The King's ReturnCh177 - Twin Stars Match (part III)

translator: Oyen  editor: Ciel

Before the start of the final match, many netizens predicted that Qin Mo would lose to Xiao Han 1:2, with many professional players also speculating the same. After all, in the second game, Qin Mo could win his home game by relying on his understanding of Xiao Han and a precise tactical layout. However, the third game’s map would be randomly selected by the system, greatly reducing the complexity of Qin Mo’s tactical layouts, making another win against Xiao Han unlikely. GaQYK9

Watching the live broadcast from his hospital bed, Lin Shuangcheng suddenly spoke. “Xiao Song, I predict that Xiao Han will win the final 2:1. Why don’t we continue to bet?”

Still hoping that Qin Mo could win, Song Changdong nodded in agreement. “Then I will bet on god Mo to win with 2:1. What are we betting on?”

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Lin Shuangcheng chuckled. “We’ll do it like last time; I’ll tell you after thinking about it.”

He was certain about his own analysis. Song Changdong would definitely be losing the bet. First, they would bet little by little, then he could settle the accounts all in one go. UkcwW

Chu Jianxin, who was watching the competition backstage, turned around to ask Sang Jun, who was sitting beside him. “Sang Sang, what do you think are the chances of Qin Mo winning the tiebreaker game?”

Touching his chin, Sang Jun replied. “If the system selects a map that is favourable to god Mo, he ought to have a 40% chance of winning. What does A-Yao think?”

Lin Yao nodded. “I agree with the vice-captain.”

Although he also hoped that Qin Mo would win, objectively speaking, there was still a certain gap between Qin Mo’s and Xiao Han’s current states. His roundabout tactics would only be successful on a specific map. Moreover, it was possible to counterattack with his secret book skill at the critical moment once, but it was impossible for Xiao Han to fall for the same trick twice in a row. On the whole, the possibility of Qin Mo winning the third game was really very small.

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On the live commentary platform, Ye Chao had also asked the same question. “According to the two masters here, who has a better chance of winning on the randomly selected map of the third game?”

“The possibility of Xiao Han winning is larger,” Ling Xuefeng replied calmly.

Ling Xuefeng always evaluated a player from an objective point of view. He wouldn’t strongly support Qin Mo’s victory when commenting just because Qin Mo was closer to him. In fact, as a master, he was very pleased that Qin Mo was able to reach the finals and equalize the score with excellent tactical thinking in the second game. However, it was a fact that in the third game, Qin Mo lost the advantage of selecting the map, and arranging tactics ahead of time. For Qin Mo to win against Xiao Han was indeed a very difficult task.

Hearing this, Li Cangyu objected. “Not necessarily, while Qin Mo’s hand speed is not as fast as Xiao Han’s, the speed requirements of this game are not so high. The secret book system is also very rich, and Qin Mo can use the secret book to do some tricks.” yqEn2J

“Xiao Han suffered a lost by secret book in the last game,” Ling Xuefeng replied. “So, in this tiebreaker game, he will focus on an alternative choice.”

Li Cangyu nodded in agreement. “Indeed, no one can guess the result until the end. Let’s watch the game.”

***

The game had officially begun. The map display on the big screen was continuously scrolling, and finally came to a stop after a ten-second countdown. 0MiXhA

—— Green Pool Under the Moon.

This wasn’t a difficult map, but it was a classic water warfare map.

The map scene was a deep green pool under the shadow of the moon. The waters were clear, and the pool was filled with duckweed. After a player fell into the water, their movement speed would be slowed. If they stayed underwater for 5 seconds, players would start to lose health due to the lack of air, and if the time spent underwater exceeded 30 seconds, players would suffocate and die.

After the map selection, both of them would have half a minute to adjust their equipment and secret books. pEB50m

Xiao Han confirmed the preparation very quickly, obviously already with a plan in mind. However, there were no movements from Qin Mo’s side. It wasn’t until the countdown was left with three seconds that he pressed the preparation button.

Regarding this, Ling Xuefeng offered an explanation. “Just now, Qin Mo spent a long time selecting his secret book. Obviously, he has considered how he ought to fight this game. He should have come up with several ideas, but in the end, there can only be one choice.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Li Cangyu nodded. “I’m also looking forward to Qin Mo’s tactics in this game. Whether he can withstand Xiao Han’s quick attacks is the question.”

