translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
The showdown between Mojue and Frost Moon was scheduled for Sunday night, which also happened to be the last game of the seventh round. Frost Moon was currently in third place in the scoreboard, only three points away from Mojue, which was in fourth place. As long as Mojue could win against Frost Moon, they could return to third place in the scoreboard.
Qin Mo had allowed the newcomers to play most of the matches in the early stage, testing out all kinds of different combinations. However, he decided to play this key game in person.
On Sunday night, the Xi’an stadium was crowded with people. From the live broadcast screen in the backstage, they could see the audience excitedly shouting and cheering for their favourite teams. Xiao Han couldn’t help but whisper in Qin Mo’s ear, “The audience in Xi’an looks particularly enthusiastic. You are also from Xi’an, so why are you not enthusiastic at all?”
“How enthusiastic do you want me to be?” Qin Mo replied lightly.
“For example, take the initiative to hug me, give me a kiss and so on?” Xiao Han replied.
Qin Mo blushed faintly. He really couldn’t learn this kind of ‘enthusiasm’.
In order to avoid Xiao Han continuing this topic, Qin Mo immediately looked away. “Do you think Chen Jiang will ban players later?”
His method of changing the topic was too obvious. However, Xiao Han did not continue to make fun of him, and instead seriously analysed the situation. “If we are both on the same team, captain Chen will be under great pressure. However, if one of the martial siblings, Chen Jiang and He Yue, are banned, their double long whip flow combination cannot be played. If I were Chen Jiang, I would rather not ban players, and try to go for the strongest lineup on both sides.”
Qin Mo nodded. “In addition to the martial siblings Chen Jiang and He Yue, the strongest lineup of Frost Moon also has Rong Haibin, the champion of the bone fan flow in the all sects competition. The overall strength of these three people is slightly weaker than that of Dynasty. If we go straight to the strongest lineup, we have a good chance of winning.”
“By strongest lineup, are you referring to the both of us bringing Qingyue or A-Hong?” Xiao Han asked.
“With Qingyue, the survival ability is stronger, and the output with Liu Hong is more violent, but I don’t want to come up with this lineup….” Having said that, Qin Mo touched his chin thoughtfully, his serious profile extremely beautiful.
Looking at his side profile, Xiao Han smiled and held his hand gently. “Just do it according to your idea, I will support your decision unconditionally.”
Turning to face him, Qin Mo nodded. “I know.”
Exchanging a smile, the two of them brought the players to the competition stage.
Both captains shook hands politely in the middle of the stage. “Captain Qin, I have already won the fourth place in the first three events, and I really don’t want to take the fourth place a fourth time,” Chen Jiang joked.
Frost Moon was now in third place, and if he lost to Mojue today, he would fall back to fourth place. With so many fourth places in a row, Chen Jiang was indeed unlucky.
“If you can lead your team to win four fourth places, you might set a league record,” Qin Mo answered. “In the next few years, no team will be able to surpass it.”
“…” Chen Jiang smiled. “God Mo, is this a blessing or a curse?”
“Blessing.,” Qin Mo replied seriously.
But this blessing was even more powerful than a curse. Was four fourth places something to be proud of? If he really got four of them, he would want to cry, okay?
After returning to the soundproof room, He Yue asked worriedly. “Senior brother, what did you whisper about with god Mo just now?”
“He let me win four fourth places,” Chen Jiang smiled.
He Yue was stunned for a few moments, before she choked. “Doesn’t this mean that we will definitely lose today?! The poisonous milk of god Mo is extremely poisonous!”
However, Chen Jiang knew in his heart that it was because Qin Mo was confident that he would say this. Once Mojue’s Twin Stars took the field, it would be very difficult for Chen Jiang to make a breakthrough. Tearing apart the Twin Stars lineup meant that the double long whip of Frost Moon would also be torn apart, but if he didn’t ban one of the Twin Stars, Frost Moon’s win was definitely uncertain.
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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***
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Qin Mo rolled a high point in the first round, but chose to go second. The maps selected by Chen Jiang were all bridge maps that facilitated the double long whip flow control field—— when fighting a team battle on the bridge, the long whip could be used to roll the other party’s core characters into the water, and cut off the opponent’s cooperation.
