The fruit knife flashed and slashed at my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. A bone-piercing pain came over me and my Defense sharply fell. Even worse, Extreme Break hurt like hell and Purple Marquis was also coming over, swinging his longsword. Chaos Universe + Vacuum Slash combo came down, aiming to take my life.

I shook all over as my HP plummeted—

3784!

3452!

+3809!

4102!

Murong Mingyue stuck in an instant heal so I didn’t die from the combo but she couldn’t save me from Lin Yixin’s follow-up attack. The moment she brushed by, Lin Yixin whispered in my ear, “Darling, you’ve lost…”

“Fuck!”

……

My entire body relaxed and flew out of the tournament ring. Immortality didn’t revive me this time, I died a miserable death this time around.

Not even three seconds later, another human figure was sent to my side. It was actually Li Chengfeng.

“How’d you get here?” I asked.

Li Chengfeng rubbed his nose. “Fuck, Wind Fantasy and Purple Marquis’s joint attack is so hard to defend against…”

I nodded, tacitly agreeing. Lin Yixin’s mechanics were top-notch and Purple Marquis was also a super first-class expert. Both of them had strong skills and equipment, and with the unique Famous General Skill—Bombshell—Li Chengfeng had no chance at all against them no matter how tough he was. As for me, there was nothing to say. I’d also died...

A few minutes later, He Yi and Beiming Xue also appeared in our surroundings. The two girls had helpless expressions on their faces. He Yi smiled. “It looks like the second round was a reverse sweep. We’ve been 5-0’d. All five of us died and we didn’t even get to scratch either one of them this time…”

I curled my lips. “Victory and defeat are both commonplace in battle. In the third round, be on guard against Purple Marquis’s Absolute Zero. It’s a CC skill with a 10-yard range. We still have a pretty good chance of winning as long as we can deal with that.”

“Mn!”

A while later, Murong Mingyue had also died on the battlefield.

1-1, both sides were currently even!

……

The applause outside the tournament ring sounded like thunder and the screaming there was also unceasing. This was a true competition. A back and forth match where victory or defeat was decided in a single moment. At the same time, the outcome of this match also affected the heartstrings of many in the audience. Some supported Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls while some supported Snowy Cathaya. Everyone was cheering themselves hoarse for their dream team. This was the charm of VR competitions!

The third round was soon about to start. The two opposing parties were sent back into the ring, awaiting the system’s countdown.

I looked at Lin Yixin from afar and noticed that she was also staring back at me. We staked all on this and in order to obtain this championship title, we had to meet on the battlefield. To be honest, I wouldn’t really care much about this if it was only a battle between me and Lin Yixin. Giving her the win would’ve been whatever as far as I’m concerned, but I had He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng and all of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls behind me. In the face of everyone’s dreams, I couldn’t back down. I had to win against Lin Yixin and it was the same for her, she also had to do her best for Snowy Cathaya.

Lin Yixin pursed her lips and suddenly gave me a piece of information. “Careful now, I’m gunning for you again!”

I couldn’t help but smile as I gave a quick answer. “You be careful too, I’m not going to hold back this time.”

“Hmph, hmph!”

The countdown soon began—

3!

2!

1!

The deciding round of the battle between kings. Fight!

Victory or defeat was only a move away. Nobody dared to be careless. Li Chengfeng and I released our attacks together side by side. At the very least, we couldn’t allow Purple Marquis to freeze us. It was too harmful.

Pa!

Beiming Xue shot out a cold arrow to prove her existence and its effects appeared above Lin Yixin’s head. Mn, this is my chance to kill the Fruit Knife Goddess!

I quickly ran over. The Heaven-stealing Sword glowed with undead energy as I planned to use War Crush!

But Purple Marquis suddenly charged over and fiercely crashed into me, pushing me back. I’d lost my best chance to kill Lin Yixin but killing Purple Marquis first wasn’t a bad idea either!

I raised my sword. Thousand Ice Slash!

The instant Thousand Ice Slash was about to land, Purple Marquis also raised his longsword. It was Absolute Zero!

This was bad, I got caught!

3764!

Purple Marquis was frozen by Thousand Ice Slash but I had also been frozen for three seconds. At this time, Lin Yixin had broken out from the Shock Arrow’s effects and was coming at me with her dagger!

……

Li Chengfeng rapidly retreated out of Absolute Zero’s range. The man had perfectly grasped the range of this skill. He locked onto me and used Charge. His feet never stopped moving as he outrageously countered Lin Yixin’s dagger with his sword. They were evenly matched!

Clang!

Lin Yixin swiftly retreated and suddenly swapped her dagger out for a longsword before slamming at Li Chengfeng. She’d actually used Knockback Slash, pushing Li Chengfeng back 5 yards. This gave her half a second of movement time but it was exactly this half second that danger came. Dark Tongue Mage Chanel’s Thunder Dragon Breath arrived just in time!

6894!

Shit, he’s a goner!

The moment I recovered from the stun, Li Chengfeng had been stabbed in the chest by Lin Yixin’s fruit knife. He sank to his knees, dead!

Dammit all, it’s do or die!

I quickly charged at Purple Marquis and he also came for me. He was probably waiting for this chance for a long time ever since he had first lost to me.

