The King's ReturnCh171 - Su Cheng’s Origin

translator: Oyen  editor: Ciel

After the match ended, Qin Mo and Nie Yuzhu shook hands in the center of the stage in a friendly manner. dAONX3

Before, Qin Mo did not have much contact with Nie Yuzhu, and only had a superficial understanding of him. However, after today’s match, Qin Mo clearly realised the strength of an old veteran—— Nie Yuzhu’s playstyle wasn’t as sharp as the younger players, but he was calm, and as steady as Mt. Tai. His strong awareness and his ability to use different tactics against different opponents was the most terrible aspect of this old captain. 

Truly, the title of ‘Old Zhuge’ was well-deserved. Even if his own strength was weaker than his opponent’s, he could still use his powerful tactical arrangements to turn a defeat into a victory.

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Up next was the match between Xiao Han and Chen Jiang.

As Qin Mo returned to the backstage lounge, Xiao Han was preparing to go up. As the both of them exchanged a glance, Qin Mo smiled. “Good luck.” GTclFV

Standing up, Xiao Han hugged him and whispered, “See you in the finals.”

It was clearly three simple words, but they revealed an incomparable sense of self-confidence—— he wanted to meet Qin Mo in the finals, which meant that he would definitely defeat Chen Jiang in today’s match!

***

On the live commentary platform, Ye Chao finally managed to bring the topic back on track after having circumvented Qin Ye’s endless praise for Qin Mo.

“The next semi-final match will be between Xiao Han and Cheng Jiang,” Ye Chao stated. “Allow me to introduce Chen Jiang first. He is Xue Ke’s personal apprentice. God Ye should know Xue Ke, correct?”

“En, the apprentice brought up by god Lun and Xiao Huang together, and the strongest player of the long whip flow,” Qin Ye replied.

“Chen Jiang has inherited his master’s strong control of the field. He uses ‘Verdant Snake’, a green coloured whip as his weapon. Not only does it deal high amounts of damage, its additional attribute is the negative status effect of poison,” Ye Chao explained. “His records in this individual competition are as follows: a complete victory at the group stage, and victories in the top 16 and top 8 with a score of 2:1. This is mainly because he is easily targeted in his away games, as a map with obstacles such as dense trees can easily affect the long whip’s field control, making it not easy to fight.”

“The advantages and disadvantages of the long whip flow are indeed obvious,” Liang Ru chimed in. XvUtSH

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.

“En,” Ye Chao continued, “I shall introduce Xiao Han next. Audience members familiar with esports should have already recognised him; he is the great god Li Cangyu’s beloved apprentice, who has participated in many world competitions and even defeated many foreign experts in the world arena. Currently, he is at peak condition.”

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“Su Cheng?” Qin Ye had gone through the list of team profiles sent to him by the league after becoming a guest commentator. He remembered that Su Cheng was a folk expert who built the ‘Interlude’ team, one of the two non-governmental teams that successfully qualified for the professional league. His personal level was said to be very strong, however, Xiao Han was a first-class professional player who had participated in many world competitions, and was extremely experienced. No matter how strong Su Cheng was, he shouldn’t have been able to defeat Xiao Han in a one-on-one match. glsMX2

“How did Xiao Han lose the match?” Qin Ye questioned Ye Chao curiously. In any case, there were still over ten minutes to the next match, and there was no need to rush.

“Su Cheng chose the swamp map, and used the advantage of his superior attack range to kill Xiao Han,” Ye Chao briefly explained.

“…” The more he thought about it, the odder the situation seemed. Attrition warfare was a common tactic that long-range players used against their melee counterparts. Having played for so many years, Xiao Han must have seen this sort of map and tactics hundreds of times. There was no reason he ought to have been fooled by Su Cheng. Perhaps this person wasn’t as simple as his profile made him seem—— was there someone supporting him from behind?

Realising that Qin Ye was thinking seriously, Ye Chao couldn’t help but smile. “What’s wrong? Is god Ye interested in Su Cheng?” NvptCM

“It isn’t easy to win against Xiao Han, even if it’s just once,” Qin Ye replied. “Who is his master?”

Although this sentence didn’t directly praise Xiao Han, from an objective point of view, it was a very good evaluation. After all, Xiao Han was a world-class player at his peak state. From Qin Ye’s perspective, looking at the current level of competition in the Peerless Jianghu professional league, Xiao Han ought to be able to sweep the entire court—— excluding Qin Mo, of course.

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Hearing Qin Ye’s question, Ye Chao turned to Liang Ru. “I seem to recall that Su Cheng and Xie Changming are both students in the music department?”

“En,” Liang Ru nodded. “It’s said that Su Cheng learns the guzheng and Xie Changming learns the flute. They are senior and junior in real life, and both come from a college in Harbin. However, they don’t seem to have a master in the game.” AcjSPk

“Harbin?” Qin Ye’s eyes lit up. “Which school? “

After hearing Liang Ru mention the school name, everything became clear. “Sure enough, there’s an expert behind him,” Qin Ye smiled.