In the first two games, Qin Mo’s tactical ideas were the equivalent of ‘countering soldiers with arms, water with an earthen weir’, which was a typical defensive play. However, the key was that Xiao Han’s speed was too fast, and his outbreak too fierce. If Xiao Han brought along a critical hit secret book for this game, Qin Mo might actually be killed before he could implement his tactics. Tdoern

Water warfare had no advantages for Qin Mo. What would he do?

Under the audience’s eager anticipation, the map finished loading. Both players refreshed on the duckweed in the eastern and western corners respectively.

After the game finished loading, Xiao Han immediately jumped into the pool, using his qinggong skill ‘Darkness Valley’ to enter stealth. Swimming underwater would reduce his movement speed by 20% compared to his regular speed on the ground; however, his qinggong skill could boost his agility, so his movement speeds weren’t affected.

The invisible assassin swam through the water quickly, like a flexible and lively fish. s9Y0CT

Aware that Xiao Han had dived into the water, Qin Mo stood on top of the duckweed, waiting for his opponent to appear.

Under the hazy moonlight, the scene of the white-clothed swordsman standing on the surface of the green pool was very beautiful. Qin Mo stood still in his original spot, insistent on maintaining the status quo. Xiao Han had already dived underwater, and could clearly see his position. It was also useless to fly around, and would be a waste of his qinggong. Thus, it was better to wait, and seize the opportunity to counterattack.

Above the water’s surface, the swordsman in white stood with his hands behind his back, as still as a painting.

Under the water surface, the dark tide surged, and the black-clothed assassin swam around Ink Mark at an extremely fast speed. Using the big move ‘Shadowless Dragon’, the assassin used his qinggong to leap into the air, the bloodied dagger in his hands aimed right at his opponent’s back! LjWhcv

The sharp blade sliced through flesh, and droplets of blood flew through the air—— Xiao Han’s attack came quickly and fiercely, starting with the big move ‘Shadowless Dragon’, following up with the assassin’s strongest offensive skill, Deadly Ice Silkworm!

After the attack connected successfully, Xiao Han continued with a series of skills—— Meteor, Rainbow Through The Sun!

This violent outburst directly cut Ink Mark’s blood volume in half.

This was the explosive power of the strongest assassin in the league. A single decisive set of moves had the power to leave his opponents half-dead! JATj56

Xiao Han started with a big move to suppress Qin Mo’s blood volume, but it was also to prevent Qin Mo from using the damage-rebound secret book from the last game. Because Qin Mo could calculate his attack rhythm, it would be easy for him to judge the timing of the big moves. Similarly, Xiao Han wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.

Since Qin Mo could come up with various tactics, Xiao Han could naturally come up with a response. This unexpected opening move of a sneak attack instantly established a huge advantage.

With half his blood emptied right at the start, the situation was particularly disadvantageous for Qin Mo.

However, Qin Mo wasn’t nervous. He had fought Xiao Han many times before, and was long-accustomed to Xiao Han’s straightforward violent suppression style. Qin Mo reacted immediately after being attacked, counter attacking with a combination of Sword Horizon and Sword Rain Remnant. Hb8NTW

The silence control of the group attack immediately interrupted Xiao Han’s attack rhythm, preventing him from releasing his follow-up skills.

Xiao Han decisively used the ‘Golden Cicada Shell’ to resolve the silence control and to retreat, planning to use the mid-range skill ‘Rainbow Through The Sun’ to attack his opponent from a distance.

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However, the swordsman jumped into the pool at this moment, surprising the audience. When underwater, his movement speed and skill release speed would be slowed down. Wanting to fight Xiao Han underwater did not have many advantages for Qin Mo.

However, Li Cangyu felt that Qin Mo was very wise.  If he continued to stand on the duckweed, he could only passively withstand Xiao Han’s attack. However, if they fought underwater, he might be able to take advantage of Xiao Han’s reduced qinggong power value to fight a war of attrition. spKBhQ

—— That’s right, Xiao Han played a big move to gain an advantage in the beginning, but in doing so, had also paid a great price.

