translator: Ciel
After returning to the hotel at night, Li Muran sat in front of the computer, watching group E’s matches from start to finish.
Tomorrow, he and Shen He would face Sky team’s Li Dongqing and Zhou Xuewei. Li Dongqing was a newcomer cultivated by Qiu Zongping, and was similar to Shen He in terms of strength, but Zhou Xuewei was currently the strongest healer in the league, with more than three years of experience in competitions. Li Muran was very clear that his level could not be compared to hers, so if they wanted to win, they definitely needed to prepare well.
Seeing Li Muran stare at the video without any trace of expression on his face, Shen He didn’t dare to disturb him, instead obediently sitting beside him to study.
After finishing the videos, Li Muran realised that Shen He had been sitting next to himself silently. “Why are you so quiet?” he wondered.
On previous occasions, Shen He always chattered non-stop while reviewing games. One moment, he could be saying that the skill used was wrong, and by the next moment, he would be complaining that the hand speed was too slow. Still, Li Muran was not accustomed to today’s silence.
Shen He scratched his head. “Aren’t you thinking about arrangements for tomorrow? I’m scared of disturbing you.”
Although the little monkey had ADHD, Li Muran felt that he was very sensible. Knowing that he was in the middle of thinking, Shen He hadn’t bothered him. The look on his face gentling, Li Muran glanced at Shen He. “I have an idea for tomorrow. If I hold up Zhou Xuewei, can you think of a way to instantly kill Li Dongqing?”
Shen He nodded. “I will try my best.”
“Then,” Li Muran continued, “we will fight a war of attrition in the early stages, and wait for Zhou Xuewei’s blue to be depleted before reserving skills for a wave of attacks.”
Shen He nodded again. “En!”
“As for the detailed arrangements, you can turn on the computer, we will go to the simulated arena to practice again,” Li Muran offered.
Shen He expressed his agreement. “Good!”
Seeing him nod his head obediently, LI Muran was rather curious. Still, the serious expression on Shen He’s face was sort of cute. “Why are you suddenly so obedient?”
Shen He laughed. “Because master told me to listen to you, so I naturally need to obediently follow your arrangements!”
—— So, it was because of Qin Mo.
Shen He always listened to his master’s words, and whatever Qin Mo wanted him to do, Shen He would follow.
However, Li Muran believed that Shen He would truly recognise him one day. While many of his current ideas might be naive, he would carefully review and sum up his experiences from each game, and make his tactics more detailed and comprehensive.
***
The next morning, all members of the Mojue team arrived at the competition venue on time.
The first match from group A, between Whisper’s Luo Yuan and Wei Guanghua against Graceful Beauty’s Gusu Trip and Swaying Moon Shadow.
There was no suspense in this game. Luo Yuan’s support was much higher than that of Graceful Beauty’s Swaying Moon Shadow, and with Wei Guanghua’s offensive and defensive capabilities, he cooperated with Luo Yuan to win the match 2:0.
Up next was Zhu Qingyue and He Beiguang against Chen Jiang and He Yue.
Chen Jiang selected the map for the first match, once again picking the map ‘Sword Altar’ to control the field with the moving pumices.
Their aim was obvious—— to forcibly kill He Beiguang.
Half a minute into the match, as the distance between both sides shrunk, Zhu Qingyue immediately voiced a reminder into the team channel. “Be careful!”
He Beiguang was a tank with over 100,000 health, but this was an aerial map. The instant he fell, he would be spiked to death, and no matter how much blood he had, it would be of no use.
Seeing the distance gradually shorten, He Beiguang paid even more attention to his pathing.
However, the cooperation between Chen Jiang and He Yue was tacit. The two people split up, flanking He Beiguang from both sides. As the poisonous green whip in Chen Jiang’s hands swept across He Beiguang from behind, the snow-white hand in He Yue’s hands shot at He Beiguang’s torso—— Cloud-Destroying Wind!