Among the three maps, the first had a highly toxic pond with the dual effect of poisoning and silence, while the other two were bridges suspended in mid-air. If any player fell from those bridges, they would die for certain.
Qin Mo didn’t like fighting against Frost Moon in air combat, as there were too many accidental factors. In particular, Frost Moon’s martial siblings’ cooperation was very tacit, and their long whip’s ability to corral opponents and disrupt formations was one of the best in the league. In the event that he was killed by them at high altitude, the game would be lost. Although the swamp map was poisoned, the rhythm of the game was slower, and the fault tolerance rate on such a map was higher.
Thinking of this, Qin Mo decisively banned the two air combat maps, leaving the final map ‘Qingfeng Village’.
In the second stage, Qin Mo didn’t ban players, forcing Chen Jiang to also be unable to ban players. The two sides entered the lineup selection stage peacefully. In the end, Frost Moon team sent their ace lineup—— the combination of double long whip martial siblings Cheng Jiang and He Yue, along with bone fan flow expert Rong Haibin. They would go up against Mojue’s lineup of Qin Mo, Xiao Han and Li Muran.
Seeing the lineup, Ye Chao offered a brief analysis. “Bringing along a healer on a negative status map will prolong their life. However, the existence of the double field control long whips is a huge threat. If Li Muran is repeatedly controlled, it will be hard for Mojue to fight.”
“Frost Moon can either control Li Muran and kill one of the Twin Stars, or directly kill the healer,” Liang Ru added. “What do you think captain Chen will choose?”
Ye Chao thought for a few moments. “Frost Moon is best at dividing the battlefield. He may first separate the three players from Mojue before deciding which one to kill.”
***
This map of Qingfeng Village was a Miao village located in southern Xinjiang, with distinctive architectural features. On the east and west sides were the starting points of the two teams, connected by a wide wooden bridge. Under the wooden planks was a large, dark green pond. Falling into the pond could cause the player to be silenced for 3 seconds, and staying in the pond would add a layer of poisoning every 2 seconds.
As soon as the game began, Chen Jiang immediately gave his instructions. “Keep an eye on Li Muran!”
Rong Haibin, a bone fan flow single-point attacker, disrupted the opponent’s rhythm from the front row. Meanwhile, Chen Jiang and He Yue controlled the field from the back row simultaneously with their long whips—— the biggest advantage was that all moves were instant, so they had no cast time, and had no worries about their skills being interrupted.
As there was a highly poisonous pond under the bridge, Qin Mo and Xiao Han were in a dilemma—— if they were too close, they would be swept off by the martial siblings’ long whips, and if they stood too far away, they would be unable to hit the opponent. Observing the situation, Qin Mo decisively ordered, “Kill Rong Haibin!”
Since Rong Haibin was alone in the front row, Han and Mo could join hands to kill him.
The output of both sides started at the same time, and the battle became heated immediately.
Rong Haibin broke through with his bone fan in hand, sweeping it across Li Muran’s throat. Although the number of bone fan players were small, Rong Haibin was a champion of the all-sect challenge arena; his strength was extraordinary, his movement level was first-class, and his speed was dazzling. Disturbed by his close combat ability, Li Muran immediately gave himself a blood buff.
Chen Jiang and He Yue were standing in the distance. Their long whips, one green and one white, were constantly attacking Li Muran like ferocious snake spirits!
Being targeted by three people at the same time, Li Muran suddenly felt great pressure. He stood on the bridge, raising his hand speed to crazily add blood to himself…
Ye Chao couldn’t help but offer praise. “Mojue’s healer is an agility-based healer. His skill cooldown equipment, high critical hit rate, and extremely fast hand speed have made his emergency response ability quite excellent. After playing with the team for so long, his healing technique is relatively mature. Furthermore, there is the guidance of the world’s milk god, sister Liu Xiang behind him. His future is…”
Before the word ‘bright’ could be said, the situation on the field suddenly changed!
He Yue suddenly leapt forward with qinggong, and the white whip ‘Ice Soul’ in her hand swept towards Li Muran’s waist like lightning—— This was the signature skill ‘Cloud-Destroying Wind’ of Xuanbing Palace’s long whip flow, which forcibly rolled a target to a specified position.