Using qinggong underwater consumed more of the power value than when on land. In order to launch a sneak attack against Qin Mo, Xiao Han had used up almost all of his qinggong value. Now that Qin Mo had gone underwater, he only had two choices: firstly, he could stay on the duckweed and switch from active attack to passive defense. Secondly, he could join Qin Mo underwater, further growing his advantage.

According to Xiao Han’s usual style, he ought to unceremoniously follow Qin Mo underwater to start a fight. However, this time, he was very rational, and chose not to go underwater.

“Why is Xiao Han not chasing after Qin Mo?” Ling Xuefeng asked. XnIp t

Li Cangyu laughed. “He was pitted by Qin Mo too many times, and Xiao Han is now very careful. He can’t use qinggong, and if he goes into the water now, it is very possible that Qin Mo will control him.”

Xiao Han was indeed unwilling to enter the water, but Qin Mo had ways of forcing him in——

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.

Skyward Sword!

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Seeing this, the audience was very happy: “God Han, god Mo is asking you to go underwater!”

“If you don’t go down, god Mo will get angry and open his big move!”

“Come down, let’s take a bath together!” EMxV8v

“It’s more fun in the water 233.”

There was something wrong with the style of comments flashing across the bullet screen. Xiao Han’s expression also showed a trace of helplessness.

Since Qin Mo used this method to force him underwater, he could only choose to engage.

Xiao Han, who was passively forced into the water, couldn’t use his qinggong skill. However, there was another skill still available to him—— Thousand Lights Ghost Walk. 3 1Wok

Five black shadows split into the water, surrounding the white-clothed swordsman at lightning speed!

However, Qin Mo had already expected this. The moment the shadows appeared, Qin Mo leapt into the air with his qinggong. The swordsman in white flew out of the water sharply, skimming the water like a dragonfly with several consecutive jumps, with only his toes lightly tapping the water’s surface. This also helped him to cleverly avoid Xiao Han’s five shadows!

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

This skill was beautifully executed, and even Ling Xuefeng couldn’t help but offer his apprentice some praise. “Good judgement.”

Qin Mo had predicted Xiao Han’s course of action. In fact, it was because many skills were in cooldown after Xiao Han’s outbreak just now, and he only had a small number left to choose from. wHt5Vm

After returning to the surface, Qin Mo used his qinggong skill to travel across the water’s surface, immediately opening the targeted skill ‘Unrivalled Sword’!

Broken Ice flew from his hands, passing through the clear waters of the pool to stab Thousand Miles Ice in the chest with incomparable precision!

A targeted skill couldn’t be dodged, and this skill reduced Thousand Miles Ice’s blood volume to 60%.

The blood volume gap between the two sides was narrowing, and the advantage established by Xiao Han in the early stage was gradually being pulled back by Qin Mo with his qinggong and water warfare. 3dwQaS

If Qin Mo continued to use qinggong to kite Xiao Han from the water’s surface, the situation would quickly become unfavourable for Xiao Han.

However, in the next moment, the audience was surprised——

The assassin who was originally in the water suddenly jumped out as if he were possessed, teleporting behind the swordsman,raking his hands that had turned into sharp claws down his opponent’s back in an instant!

A bloody handprint appeared on the swordsman’s white gown. After being hit by this skill, Ink Mark’s health suddenly dropped to 25%! bu0YKB

This explosive strike at this critical moment instantly reversed the situation. Obviously, this was the secret book skill that Xiao Han had brought along for this match.

“Xiao Han’s secret book this time is ‘Bloody Hand’, a secret book dropped by the wild BOSS in the depths of the deep valley. It allows the user to instantly move behind the designated target for a single attack that causes a lot of damage. This is a secret book skill that can target, track and cause explosive damage!” Ye Chao praised.

Li Cangyu smiled. “To fight Qin Mo, it is necessary to make this sort of quick decision. It was wise of him to bring along this secret book.”

The situation that Qin Mo reversed before, was now reversed once again by Xiao Han’s unexpected secret book skill. FU61A7

Ink Mark only had 25% of his blood left, while Thousand Miles Ice still had 55%. Xiao Han only needed another critical attack to kill Qin Mo directly.