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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Pa kjr lcfnlajyif obg atf jaajmx ab tla Lf Dfluejcu.
Ktf lcrajca Lf Dfluejcu kjr jybea ab yf rkfqa jkjs ys atf ibcu ktlqr, j rboa megajlc bo gjlc ofii ogbw atf rxs, reggbecvlcu ybat Ite Hlcusef jcv Lf Dfluejcu.
—— Cyan Rain Curtain!
This was the strongest team defensive skill in Peerless Jianghu, which could ignore both attacks and control skills, equivalent to providing the team temporary invincibility.
The additional attribute of Zhu Qingyue’s umbrella, ‘Elegant Wind’, was “additional 2-second bonus to all arrays”. Back then, Qin Mo had put in a lot of effort to build this weapon—— with a bonus of 2 seconds, the original 3-second invincibility array would become 5 seconds. In other words, for the next 5 seconds, neither He Beiguang or Zhu Qingyue could be harmed.
Chen Jiang reacted extremely quickly. Seeing the blue curtain of rain appear, he immediately yelled. “Withdraw!”
Following her senior brother’s orders, He Yue immediately retreated. The martial siblings flew off, one to the west and the other to the east. He Beiguang attempted to chase them with qinggong, but because of his short limbs as a melee, he was unable to catch up to the opponent.
“Captain Chen is very sensible,” Ye Chao praised. “Seeing the invincibility barrier, he immediately retreated, and will wait for 5 seconds to pass before fighting.”
“In fact, the combination of Qingyue and He Beiguang is difficult to play in a doubles match,” Liang Ru sighed. “Xiao He’s output isn’t enough, and relying on secret books will not deal too much damage.”
“I recall that Qingyue brought the secret book ‘River Sunset’ in the last game. When the opponent’s blood drops below 30%, the instant death effect can be triggered. However, the premise is that they have a way to lower the opponent’s blood to 30% first,” Ye Chao explained. “On this air combat map, He Beiguang’s movements are extremely restricted. Even if he reflects damage to his opponents, the output isn’t enough.”
Both Chen Jiang and He Yue moved extremely flexibly, one left and one right, consuming He Beiguang’s blood from a distance. He Beiguang fought four hands with two fists; even if he dodged the whip on the left, he could not avoid the whip on the right.
Furthermore, it was not as easy for Zhu Qingyue to control the field as compared to flat ground. Chen Jiang was also very smart, standing apart from his junior sister in a way that resembled the points of an isosceles triangle. Thus, Zhu Qingyue’s group control would only affect one of them, and was unable to control them both.
Zhu Qingyue used his umbrella to weaken Chen Jiang, but the unaffected He Yue immediately threw out the long whip in her hand, greeting He Beiguang with a set of combos!
He Beiguang immediately opened Kuangdao Gate’s damage reflection skill ‘Only Me’!
The golden shield appeared on him, bouncing back all damage to the opponent. Seeing this, He Yue immediately retreated, and began to wander in the distance while waiting for another opportunity.
***
Seated backstage, Qin Mo could not help asking, “Muran, if you were captain Chen, what would you do?”
Li Muran thought for a few moments. “Wait for the cooldown of ‘Cloud-Destroying Wind’ to end. The long whip’s control skill can toss the opponent off the pumice stone, which is the fastest way to win.”
“Then, if you were Qingyue, what would you do?” Qin Mo continued to ask.
“Calculate the time,” Li Muran replied evenly. “Retreat when the opponent’s skill comes off cooldown, and wait for the invincibility barrier to be available before making a counterattack.”
Qin Mo nodded with appreciation. “Guess the other side’s thoughts, then come up with a strategy to counter that. This is the key to a good tactical layout and response. You learn quickly.”
Although Li Muran had no expression on his face, he was very excited to be praised.
—— Captain Qin has been asking him for his opinion since yesterday, and his meaning could not be more obvious. Li Muran suddenly felt like he had won a lottery ticket. Could it be that he gave Shen He enough red envelopes, and accumulated enough good karma?