Li Muran reacted very quickly. As soon as the opponent’s long whip shot forward, he immediately moved five steps sideways, avoiding He Yue’s control in a thrilling manner.
However, the next second, Chen Jiang’s ‘Verdant Snake’, with its poisonous whip, immediately attacked his abdomen, wrapped him around in an instant, and threw him off the bridge directly!
The audience couldn’t help exclaiming—— they saw Li Muran free falling from the sky, landing in the poisonous pool under the bridge with a ‘puff’.
Ye Chao had been in the middle of his sentence, and could only continue. “Coughs, his future is bright… but his mind is still a little simple, and didn’t take into account the double field control players on the opposing team.”
Li Muran, who fell into the pool, was unable to protect himself. Just like its name ‘Verdant Snake’, Chen Jiang’s whip was like a dark green snake, and had the side effect of poisoning the target. In addition, the pool itself inflicted a three-second silence and a layer of poison every two seconds—— Silence was an environmental effect and could not be removed with skills. By the time he could once again add blood to himself, he would have already accumulated a lot of negative states on his body, and the amount of blood lost would be quite terrible.
Although this map did not instantly kill players who fell off the bridge, the distance between the bridge and the pond was too far for one to leap up with qinggong. Once someone fell off, they could only climb back from under the bridge. Chen Jiang had obviously considered his choice of maps very carefully; if he wanted to divide the battlefield, he had to combine the long whip’s control field with the terrain advantages from the map perfectly.
If Li Muran wanted to go back to help Han and Mo, he needed to float to the ground from the surface of the pond before walking back to the bridge. Even if one discounted the distance he had to travel, it would still take a lot of time.
Chen and He teamed up to control the field, throwing Li Muran off the bridge, which was equivalent to completely isolating Li Muran from the battlefield.
This was Frost Moon’s most powerful tactic of ‘dividing the battlefield’. They didn’t have to kill an opponent; instead, they could easily isolate a member of the opposing team, forming an advantage doing more with less——now that Li Muran was swept away, the fight on the bridge suddenly became a 3V2.
Qin Mo and Xiao Han’s explosive ability was very strong, but both of them were melee professions, while Chen and He could swing their whips in the distance to consume their health.
By the time both of them disposed of Rong Haibin in the front row, Qin Mo himself had been beaten into a state of residual blood, and was killed by Chen Jiang’s whip not long after.
This left Xiao Han alone to fight 1V2. Against the long whip control field, the situation was not optimistic.
The audience was very anxious: “Muran, hurry up! Quickly give milk to god Han!”
“If Muran can reach in time, they can win. If he doesn’t, they will GG!”
“God Han is under great pressure in a 1V2. If the healer hurries, Mojue has a chance of winning!”
Li Muran also knew in his heart that if he could return to the battle site quickly and use a group heal on both Han and Mo, Mojue would be able to defeat the opponent in a 3V2 fight.
However, in the middle of his journey, he saw the prompt ‘Ink Mark has been killed’ on his screen, and that god Han’s blood volume in his list of team members was also falling rapidly.
Li Muran really wanted to grow a pair of wings and fly over to them!
However, the area of this map was very large, and the bridge was situated high in the air. The distance between the pond and the bridge was really too far, and even if Li Muran ran as fast as he could while healing himself… in the end, he was still unable to save the residual blood god Han.
Just as Li Muran returned to the battlefield, he saw Thousand Miles Ice fall under the hands of their opponents.
As a healer, it was very painful to watch his teammates fall right in front of his eyes.
In addition, the key to their victory or defeat this game had been him. If he had avoided the opponent’s serial control, god Han and god Mo would not have been forced to fight a 3V2—— even if they were strong, when met with equally powerful opponents, it was difficult to reverse such a situation.
Li Muran was a healer, and had no attacking ability. Against Cheng Jiang and He Yue, he naturally stood no chance of winning.
Looking at the word ‘failure’ popping up on the screen, Li Muran remained calm on the surface, but his heart was full of guilt and self-blame.
