoned their pets in an orderly manner at the beginning, their technique was still a little poor when compared to Shen He, a professional player who had been formally trained for several months. Shen He played very carefully, finally winning the elimination stage in three minutes and successfully squeezing into the top four.
After half an hour, the elimination stages of the semi-finals were over, and the list of the top four players from the mechanism flow was revealed—— Ordinary Person, Dead Soul, Green Jadeite Bowl, Drunken River.
Seeing this list, Xiao Han immediately said, “Green Jadeite Bowl is Xu Sizhe.”
Qin Mo questioned, “Are you sure?”
Xiao Han nodded. “En, the broadcast made it clear. This person’s style is fierce and violent, exactly like Xu Sizhe’s style.”
Xiao Han obviously knew more about Xu Sizhe than Qin Mo. After hearing this explanation, Qin Mo immediately opened the official video to watch the elimination match between Green Jadeite Bowl and White Bone Grief. The playstyle of Green Jadeite Bowl was indeed quite violent, choosing to continuously explode chariots to seckill the residual blood opponent; this kind of violent suppression really showed a shadow of the hostile teenager behind the computer screen. As Qin Mo expected, Xu Sizhe’s talent was really quite good, and his level was obviously much higher than before after this period of training.
After entering the top four, there would be elimination matches in random groups. The champions would receive special trophies and a customised sect figurine, while the other three would receive almost equivalent rewards.
After the mechanism flow semi-finals was the elimination stage of the jade flute flow. Pei Yu qualified as second in group C, and as such met the first of group A, Eternal Lamp. Eternal Lamp was, after all, a high levelled player and a popular great god in Luoying Valley, as well as the leader of the Interlude guild. Pei Yu showed many brilliant moments in the competition, but in the end, still lost to Xie Changming.
Qin Mo had expected this result. After all, Pei Yu’s grouping in this competition wasn’t too good. There was a great god from Huaxia in group C, so Pei Yu could only qualify as second in the group, only to meet ‘Eternal Lamp’, a folk expert strong enough to win the championship. It truly was a pity that Pei Yu had been unable to make it to the finals. However, Pei Yu had a very stable state of mind, and there were no signs of depression on his face. Instead, he studied the video recording very seriously after the match. With his intelligence, Qin Mo was certain that Pei Yu would be able to learn a lot from this competition, enough to lay a solid foundation for next year’s official league.
On the other hand, Xiao Han, Qin Mo, and Liu Hong had all qualified as first in their groups. They met the second ranked of their opposing groups, and successfully won their matches to enter the top four.
At this point, the semi-finals had ended, and the matches of the players from all major sects who entered the top four were soon released on the official website.
——Hanhua Sword sect, Ink Mark VS River Of No Return. It was a coincidence that Qin Mo met Song Changdong, the teenager whom he had personally sent to the Sword Song team. Xiao Song was also very strong to be able to enter the finals between the top four of the longsword flow, which was full of experts. Lin Shuangcheng had realised the potential of this teenager, while Song Changdong had received training and care from captain Lin, which made Qin Mo feel comforted.
——Double ring flow, Three Waterdrop VS Endless. This ‘Endless’ was a player from the Interlude guild in the Netcom district, and was obviously trained by ‘Morning Breeze Lingering Moon’ and ‘Eternal Lamp’ to control the field from the front row. The trap control field could work with their long-ranged sound wave ensemble to form a suitable team strategy. Clearly, the captain’s tactical awareness of Interlude was very high.
——Dagger flow, Thousand Miles Ice VS At Green Hills. This player came from the Wind Colour guild of Telecom district 1. Qin Mo remembered that there were no assassins among the five players led by Yuan Xi in the beginning, which meant that this was a potential team member brought out by Qiu Zongping. Qiu Zongping had a good eye for talent; the newcomers he selected would definitely not be weak.
——Mechanism flow, Drunken River VS Green Jadeite Bowl. Shen He had actually met Xu Sizhe in the finals.
Qin Mo studied the list of players who had entered the final stage. There were exactly four from Mojue, and the other clubs present included Wind Colour, Huaxia, National Grace and Seven Star Grass, as well as two teams not backed by clubs, Sword Song and Interlude. The two black umbrella experts from Whisper had also made it to the final stage, in addition to a strong front row Kuangdao Gate player.
To Qin Mo’s surprise, in addition to Xu Sizhe’s summoner, the Graceful Beauty guild had an assassin playing the iron claw flow reach the finals. Xiao Han had also met the player ‘Flowing Stream’ in the semi-finals. At that time, commentator Xiao You had mentioned that there were many local tyrants in this guild; from this, it could be concluded that Graceful Beauty was the team formed bu Xu Sizhe himself.
In addition, there was a strange guild that had repeatedly appeared in front of Qin Mo—— Without Fire, from Telecom district 3. There was a double swords flow player from Kuangdao Gate from this guild named ‘Beautiful Country’, a double ring flow expert named ‘Deep In The Bamboo Grove’, as well as a longsword flow expert named ‘Scorching Sun’. All three reached the finals with a terrifying winning rate of 100%, making it obvious that their guild had extraordinary origins. However, none of these players had been selected for the officials’ live broadcast in the group stages. Qin Mo had not yet watched their recorded videos either, so he knew little about them.
***
Qin Mo focused on giving Shen He guidance in the following week.
In the past few months of training, under Qin Mo’s constant observation, Shen He had developed a strong foundation and could control the field flexibly from the back row during qualifying matches. However, he was not very clear about some tactical ideas when fighting one-on-one, and so Qin Mo focused on these weaknesses during their training. Shen He was very smart, and mastered them quickly.
The choice of maps were opened for the finals, which followed the rule of two wins in three games. The losing player would be directly eliminated.
Qin Mo had the premonition that Xu Sizhe would definitely choose maps that specifically targeted Shen He, in order to clear away the shame of Shen He killing him back then. Therefore, he tasked Shen He to study the game maps thoroughly.
A week passed in the twinkling of an eye. The first all sects challenge arena in Peerless Jianghu had finally reached the most exciting round—— the finals between the top four.
Good luck to our adorable son Shen He!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🍀🍀🍀🍀 Your father taught you well!!!
This series is mostly gaymer dad Qin Mo kindly looking out for the younger generations while his husband supports the team they made together 😂😂😂 Eventually he’ll get tired of Qin Mo doting on their children and demand to be doted on too 👀👀👀
LMAO, the wife dote on the children more than the hubby. Hubby demands for more 👀👀👀
I hope Qin Mo “dotes” on Xiao He before they win the championship together 😏 What do you think?
I agree 😏
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter!
i knew that xu sizhe would appear again. but unless he realized what mistakes he did and finally know how to identify his own flaws, i would rather not see him again. i don’t dislike arrogant characters, but an arrogant character being unreasonable? no, please.