***
Both Chen Jiang and He Yue were medium-to-long-range outputs, and had very strong displacement control skills. There were many ways to win, but as Li Muran had said, the quickest way was to send someone off the pumice with a long whip, forming a 2V1 situation.
If Li Muran could think of this, it was impossible for Zhu Qingyue not to. So, after the cooldown of Cloud-Destroying Wind was over, the four players moved at once——
Chen Jiang and He Yue split up, flanking He Beiguang from the left and right, while He Beiguang rapidly retreated at Zhu Qingyue’s reminder.
However, what Li Muran hadn’t expected was that after Chen Jiang and He Yue besieged He Beiguang in the southeast, Chen Jiang jumped on a moving pumice, and immediately turned around. The poisonous green whip in his hands shot out like a snake, directly attacking Zhu Qingyue!
This change of targets happened so quickly that before Zhu Qingyue reacted, he was rolled up by the poisonous green whip and tossed off the pumice!
As it turned out, Chen Jiang had used diversionary tactics. The martial sibling pair seemed to be encircling He Beiguang, but in fact, their actual target was Zhu Qingyue all along.
After Zhu Qingyue was tossed off, He Beiguang had no chance of winning the subsequent 1V2, and was quickly killed by Chen Jiang and He Yue.
Losing the first match was within Qin Mo’s calculations. In truth, even if Qingyue had been able to defend against this wave, their chances of winning were still small. After all, the output of Chen and He was explosive, and the distance between players kept changing. He Beiguang’s anti-injury play was not enough to grind down their blood volume alone.
Seeing Li Muran’s thoughtful expression, Qin Mo asked, “The firepower of the opposing side is too strong. If it were you, how would you fight the second game?”
Li Muran hesitated for a moment. “By relying on the terrain to fight a defensive counterattack war of attrition?”
“Captain Chen clearly understands the playstyle of an auxiliary, and will try to fight a quick battle,” Qin Mo explained calmly. “Even if He Beiguang could resist the combined output of Chen He, his output cannot match up. Thus, using the defensive counterattack to drag the time is just a slower way to die.”
Seeing Li Muran contemplating in silence, Qin Mo offered a hint. “Have you forgotten how Lin Shuangcheng dealt with Xiao Han and I yesterday?”
Li Muran’s eyes brightened. “Tall Mountains Flowing Waters?”
Qin Mo nodded. “Watch closely.”
***
Zhu Qingyue selected the map for the second game, picking ‘Nanjiang Poison Swamp.
Among all swamp maps, this map ranked first in lethality—— because of the poisonous fumes, all players would lose 1% of their blood every second after entering the map. If a player fell into the swamp, 10% blood would immediately be lost, and the negative state of poison would be stacked on them, which would be added every second. Each layer of poison would slowly eat away 5% blood.
This map was termed by netizens as the ‘crazy blood drop’ map. Even if you didn’t do anything, as long as you were on the map for 100 seconds, you would still lose all your blood and die.
Players could only choose their secret books after the map was selected. The moment Chen Jiang saw this map, he already guessed Zhu Qingyue’s intentions of using the map to poison them. After careful consideration, he brought the healing secret book ‘Pivoting Heart Sutra’, tasking his younger sister with bringing ‘Clear Heart Mantra’, which could prevent the opponent from controlling them in the poisonous swamp.
As the match started, both sides cautiously walked to the middle of the map.
The stones that functioned as footholds for the players were not large, and were surrounded by the poisonous swamp waters that belched out toxic miasma. When standing in the fumes, players would continuously lose health, and by the time both sides met, they were left with about 80% of their blood volume.
The moment they met, Chen Jiang and He Yue shot at almost the same time. Two long whips, one green and one white, swept toward He Beiguang who was standing in front!
—— Cyan Rain Curtain!