***
When Li Muran returned to his seat, Shen He offered him a bottle of water. “Don’t be sad, a victory is never guaranteed in a game. All kinds of situations can happen.”
Li Muran lowered his head and drank, pretending to be calm. “I’m not upset.”
Shen He continued to nag. “Sometimes, when I play games with god Han and god Mo, the pressure is also very large. I always feel as if I will hold them back… however, Mojue has always been a team made of everyone. Although we are not as good as them, we must be ourselves and make progress! As long as you do what you should do, it doesn’t matter if you lose one or two games, right?”
Qin Mo’s seat was next to Shen He’s. Hearing this long paragraph, Qin Mo couldn’t help wondering, “Since when did you learn to give people motivational chicken soup?”
Scratching his head, Shen He beamed. “Hehehe, does Master think my eloquence has improved?”
“Your eloquence has always been good.” Qin Mo replied.
“When I was at school, I took part in many speech contests and debates!” Shen He boasted proudly.
Seeing his beaming appearance, Qin Mo couldn’t help but smile—— Little monkey Shen had become more sensible, and now knew how to take the initiative to comfort his teammates after losing a game.
Looking back at Li Muran, Qin Mo offered some comfort to the boy as well. “You don’t have to blame yourself too much, Muran. Chen Jiang and He Yue are martial siblings, and have trained together for many years. The rhythm and speed of their joint field control are first-class among the league’s partners. There are only a handful of players who can continuously avoid the double whip control field, and even I may not definitely be able to do it.”
Knowing that god Mo was comforting him, Li Muran immediately adjusted his expression and listened carefully. “En, I understand.”
“You have also discovered in this game that Xiao Han and I are not omnipotent,” Qin Mo continued. “Sometimes the key to the game is not in my or Xiao Han’s hands. Your healing is equally important. You also need to observe the overall situation; don’t just look at the health of your teammates.”
“En,” Li Muran nodded seriously. “I will pay attention.”
—— Mojue’s newcomers always had this illusion. Because god Han and god Mo were too strong, the newcomers themselves could lie down and win.
But in fact, it wasn’t the case.
Although Han and Mo could absolutely crush low-levelled opponents, Xiao Han and Qin Mo needed the support of their teammates against stronger teams. The two of them alone were not enough. This was even more obvious in the three-players competition, and the five-players competition that would come later. After all, Xiao Han and Qin Mo were not omnipotent. If the other three players made mistakes and didn’t cooperate well in the five-players competition, once the lineup was targeted by the opponent, it was easy for Mojue to collapse as a whole.
Xiao Han had the ability to overturn the status quo, but he was not strong enough to the point where he could go against the heavens and fight 1V2 or 1V3.
Li Muran had also realised this today. The key point of the game just now had been him, a newcomer, and not the two great gods. Perhaps in future competitions, several of the newcomers would have to face the embarrassing situation of having both great gods face other great gods head-on, while the rest of them were dealt with separately—— this was also the best way to deal with Mojue.
And the only thing they could do was to constantly improve their own strength, so as to not become the team’s weakness.
Clenching his fist tightly, Li Muran quickly adjusted his state, before looking up at Qin Mo. “God Mo, can I continue to play in the next round?”
Qin Mo nodded. “We will continue to fight with the three of us in the next round. I believe you can get back to your state.”
—— Stand up from wherever you have fallen, because you are my chosen successor as a captain.
Looking at the trust in Qin Mo’s eyes, Li Muran couldn’t help but feel touched. He suddenly felt that the most correct decision he had made was to stay in the Mojue team, because he could feel the love and warmth he had never felt in his childhood and as a teenager.
He was Mojue’s milk dad!
He couldn’t fall, and he didn’t want any of his teammates to fall in front of him!
Taking a deep breath, Li Muran moved his fingers gently, calming himself down in preparation for the next round.
Awww, they‘re all so sweet. 🥲 Happy for Li Muran~~! And Shen He… comforting your future hubby? XD
Even though they lost, I am not unhappy at all.
Thank you for the chapter 💜💜💜
Lol, comforting his ‘brother’ 😏 Li Muran needs more experience to be a captain 😍
You’re welcome~ 💕
They will have the map selection advantage next round so they could avoid maps that pit them into being separated