translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
After returning to the dormitory at night, Qin Mo informed Xiao Han about Li Muran’s speculations. “You’ve taught Muran well,” Xiao Han expressed his surprise.
“His understanding really is quite high,” Qin Mo was very satisfied. “At the beginning, he was signed on due to the lack of a healer on the team. I hadn’t expected him to have such keen insight of the game.”
“Since you like Li Muran so much, are you not going to accept him as an apprentice?” Xiao Han questioned.
“Having one hyperactive apprentice in Shen He is enough,” Qin Mo shook his head. “I was thinking of apprenticing Muran to you.”
Xiao Han finally realised why Qin Mo had been constantly praising Li Muran in front of him. “So, you want me to accept Li Muran as an apprentice, and you’ll teach him for me?” He smiled.
“Exactly so,” Qin Mo replied straightforwardly. “After all, aren’t you teaching Shen He for me?”
“En,” Xiao Han was very happy. “‘No matter what’, I quite like this phrase [smile]”
In fact, when Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng were raising their apprentices, the two masters often held private arena PKs, bringing their little apprentices along and making them learn how to communicate and work with each other. Qin Mo and Xiao Han had been supporting each other and making progress together since they were 16 or 17 years old. Now that a few years had passed, their feelings for each other were still very strong.
Qin Mo felt that the introverted Li Muran and lively Shen He seemed to have a good relationship. If both he and Xiao Han accepted them as apprentices, they could allow Muran and Xiao He to encourage each other and progress together, just as they had done for each other back then.
It was better to have a little partner to grow up with, than to struggle onwards alone.
Moreover, the personalities of these two people matched well. Shen He was lively and active, which could make Li Muran more cheerful. Ever since they became roommates, Li Muran had unconsciously changed a lot. Li Muran’s calmness and strictness could also help Shen He settle down, and get rid of his impatience and impulsiveness.
Qin Mo’s considerations were entirely for Mojue’s future. He intended to pass on captaincy to Li Muran, and was hoping to pave the way for the teenager before his own retirement.
However, Xiao Han raised a concern at this moment. “Aren’t you afraid that they will follow in our footsteps?”
“What footsteps?” Qin Mo wondered.
“Our masters are together, and the both of us are also together. What if our apprentices also get together?” Xiao Han explained succinctly.
Qin Mo: “…”
“If every generation pairs up, it wouldn’t be a good thing for our master’s inheritance, would it? [ROFL]” Xiao Han continued.
Qin Mo was made speechless by Xiao Han’s flexible use of the WeChat emoticons. “Why have your thought processes become so weird? Muran seems like a giant iceberg, completely untempting. Shen He is also lively and rough, how could they possibly get together?”
“Li Muran only sent red packets to Shen He, and ignored us.” Xiao Han’s words were irrefutable.
“It’s because his relationship with Shen He is the best. He isn’t very familiar with Pei Yu or Xiao He, and the both of us are seniors. It’s inappropriate for him to give us red packets for encouragement,” Qin Mo tried to explain.
“I hope I’m just thinking too much,” Xiao Han sighed. “In any case, the both of them are still young, and we don’t have to worry too much about what will happen in the future.”
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.
“In other words, you agree to accept Li Muran as your apprentice?” Qin Mo questioned.
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Qin Mo smiled. “En, then that’s settled.”
“What about Pei Yu and He Beiguang?” Xiao Han questioned. “Will they be upset once they find out?”
“I’ve already considered this,” Qin Mo responded. “Qingyue has already spoken to me; he wants to accept Xiao He as an apprentice. Pei Yu has been following Liu Hong all this while, and it is just right for him to worship Liu Hong as his master. All four newcomers have a master, and no one will be jealous. It will also help improve Mojue’s stability.”
“You have thought things through clearly,” Xiao Han praised.
The two continued chatting until 10:30pm, upon which Qin Mo ended the conversation, asking Xiao Han to go rest in preparation for tomorrow’s match.
***
The quarter-finals matches began the next afternoon.
The first match was Dynasty VS Sword Song. The trump card combination of Sang Jun, Lin Yao, and Wen Hua won the game cleanly with a score of 2:0, and were the first team to qualify for the semifinals.