Zhu Qingyue’s invincible barrier was always opened just in the nick of time. What surprised the audience was the fact that the moment his invincibility barrier was opened, the blood loss on both Zhu Qingyue and He Beiguang stopped.
With this invincibility barrier, even the map’s poisonous gas could be blocked.
Li Muran, who was seated backstage, couldn’t help but feel shocked. Great God Qingyue’s considerations were very thorough, and even the effect of this skill was factored into his plan. Within the next 5 seconds, neither Qingyue or He Beiguang would lose blood because of the miasma, while Chen Jiang and He Yue would continue losing blood, creating an advantage in blood volume which would become even more obvious over time.
As soon as the invincible barrier of Tingyu Tower’s white umbrella flow was opened, Chen Jiang and He Yue immediately retreated. However, Zhu Qingyue’s actions were faster—— the assistant who had been hiding behind He Beiguang suddenly threw out the white umbrella in his hands, before jumping through the air. This was Tingyu Tower’s qinggong skill, and the visual effects were extremely pretty. The scholarly ‘Bright Moon Clear Sky’ borrowed the momentum of the umbrella to jumped through the air three times, landing in front of Chen Jiang and He Yue.
His subsequent operations were extremely quick, dazzling everyone who watched——
Silk Umbrella Array! Tall Mountains Flowing Waters!
The white umbrella fell from the skies, circling around Jiang Cheng and He Yue before forcefully teleporting them to the middle of the poisonous swamp!
Following that, a melodious tune echoed, and the chaos control of the ‘Tall Mountains Flowing Waters’ secret book caused Chen Jiang and He Yue to fight each other!
Chen Jiang: “…”
Seeing this, Frost Moon’s fans watching the live broadcast wanted to cough up blood.
Tingyu Tower’s Silk Umbrella Array allowed group teleports to designated locations within a specified range. Be it friendly or enemy forces, all could be forcefully teleported away.
In order to throw his opponents into a pit, Zhu Qingyue used this skill to throw Chen Jiang and He Yue into the middle of the poisonous swamp.
After falling into the swamp, the players would continuously lose blood, and the poison status on their bodies would continue to stack. In addition, the chaos control of the secret book caused the martial siblings to consume each other’s blood and blue. The audience saw Chen Jiang strike his junior sister on the back with his green whip, while He Yue slapped her senior brother across the face with her snow-white whip. In the blink of an eye, they had beaten each other bloody. This scene of internal strife was truly terrible…
Very quickly, Chen Jiang’s blood volume had fallen to 40%. Because of Chen Jiang’s earlier outbreak, He Yue was only left with 30% blood.
Thankfully, the 3-second control of Tall Mountains Flowing Waters soon ended. Chen Jiang immediately used his secret book skill ‘Pivoting Heart Sutra’, returning 30% of blood to both himself and He Yue!
Li Muran had expected captain Chen to bring the team heal secret book, but what he didn’t expect was for He Beiguang to leap in at this moment, sweeping his broadsword across in a wide arc. ‘Sweeping Eight Wastelands’ directly knocked down Chen Jiang and He Yue, who were attempting to escape the poisonous swamp!
This skill from Kuangdao Gate was accompanied by two seconds of dizzy control. Because five layers of poison have been stacked on both Chen Jiang and He Yue, He Yue immediately used the secret book ‘Clear Heart Mantra’, clearing away all negative states!
However, He Beiguang, who had leapt into the swamp to knock down both opponents, also used his secret book at this moment—— Bodhi Mantra!
This secret book controlled opponents with fear for 3 seconds. Unable to release skills while controlled, Chen Jiang and He Yue had to stay in the poisonous swamp.
Standing on the shore, Zhu Qingyue immediately waved his white umbrella, stacking attack and defense bonuses on He Beiguang.
Of the three people in the swamp, He Beiguang was being protected by the auxiliary, and his blood loss was very slow. On the other hand, Chen Jiang and He Yue were rapidly losing blood.