The situation had reached the most critical moment.

Many people were worried for Qin Mo, but Qin Mo himself was extremely calm. The only skill Xiao Han had left was ‘Rainbow Through The Sun’, which did not deal much damage. It was impossible for Xiao Han to kill him within 3 seconds.

And the time that Qin Mo urgently needed the most, was this precious 3 seconds. 7Kc4 1

—— Riverbound Sword!

Turning around, he shot the assassin down into the pool!

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Qin Mo was very skillful with angles, and Thousand Miles Ice was sent to a depth of 10 metres underwater.

Just then, a green light hit the assassin who was currently underwater. At the same time, the soft melody of a flute reached the audience’s ears. fTOIMc

——Song of Everlasting Regret.

Unexpectedly, it was a music secret book!

“I really admire Qin Mo,” Ye Chao exclaimed. “He has used a different secret book every game in this match against Xiao Han. How many secret books does he usually use?”

“First, shoot him down and force him to go under, then use a 5-second sleep control effect. This ought to trigger the suffocation effect of the water map, correct?” Ling Xuefeng questioned calmly. d4LNvt

Ye Chao nodded. “En, the reason Qin Mo took so long to choose a secret book before the start of the game was obviously to consider which secret book could match his planned tactics. The skill ‘Song of Everlasting Regret’ has the longest duration among all secret books. It causes a single target to fall asleep for 5 seconds, and is solely a control skill, dealing no damage. Its effects are not obvious on most maps, but the water maps have a special characteristic: if you stay underwater for more than 5 seconds, you will lose blood due to the lack of air.”

Coincidentally, the time was exactly 5 seconds.

The five-second sleep control of the secret book skill ‘Song of Everlasting Regret’ would keep Thousand Miles Ice underwater at a depth of 10 meters for the duration. The moment the control ended, he would start to bleed.

Furthermore, Xiao Han’s qinggong power value had been completely consumed, so his blood volume would continue to drop as he slowly swam back to the surface from a depth of 10 metres. Fw25V0

At this moment, Qin Mo’s ability to use the map terrain had finally been fully exposed to everyone. Even if it was a random water warfare map selected by the system, he could still beautifully counterattack with the appropriate secret book skill!

Qin Mo wasn’t idle in these five seconds. He stood on the water’s surface, and the skill ‘Drifting Sword’ penetrated through 10 metres of water, stabbing Thousand Miles Ice in the chest!

Thousand Miles Ice’s blood volume fell to 40%

Qin Mo followed up with Sword Horizon, cutting his opponent’s health down to 30%. nM2XI1

As the end of the 5-second control approached, Qin Mo immediately flew off the water’s surface with qinggong, while Xiao Han began to bleed after having stayed underwater for 5 seconds.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Han was left with 20% of his blood volume, while Qin Mo still had 25%.

This amount of blood could be solved by one or two skills; the only question was which skills they would use.

At this crucial moment, both people reacted simultaneously—— hBCazx

Xiao Han forcibly teleported over to his opponent using ‘Meteor’, before following up with the skill ‘Deadly Ice Silkworm’. The critical attack directly emptied his opponent’s blood volume!

On the other hand, Qin Mo used the targeted skill ‘Unrivalled Sword’. The snow-white longsword in his hands shot forward, stabbing Thousand Miles Ice in the chest!

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—— [Thousand Miles Ice] has killed [Ink Mark]!

—— [Ink Mark] has killed [Thousand Miles Ice]! Wvdplu

As both prompts appeared on the screen simultaneously, the audience screamed. The professional players backstage were stunned, and even commentator Ye Chao was so excited that his voice trembled. “Did they die at the same time?!”

Li Cangyu sighed. “They really know each other very well!”

Xiao Han’s hand speed was extremely fast, and he used two consecutive skills in a single second to kill Qin Mo. However, Qin Mo’s judgement was also extremely accurate, and a single targeted skill was enough for him to clear the remnants of his opponent’s blood volume.