“Does Su Cheng really have a master?” Liang Ru asked.

“One of the art teachers of that school in Harbin was previously a top-ranking expert in the esports field,” Qin Ye explained. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence.” tbwaTX

This sentence was full of implications, and many veteran fans of the esports circle immediately guessed who Qin Ye was talking about.

Hearing this, Qin Mo was surprised—— was the teacher in Harbin mentioned by uncle, Lan Weiran?!

Qin Mo had the honor to meet this expert at the Dragon Song club’s annual meeting during the beginning of the year. Lan Weiran was the top tactical master of the Wulin league, and created a legend with Liu Chuan and Qin Ye as ‘Dragon Song’s Three Gods’. After retiring, Lan Weiran returned to school as an art teacher. It was said that in addition to being skilled at games, his paintings were also first-class, and that he personally painted the emblem at Dragon Song club’s gate.

The place where he now worked happened to be an art school in Harbin. Since Su Cheng and Xie Changming were both from that school, as Qin Ye said, it shouldn’t just be a coincidence. 3sgrXe

However, Lan Weiran had always been famous for being ‘lazy’. As a person, he couldn’t be bothered to stand up when there was the opportunity to lie down. Back at the club’s annual meeting, he sat in his chair lazily, refusing to move even a step, requesting the newcomers to get food from him, which was something Qin Mo remembered clearly.

How could such a lazy person be idle enough to accept apprentices?

Ye Chao, who had been in the esports circle for many years, also managed to guess this mysterious person mentioned by Qin Ye. “Four Blue? Would he even accept apprentices?”

“With his temper, he shouldn’t have,” Qin Ye replied. “However, it’s not the same for his apprentice.” vIEQDa

Lan Weiran had once accepted an apprentice. According to Qin Ye, Su Cheng was most likely Lan Weiran’s grand apprentice.

“So, the Falling Flowers club is behind the Interlude team?” Ye Chao was surprised.

“The guqin and flute ensemble does have a very familiar literary and artistic youth style,” Qin Ye stated bluntly.

Falling Flowers, Dragon Song, and Seven Star Grass were famous clubs back then. Falling Flowers’s captain was Lan Weiran’s apprentice, a young man who could write poems and song lyrics. Upon further consideration, Su Cheng had an outstanding talent in music, played the guzheng very well, wrote lyrics and composed songs, and was quite famous—— in fact, this style was rather similar! gpSc0j

Su Cheng, who was seated backstage, laughed. Retrieving his mobile phone, he sent out a WeChat message: “I didn’t expect god Ye to be so powerful, directly guessing master’s identity.”

The other party responded with a smile: “At present, Peerless Jianghu’s experts are many. Wanting to keep a low-profile instead of using your master’s halo is a sensible decision. However, since Qin Ye has already guessed your origins, you don’t have to hide it any longer. If the reporters ask, you can just say that I am your master.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Okay.”

“You don’t have much experience in competitions, and being able to enter the top 16 this year is already a very good result. I leave Beijing tomorrow. You must depend on yourself for future matches.” ocdiHA

“Understood, thank you for your guidance [smile]”

The other party sent a patting-shoulder emoticon: “I look forward to yours and Xiao Xie’s performance in the partner match.”

“You don’t have to worry, master,” Su Cheng replied. “Our guqin and flute duet ensemble is our strongest weapon.”

*** ezXwIo

Qin Mo happened to be sitting behind Su Cheng. Hearing Qin Ye’s reveal, he couldn’t help saying, “Captain Su, you’ve hidden yourself really well.”

Turning around, Su Cheng smiled. “It can’t be helped, it’s the law of the jungle.”

If Qin Ye hadn’t come today as a guest commentator, accidentally guessing Su Cheng’s origins, perhaps no one would have ever found out that Su Cheng was backed by the Falling Flowers club.

Su Cheng was right: this was the law of the jungle. qpCsEg

Experts in the Peerless Jianghu league were as numerous as clouds, with many apprentices and grand-apprentices from past great gods being active in this new project, which could be likened to a jungle. In order to compete for the limited territory, various beasts would endlessly emerge. Su Cheng’s strength far exceeded many people’s expectations, but he was very clever, and chose to hide his fangs, shuffling through the jungle in a low-key manner, getting along well with the captains of various teams with a friendly smile… 

He used the identity of a ‘non-governmental team’ to mask his true identity. He was always smiling, uncompetitive and easy to ignore, but in fact, he was the most dangerous beast in the jungle.

Upon closer inspection of his win against Xiao Han in the group stage, his fine tactical thinking was revealed.

No doubt, the guidance of the expert behind him was a notable aspect, but Su Cheng’s strong logical reasoning ability, calm composure, and exquisite style of play were the most worthy of attention. 1fOisT