Up next was Mojue VS Whisper. In the first round, Xiao Han selected a narrow maze map, which was extremely disadvantageous for the black umbrella twins due to the many obstacles present. As the first player, Xiao Han made full use of his stealth to gain an advantage of almost half his health. Shen He followed after, stabilising the advantage before handing the match to their guard player, Liu Hong, who won the game without suspense.
The second round was Whisper’s home game. Wei Guanghua selected a swamp map, allowing the black umbrella twins to control the field from a distance. However, despite forcibly dragging the time, neither of the black umbrella twins could break Mojue’s momentum—— taking the lead, Liu Hong gained a weak advantage in her match against Lu Boyu, the younger of the black umbrella twins. The transitory match was Wei Guanghua confronting Shen He, trying to equalise the disadvantage. However, guard player Xiao Han was able to confront Lu Zeyan in a state of full health and full blue, killing the black umbrella player without any suspense, and confirming a second victory for Mojue.
With a score of 2:0, Mojue slaughtered their opponents to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The next game was Sky VS Frost Moon. In Frost Moon’s home court, Cheng Jiang fought against Qiu Zingping, He Yue faced Li Dongqing, while Rong Haibin was left to deal with Yuan Xi, who was unable to regain the advantage for Sky and thus lost their away game. On Sky’s home court, Qiu Zongping made full use of an obstacle map, forcing Frost Moon into a disadvantage, changing the score to a 1:1 draw.
Up next was the tiebreaker match. As both sides needed to submit their lineups in advance, Frost Moon started with Rong Haibin, followed by He Yue as their transition and Chen Jiang as their guard, winning their game with a thrilling score of 2:1.
Up till now, three of Li Muran’s predictions had proven themselves to be accurate, and only one match was left.
The final game was Without Fire VS Interlude. As the first player, Nie Yuzhu managed to snatch an advantage against Su Cheng, and Jing Yang successfully held on to said advantage into the guard stage, allowing Zhou Yanbing to defeat Xie Changming, giving Without Fire a win in their home game. In their away game, both sides switched lineups, but Nie Yuzhu set himself as the guard player, relying on his rich competition experience and calm response to stabilise the situation, successfully earning another victory.
The teams that had qualified for the semifinals were confirmed to be Dynasty, Mojue, Frost Moon, and Without Fire.
—— yesterday’s predictions had, surprisingly, been 100% accurate.
Li Muran was very excited. Being able to analyse and predict the situation before the match was the foundation of every tactical player. After all, only by learning to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, could he then make targeted arrangements. Under Qin Mo’s cultivation during this period of time, Li Muran had finally crossed the threshold, and could now start on his journey to learn tactics.
“Muran,” Qin Mo called out. “Come over here for a little while.”
“En.” Li Muran immediately followed after Qin Mo.
Bringing him into the breakdown, Qin Mo poured himself a cup of coffee as he spoke. “I believe I mentioned yesterday that if at least three of your predictions were accurate, I’d give you a reward.”
“Thank you, god Mo,” Li Muran replied seriously.
Seeing this teenager’s stoic expression, Qin Mo had the sudden urge to tease him a little. “Why don’t you guess what your reward is?”
Li Muran thought about it for a few moments before offering a reply. “Learning materials?”
Qin Mo: “…”
His brain only had studying, homework, and tactics—— Li Muran was extremely serious, but also very likable.
Qin Mo decided to no longer beat about the bush. “I’ll reward you with a master.”
Li Muran’s stoic expression finally cracked, revealing a trace of surprise. “… a master?”
Qin Mo nodded. “After Xiao Han comes back, he’ll accept you as an apprentice. This way, it is perfectly justifiable for me to continue teaching you.”
Li Muran carefully pondered over this sentence—— why was it that god Han was accepting him as an apprentice, but god Mo was his teacher? Could it be that god Mo did not want him to be Shen He’s junior brother?
Still, since Han and Mo shared everything, Li Muran didn’t want to be concerned about these little details.
The fact that Xiao Han was willing to accept him as his apprentice was like winning the lottery. Li Muran never thought that he would have such good luck, and for the moment, didn’t know how to respond.
“What’s wrong?” Qin Mo asked. “Not happy?”
“Not at all,” Li Muran hastily replied. “I just… didn’t think that I would be this lucky. I’m quite surprised.”
Qin Mo smiled. “It’s not luck, but strength.”
Li Muran was stunned, unable to believe what he had just heard. “Strength?”