At this moment, both people acted at the same time, resulting in a scene never before seen in the history of Peerless Jianghu—— simultaneous death. iYRbSr

The audience sent frantic messages across the bullet screen: “Qin Mo is simply too good! Even under Xiao Han’s complete suppression, he could still force a draw!”

“Xiao Han is also very amazing. His teleport and subsequent attack in the short duration of a single second is decisively frightening!”

“Xiao Han has a strong outbreak, quick reflexes, and attacks decisively. Qin Mo’s ability to use his environment is strong and thoughtful. Both of them clearly have different styles, but they really are equal!”

“Has the referee not yet announced the results?” Ling Xuefeng questioned. Z4XWIG

The pressure on the referee was also very great. This sort of thing had never happened before, and he needed to retrieve the game data to confirm.

Generally speaking, in this sort of situation, victory or defeat would be judged by the order of death; whomever died first would be the loser. However, much to the referee’s surprise, after checking the game data, both people had actually fallen at the same time—— right down to the exact same second! Their brain waves had clearly been synchronised at that moment, and conventional methods could not be used to judge this match.

The referee could only send a message on the public chat: “Both players, please allow the panel of referees some time to make a decision.”

The on-site referee immediately submitted the game footage to the panel. After careful analysis, the official panel of referees finally announced a result. xPzGdd

—— Draw!

From 1:1, the score displayed on the large screen became 2:2.

This result caused Li Cangyu to laugh aloud. “Everyone has guessed wrongly, the result isn’t 1:2, they’ve tied!”

“Qin Mo’s showing has far exceeded my expectations,” Ling Xuefeng commented. “I thought he would lose this round.” 3EryR6

“Qin Mo has really grown,” Li Cangyu comforted him. “If it was the him from before, I would never have imagined that he could use this meticulous sort of play.”

Using control skills to trap his opponent underwater to forcibly regain the established disadvantage at a critical moment; this sort of thinking was greatly admired by professional players and audience members alike.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

The referee sent another message: “Overtime; the last bout will decide the victory.”

As soon as this message appeared on the screen, Ye Chao sighed. “Being able to add overtime to an individual fight; this is a result worthy of the Twin Stars!” cFgies

“There can only be one champion, and they must differentiate a winner and loser between them,” Li Cangyu commented. “However, in my heart, both of them are equally outstanding.”

This sentence was something Ling Xuefeng also wished to say. From an objective point of view, considering Qin Mo’s current state, losing 1:2 to Xiao Han would have been the most normal result. However, Qin Mo was very meticulous with his layout and tactics, even forcing a draw in the tiebreaker match to reach a score of 2:2. This alone had already proved his strength.

***

This was the first time that anyone had reached a fourth game with a score of 2:2 in the individual competition since the start of the professional league, which was a very memorable moment. RXLBuq

The atmosphere was extremely enthusiastic, with the audience excitedly picking up their lightsticks to cheer on both players. Ratings for the live broadcast also broke through previous records, creating a new high.

At 9:00pm in the evening, the fourth match finally started.

Once again, the map was randomly selected by the system. This time, it was ‘Luojia Village Field’, a map from a novice village that many netizens were familiar with.

This was a square map with many wooden stakes, which could be used to block the opponent’s field of vision. It allowed for long-distance kiting, but was also sparse enough for melee players to fight upfront, making it a map without an obvious bias towards any profession. Su964w

Xiao Han and Qin Mo quickly made their preparations, and were loaded on the southeast and northwest corners of the map respectively.

Because the map was so simple, both people could see each other at a glance.

Xiao Han did not immediately enter stealth. Instead, he circled flexibly around the stakes, quickly approaching Ink Mark.

His playstyle was as straightforward as his personality—— with no hesitation, take the initiative to attack! 34Hnme

After the distance was reduced to approximately 5 metres, Xiao Han decisively threw the dagger in his hand, hitting Ink Mark with a three-hit combo of his mid-ranged skill!

Immediately turning around, Ink Mark swung the longsword in his hands, using the fan-shaped group attack skill ‘Sword Horizon’ to counterattack!

Both of them fought at close range. After exchanging a wave of skills, Thousand Miles Ice’s blood volume had fallen to 80%, while Ink Mark’s blood volume had fallen to 75%, with the disparity due to the difference in the strength of their output.