Unfortunately, I never gave Purple Marquis that chance. I quickly executed a helix maneuver and my quick tempo left Purple Marquis completely lost. Desperate Gambit + Ice Ray luckily struck its target and Beiming Xue had also sent in an arrow from a distance away. Got’em!

Thud!

Purple Marquis slowly fell on his knees, his eyes filled with shock, as if he couldn’t believe that the gap between us was still this wide. He couldn’t resist the helix maneuver at all.

Lin Yixin hadn’t returned to fight me. Instead, she closed in on Beiming Xue with the Frozen Sword in her eyes, forcing her into a dead end. Archers suffered hugely when they lacked map protection. Close-combat classes were the kings of enclosed-space fights, and with an Ice Flame Slash, Beiming Xue had also flown out of the ring.

Next was Murong Mingyue, and He Yi died right after her.

Lin Yixin’s pretty face was a field of calm as she settled her opponents one by one. At the same time, I wasn’t being idle either. The Heaven-stealing Sword struck down Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel, with Beauty At First Sight the only one still alive in her party. Two minutes later, Lin Yixin was already charging at me the moment I turned around. She raised her sword and smiled. “I’m coming!”

I met her head to head and suffered greatly after exchanging several blows with her. Not only did Lin Yixin have a 40% boost in overall stats, she also had 40% physical evasion, making me miss a ton of hits. Even though this was unfair, this battle was in fact not a solo fight. The opponent was a holy bard and a light wanderer.

Simply put, the moment me and Li Chengfeng killed Purple Marquis, we suffered for it because we had lost too much HP trying to do that. Our following battles after that put us at a disadvantage in terms of battle power.

……

Faint frost condensed on my body. The effects of Lin Yixin’s Profound Ice Armor lowered both my attack speed and movement speed. At this rate, I was going to be even more behind and I would be forced to move even better than before.

“Again!”

I swung my sword and charged. Even though I said that, I turned around and locked onto Beauty At First Sight. Gotta kill her first...

“Wah, you lied again…”

Lin Yixin stomped her foot in anger and chased after me. Lin Yixin’s Ice Flame Slash enveloped me at the same time my Thousand Ice Slash enveloped Beauty At First Sight.

4102!

Ouch, this girl’s Attack is just too high!

But luckily, Beauty At First Sight was out of the picture now.

“Gulp!

I downed a health potion and turned to face Lin Yixin. Her beautiful eyes flickered with intelligence and she didn’t give me much time to recover. She knew she had to get rid of me before my pots were off cooldown.

Parry! Guard! Crushing Blow!

I promptly swapped between attack and defense. When I executed the helix maneuver, Lin Yixin dodged it by changing directions and quickly changing her speed. This was much smarter than Purple Marquis.

……

Whoosh!

Tenacity of the Dead recovered a good chunk of my HP. At the same time, my Regeneration of the Undead had also shown its super powerful effect. Regeneration of the Undead X recovered 2% of my HP every second. All I needed was 50 seconds to recover to full health. It was amazing in a battle of attrition, whereas Lin Yixin relied on Bloodboil to restore her HP which was in no way inferior.

I raised my head and checked the timer on the interface. A match was only 5 minutes long and 4 minutes and 45 seconds had already passed. I had to eke out a win in these 15 seconds!

We were both somewhat anxious. After an intense clash, we were both tired out of our minds and wanted it to be over already!

“Let’s end this. I’m tired…”

Lin Yixin said as she swung down an Ice Flame Slash from the sky!

I swiftly backpedaled. Guard!

1398!

It was a near-perfect guard. The instant Lin Yixin was about to land a Crushing Blow, I got out of my defensive stance and swung my sword out twice, both of which she quickly parried. Yet another exchange that I couldn’t inflict heavy damage onto her.

Neither one of us wanted to lose but we couldn’t do anything about the other. I couldn’t help but sign inwardly. Please grant me a Beiming Xue, please. I only need a Shock Arrow to finish this match.

I really needed a stun CC skill. Thousand Ice Slash’s attack range was too short and could easily miss.

The system began its countdown—

8!

7!

6!

……

Shit. Lin Yixin and I charged at each other again. This time, we didn’t bother to parry any attacks.

Puchi!

Our swords slashed upon our opponent’s armor. Both of us lost a chunk of HP and at the same time, Lin Yixin knocked into my chest and launched Knockback Slash!

Under a 0.5-second stun, I was set backwards and Lin Yixin’s dagger flew straight for me. I lifted my hand, grabbed at her arm, and slid on the ground, pressing Lin Yixin onto the tournament ring’s bluestone railing. I swung the Heaven-stealing sword and pressed it against her white neck.

“...”

“...”

Lin Yixin’s eyes stared at me and I stared back.

At this time, the system suddenly rang—

Ding~!

System Notice: The match has ended. Player “Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand” has 43% HP remaining. Player “Wind Fantasy” has 47% HP remaining. According to the tournament rules, Snowy Cathaya is the victor!

……

“Fuck…”

I let go of Lin Yixin and helplessly looked at the sky. I’d actually lost the championship title because of the time limit?

Lin Yixin stood up straight and patted at the dust on her cape. She calmly whispered to me without batting an eye, “Thank you, Lu Chen, seriously, thank you…”