Taking advantage of Zhu Qingyue’s attack bonus, He Beiguang quickly attacked Chen Jiang, dealing as much damage as possible. By the time the 3-second fear control ended, Chen Jiang was left with 5% residual blood, while He Yue was left with 15%. Meanwhile, He Beiguang still had 35% blood.
Chen Jiang and He Yue leapt into the air with qinggong at the same time. The long whips in their hands flashed as they decisively joined hands to dispose of He Beiguang!
Naturally, by the time they returned to shore, Zhu Qingyue had long since flown off to a safe place.
As time passed, Chen Jiang was continuously poisoned by the map environment. With his 5% blood bottoming out, he helplessly fell.
Although He Yue caught up with Zhu Qingyue quickly, throwing the long whip in her hand in an attempt to kill the opponent, Zhu Qingyue spun his umbrella, inflicting the weakness status on her and causing both her attack and defense attributes to plummet!
Zhu Qingyue seized the opportunity to widen the distance once more. In the end, He Yue too fell to the environment.
***
In this game, Zhu Qingyue’s idea of relying on the map environment to win was praised by the audience.
Ye Chao also offered praise of his own. “Qingyue’s layout is very clever. He started with defense and seized the opportunity to counterattack, then matched the array with the chaos control to cause Chen Jiang and He Yue to fight each other in the swamp. Afterwards, He Beiguang jumped into the poisonous swamp; while it was a suicidal play, he inflicted enough damage on the opponent, allowing Qingyue to finish the battle with consumption tactics, letting the map itself poison their opponents to death… His every move is planned out meticulously. Step by step, the opponent was led into his carefully crafted serial trap.”
“Although Qingyue is a support-type player, he can always control the rhythm of the game. Such an auxiliary is the most terrifying!” Liang Ru exclaimed.
Ye Chao laughed. “Well, Qingyue is someone with a comprehensive view of the overall situation. It’s a feat worthy of someone who has participated in the world competition.”
Back in the arena, Zhu Qingyue, who had just won the game, showed a warm and gentle smile. “Xiao He fought well,” he encouraged.
He Beiguang’s expression was one of admiration: “It was great god Qingyue who arranged things well! You said that when I died, one of the opponents’ health would be at 5-8%, and the other would be at about 15%. The damage was calculated very accurately!”
In fact, this had been Zhu Qingyue’s approximate estimations made before the game. After all, the appearance of criticals and array bonuses were unexpected factors, but he firmly believed that as long as He Beiguang performed his task to the letter, crippling both opponents, Zhu Qingyue himself would have the opportunity to make full use of the map’s poisonous miasma, dragging both opponents to death.
Xiao He’s performance was better than he expected, having dealt enough damage at the last moment before his death. Thus, Chen Jiang died as soon as he escaped the poisonous swamp. Naturally, Zhu Qingyue could win against He Yue alone.
It was really difficult to play doubles with a meat shield, because a single mistake could cost you all the games.
However, Qin Mo had his reasons for this arrangement. Zhu Qingyue could only try out various tactics with He Beiguang as much as possible, for every new step was a step forward.
Li Muran is so happy being guided by Qin Mo but still won’t show it on his face lol He’s so interesting~ Shen He is obediently listening to Li Muran because of Qin Mo… So Li Muran wants Shen He to truly recognize him one day~? He cares so much about what Shen He thinks of him~? ( ￢ ‿ ￢ ) I already look forward to their match~
Zhu Qingyue is amazing~! I didn’t think that he would use that skill to let them fight against each other~ 🤣 Good map selection! Amazing strategy~! Thumbs up to little crybaby~ ✨
Thank you for the chapter! 💜💜 💜
Yes, that’s why he is compatible with Shen He >_< they will be a cute pair~
Our crybaby already grown up to be an outstanding man ❤
You’re welcome~ 💕
Uwaaa imagine if the chaos skill was used on an opponent who also had brought it. The opponent will also use the chaos skill on his teammate and things could only get uglier. 6 seconds of chaos