Qin Mo was very clear; he could not defeat Xiao Han in frontal combat. Thus, he immediately used the skill ‘Sword Spirit Heart’ to fix his opponent in place. After using qinggong to circle around, he followed up with the long-range targeted skill ‘Unrivalled Sword’. 6LW1EZ

As the skill connected, Thousand Miles Ice’s blood volume fell to 65%, and Qin Mo took the lead.

However, Xiao Han would not sit around to wait for death. The moment the immobilisation control ended, he immediately used the pursuit skill ‘Meteor’, cutting Ink Mark’s blood volume to 60%.

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Qin Mo retaliated with ‘Drifting Sword’, forcing Thousand Miles Ice’s blood volume to 45%!

However, Xiao Han immediately gave chase, using ‘Deadly Ice Silkworm’, leaving Ink Mark with 40% of his blood! fdplA3

Because there was nothing in the terrain that could be used, the audience gradually started to realise Xiao Han’s ferociousness on the field—— he would not give his opponent even the slightest opportunity.

The blood volume gap was extremely close, and the pace of this game was much faster than that of the previous three!

Neither side had used their secret books skills or their big moves. If they really intended on fighting head-on, they would need to grab the opportunity once the critical moment came, after both of them were at half health.

At this very moment, the black-clothed assassin vanished. kpbxiu

Qin Mo was startled, knowing that Xiao Han had opened the big move ‘Shadowless Dragon’, and would burst out a wave of damage the moment he appeared, killing him in mere moments.

—— Skyward Sword!

Qin Mo decisively opened the swordsman’s big move, and the full-screen explosion hit the invisible assassin, leaving him with just 20% blood.

However, Xiao Han right in front of him. The distance between them was only five metres! dPclk

—— Rainbow Through The Sun!

Like a rainstorm, the dagger in the assassin’s hands shot at Ink Mark. Qin Mo immediately flew away with qinggong, but Xiao Han’s reflexes were incomparably fast; in the blink of an eye, Thousand Miles Ice had already caught up to him. Even if Qin Mo had retreated in time, he could not have dodged Xiao Han’s dagger.

Under the bonus of the big move, the damage dealt by Rainbow Through The Sun was extremely terrible. Ink Mark immediately fell to a dangerous state of 25% blood!

Qin Mo immediately opened the secret book skill, ‘Vajra Sutra’! BvOHDk

A golden light suddenly appeared around the swordsman, forming a protective shield—— the Buddhist secret book skill offered the user immunity to all damage for the next 3 seconds.

In this last game, Qin Mo brought a secret book that offered invulnerability, obviously trying to buy himself an extra 3 seconds of time.

However, Xiao Han reacted very quickly. Seeing that Ink Mark was immune, he didn’t continue his attack, and instead, suddenly became invisible—— Darkness Valley!

He hadn’t yet used his sect qinggong stealth skill in this game, in order to mitigate the uncertainty of Qin Mo’s secret book. By using the immunity now, Qin Mo was surely intending on killing him, thus Xiao Han entered stealth to avoid Qin Mo’s head-on attack. x6hImG

The invisible assassin shuffled quickly between the various wooden stakes in the middle of the map. Qin Mo attacked three times in three directions with the group attack skill ‘Sword Horizon’, but unexpectedly, it was all evaded by Xiao Han.

This sharp move also won the audience’s warm applause.

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Three seconds later, the shield on Ink Mark disappeared, and the assassin once again broke out a wave of damage——

Calculating the time, Qin Mo immediately turned around, stabbing the assassin with the penetration skill ‘Drifting Sword’. However, at this moment, the assassin suddenly split into several shadows! AMFfvB

A dense cloud of black shadows surrounded him. This time, Qin Mo realised that he couldn’t count how many shadows Xiao Han materialised!

The audiences suddenly went blind: “So many! How many are there!”

“God Han didn’t open just five shadows?! There’s more than five, right?”

“God Han has finally shown his outstanding skills. Quickly, take a screenshot and count the shadows!” Fans were screaming crazily, and Qin Mo was extremely shocked. o2M7FR

The black shadows lay siege to the white-clothed swordsman, blocking off his access to the wooden stakes. Qin Mo couldn’t escape the encirclement!