Qin Mo nodded. “It was because of your character and potential that Xiao Han and I made such a decision. Muran- in fact, you are more outstanding than you think you are.”
—— you are more outstanding than you think you are.
This one simple sentence was the greatest affirmation of Li Muran’s ability.
Li Muran was very touched, his eyes turning red with tears, but he didn’t know how to express himself, and could only reply in a very serious manner. “Thank you, god Mo. I will work hard.”
Qin Mo gently patted the teenager’s shoulder. “After Xiao Han comes back, remember to offer him a cup of tea and pay your respects to him.”
“En,” Li Muran nodded vigorously. “I understand.”
***
After returning to the dormitories that night, Li Muran turned on his mobile phone. He wanted to send a message to Shen He, but was instead greeted by a great many red packets from said person.
“What happened?” Li Muran asked doubtfully
Shen He sent over a flurry of messages. “Ah ah ah, brother Ran, I’m really sorry! I was wrong! I don’t know why but when the reporter questioned me yesterday, my brain got all scrambled and I accidentally blurted out the fact that you sent me red packets! It’s all my fault T_T”
Li Muran: “…”
You’re only apologising for yesterday’s matters now; your reflection time seems to be a little too long, right?
Though, was this something that required an apology?
Shen He immediately sent another wall of text. “You don’t send red envelopes to anyone else, only to me. Although we can use our good relationship to explain, Xiao Pei and Xiao He may mind if they find out! I shouldn’t have said it, I really don’t think before I speak. Next time, when the reporters come to interview me, I should hide behind everyone else T_T”
Seeing him send rows of crying emoticons was enough to make one’s heart uncomfortable. Li Muran immediately sent a reply. “It’s okay, Pei Yu and He Beiguang are not so petty. Besides, even if they had an opinion, I don’t mind.”
Shen He immediately brightened up. “Really?”
Li Muran: “En.”
Shen He: “You don’t blame me? O(∩_∩)O”
Li Muran: “No.”
Only with this could Shen He finally relax, immediately sending a row of thankful emoticons.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Muran decided to share the good news with Shen He. “By the way, god Han decided to accept me as an apprentice.”
Shen He was stunned for a little while, but expressed his excitement soon after. “Really? That’s great! You’ve been recognised by god Han, brother Ran, ah ah ah, I knew you could do it! This way, the both of us will become the successors to Twin Stars. Maybe in a few years, we might become a first-class combination in the professional alliance, hehehe!”
Seeing him type so many exhilarated ‘ah ah hehe’, Li Muran’s lips curved involuntarily.
In the future, he would stand side by side with Shen He in the arena as Twin Stars’ apprentices.
When he first joined Dragon Song, he had never imagined that he would be looked upon favourably by the great gods, or that he would room with such a lively and cute person.
In the past few days, without Shen He constantly chattering away at his side, the dormitory seemed a little too silent. It seemed like he actually missed Shen He a little.
Although he hated the little monkey that constantly ran around the dormitory at first, somewhere along the line, Li Muran’s feelings had changed. Having Shen He work hard with him and being able to progress together, and being able to listen to Shen He chattering away while he was bored was actually quite interesting.
[ However, Xiao Han raised a concern at this moment. “Aren’t you afraid that they will follow in our footsteps?” ]
[ “Our masters are together, and the both of us are also together. What if our apprentices also get together?” Xiao Han explained succinctly. ]
[ “I hope I’m just thinking too much,” Xiao Han sighed. ]
Xiao Han is really sharp! He can already sense it 🤣
Shen He and Li Muran are so sweet! (⑅˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈ )
Thank you for the chapter~~! 💜💜💜
Lol, he’s not thinking too much, Xiao Han can guess it 😆
+1, they’re sweet and cuteee~
You’re welcome~ 😍
Lmao and thus a new story begins
Wait this, another exemplary from their master 🤔.
But I am glad Li Muran got his appreciation and become Xiao Han’s apprentice 😊💕
lol, from grandmaster to grand apprentice will become couple 🤣
Xiao Han’s apprentice in name only I think, Qin Mo will train him 😏
Xiao Han and his brain circuit. ^_^
But, his intuition is right lol🤣
+1
I hope Pei Yu and He Beiguang get some more scenes. They kind of just feel like space fillers to make up of team numbers. The opponents have more fleshed out details than they do.