—— Thousand Lights Ghost Walk!

—— This was Xiao Han’s true Thousand Lights Ghost Walk!

During their first meeting in the game, Xiao Han and Qin Mo stood on top of the mountain to study the skill ‘Thousand Lights Ghost Walk’. At that time, he could only produce three shadows, which had increased to five over time. In previous games, he usually made five shadows to hunt down his opponents. Now, in this overtime match today, the number of shadows had increased yet again! OLzJ0D

Everyone was looking forward to Ye Chao’s explanation. Unfortunately, Ye Chao was also confused and dazzled by the sight; the time was simply too short fot him to count the number of shadows.

—— [Thousand Miles Ice] has killed [Ink Mark]!

The prompt soon appeared on the big screen. A large number of shadows had surrounded and killed Qin Mo, who finally fell under the sharp knife of the assassin.

The audience at the scene could not quiet down for a very long time. buPBVU

From this individual competition, everyone had grown accustomed to Xiao Han’s five shadows. In their hearts, Xiao Han’s default was already five shadows.

However, no one expected for Xiao Han’s limit to be far more than that!

Ye Chao hurriedly asked the director to replay the footage in slow motion. As the audience earnestly counted the number of shadows, Ye Chao exclaimed, “It’s nine shadows! One of them was dispersed by Qin Mo’s Drifting Sword, leaving eight fully-formed shadows to besiege him!”

“In other words, the number of shadows that Xiao Han can control is nine?” Ling Xuefeng asked. m0AYQt

Ye Chao nodded in agreement. “He brought the qinggong secret book ‘As Light As A Swallow’, which can greatly improve the agility attribute. It’s a book that’s hardly used in the arena, and is the least popular book overall in the game. However, Xiao Han used this skill to match the release of ‘Thousand Lights Ghost Walk’, helping him to control the shadows at lightning speed.”

Ling Xuefeng turned around to glance at Li Cangyu. “He’s copying you?”

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Xiao Han’s master, Li Cangyu, was famous for summoning a large number of pets at the same time, causing explosive damage across multiple lines. This sort of multiple-line operation required an extremely fast hand speed, or it was possible to lose sight of the larger picture. In principle, Xiao Han’s control over the large number of shadows mimicked his master’s practice of summoning pets in large numbers.

Li Cangyu sighed. “In fact, Xiao Han’s hand speed is comparable to mine when I was at my peak state. Today, Qin Mo forced him to use his extreme hand speed.” wIRS8Y

Such a simple sentence praised Xiao Han, while simultaneously affirming Qin Mo.

The esports circle had always been like this. When the strong met the strong, both would get stronger. Of course, it wasn’t necessary to put in too much effort when playing with rookies. However, when faced with Qin Mo today, Xiao Han was forced to show his highest hand speed. At the most crucial moment, he formed nine perfect shadows with his big move, all to kill Qin Mo.

Xiao Han’s last move was proof that to him, Qin Mo’s strength could not be underestimated. If he hadn’t pushed the limits, Qin Mo might have made a comeback with his field control skills.

The match had ended, and the score displayed on the screen became 3:2. xcWFzq

It was clearly a BO3 game, yet because of the draw and the overtime match, the score had become 3:2, clearly slapping all the prediction gods in the face for their comments before the game.

Placing down the lightscreen control panel, Qin Mo walked to the center of the stage. Coincidentally, Xiao Han had also walked over.

“That had been your true Thousand Lights Ghost Walk. Why have I never seen it before today?” Qin Mo questioned.

Xiao Han’s expression was helpless, but his gaze was incomparably warm. “I had no choice, you forced me to show my hand!” VmGRXN

The two people shared a smile, gently hugging each other.

“I’m sorry,” Xiao Han whispered in Qin Mo’s ear. “I didn’t let you win the championship, but I had to go all out to show my respect for you.”

Qin Mo smiled. “It’s fine. I was already prepared a long time ago. In truth, I’m already very satisfied just being able to come back and fight with you once more.”

In fact, even during his discussion with his uncle in the afternoon, Qin Mo had already been prepared to lose. Although his uncle had analysed many of the assassin’s weaknesses and various methods of targeting assassins, Qin Mo could only win by targeting his opponent on his own home map. In terms of raw power, Xiao Han’s strength was superior to his.  s0YDp

Back in the third game, Qin Mo had been in serious danger. It took him a long time to decide on the secret book five-second control skill, allowing him to just barely equalise the score, but he still lost to Xiao Han in the overtime game.

Xiao Han combined a secret book skill and ‘Thousand Lights Ghost Walk’ to besiege his opponent. In fact, he had already reached a level comparable to his master, Li Cangyu, at his peak.

While Qin Mo had lost to Xiao Han, he regretted nothing. Being able to force out Xiao Han’s extreme hand speed had already proved Xiao Han’s affirmation to him.

Who won and who lost wasn’t important. What mattered was that they could continue walking together, side by side. Jpa0N7

***

Watching Xiao Han gently hug Qin Mo’s shoulder as they walked off the stage, many members of the audience were moved to tears.

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Even Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng were filled with emotion.

These two apprentices were the ones they watched to grow up—— Twin Stars, the young and immature teenagers who once needed their masters’ care, but now had the elegant demeanour of great gods. Xiao Han’s Thousand Lights Ghost Walk was close to the terrifying explosive power of Li Cangyu in the world competition, while Qin Mo’s fine tactical layout could establish for himself the status of a tactical master in the Peerless Jianghu league. jpM0bz

Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng shared a glance, noting the gratified look in each other’s eyes.

It really was a feeling of ‘my family’s child has grown up’. Seeing that they were about to fight to the very last minute of the overtime match greatly satisfied both of them as masters.

Xiao Han and Qin Mo were two players with completely different styles and personalities. They were also called ‘Twin Stars’, which was just as if two imperfect half-circles had merged into a complete one.

kSaUo6

Translator's Note

(兵来将挡、水来土掩) alludes to adopting measures appropriate to the situation faced

Translator's Note

BO3 ‘Best of three’, aka two wins in three matches.

Leave a Comment

10 comments

  1. omg omg omg!!! Momo so op!!!! I really wasn’t expecting for Momo to be able to force out a draw between them, I actually thought that he might’ve won the Bo3 but he actually!! Drew it instead!! Aaaaahhh, Xiao Han and Momo in the third match were really too good!! This kind of guerilla warfare, even if I try I will only fail lololol

    Hhhhhh but the fourth match!! So fast paced! I swear I was barely able to remember their skills unlike in Miracle, where all the skill names betray their usage;;;;; the secret books, really, too op too! Momo kinda heavily relies on them but I guess its normal since its like a pretty flexible part of their whole gameplay la~~ thank you for this chapter!! And congrats to Xiao Han for showing ur ultimate move against Momo already~ 9 shadows is really a lot!

    • Righhtt? It’s really a very good match between them, it’s so good that I cried. 😭

      They make it draw in BO3 >_< and that fourth match is really fast!

      Don’t worry, it’s not just you, I think the author also confuse with all the skill names, and it’s so hard to memorize all the names, so I and Ciel write down all the names in one document 🤣

      You’re welcome~ and Xiao Han is really fierce with that 9 shadows! 🤩

  2. This match was so exciting~!!! ٩(˃̶͈̀௰˂̶͈́)و

    I didn’t expect Qin Mo to be this good~ His tactical ideas are so amazing! If Qin Mo also had his fast hand speed from back then, then he would be a monster now lol Others wouldn’t be able to do anything against him~ But without his fast hand speed he could draw against Xiao Han~ So amazing~! His hard work has finally been paid off even though he couldn’t get the championship~! And Xiao Han was so handsome~ I already thought that he would do more shadows to win against Qin Mo but I didn’t expect nine of them~! And how he faced Qin Mo after the win~ (>̯-̮<̯) Now I really look forward to the partners competition~ Will Xiao Han and Qin Mo team up? I hope so~! Thank you for the chapter! 💜

  3. wow wow wow wow wow. a couple chapters back i wanted to comment the score would be 2:1 with xiao han winning, but good thing i didn’t comment that otherwise i would have joined the ranks of those being face slapped by the author lol.